Pictures of the Twin Whitle "White Tower" hamburger stand added. Updated 7/22/2006
Photos of changes made this spring for a visit by the Connecticut S Gauger's. Updated 10/11/2002
I'm including these pages on my Dad's railroad interests (in 'S' scale and prototype) since I help him on his projects from time to time. As you can see from the background, he models the Central Railroad of New Jersey. His father was a barge captain for the CNJ in New York harbor while Dad was growing up. They even lived on the barge for a while!
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Here is my Dad on the left with fellow 'S' Gaugers Jeff Laverty, Bill Krause and John Foley on a railfan trip through Pennsylvania. |
| Picture taken on the same trip at the Blue Mountain and Reading. |  |
My Dad's layout began as an estate sale layout, re-configured to fit our basement. Here are two views before it was completely setup. The first shows my Dad with the section which will become Bayonne, NJ. The second picture shows what would become Allentown yard. An article about the assembly of the layout by Dave Pool and Bob Mitchell appeared in the May/June 1991 S Gaugian "A Layout a Day Keeps the Doctor Away".
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Yet more new pictures July 2006. Here is the first addition in a long time. This White Tower diner was the last project I worked on with my Dad. He did most of the basic assembly, along with some modifications to make the model closer to the original as described in MR (closed in the back wall to make room for a restroom, added a grill section to the counter). He also made the cash register and some other details for the interior. I added extra window trim, built the coffee urn and ketchup bottles, etc. The man sitting at the counter is a SHS brakeman holding a coffee cup. The unpainted counterman is an MTH passenger. The second photo shows the counterman, still unpainted, but with a styrene tie and putty hat. The third photo shows a night shot, with interior lighting. The counterman has now been painted with a white uniform and red tie. Real White Castles definitly used the white uniform.
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This image shows the beginnings of Bayonne, NJ. The West 8th St. station is just a cardboard mockup at this point, but the city is visible behind it; and one of the oil tanks east of the station area is visible (in this case, across from the station). The small row house to the right is the back of an IHC store. We have four of them in this spot, suggestive of some photos of Van Norstrand Place. Obviously, there is a LOT of compression going on here!
The second set of images show the Singer Sewing Machine factory in Elizabethport. The real complex would take up a whole side of the basement, so it's been drastically compressed. The building is kitbashed from the Pola brewery, but a forth story has bee added to the main building and the tower made higher as well. The saw tooth building is Kibri, with the foundation raised on bits of blue styrofoam insulation material. Once painted the foam looks a lot like concrete if cut smoothly. Also visible is a storefront which is really part of Elizabeth (visible over the PRR crossover). The PRR "Arches" elevated bridge is being crossed by a GG1 (the tracks here should be electrified) while a passenger and freight pass underneath on CNJ.
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The next two images represent a CNJ train in the Fanwood cut, passing
under a road overpass. The scenery is stacked and carved foam covered with
"ground goop". Ground cover is real dirt, Woodland Scenics foam in
several colors and Scenic Express "Scrub Grass" mix. Old dried leaves under
the trees are LifeLike dyed sawdust "Earth". More trees and brush are needed.
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The final two images show Raritan, NJ at then end of the commuter district.
In many ways this scene is actually closer to Plainfield, primarily in
the proximity of the town to the railroad and station. Clearly this area
is just getting going. The Bachmann O/S station is to be converted to resemble
the actual Raritan station.
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This is the end of the new stuff.
Below are two views of Allentown Yard and tower after some scenery. The background hill is a slab of blue styrofoam covered with balls of Woodland Scenics'' Polyfill and Foliage Clusters. The tower is built from a Pola HO kit with a scratchbuilt styrene ground floor covered with vinyl brick.
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These are two of Dad's models which won awards at the 1988 NASG convention. The first is a converted American Flyer caboose which won 2nd place in Amature/Freight & MOW and the second was a Rex suburban modified to resemble a CNJ suburban which took 3rd in the Amature Steam Loco category.
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Here are two more models on Dad's layout. The first shows a Baldwin S-12 switcher with caboose at Allentown. The conductor has just been dropped off by the Ford Woody at left and is about to climb aboard. The S-12 is from American Models. It was painted Pullman Green (Tamiya IJN Green) and lettered with CDS dry transfers. Note how the wash of grimy black and oily black Polly S really snap out the detail on the trucks. Also note that the detail is wrong - American Models chose to use the AAR road trucks from their FA/RS-3 project under the S-12 instead of the correct AAR switcher trucks. For the time being, I think we can live with it. The second picture shows a closeup of the caboose. I scratchbuilt this car from evergreen styrene, only the trucks, steps, brake wheel and smoke stack are commercial castings.
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Here are two pictures taken by my Dad of existing CNJ equipment located in Pennsylvania. The crane and service car are at Steamtown.
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Here are two CNJ Public Timetables from my father's collection.
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