Page 6 - September October 2000

M. G. SHARP MODELS
712 Attercliffe Road Sheffield S9 3RP
Tel: 0114 244 0851 / 244 7120 Fax: 0114 244 0434
EMAIL: Email@Mgsharp.com
Web Site: WWW.MGSharp.com
And from what you are telling us, its one of the best sites in the U.K. Not my words but Customers who have used it. We keep adding pages on a daily basis, last week I put in place 14 pages of Microscale Decals, yes that makes a full listing of the Current range. We have lots more to come.. So keep popping back and check out the NEWS PAGE. Don’t forget that you can also order ON-LINE.
You Can Email Ken, Margaret or Sue @MGSharp.com
For General Enquires please send your Email to Email@MGSharp.com
“AMERICAN HO” KATO New Announcements, SD80/90Mac, C44-9W & Business Car. GP35 Ph 1C. 2 Numbers ATSF & UP, 1 # BN, GN & SP. £69.50 2 For £132.50 Ltd Stocks Left. SPECIAL ATHEARN GP 38- 2/40/50/60’s £29.95 & SD40-2 (old versions) £33.75 Each. Proto 2000 0-8- 0’s Southern, NYC, & CB&Q only £129.95.. Yes That’s Right £129.95... Proto1000 F’s £29.95, C liners £49.95, RDC’s Due soon. All Door Thralls, Hoppers & Gons £7.95. Tank cars due. Walther’s GP15-1 BNSF, CSX, CNW, UP £39.95, F40PH Asst Roads £39.95. Stewart C628 & C630’s From £79.95, A&B F Units £113.50. ATLAS New GP38 ATSF, BNSF, CSX, GM&O, NEC, PC & Alaska £89.95. RS3’s, Erie, CN, C of G & Rutland £54.95 2 for £100.00. ATHEARN New F59PHI with 5 pole motor Pwd £ TBA. New SD40-2 locos should be in stock by now £42.50 Pwd & £25.95 Dmy. Genesis SD70I ATSF, EMD Demo, CN, BNSF & SP from £79.95. 2- 8-2’s New liveries in stock from £99.95. Our shelves are bursting with stock from WALTHERS. We have Stocks of Atlas New 60’ S/D & D/D Auto Cars £15.15. Roundhouse, Kadee, Athearn, Accurail, Intermountain Cly 4 Bay, 2 Bay, Gons & Tanks Instock. & LBF 6 Pack Bethgons BNSF, BN, UP, PGEX, SOMX, CNW, NS £59.99, Bethgon(r) Aeroflo(tm) New BNSF, BN & CN 6 Packs £74.95, Boeing SKYBOX Cars Also In Stock. See Web Site for More Details. KADEE COUPLERS Complete range stocked (inc trucks) No. 5’s 10 packets (20 pairs) £17.50. DETAIL PARTS from all the major producers (should be on the Web Site by Now. DECALS from MICROSCALE & Champ. Fantastic selection of AMB kits in stock. We have one of the biggest selection of US road Vehicles ever seen in the UK.
AMERICAN BOOKS. A selection that is second to none. Send a large SAE for our BIGGEST EVER book list, or see WEB SITE for full listing. New Books Just In From Signature Press, 4 Ways West & Morning Sun.
“AMERICAN N” Kato, New Announcements, SD80/90Mac, C44-9W, RDC, Genesis Loco & SuperLiners, NA Caboose. See Web site for Details. E8’s and Corr. Pass. cars. E8’s A-A packs PRR, CB&Q, SR. A-B sets in ATSF Silver Red warbonnet (2 different sets) £109.95ea. A units in ATSF £55.00. Corrugated Passenger Car Sets. Sets in Stock in the following road names, ATSF, PRR, CB&Q & Southern. Each set costs £59.95. Life Like. F40PH Amtrak, GP38-2 ATSF, BN,CR & CSX GP18 RI, NW & NP £19.95, SD7 B&O, UP & GN £ 29.95. Kato RS2 ATSF, D&H, CGW, CP & GN only £55.00 or 2 £100.00. ALCO PA sets both units powered Erie Lackawanna or Wabash £85.00. NYC or PRR £87.50. PA1 single units NYC, PRR or SP £52.50. ATLAS EMD SD50 Chessie, MP-in UP yellow/grey & Seaboard £57.50. We have some GP7/9, 40 & -2’s & SD35 in stock. FREIGHT CARS from MICRO-TRAINS Full Range Of Couplers In Stock. New F/Cars every month (See web page for details), De-Luxe New 20’ Cont Maersk and 40’ Chassis’s. PGEX & CN 10 Packs of Twin Tubs £99.95, Road-Railers Due soon. ATLAS, KATO 2 Bays DRGW, UP & SP, 2 Packs £14.95. ROUNDHOUSE & WALTHERS in very large quantities. LBF Johnstown(r) “Coalporters” 6 Packs, BN, CSX, CR, BNSF, CNW, PGEX £52.50, 65’ Mill Gons £9.50, Boeing SKYBOX Cars Due. GHQ & Showcase Miniatures “Stacks” of Kits In Stock.
