Re: (erielack) Modeling preference, line, era, location,

["MikeG0112_@_aol.com"]

Well, since you asked, my railroad is the Bergen & Western Railroad Company, 
a wholly owned subsidiary of the Erie Lackawanna and the New York, 
Susquehanna & Western Railoads. Originially built in the 19th century as a 
route across New Jersey to the Pennsylvania coal fields, it became a joint 
operation of the Erie and NYS&W during the 1940's. There is a reciprocal 
switching agreement in place between the two roads. 
The railroad runs in a northwesterly direction from eastern NJ (Bergen Yard) 
roughly paralleling the Greenwood Lake branch, to a connect with the NYS&W at 
Susquehanna Jct (roughly Pompton Jct), then strikes out to the southwest 
passing thru Woodport, Andover, and Blairstown to a connection with the CNJ 
at Hainesburg Jct. You see, when the L&NE was abandoned in 1961, the CNJ 
bought their mainline from Bethlehem to Hainesburg to preserve their 
connection to the B&W. This of course allowed the NYS&W to abandon their 
tracks west of Sparta and the CNJ to close the interchange at Greenpond Jct. 
Not many people know that ;>)

The models are mostly EL from the 1969-1971 time period ( because that's when 
I began railfanning). NYS&W and CNJ is also represented with D&H showing up 
on the EL trains and Reading appearing on the CNJ run-thru's from Allentown. 
I will occasionally go into a time warp and run a Sealand stack train over 
this route when I get in the mood.

There is weekday commuter service over the line; eastbound in the morning and 
westbound in the afternoon. An EL E8, GP7's and RS3's are used to pull 
Stillwell coaches, Boonton Cars and ex Santa Fe coaches. The NYS&W also 
contributes an RS1 to the commuter pool. Two trains originate and terminate 
at Susquehanna Jct (SJ) and one train runs to and from Blairstown (to Jersey 
City which is of course off layout).
I have programmed a freight car assignment/train list generation program and 
developed a suburban timetable to run the commuter trains by. I also 
programmed a fast clock which I use during operating sessions.

The layout itself (and here is where you need to use your imagination) is on 
a fully sceniced 3' by 7' board. All freight cars enter and leave the layout 
from the interchange track at SJ from boxes stored under the table. A lap 
counter is used with each station being a certain number of laps away.  
Scenery is winter without snow (brown grass, barren trees and low lighting. A 
deep blue sky scenic backdrop is planned). The layout was originally 
constructed in 1979 when I lived in an apartment and was designed to be 
stored upright behind a door when not in use. I have been operating it 
regularly ever since. Plans are to replace it if and when I ever get more 
room. 

Mike Galesi
ELHS #145


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