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

[Jason Jaquith <"jaj165_@_psu.edu">]

>How many on the list have, are planning or building a model railroad ????
>

Planning for the future.  First I have to get out of school, get a job, a
house, etc... so it's a few years away.

>If yes to the above, what road are you modeling or basing a freelance on
>???
>
Two roads accually.  I always wanted to model both my favorite roads, the
Erie and the Pennsy.  At first I was going to freelance a location, but
then I realized that an excellent location to model would be my hometown of
Corry, PA.  Both roads passed through town, the mainline of the Erie, and
two branches of the Pennsy.  The Pennsy Branches are the P&E branch, which
ran from Erie, PA to Rockville near Harrisburg and the Pennsy Chautauqua
Branch, which ran from Oil City, PA to Buffalo, using Nickle Plate trackage
rights on the last 50 miles or so to Buffalo.  I'd like to follow the three
lines west of Corry to Lovell, were they went there seperate ways.  I then
want to model the Erie on to Cambridge Springs and the Pennsy's Chautauqua
Branch on to Titusville, PA.  

An interesting thing about the Erie between Corry and Cambridge Springs is
the grade seperation between the eastbound and westbound mains.  Heading
east from Cambridge Springs, the EB main begins to climb above the level of
the WB.  The EB then crosses over the WB and the lines parrel, seperated by
some distance in a few locations, maybe even a 1/4 of a mile or so.  Then
the EB crosses over the WB again and they both cross over French creek.
This is an interesting sight, with the lines crossing and the truss bridges
over the creek.  The mains final come together again just west of Union City. 

>If staying fairly strict to prototype.....
>
>What era, equipment, and actual rail line are you modelling or planning to
>model ???

Two era's  The early fifties, (probably 1953) and 1967.  Operations in the
fifties will allow me to model both the freight and passenger operations on
the Erie and the operations on the Pennsy branches.  For instance, ore was
hauled from the docks in Erie to Bethlehem Steel in the 50's period.  I'd
also get to model some Pennsy steam.  1967 would let me model both second
geration diesels on both railroads and piggyback operations on the EL.

>Most importantly, what reasons, WHY did you choose the line, era, region
>you did......
>
Like I said, I choose this prototype location to model all the aspects of
railroading I like in a prototypical manner.  I'm a hard core rivet
counter, so I like detail and research.  This choice of prototype will also
fulfull this aspect of the hobby.

Jason Jaquith

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