I'm in the very preliminary stages of layout planning (as in it's just a bunch of disjointed ideas swimming around in my mind), but I'd like to base my layout on the section of the PRR Panhandle Division that used to run just a couple of miles from my house.
For right now, I'd like to find a source for photos and maps showing details of the Burgettstown yard and the branches running from Burgettstown to Cherry Valley and Atlasburg, including the coal mines & any other trackside industries. PRRT&HS didn't have anything to offer, unfortunately (or at least I couldn't find anything there).
Also, at Conway Yard (obviously not a part of the Panhandle Division) there is/was a coal unloading dock, with crane & conveyor system built for unloading coal from barges. Can anyone point me to any photos or information on that structure and the time it was in operation by the railroad?
You need to join the Yahoo group for the PRR where real experts will help you with more information then you ever knew existed. It used to be called PRR-Fax and may still be.
Bud.
Have you looked around the Keystone Crossings site? http://kc.pennsyrr.com/ The Hobos guide might help you out. There is a lot of info on everything Pennsy. There used to be so much more but a lot of my old links are leading to dead ends.
You can be like me and pony up tons of cash for books. I have amassed a great library of Pennsy books.
There is also Rick Tiptons RR in Columbus web site and book. http://www.columbusrailroads.com/new/?menu=Home
There is also the Pennsy west Yahoo group and the PRR yahoo group. There is also the PRR discussion web. All of these will yield tons of info for the asking.
Hope this helps some.
Pete
I pray every day I break even, Cause I can really use the money!
I started with nothing and still have most of it left!
Hi, Bud...
Take a look here
http://www.railsandtrails.com/TC/PRR/Panhandle/index.htm
Hope it is helpful,
Ed
Thanks, all. Lots of very interesting stuff to dig through. It'll take me a bit (I don't get much time to do this sort of thing), but you'll be hearing from me again, I'm sure.
Thanks, again.
Bud
I found a 1955 time table for the Panhandle division online for you.
http://www.multimodalways.org/docs/railroads/companies/PRR/PRR%20ETT%20%239%20PH%20Dist%2010-30-1955.pdf
Enjoy.
Just checking back in, now. So far, I've been coming up empty. Plenty of Panhandle Division information out there, but next to nothing on the section of the Panhandle which I'm interested in. Next step is to visit some of the local, public libraries and look for local history items and old photos.
Layout planning is still in the very early stages, but it looks like it's going to be a shelf layout, in my garage workshop, with potential for expansion into the next room, so there will be a couple of 40' lengths, as well as some shorter "legs". Of course, although the real Panhandle Division never was a "water level" route (it crossed the Ohio River at Weirton, WV to Steubenville, OH), mine will have to have some water level trackage, so that I can model a river coal-loading dock and maybe part of the legendary Dravo shipyard (which was on Neville Island, a few miles downstream of Pittsburgh).
I might actually get to start on it sometime this winter. :)