New York Division-Bergen Line: Episode III, The Erie Rises

[MaineLines]

Yes, very photogenic. I should try running in winter so I don't have to look so hard for "holes" in the foliage.

[minerman146]

I am doing route research again and came up this interesting article from Mileposts West, A Newsletter for Metro North Railroad Customers
http://web.mta.info/mnr/MilePostsWest/16novdec_mpw/novdec16mpw.html


Dog Food from the Past
There's Dog Food, Corn Oil, Four Story, East Red Onion and West Red Onion, and Turners, to name a few. These are just some of the names of the siding switches on the Port Jervis Line.

For those of you not familiar with the term, a siding switch is a portion of track used to deliver or pick up a train car for a commercial customer that uses the railroad to receive and ship their products.

Perhaps you could call it an occupational affliction, but why do engineers, so practical by virtue of their trade, use names that represent a call back to the past? Perhaps the secret is that in every railroad employee lurks the soul of a real train romantic. You'll see what we mean in a minute.

a_dogfood_aerial_closest_Hillburn_300px.jpg

Let's start with Dog Food just west of milepost 31.3:
Yes, it was an old dog food company (brand name now gone and forgotten). The plant is no longer operating, and the siding switch lays dormant.

Ditto for Corn Oil (also just west of MP 31.3):
gone by the wayside (no pun intended) it was the plant that used to manufacture and ship corn oil across America.

a_dogfood_switch_2_closer_300px.jpg

East and West Red Onion used to be the home of — you guessed it — red onions being shipped out from the plant. Now, two manufacturing companies have taken their place. That says something about the economic changes that have come to Middletown, NY and surrounding areas, once home to farming and livestock.

It's the names like, "Turners" and "Four Story" that really get us.

They have histories so intricate that their recounting is as layered as the vines overtaking the abandoned stations of railroads past.

The Turners siding switch at Harriman station
was named to evoke the old Turner Station that until 1910 was the first station on the original Erie Railroad Main line west of Harriman, NY, constructed by Peter Turner in 1838. The three-story, hotel-station burned down and was replaced by a small, one-story structure. Many years later, after the line was abandoned in 1983, the old station was eventually torn down and its remains taken to a dump in Hillburn, NY. A despicable end to a glorious past for sure, so it's probably a good thing the name persists to honor its memory.

The Four Story siding switch west of Middletown,
was so named when the old New York Ontario and Western Railway (1868 – 1957) tracks that crossed over the Erie's Graham line were abandoned and a switch was cut into the main and the rise to the O&W line was almost a four story rise. The O&W track was then renamed the Crawford Branch.

"By virtue of its superb online scenery and anachronistic operations, O&W retains 'cult status,' among railroad and history buffs more than 50 years after its abandonment, with periodic bus tours of remaining railroad artifacts," writes Wikipedia. <--- So True!

So, the next time you come across some of the strange names the Bergen, now you about a few of them!
Carry on!

[Pwelt]

Line to Otisville is beautiful. Thanks for keeping the Runs to and from Suffern so I can run my RDCs.

[Spin]

Wow that is some nice work!! I felt the cold going through Otisville Tunnel.

[minerman146]

Good evening all and welcome to this week's installment of the Wednesday Route Report and Update Status. Wow, its seems like yesterday that update #227 rolled off the old assembly line onto your computers and into your hearts. Actually, heck yeah, it was out like 5 days ago! And with that said, lets go to update status for this Friday, December 13th.

[ ] Throw fate to the wind
[ ] Wheaties consumed - route finished
[X] Its Friday the 13th guys, its bad Joojoo to release.

You guys know the truth, it takes me several weeks to get enough 'stuff' in to make it worth an update. Work has been somewhat abbreviated - I am hit with the flu. It also takes a lot of juice to post. Now, with my other thread, and work on that project, it consumes time. But I am a happy warrior and press on - always. So what is coming up is the completion of Otisiville and then we go to the other side - the last 14 miles to the end. I cant wait to have the bragging rights for a route that crosses 3 states. Then I can smack talk all the other route builders " sooooo, how many states you cover on your route man?" And other thing, I'm gonna stop at 99 miles cuz I think "99" is cool. Hey, its a reason! (I had better check my math, I may have gotten ahead of myself".

Regarding this past update, the responses have been positive and you guys jumped right on it too. This means a good deal to me and I appreciate your continuing interest. So thank you !

MainLines has picked up on the 'problem' with this section of the route. He can't find enough holes through the foliage to see the deep scenery. He's right. You gotta switch to Winter or Spring to see deep and all the little houses and farms I put it. I know Buzz will have to cruise this section a few times to find the goodies. I wonder who will find the couple having a beer on their patio first. (yes I hacked beer cans) A little secret, I actually dig the earthy German chick I put in, you will see here time and time again in various subtle scenes I put her in from time to time. Also, I used my 'walking dog" asset twice in this 4 mile stretch. In once scene he is actually doing his darn job! This is grand reward for the truly intrepid, or, persons with ALOT of time on their hands!

