44 Garden Railways | April 2011 I magine sitting in the stillness of the garden, drinking a cold one, with the sound of bees humming and birds singing. After a while the idyll is inter- rupted by the distant sound of General Motors diesel engines working hard. Gradually the noise gets louder. Soon the maroon-and-yellow livery of a large diesel locomotive on a coal drag goes past the yard. Before the sound has died away another maroon-and-yellow locomotive goes past. But this one is about 30 times smaller than the first. This scene is to be found, not in the USA, but on the east side of the Atlantic in Hensall, North Yorkshire, United Kingdom (photo 1). The full-size locomo- tive is taking coal to the power station at Drax. The smaller one is on my own ver- sion of the Pennsylvania Railroad—the Hensallvania Division. Defining the purpose Unlike many garden railroaders, I try to run my trains with a purpose. Inspired by articles from Kevin Strong in GR and others in Model Railroader, I have worked out an interesting operating system. I built up a reasonable amount of rolling stock with the intention of running it with a purpose. There are various things I had to do to enable this to happen. It is a good idea to set up various industries in pairs, one place to pick up freight and a second as a destination. I therefore have several origins (usually industries) and destinations, as can be seen in the sidebar on page 47. A glance at the trackplan shows that Operations with a purpose Running the freight in Hensallvania by Ian Stringer | Hensall, Goole, Great Britain | Steam photos by author; diesels by Don Botterill 2. Boxcars carry small labels denoting their next destinations. Boxcars and reefers generally circulate among three destinations.
Transcript
44 Garden Railways | April 2011
Imagine sitting in the stillness of the garden, drinking a cold one, with the sound of bees humming and birds singing. After a while the idyll is inter-
rupted by the distant sound of General Motors diesel engines working hard. Gradually the noise gets louder. Soon the maroon-and-yellow livery of a large diesel locomotive on a coal drag goes past the yard. Before the sound has died away another maroon-and-yellow locomotive goes past. But this one is about 30 times smaller than the first.
This scene is to be found, not in the USA, but on the east side of the Atlantic in Hensall, North Yorkshire, United Kingdom (photo 1). The full-size locomo-tive is taking coal to the power station at Drax. The smaller one is on my own ver-sion of the Pennsylvania Railroad—the Hensallvania Division.
Defining the purposeUnlike many garden railroaders, I try to run my trains with a purpose. Inspired by articles from Kevin Strong in GR and
others in Model Railroader, I have worked out an interesting operating system. I built up a reasonable amount of rolling stock with the intention of running it with a purpose. There are various things I had to do to enable this to happen.
It is a good idea to set up various industries in pairs, one place to pick up freight and a second as a destination. I therefore have several origins (usually industries) and destinations, as can be seen in the sidebar on page 47.
A glance at the trackplan shows that
Operations with a purpose
Running the freight in Hensallvaniaby Ian Stringer | Hensall, Goole, Great Britain | Steam photos by author; diesels by Don Botterill
2. Boxcars carry small labels denoting their next destinations. Boxcars and reefers generally circulate among three destinations.
www.GardenRailways.com | April 2011 45
these are spread around the backyard. Each of the coal hoppers on the railroad has a definite route. If it is a large Pennsy hopper, it shuttles between the mine and the classification yard. Small Pennsy hop-pers travel between the mine and the coaling facility. “Foreign” (non-Pennsy) hoppers go between Woodcock’s siding and the exchange.
Small flatcars take logs from Mount Laurel Lumber to the exchange sidings. Steel plate and pipes are brought to Can-ton from the exchange sidings. Oil tankers
shuttle between Canton oil depot and the exchange sidings.
However, this leaves the boxcars and reefers, whose loads are not visible. There-fore, each boxcar has a small label listing its next three destinations (photo 2). These cars just circle round—you see where the car is now and take it to the next place on the label.
A trip on the lineLet’s take a trip round the yard. Many freights start at the classification yard.
