Rockville Bridge in HO Scale

This module is featured in the book "90 Days to Rockville - Modeling the World's Longest Stone Masonary Bridge." This book is available through Amazon.com. Below is an excerpt from the book:

“C’mon Jim, you know you want to,” my friend Dan DeLany coaxed as we drove back home after a Wednesday night work session with our local model railroad club. I had been debating for over a year on whether or not I should embark on building an HO scale model of Rockville Bridge located in southern Pennsylvania. I think Dan was interested in seeing if I was just crazy enough to build this project. I had already designed the module and had even cut some pieces of the benchwork a year earlier but, to that point, I just wasn’t quite ready to pull the trigger on the project. I first learned about Rockville Bridge two years earlier during an annual summertime railfan trip with my local model railroad club in July of 2004. Our last stop on our five day adventure was at the most magnificent railroad bridge in North America over the Susquehanna River in Pennsylvania. I knew immediately that I wanted to build a model of this bridge for our club’s modular layout.

Being a civil engineer by training, I was very impressed by the stone and concrete arch bridge. It stands almost 45 feet above the Susquehanna River and carries three mainline tracks from Enola, PA, to Harrisburg, PA. This scene lends itself well to a module since it is long and linear. I spent the afternoon taking photos of the bridge, making sketches, and talking to other members of the club about how to turn this scene into a model. Before we arrived in Enola, a long discussion had been taking place about replacing some of the member’s yard modules. Jim DeLany, Dan DeLany, and Stu Dom discussed the possibility of replacing their current yard modules and somehow connecting the modules operationally. Plans were discussed and the idea hatched to do a group module building session at some point in the future. I was also in the car for the ride and at this point, being in college, had no intention of building modules for myself but didn’t mind volunteering my workshop at my parent’s house as a place where the benchwork could be built.

It wasn’t until a few days later when we arrived in Enola, PA, and went to see Rockville Bridge that a new idea really began to take shape. Dan DeLany, during the brainstorming session at the bridge, had the idea of using this new Rockville Bridge module as a way to connect the two new yards. Since both Stu Dom and the DeLany’s were big fans of the railroads of Pennsylvania, it would be a perfect transition. About a year later, during the summer of 2005, we held a large group module building session to build the benchwork for members of the Mohegan Pequot Model Railroad club. What originally had been intended as the replacement for two sets of yard modules grew to 42 module sections. Over a three weekend span, all 42 modules were constructed for members including the benchwork for Stu’s and the DeLany’s new yards. By the fall of 2006, the new yard modules were getting close to making their premieres. Stu and Dan were reminding me constantly that I needed to build Rockville Bridge so their yards could be connected. I had started cutting some of the benchwork pieces a year earlier but was sidetracked by other projects. Over the summer of 2006, I had again gone down to visit Rockville Bridge so my level of interest in pursuing the project had been increased.

Since the new yards were going to be premiering at the biggest train show east of the Mississippi River, the Big Railroad Hobby show in West Springfield, MA, everyone felt that I should have the module ready for that show. It would be a befitting tribute considering I was modeling the longest stone and concrete arch bridge in the world. The only minor, minuscule, tiny problem that could stand in the way of finish my goal: the show was only 90 days away! So as we zipped down the highway, I contemplated how much work would need to get done in a short period of time. I knew I wanted to build the project and needed a deadline to accomplish it to a level of completion. Never one to pass on a challenge, I began my quest to build Rockville Bridge.

To read the rest of the story, purchase a copy of the book "90 Days to Rockville - Modeling the World's Longest Stone Masonry Bridge." This book is available through Amazon.com.

Available: August 27, 2009  

 

Book Synopsis: Follow along with the construction of an HO scale module based on the renowned Rockville Bridge over the Susquehanna River in Pennsylvania.  Over 120+ pictures and diagrams shows the complete process of building the module from design through scenery.  See how the module was constructed in less than 90 days!