Trackside Photos: A pleasant day in Pennsylvania, a fall day in Ontario, and a sunny summer in Washington

Erie-Lackawanna no. 3641 leads a trio of Electro-Motive Division SD locomotives with a manifest freight through Paradise Curve, just east of Tobyhanna, Pa. in 1975. The through train picked up cars at Scranton and won’t switch again until it reaches its destination of Croxton, N.J. Jeff Mutter’s HO scale EL Scranton Division layout is set in 1975. The stream was created using Enviro-Tex resin, the trees are Scenic Express SuperTrees, and the treeline is 1/2" foam sheet covered with Woodland Scenics Clump-Foliage and mounted vertically. The locomotives are Athearn Genesis models equipped with SoundTraxx decoders. Jeff also shot the photo.

On a cloudy day in late October, Canadian Pacific Alco S-2 no. 7091 is making its last drop of the day before heading to St. Eugene, Ontario. Lloyd Henchey of St. Eugene, Ont., photographed the scene on his HO scale layout. Lloyd made the backdrop on his computer using a high-resolution photo he found on the internet. The bare autumn trees are sagebrush from Scenic Express. The Alco switcher is an Atlas model.

CSX no. 1776, a General Electric ES44AC painted in a commemorative “Honoring Our Veterans” paint scheme, finds itself in an unusual job on this sunny day in Eastern Kentucky, pulling just two coal cars on the branch line to Green Raven Coal. James Brassill of Boulder Creek, Calif., built the HO scale diorama for Wm. K. Walthers’ National Model Railroad Build-Off contest, but it will eventually become part of his shelf layout. The locomotive is a ScaleTrains.com model and the Bethgon Coalporters are by Walthers. James also shot the photo.

Milwaukee Road Train No. 17, the westbound Columbian, crosses the Hansen Creek steel viaduct on the west slope of the Cascades in Washington during the summer of 1950. Kirk Reddie of Seattle, Wash., shot the photo on his N scale layout, using Helicon Focus software to increase the depth of field. The class EP-2 electric locomotive is an NJ Custom Brass import painted by Ron Nowka, and the cars are from Micro-Trains Line, Fox Valley, and NJ Custom Brass. The catenary poles are by Dick Volkman.

Southern Pacific class P5 no. 2439 enters Del Rio with a local passenger train in tow while the local biker club meets at the corner bar and a signal maintainer works on the wig-wag. Paul Doggett of Lancashire, U.K., photographed the scene on his HO scale California Northern layout. The locomotive is a Tenshodo model that Paul remotored. The three boxcars are all built from resin kits, which is Paul’s favorite part of the hobby.

Though the Diamond T semi-tractor and trailer have seen better days, the Pittsburg & Shawmut is still going strong at the end of the steam era, meaning there’s coal to be delivered. Loren Clarke of Bothell, Wash., modeled the scene on his HO scale P&S Railroad. The truck and trailer were built by distressing a Woodland Scenics kit. The hopper car is from Life-Like and the load is real coal. Loren also shot the photo.