Description

The Wyoming Division of the Lehigh Valley is a 17'x19' layout depicting several of the railroads which served the Wyoming Valley in northeast Pennsylvania during the 1940-1950 eras. It is located in a detached garage which was rebuilt during the summer of 1998. It uses modular construction with the modules located along the walls and with a peninsula in the center.

The double tracked, Lehigh Valley dog bone mainline is stacked under the peninsula with staging tracks on each end representing upstate New York and the New Jersey Meadowlands on the other end. A lift out near the doorway is used to provide a connection to lower loop

The LV's operations are centered around the large division yard at Coxton. It features a 10 track double-ended yard, a 7 track stub-ended storage yard and car shop, a turntable which serves a 6 stall roundhouse, and two diesel service tracks.  The branch at Coxton tower leads to a 5 track staging yard locating in an adjoining garage.  These tracks represent:

• the NYO&W interchange via the LVs Austin Branch.

• the DL&W interchsnge at Coxton

• the LV's West Pittston (WP) Branch

• the LV's Austin Branch

• the LV's WP branch service the Harry E. Colliery

The double track mainline passes through the large industrial city of Wilkes-Barre.  It features a small yard, service to several industries, and an interchange with the CNJ, PRR and L&WV railroads. 

Rail is code 100, 83 or 70 nickel silver. Turnouts are a combination of Atlas, Walthers, and some of the turnouts and track are hand laid.

The LV section of the layout was originally wired for multi-cab DC control using two large control panels, and a combination of 5 pole rotary, DPDT, and on/off switches. A Digitrax DCC system was added using one post on the rotary switches. A DCS-100 powers the western or left half of the dog bone and the yard. A DB-150 booster powers the eastern end. MRC auto reversing modules are used for each loop.

The electrical schematic gives you some idea of the trackplan for the three level layout. The CNJ tracks are hignlighted in green, the PRR in blue, and the Laurel Line in orange.

The 1st generation diesel motive power is mostly from Stewart, Atlas, Kato and Life-Like. A variety of late steam engines are also used. Several engines are equipped with sound systems. Some of the freight cars are super detailed or scratch built, but most are slightly modified kits. Passenger equipment is all modified to reflect the Lehigh Valley's equipment.

The mountain scenery is built of layers of blueboard insulation covered with a thin layer of Scuptumold. Woodland Scenic and homemade rock castings were made from Scuptumold also. Most of the vegetation is lichen sprinkled with Woodland Scenics foam. Tom Salmon did the impressive job finishing most of the mountainous scenery behind the yard. I painted the mountain background using a technique described to me by Dave Watson.

An operating night is conducted periodically by several members of the Tidewater Division of the National Model Railroad Association (NMRA). Sequential timetable operations are used based on the Lehigh Valley's 1947 timetable.

Now see the layout from an engineer's eyes and take a cab ride in a Lehigh Valley F-3A from the Buffalo/Sayre Yards (lower staging) to the Lehighton/Oak Island Yards (upper staging)