Layout Design Element: Hershey, PA

Layout Design Elements are a concept that was first introduced by Tony Koester in the Model Railroad Planning 1995 publication. Layout Design Elements (LDE’s) are usually created by taking a look at a section of the prototype railroad, figuring out how it was physically constructed and actual operated. Then using that knowledge create a modeled representative which has the same look at operational interest as the full size railroad in a smaller space.

As I had mentioned in an earlier post here one of the focused areas for my layout is going to be the Hershey Chocolate Factory and the supporting rail yards. There are actually two main areas of operational interest for the railroad during the time period that I am modeling, the first is a small three track yard at a location named “Derry” on the Conrail ZTS maps. These yards are located approximately one half mile east of the main plant. The second is the main chocolate factory which has a number of spurs into the factory itself south of the main lines plus two sidings into the bean unloading area north of the main.

Based on a 1964 edition of the Reading Freight Schedule Book, there were a total of six symbol freight trains that stopped at the yard near Hershey, three set out cars, and three picked up cars. There was also a local which started each day at 6am which serviced the plant, plus a local at 2pm from Hershey as well as a 2:15pm local from Lebanon (located 16 miles east) which would service the other industries in town.

Doing some quick math and based on the expected length of sidings and such at the plant, I am looking to make the Derry portion of the LDE roughly 12 feet long, which should enable the shortest yard track to hold approximately 8 cars.  Additionally at the location there are a total of 5 tracks, from north to south they are the yard/silo lead, main line track 1, main line track 2, storage track #4, and the yard storage/plant lead.  I’ve looked at the possibility of removing one of the tracks, but for now the plan is to include all of them as per the prototype.

At the Chocolate Factory area, there is the coco bean storage silos located on the north side of the tracks, there are two silo tracks each of which hold the boxcars full of beans being unloaded.  At the plant itself there are five spurs which lead into the plant and one that goes near the power plant. I am not sure of the status of the on site power generation for Hershey’s Factory but the iconic Smoke Stacks are a must include in the model.   The majority of the plant will be represented as an aisle side industry with building flats on the aisle to symbolize the complex plant structure which is much to large to model.  The various spurs into the plant will allow for either one or two cars spots for the switcher to work.

I am still working with XtrackCad to layout some track plans for the area and will post them here when I feel I have something that is workable

Layout Space and Timeline

Layout Space

My layout is going to be located in an currently unfinished basement, total dimensions are 33′ x 26′.  Currently most of the basement is being used for storage, the plan is to set aside an area of around 22′ x 26′ for the layout and then leave the rest for the storage, workshop and heating/cooling systems.

I figured that it would be easiest to have the layout area right as you descend the steps from upstairs and then seperate the other areas with a wall and door near the support post.  The  two drawbacks to that are having to leave a straight aisle between the steps and door and creating some sort of removal area for when the door needs to be used.

Here is a simple plan of my total space available

I am still working on putting the proposed benchwork down into that layout space and I’ll post that soon.

Timeline

As I mentioned above, the basement is currently unfinished space, poured concrete walls and floors, with a lot of storage (junk) taking up most of the area.  My overall layout timeline is as follows

Now – Mid July – Clean up/organize stuff in the basement, finish up preliminary track plans for benchwork/electrical

July 11th – 20th – NMRA National Convention in Anaheim CA – Show off my plans to people there for feedback and suggestions

End July – End September – Build out space with electrical/heating/cooling/drywall/flooring

October – End of Year – Start working on Benchwork for layout.  Will start with building one level of the layout with an additional one to be added later on.

Jan 09 – March 09 – Continue work on Benchwork/electrical/track work.

Apr 09 – July 09 – Finish track/electrical work on one level of layout.   Try and run Operating session or two on finished sections.

So that’s what I’m looking at trying to accomplish for the next year, again I’ll take any comments or suggestions anyone has.

My Modeling Focus

I am looking a modeling a section on the Reading Lines between Harrisburg and Reading PA. This section of the system was known as the Lebanon Valley Line, and is shown highlighted on the map below (click to view larger).

The total length of the Branch between Reading and Harrisburg was around 53 miles, but located to the East of Harrisburg (6 miles) was Rutherford Yard, a very large and complex Hump yard which is much too large to attempt to model. On the eastern end of the branch the trackage between Reading and Sinking Springs (5.7 miles) was also used by the Reading and Columbia Branch, so I have been focusing on the area between Sinking Springs and Hummelstown which is located appx. 3 miles East of Rutherford.

Using selective compression, I’m looking and including 10 of the 17 towns on the branch. The Reading produced a guide in 1954 called the Freight Shippers Guide which lists which companies where located in each of the towns, if they had a private siding or used the team track and what products they worked with. This guide has been very influential in guiding my decisions on what to model. The towns that I plan to put on the layout are Wernersville, Robesonia, Sheridan, Myerstown, Lebanon, Annville, Palmyra, Hershey, Swatara, and Hummelstown.

I will be putting up a post on each of them and detailing my plans for each of them shortly.