Coal Country 2019 Updated .....

Railhead001

New member
Good evening, it has been a little while since I was around this neighborhood....been busy aquiring pieces for my HO shelf layout that I am in the process of building. Anyway getting back to neighborhoods... I grew up in a small town in the Northeast that was orginally part of the Penn Central RR before Conrail later aquired it in a merger. I have not been back that way for about 20 plus years so I decided to Google my hometown and see what had become of it. Talk about a shocker, the old tracks I use to roam as an adolescent were pretty much GONE...one of the towns leading industries that had rail service had moved to another state.....(Hint: they are famous for cranberry juice) replaced by warehouses without rail service. The large Agway grain elevator with a small yard attached...also gone with barely a footprint left..............so I got to thinking how alot of the JR Coal Country/ 2019 route reminded me of my old stomping grounds so I pondered how time and change could affect it.....in a weekend's worth of work below you will see the before and after shots. I updated what I consider to be one of my favorite 2019 Routes with new industries, replaced other industries, made a more "suburban" feel to the route it if you will.....

Let's start with some original shots:

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Now let's see what father time has done....trailer park gone, city expands, strip malls arrive, fast food arrives, large logistic company buys up real estate and a Starbucks appears.....


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Some of the detailed areas: I added the Produce warehouse and a corn syrup unloading area from prev pix...

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Beverage distrbutor below:

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Trailer park rezoned for housing, new division in the process of beign built:

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Newer city structures added:


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City update pix continued:

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Added trees to line the road:

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New housing available:

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Just added some vehicles on the way from the mine and returning:

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Before and after shot of an updated house:

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Decided to update the lumber yard below:

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To this:

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Also updated the town next to it: Some before shots:

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Now the newer version with an updated bus:

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Added a new station as well:

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New town pix continued:

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I added a lot of details for the station, stone foundation, brick pathway, street lamps, mail box, flower etc....
 
Removed the scrap yard and added an additional lumber yard with a new siding for rail service:

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The new lumber yard:

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Also removed the trailer storage area below and replaced it with a new Grocery distributor with rail siding:


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The updated industry: Also note the newer rental homes at the bottom of the picture:

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Just replaced some windows on this building


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And just updated some town buildings and swapped out houses..

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Not to bad for a weekend's worth of work..........................
 
Look who showed up to do one bang up job.......

Glad to hear your doing OK. And as always, you know how to renovate........:p

Thanks for the most excellent pics and keep up the good Remodel.........:cool:
 
Very cool man, I like what you've done. Seeing those shots of Parker I'm wishing I'd put in a triangle now! For the original, I think there is a slightly newer version on the JR store also, I put a park in by the road bridge in Richmond :)
 
Very well done, Matt. I saw the pics last night but I was too braindead to type! You need to rust up the yard a bit at Richmond and pull out some of the yard tracks. That will make it really prototypical much like Pan Am has done around here.

It's gut wrenching to see lines you grew up with and took for granted become like they are. I have actually felt my heart sink when I've seen them myself. Guilford and Pan Am did that a lot up where I live. Now that system is for sale and hopefully either CN or NS buys it, based on the current rumors.
 
What I consider to be the major work is done now, that being structures and added trackage.

Next up is to update some roadways and begin adding more people and vehicles. And adding more details.

Stay tuned....
 
Hello Dan.

I'm glad to read you again and I hope you are well.

Amazing updates, thanks for the pics.

Regards

Manuel
 
Sorry Dan for calling you Matt. The name didn't seem right when I typed it and I shrugged off the didn't seem right feeling. It was a senior moment which are more frequent now than ever...

Great job with the route and it shows what we can do when we're allowed to edit a route for our enjoyment. (Pokes jab at N3V)
 
Sorry Dan for calling you Matt. The name didn't seem right when I typed it and I shrugged off the didn't seem right feeling. It was a senior moment which are more frequent now than ever...

Great job with the route and it shows what we can do when we're allowed to edit a route for our enjoyment. (Pokes jab at N3V)

No worries, I sometimes forget who I am as well, lol
 
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