South Hills Junction Web Page

[Carl Zager]

Jim, and all, 

Here is a link to the Gibsonia website to follow up on the included
description:
	http://www.fyi.net/~moose/

Will have to visit now that it's gotten such a great review. 
Let's see...a day in Washington and a day in Gibsonia...that oughta make
for a nice weekend trip from Bloomington.

Thanks.

On Wed, 8 Dec 1999, Jim Holland wrote:

> Greetings!
> 
> Dietrich, Robert J. wrote:
> > 
> > I was thinking more along the lines of just holding the car in the short
> > tunnel for a minute or so to simulate the 3,498 feet.  How long did it take
> > a car to go through the tunnel when it had brakes?  I imagine outbound would
> > be slower.
> 
> 	Fortunately, most of the cars had their brakes!  And believe it or not,
> the trip was probably faster outbound than inbound.  Coming outbound the
> cars were easily between 25-30 mph upgrade  --  the motorman just put it
> to the floor and kept going.  They probably ran a little slower inbound
> since the motorman was dragging the brake all the way to prevent a
> runaway  --  25-30 mph downhill is pretty fast for a trolley.
> 
> 	But that is not to say that there weren't occasions when you got a fast
> trip inbound!!!!!!!
> 
> > The module I want to see built, by someone else, is the Smithfield Street
> > Bridge - full size.
> 
> 	The Smithfield Street bridge is 1,188.00 Feet, or 13.66 feet in HO.
> The *Bridge Smithfield St Approach South* is 384.00 Feet or 4.41 feet in
> HO.
> The *Junction Smithfield Carson* is 180.00 Feet or 2.07 feet in HO and
> the
> *Tunnel Mt Washington Approach North* is 184.00 Feet or 2.11 feet in HO!
> 
> 	Bob Rathke wrote to me about a model railroad he visited near
> Pittsburgh.  I encouraged him to send a post to this list.  Here is part
> of what he said:::::::
> 
> 	"But what I wanted to share was a railroad museum/model railroad
> 		in Gibsonia, along the old BR&P line about 20 miles north
> 		of downtown.  My brother told me I should see this place
> 		which he thought was a model of Pittsburgh railroads.
> 		Boy, was he right!"
> 	"It's called the Western Pennsylvania Model Railroad Museum,
> 		and is in a two-story building near the old B&O crossing.
> 		Lots of railroadiana on the first floor, and a 100X40'
> 		HO layout on the second floor.    I went upstairs,
> 		and did not find a giant open layout; instead,
> 		there was a maze of small spaces, each containing
> 		a scene of various segments along the B&O line
> 		from Pittsburgh to Cumberland, and the spaces
> 		were connected by "open" country between the towns.
> 		On the wall behind each model scene were photos and maps
> 		of the prototype line that was modeled in front of you."
> 	"I walked into the first space (about 10X15') and just
> 		about fell over...it's a model of the old (pre-1957)
> 		B&O station, all four tracks full of B&O passenger cars!
> 		(pardon my excessive use of exclamation points,
> 		but this place is incredible!).  The tracks continue
> 		"east" along the river under a model of the
> 		Liberty Bridge (under construction), and into the old
> 		coach yard.  There's more: "south" of the B&O station
> 		is an accurate model of the Smithfield St. Bridge,
> 		and beyond that is the P&LE Station, and on the hill
> 		behind it is an operating model of the Monongahela
> 		Incline.  The P&LE Station area continues "west" down
> 		the tracks to a model of the old Wabash Bridge across the 
> 		Monongahela River.  And PRCo PCCs are operating across the 
> 		Smithfield St. Bridge between the B&O and P&LE Stations."
> 	"I walked to the next space and it's a model of Laughlin Jct.,
> 		and the J&L mill (still under construction).  As you walk 
> 		around (about 600 ft. of corridors), the scenes continue
> 		to unfold - places like Connellsville, Meyersdale, the 
> 		Cumberland Narrows and, finally, downtown Cumberland
> 		(yes, Tom, the old Queen City Hotel is even there)."
> 
> James B. Holland
> ------- -- ---------
>         Pittsburgh Railways Company (PRCo), June of 1949 -- June of 1953
>     To e-mail *off-list,* please click here: mailto:pghpcc at pacbell.net
> N.M.R.A.  Life member #2190; http://www.mcs.net:80/~weyand/nmra/
> 

 Carl Zager
 KB9RVB
 czager at bloomington.in.us
 http://www.mccsc.edu/~czager/