The Commute Home

The as promised commute home from Philly: (Obviously out of scheduled order, but all the trains were already active on the layout.) Again using 3 trains to cover the 6 probably run on the Millville branch.

A doodlebug from the Penns Grove branch used to meet the commuter trains in Woodbury until 1950 or 1951. Until I get mine actually assembled it is sadly missing the action.

First we catch the RDC pair in Westville:

... then pulling out from the Olive Street shelter in south Westville. The building across the street used to be a news stand and barber shop and the Union Fire Company was up the street on the corner. There used to be a siding for a lumber yard here but a DelMonte distributor took its place a decade or 2 later. I will model that just to give the layout some variety. In the 1950s every town had multiple coal dealerships and lumber companies - I've reduced that to a coal dealership in Westville and the 1950s Holloway Lumber Company in North Woodbury.

Finally we see them accelerating out of south Woodbury passing a hazardous material truck that would make Homer Simpson proud:

Shifting to the Geep and P70s we catch it coming off the Timber Creek trestle and entering Westville:

And then accelerating out of Woodbury towards Millville:

The passenger parade ends with the Budd RDC chase. First we find it bisecting the Brooklawn circles. The other circle has a Merit gas station. When I began driving in 1964 gas cost 27.9 cents per gallon there. And from there the teens could race at all the traffic lights along Route 130. [I had to carefully pick my opponents in my used slant 6 Plymouth Valiant, with a push button automatic transmission! :-) ]

This picture shows the Budd on the wooden Timber Creek trestle:

Leaving the trestle and entering Westville:

South Westville was home to a pair of Pennsy position signals:

And finally leaving south Woodbury. Woodbury had an icing facility but since I have yet to find a picture of it, it was probably a lot smaller than this one. But this one adds a lot of operational interest by forcing all non-mechanical reefers to be iced there on the way to the South Jersey farms. Campbell Soup does not appreciate rotten vegetables! :-(