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Hi CK: Thanks for the great info. When abouts was all this? I was born in '61 (in Center Twp) and frankly didn't get up to BF that much. I only remember the grade crossings at the lower end of town and on the dogleg where the MBr crossed over to the College yard. Your freight mix seems to jive up with what I figured based on the industries at the time. Just to have hoppers, I'm going to include some off-layout staging for other industries north and south. As a side note, I checked some of the old business directories at the BF library and as late as 1964 there were still four coal dealers in BF-NB: Addison Davidson, Debo Coal Yard, Peter Shaffer & Son, and Valley Fuel & Supply. My dad says that we had a coal furnace up until '62 or so. Heck - there's STILL a little coal yard in business just down the hill from me, but it was always served by truck. I think the MRR gets lost in the whole PRR system (what's 2.5 miles as a percentage of their routes?) Wayne A. Cole has published some books on Beaver and Lawrence county (PA) RRs and is working on new books covering other fallen flags in this area. I think the MRR will be covered, so you might want to search the 'net or keep an eye out. Thanks again, Kurt Laughlin [quote]QUOTE: Originally posted by assembler_head Keith, I grew up in BF and have memories of PRR Baldwin switchers and GP9s traversing the Marginal Branch. In terms of hoppers, I recall seeing a PRR 100 ton "yellow dot" hopper loaded with scrap metal on the siding at scrap dealer in the lower end of town. The spur was somewhere near where the double tracks came down the ramp from the PRR main line and joined the branch along Walnut Bottom Run. I thought it unusual at the time to see a hopper loaded with scrap metal instead of coal, but it was there none the less. There was also a coal trestle located off a spur in the small yard along the connection with with the PRR mainline. I believe your picture of the Sanborn map shows the spur. I never saw any hoppers on the trestle in my days in BF. Occationally, I would see a fairly "long" train on the branch, headed by a Baldwin switcher and punctuated by a PRR N5 caboose. Presumably, this was interchange traffic for the P&LE connection at College. I remember seeing PRR covered hoppers in the mix, but I can't say that I saw any open hoppers. Of course, with a little modeler's license, you could include hoppers in with the interchange traffic. Most of the rail cars I ever saw on the branch were box cars and refer cars. I assume from your picture of the Sanborn map, you have the track map and industry layout from the early 1900s. I've not found much published on the web regarding the PRR Marginal Branch. I've often wondered whether the library in BF might yeld some additional informaation. CK... [/quote]
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