Philadelphia Transfer

So, I've been working on operations and was looking through blocking information for the trains that pick up in New Britain. For ANE-1, which is the Hartford leg of the Speed Witch, that meets NE-1 (the Speed Witch) in Bridgeport, one of the classifications is Phila. Tfr. which is listed in the beginning of the Arranged Freight Service books as Philadelphia Transfer.

But I couldn't find any information about it online. I figured it was in Philadelphia, of course, and my guess is that it's for L.C.L since most of the Speed Witch is.

Then I found this map.

And there is is, toward the lower left, at the east end of the 52nd St. Yard - Phila Transfer L.C.L.

Interestingly, the map not only lists the stations (which in railroad terminology designates a town that has a passenger station and/or freight house and/or team tracks or bulk tracks in NH terminology), but whether they take L.C.L or carload traffic.

But even more interesting is that at the beginning of the NH Arranged Freight Service books, it lists PRR classifications as well. One of the classifications is Speed Witch (another is the aforementioned Philadelphia Transfer), and all of the stations classified as Speed Witch appear on this map:

Bridesburg, Pa. Carload

Bustleton, Pa. Carload

Dock St. Phila., Pa. Carload

Engleside, Phila., Pa. LCL and carload

Fairhill Station, Phila., Pa. LCL and carload

Frankford, Pa.  LCL and carload

Holmsburg Jct, Pa. LCL and carload

Kensington Sta., Phila, Pa. LCL and carload

Midvale, Pa. LCL and Carload

North Penn, Pa. Carload

North Phila., Pa. LCL and carload

Norris St., Phila,. Pa. Carload

Ontario St., Phila, Pa. LCL and carload

Sears Sta., Phila., Pa. LCL and carload

Shackamaxon Sta., Phila., Pa. LCL and carload

Tacony, Pa. LCL and carload

Tiaga St., Phila., Pa.  Carload

Vine St., Phila., Pa. Carload

Taken from NH Arranged Freight Service #79 (April 25, 1950).

So not only do I have more information for where these cars are going, but also whether they would be LCL or carload. Incidentally, my suspicion was that the carload shipments are for team tracks, not industries.

And as it turns out, I can look that up too. I happen to have a copy of PRR C.T. 1000 for May 1, 1945 - List of Stations and Sidings and Instructions for making Reports to the Superintendent Car Service. This lists every siding, private and railroad owned, on the PRR.

So looking at a couple of the entries, say Bridesburg and Tacony. In addition to all of the industries (and a couple of storage sidings) listed in Tacony, it also lists at mile marker 76.9 (from Jersey City Passenger Station) Freight Station and Public Delivery. In Bridesburg it lists at mile marker 78.7 just Public Delivery. The freight station entry is self explanatory, with Public Delivery the designation for what modeler's tend to call a team track.

These will all provide some interesting destinations for waybills on the layout.

As a bonus, recently Ted Culotta mentioned a book on his Speedwitchmedia.com called The Railroad Freight Service. While it's nice to have a hard copy, you can view this book in its entirety at Hathitrust here. Just scroll down and select which copy you'd like to view, two universities have scanned it. As Ted said, it's a very helpful resource.

Playing with trains

One of my favorite posts:

http://lancemindheim.com/?p=894

Ballast

So, partially in response to a post on the NHRHTA Forum and in part because I've been working on it for a while anyway, here's some info on how I'm ballasting the track.

To begin with, I started with pictures. There are a number of color pictures of New Britain in a number of books, and here are a number of other ones from slides and video captures. As always, you can click on a photo to enlarge it. There are a lot this time...

Note the many variations in color and texture - all of these photos were taken within about 5 miles of each other.

These are on the Highland Line.

(Tom McNamara)

 Highland Line (near Plainville), note the amount of dirt.

 Plainville

 Wooster St. New Britain

These next three are westbound into New Britain Yard c1946

(Paul Wales video)

 

 

These three are from the same location, c1953.

(Kent Cochrane video)

Black and white photos can also be helpful. Although you don't get the color (obviously), there is obviously a lot of dirt mixed in with the ballast in these photos:

1956 (photographer unknown)

Kent Cochrane 1946-1947

So that gives me a starting point for color and texture. In New Britain itself (particularly the yard) there's a lot of dirt, some cinders, and some stone ballast, along with weeds. In addition to the historical photos, I've also visited locations, particularly New Britain, that look similar to what's in the pictures. Obviously there aren't any areas using cinders anymore, but I think the appearance of cinders and dirt is pretty similar to the small pieces of asphalt and dirt you see along the side of the road.

So I've been using a mix of Scenic Express cinders, light limestone (#40), dark limestone (#40), charcoal sanded grout, and genuine New Britain dirt. I'm using Pledge Floor Care Finish (aka Future) as a glue. The track is painted with Rustoleum Camouflage paint, then weathered with Pan Pastels.

The two mainline tracks are at the top with more of the stone ballast.

The turnout is the Berlin Line and is cinders and dirt.

 Again, the two tracks to the left are the main, the platform track is also the Berlin Line.

Compare to the photo of the L-1 and the man walking across the track above.

In-Ground Coal Hoppers

Last week I started mocking up a basis for in-ground coal hoppers. I haven't found too many pictures online, and the ones I'm modeling are no longer there. So I've loosely based it off of a Fine Scale Miniatures design. I just used parts and pieces I had on hand, including bits of masonite (base and side wall), 1x2 for the main side walls, heavy card stock for the slope sheet, and styrene for the border and to scratchbuild the I-beams.

Of course, once I got started I need to fit some track to it, to get the spacing and depth of the I-beams correct. Then I wanted to color it a bit, which led to ballasting a side because I wanted to experiment with the track buried in the ground, which then meant I had to weather it...

The concrete frame isn't complete, and I will install bars that parallel the track for safety. Bill suggested that the I-beams should be deeper, which will be easy enough. I just used what I had on hand. I might bring the concrete frame to rail-head level.

So, the track and I-beams (which are attached) used my now standard coat of Rustoleum camouflage. Ballast is a mix of genuine New Britain dirt, Scenic Express light limestone ballast and fine and medium coal, along with some charcoal grout. The concrete is sprayed with Rustoleum Multicolored Textured spray paint. It doesn't list a color name, but it's a concrete-like off white with multicolored flecks and a sandy texture. It goes on very thick, so it won't work with anything that has detail you need to retain. Weathered with Pan Pastels and charcoal grout.

Overall I'm extremely pleased with the results of the test. I have at least two to build on the layout when I get to those portions.

Shoreline Aerial Photos 1992

Not my era or area, but still an interesting series of photos of the old NH Shoreline in CT.