glossy herald
I've made numerous attempts to build out the US rail system, including one where I got 2/3 transcon routes (and almost everything east of the Mississippi) built only to succumb to infra costs/inflation. So now join me as I try to learn from my mistakes, building one system at a time. Watch as I go from 1850 until bankruptcy, starting with The Standard Railroad of the World.
And so it begins
glossy herald
It's 1863, and the Pennsy has reached Chicago, New York, and Washington, D.C. Philadelphia remains the hub, and wartime growth in the city's north has led the company to build a massive on that side to connect Reading, Atlantic City, Harrisburg, Washington, and New York. Careful scheduling allows trains to make timely transfers at cities like Pittsburg (it hasn't gotten the "h" yet) and Fort Wayne despite their single-track layouts.
glossy herald
The war is over, and the Pennsy has reached St. Louis. Plus, the first action shots in this GJ along the Broad Way. Second image: #2 The Pennsylvania Limited passes the waiting 500-series train at East Liberty. The 500-series will turn around in Pittsburgh to head back east, trailing the Limited before they split at ZOO interlocking
Here, train 41, The westbound All-American approaches Harrisburg opposite an eastbound 500-series
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As we approach the turn of the century, the Pennsy has expanded mightily, spanning the whole East. It’s added service to Erie from Pittsburg and Philly as well as rapid transit and ferries in New York. Here, the mid-morning H&M and LIRR trains make their runs out to Midtown and Jamaica, respectively
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The year is 1905, and things are heating up in PA. Starting with Pittsburgh, where the new Connellsville and Conemaugh branches are being brought in to freight (and in the former case, passenger) service. Here, a closeup of LIBERTY and GREEN interlockings, which merge the Conemaugh and Connellsville branch, respectively. On the left is East Liberty, the last stop before Pittsburg. On the right is Greensburg, the last stop (for now) before the local and express tracks merge to serve Altoona.
Here, we see all of Pittsburg with the Main Line, Erie Line, and Panhandle Line all splitting off and heading to points north/west of the city
Across the state, the low-grade line to Enola is under construction. This line is a freight bypass of the congested Philadelphia area and meets the Main Line 3 times: here is GAP/FRAZIER, the two interlocking controlling the merge of the Low-Grade into the Main Line
Here we see the burgeoning Philadelphia region and the northernmost connection of the low grade with the Main Line: MORRIS interlocking
glossy herald
Here we see the burgeoning Philadelphia region and the northernmost connection o...
The company also recognizes increasing demand from the northeastern suburbs will demand new stations in the near future
And here is the expanded West Philadelphia terminal. Soon, work will begin to extend local trains into an expanded terminal downtown, relieving the city’s overloaded tram network. Also present in this shot are ARSENAL and SCHUYLKILL, two interlockings linking the Grays Ferry station to the main line. MARKET is the interlocking controlling the station throat (if you can call it that at this stage
Also down the pike, double tracking the further flung sections of the line to allow for proper local service between the prestige runs
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Quick construction update then I’ll get back to ops-posting. The Cincinnati Line and branches are now complete, connecting Cincy to Columbus, Richmond, and points west along with a branch to Dayton (took some liberties there). The first image is Cincinnati Pennsylvania Terminal with CINCY interlocking northbound, and eastbound trains to access all platform tracks. Eventually westbound service on other railroads can connect into the western platforms
And here are the branches: the Panhandle Line runs through the top left corner. The Richmond-Cincinnati branch runs to the bottom left, and the Dayton branch runs through the middle, connecting Richmond, Dayton, and Xenia. The Cincinnati Line curves to the south just past Xenia towards Cincy. Toward the top right, the Cincinnati and Panhandle Lines merge just west of Columbus
And here’s a bonus eye candy shot of the new low grade girder bridge over the Susquehanna
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Here we have a fully built-out (for now) Chicago Penn Terminal area where trains on the Broad Way unload first at Englewood, then at Pennsylvania Terminal before deadheading to the Coach Yard south of the city (which has space to the NW for a platform serving oil trains
And a new shot of the burgeoning Harrisburg area. Here we see the relocated low-grade joining the Main Line at MIDDLE, the newly extended Northern Central Line which diverges from the Main at HARRIS and at PORT has a junction with a spur off the low-grade.
As promised, we've some trains here, too, at 6:30 AM! Erie Express 443 is heading off onto the Northern Central at ROCK just past Harrisburg, followed by Pennsylvanian 502 which will run local the rest of the way to Pittsburgh. Bringing up the rear of this set is Buffalo Day Express 462, which will follow 443 up the NC before branching off at Williamsport
Altoona, too, is seeing some early-morning runs passing by the newly minted Altoona Works. Pennsylvanian 501 has just left en route to Philadelphia. Red Arrow 5 is (not yet timetabled but still) making a commuter run ferrying entrepreneurs in the city's newfangled auto industry to meet with bigwigs in New York and should arrive just before 9:00 AM
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Not yet featured in the game journal are freight ops! Here we see DV-457 waiting at Dover Yard before taking a load of livestock (currently onboard DV-120, which is just arriving) to a cannery near Ocean City, MD. Further up the line, Delaware Branch 313 is branching off the Washington Line. It will take the running track outside Dover Yard and take the branch line on its run to Ocean City
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Alliance Junction is now an actual junction! Trains from the Broad Way can now reach Cleveland westbound and Youngstown eastbound. In just over 60 years, we've come a long way, starting to extend tendrils throughout the East.
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Small update before showing off the operations further west. West Philadelphia is no longer the terminus for the Broad Way, which now runs straight into Broad Street Station, a modern terminus that also features only the second electrified track in the system
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Realized quite quickly that the early-railroading model of having trains work on specific times and stopping patterns is both a pain to set up and defeats some of the value of scheduled dispatch (and means if a train misses its slot, the delay numbers in days). If someone has done this before, please let me know how you set it up. Before I redesign the entire ops model, here are some shots of the unsustainable version I've built out.
First up, Chicago Union Station, where a local to Plymouth is on its way out. Next is Valparaiso where a local is heading back up to Chicago. The third shot captures a limited coming in from Detroit pulling through Toledo Junction toward the East
A lot happening in Pittsburgh: from the left, a commuter train works its way along the Ohio; a scrap unit train hauling cargo from Connellsville; hard to see in the middle of the shot, an Erie-bound train loads up; at the top right, a coal train waits to fill up at one of the many bituminous mines north of the city
Maybe the most intrigue on the network is Harrisburg, where 2 Keystone locals wait for their departure slots and a limited from Erie readies for the home stretch to Philly
