Rockwood, PA is located along the Casselman River in south western Pennsylvania just off of State Route 653. The trackage in the area around the wye has been recreated as close as possible. The wye becomes the S&C Subdivision leading to Somerset and then northwards towards Johnstown. There is a coalmine above the railroad maintenance area. A coal mine really does not exist near here, but there are a few north of here which the B&O accessed via the S&C Subdivision. The railroad bridge spanning the Casselman River and the mainline carries the G&W running track which eventually tied into the S&C Subdivision. Also, there is a farm with a barn, farm house, and a produce stand. To model south western Pennsylvania, you must have alot of trees. The foreground trees are all Super Trees by Scenic Express and the background trees are Woodland Scenics polyfiber covered with ground foam. This section was completed in November of 2003.
THE PHOTOS
This is a map of the Rockwood area. In the pictures below, you can see the tracks on the layout lie pretty close to where they actually are.
This photo shows an overview of the Rockwood section of the layout. All the tracks in the area can be seen. Originally, this area was only to contain the coal mine and farm in the original design. After visiting Rockwood, it looked like an interesting scene to place on the layout and it fit perfectly. The tracks leading to the coal mine was to run along the wall instead of the bridge which is there now.
These are two photos were taken back in June of 2001. The photos show the wye, the station, the bridge, and the siding along the station.
These are the same two photos taken of the actual Rockwood maintenance area inside the wye.
This is the coal mine located along the hillside. The rock face is plaster castings which were painted black and drybrushed with brown and dark gray. The molds were made from actual pieces of coal. Ground foam was placed between the rock castings. There are four loading tracks and one siding.
This is the station at Rockwood. I scratchbuilt it using Evergreen styrene building materials. The roof is made of cardboard with sandpaper roofing material. I used photos of the station and B&O station diagrams to recreate the station. I tried to place alot of railroad "junk" lying around like I observed when I visited the area.
This photo shows the westbound Capitol Limited passing under the G&W Running Track bridge. The bridge sections are made from Central Valley kits. The section over the Casselman River was modified to place the girders below track level.
A piggyback train rounds the curve along the Casselman River. The four GP40-2's are all Athearn locomotives, the first two are powered with NCE decoders. Sometimes the Chessie System would position their locomotives "elephant style". The second unit is the infamous gold painted GM50. The Casselman River has a dirt and Woodland Scenics soil base and Realistic Water was used for the water. The center of the river was made to be darker to give the illusion of depth.
This is the eastern portal of Pinkerton Tunnel. GP40 3684 leads four units pulling a coal train eastward towards Cumberland. Pinkerton Tunnel which is actually 8.5 miles west of Rockwood. The layered rock on the left is made from actual slate found roadside back home.
The three above photos show the farm along the Casselman River. All the fences were hand made and the cinder and dirt road are actual cinders from a parking lot and dirt from my garden. The rocks are plaster castings and actual pieces of slate.
This view isn't accessible to those visiting the layout. I really didn't notice this nice view until I happened to be working under the layout. This photo was taken under the G&W Running Track just east of the bridge.
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