Want to change to N Scale but don’t fancy laying Flexi Track and then ballasting it. Well look no further The Award winning KATO UNI-TRACK system is the answer to your prayers. Its brilliant, We have track packs to get you started K1 & N1 (curved sets R1 & R2) £19.95, K2 Passing loop set (2 x #6 Points Fully electrified) £44.50. K3 Viaduct Set £58.50, Fully working Level crossing £136.95 See Web site for full list or send a SAE.
New LENZ Compact DCC controller 100 Locos & 100 Points for only £64.95, New Lenz Le77xf N scale decoder £17.95. See Web Site for full DCC details:- Lenz, System One, Digitrax & MRC.
ALL MAJOR CREDIT CARDS TAKEN INCLUDING SWITCH POST AND HANDLING CHARGE £1.95 PER ORDER (unless stated)
WE ARE OPEN SIX DAYS MON-SAT 9.30 -17.00
Layout of the Month cont...
My next step was to develop a history of the line. I feel this is important as it sets the layout in context, forms the basis of operation and, if relevant, the timetable. The criteria for the history were demanding. It had to tie into the local economy, growth and decline of short lines and the physical constraints of the layout.
In the 1870’s the railroad opened from a junction with the Pennsylvania Railroad at Lindsay, south-east into the Sinking Valley. Built to re-vitalise the lead and zinc mines in the valley, the railroad was unfortunate as, shortly after the opening, the Keystone Zinc Company mine (the largest and last) closed. The Pennsylvania Railroad did not buy the Sinking Valley Railroad as it was marginally profitable and presented no opening to competitive railroads.
In 1936 the operation of the run down railroad was leased by the nearby short line, the Lost Mountain Railroad. The Sinking Valley Railroad was able to continue its bucolic life until 7 August 1955, when it was hit by Hurricane Diane followed by twenty days of heavy rain. By 27th August most of the railroad south east of Pratrea had been washed out and services suspended.
The Lost Mountain Railroad withdrew from its lease and the Sinking Valley filed for abandonment. At the last moment the railroad was bought out by Commonwealth Plastics Corporation to maintain access to its chemical plant at Pratrea. The Commonwealth Plastics Corporation hired a Pennsylvania Railroad loco to handled freight operations. Freight trains were extended from the junction at Lindsay down the Pennsylvania Railroad to exchange at Huntingdon. The operations proved to be more successful than expected, with inward chemicals being augmented by team freight, outward bound limestone, limestone products and lead-zinc tailings. In 1959 a group of rail buffs were able to start a weekend and public holiday passenger services using preserved stock and steam locos. The line was renamed the Pratrea and Lindsay Railroad so it could be marketed as ‘PAL the friendly Railroad’ and to indicate the services south east of Pratrea remained suspended.
The layout is set after Hurricane Diane. Pratrea’s track plan is a development of John Allen’s ‘Time Saver’ of a loop feeding sidings, usually two to four. My developments were to have both the sidings at the front of the layout
face in the same direction and add the diamond crossing. I was surprised that a 46” long baseboard had room for a diamond. As a stand-alone layout Pratrea needed a fiddle yard. I decided to make the siding at the back left of the layout a spur to a quarry and when required a fiddle yard, and screen it with trees.
When designing the track plan one worry was the adequacy of the head shunts, etc.. Before track laying, stock and points were used to confirm that lengths were adequate, and when the track was laid I ran the layout to confirm these results.
Arch Springs, Union Forge and Lindsay should follow Pratrea. The next segment to be tackled is the station of Arch Springs. Emphasis will be on creating rural scenery - it will be very ‘treey’. It is proposed to have a track plan of a half circle and two or three sidings, making it the simplest station on the Sinking Valley/PAL. It will add more sidings and a much longer head shunt that will speed up operations. Union Forge the operating centre of the Sinking Valley/PAL will allow the commencement of heritage passenger service. Finally Lindsay is the interchange to the Pennsylvania RR and in effect the ‘fiddle yard’. A factory siding will allow full cars to travel anti-clockwise and empty cars to travel clockwise round the layout. ●
6 ROUNDHOUSE