My Middletown and
Unionville Layout
by John Deserto
For the last three decades one
of my passions has been model railroading and for two decades my modeling
subject has been the M&NJ or the M&U. Like most model railroaders I have
built several layouts over that time and will probably build a few more
before I’m done. The following article is meant as a quick overview of my
current layout based on the Middletown and Unionville Railroad from 1935
through 1945.
I had
several goals in mind when I built this version of the M&U. First, I wanted
to have a faithful model of the M&U with a realistic track plan that allowed
for one-man operations. I also wanted the possibility of continuous running
and realistic interchange. My solution to this was to have the Erie and the
O&W’s double track main lines create a 15’X20’ oval. The M&U tracks would
start in Middletown, between the Erie and O&W mains and would be run as a
point to point layout to the junction with the NYS&W at Hanford NJ. The
track layout in each town would be based on the 1917 right of way maps that
I purchased from the M&NJRHS. Using these and other sources I was able to do
a fairly good job, I believe, in recreating the six major locations (DG yard
Middletown, Slate Hill, Johnson, Westtown, Unionville and M&U Jct. Hanford)
I wanted to model along the line.
As
all modelers know, the space available really dictates how and where the
tracks will be laid. In several places tracks had to be eliminated or
dramatically shortened, DG yard is an example of this. Slate Hill was put on
a 6’ curve in the layout unlike the prototype track, which is fairly
straight. Some locations and industries were eliminated altogether. I would
have liked to include the old “Unionville Junction” which was the original
connection from the Erie mainline to the original Middletown, Unionville and
Water Gap RR.. I also had to condense the 5 miles from Middletown to Slate
Hill into 2 feet, which forced me to eliminate Pounds with a creamery and
numerous scenic areas in between. Also missing is the large Nestles
creamery/condensery on State Line Creek in Unionville. None of these items
was given up lightly but after a great deal of consideration I felt that
these items could be removed and still allow my primary goal of faithfully
modeling the M&U. While M&U Jct. Hanford itself is fairly accurate, the rest
of the S&W’s Hanford Branch is just a switch, which connects it to the Erie
eastbound mainline loop.
The
layout has been operational for 8 years and I enjoy fairly realistic
operating sessions. I make up interchange trains from the Erie, O&W and S&W
on the staging yard that sits between the main line loops in the den. This
allows both the Erie/S&W and the O&W access to the double-ended yard. Erie
interchange is run to the M&U from one of the yards switch leads which
becomes the “third track” which represents the Erie’s prototype arrangement
from their DW yard to the west of the M&U’s DG yard. O&W interchange runs
travel a short distance down the O&W main before crossing to the M&U on the
“long crossover” track at East Main St.. S&W interchange runs west on the
Erie’s eastbound mainline loop before reaching the switch for M&U Jct.,
Hanford. A dedicated connection between staging and Hanford will be a much
higher priority on my next layout. Each interchange train has an interchange
sheet listing cars and destinations. These interchange sheets were copied
from actual interchange sheets from the O&W, Erie and the S&W. These sheets
reinforce the realistic operations and help me remember where the heck each
one of these cars is going, as it can be many days or weeks before I get the
urge to run the layout again. I then use the interchange sheets to fill in
an M&U switch list, also copied from a real M&U switch list that I use as
the conductor to make up my trains. I just started using location sheets for
each town along the layout that list the location and status of each car
spotted in town. I plan on using this as well when I make up my switch
lists. I run the M&U using a 1938 timetable which includes a morning
passenger run to Unionville and back, two freight runs to M&U Jct./Hanford
and back, and an afternoon passenger run. I do play a bit loose with the
train consists by including cars to all the creameries along the line and
heavy interchange coal traffic between the O&W and S&W. While I’m working
the M&U I will generally run two Erie trains and two O&W trains around the
loops. This is especially cool when working DG yard in Middletown and having
an O&W Mountain pull by with a load of interchange for Maybrook or an Erie
Pacific zip past with a commuter or milk train.
In
keeping with my desire to replicate the M&U as closely as possible the
buildings on the layout generally need to be scratchbuilt. I try to get a
building or two finished every year, but as you can see there are quite a
few bare spots and stand in buildings. I also generally avoid doing scenery
around areas where I’ve not yet put a building. I also design my buildings
to be removable to allow me to access the layout and to upgrade the
buildings when the mood strikes me. Some of the older buildings have a
fairly high level of detail, others are very spare. I guess I have an A.D.D.
style of modeling and I always have a dozen or so projects going on at once,
and another dozen planned. In the end I have fun and that is why we do
this.
