Unadilla Valley Railroad new home for Outside 3rd rail layout

Always nice to see old stuff being brought back to life.  Nice find, and good for you for setting it back up.  Do you have any of the original equipment?  Are outside 3rd rail locos available? 

Hello Mallard 

Oh yes there is outside 3rd rail equipment out there ...the poor miss guided souls who removed the cat whiskers from steam engines did not get them all ....   fortunately the conversion back to (proper) 3rd rail is a fairly easy conversion..once you find some sweeps to add ...  

1939 was the Waterloo year for outside 3rd rail ..... advancements in Bakelite / plastic to insulate wheels and the huge public exposure of 2 rail miniature railroad layouts in both NYC and Treasure Island, SF   ( fairs on both coasts ) ...folks converted their religion  to 2 rail and outside 3rd rail was just so yesterday ...

I collect early O scale prior to 1954 roughly ... both 2 rail and outside 3rd rail ... many manufactures beginning about 1940 offered their engines both ways ... heck even Lionel threw in a set of outside 3rd rail sweeps with a purchase of the 700E .......

Fun to get the oldies but goodies up and running . 

Scale craft K4  1934 with outside 3rd rail 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=prwn04aGsIg

here is a link to the Westchester Railroad ...running outside 3rd rail ....  unfortunately  long gone 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dmVsZr6tta0

Cheers Carey 

Any 2 rail engine could be easily converted to outside 3rd by just adding the sweeps and rewiring.    Not so easy to go the other way!

As far as track plans go most of the early home O scale layouts consisted of a double track oval to fit the existing space ,crossovers, engine terminal with turntable a stub freight yard on one side and a passenger terminal on the other side this has remained the basic set up to the present, obviously club layouts had much more room to play with. Point to point layouts to simulate prototype operations were relatively rare back then. the Unadilla  Valley may have belonged to the late Earl Clark of Oradell NJ , it was bought by the late Joe Ranker a well known TCA member who ran a number of meets for years in Kenilworth and later The Wayne NJ meet. If you have access to MRRs from the late 40s I believe there is a photo article on 3 scratch built brass locos Earl built that mention the RR.

Hello HiBar ...thank you so very much for your information regarding Earl Clark ..... yes Oct 1948, MR    an article with 3 of Earl's engines ... bobber caboose  lettered Unadilla Valley ...  if you run across and other references to Earl Clark and or the Unadilla Valley please post .

Long live the Unadilla Valley ! ...does anyone have one of Earl Clark's engines ? 

I appreciate your help 

Cheers Carey 

I'm impressed! I remember seeing outside 3rd rail in magazines when I was a kid.  I think it is important to preserve our model railroad heritage. Good luck and be sure to share your layout when you have it up and running.

Thanks for sharing. 

Most excellent! I love outside 3rd rail! Please keep this thread updated with your progress. 

My second cousin, who was very mechanically inclined had an outside rail layout before WW II. He went to the Army and don't know what happened to it. I remember I thought it was pretty neat. Good show!!  Glad that you were able to save the layout. Maybe someone will write it up for a magazine !!  That would be something !!

Carey Williams posted:

Hello HiBar ...thank you so very much for your information regarding Earl Clark ..... yes Oct 1948, MR    an article with 3 of Earl's engines ... bobber caboose  lettered Unadilla Valley ...  if you run across and other references to Earl Clark and or the Unadilla Valley please post .

Long live the Unadilla Valley ! ...does anyone have one of Earl Clark's engines ? 

 

I appreciate your help 

Cheers Carey 

 

Earl, Joe and myself were among a small group that used to round robin between home layouts. Those scratch built locos plus a 250 Ton fully working crane were kept by Earls son everything else Joe took. The mtd track you have was just a small part of a very well done layout that was moved 3 times to Chicago for 10 years then back to Oradell and then to Bridgewater NJ, most of the cars and locos were kit built and all fully detailed including a number of MG cars, switch rodding extended from all towers to the correct switches, the layout sat on a freestanding table in his basement, regrettably none of us ever took pictures, there were at least 2 CB&Q passenger trains full interiors and underbody details. Earl passed away in the early 90s [ he was about that age himself ] Joe was already in his early 80s another well known TCA member of the group was Jay Duke. This was the only outside 3rd rail layout in the group. The layout and everything on it was up to the detail level of those scratch built locos, the MRR article back then really did not do justice to the detail and accuracy of those models.JMO

Nice yard lead!  Have fun.

Ed

Hello JMO  and everyone else .  Thank you for your words of encouragement ..and more background history ...

The layout went from NJ to Chicago to NJ ......now it's back in Chicago .... the layout has seen more of the country than many people ...  

What was the layout doing in Chicago the first time ? 

I appreciate how the layout was built / taken apart ....  more or less modular .... just have to find the right pieces to fill out the space ( with minimal amount of cutting ) .   Once the two loops  are up try and work in the lovely yard track work .    I know point to point is more realistic ....  I'm happy   just seeing the trains do laps ...if  reality is desired  there is always the outside world.  

When I purchased the layout several other bits of tracks came along with it ....misc old 2 rail track and some very old outside 3rd rail .. different from the rest ..  the auction house may have bundled things together as track is not a hot seller .  Fortunately during the years of storage and moving the damage has been minor ....  some soldering here and there to reattach the  3rd rail  but nothing major.  

Keeping with the period track , trains .... trying to find old buildings ( Model Structures ,etc ) / scenery to match .  Being a shelf layout and only 14" high till shelving begins  ... I'll attempt to make it all work and blend  ...  also looking for old school back drops ...

No worries I'll bore you  with videos and progress photos ......   need to add some LED  lighting  behind a cove ... to lite the collection on the wall above,  and illuminate the layout .....

Cheers Carey 

The Bay Ridge Model Railroad Club in Brooklyn, NY still runs 2-rail with outside 3rd rail. Still in need of new members...

Forum post on the BRMRRC

---PCJ

Carey the layout included considerably more track than the lot you bought, being a large island layout there was a outer loop with a reversing track at one end and the multiple track yard held at least a 6-8 car passenger trains with engines and comparable length freight trains, usually Earl ran them one at a time around the layout, yard tracks were around 16' +/- long each. I believe when Joes son first moved the layout it was taken in large sections 4/8 ? panels he had a buyer for it apparaently at some point the trackwork you have was taken off the panels.

Hello all and hope 2018 will be healthy for all .  I've been working away in the basement ..and was able get a few sections of track up for a test run ...   just trying to make the pieces I have work with the space  ...doing my best to put the square peg in the round hole .   Two different rail heights  add to the fun matching up sections .  The last corner of the basement will be the most fun ..need to replace .or move  the hot water heater ..before the golden spike ...  also searching for a some bridges to use as a lift out / tilt up section .... 36-40"  long ..dual track  or two bridges ...there was a gentlemen in the NJ ? who custom built big Bascule bridges in the 80's? ..any of those out there ? ...  

Last night test ran the Mini-Scale Hudson and a Pullman ...from early 1937 ..(yes the tender says Mi-Loco ... this example was very early production before the name change to Mini-Scale )...   it  is all fun . 

Bench/ shelve work is just a rough guess as to widths for track to set on, fine tuning will be needed as track work is fitted ..  and set aside real estate for scenery and vintage buildings .....  I'll be in the market for vintage back drops  to fill the area from track height to bottom of train shelves . 

Looks like a real labor of love. Good luck with the build.

Bob