OperatingSessions.com | Allegheny & Western RR

Layout Description

The HO scale Allegheny & Western is based on a "what if?" scenario where the Alphabet Route railroads were allowed to combine into a system as an efficiency move during WW II. (This is similar to the Family Lines during the 1980s where several railroads painted equipment in the same scheme even though they were not legally one entity.) So there is equipment of the combined Allegheny & Western system along with equipment of the member roads.

The modeled A&W mainline runs from the Port of NY to Harrisburg, PA. There are two major subdivisions branching off from the main. One goes from Easton, PA to Maybrook, NY. The other goes from Topton, PA to Scranton, PA and beyond to Buffalo.

Our hub is Allentown, PA, a midsize city with a large manufacturing base. Real locations are modeled, including Fleetwood, PA - original location of the "Body by Fleetwood" plant.

This is a diverse territory and we model representative chunks of it. Major locations are:

Greenville in Jersey City, NJ - busy waterfront with a refinery and car float operations.
Bethlehem, PA - the main Bethlehem Steel works.
Allentown, PA - our company offices and our main yard, a modern rider hump. It is also the terminus for short-distance service to Jersey City (and the ferry to New York).
Hershey, PA- home of Hershey Chocolate
Harrisburg, PA - our connection to the PRR system as well as the gateway to the south and southwest.
Wilkes-Barre, PA - a rich source of traffic in anthracite
Maybrook, NY - Gateway to New England

The layout is located in Hicksville, NY, in the center of Long Island about one mile from the LIRR Hicksville train station. It has a 650 foot double track mainline, fully CTC controlled with another ~350 feet of branches. We use NCE DCC ,are fully WiFi enabled, and use FRS radios for communications.

It takes a lot of people diligently working to keep a Class One railroad fluid. From the switcher plugging away in the shadows of the blast furnace to the dispatching team overseeing it all, there are a wide variety of jobs. We hold 3 operations Invitational events per year, and are also the sponsoring organization for the IslandOps operations weekend, held annually in April.