Operations on the NYW&B
Ten-wheeler No. 1226 (above) rolls off the bridge at Hudson Inlet with the Troy local to enter Port Hudson Jct. The NYW&B’s only diesel (right) is No. 1000, a 1927-era Alco GE Ingersoll Rand switcher assigned to the Port Hudson float yard. Here, No. 1000 (with a Great American Locomotion body kit) is hauling cars off of the car float.
obstructions (wash tubs, furnaces, etc.). I didn’t want the complication of dou- ble-decking, so I was willing to sacrifice some mainline route miles. I knew I wanted a stub-end terminal, a wye for reversing specific equipment, and no reversing loops per se. I also wanted a single hidden staging yard that could ingest and disgorge trains. The visible portion of the layout had to support in- teresting point-to-point operation. Alas, I had to give up the idea of a sin- gle staging yard with multiple en- trances and exits because the resulting hidden turnouts and crossings were just too complex. Instead, I decided on two separate, four-track staging yards. Also, given the size of my space and my desire for broad curves, I had to give up any notion of even an abbreviated en- gine terminal. I opted to model only minimal servicing facilities: a water column, ash pit, sand tower, and two ready tracks for steam. I dreamed up a layout schematic that involved two primary routes, a single-track line that crosses a double- track line. These two lines would join,
44
share common trackage and a station through one town, then diverge, creat- ing an “X”-shaped configuration over- all. The double-track line would have catenary and the single-track line would not. Then I put my mind to adapting a prototype concept that fit my favorite area of America, upstate New York and western New England.
Concept I have always been fascinated by what might have been, including what
would have happened if the New York, Westchester & Boston Railway,
a
heavy-electric road, actually met its goal of connecting New York City and Boston. The NYW&B, what there was of it when the New Haven bought it in the 1920’s, was built to incredibly high standards for really heavy traffic, but that traffic never materialized. It’s anybody’s guess what it could have evolved into, but I decided to give it an alternate, successful history and chose to model the road circa 1955.
JULY 2012
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116