hey yal’ LV lovers out there!
I’m trying to create a modern day Black Diamond, with the streamlined heritige series, and i dont know which cars to get! aslo, the same problem with the engines, i have a FA-1 but, to pull several cars, like the blackdiamond did, i don’t think it could.
Any tips, help lines anything would be nice,
Stay Safe, and forever live the LV
Sean
Rewind a bit:
ok, i understand the fa pa thing, and the double deck steamlined superliner cars, or like the cars they used when they stream lined it. and i mean as like the LV was never took under conrails wing, and still had profitable passenger service, while fighting amtrak, for pass. service.
Stay safe and long live the LV
Sean
Ok, if you are modeling a modern day LV passenger train to compete with Amtrak then the sky’s the limit!
You could have Genesis, F-units, PA’s, FA’s even a Bombardier LRC loco in a LV livery hauling what ever passenger cars you can come up with.
I myself have D&H PA’s hauling Budd cars along with Amtrak, VIA & Canadian Pacific passenger trains with B&M RDC’s for local stuff.
Time to use the imagination Sean.
ANYTHING GOES!
Gordon
Ok, I agree and disagree with CP5415.
AGREE - Time to really break out the imagination and the research books. For example, the Lehigh Valley’s passenger main was longer and hillier than the freight lines. This was to serve the cities (like Wilkes-Barre and Ithica,that were not on the main double track. As a result the trains also had to run faster in order to compete against Amtrak for the through traffic. So given the prototypical passenger locomotives that have become available from 1957 until now, what strategy would have the LV used in selecting their locomotives? Would any from the manufacturers worked or would they have to reshopped some of their older ones? Another area would be to consider tunnels. Did they spend the money to make tunnels large enough to fit superliner passenger cars (and double stacks) or did they elect to stick with the single level trains? If they did what caused the surge in traffic that allowed them to fund such things? Etc, etc, etc…
Totally DISAGREE -
If anything goes, you would not have the Lehigh Valley brought forward into modern time. You would just have random modern equipment painted as Lehigh Valley. That is a BIG Difference. Railroads have a personality and character. Anything goes philosophy would ruin that character. You have to research and study its past character and do things that bring the same feeling, look and feel forward. In some ways it is a more difficult task than creating a believable free-lance.
Point taken & I do understand what you are saying TZ.
I know that every railroad had cars that no one else had. I model the CPR as well as the D&H. I have yet to see an out of the box Park car that I would want to run on my layout.
Same with the Walthers D&H Budd Coaches, they’re close, but not perfect.
When I asked about Walthers D&H Dome car in a D&H forum, they all told me that it was a CPR car & not a D&H. After doing some research, the D&H leased domes from the CPR before they got the Amtrak ones. Go figure!
But, before I posted that message, I quickly scanned through Walthers online catalog for LV passenger cars & the best it could come up with was IHC.
Does anyone know where to get LV passenger equipment?
Gordon
Eastern Car Works made models of the John Wilkes semi-streamlined cars awhile back. I have seen them up on eBay every now and then. I also think the Rivarossi sets give decent coaches and pullmans for Valley’s non-modernized stuff. There are also pullman kits currently available decorated for Valley. Haven’t built one yet.
There are some excellent info on the lvrrmodeler.net site.
I am modeling the Valley in Bethlehem right before Conrail, but I am going to alter time a bit to run some other stuff I just plain like.
One way I am going to do this is to model a PA powered high-end commuter train from Allentown to NYC. Stops in Allentown, Bethlehem and NYC. High end equipment (eventually). PA’s pulling 4 coaches (later I will replace them with chair cars), a dining car and a tail end parlor car. I know it wouldn’t have worked in 1974. It would have a chance now, if a reasonable window into NYC could be assured. State grants, etc…
I will also have RDC local service to tag along, and on the Bethlehem Branch of the Reading. (Darn you Lehigh Lou - outbid with 4 seconds left! [(-D] )
Would these have really run back then? Nope. But the 12 year old that watched the paint scheme parade in Bethlehem back then would have loved them. And he is running this railroad now!
And for family fun, I have extended the AutoTrain into NYC!!! We rode it a few times and loved it. So…to get those tall cars into the NYC area I figure a connection up to Harrisburg, then east on the Reading, handing it over to the Valley.
And I really think the P42’s look kind of cool next to the 2102 heading out on a Ramble. [:D]
As I have heard somewhere…Model Railroading is Fun.
Jim
Jim Swain, Right about now, i’d like to say that your my best friend![:D]
I posted this because i’m trying to modle a future LV in my basement, time era around 2003-04 with the new AC4400CW’s and SD70/80/90 Mac series, etc. but i’m also making able so that i can switch periods in time, for such, i could run a train in 1975, then take all the equipment off and put mordern equipment on and run lengthy coal drags in the heart of the Scranton Valley! ( made up fictional portion of the LV) And thanks for the help guys, i the tough decision is always the locomotive, i can never go into my local hobby shop and focus on one engine. ( Hey, that’s the part about being a young modeler! ) It’s always the toughest decision, so i need some reconmondations here people!