It has been too long since I last posted on the blog. I just got back from our annual convention held in conjunction with the NMRA's national convention in Chattanooga, TN. Our SIG coordinator, Joel Salmons asked me to send him some images and a blurb on my railroad. Here is the blurb, some images will follow.

Delaware Central Rail Road & Navigation Company 

The Delaware Central Rail Road & Navigation Company is an HO scale freelanced railroad set in the fall of 1864. My intent is to capture the actual feel of the period and a prototypically correct railroad operating in a noncombat zone. Freelancing allows me to run any piece of prototypically correct rolling stock I can justify filling a commercial roll on my railroad. Like many early prototype railroads, the DCRR’s fictional goal was to connect the port city of Wilmington, DE to its’ hinterland and eventually the interior of the continent somewhere along the Ohio River. Most of the original investors envisioned three things to happen. First, the railroad would siphon off the already established ship traffic from the up-river port of Philadelphia, PA, to the Wilmington area (closer to the Atlantic Ocean) while simultaneously siphoning off those profits into the pockets of Wilmington capitalists. Second, the railroad would tap into the rich agricultural area north of the Susquehanna River, bringing fresh produce to market and opening markets for eastern & imported manufacturing goods. Third, to funnel the products and profits of the flourishing and profitable intercostal trade of the eastern shore of the Delmarva Peninsula into Wilmington. Delaware agricultural products at this time were shipped to the many small towns at the headwaters of Delaware’s numerous small coastal rivers.

Why model a port scene? A port is a universal industry. Any commodity can be exported or imported. This scene is loosely based on the track plan of USMRR’s facility at City Point, VA in 1864. In 1864, City Point may have been the busiest port in the world as it supplied Union forces in their siege of Petersburg, VA. A few of the highlights of this scene are the 43” long, double tracked long dock, the 18.5” long coal dock capable of dumping 8 coal jimmies or six iron pot hoppers into the waiting barges below, the scratch-built wooden engine house, the turntable, numerous warehouses & smaller docks, and the cattle pens. A port scene also allows me to model the tall and early ocean-going steam ships of the era as well as the ships involved in the intercostal trade. The port is modeled so that various waterline ship and barge models can be added or taken away from the scene during operations.

The basic track plan of the layout is a loop to loop with a spur to a bustling port along the Delaware River. Both loops are hidden but there are windows allowing for easy access to these hidden loops plus the scenery sections above the loops are designed as a lift outs for worst case scenarios. Both hidden loops have passing sidings. One siding in the loop behind the port scene represents the city of Wilmington. The other passing siding here represents the town of New Castle, DE. These loops allow me to run a few cars from the prototype New Castle & Frenchtown RR (the 1832 built ticket office still exists in Old New Castle, DE) and the prototype Philadelphia, Wilmington & Baltimore RR (whose president’s letters complain of his rolling stock being taken for use on other lines and either not being returned or being returned in less than stellar condition and the fact that John White’s book has drawings and information on a P,W&B RR box car.) One track in the second return loop represents the mainline with a spur allowing for future expansion of the layout into a second section of my basement. The other, inner siding of this return loop represents the Pooterville Mine spur. This allows me to run coal jimmies, B&O RR style pot hoppers, and gondolas of coal on the layout without having to model a mine facility itself.

 

Setting the layout in 1864 allowed 2 things to happen. First, northern factory production was at its height in support of the war effort by this time of the War.  The town of Avella (my grandfather was a weighmaster and cashier [according to a pass issued to my grandmother] for the Pittsburgh & West Virginia RR) features the large Crow Car & Foundry (named after my Grandfather Crow) and a large stone factory (commodity or commodities to be determined). There is also a small house coal company in this town which receives gondolas of coal, a tannery, a brewery, and cattle pens here. The second town on the layout, LaGare, is more rural, they have a large freight station for shipping/receiving lcl loads and large stock pens. Though stock cars made up a miniscule amount of the rolling stock for the B&O RR and the PRR during this period, stock cars are my favorite type of rolling stock. I justify the number of stock pens and stock cars on my railroad as during the Civil War, Wilmington had the second largest cavalry depot in the North, the largest being in the Washington, DC area. This would require stock cars making up a larger portion of the DCRR rolling stock compared to the PRR to the north or the B&O RR to the south. Stock cars were used to ship horses, mules, beef, hay, and even soldiers. Therefore, stock cars play a more important role on the DCRR. Second, West Virginia became a state in 1863. Therefore, in addition to war production reaching its peak, this allows me to run rolling stock from the Pittsburgh & West Virginia railroad. Even though this railroad did not exist at the time, it allows me to run equipment in honor of my grandfather.

Why set in the fall? Because fall is my favorite time of the year. Also, the bright fall colors contrast nicely with the slate blue color of the majority of DCRR rolling stock.

The layout uses NCE dcc and throttles. It is currently divided into 5 power districts, each with its own circuit breaker. Each return loop is on its own circuit breaker. There is a separate circuit breaker for the dock scene, and the town of Avella is divided into east and west power districts, each on its own circuit breaker.

The track is Micro Engineering code 55.  Flex track was modified with about 1/3^rd of the ties removed, and the rest respaced at period correct increments apart. Turnouts were all built using Fast Tracks jigs. There is a 60-degree crossing in Avella that was rebuilt from a BK Enterprises unit. Curves are as sharp as a 15” radius but hidden in tunnels and cuts. The short cars and engines I use have no problems negotiating these.