The author’s scratchbuilt coal dealership (above) was based on Sargent Brother’s Coal, which once stood in Somerville, New Jersey (below). PHOTOS BY THE AUTHOR


Scratchbuild an HO scale coal dealer


A typical steam-era trackside industry/Alan Mende M


y layout, in compressed form, represents Dunellen,


New Jersey, along the Central Rail-


road of New Jersey Central Division mainline in 1953 before the grade sep- aration project of 1954 began. That narrow time period allows me to run models of the CNJ’s last steam locomo- tives as well as its first diesels. There were a multitude of lineside industries in the Dunellen and Plainfield areas served by the “Plainfield Drill” that the late Warren Crater, a CNJ engineer, wrote about in the January and Febru- ary, 1951, issues of RAILROAD MODEL CRAFTSMAN. I chose to model this part of the CNJ for a number of reasons, chief among them being that I currently have only a limited amount of layout space, a roughly 8′-6″ by 6′-9″ room. A shelf- type layout, while it doesn’t allow con- tinuous running, does provide for


RAILROAD MODEL CRAFTSMAN


switching activities. Based on available photos, I tried to accurately replicate some of the industries that were


served by rail in Dunellen. Others had to be improvised since I have been un- able to find photos of them. One of the


SARGENT BROTHERS COAL CO., SOMERVILLE, N.J.; CA. 1967


49


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