In this forum discussion http://cs.trains.com/mrr/f/13/t/282838.aspx Beausabre mentioned Camden N.J. as being a potential area to model. I liked that, since I was born in Camden and my Grandfather worked for Victor Talking Machine/RCA Victor. I was slowly making very slow progress in my research when I received my 25th Anniversary Model Railroad Planning. There, in the 2019 issue is the Reading Railroad Linden Street Yard, by Mike Prokop, and it includes Campbell Soup and RCA.
So after that unneccessary intro, my question is: if you have access to that plan, do you think it has operational potential? I am new to the hobby and have no background in railroads, and am planning my first layout. My main interest is in building a layout, but the consensus is at some point I will actually want to operate it. I would be operating solo, and look for maybe an hour's worth of entertainment.
If it is okay by our hosts to post the layout I will, but I do respect copyright laws.
Hi Late4Dinner,
First, let me apologize on behalf of my fellow forum members and myself for not answering your question sooner.
Unfortunately I don't have a clue as to the answer to your question about whether or not the layout would be good for operations. Others can answer that question better than I.
However, I can make a couple of suggestions that might get you some meaningful responses:
First, I'm not sure it would be okay to post one of Model Railroader's own track plans when the plan is in a book that they would like you to purchase. You might want to contact Steven Otte to ask. You can send him a message by clicking on his avatar beside the first post in the General Discussion forum, and then click 'Start Conversation'. The layout is not in the track planning database.
If for some reason it is not okay to post the track plan, then draw your own version(s) and post it yourself. The more information you can provide, like for example the details of your layout space, the better.
Good luck,
Dave
I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!
The article has some good information on operating it. It's nearly infinite since you can take cars on/off via the car float. The nice thing is, it's built to Freemo standards so you can always add more modules off the sides to expand it later. Check into what other industries may have been served in that area, and make an extension with those, for even more switching opportunities. I just gave it a quick glance, I don;t remember if the car float was the source of the cars, or it was a destination - if it was used as a destination for coal hoppers to ship across to one of the city yards, adding an extension with some staging tracks would make it much more operational.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.