
About Me:
I am a part-time student and part-time photographer in my early thirties looking at taking on T-Trak modeling for the next phase of my model railroading hobby. I got my first train, a Lionel NYC Yard Master set, when I was five years old. For a long time the Lionel set grew to a modest fleet of rolling stock and a second engine. When the price of Lionel trains got to be a bit salty I switched to HO and had a small 6' x 8' table through my teens. Due to a lot of travel and moving around through my 20s my modeling time was few and far between. Now, a little older and a little wiser, I hope to get back into modeling.
About the layout:
The name of my layout will be the Lurgan, Lurgan, and Cumberland Valley (LL&CV). It will represent the Reading Lines Lurgan Branch from Harrisburg to Shippensburg (Phase #1), the Western Maryland Lurgan Subdivision from Hagerstown to Shippensburg where it meets the RDG (Phase #3), and the Pennyslvania Railroad's Cumberland Valley Branch from Harrisburg to Hagerstown as it intertwines with the Lurgan branches (Phase #2 will be from Harrisburg to Shippensburg; Phase #4 will be from Shippensburg to Hagerstown).
While the RDG, WM, and PRR represent the historic flags of the area, current owner/operators of the trackage are the Norfolk Southern and CSX. The layout as a whole will not be anchored in any specific time and will represent "maximum trackage" along the mainlines including prominent rail-side industries. There will inevitably be a mix of modern scenes (such as the intermodal yard in Rutherford) mixed with historic sidings and stations (such as the Reading Lines stations in Camp Hill, Mount Holly Springs, and Shippensburg). Also, the trackage will be modeled as two-track rather than the modern single-track that exists now. Who knows, maybe a ConRail or PennCentral scene might make its way onto the layout.
While an ambitious project, this represents the start of a journey I plan to continue through the rest of my life and hopefully pass on to my children. I chose T-Trak because of the small size of the modules and what will hopefully be relative ease of construction over a permanent layout or larger N-Trak or HO scale modules.
Area I will be modeling:
Modules of the LL&CV:
- Phase 1: Reading Lines - Lurgan Branch
- Rutherford Intermodal Yard (Trio)
- Rutherford East
- Rutherford Center
- Rutherford West
- Susquehanna River Crossing (Trio)
- East Shore: Harrisburg
- Susquehanna River
- West Shore: Leymoyne
- Camp Hill
- Grantham
- Boiling Springs (S-turn set)
- Carlisle Junction/Mount Holly Springs (Pair)
- Carlisle Junction
- Mount Holly Springs
- Lee's Cross Roads
- Shippensburg (Trio)
- Shippensburg Airport
- Shippensburg: PRR Interchange
- Shippensburg: West End
- Lurgan: WM Interchange
- Rutherford Intermodal Yard (Trio)
- Phase 2: Pennsylvania Railroad - Cumberland Valley Branch (Cumberland County)
- Enola Yard (Trio)
- Enola: North
- Enola: Central
- Enoal: South
- Wormleysburg
- Leymoyne
- Mechanicsburg (Pair)
- Naval Support Facility
- Mechanicsburg: Industrial
- Carlisle (Quad set)
- Carlisle: Streel Level
- Carlisle Tire and Rubber
- Warehouse: East
- Warehouse: West
- Newville
- Shippensburg (Trio)
- Shippensburg: Street level
- Shippensburg: RDG Interchange
- Cumberland Valley Cooperative
- Enola Yard (Trio)
- Phase 3: Western Maryland - Lurgan Subdivision
- List in process
- Phase 4: Pennsylvania Railroad - Cumberland Valley Branch (Franklin County)
- List in process
All modules are currently in the planning phase as of October 25th 2012. I will create sub-pages and upload photos of each module once construction begins. This is just a rough list. Other locations may be added or substituted depending on how the process progresses.
History of the Lurgan, Lurgan, and Cumberland Valley:
This section is reserved for relevant history pertaining to the area depicted by the LL&CV