A
quick note on the pictures, many of them are several years old and the
scenes may have filled in since, maybe not (see above paragraph). Also,
these pictures are not “magazine” quality, they are generally snapshots I
took as I was walking around the layout. Enjoy.
DG Middletown
This
2002 scene is might look like a “spaghetti track plan” gone bad but this is
the actual track layout around East Main St. in Middletown. Starting in the
foreground: two Erie mainlines, the “third track” which connected the M&U’s
DG yard with the Erie’s DW yard. This track became the “Loop track” once it
crossed East Main St., the “Erie interchange track”, the M&U’s “freight
house track” which has a boxcar on it, the “caboose track” is on the far
side of the M&U’s freight house. I have since replaced that caboose with a
kit bashed M&U #51, which is a much better representation of the prototype.
The next track (mostly obscured) is the “long crossover” which connected the
O&W and the M&U, and finally the O&W mains which is hosting a meet. The
large gray building is the M&U’s East Main St. station that is the
centerpiece of the Middletown area.
This
is a close up of the East Main St. station. This building was pivotal to the
overall look of the area and sets the tone of the layout altogether so I
really wanted to do it right. The windows were the big sticking point
because of their unique arched top. This arch was not a 180 degrees but a
very subtle one, Since no commercial windows were available I eventually
took the leap into RTV casting. I built my patterns using drawings from the
excellent RMC articles on the M&NJ/M&U as well as my own pictures and
measurements, made the mold and began casting my own windows, doors and roof
supports. I will be using these castings when I get around to doing the
Unionville station as it also had the same type of windows. This project
allowed me to develop a very useful new skill and since that time I’ve made
tons of other castings of all types of things. This photo was taken in 2002
and I have yet to add the interior to this building and the small cupola on
the roof.
DG yard sat between the
Erie’s double track main line and the O&W’s double track main line so mine
does the same. The Erie main is in the foreground and also has an
approximately 2% grade as it comes into Middletown. The O&W main is in the
background. Since this picture was taken in 2002 I’ve gotten a few more
things done here. The water tank has been painted and weathered and the
scratch built turntable has been finished. The engine house has been built
and in location awaiting details and painting.
This view of DG was
taken from the opposite direction and shows the O&W main in the foreground.
The water tank is the venerable Atlas kit with an additional fill pipe
installed facing the “ash pit track” off the turntable as well as a pipe for
the M&U’s mainline. This kit, one of the few non-scratchbuilt models on the
layout, had all the correct major dimensions and once painted and weathered
looks very nice. The addition of the engine house helped relieve the
sparseness of the yard. I still need to build the oil house, the sand house,
the coal tipple and a few assorted sheds. In the distance you can see the
M&U cross over the Erie main and curve right to continue onto a peninsula
that holds Slate Hill (just out of frame right) and Johnson, which is on the
opposite side of the backdrop.
Slate Hill
The
M&U’s station in Slate Hill was one of three very similar stations along the
line at the intermediate towns. This was my first attempt to scratch built
anything. I’m happy with it. I have since built the similar stations for
Johnson and Westtown. The Martin’s feed mill is right behind the station.
The
Middletown Milk and Cream “B” plant in Slate Hill has gone through stage
one. It is on the layout. Other future steps are installing the loading dock
(built but not yet installed), weathering, rough interior, gutters, a real
roof (this is just sheet plastic sprayed black, so much faster than peel and
stick shingles). The foam blocks that anchor the feed mill and the M&U Slate
Hill station are visible in front of the creamery. All my buildings are
removable for continued refinement, repair or ease of access.
Johnson
This
is a rough view of the Johnson NY Borden’s. The building, like the
prototype, is of an impressive size. Work has stalled on this until I can
figure out what color the building was painted. B&W photos show the trim was
a very light color (?white?) and the building itself a darker color...but
what? The building itself was constructed during the summer of 2001. The
portion facing the rear is removable so that in the future if a photographs
become available I can alter the model to suit. 10/21/2001
I get
a number of comments about this scene, which I really can’t, take credit
for. I plopped this crude early attempt at structures in the rear of the
scene to get it out of the way when I was cleaning one day. Someday I’ll
actually put windows and doors on it, maybe a foundation..maybe I’ll just
leave it well enough alone.