This is on the sunny side of the garden so the name Sunnyside Yard seemed appro-priate for a Pennsy system.
Today we will follow a PRR H10 2-8-0 leading a peddler freight. A switch-ing list is made of the load and amended at each location. We see the engine just about to leave Sunnyside yard as a K4 Pacific goes past on an express (photo 3).
We then join the busy mainline (photo 4). Soon we come to the first stop, the interchange sidings. An interchange is useful, as all and anything can go there.
1. Three trains pass on the Horseshoe Curve. This railroad replicates operations on the Pennsylvania Railroad in mid century. An upright Lawson’s false cypress stands as a landmark on the curve.
46 Garden Railways | April 2011
Ours takes lumber, coal, and boxcars, and delivers oil, steel plate, pipes, boxcars, and, of course, empties. This was named the Reading interchange because it joins the Reading Railroad. I also have some Read-ing boxcars and “reading interchange” sounds appropriate for a librarian’s rail-road. Groundcover includes oregano and miniature sedum, with ivy attempting to camouflage the fence.
From the interchange, our peddler freight rejoins the mainline and goes through Kitanning station, where another K4 is seen. Photo 5 shows the H10 trun-dling past the tower while the K4 is about to add a boxcar to the head end of its train. Oregano and thyme soften the con-crete platform. The signal tower, unfortu-nately, has been attacked by magpies and some of the shingles have come off. The peddler is behind thyme, as usual.
As in real life, Kitanning is followed by the Horseshoe Curve. While it is some-thing of a cliché in the US, the curve is quite novel in the UK. I have only three tracks round the curve—not really correct for my period but I live in hope that I will find a way fit in the fourth track. In photo 3. A K4 Pacific on the right track passes the H10 2-8-0 with its freight drag leaving Sunnyside yard.
4. The peddler freight, headed by the Consolidation, enters the mainline.
5. Following a hedgerow of false cypress, the freight passes through Kitanning station while a K4 approaches on the left, where mints and escaped grasses ramble behind the station.
7. Arriving at Corker Coal, where a hopper will be set out. Blooms of sorrel rise behind the cab.
6. An empty coal drag and a mixed freight on parallel tracks round Horseshoe Curve. The H10’s train will occupy the empty track. Miniature daisies surround Lake Altoona and water irises mimic the fountain in the middle of the lake.
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6, two mainline freights hauled by F-units hug each other around the curve just before our H10 arrives. The lovely water iris dominates Altoona reservoir, which is surrounded by dwarf Alberta spruce and golden spruce. Laurel provides a good background for the line.
After going round the Horseshoe Curve, our H10 reaches its next stop, Corker Coal, named after my operating friend, Roger Corker. The H10 drops off a coal hopper (photo 7) as a car from Detroit waits by the office. (The car really is a car from Detroit—I bought it at the Detroit airport while changing planes.) Sedum towers above the locomotive and, once again, ivy hides the fence. Immedi-ately after the hopper is dropped, Mr. Corker backs up his old truck (photo 8). Sedum and oregano soften the scene.
The mainline nears the house, where it is appropriate to find the house track. In photo 9, the H10 hauls its Reading boxcar past a Pennsy boxcar spotted on the house
8. The hopper is set on the coaling bridge, under which Mr. Corker backs his truck.
HERBSChives
Allium shoenoprasumFennel
Foeniculum vulgareMint
Mentha sp.Lemon mint
Monarda citriodoraBasil
Ocimum basilicumOregano
Origanum vulgareRosemary
Rosmarinus off icinalisSorrel
Rumex acetosa
Plants on the Hensallvania Division Hensall, Goole, Great BritainUSDA Hardiness Zone 8
9. On its way again, the freight passes the switch tower.
10. Canton freight depot was constructed from Model Railroader plans.
track. Giles, the tower operator (and for-mer Buffy the Vampire chessman), checks that all is well.
