Bob Gross – PRR, Schuylkill Valley Branch (N)

 PHILADELPHIA DIVISION MEMBER 

In 2014, I converted this 12 x 24 N scale layout from a freelance railroad to one based on the prototype. A recent trip to North East and Western Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Ohio convinced me that I wanted an operations oriented railroad, centered on the coal industry. What began as the Maplevale Division of the PRR is now the Schuylkill Valley branch of the PRR. Three coal mines occupy the valley and a new coal marshaling yard was added as Pottsville Pa. A major city is being converted to Reading Pa and the Reading yard is designed to handle freight traffic as was the prototype. A new waterfront coal loading area loads coal onto barges on the Delaware River for delivery to customers on the river and beyond.

Motive power is primarily diesel, some with sound, although small steam locomotives work the yards. There is also an active freight operation serving a number of varying industries. The largest is the McLaughlin Fabric Mill fashioned after an actual mill located on the Brandywine River in Delaware. Banlon, the first stretch fabric, was invented here.  

Other industries include a marble and stone finishing plant, three grain elevators, a metal salvage operation, and local coal and fuel dealers. Maplevale, a major city, occupies a central location with elevated tracks carrying trains through. A trolley line circulates throughout the downtown for the shoppers convenience. Other features include rivers and streams, waterfalls, a stone aqueduct and a double steel highline traversing a valley.   Control is DCC provided by Atlas who have discontinued the product.

UPDATED LAYOUT

Photos from 2013 by Howard Kaplan