mtrpls
Ignorance is Patriotic
Hi everyone,
I've been reading posts here for a while but decided today to introduce myself. My name is Matt, I'm 25 years old, and I'm trying to get young people in their 20s and 30s interested in this hobby. I am a modeler of the New York Central, but not the railroad that was, but the railroad had it existed today.
This means a modern railroad system with contemporary equipment, and the beauty of modeling this railroad in current times is that, for all practical purposes, it allows you the flexibility of free-lancing while still sticking to a memorable and popular road name.
Although I lack a layout, I do get a chance to run my equipment on a local club layout here in Denver. (this way I can spend all my money on locomotives and rolling stock
) I have decided to post a few photos of my railroad, the New York Central.
First, while you wait for the photos to load, I would like to give you a timeline of the history of the railroad. Please note than anything after the officialment of the Penn Central merger is purely my fiction!
1853 - New York Central Railroad formed by the merger of 10 small upstate NY railroads.
1867 to 1950s - The railroad unfolds into an empire under the steady and determined leadership of the Vanderbilt clan.
1960s - The railroad is hit hard, along with its regional competitors, as freight traffic in the northeastern United States dwindles.
1960s - The New York Central and the Pennsylvania Railroad begin talks of a merger into the 'Penn Central', and both companies lobby the US Government for approval.
1968 - Two days before the NYC and PRR would officialize the merger, a mysterious group of investors flush the NYC with cash and lobbied the NYC corporate board to back out of the merger.
1968 - The NYC ends all merger negotations with the Pennsylvania Railroad, and focuses on using the immense capital it had received to upgrading and modernizing its infrastructure, as well as to make real estate investments and formulate new business strategies.
1969 - The NYC acquires the Pennsylvania Railroad lock, stock and barrel. The name of the railroad remains "New York Central System".
1970 - Various other bankrupt eastern seaboard railroads are acquired by the NYC, allowing the railroad to become the "mega railroad" of the northeast.
1970s - The NYC becomes a pioneer in intermodal/TOFC service, and celebrates the openings of new intermodal facilities in virtually all of the large and medium-sized cities it serves.
1970s - Truck dreyage between the intermodal yards and the customers is controlled by the railroad; this keeps the cost of transportation low and prevents the trucking industry from increasing its rates to intermodal yards.
1980s - The railroad changes its AAR reporting marks to "NYCS", preventing any confusion its former NYC acronym had with "New York City".
1980s - The NYCS rises out of the ruins of bankruptcy and becomes one of the healthiest transportation companies in the world.
1990s - New capital improvement plans, funded by the immense profits the railroad has been earning, further modernize the NYCS. The famed "Water Level Route" between New York City and Buffalo begins a 10-year reconstruction: the mainline is widened to six tracks and re-laid with concrete ties and heavier rail. Selkirk Yard, just south of Albany, is endowed with over $300M of improvements.
1999 - The NYCS opens its new trophy headquarters, 4 Times Square. (also known as the Conde Nast building)
... and with that, I give you the photos. We will watch 4 Kato SD70MACs, all custom painted by myself, lead a mixed freight over the NMRA's Sunrise Division club layout. Please don't complain about all of the photos focusing on the locomotives; I just finished painting them and this operating session was their first time "on stage":
A close-up of #718
By the way, that's a Susquehanna B40-8 trailing the NYCS lashup.
Yes, not exactly East Coast scenery... I know!
Hope you enjoyed the photos and the introduction to my "semi-freelanced" NYCS.
I've been reading posts here for a while but decided today to introduce myself. My name is Matt, I'm 25 years old, and I'm trying to get young people in their 20s and 30s interested in this hobby. I am a modeler of the New York Central, but not the railroad that was, but the railroad had it existed today.
This means a modern railroad system with contemporary equipment, and the beauty of modeling this railroad in current times is that, for all practical purposes, it allows you the flexibility of free-lancing while still sticking to a memorable and popular road name.
Although I lack a layout, I do get a chance to run my equipment on a local club layout here in Denver. (this way I can spend all my money on locomotives and rolling stock
) I have decided to post a few photos of my railroad, the New York Central. First, while you wait for the photos to load, I would like to give you a timeline of the history of the railroad. Please note than anything after the officialment of the Penn Central merger is purely my fiction!
1853 - New York Central Railroad formed by the merger of 10 small upstate NY railroads.
1867 to 1950s - The railroad unfolds into an empire under the steady and determined leadership of the Vanderbilt clan.
1960s - The railroad is hit hard, along with its regional competitors, as freight traffic in the northeastern United States dwindles.
1960s - The New York Central and the Pennsylvania Railroad begin talks of a merger into the 'Penn Central', and both companies lobby the US Government for approval.
1968 - Two days before the NYC and PRR would officialize the merger, a mysterious group of investors flush the NYC with cash and lobbied the NYC corporate board to back out of the merger.
1968 - The NYC ends all merger negotations with the Pennsylvania Railroad, and focuses on using the immense capital it had received to upgrading and modernizing its infrastructure, as well as to make real estate investments and formulate new business strategies.
1969 - The NYC acquires the Pennsylvania Railroad lock, stock and barrel. The name of the railroad remains "New York Central System".
1970 - Various other bankrupt eastern seaboard railroads are acquired by the NYC, allowing the railroad to become the "mega railroad" of the northeast.
1970s - The NYC becomes a pioneer in intermodal/TOFC service, and celebrates the openings of new intermodal facilities in virtually all of the large and medium-sized cities it serves.
1970s - Truck dreyage between the intermodal yards and the customers is controlled by the railroad; this keeps the cost of transportation low and prevents the trucking industry from increasing its rates to intermodal yards.
1980s - The railroad changes its AAR reporting marks to "NYCS", preventing any confusion its former NYC acronym had with "New York City".
1980s - The NYCS rises out of the ruins of bankruptcy and becomes one of the healthiest transportation companies in the world.
1990s - New capital improvement plans, funded by the immense profits the railroad has been earning, further modernize the NYCS. The famed "Water Level Route" between New York City and Buffalo begins a 10-year reconstruction: the mainline is widened to six tracks and re-laid with concrete ties and heavier rail. Selkirk Yard, just south of Albany, is endowed with over $300M of improvements.
1999 - The NYCS opens its new trophy headquarters, 4 Times Square. (also known as the Conde Nast building)
... and with that, I give you the photos. We will watch 4 Kato SD70MACs, all custom painted by myself, lead a mixed freight over the NMRA's Sunrise Division club layout. Please don't complain about all of the photos focusing on the locomotives; I just finished painting them and this operating session was their first time "on stage":
A close-up of #718
By the way, that's a Susquehanna B40-8 trailing the NYCS lashup.
Yes, not exactly East Coast scenery... I know!
Hope you enjoyed the photos and the introduction to my "semi-freelanced" NYCS.
