by Ron Papiercavich/photos by the author
As one of the major trunk lines connecting New York and Buffalo, Lehigh Valley Railroad served the anthracite coal fields of eastern Pennsylvnia until it was absorbed by Conrail in 1976. As a career railroader, I had the chance to work with former LV employees and frequently talked to them about how the railroad operated in its final years, which was helpful when modeling it. Perhaps the most helpful was Mike Bednar, an LV veteran and historian.
I grew up in the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre area of Pennsylvania and was always fascinated by the remains of the complex branch line network of the anthracite railroads. From a young age I was always trying to figure out destinations of the many rail lines and what their purpose was. However, by this time everything had become Conrail, with one route operated by Delaware & Hudson as a form of competition to “big Blue” to prevent a total monopoly.
Following the collapse of anthracite mining and the slow decline of the steel producers, Conrail was left with the task of deciding which lines could still be profitable. The mystery of all the remnants left from the anthracite era fueled my interest in historical research and exploration of the lines around my region.
ABOVE: A matching set of Yellow Jackets comes blasting into the sleepy town of Glen Hollow. The Heidelberg Breaker can be seen in the background.
This set the stage for the journey to create my own version of the final years of the Lehigh Valley Railroad in my basement in N scale. I enjoy the freedom of being creative, and the freelance method allows me to have an artistic outlet. Location names on the layout are fictional, but may hint to the real location that inspired the scene. On the other hand, having a specific prototype and era allows me to have a benchmark when selecting the correct equipment, how it is weathered, and methods of operation. It also allows me to choose the industries that the railroad served. This happy medium of my interests is why I chose a proto-freelance design.
Among the many opportunities modeling the 1968-1976 era are the various paint schemes that emerged out of the LV’s Sayre Shops. Locomotives were decorated with brightly colored schemes that gained nicknames by railfans such as “Snowbirds” and “Yellow Jackets.” Also during this time, different shades of Cornell Red were used along with varying placement of stripes and logos, making for some unique arrangements and adding visual interest to my layout. There was also a mix of locomotive builders still operating during this era including Alco, Baldwin, EMD, and General Electric. Some first-generation diesels were still soldiering on, but second-generation power was quickly taking over on road freights. Lastly, this era is also a good choice for freight car variety. There was still some steam era equipment in service, but modern freight cars were showing up in droves. Taken together, it was a visually interesting time in Northeast railroading, despite the financial conditions that plagued the era.
ABOVE: A local exits the Wilkeston Secondary at Mink interlocking. The train will return to Packer Yard via the main line. At Packer Yard, the local’s consist will be prepared for pick-up by a road freight.
Getting Started
Construction of the layout began in 2010. People become interested in the hobby for a number of different reasons. Some may even choose to ignore the aspects they are less interested in for as long as possible. For me, building a layout was always my main goal in the hobby. I don’t see myself ever being satisfied by completing models and putting them on a shelf, or even creating a diorama. When all of the elements come together to make a believable, realistic setting to operate trains, that interests me most. I see the layout as an organism and all of its parts bring it to life. Everything added to the layout such as scenery, structures, rolling stock, etc. is there to make the organism whole. The drive for me to work on a project is the hope that it will improve the layout and make it more complete when added.
This approach gave me the chance to learn all the different skills from benchwork and wiring to laying track and adding scenery. In fact it’s been a one-man show, with the exception of some equipment that was weathered by my friends at Centerpiece Rolling Stock. I outsourced weathering on these pieces of equipment early on because I was eager to begin photographing the scenes I was completing on the layout at the time. I didn’t want to halt my progress by sitting at the workbench weathering equipment.
ABOVE: With LV Alco RS-2 218 in the lead, a local run returns to Packer Yard with some loaded anthracite hoppers retrieved from the Heidelberg breaker.
Why N Scale?
Why did I choose N scale? I enjoy big scenes, but still want operators to have the advantage of being able to reach for uncoupling during switching activities. My deepest scenes on the layout are only around two feet. In N scale this allows plenty of space to create the large mountain terrain associated with the Northeast.
To capture the feel of the era, I wanted to include not only the trains themselves, but all the surroundings that are associated with the scenes of that era. I have noticed that larger scales have come to rely more on backdrop photos for scenery due to space constraints. I do believe photo backdrops can be used tastefully to enhance certain scenes on my layout, but I didn’t want to rely heavily on photos for a scenery method…
