Anthricite Project (Idea)

I lived in Hazleton for about a year between 2007 and 2008. I was able to do some driving around and locate where CNJ's Ashley engine terminal was located. Also visited Steamtown twice and Jim Thorpe several times with my kids. It's a neat place. We love the F3's in CNJ's blue and tangerine.

While you included Wilkes-Barre & Eastern, you left out New York Susquehanna & Western, who owned some mine trackage operated by subsidiary Susquehanna Connecting.

My Susquehanna Project (NYS&W) so far has track laid as far as Stroudburg, PA (Version 4). Plans for Version 5 are to cover the line as it was from 1893-1939 with the Wilkes-Barre & Eastern running up the mountain and down into Wilkes-Barre, plus the Susquehanna Connecting operating the various mine spurs in Scranton and Wilkes-Barre.

I was going to include enough of the other railroads to give the impression that there was competition, but I had no intention of including entire lines, yards, etc. I think it would weigh down the hardware too much to be operable.

The CNJ line between Phillipsburg, NJ and Wilkes-Barre, PA was actually owned by Lehigh Coal & Navigation (who also owned Lehigh & New England), called the Lehigh & Susquehanna. It was leased in 1871 to CNJ until 1972; aside from 1883-1888 when it went to the Reading. In 1972, CNJ pulled out of Pennsylvania and handed L&S over to Lehigh Valley. Today the remnants are operated by Reading & Northern.

The L&S Scranton freight house looks like a fancy passenger station and is still standing within sight of Steamtown. The passenger station was a dilapidated little building that is probably gone now. Hard to believe you could walk through a tiny gravel parking lot and board a train for Jersey City.

In steam days, CNJ operated big-boilered camelback 2-8-0's and 4-8-0's and some of their biggest USRA-derived Heavy Mikes. Several engines, even 4-6-0C's, had cabs modified to fit through Hauto Tunnel on the L&NE for an interchange coal train between the two. I think a passenger train also traveled the route as the G-4s Pacifics arrived from the builder in 1930 with their cabs already modified. Dieselization saw EMD switchers and road sets of F3's and Alco road switchers. I think this line was why CNJ purchased SD35's and received SD40's from B&O in the 1960's instead of GP's.

See here for photos and maps.
 
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Working on Fishlips DEM Bethlehem PA which is in the same region. Bethlehem Steel can use all the anthricite you can ship. :hehe: Maybe somehow the routes could be connected somehow in the future. Could use and CNJ, LV, RDG rolling stock. I tend to model in the 1970s before the fall of the steel industry.


Use Iportal, and send trains back and forth between two PC's.

Or use Iportal to send trains from one route on your PC, to another separate route on your own PC
 
Interesting,I was going to suggest some camelback steam engines but, like I said on the last post that I was going to wait.This project is a good idea and I say go for it!:cool:
 
Anyone ever notice it's spelled anthracite? :hehe:

Yes, I noticed. However, one thing I've learned in 15 years of being online is that there are lots of examples of poor spelling out there, and attempts to correct it are usually not appreciated because people tend to take it personally (my wife is a prime example, she can't seem to not type "liek" for "like"), so nowadays I let it go. It's just not worth it.

I think the funniest ones are "eggcorns" - when people type words that aren't words because they don't know what the real words are so they guess incorrectly. Example: "for all intensive purposes" instead of "for all intents and purposes". Does anyone type "Anthra Site" for the location of a breaker? Or does eating hard coal give you an eye disorder called "Anthra Sight"? :hehe: Not to get off topic or anything...

Interesting,I was going to suggest some camelback steam engines but, like I said on the last post that I was going to wait.This project is a good idea and I say go for it!

Someone uploaded a Reading 4-4-0C to the DLS, modified from a MSTS engine (how do you do that?). I tried at the time to replace the 4-coupled drivers with 6 and 8-coupled drivers to see what else I could get out of it, but nothing at the time looked right. Perhaps some of the new drivers and lead wheels produced since then would work better. I also reskinned this engine as Susquehanna 28, but three e-mails to the creator asking permission to upload have not been answered.

I am officially learning GMax. Camelbacks are on my "to do list". :) Of course, someone else may yet produce one before I get to. That remains to be seen. Somewhere on here, I believe in my "Susquehanna Project" thread, I listed several camels that I particularly like. I would look for something like those to be first available if and when that day ever arrives AND provided I can find decent drawings to build from (hint, hint).

Of course, if the sun goes "red giant" before that happens, all bets would be off. :hehe:
 
I don't live in the anthracite part of PA, but I'm interested in it. I'd be interested in making some locomotives and rolling stock for the route, and possibly buildings or some other scenery.
 
I don't live in the anthracite part of PA, but I'm interested in it. I'd be interested in making some locomotives and rolling stock for the route, and possibly buildings or some other scenery.

This thread is pretty old and this idea fell through. Maybe someday a few folks will get together and create a Wilkes-Barre/Scranton layout. I know this much...it will be a big project.
 
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