What's New on the PRR Panhandle Division?

[rogruth]

That's familiar.

[G3750]

That's familiar.

I should hope so.

If I had to guess, it's a Saturday (shopping day).

George

[MurphOnMillerAve]

Here's a photo of Steubenville, OH in the mid-1950s. ...

1950 Steubenville.jpg

The photo looks east. That's the Market Street Bridge in the center with the West Virginia hillside in the background. Turn left off the bridge onto WV Route 2 and drive up river, and you get to Weirton. Turn right and Follansbee, WV is a short distance downstream. Wheeling, WV is about 45 minutes further south.

My railroad bridge is north about half a mile upstream.
George

Thanks for posting that photo, George. Roger mentioned the familiarity of that town. Back then, it seems to me, from this vantage point, that many such towns had a familiarity to them, almost a unity, which was somehow (it seems that way, now, looking back) comforting. Sure, each municipality had various ranges and variety of stores, with some places being more upscale than others, but everybody knew what they could expect in such shopping districts, as well as how to act, dress (I noticed the "shirt-waist" dress on the woman on the right foreground of the photo), and speak. We seemed to revel, then, in the American way of life epitomized by such commercial hubs.

Then, malls came, strip-malls as well as enclosed malls. "Downtowns" began to fade.

Then, the Internet appeared, which I just learned on the News last night, accounting for 10 o/o of all commercial sales in the USA (I thought it would have been a larger percentage by now, though.)

[G3750]

Thanks for posting that photo, George. Roger mentioned the familiarity of that town. Back then, it seems to me, from this vantage point, that many such towns had a familiarity to them, almost a unity, which was somehow (it seems that way, now, looking back) comforting. Sure, each municipality had various ranges and variety of stores, with some places being more upscale than others, but everybody knew what they could expect in such shopping districts, as well as how to act, dress (I noticed the "shirt-waist" dress on the woman on the right foreground of the photo), and speak. We seemed to revel, then, in the American way of life epitomized by such commercial hubs.

Then, malls came, strip-malls as well as enclosed malls. "Downtowns" began to fade.

Then, the Internet appeared, which I just learned on the News last night, accounting for 10 o/o of all commercial sales in the USA (I thought it would have been a larger percentage by now, though.)

There is a comfortable aspect to that photo and in the way of life it depicts. Was that comfort real or do we see it through the hazy filter of our youth and our own childhood sensations of comfort and security? Maybe that's why many of us model railroading as it was in our youth. Or we wonder: Do we ever know what we have until it is gone?

George

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Was that comfort real or do we see it through the hazy filter of our youth and our own childhood sensations of comfort and security?

Probably, but after gaining perspective and age, we generally realize & accept that we were probably insulated from much.....

Maybe that's why many of us model railroading as it was in our youth.

Probably a contributing factor, but I model an era 50-70 years earlier yet........but then in that local environment of that part of my youth, time really has not moved very fast in many aspects.

Or we wonder: Do we ever know what we have until it is gone?

Oh, most are lucky to learn as they age just what they have or not, and how lucky they are to have it.

Mr. Blake also had a thought: "You never know what is enough until you know what is more than enough."

[MurphOnMillerAve]

I'm going to go out on a limb, here. The life I experienced as a boy in the 50's and adolescent during the 60's seemed so peaceful and steady. Even the vehicles seemed more solid. Everybody I knew - EVERYbody - worked, at something, and in the environment of metropolitan Pittsburgh, usually in the very difficult and challenging place of a steelmill. If you've never worked in one, you can only barely appreciate the grime, heat, and minute-to-minute DANGER, everywhere you stood or stepped. But you did the work because what you did, for the mill and for yourself, mattered, in the short-run and in the long-run. I'd never have finished college, funding-wise, if I hadn't worked in National Tube Works, of McKeesport, PA, for one entire, blazing hot Summer.
I thank God for the work ethic I gained then and there.

Something special and unique seemed to be going on back then, in that post-war decade of the 50's, that I see only traces of nowadays. Something has been lost.
There. That's me going out on a limb with an opinion, admittedly subjective. Indeed.
murph

[G3750]

I'm going to go out on a limb, here. The life I experienced as a boy in the 50's and adolescent during the 60's seemed so peaceful and steady. Even the vehicles seemed more solid. Everybody I knew - EVERYbody - worked, at something, and in the environment of metropolitan Pittsburgh, usually in the very difficult and challenging place of a steelmill. If you've never worked in one, you can only barely appreciate the grime, heat, and minute-to-minute DANGER, everywhere you stood or stepped. But you did the work because what you did, for the mill and for yourself, mattered, in the short-run and in the long-run. I'd never have finished college, funding-wise, if I hadn't worked in National Tube Works, of McKeesport, PA, for one entire, blazing hot Summer.
I thank God for the work ethic I gained then and there.

