Layout Photos added 7/17/02
Mainline Tour of the P&W
(Includes finished and unfinished areas)

We are going to take an east-to-west tour of the P&W mainline. The journey starts in Harrisburg staging. Our locomotive is a Williams Shark that has been Dullcoated, had TMCC added and had the Williams lighting replaced by a 16 volt grain of wheat bulb in the headlight casing. It will be 3 times around the basement, about 550 feet, until we get to Pittsburgh staging.
35 feet after our train starts to move we enter Gap Junction, the spot where the line to Franklin, Altoona Brewery and Cumberland, MD meets the east-west main. The B&O car is on a team track and the silver boxcars above are at the Railway Express warehouse in Annville.
Gap Junction really is just a short gap, and we leave it for the 45-foot journey under Annville yard. We are headed for Rockview.
We emerge from beneath Annville yard into the 1-siding town of Rockview. The walls of the Annville steam enginehouse are on the right. The gray wooden supports above our engine will eventually be replaced by stone pillars.
Our train is leaving Rockview through a short tunnel into East Valley. The station in the picture is actually part of West Valley. It is 20 feet from Rockview to East Valley.
We emerge from the short tunnel into East Valley. This town is about 8 feet long and contains a freight house, team track and snapper (helper) service and storage. The town of Summit is above.
Closeup of East Valley snapper track. Snappers are needed to assist on the 3.5% grade from West valley to Horseshoe Curve and on the 1.8% grade on the curve itself.
A short 16-foot run through a tunnel at the end of the peninsula brings us into the town of West Valley. Actually, West Valley and East Valley share a passing siding around the peninsula. West Valley is home to a creamery, a metal drum company and a storage warehouse. The mainline widens to double-track here for the 101-foot run to Annville.
Our Baldwins are working hard as we are in the middle of the 3.5% climb to the Curve. That is the town of Lebanon in the background.
Our train has rounded Horseshoe Curve (see the Scenic Vistas photos for complete coverage of the Curve) and is passing AE Tower into an unfinished area. The engines are crossing a temporary bridge that will eventually be a 5-foot double-track Warren truss. The boxcar below is on the team track in Franklin.
We are entering Annville and are just passing the silver express boxcars at the currently invisible Railway Express (REA) warehouse. We have been once around the basement and that is Gap Junction in the bottom of the photo.
Our engines are just departing Annville after a 38-foot run through the yard. The tracks on the left edge of the photo are (front to rear) steam engine outbound, steam engine inbound, steam service (coal, ash, sand) and engine coal storage. It is a 27-foot run to Lebanon from here.
Our train is in the middle of the 20-foot run through Lebanon. Lebanon is a busy railroad town, with a team track, stock pens for a meat packer, reefer track for same, 2 sidings at the large Leighsom Pipe Co., Lebanon Lumber & Coal, express freight house and 11-car interchange track with the Reading. The double-track mainline from West Valley to Annville is at the bottom of the photo.
We have rounded Horseshoe Curve for the 2nd time, and are about 1/3 of the way along the 138-foot run from Lebanon to Summit as we pass above AE Tower.
Here we are passing above the invisible REA warehouse in Annville and we've completed 2 circuits of the basement.
The track here will be hidden behind the buildings of Annville. Main Street in Annville will actually be about 8 inches above the tracks of Annville yard. That is the shell of the Diesel enginehouse in the dark foreground (sorry).
Our train is now on the curved steel trestle behind and above the Annville steam enginehouse. Summit lies about 50 feet ahead.
We have left the steel trestle and are approaching the curved wooden trestle at the end of the peninsula. That is the town of West Valley to the right and 18" below our train.
Leaving the curved wooden trestle, we round the curve to enter the town of Summit.
Summit is on top of the peninsula and is home to a team track, oil pumping station and 2 other yet to be decided industries. Summit is 20 feet long.
Leaving Summit, we begin the 101-foot run to Pittsburgh staging. Here we are passing behind the incomplete Leighsom Pipe Co. in Lebanon. We are on a 2.5% down grade here.
Our train passes behind the buildings in Lebanon.
Near the end of the down grade, we pass Furnace Hill Coal Co. (black building in the background). See the Buildings discussion in the Layout Construction section for more info on this and other buildings currently under construction. Horseshoe Curve lies directly ahead.
After rounding Horseshoe Curve for the 3rd and last time, we are about 40 feet from Pittsburgh staging. The mountain above our train is 8 feet tall.
Closer to Pittsburgh, we pass above AE Tower for the last time.
Entering the tunnel into Pittsburgh staging.
Our train is tied up in Pittsburgh Staging, next to a couple of steam-powered freights. We have traveled 3 times around the basement (about 550 feet or 5 miles in O-scale) and finished exactly 16 inches above where we started! Pittsburgh staging is built directly on top of Harrisburg staging.