08-27-2010, 10:57 AM
Do you have a time frame where you're set, time of year?
I do have a very specific time frame … on the Lehigh Susquehanna & Western, every day is a fine, sunny day in September, 1935. Some “slippage” is permitted on an “as required/individually reviewed basis,” with permitted exceptions no more than one or three years “in the future” and then only if the permitted exception somehow just “looks right.”
Why 1935? Simple! Because it's September (my birthday month,) and a pair of absolutely stunningly gorgeous Masterpiece Automotive Replicas "1936 Chrysler Airflow Imperial Eight" models were purchased to look beautiful sitting under the lights of the illuminated showroom floor of the Weissport, Penna. Chrysler Dealer! It’s the beginning of a New 1936 Model Year, with all the excitement of interested citizens gathered to look through the large showroom windows. With that scene only a matter of inches from the viewer, it would be difficult to convince that viewer that they were observing some more recent year.
Because September is the beginning of Fall and the “Change of Seasons” is beginning to get underway in the mountains of northeastern Pennsylvania, the majority of foliage will still be green with a few pockets of yellows, oranges and reds scattered about at the highest elevations, just enough color to reinforce the notion of early Fall.
Are Steam, Diesel, Electric or all/some of both?
All LS&W Motive Power is of the Wooten-fire-boxed Camelback variety, almost all being Reading Company prototypes. The motive power roster currently includes …
Ex-RDG A5a four-coupled switchers (2)
Ex-RDG B8a six-coupled switchers (2)
Ex-RDG D8sd 4-4-0 Atlantic (1) [new acquisition]
Ex-RDG I-5c 2-8-0 Consolidations (3)
Unidentified Prototype 2-8-0 Consolidation (1) [new acquisition]
Ex-RDG I-8 2-8-0 Consolidations (2)
Ex-RDG L7sb 4-6-0 Ten-Wheelers (2)
Ex-RDG P5a 4-4-2 Americans (2)
Additional Motive Power …
An NYO&W Class U 2-6-0 Mogul and a Pennsy E6 4-4-2 Atlantic, each wearing their own herald and doing their best to reinforce “beyond-the-basement” interchange traffic “on stage.” A ‘47-‘53 vintage brass-and-zamac-casting-hybrid Mantua Reading Company G1sa 4-6-2 Pacific sporting the classic Reading gold pinstriped cab and tender will bring the passengers and the mail up from the Allentown-Bethlehem area, along with a Reading I-10sa 2-8-0 Consolidation hauling Reading interchange freight into the yard at Weissport, further reinforcing interchange with the world "beyond the basement.” The newest acquisition, a Reading Company Class D8sd American will haul the mixed-Daily.
There are also a pair of ex-B&O 0-4-0T “Docksiders,” owned by GERN (which will probably soon hit the auction block as GERN has ordered one of these new box-cab oil-electrics being offered by the trio of ALCO/I-R/GE for their “on property” switching.) An older brass Akane C&O USRA “H” Class 2-6-6-2 had been purchased back in the seventies when I had a basement in which to build a layout. It was to be “pusher power” until I could find one of those rare Erie L1 0-8-8-0 Camelbacks replace it (I missed the opportunity to purchase one when they were offered as I was in the middle of a cross-continent move.) … I never found an L1, and since I no longer have a basement, the big articulated locomotive will be joining the "Docksiders" on the auction block at some point in the near future.
What are your railroads and what's the rolling stock consist of for deliveries/industries?
The LS&W is a “Freelanced Prototype,” inspired by the development of other such railroads by the likes of Allen McClelland and Tony Koester and the other “Lichen Belt” guys in the mid-seventies. In an effort to envision a name that would sound so realistic that no one would question it, and some might even say they had heard of it (as has happened a couple of times, accompanied by my suppressed smile,) I chose two rivers in eastern Pennsylvania, then looked to the west, and named it the Lehigh Susquehanna & Western. I developed a Company Herald using a typeface and a graphic style/convention reminiscent of the turn of the last century. I use the Herald as my Avatar here.
Making periodic "guest appearances" on LS&W trackage will be Reading Company, Pennsylvania Railroad and the New York, Ontario and Western.
Being an anthracite coal hauler in the ‘30’s, the most common piece of rolling stock is the USRA twin hopper, with the addition of an abundant amount of the ever-present box car red box car, a smattering of cement-stained grey covered hoppers, some tank cars and gondolas, a handful of reefers and a few lonely flat cars. (If I neglected to mention anyone, I apologize.)
Is it Freelance or Compressed Prototype or even exact scale replica?
Having done a major “down-sizing” from an “in-the-early-construction-stages” 20’ x 35’ basement layout to one potentially measuring 12’ x 16” in one half of a Great Room with a 13’x 2 ½’ extension along one wall of the other half of the Great Room, I would say that we are dealing with some serious compression … the compression of an already-rather-compressed, freelanced “compressed impression” of the upstate coal regions of Pennsylvania. But a railroad will be beginning to take shape in my house after the completion of the "Challenge," and I’ll be having a good time … and I am looking forward to sharing the experience with my new-found friends on “Big Blue at The-Gauge.”
I do have a very specific time frame … on the Lehigh Susquehanna & Western, every day is a fine, sunny day in September, 1935. Some “slippage” is permitted on an “as required/individually reviewed basis,” with permitted exceptions no more than one or three years “in the future” and then only if the permitted exception somehow just “looks right.”
