The Passing of the Torch"
Although the Reading Railroad had already started to use diesel power for it's
passenger service, the Pennsylvania Railroad continued to use mighty I1 Decapods to
transport iron ore trains past the Reading Railroad Station that was
located in downtown Shamokin.
If this picture looks familiar, the station was featured in several
Pictorial History books by Don Ball, Jr. |
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| A view of downtown Shamokin. Hundreds of "scratch-built"
models of area buildings make the Shamokin Valley Lines special. After completing its station
stop, this westbound Reading passenger quickly picks up speed behind a Fairbanks-Morse
Trainmaster. |
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Two views of the Paxinos area.
Picture #1 shows the Reading and the Pennsylvania tracks paralleling each other
along the heavily polluted Shamokin Creek.
Picture #2 shows the same two trains paralleling State Route 61. |
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| A single Decapod is shoving hard on the rear of an ore train
as it passes the PRR's three-story brick depot in downtown Sunbury. |
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| The water skiers on the Susquehanna River are oblivious to the double-headed Decapods
that are just getting under way leaving Northumberland with a long ore drag. |
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| Like its protoype, Northumberland's engine terminal is home to a fleet
of Pennsy 2-10-0 Decapods that hauled 4 ore trains per day to the Lehigh
Valley interchange in Mt. Carmel. |
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At the entrance "through the wall" to the multi-level staging area in the
next room is the only place on the layout that is not proto-typical.
Here a Pennsylvania ore train passes a westbound Reading freight while two Lehigh Valley trains
head downgrade toward the interchange at Mount Carmel. |
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