That's what I got for now. Now we can close with a shot of the morning commuter in Otisville. I got lucky and the random destination board came up with Hoboken.

20191206155945_1.jpg

Carry On!

[imphantum]

Glad to see this route is still going. Will have to run some conrail on the line once I get some new hardware

[minerman146]

* and of course this thing is still going on, we're not finished yet!
It time again for this week's Wednesday Route Update Report

Lets go to the Friday Route Update Status:

[ ] Aye, we will proceed with the update
[ ] Preserve the Union
[ X ] Abuse of power
[ X ] Obstruction of Congress


Unfortunately, it appears that this week update has been impeached. With that said, it is likely that next week's update (after the holiday recess) will be acquitted!

We had a decent update last week and got to our target area just shy of Otisville itself. The next update will be Otisville itself and hopefully some scenery on the Western side of the tunnel. The shot below shows the extent of finished scenery AND an odd visitor to the Bergen. ( I am getting some GE Time in for practice)

20191218091755_1.jpg

One of the things I enjoy about the route is doing the towns. I really try to get the whole place modeled. Obviously, the smaller the better. I look back at Hoboken, Rutherford, Glen Rock in Jersey and Suffern, Tuxedo and Walden with a sense of pride. A complete town just adds so much character to the route and gives meaning the railroad being there in the first place. Otisville is going to be interesting - half the town is over the tunnel it self. You will be able to clearly see this as you are moving West. Its just great taking a long run and anticipating the villages and towns on the journey. In the least, it breaks up the monotony and at best give you folks a sense of the railroad here on the Bergen.

I am really looking forward to getting my next big yard in at PO (Port Jervis) and having the whole division to run across. We can stage and move freight from either end to the opposite end with ease as it will all finally be there. It gets pretty exciting, in my imagination, thinking about what you all will do with the route then. I got those 110 car trains, fully loaded, with 12,000 HP of motive power, ready to pull that load some 90 miles on this amazing thing of ours. Just wow.


It might be 2 weeks until my next report as next Wednesday is Christmas. And may all your Christmas dreams come true and do enjoy a blessed holiday with family and friends.

Carry On!

[ASCVRailroad]

Is this the right place to report an error on the Bergen Line? It keeps crashing when I get half way between Campbell Hall and Middletown

[buzz456]

Is this the right place to report an error on the Bergen Line? It keeps crashing when I get half way between Campbell Hall and Middletown

Do you know how to send a PM? That would be the proper way to start since most of us don't have that problem.

[minerman146]

Yes, do PM me, I am always checking for posts and PMs.

Try this first:

You may encounter the route crashing immediately after an update. This is due to the workshop not fully synchronizing the files inside the Bergen Line. To resolve, simply delete the contents of the Route Folder and restart Train Simulator or even better, restart you computer. When you logon to steam again, a new copy of the route will download.

This is the path to the route folder for the New York Division - Bergen Line:
C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\railworks\Content\Routes\19b667f7-2759-49e0-93d8-4dadc470bceb

Many do this as a best practice, because one marker, QD or signal change can can get hosed in the download creating an inconstancy. If you previously ran this before December 6th without error, this is likely what happened. I added submerged dwarf signals at Red Onion; the siding just east of Middletown Station and at the West End of Campbell Hall.

I do post all changes (fixes) in every update both here, on OVSrails.com and my Steam Page.

Anyone with issue can also reach on my workshop page or PM here on RWA, I am very responsive.
Anyway, you will be fine, these crashes are rare but the cause is 90% of the time a bad update.

Good luck!

[OpenRailer90]

OVSRails is down on my end. Shows some unused domain stuff

[bswitzrw]

OVSRails is down on my end. Shows some unused domain stuff

Has happened several times over the past couple of years. Mike Spinelli may already know the issue, but you can send a message on their Facebook Page to mention the issue.

[Spin]

Sorry guys, it's back up. Hope everyone had a great Christmas!!!

http://www.ohiovalleysystem.com/OVSRails/

[LuisaA]

Hello Minerman! I am still following very closely your work even if the time for TS2020 is now almost non existent. I wish you a happy new year and I'm looking forward to continue reading about the updates.

[minerman146]

LuisaA,
Thank you so much and a Happy 2020 to you as well. I haven't posted in the past week. This is because I have been working on the track and signals between Secaucus and Hoboken Terminal for the past 10 days. I hope to speak more of what I have done tomorrow. If there is time today, I will post a bit about what has been accomplished thus far.