Author Archives: Dan Bourque

ARRM Welcomes the Pittsburg & Shawmut

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Pittsburg & Shawmut Logo

Pittsburg & Shawmut LogoAppalachian Railroad Modeling is happy to announce the newest railroad on the site, the Pittsburg & Shawmut. For those unfamiliar with the P&S, it was a quiet little coal hauler in western Pennsylvania that lasted from steam days through the 1990s. The P&S was known for its colorful fleet of EMD switchers (which were its mainline power) and its large fleet of “Shawmut” hoppers that plied the rails of many railroads in the 20th century. These pages were prompted by an excellent book released last year, “Pittsburg & Shawmut in Color” by Kurt Reisweber and Brad Esposito (read the … Read more →

P&S Widnoon Branch, PA track plan HO

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P&S Widnoon Branch track plan HO
  • Size: 10′ x 14′
  • Scale: HO
  • Minimum Radius: 24″ 
  • Minimum Aisle Width: 35″
  • Designed by Dan Bourque

Mahoning Yard on the Pittsburg & Shawmut in the rolling hills of western Pennsylvania was where the three-mile long Widnoon Branch (formerly Tidal Branch) split from the mainline along Mahoning Creek. Mahoning was also the dividing point between the two locals that worked the P&S–the Kittanning Local from the south and the Brookville Local from the north. During the 1970s, the branch served two loaders reached via a three percent grade. Additionally, a shorter branch across the creek to Carpentertown served a bank of modern coke ovens later converted to a trump dump tipple.

The Layout

This track plan represents the … Read more →

Book Review – Conrail Central Region in Color Volume 1

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By Stephen M. Timko
Morning Sun Books 2015
ISBN 1-58248-444-9

4star

 Review by Dan Bourque

book_conrail_central_region_v1Stephen Timko’s book Conrail Central Region in Color is a great resource for any modelers interested in Conrail’s early years or Pennsylvania and eastern Ohio railroading in the ’70s. What makes this book unique is the very finite area and time period covered–primarily two states and five years. Thanks to this narrow scope, the … Read more →

Book Review – Pittsburg & Shawmut in Color

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By Kurt Reisweber and Brad Esposito
Morning Sun Books 2015
ISBN 1-58248-449-X

5star

 Review by Dan Bourque

Book Pittsburg & Shawmut in Color book reviewPittsburg & Shawmut in Color chronicles this colorful, coal-hauling Pennsylvania short line from the 1970s through the end of its corporate life in the mid-1990s. This book is packed full of exceptional color photos (many by co-author Kurt Reisweber) covering nearly the entire railroad with rich and information-packed … Read more →

BLE Branchton, PA track plan HO

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B&LE Branchton and Hilliards Branch track plan HO scale
  • Size: 12′ x 20′
  • Scale: HO
  • Minimum Radius: 27″ (30″ mainline)
  • Minimum Aisle Width: 24″
  • Designed by Dan Bourque

B&LE LogoBranchton, PA was home to the Bessemer and Lake Erie’s northern coal operations including the mainline from Filer, PA (north) to Butler, PA (south) and the adjacent 10-mile Hilliards Branch. Until 1958, the Hilliards Branch was a major supplier of limestone bound for Pittsburgh’s steel mills, but after the limestone operations shut down, the branch continued to supply coal from a few modest operations into the 1990s. While the mine run base was moved to Butler in the early 1980s, Branchton continued to serve as … Read more →

SOU Brevard Branch, NC track plan HO

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SOU Brevard Branch, NC HO scale track plan by Dan Bourque
  • Size: 6′ x 22′
  • Scale: HO
  • Minimum Radius: 22″
  • Minimum Aisle Width: N/A″
  • Designed by Dan Bourque

Southern LogoThe Southern’s Brevard Branch stretched from Hendersonville, NC to Lake Toxaway, NC in the foothills of the Appalachians. The largest customer on the line was the paper mill in Ecusta, and in the 1980s the line was cut back to Ecusta, just short of the line’s namesake, Brevard. This branch was far from the coal fields, but a power plant at the mill received coal, so hoppers were a common sight along with tank cars and boxcars. The mill at Ecusta made fine paper for Bibles and … Read more →

Winifrede Railroad, WV track plan HO

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Winifrede Railroad track plan HO scale
  • Size: 10′ x 15′
  • Scale: HO
  • Minimum Radius: 24″
  • Minimum Aisle Width: 40″
  • Designed by Dan Bourque

The Winifrede Railroad was a small short line that ran from the Kanawha River and a connection with the Chesapeake & Ohio to the coal mining town of Winifrede, WV along Fields Creek. While it connected to the C&O, the Winifrede was primarily a shuttle operation bringing coal from a large tipple near Winifrede down to a barge transloading facility at Winifrede Jct, near Chelyan, WV.  For much of its life, the Winifrede operated a single locomotive and a ragtag fleet of old, beat-up hoppers to run alongside cars borrowed from the C&O. During the late steam era, the locomotive … Read more →

Evolution of Appalachian Railroads 1945-2005

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Map of Appalachian Railroads circa 1960

The evolution of coal-hauling railroads in the Appalachians is fascinating, especially over the last 60 years. Six years ago, Appalachian Railroad Modeling published its first map of the coal fields and railroads circa 1950. While it was informative, these four maps go well beyond the original to show how Appalachian railroading changed over time, and together they tell a fascinating story of growth, downsizing, consolidating and rebirth. Based on the resources I had, it was difficult to tell when certain lines were abandoned, especially in the 1945 and 1970 maps, so many of the dashed lines in the 1945 map may have been active, and many of the dashed lines in the 1970 map may have been abandoned decades before. I learned … Read more →

Merry Christmas!

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Merry Christmas from Appalachian Railroad Modeling! I hope you’re enjoying all the new content on the site–have you seen it all?

Union Railroad LogoFirst, there’s a new railroad on the site, the Union Railroad. The URR connected several coal hauling roads to the US Steel mills and furnaces in Pittsburgh, PA and was an important player in the movement of coal and other raw materials in the Monongahela River Valley and East Pittsburgh.

To accompany the Union RR are two new track plans. The first is a large N-scale plan for the Union’s Clairton Branch, home to two huge … Read more →

URR Clairton Branch, PA track plan N

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  • Size: 18′ x 19′
  • Scale: N
  • Minimum Radius: 15″
  • Minimum Aisle Width: 30″
  • Designed by Dan Bourque

Union Railroad LogoThis plan is good for those who like big industries and modeling a small area in a big space with little compression. The Union Railroad has served US Steel’s Pittsburgh, PA steel mills for more than a century. While the URR’s own coal tipples played out long ago, the Union still hauls a lot of coal from it’s coal-hauling neighbors and serves the largest coke plant in the nation at Clairton. N scale was chosen for this layout to allow the huge industrial … Read more →