Mohawk Valley
Registered
This is my second foray into G scale, my first was a layout running around my Mum’s back garden in 1976, now long gone!
After a long break away from the Hobby, I became interested in O gauge as I now had a fairly large space in the loft that had planning permission for a model railway. So, into a British Industrial line, Cement works, which was pretty much completed when my head was turned to modelling North American prototypes…now there is a minefield just waiting to be opened…
it was very easy to change the British cement line into an American industrial line, the track plan could remain very much the same and it only needed the heightening of some of the buildings to accommodate the size of US models, even if they do use 1/50 (roughly) scale compared to 1/43.5 British scale.
I invented the road name of Mohawk Valley Railroad for this line, and it’s now being transferred to the new G scale layout built on the remnants of the former O scale layout.
My head was completely turned when I read the four part article in Railroad Modeller about modelling the Claremont and Concord Railway in G scale. The size of this layout was roughly the same as what I had with the O scale layout. It utilised overhead electric steeple cab locos and then GE 44 ton centre cab switchers. Plenty of street running as it started out as a passenger hauling interurban. I alway had a penchant for steeple cabs, but the price and scarcity of O scale models was eye watering…hang on, didn’t LGB make a steeplecab?
A bit of modellers licence was called upon and the ‘prototype for everything’ brigade ruled the day. Looking at US systems in general, it’s really amazing on the difference in size of freight stock, where one box car can tower over another. So the difference in true scale went out of the window. I reckoned that keeping it no larger than 1/22.5 or 1/24 meant that 1/29 standard gauge stock fitted in perfectly. I never was a purist!
So the electrified section of the Mohawk Valley Railroad was incorporated. Set in New York State, somewhere in the Syracuse/ Troy area, this offshoot from the main line serves a paper mill and runs on the long defunct trolley line of the town of Lake Shore.
Back to reality, and down to earth, most of the stock has been bought along with track and overhead catenary, ( isn’t LGB overhead expensive). There are currently two LGB steeplecab engines, a GE 25 ton diesel (Piko) and a GE 44 ton centre cab diesel ( USA Trains)
I‘m slowly working out the track plan as I remove the old O gauge track…but it’s a bit chilly up in the loft at the moment, so it’s kit bashing buildings and fitting knuckle couplers for the time being.
Hopefully I’ll report more in due course. Another fascinating line is the grandiosely named Texas Transportation Co line in San Antonio, Texas. 1.3 miles long and serving a brewery. Well worth looking up on YouTube.
Cheers
Martin
After a long break away from the Hobby, I became interested in O gauge as I now had a fairly large space in the loft that had planning permission for a model railway. So, into a British Industrial line, Cement works, which was pretty much completed when my head was turned to modelling North American prototypes…now there is a minefield just waiting to be opened…
it was very easy to change the British cement line into an American industrial line, the track plan could remain very much the same and it only needed the heightening of some of the buildings to accommodate the size of US models, even if they do use 1/50 (roughly) scale compared to 1/43.5 British scale.
I invented the road name of Mohawk Valley Railroad for this line, and it’s now being transferred to the new G scale layout built on the remnants of the former O scale layout.
My head was completely turned when I read the four part article in Railroad Modeller about modelling the Claremont and Concord Railway in G scale. The size of this layout was roughly the same as what I had with the O scale layout. It utilised overhead electric steeple cab locos and then GE 44 ton centre cab switchers. Plenty of street running as it started out as a passenger hauling interurban. I alway had a penchant for steeple cabs, but the price and scarcity of O scale models was eye watering…hang on, didn’t LGB make a steeplecab?
A bit of modellers licence was called upon and the ‘prototype for everything’ brigade ruled the day. Looking at US systems in general, it’s really amazing on the difference in size of freight stock, where one box car can tower over another. So the difference in true scale went out of the window. I reckoned that keeping it no larger than 1/22.5 or 1/24 meant that 1/29 standard gauge stock fitted in perfectly. I never was a purist!
So the electrified section of the Mohawk Valley Railroad was incorporated. Set in New York State, somewhere in the Syracuse/ Troy area, this offshoot from the main line serves a paper mill and runs on the long defunct trolley line of the town of Lake Shore.
Back to reality, and down to earth, most of the stock has been bought along with track and overhead catenary, ( isn’t LGB overhead expensive). There are currently two LGB steeplecab engines, a GE 25 ton diesel (Piko) and a GE 44 ton centre cab diesel ( USA Trains)
I‘m slowly working out the track plan as I remove the old O gauge track…but it’s a bit chilly up in the loft at the moment, so it’s kit bashing buildings and fitting knuckle couplers for the time being.
Hopefully I’ll report more in due course. Another fascinating line is the grandiosely named Texas Transportation Co line in San Antonio, Texas. 1.3 miles long and serving a brewery. Well worth looking up on YouTube.
Cheers
Martin
It’s a good job I know where my lump hammer is hidden then…
