Klaus, Phil. 1987. The Newtown Square Branch. The High Line 7(2&4): 3-14 (reprint edition)

Penrose, Robert L. 1987. Reflections and observations of the Newtown Square Branch of the PRR. The High Line 7(2&4): 15 (reprint edition)

Klause, Phil. 1987. The Newtown Square Branch – Part II. The High Line 7 (2&4):17-35 (reprint edition)

Penrose, Robert L. 1987. Reflections and observations of the Newtown Square Branch of the PRR. The High Line 7(2&4): 36-37 (reprint edition)

I sketched the Darby Creek Low Grade Freight Line and its Fernwood Extension on Andy Hart's map of the Newtown Square and Cardington Branches.

The solution to my problem is the Pennsylvania Railroad’s proposed Darby Creek Low Grade Line and its proposed Fernwood Extension. My “prototype” could be a plausible “What if …?” version of the Philadelphia and Delaware County Railroad.

For nostalgic reasons alone, I wanted to model the Newtown Square and Cardington branches of the Pennsylvania Railroad in the transition period from 1945 to 1955. Notwithstanding the need to selectively compress for the space I have available, a true model of the branch would not satisfy the degree of social interaction I was looking for in a model railroad.

    I grew up right next to the Newtown Square branch in Llanerch. In the days before television, My friends and I were entertained for an hour or so each day watching the shifting operations from a vantage point at the top of a shallow cut at the top of our street. We were up very close to the trains and got to know the crews quite well.

Used JMRI PanelPro to build the tower panel for my "what if" version of the Philadelphia and Delaware County Railroad. A single double-ended staging yard serves as PRR facilities in both Philadelphia and Harrisburg. Numbered turnouts are motored but I still need to install the stationary decoders to make the panel operational.

On my layout there is a switch toward the back of the layout that leads to a couple of public delivery and storage tracks. Access to the switch to throw it by hand is obstructed by a set of coal silos and a lumber shed.

            The Philadelphia and Delaware County Railroad (P&DC) was formed on April 25, 1890. It took over the franchises and property rights of the Philadelphia Midland Railroad, an incomplete and non-operational line intended to traverse northern Delaware County from Fernwood to Newtown Square. The P&DC completed construction of the main line and began operation on June 30, 1894. In 1899, it built a branch from Wycombe to Millbourne Mills with freight interchange with the Philadelphia and Western Railroad (P&W).

Used with the permission of the cartographer.

Though it as has been more than six years since I last posted to my blog here at Model Railroad Hobbyist; I am still working on my Model Railroad. Progress has been slow and erratic but none-the-less present.