| It was very nice to have the Traveling Boxcar back on "its home road" and we wasted no time filling it with fresh Jersey tomatoes before heading the them off to market. Power was, of course, pure Lehigh Valley with Alco C628 Snowbirds, Alco C420 Yellow Jackets and Cornell Red units doing the honors. A high priority UP intermodel stack train was passed during one trip, running through from Chicago to Newark NJ. |
| My Layout is located in my attic and I have been working on it for about five years now. Prior to starting the layout the attic had to be renovated, new electrical wiring installed and the walls insulated and sheetrocked, floor carpeted. Its an around the wall layout about 20 x 20 feet and due to the pitch of the roof is 26" high. |
| My layout has both TMCC and DCS. Track is Gargraves and Ross. Switches are Ross with Tortoise switch machines controlled via the MTH AIU. I have sort of a good idea of how I want it to look when it is done but nothing is carved in stone. |
| Saying the Traveling Boxcar is on its home road is closer to the truth then one might imagine. My home in Edison NJ is located about 200 yards from the former Lehigh Valley Perth Amboy to Plainfield branch line. Playing down there and watching trains there as a boy started me on my way to being a big fan of "The Valley". |
| Oh and one final and perhaps unique note... The house I own and grew up in is about 100 years old. It was built by a man who was an engineer for the Lehigh Valley in the 1920's and 1930's. He died many years before I was born so I never had a chance to meet him. My parents rented the home from his widow and the purchased it from her family after she passed. |
| At times I wish my layout was closer to completion but it is a labor
of love and I am enjoying the building process.
Thanks for visiting -- Frank |