Something special and unique seemed to be going on back then, in that post-war decade of the 50's, that I see only traces of nowadays. Something has been lost.
There. That's me going out on a limb with an opinion, admittedly subjective. Indeed.
murph

I would agree, Frank. I was a child in the 50's and the 60's and I saw that work ethic in Weirton in spades. I, too, paid for college with work in the steel mills.

No one I know ever thought about loafing or living off the government or their parents. Families and the community seemed to set high bars for behavior. My sister and I were laughing about it this past weekend; we decided that regarding morality and upbringing, the Cleavers and Ozzie and Harriet had nothing on Mom and Dad, and I mean nothing!

I don't think you're out on much of a limb, Frank. In any case, you've got company.

George

[MurphOnMillerAve]

Good to know I have good company.

[rogruth]

Realize that my hometown was @ 30 miles south and my aunt lived at Mingo 5 miles south of Steubenville. I am familiar with the town. Many of the towns in the valley were very similar with size of the towns being the largest variant.
Everybody worked unless retired or handicapped. I note that many retired workers didn't live too long after retirement. No further comment on that.
I remember a time when the factory my grandfather worked for was closed for some reason unknown to me. There was some discussion about applying for unemployment. He had never done that before but decided if the factory didn't reopen in a week it would need to happen. Three days later he was notified that the factory would open next week. My point is that the workers of that era and area did not expect to be paid for not working.
It was different then. Not talking about better or worse.

[G3750]

Updated 6/23/2016:

Foam, foam, and more foam! It's good stuff for scenery and padding backdrops, but don't have a static cling issue or you'll never get rid of the stuff!

Got to work early this morning (I'm between consulting assignments) cutting and gluing foam blocks to support the next backdrop (#4).

The first photo is of the cutting area (yeah, a good vacuum cleaner is a necessity!).

W_Rebuild_99_.JPG (44.02 KiB) Viewed 3301 times

The next photo is of my wife's old nursing books. No wait, I'm using them to weigh down the glued 5" thick foam sections (2 x 2" + 1 x 1")!

W_Rebuild_100_.JPG (42.91 KiB) Viewed 3301 times

Next step will be to trim the backdrop to the exact size to fit the available wall space.

George

[G3750]

Updated 6/24/2016:

Had another visit from the artist. She and I installed backdrop #3.5 and she worked on blending the sky colors appropriately for the 3 backdrops. She also adjusted the sky color on backdrop #4.

Here's a 2 shot panorama.

W_Rebuild_102_.JPG (40.23 KiB) Viewed 3280 times

W_Rebuild_101_.JPG (38.82 KiB) Viewed 3280 times

A close up of backdrops 3 & 3.5.

W_Rebuild_103_.JPG (32.76 KiB) Viewed 3280 times

Finally, a look at the adjusted #4. I hope to install that tomorrow.

W_Rebuild_104_.JPG (30.17 KiB) Viewed 3280 times

George

[Rufus T. Firefly]

The next photo is of my wife's old nursing books. No wait, I'm using them to weigh down the glued 5" thick foam sections (2 x 2" + 1 x 1")!

Now I know what to do with all my old reference books after I retire.....

[G3750]

Updated 6/26/2016:

We have finally reached a milestone - all the backdrops are installed!



There is still work to be done on the backdrops, specifically:

• Mating of hillsides and ridges between Backdrops 3 & 4
• Blending of sky colors across all four backdrops

Here's the whole set of backdrops installed on the back wall of the layout.

W_Rebuild_106_.JPG (38.99 KiB) Viewed 3253 times

George

[Steamfan77]

Looking good George. Can't wait to see the final product.

Andy

[G3750]

Thanks Andy.

It's taken long enough, but we are at the point where we are out of the "art" business and back into model railroading per se.

I'm planning to spend the next few days getting the train room cleaned up and then start rebuilding the western approach tracks.

When the artist comes back to finish up, I want to be ready to go.

George