Hey guys,

I've decided to do a little bit of an off shoot from my normal modelling goals. Being close to Philadelphia, (and having gone to school there for 2 years), I've had several opportunities to ride on the former Reading Company rails. At the same time, I've picked up a few Silverliners and other Reading Company Electric equipment.

I've started this thread to cover those projects separate from my normal New Jersey/NEC operations.

The tracks here will be loosely modeled off of the Reading Company's New York Branch, east of Wayne Junction. This is the current day "West Trenton" line on SEPTA. The line hosted trains such as the Crusader and the Wall Street.

I've managed to assemble some catenary, but I still need to add the little details, like grab irons and transmission lines. I would really like to find a more appropriate ballast color, which is like a brownish dark gray. Some of that might be brake shoe dust, but it still seems brownish over all.

I plan to assign one side as "the front", so i can put tall trees and a mini backdrop in order to give the train some background.

For rolling stock, I have three Silverliner IIIs, three Silverliner IV singles, and six "Green" MUs. One of my new Silverliner IVs (with the block SEPTA logo below), actually came with prototypical Reading Company trucks, including the Cow Catcher.

I don't know if I'll add extra sections, but it might be neat if i could make this a branch off of our modular club.

Here are some quick pictures-

Nice-looking catenary.
I'm guessing that the area of which you're speaking must be somewhere not too far from here:



...and the ballast definitely has a brown tinge to it:



What originally caught my eye, though, was this snappy-looking station:



Wayne

doctorwayne Wrote:Nice-looking catenary.
I'm guessing that the area of which you're speaking must be somewhere not too far from here:


...and the ballast definitely has a brown tinge to it:

What originally caught my eye, though, was this snappy-looking station: Wayne

Thanks a bunch!


Yes and no. That is still in SEPTA's operational area, but your photos are on the ex PRR Mainline west, about 2/3s of the way from 30th street to Thorndale, the westernmost end of SEPTA (technically, this is all Amtrak trackage). You'll notice in your last photo, the "round" catenary poles, which are the original 1914 catenary poles from when the PRR first electrified.

My Reading tracks are technically on about 2/3s of the way on the easternmost set of tracks, on the SEPTA "West Trenton line" (former RDG New York Branch).

Interestingly, that station used to be in Fairmount park, and was used as a ticket office there for the "Centennial Exposition" in 1876. It was relocated to that location in 1887. Considering the terrain around Philadelphia, and the technology of the time, it must have been quite a move.

That is some great soldering technique!