This
is another view of Johnson from another direction. Almost all the M&U
stations are in place along the line. I just need to do Unionville. The
Johnson station is the closest structure and the other building is a stand
in for Manning’s Lumber and Feed. The Ford Weld Cox feed and seed is just an
illusion in my mind so far but I will get to that. All my structures are
removable so if I ever need to move they will have a place on the new M&U.
The tracks under the M&U are my son’s layout and the track arrangement has
changed a half dozen times since this picture was taken.
Westtown
Rutgers on the M&U was a very quiet spot between Johnson and Westtown. It at
one time sported a milk station and was a rail bus stop for the transport of
local high school children into Middletown. I saw a photo by Bob Mohowski of
an L&HR freight at a dirt road crossing in a very rural setting, reproducing
this has been my objective for this spot. The loops that represent the Erie
and O&W are directly below here limiting the support available. A simple
slab of rigid insulation served as a base for the scenery. I have added the
field on the left of the road since this shot was taken and I’m working on
the stonewalls.
Two years have passed since this picture was taken and I have added a great
deal of scenery to this area. The feed elevator in the background is a stand
in for the Clark Feed and Lumber complex that will someday occupy that area.
The Westtown railroad station is in location but the Borden’s Creamery and
the Nestles creamery are currently in the research stage. I have added a
rough layer of scenery with a few roads, driveways and some residences so it
doesn’t look so bare. Off to the left is the Rutgers scene, to the right is
Unionville. The Erie and O&W mains are below this scene and can be accessed
using a hatch I cut in Westtown.
Unionville
This
is my VERY condensed version of Unionville looking south (railroad east).
The area between the main (on left) and the siding will eventually hold the
Unionville station, water tank and tool house. The siding isn’t as
ridiculously short as it seems in the picture, but it’s close. I was still
using plaster on the rough foam at this point, I have since switched to more
fine grinding of the foam with a light (if any) coat of light weight
spackle.
This
is the northern half of Unionville, the photo was taken where the tree shows
up in this picture. The wye is a real space eater (but much less hassle than
the DG turntable) and its placement in the corner dictated the way I could
design Westtown (the next town west) Unionville (sidings were left off due
to space) and Hanford Jct. (drastically shortened). The joy of foam scenery,
I just pop those trees in and out, move them a bit left-bit right. The trees
are made from sunflower roots, dried and foamed with straight pins glued in
the base.
M&U Jct. Hanford
The
center of the shot is the east end of Hanford Jct. The double mainline in
the foreground is the Erie mainline through Middletown, this was a modeling
compromise that had to be made. My plan is to have building flats face the
Erie and cover the backs with thick foliage for the Hanford view. Not ideal
but better than putting the interchange in by hand. The hole at the far end
is for a not yet scratch built turntable. The TT area is removable so work
in the TT can happen at the workbench. 1/19/2002
Assorted caboose
pictures
I had been frustrated with the lack of accurate Erie wood sided caboose
models and decided to take the plunge and scratch build my first piece of
rolling stock. I figured it would be like doing a building on wheels, which
it basically was. As you can see in this shot I cast my own windows and
doors for the caboose. I used lots of pictures and line drawings from the
Internet as well as photos from the M&NJRHS archives. This shot was taken in
2001 on the Erie mainline in Middletown.
Recognize this model? This is the Erie caboose from the above picture. A
photo from the M&NJRHS’s Photo Flyer showing a freshly repainted S&W caboose
(former Erie) at M&U Jct. made me decide to alter my plans a bit and finish
it as an S&W hack using decals from Prime Mover Decals.
Well I still needed Erie
cabooses so I built two more. These two are both 6-cupola window models
where the S&W caboose is an 8-cupola window model. The dimensions are
basically the same and I used the same door and window castings on all 3
hacks. These two have since been finished as Erie models using the Erie
Caboose sets from Prime Mover Decals.
With
my S&W and Erie caboose problems solved, I felt that it was time to do
something about the M&U caboose on the layout. Luckily Walthers must have
read my mind because they came out with their wonderful 4-window wood side
caboose kit. After purchasing the kit and gathering reference information
from the M&NJRHS, it became obvious that this model could easily be bashed
into the M&U’s #51, which would be perfect for my time period. I replaced
the kit cupola with one from a Walthers 3 window wood side caboose and cut
in a scratch built side door and I was basically done. Here is the resulting
model on a diorama depicting the Rutgers Creek Bridge between Slate Hill and
Johnson, I took this picture in the spring of 2004.
If you have any questions
or comments you can e-mail John Deserto at
mandurr@earthlink.net