The branch lineAfter circling the mainline, the train ducks down the branch through the rat hole. This is not just a copy of the SP name but in the early days was actually used by the local rodent. Once through the rat hole, various tracks are found in Glen White. The first belongs to the Mount Laurel lumberyard, with piles of logs awaiting dispatch. It is named for friend and operator Dennis Mount, owner of a Midwest line. There is no photo, as this is still under construction.
This is followed by a freight depot built from Model Railroader plans of the PRR’s Canton depot (photo 10). This is also appropriate, as one of my literary heroes, Jack Kerouac, often jumped freights at depots and he passed away in Canton. The small trees here are elders, which are constantly cut back to encour-age new, small growth.
The two tracks of Canton yard are fol-lowed by Glen White Mine. The real
Ian Stringer was born into a railway family; his a father and four uncles were railway men. He has been a rail-way modeler ever since receiving a Hornby clockwork train at age three. Now semi-retired from the library trade, after 45 years, Ian is still active on International Library committees and has done library presentations in 24 different countries on six conti-nents. Trips to the US introduced him to the joys of North American railroading, so his garden railroad represents memories of good times had across the Atlantic.
About the author
11. Full hoppers, picked up at the Glen White Mine, are placed near the front of the train. On the left, English ivy climbs the fence, while, on the right, violet plants take over retaining the hillside where the wall stops.
12. This loading facility was also constructed from plans found in Model Railroader magazine. Shrubby varie-gated boxwood brightens the left side. On the right side of the tracks, a lone miniature daisy gets a foothold.
13. Rejoining the mainline, the H10 takes its train back to Sunnyside yard. Behind the locomotive is an acer, or Japanese maple, and to the right a gooseberry bush. Both are ideal scale plants.
www.GardenRailways.com | April 2011 49
Glen White Mine was found behind the horseshoe curve, which is the location for its copy. In photo 11, the H10 has left its train on the main line and is switching the full coal hoppers to the front of the train (which is good practice) before heading back up to the main line. Glen White mine is another building made from HO-scale plans from Model Railroader. Conveniently, 1:29 scale is exactly three times HO scale (1:87), so using plans is easy. Aqua Legia drips off the hillside.
The last track is Woodcock’s Quarry siding. As all Butch Cassidy aficionados know, Mr. Woodcock works for Mr E.H. Harriman of the Union Pacific Railroad. In reality, Geoff Woodcock is a good friend and operator who owns a UP/SP garden railroad. The dump-truck loading facility at the quarry (photo 12) once again came from Model Railroader plans.
And so the freight winds its way back up the garden to rejoin the mainline (photo 13) and then returns to Sunnyside yard, thus completing its day’s work. I hope this has given you an idea of how operations on the Hensallvania Division are conducted.
A
B
C
C
D
E
F
G
I
J
K
Controlpanel
Hensallvania Division of the PRR
A Woodcock’s Quarry sidingB Corker’s CoalC Signal tower
D Glen White MineE Sunnyside classification yardF Canton freight depot
G Mount Laurel LumberH Canton oil depotI Kittaning Depot
J Team track (house track)K Exchange sidings
4 35
13
1
612
11
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9 87
AltoonaReservoir
Name:Pennsylvania Railroad, Hensallvania Division
Sizeofrailroad:90 feet x 25 feetScale:1:29Gauge:Nº 1 (45mm)Era:1955-66Theme:Pennsylvania Horseshoe
Curve areaAge:11 yearsMotivepower:Steam and diesel
locomotives
This photo offers a better view of one of the acers and the groundcover of clover. The author leaves the clover to flower as it is a great attraction for bees, which are on the decline in the UK.
The Hensallvania Division at a glance
Lengthofmainline:Mainline loop is three tracks, each 180'
Maximumgradient: 4%Typeoftrack:Peco G scaleMinimumradius:4'Structures:Signal towers, freight depot,
Subscribers: Download plans for the Canton Depot that originally appeared in Model Rail-roader magazine. Go to www.GardenRailways.com and click on "Construction & landscaping" under "How to."
