By M. R. Snell |
Take a tour of the New Jersey Division
and see how this high quality, 24x40 foot layout operates. Also
learn how each intricate section of this layout was carefully
developed and constructed. |
A Day on The New Jersey Division
“CONRAIL...NEW MARKET NEW JERSEY...NO
DEFECTS...OVER” crackles the
New Market detector, beginning another day of railfanning
along the New Jersey Division. It’s 6AM, and we’ve
set up at Columbus Park to start our tour of the lines and the
trains which inhabit the New Jersey Division.
People Make It Happen
In the last segment we saw how we keep everybody on the same
page operationally. Now we'll take a look at how the dispatchers
keep it moving.
Keeping It Moving and Reducing Confusion with NORAC
The rules developed by the Northeast Operating Rules Advisory Committee (NORAC) are the standard for railroad operating rules in the northeast. When it came to developing an operating plan for my HO scale Conrail New Jersey Division, the NORAC rulebook was a natural starting point then.
Every
Job Has Its Paperwork
Modeling the dense operations of northern New Jersey takes
careful planning and execution. My HO scale Conrail New Jersey
Division schedules and operates trains like the real thing by
replicating actual Conrail forms, and adapting them to model
railroad use.
Secondary and Commuter Lines
In our last installment we took a look at how the freight gets
to Newark. Now we'll take a look at some of the other lines
compromising the Division so you can see where it goes once
it's classified at Oak Island.
Looking at The Lehigh Line
The Lehigh Line runs from Allentown, Pa., to Newark, NJ, and
was Conrail's main freight route into northern New Jersey. It
is primarily a single-track route, with controlled sidings.
Closer to Newark, the line becomes double-tracked.
Conrail's
New Jersey Division: Part One
The Conrail New Jersey Division is based upon the prototype
operations of Conrail, NJ Transit and Amtrak in the north and
central New Jersey areas. Northern New Jersey offers some of
the most dense train operations in the country, and being from
the area, it was a natural to model. |
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