NYC O-scale 2-R modeller just arrived

Hi Folks!

I'm not sure how I missed out joining this forum sooner, because of the wealth of knowledge and prototype information available, but better before I start layout building than after! My name is Paul, residing in a tiny corner of the world near the bottom edge, otherwise known as New Zealand. I live in the Far North near Whangarei (pronounced almost like Fah-nah-ray) in a temperate-to-sub-tropical climate....which must be why it's warm and absolutely hosing down with rain outside my window right now ;-)

Somehow I picked up a love of the NYC, despite being fully immersed in the NZ steam preservation scene from the age of 5 thanks to my father's interest in that, and having tried every scale from N to G, with 9mm:ft thrown in for good measure (that's NZ's 42" gauge modelled using O-gauge track) I have finally decided that O-scale suits me best.

Despite being a 'NYC-or-nothing' type of modeller with a degree of rabidness that would even scare a Pennsylvania RR modeller, ironically I find myself deep in PRR territory since I chose to model the South Pennsylvania RR, between Pittsburgh and Harrisburg, as though it was completed by NYC interests with a good measure of the Reading RR thrown in for added flavour - the Harrisburg end would have connected with the Reading. Era is late 20's to mid-30's-ish....pre-WW2 anyway. The South Penn would have crossed the PRR and the B&O several times, so lots of interchanging, with a couple of switchers from those roads also required. So now I'm researching PRR locomotives....wonderful :-/ Just kidding; I'd actually love to have an M-1a with a long-distance tender, love those things!

I don't have a lot of space for a layout at present; my wife and I are saving our pennies for building a new house on our property, at which point the 38x26ft space we are currently living in will become available for The Dream Layout, but for now I must content myself with an around-the-walls narrow shelf layout in my 18ft square workshop with a 14x6ft space along one wall for a wider bench.

Being a CAD draughtsman by profession and having done a fair bit of brass etch and 3D-printing design for NZ Railways models, I'm hatching a plan to build some NYC freight cars in O-scale using these techniques; going to start small, with a flatcar to minimise the time required to bring it to 'production'. I have plans for a USRA-clone 55ton flat, which was built in 1930 by NYC as lot-598-F, posts on progress will be made as it happens! Oh, if anyone cares to clue me up as to which other railroads built USRA-clone flatcars, I can look at including them in my production - sometimes it is possible to include detail variations as extra parts on a brass etch.

Regards
Paul Woods
a.k.a. Woody of Whangas
Whangarei, New Zealand

 

Paul, welcome to Trainboard! There is nothing wrong with your desire to model the New York Central, one of the finest railroads that existed in the past. I have great memories of being brought up right on the mainline. Have you considered joining the New York Central System Historical Society? They have quite a bit of rolling stock available and one of the officers, Noel Widdifield, has quite an O scale pike of his own. Noel, unknown to most railfans, was an RSO (Reconnaissance Systems Officer) in the US Air Force SR-71 program.

 

Thank you to everyone for the warm welcome. Hi Fitz yep, joined up with the NYCSHS yesterday and have already corresponded with Noel W. By the way, thank you for posting the pics of the NE-2 mallet, they are one of the locos I have picked out for my South Penn roster. I have more to add on those locos but will do so in that thread.

Regards
Paul Woods
Woody of Whangas

 

Hi Paul, Welcome. I, like Jim (Fitz), grew up on the Central, though on the Harlem Division, a main commuter into Grand Central Terminal. So my memories are of K-Class Pacifics, and a plethora of electric classes used in the Manhattan tunnel, rather the heavier long distance steam power Jim experienced daily.