Another Google map, this one showing various points of interest along old Pittsburgh lines. Stations, coaling towers, yards, roundhouses, interlocking towers, etc. https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mid=1Mruyg0V6Pj-iFzs3mxgMrTdkXtA&ie=UTF8&oe=UTF8&msa=0&ll=40.385366432869375%2C-79.74792613830124&z=9…
BCW Supplies makes boxes for trading cards that are perfect for storing HO scale models. This post on their blog includes a convenient list of suitably-sized boxes, with dimensions.…
Lots of information about building traction lines: http://www.trolleyville.com/school.shtml…
These historic photos of Pittsburgh may be useful in planning!
Working from a copy of the Pittsburgh commuter routes map prepared by another Google Maps user, I’ve added a couple of the potential streetcar routes to see how I can combine routes on a future layout:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1LWkqzK7xX-t-N-FdqOk0k-oMVS5nXkEA&usp=sharing…
For the past couple of years, I’ve had it in my mind that I’d eventually choose a location, time period and prototype railroads to model after doing more research. About a year ago, I narrowed down my options to the Northeastern US or Pacific Northwest, during the steam or transition eras. I thought I’d take longer to decide, but when I look back at my intermittent research over the past two years, I realize I’ve only really been interested in the railroads of southwestern Pennsylvania in the 1930s through the 1950s, particularly the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad and the Pennsylvania Railroad, so I think I’m going to consider it a settled matter now. Those roads have always been favorites of mine, and I grew up in that region, decades later.
The location will certainly be southwestern Pennsylvania, likely including Pittsburgh, and the main railroad modeled will be the B&O. If possible, I’d also like to incorporate a PRR line, and certainly the Pittsburgh & Lake Erie Railroad’s line through Pittsburgh, since the B&O’s named trains used the P&LE’s station in Pittsburgh.
Some existing models I’d like to use have narrowed down the previously-mentioned 30 year span to just ten. …