New Bachmann S 4 Arrives at Harlem Station

A new locomotive arrived at the PoNY Railroad's Erie Harlem Station with little fanfare but much appreciation today. With the 44 tonners down until a suitable decoder and sound system is found (I finally gave up on the LokSound I've been messing with for over a year now!), no. 514 (an Alco S-2) has been shouldering all of the duties by itself. The shiny new sound-equipped Alco S-4 no.529 is a welcomed site to the crews, and at under $100, the general accounting office couldn't complain.

I had already assumed I was going to have to change out the headlight since the double configuration seemed unusual, but again, another nice surprise that it is consistent with prototype. (Maybe all S-4s came this way?) Not sure how much closer I'm going to look, but I'm impressed with the out-of-the-box experience so far. Didn't even hesitate when I started him up. The crews should be happy.

Some prototype photos I've acquired lately of 529. Notice how close the first two photos were taken!

1970 at Jamestown, New York

A few milliseconds later in 1970 at Jamestown, New York

Post merger sometime/where

5 October 1971 at Croxton Yard, NJ

Delivered in October of 1952, no.529 was one of only 4 Alco S-4s (nos. 526-529) on the Erie who was a pretty good customer for Alco. I'm pretty sure they weren't bought because of the characteristic galopty-lop sound of the engines, but that is one reason why I like them.

Bonus material
An outtake from the 2 minute film session today. Even the simplest filming needs more than one take! The office crew got a laugh when no.529 moved in reverse instead of forward on the first take...

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Erie 149th Street Harlem Station

 

A new layout to distract

So one thing you can do to avoid actually making progress on anything is to start a lot of different projects. As I am trying to figure out how construct the benchwork on my HBS layout so that it is easily disassembled to clear space in my office/guest room for other uses, I am contemplating starting on a small layout first to work out some of the issues I've identified that need attention.

Being a New York Harbor guy, I've done a lot of research on the various pocket yards around the harbor, and I've been inspired by work of David Ramos, Tim Warris and others. I also just want to get something up so I can run my trains.

I've used a free download of AnyRail software to draw up a plan of the 149th roughly as it appeared in the early 1950s. Total size is about 7'x5', and it would be a free-standing layout so there would be access all around it. I'm looking to use lightweight materials and split it into two sections for easy storage. It would feature a car float with tug, float bridge and several spots. The prototype had about one float unload and load a day, and I can imagine this would be a just right amount of operating time for a casual evening solo session. It would also be good for taking to shows and letting people try out operating.

I've made some changes since this image was created, most importantly increasing the size of the lead at the top of the plan by ooching the turnouts over to the right.

I've already got the boxcabs and S-1 that operated there for the Erie, and I have tested them out on the Peco code 75 Streamline track to much satisfaction so far. Perhaps I can get this up and running in short order to use as a test bed for establishing my construction standards for the HBS.

Great research site: Harlem 149th by Philip M. Goldstein

Other 149th Street layouts: Small Layout Scrapbook #96a (more photos) and #88, and another under way by Matthieu Lachance

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Photo of No 19 at New Harlem Freight Station

I recently found a copy of Erie Railfan (vol 1, no. 3, pp 8-9, Summer 1973) that has the second part of an excellent Larry DeYoung article on first generation diesels. Included is this photo (Ed Kelsey) of no.19 at the Harlem Station (149th Street). The building behind it is the office and freight house located on the Exterior Street side of the yard looking E-SE. No.19 was actually the fourth boxcab Erie acquired in 1928 (no.20 was the first in 1926 and nos. 21-22 in 1927).

The photo and article provide some interesting and relevant data for my layout. I now know that no.19 was at Harlem on June 12th, 1949, and that it had its end tiger striping. Cross referencing another photo from the Railroads of New York Harbor 2010 Calendar by George J. Abere, Jr. in April of 1955 shows that the striping is still there, and since it is a color photo, I know the striping is yellow as is the lettering and herald on the sides.

I also have a good reference for the building windows, awning and configuration in '49. I haven't researched this fully, yet, but the building changed over the years, so this adds a piece for nailing down what it looked like if I want to choose a specific year to model it (or perhaps multiple models for different years?)

1954

Also of note is that it looks like the ground is paved with concrete, which is previously unknown information to me. So, I go to historicaerials.com and search for "Exterior St and 149th, New York", and I find aerials from 1954 (above) showing the concrete paving. The tracks are also uncovered at this point, and I know from a 1957 photo that the two tracks, along with others) are enclosed by a building. There is also a neat feature that allows you to compare photos side by side with a slider to reveal one or the other photo. I choose 1966 and 1954 to compare (the oldest available), and notice not only the new building, but also maybe some new tracks by the centrally located crane and an elevated I-87 over Exterior St. (below)

1966

So a really good find leads me through a slew of resources to have a better idea of the evolution of the yard. I think I prefer the smaller building without the covered tracks, which means pre-'57 at some point. I may go to 1959 and simply construct the walls of the building with a removable roof for operation, or, better yet, just say it is '59 and not have the building. (Don't tell anyone if I end up doing that.)

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Wordless Wednesday Harlem Transfer 44 tonner

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