Talky Tuesday #100

“WW #142” of two weeks ago is a 3/4 view of caboose #16. Per a 1938 ORER of 1938, there were 4 cabooses on the roster at that time, numbered 14-17. Caboose #15 was sold to the Arcade and Attica Railroad. The others were offered for sale after abandonment, beginning at $50.

Wordless Wednesday #142

Bill Caloroso – Cal’s Classics

Talky Tuesday #99

4-6-0 #119 leads a mixed freight in last week’s “WW #141”. 5 cars back is a mid-train helper. A number of photos show a helper engine multiple cars back in S&NY freights; I assume this was due to weight restrictions on bridges. Location of the photo is uncertain.

Wordless Wednesday #141

Bill Caloroso – Cal’s Classics

Talky Tuesday #98

S&NY #117 displays her fireman’s side on “WW #140” from December 20th. The jacketing over the boiler could use a little repair, but the 117 still looks to be in service, given the white flags on the smokebox and the load of coal in the tender. #117 was a 1900 product of the Schenectady Works, purchased used from the NYC as #1748 in 1926. The 2-6-0 went to the scrapper after abandonment.

Wordless Wednesday #140

Bill Caloroso – Cal’s Classics

Talky Tuesday #97

Wordless Wednesday #139 of two weeks ago is a view of the Powell station. Looking rough in this view, the station has likely not had a fresh coat of paint in many a year.

Remarkably, the station was purchased after abandonment and was moved to a different site in Powell on Greenwood Road, and can be viewed on Google Maps Street View, albeit in slightly altered form and with a coat of red paint:

Wordless Wednesday #139

Bill Caloroso – Cal’s Classics

Talky Tuesday #96

Since the winter season is nearly upon us, “WW #138” of two weeks ago is a low-angle shot of SNY #118 on a caboose hop in light snow. I am unsure of the location.

Bradford County Safari and LSOPS 9 (Part 2)

Part 1 here.

Continuing on from Towanda to Allentown, I hooked up with 3 other attendees for LSOPS 9. We were scheduled to visit 3 railroads on our visit, but one layout owner had to drop out due to unexpected illness. This worked out for the best, as we then spent an entire day at Jim Hertzog’s amazing Reading Railroad. First, though, we spent all of Friday evening at Larry Reynolds’ PRR Horseshoe Curve layout :

We spent nearly 6 hours at Mr. Reynolds’. I was assigned to the east end of Altoona yard, and was too busy to really get a good look at the rest of the huge layout!

The next morning we were up bright and early, and headed to Jim Hertzog’s for a crew brief and morning op session. After a break for lunch at an excellent nearby café located right next to the NS tracks, we returned to Jim’s place for an afternoon session. For the morning session, I was assigned a mine turn that ran from Shamokin to Locust Summit and back. For the afternoon session, I marked up on a coal drag from Gordon to Shamokin and back. All these trains were headed by Reading steam. (Hooray!!)

Jim Hertzog’s Reading:

A most excellent weekend. I would encourage anyone who is interested in model railroad operations to attend one of these events, even if you are relatively inexperienced. Most layout owners are very accommodating towards neophytes who are truly interested in “playing the game.”

Note: A slightly longer version of this write-up was published in the Division 5, Mid Central Region December 2017 “Trainwire” Vol. XIII No. 12. Full PDF of that issue here.