It's Here!

My copy of "Narrow Gauge in the Sherman's Valley" has arrived.

It is indeed a history of the Perry County railroads, which includes the Newport and Sherman's Valley Railroad and the Perry County Railroad with a brief line or two on the Perry County Lumber Company thrown in for good measure.

It is also indeed a reprint of the earlier "Bells and Whistles in Old Perry" with new photos and added information. Since I have never read "Bells and Whistles" I don't know what photos or information has been added.

There are 106 pages in all, a good number of photos, and a basic outline of the railroad's history. There isn't as much information as I would have liked, but at least the story is there.

I haven't yet decided on a timeline, but it will be sometime after the Perry County Railroad was sold to David Gring, representing the Susquehanna River and Western. The purchase was made on September 14, 1903.

The Newport and Sherman's Valley had two Moguls, one American and a small switcher. The 2-6-0 mechanism I have will work well for either Mogul, but the narrowed Bachmann isn't a very good stand-in mostly due to driver size. The Susquehanna River and Western had an ex-PRR Consolidation. I don't think any of these locomotives, with the possible exception of the narrow gauge American, will be difficult to reproduce.

My plans are to have some sort of refining plant at New Bloomfield or New Bloomfield Junction; coal will come in from the East Broad Top and raw ore from the mines on or near the Conococheague Mountain in narrow gauge cars via the N&SV. After refining, the processed ore will be shipped out in standard gauge cars via the SR&W to the PRR interchange at Duncannon.

What the raw ore may be is still under consideration. Coal may be an option, but if so there would not have been a reason to interconnect with the EBT so I'm not leaning in that direction. Iron may be another option, but iron mining had pretty much ceased in the area by the early 1900's due to the superior quality of the Minnesota iron ore that was being brought in by lake steamer and the PRR. The area abounds in minerals, so I'll just have to come up with one, along with a reasonable excuse to exploit it.

I'm still working on a basic history and timeline, and this is actually quite a bit of fun in itself. The first thing that has to happen is a new source of revenue for the railroad that would justify it's expansion. They will be published when they are completed.

The Initial Roster

So far I have collected locomotives and rolling stock that is either related to the East Broad Top or that I have found curious. I have one Mogul, one American, and one Mikado.

The Mogul was supposed to be a model of the EBT's engine #1 but it is oversize in several aspects. First off, the boiler is way too big. The EBT engine's boiler was 36 inches and the model is 60", the EBT's drivers were also 36" and the model's is 44". My plans are to update the tender - or not, because it is an interesting 6 wheel design - and re-designate it as a PVRR locomotive. In the process it will lose a sand dome and become a very different locomotive.

The American is a narrowed Bachmann 4-4-0 that I did just to see if I could. It's a rather large engine, larger even than the Mogul, and as such is probably bigger than most narrow-gauge Americans that roamed the rails in the late 1800's. I'm seriously considering updating it with a new cab from RLW, maybe expanding the boiler front a bit to make it a straight boiler, some new domes and stack, and some tender detail in the hopes I can make it a bit more modern and give the illusion that it was special built for the PVRR in the late teens or early 20's. I might just leave it as it is though.

The Mikado is, and will continue to be, an EBT locomotive. It's purpose will be to deliver East Broad Top coal to the PVRR and occasionally bring the EBT's President over for a visit or two since I have built a copy of the Orbisonia in Nn3.

Rolling stock is limited to one combine built from a narrowed Bachmann old-timer, one flatcar since it's too short to be an authentic EBT car, and a narrowed Bachmann bobber caboose. I'll build a few Bachmann coaches for the PVRR, maybe a few other passenger cars from other N scale cars, some undecorated boxcars either from RLW or Micro Trains, and some wooden hoppers.

The hoppers will have to be scratch-built because I haven't seen any kits or RTR cars. They will be based on a design that the EBT used early in it's life. They will be augmented by some steel cars of EBT/Pressed Steel design built from RLW kits.

Mining loads will be a part of the PVRR's traffic, although what and how much will be mined is up in the air at present. Maybe I'll make something up. The area is rich in coal and iron, although iron mining halted in the early 1900's.

The time frame is likewise fluid, but can be any time after 1894. That was the year the N&SV attempted to drill through the Conococheague and failed. Locomotives and rolling stock will have to reflect the era, but that gives me a pretty large field to work with.

Reference Materials

I have just ordered my copy of "Narrow Gauge in the Sherman's Valley" which seems to be the history of the Newport and Sherman's Valley Railroad. As I said in my previous post, the plan for the Path Valley Railroad uses the NSV as it's seed.

There was an earlier book, "Bells and Whistles in Old Perry", that I have seen once on Ebay but didn't feel as if it was worth the $100 asking price. I don't know if this is an update, a reprint, or a completely different book.

I have been a longtime fan of the EBT, but I haven't ventured as far east as Newport or the Sherman's Valley to see the lay of the land. My next trip to Pennsylvania will include the NSV's locale as well as the purchase of a topographical map of the area.

Until then I am eagerly awaiting the arrival of my new book!

What's this then?

This blog is about model railroading, specifically modeling in N scale. There will be quite a bit of narrow gauge as well since the locale that I am trying for is central Pennsylvania, in the southern tier of counties that border Maryland.

In that part of the country you will still find the East Broad Top, a coal hauling road that ceased common carrier service in 1956 and was bought by the Kovalchick Salvage Company. Smart money was that the Kovalchicks were going to scrap the road and sell the land, but the owner had different plans.

The story goes that Nick Kovalchick had always wanted a model railroad when he was a boy and had been disappointed every Christmas. The EBT was a dream come true.

I don't know if the story is true or not, but it deserves to be if it isn't. What I do know is that the Kovalchicks have been keeping the dream alive at considerable personal expense for the past 50 plus years now, and you can still go to the Augwick valley and see the smoke and hear the whistles.

And that is where our story begins.

The Path Valley Railroad is a model operation built on a proposed line that never was. The humble beginnings of the planned line was the narrow gauge Newport and Sherman's Valley Railroad, who's tracks ran from a connection with the mighty Pennsylvania Railroad in Newport PA, down Sherman's Valley to New Germantown, and made it's meager living hauling forest products from the foot of the Conococheague Mountain.

The proposed line was to have used the narrow gauge Newport and Sherman's Valley Railroad as it's seed. Continuing from the actual end of line for the NSV, the Path Valley Railroad would cut through the Conococheague Mountain via a tunnel to the Path Valley. It would send a branch through Concord Narrows to join up with the East Broad Top at Shade Gap while the mainline would continue down Path Valley to Fannettsburg.

Before it was all over the plans got to be pretty ambitious. A line through Burnt Cabins and the New Grenada-Sideling Hill Gap to the coal seams on the east side of the Broad Top mountain was planned, and the entire line was to be relaid in standard gauge. However, the contractor that was hired to drill the Conococheague Tunnel abruptly went bankrupt and the bore was never completed.

Without the Conococheague Mountain tunnel the PVRR was not to be. This was probably good news to the EBT since they were able to keep the Broad Top coalfield traffic on the east side of the mountain for themselves.

In my alternate version of the history of southern Pennsylvania the plans didn't get this ambitious, the tunnel contractor was quickly replaced, and the Path Valley Railroad came into existence to run alongside of the East Broad Top, even buying coal, excess locomotives and rolling stock from them as well as copying their designs.

The PVRR will have a few EBT trains on occasion, delivering coal and picking up the empties. There will be some aspects that are unique to the railroad, but the line will reflect the character and operating practices of the neighboring lines as well. I'll post the plans and histories as they are available.