Jeff Warner's

PRR/RDG/WM South Central Region

About The Model Railroad

The PRR/RDG/WM South Central Region represents the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR), Reading Railroad (RDG), and Western Maryland Railway (WM) in South Central Pennsylvania and Maryland. It is an HO scale layout comprised of two decks in a 22' x 36' basement. It is set in the transition era of the mid 1950's with both steam and diesel locomotives. It is a "proto-freelance" railroad. That is, it is not meant to be an exact "replica" of the actual railroad, but rather capture the "flavor" of what these railroads were in the 1950's...

The Pennsylvania Railroad is represented from Baltimore, MD, to Marysville, PA (the old Northern Central Railroad). PRR yards are located in Baltimore, MD and Enola, PA. Switching areas on the PRR are North Baltimore, MD; Parkton, MD; New Freedom, PA; and Marysville, PA. Staging is included for Lancaster and points east. In addition, the PRR has passenger service to Harrisburg, York, Marysville, and Baltimore.   The PRR mainline is 225 feet long.

The Reading Railroad is represented by the Lurgan Line between Lurgan (Shippensburg), PA, and Rutherford Yard. The Reading includes Rutherford yard (shared with Enola), and a switching area at Harrisburg, PA. Passenger service to Harrisburg is also modeled.   The Reading mainline is 80 feet long.

The WM is represented by the "Dutch Line" in its entirety; the WM main line extending the "Dutch Line" to Baltimore, MD, and Hagerstown, MD; and the Lurgan Branch connecting with the RDG at Lurgan, PA. Switching areas are York, PA; Spring Grove, PA; Hanover, PA; and Hagerstown, MD. Yards are located in Baltimore, MD and Hagerstown, MD. Passenger service is represented to Hillen Station in Baltimore, MD (off of the PRR right-of-way); Baltimore, MD; York, PA; Spring Grove, PA; and Hagerstown, MD. Staging is provided for Cumberland, MD and points west.   The WM mainline is 180 feet long.

A map showing the area I am modeling can be found here. The PRR is in red, the RDG is in green, and the WM is in blue. Note this is an approximation and not an exact tracing of the tracks... When you look at Baltimore, MD, notice a little section of blue WM trackage off the red PRR tracks. This is Hillen station which is a short section of WM track off of the PRR right of way. At York, PA, the WM wyes onto the PRR. This is modeled by an "inverted wye" (reverse loop) on my layout. Also, you can see a wye on the WM where the Lurgan line joins the main (toward either Cumberland or Baltimore). Only the leg of this wye toward Baltimore is modeled due to space limitations. At LEMO (Lemoyne), the Reading crossed over the PRR at a 90 degree angle. On my layout, these tracks meet in parallel witha full interlocking. Finally, the PRR takes a detour through Lurgan on my layout between Manchester, PA and Wago Jct, PA. Obviously from the map, this is modeler's license to get to the roundhouse and not something that really existed.

A 360 degree, 40 stall steam roundhouse is located in Lurgan, PA, for use by all three railroads. The 105 foot turntable is controlled by a NYRS PTC Model III indexer.

Construction of the model railroad began in January 2001. The benchwork is a modified L girder design for the lower deck and cantilevered open grid design for the upper deck. Maximum distance between the two decks is 20 inches railhead to railhead. Atlas Code 100 Flex track is utilized over N scale cork with one inch foam and 0.5 inch plywood sub-roadbed. The mainlines have a 30" minimum radius, while the branchlines have a 28" minimum radius. Scenery is about 75% complete.   Control is DCC with a radio-equipped Digitrax Chief system. Prototypical signaling is accomplished using the C/MRI system and a 1990's style computerized CTC model board. Communications between the dispatcher and road crews is via FRS radios, while telephones are used between the dispatcher and yardmasters.

The model railroad has 100+ locomotives, 440+ freight cars, and 40+ passenger cars. WM's Baltimore yard (the largest on the model railroad) has a capacity of 225 cars. PRR's Baltimore yard has a capacity of 75 cars.   Enola/Rutherford yard has a capacity of 115 cars. Hagerstown Yard has a capacity of 40 cars. There is staging for 130 cars at Lancaster and 85 cars at Cumberland.

Full operation of the model railroad began in February 2002 and is held the second Saturday of each month from 10 AM until 2 PM. Operation is via a car card system and is controlled by a dispatcher. Anyone interested in operating, working on, and/or seeing this model railroad, please contact me (Jeff Warner) at jeff@pennsyrr.com.

With many thanks to Bob Lyter, there are now accurate track diagrams for the model railroad. Note that these files are a little large (around 200 kb each) and may be slow loading on dial-up connections. Here is the lower level and the upper level.   Also, here is an accurate linear track schematic used by the dispatcher for passing siding sizes.

I would like to thank the following people for their help in designing the model railroad (Nick Kulp, Larry Reynolds, Ken McCorry, Bob Lyter) and building the model railroad (Bob Lyter, Al Wolfinger, Gary Yanko, Ray Fisher, Jerry Britton, Chuck Whary, James Mattern, Steven Mallery, Ron Johnston, Wayne Betty, and Linda Warner).

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Last modified: November 30 2007.

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