Why 1935? Simple! Because it's September (my birthday month,) and a pair of absolutely stunningly gorgeous Masterpiece Automotive Replicas "1936 Chrysler Airflow Imperial Eight" models were purchased to look beautiful sitting under the lights of the illuminated showroom floor of the Weissport, Penna. Chrysler Dealer! It’s the beginning of a New 1936 Model Year, with all the excitement of interested citizens gathered to look through the large showroom windows. With that scene only a matter of inches from the viewer, it would be difficult to convince that viewer that they were observing some more recent year.
Because September is the beginning of Fall and the “Change of Seasons” is beginning to get underway in the mountains of northeastern Pennsylvania, the majority of foliage will still be green with a few pockets of yellows, oranges and reds scattered about at the highest elevations, just enough color to reinforce the notion of early Fall.
Are Steam, Diesel, Electric or all/some of both?
All LS&W Motive Power is of the Wooten-fire-boxed Camelback variety, almost all being Reading Company prototypes. The motive power roster currently includes …
Ex-RDG A5a four-coupled switchers (2)
Ex-RDG B8a six-coupled switchers (2)
Ex-RDG D8sd 4-4-0 Atlantic (1) [new acquisition]
Ex-RDG I-5c 2-8-0 Consolidations (3)
Unidentified Prototype 2-8-0 Consolidation (1) [new acquisition]
Ex-RDG I-8 2-8-0 Consolidations (2)
Ex-RDG L7sb 4-6-0 Ten-Wheelers (2)
Ex-RDG P5a 4-4-2 Americans (2)
Additional Motive Power …
An NYO&W Class U 2-6-0 Mogul and a Pennsy E6 4-4-2 Atlantic, each wearing their own herald and doing their best to reinforce “beyond-the-basement” interchange traffic “on stage.” A ‘47-‘53 vintage brass-and-zamac-casting-hybrid Mantua Reading Company G1sa 4-6-2 Pacific sporting the classic Reading gold pinstriped cab and tender will bring the passengers and the mail up from the Allentown-Bethlehem area, along with a Reading I-10sa 2-8-0 Consolidation hauling Reading interchange freight into the yard at Weissport, further reinforcing interchange with the world "beyond the basement.” The newest acquisition, a Reading Company Class D8sd American will haul the mixed-Daily.
There are also a pair of ex-B&O 0-4-0T “Docksiders,” owned by GERN (which will probably soon hit the auction block as GERN has ordered one of these new box-cab oil-electrics being offered by the trio of ALCO/I-R/GE for their “on property” switching.) An older brass Akane C&O USRA “H” Class 2-6-6-2 had been purchased back in the seventies when I had a basement in which to build a layout. It was to be “pusher power” until I could find one of those rare Erie L1 0-8-8-0 Camelbacks replace it (I missed the opportunity to purchase one when they were offered as I was in the middle of a cross-continent move.) … I never found an L1, and since I no longer have a basement, the big articulated locomotive will be joining the "Docksiders" on the auction block at some point in the near future.
What are your railroads and what's the rolling stock consist of for deliveries/industries?
The LS&W is a “Freelanced Prototype,” inspired by the development of other such railroads by the likes of Allen McClelland and Tony Koester and the other “Lichen Belt” guys in the mid-seventies. In an effort to envision a name that would sound so realistic that no one would question it, and some might even say they had heard of it (as has happened a couple of times, accompanied by my suppressed smile,) I chose two rivers in eastern Pennsylvania, then looked to the west, and named it the Lehigh Susquehanna & Western. I developed a Company Herald using a typeface and a graphic style/convention reminiscent of the turn of the last century. I use the Herald as my Avatar here.
Making periodic "guest appearances" on LS&W trackage will be Reading Company, Pennsylvania Railroad and the New York, Ontario and Western.
Being an anthracite coal hauler in the ‘30’s, the most common piece of rolling stock is the USRA twin hopper, with the addition of an abundant amount of the ever-present box car red box car, a smattering of cement-stained grey covered hoppers, some tank cars and gondolas, a handful of reefers and a few lonely flat cars. (If I neglected to mention anyone, I apologize.)
Is it Freelance or Compressed Prototype or even exact scale replica?
Having done a major “down-sizing” from an “in-the-early-construction-stages” 20’ x 35’ basement layout to one potentially measuring 12’ x 16” in one half of a Great Room with a 13’x 2 ½’ extension along one wall of the other half of the Great Room, I would say that we are dealing with some serious compression … the compression of an already-rather-compressed, freelanced “compressed impression” of the upstate coal regions of Pennsylvania. But a railroad will be beginning to take shape in my house after the completion of the "Challenge," and I’ll be having a good time … and I am looking forward to sharing the experience with my new-found friends on “Big Blue at The-Gauge.”
EDIT: Reworded a few sentences to better convey the description of the Lehigh Susquehanna & Western.
EDIT: Update: Listed Motive Power and added railroads with visual interchange, edited the “additional motive power” section.
EDIT: Update: Listed Motive Power and added railroads with visual interchange, edited the “additional motive power” section.
biL
Lehigh Susquehanna & Western
"America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves." ~~Abraham Lincoln
Lehigh Susquehanna & Western
"America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves." ~~Abraham Lincoln