I recently found this very nice forum. I didn’t know where to start, so I thought I’d start in the general forum.
My name is Scott; I’m 61 and retired. I live in the former hard coal country of northeast Pennsylvania. I’m currently building a model of the Lehigh Valley’s Coxton Yards in the railroad sim Train Simulator Classic. I enjoy making historically accurate 3D models in the Blender program. These 3d models are then imported into the sim.
I found that creating an accurate historical railroad is quite the challenge. With all the railroad books, sites, and train sim forums, I always seem to come up short in the historically correct reference material department. This is what brings me here.
I’m hoping that some detailed model creators out there are willing to share some of their research with me. The end goal models may be a bit different, but the history always remains the same.
I created the BDWorkshop web page to show what I’m working on. The link is in my sig.
I have nothing to help you with on your quest, but I just want to say that what you have so far is extremely impressive! Keep up the good work - you are very talented at this @BlackDiamond1964 !
As far as LV Yards go, Coxton seems to be overlook the most on line. I’m currently looking for pictures of the Coxton Bunkhouse…some called it the YMCA Building, some locals called it “the beanery”. This is the only picture I found.
I’ve railfanned the R&N a few times and Coxton yard seems to be sort of in the wilderness. Most of it is cut off from Pittston by the river. I think that accounts for the paucity of photos.
Over the years we’ve discussed a section of the forums explicitly for ‘train simulator’ enthusiasts and modelers. At one time recently we had a fairly enthusiastic cohort of ‘gamers’ but they were not well accommodated by the classical model railroaders in the MR and CTT magazine forums. I doubt Firecrown has much interest in a print magazine for any train-sim community, but I can easily see benefits to them from a free online group, even if forums can be old-fashioned.
Today it is in wilderness, but back in it’s heyday it was a well maintained yard in the Wyoming Valley. I guess as the railroad profits went down, the trees grew up. The rivers making it hard to get to is a good point. I never really thought of that before. I have heard story of rail fans being chased off the property. If I was modeling the Sayre Yard, I’d have no problems finding reference pictures of that. Coxton is close to home, so I’m trying to recreate it’s history in this rail sim…I didn’t think it would be that hard to do.
My father’s family is from Kingston and Wilkes-Barre, and even in my childhood Coxton was a major yard. Once I got my license (in 1974), there were ‘so many’ other things to watch that I didn’t go to see coxton until – of course --it was too late.
I guess it really depends of what sim is popular at the time. The Train Simulator Classic game has been out a long time and it forums are all but dead. There is also a lot up “unknows” in making content for the game. I like it because it has a nice world editor and the sim lighting of the game looks good for the age of the program. I’ve come here to find reference material as there’s not many other places to go anymore. Simply put, as time rolls along the people that knew about these railroads are slowly disappearing along with their railroad knowledge. Model railroading seem to be a great way to keep some of that history alive.
I amazed at seeing old pictures of the area and seeing how busy of an area it must of been. The anthracite and railroad industries alone must of been something to see. My Mother and Father are from the area, My Father recalls lying in bed as a kid, hearing the coal hoppers coupling together in the middle of the night from a near by coal breaker. He also recalls the area was a bit dirty from all the steam engines.
In 2010 I was at the NRHS convention in Scranton. There was a rail excursion trip that loaded near Pittston, and then backed up into the Coxton Yard, before taking off on the ex-LV mainline to Jim Thorp and Port Clinton.
I also remember seeing in Trains a few years ago an article on the LV that showed a mine cave-in under the yard, and the railroad pushing old hopper cars to try to help plug up the hole.
One cave in which was on Jan 22, 1959 were the miners dug too close to the river bed and flooded the mines. The LV was pushing coal hoppers into the hole. Eventually it was sealed in concrete.
The rivers making it hard to get to is a good point. I never really thought of that before. I have heard story of rail fans being chased off the property. If I was modeling the Sayre Yard, I’d have no problems finding reference pictures of that. Coxton is close to home, so I’m trying to recreate it’s history in this rail sim…I didn’t think it would be that hard to do.