Back To Square One

So over the past month or so I was really losing heart.and at a point of throwing in the towel. I found myself seriously considering, as a local storage ad says, "Giving my garage back to my car". Needlepoint started looking pretty good from a hobby point of view.

What went wrong?

Perhaps I took on more than I could handle. Building the layout while trying to build a roster and a fleet of cars that spoke "Pennsy" is a lot of work. Trying to recreate a specific period (1949) was also a headache. Ultimately it didn't seem to be "fun" anymore. If I remember correctly, fun is what a hobby is all about. When it gets to be too much like work, maybe you're headed in the wrong direction.

Still, I like to think I aimed high but fell short. In doing so I went further than I ever thought I could. I also learned that my attempts at kit-bashing weren't to my liking. With the possible exception of the PCC and the passenger sharks it seemed I was destroying rather than creating. I was running out of equipment.

So here we are, back to square one in a manner of speaking. The layout is being taken back a couple of incarnations. Fortunately the odd construction techniques lend themselves to "revision". This might be a mixed blessing. Had I used 3/4" plywood and 2" thick extruded foam I might be hesitant about tearing out big chunks of expensive material. The styrofoam spline is very cheap to make and replace. In many cases I reused existing sections and just bent the spline to the new shape. It took just a short time to level out the mainline and realign the right of way...

Former West "Altoona" Realignment

Former "East Altoona" Realignment

The previous "bypass" around Juniata yard has been removed and the roadbed relocated to the "east" side of the layout at the town currently called "Someplace" (still working on location names)...

Relocated "Bypass"

The former "ALTO" interlocking has been disassembled and the parts will be recycled. There are no crossovers on the mainline at this time. One #10 turnout will be used for the branchline to mainline connection. Eight #7 turnouts will be used for the sidings along the branch. There is also a wye, but I have to develop the trackplan before I know how it will be used...

Former "ALTO" Interlocking

Since the branch doesn't need to be completed for the trains to run it can be extended as track is purchased. Fits the budget perfectly. I can buy a few sections at a time when I visit the local hobby shop. Fortunately code 55 in small lots is getting easier to find again.

All four tracks should be in operation in a week or so. The idea of operating mainline trains as "orbiters" (read round d' round) still holds. It's the road names on the trains doing the running around that will change. I can run equipment from several other favorite railroads. Because of family connections with upstate Pennsylvania I've always had an interest in the anthracite roads. The odd camelback steam and other eccentricities of these lines gives them character just as unique as the PRR.

I've been digging deeper into the railroads I listed earlier. Turns out that some of these roads had run-through agreements with other lines of interest. The Jersey Central, for instance, allowed the Reading and the Baltimore & Ohio access to Communipaw over their four track section of mainline. At Aldene the CNJ had connections with the LV and the Rahway Valley. I hope to see these railroads represented as well as the NYC, Erie, Lackawanna, EL and New Haven. I'm envisioning different operating "sessions" for the various roadnames, but you never know. Could just go crazy and run them all together. Grandchildren don't seem to mind much.

I have to say that the more we talk about this "generic" incarnation of the All East the more it appeals to me. I can still model the four track behemoth I remember from my boyhood, but don't have to build a exact replica. This less disciplined approach makes a big difference. Model railroading is fun again.

Regards,
Frank Musick

Building a dream layout on a nightmare budget

The Average Eastern Railroad