Idling

I really wish I had an update, but the "train room" has gotten rather clogged as of late with the wife's dollhouse. The dollhouse had to be moved for Daughter's wedding. The wife has since decided that she doesn't want the dollhouse back where it was because the room it was in looks so much bigger without it there.

The only hope I have is to finish the dollhouse so that it can be moved out into a display location. Maybe then I'll be able to re-claim my "train room" again.

ICC Valuation Maps

The Interstate Commerce Commission evaluated the Susquehanna River and Western Railroad around 1917 or so during its valuation of all railroad properties in the United States.

I searched the database online at archives.gov and found the following information:

Record group number: 134
Series designator: Railroad Valuation Maps, ARC ID 562366
Individual File Notation: Valuation maps for the Susquehanna River and Western Railroad, ARC ID 1566749/Local ID Susquehanna River & Western RR

I made an inquiry to the archives and got the following back:

RG 134: ICC R.R. Val. Maps; Susquehanna River & Western
Bundle 1109, VS: 1 Maps: 1-14 (14 maps)
Size: each 24" by 56" Date: ca. 1917 Scale: 1":100'

The archivist informed me that the maps were the blueprint copies showing "tracks, structures and lands belonging to the railroad" including "annotations showing new acquisition to the railroad or track/property no longer in use."

By 1917 the SR&W owned both the former Perry County Railroad and the N&SVRR, and the track from New Bloomfield to Newport was extant but no longer in use.

The next step is to contact one of the contractors and see how much it will be to have the maps reproduced for me.

UPDATE: Over $500 for all 14 maps.

Research

Someone else is doing some research on the Newport and Sherman's Valley Railroad. I'll be checking in on him from time to time to see what he finds.

I haven't heard anything from Mr Tressler. A visit to some of the Perry County libraries would be very helpful I think.

Here's To You

Arrival

The Kato mechanism arrived yesterday and all I can say about it is "wow." It is everything that I have been led to believe and more.

I have been contemplating building a pulse throttle of this type, and with this mechanism all the flaws of the old throttle are apparent. The throttle that I have is an old rheostat model that jumps from 0v to about 2v without any transitions, and the mechanism jumps into life as soon as it sees that voltage.

My old train set locomotives behave just fine on this throttle, but the Kato is such a beauty that it deserves something better. There isn't any way I can make it creep, even with the throttle turned to pulse power. My remotored Northerns act the same way, but I was willing to live with it for the train-set Northerns. Now I've decided that I need a throttle that will allow the locomotives to perform at their best.

Other than that the mechanism is smooth, even over my less than perfect trackwork, and it is dead quiet. The low profile wheels means it won't have any problems on code 55 track, and with the pewter shell it should be a strong puller.

Now I need to get this kit and put everything together. It looks like the Pennsy will soon have a Mikado to use at the SR&W interchange.

New Motive Power?

Kato is having an end of year sale, and one of the items is the mechanism for their legendary Mikado. At the price they are offering it's darn near impossible to pass up, and in fact I have already ordered one.

My plans are to build the GHQ kit for the Pennsy L1, offered through Republic Locomotive Works. Of course the management questions my need for another piece of motive power, especially considering that this one is a kit and not a finished locomotive.

I am going to have to find a suitable tender for it, but unfortunately the tender trucks are out of stock at Kato. I'm thinking one of the Bachmann tenders might do the trick. I don't really need a Mikado for the Susquenanna River and Western branch of the PVRR, but I couldn't pass it up.

In Memoriam

Pliny G. Holt, Naval Aviator and model railroader, passed away on January 4, 2010 at the age of 99. Captain Holt was, at the time of his passing, the oldest living Naval Aviator. He modeled the Southern Pacific Railroad in N scale and was also a noted model ship builder.

He attended Naval Aviation flight training with Captains "Bull" Halsey and John S. McCain (grandfather of Arizona Senator John S. McCain III), although he was but a cadet. He was NMRA MMR #178 and also held masters certificates in model ship building.

Fair winds and following seas Captain.