Owner Name:

G Donald Cariss

Builder Name:

G. Donald Cariss

Date Built:

1999

Status:

Complete

Module Type:

Standard 12' module with Alternate Blue and Mountain Division

Length:

12' (2 x 6')

Width:

2' 6" (front)

Passing Sidings:

Green track only

Other Tracks:

Alternate Blue + Mountain Division

Industrial Spurs:

See below

Yard Tracks:

5 tracks off Mountain CW

Engine Service:

Mountain Division at right

Crossovers:

Alt Blue–Blue, Blue–Alt Blue, Alt Blue–Mtn

Electrical:

Track Buses:

12-Gauge Wire with Powerpole Connectors

12VDC Bus (White):

12-Gauge Wire with Powerpole Connectors

Accessory Bus (Brown):

Not installed

LocoNet Bus:

Installed. Universal Panels front and back

Special:

In order for the Alternate Blue-to-Mountain Division track to be used, this module requires a module with Alternate Blue track located to its left side. Suitable modules are Anderson Transition, Dismal Swamp and Rudy Valley. There is also Alternate Blue to the right, but a connection is optional.

Module Photographs




Ampere Station, NJ (Top photo = Left half of module; Bottom photo = Right half)

Track Plan




Ampere Station, NJ (Top photo = Left half of module; Bottom photo = Right half)

Description
Ampere station was located in East Orange, NJ. From the 1920’s through the mid 50’s, it was a major passenger stop on the Montclair branch of the Lackawanna Railroad which fed Newark, NJ and New York City. As automobiles became the main means of transportation, this station slowly became obsolete, and was demolished in the mid 1990’s.

During the 1940’s and 50’s, this was a major manufacturing area and a thriving residential community — home to M&M Candy, Ward Baking, Crocker Wheeler Manufacturing, Ronson Lighter and the Newark Evening News Newsprint Depot. Surrounding the area was a typical local business community. Spreading out from the station area were single and multiple family housing; most built in the 1890’s and early 20th century.

These modules represent the area surrounding the station in the late 40’s/early 50’s — the pre-TV era for my family when sitting in the station and watching trains go by were the main entertainment for boys in the neighborhood. To this day, I can still see Camelback steam locomotives pushing boxcars around with war material on board, during the mid 40’s. Later, I commuted to work from this station. May these scenes bring back fond memories of your youth as it does my youth for me!

Industries

Module Setup Instructions
Ampere Station is a group of two 6" modules held together in the middle with wooden dowels and C-clamps.

The legs fold out and are held in place by side braces. These braces are located in a five gallon can, along with C-clamps. The bucket is located in the storage box on the front of the trailer. To open the storage box use the double sided key and stick it a short way and turn the lock to the right. There is an old key broken off in the lock. Even a screwdriver will work. Put in the braces and stand each module upright. Slide the 2 modules together and then put dowel pins in the one end and mate it with other end. C-Clamp the two modules together and place in the layout.

There is a bag of joiner tracks precut for this module. Some of the Ampere Station joiner tracks are marked, as some of the labels have come off over the years. You are now ready for the buildings.

Ampere Station has about 20 buildings. See the photographs above for assistance in identifying the buildings and locating where to place them. Starting on the left side of the left module, in the back are two factory buildings that make up the Crocker Wheeler plant. In the front, start with the Auto Body Shop. The next building is Ampere 5&10 and the next one is the Fourth Ave. Market. Next, to the right, is the Ampere Theater and then Ampere Drug. The next building I am not sure of. This is followed by the 5 stores with apartments over them and finally the gas station. Behind Ampere Drug is the train station. Along the back road are 3 colonial style houses. Finally on the far right side is the M&M building.

On the right module in the front are two houses. Behind them is the Ward Baking plant. Behind that, on either side of the siding, are two small houses. To the right of the Ward Baking plant is the Newark News Newsprint Depot and the Ronson Lighter Factory. On the far right in the front is the Engine House and behind that is the Freight Depot.

The only thing left to do is hook up the lights, if you choose to do so. There are two thin wires hanging down from both modules. Using the black power pack, hook one set to the DC side and the other set to the AC accessory side. These are Christmas tree lights, so they can handle the AC.

