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If you're looking for one of the more obscure NYC branch lines, consider the Adirondack Division of the N Y Central Railroad (aka Mohawk & Malone Railway) line that ran from the Utica, NY area (in the Mohawk Valley) north through the Adirondack Mountains, up to the St. Lawrence River where it interchanged w/ the CP just south of Montreal, Quebec It served a beautiful lake and mountain region in the Adirondacks, interchanged w/ the Rutland, GT, CP, D&H, D,L,&W, amongst other, and was composed of a whole bunch of short branch lines, some of them serving resorts on various upstate NY lakes, well into the 1930s; after that, one by one of the stub branches were abandoned. Branches served the Old Forge/ Fulton Lake Chain, Lake Placid and Raquette Lake resort regions. There was plenty of east-west traffic at Utica, being located on the "Water Level Route of the NYC" between NY City and Chicago, passenger trains betweeen Utica and Montreal, mail,milk and even ice trains, some mining & logging industry, and resort traffic. If you like modeling water-creeks, swamps, rivers, lakes, etc. this route had plenty of that including lake boats, as well as many trestles, bridges, water front scenes, dimunitive stations, and plenty of spectacular scenery. Much of the rail was fairly light, w/ sharp curves and some sections of steep ruling grades. Snow was spectacular for several months each year. Classic, smaller NYC steam - 2-6-0, 2-8-0, 2-8-2, 4-6-0, and 4-6-2s were most common in the period you want to model. There were several roundhouse/engine servicing facilities incl. at Utica, Tupper Lake, and Malone Junction. Some of the steam were oil-burners, and some were coal- fired. There was lots of Pullman traffic throughout the 1930s, as well as resort and commuter traffic. There are a couple of books worth consulting re: this Division - "Fairy Tale Railroad" by Henry A. Harter, published in 1979 by North County Books (no pretty color pictures, buy lots of good b&w, plus very well done station by station coverage, industries served, good photo coverage of the lake front resort traffic, and the chronology of the various branches, etc. Another good resource for this region, and that covers this railroad, plus others that served the Adirondacks, is entitled : "Where Did The Tracks Go" by Michael Kudish, published by The Chauncy Press in 1985. Again no pretty pictures, but a tremendous resource of mile by mile operations, track configurations at each station, yards, engine servicing points, etc., plus detailed topographical maps of the entire route. Both books have an extensive, but dated, bibliography. There probably are more recent publications dealing w/ this Division, and the N Y Central historical societies should be consulted. I grew up in this region, and am surprised that there isn't more modeling of it being done, or at least I'm not aware of it. FYI - The Adirondack Railway was (re)formed, following abandonment, in the late 1970s to serve the Utica to Lake Placid region, and specifically the 1980 Olympic Winter Games in Lake Placid. I do not know the present status of this route, not having visited the area since the early '80s.
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