The Ironbound
RR is a fictional urban
railroad set in the 1950-1960's, during the steam-to-Diesel era. The
Ironbound was featured in the Feb 2012
issue of Model Railroader Magazine, as well as the cover and featured
article
in O Scale Trains Magazine, issue #34. The name
Ironbound derives from an
actual section
of Newark, NJ which was
surrounded by the heavy rails of
the
Pennsylvania RR, Jersey Central
and the Lehigh Valley
Railroad.
This is primarily
an industrial area in the older
section of the city.
Here's
a wide view of the commercial area of town. Here we find
an interesting array of older stores and
businesses. This model area is
just 18" deep by less than four feet wide, showing that with a little
imagination you can do quite a lot in a small space, even in O scale!
The
Ironbound's
reason for being is
simple: interchange with The Pennsylvania
RR
and CNJ from their freight lines running through the industrial
section of Newark.
Freight
is distributed to a number of industries such as the Dutch
Boy Paint Factory,
which lie along our very urban line, weaving its way through the back yards of the
Ironbound section, under the New
Jersey Turnpike, parts of
Kearny and
Elizabethport (E'port to Jerseyans).
The Ironbound hosts limited
CNJ passenger service at the Railway Express Agency Depot
which also serves as a modest
passenger
station for commuters who work in this area.
The Jersey Turnpike runs over top of the Pennsylvania RR freight line
in background.
This afternoon,
a handful of passengers await the four-times daily CNJ RDC which
provides basic
passenger service to the East
Newark Station via Ironbound tracks.
A
couple of views of
the Ironbound's
not-yet-complete engine yard reveals the old roundhouse, tonight hosting a chop-nose ALCo RS3 laid up with
serious
crankshaft problems, and an ex-CNJ 2-8-0
camelback. Another ex-CNJ
camelback,
this one a veteran 4-6-0, rolls toward the turntable after a railfan
special run.
Just beyond the old concrete coaling tower to the right of the
roundhouse, our sanding towers and
service platform are engaged in servicing
an SW1200RS.
Near the turntable, the MofW foreman and a
local play a game of checkers
which has been going on for days. A favorite Ironbound watering
hole
is Neville's,
where the pool table is flat and the barmaid, well, isn't.
Trains run behind old town structures, well out of
sight of tower
operators, so it's not unusual to find train crews who might be
working
the late shifts making unauthorized stops at the
local White Castle.
Or maybe running into the
soda fountain for something to keep
'em going.
Well, well... there's Marion, waiting for one of her hoody
boyfriends no doubt.
My guess is the crew spotted our camera and wisely will wait till
they get to Zak's
for vittles. Then there is the corner
hang-out for the enthusiastically unemployed.
We won't even get into McGinty's
and its wicked upstairs!
Here's
a wider view
of the
industrial yard. The massive Western
Electric
plant appears in the center background. The Kearny Steel Fabricators
building
stands like a rusting hulk on the far left, dwarfing Ironbound
Tower which controls
the over-all traffic movement in the rail yard. In the foreground,
little Newark
Terminal Rwy GE 45-tonner with side-rods brings ties to the
track gang, whose
work is never done in this busy yard. Our old pal Humph and his dog Duke
man the elevated crossing shanty protecting Railroad Ave. That's
Humph's
immaculately Simonized '49 Ford parked behind the tower. Here's
a closer
look at another of the smaller
structures in the industrial yard.
One
of the customers
served by the
Ironbound is Debski & Sons Scrappers.
It's worth a closer look at Debski's
inventory, one of angles, twisted metal
and rust. The
Clambucket makes quick work of
loading scrap metal into waiting gondola cars.
In the background you can see the long loading dock at Gilroy's
Warehouse,
another on-line customer located just before the line crosses
the Passaic River on
its way to the engine terminal. The sun is setting in more ways than one
on Geiling
Chemicals, another industry which contributes its share in
creating that unique Ironbound
atmospheric bouquet which, on a
summer day seems thick enough to spread on your toast.
The
Ironbound RR track
plan - crowded but really quite simple.
If
you were around back in the day, remember what a thrill it was
hearing the jingling bells of the Good
Humor truck comin' down your
street, and mom or dad would treat you to your favorite
ice cream?
Mine was the creamsicle. And lookit the hobby shop window!
A sale on Lobaugh model trains. Now that's what I call the good ol'
days!
Leave it to the Newark Police to find out where
the
good pizza joints
are.
They liked Piancone's Pizzeria so much they put a station right next to it.
There's
something
almost sexy about
a dump truck...don't you agree?
Now here's a view of Lobozzo's
newsstand with Maria behind the counter,
chatting with a steady customer and getting ready to close up
for the night.
Farther on down the street, near the venerable Mt. Olive Cemetery,
you
can get your '55 Crown Vic gassed up at Nick's
friendly Texaco Station.
Nick will cheerfully fill your tank, clean your
windshield and check your tires
all for under five bucks! Here's a view of the same
corner later in the day.
Nick's getting ready to close for the night. And I'll take my
cue from that.
Come
back again,
we add more Ironbound pic's as soon as somebody shoots 'em!
It's
hard to
remember a
day when these three weren't hanging around the engine yard,
pestering our engineers for a ride in the cab, or otherwise making
general nuisances
of themselves. They can be unbearable. If they weren't so... well...
just plain lovable
we'd have tossed them off the property on their big fuzzy butts
a long time ago.