Owner Name:

G. Donald Cariss

Builder Name:

G. Donald Cariss

Date Built:

1994

Status:

Complete

Module Type:

4' Corner Module with Alt. Blue at left end and Mountain Division

Length:

4'

Width:

4'

Passing Sidings:

None

Other Tracks:

Alternate Blue + Mountain Division

Industrial Spurs:

None

Yard Tracks:

None

Engine Service:

None

Crossovers:

Alt. Blue (left) to Blue (right)

Electrical:

Track Buses:

12-Gauge Wire with Powerpole Connectors

12VDC Bus (White):

12-Gauge Wire with Powerpole Connectors

Accessory Bus (Brown):

Not installed

LocoNet Bus:

Installed. Universal Panels front and back

Special:

Module Photograph

Track Plan

Description
In 1994, the club was in dire need of another corner module. Don decided to build a corner that depicted the farming area of Northwest New Jersey. As a Boy Scout, he hiked this area many times every year. When he lived in the Washington, NJ area, his next door neighbor was a dairy farmer. This way of life has pretty much disappeared with building of I-78. This area is now one sub-division after another.

Module Setup Instructions
Cariss Corner is a standard 4' corner module. The legs fold out and lock in place with luggage latches. They do not work all that well. There are no lights and no buildings that have to be put on the module. The existing building and corral are glued on.

Owner Name:

G. Donald Cariss

Builder Name:

G. Donald Cariss

Date Built:

1994

Status:

Complete

Module Type:

Standard Module with Mountain Division

Length:

8' (2 x 4')

Width:

2'

Passing Sidings:

Red

Other Tracks:

Mountain Division

Industrial Spurs:

See below

Yard Tracks:

3, Coal Mine on Mountain

Engine Service:

None

Crossovers:

Yellow to Blue Clockwise

Electrical:

Track Buses:

12-Gauge Wire with Powerpole Connectors

12VDC Bus (White):

12-Gauge Wire with Powerpole Connectors

Accessory Bus (Brown):

Not installed

LocoNet Bus:

Installed. Universal Panels front and back

Module Photograph

North Eastern, PA (Top photo: left half of module; bottom photo: right half of module

Track Plan

North East, PA (Top photo = Left half of module; Bottom photo = right half)

Description
North East Pennsylvania has been a principle source of hard coal (Anthracite) for well over 200 years, with many active mines in this area during the early sixties, which is the time period these modules depict. Small towns grew up around the mines and a typical example of one of those towns is shown. These modules represent the Lackawanna County area of Pennsylvania. As a Boy Scout, Don hiked this area many times. Many of the coal mines were small and most are now closed.

Besides the Pennsylvania RR, four smaller railroads (Delaware, Lackawanna & Western; the Reading; the Jersey Central; and the Lehigh Valley) brought coal out of this region to the industrial cities of New Jersey and to the ports for shipment overseas. Anthracite was highly prized for its clean burning properties. All of these railroads went bankrupt in the seventies and became part of Conrail.

Coal was brought in from the mines by ore car or conveyor belt to the tipple which you can see on the upper level. The coal was crushed, screened and sorted by size. The finished coal was then loaded into hopper cars for transit to the user markets. Each day, an engine would bring empty hopper cars to each tipple on the branch line, then would reverse its route and pick up loaded hoppers to take to the cities and ports in New Jersey.

The module was constructed in 1994 after a trip to Scranton, PA and a visit to some of the old towns just north of the city along the Lackawanna mainline.

Industries

Module Setup Instructions
North East Pennsylvania is a group of two 4" modules held together in the middle with two long bolts from one of the end pieces. The legs fold out and are held in place by side braces. These braces are located in a five gallon can, along with C-clamps. The bucket is located in the storage box on the front of the trailer. To open the storage box use the double sided key and stick it a short way and turn the lock to the right. There is an old key broken off in the lock; even a screwdriver will work. Put in the braces and lift each module upright. Slide the 2 modules together. The Crocker Wheeler plant, on the left module is on the far left end of the module. The right module has the engine house on the far right end of this module. Put two bolts from one of the end plates and mate it with the right module. Align the center and tighten this joint together. These modules are ready to be put into the layout.

There is a bag of joiner tracks precut and marked for this module. You are now ready for the buildings — there are only two loose buildings. Take the church and put it beside the house toward the left end of the right module. The other is the coal tipple. Place the main structure over the sidings. Put the covered conveyer in the right side and put the other end in the other park of the tipple. You are done with buildings on this module set.

The only thing left to do is hook up the lights, if you choose to do so. Put the gold power pack on the screw on the back of the right module. There are two thin wires under the module that need to be screwed on the power pack. Go into the small building box and get out the telephone cord. Plug it into each of the telephone boxes underneath the two modules. This will light the buildings and street lights.