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The railroad is based on a "what if?" scenario where the Alphabet Route railroads were allowed to combine into a system as an efficiency move during WW II. (This is similar to the Family Lines during the 1980s where several railroads painted equipment in the same scheme even though they were not legally one entity.) There is equipment of the combined Allegheny & Western system along with equipment of the member roads. The modeled A&W mainline runs from New York Harbor to Harrisburg, PA. There are two major subdivisions branching off from the main. One goes from Easton, PA to Maybrook, NY. The other goes from Topton, PA to Scranton, PA and beyond to Buffalo, NY. The system hub is Allentown, PA, a midsize city with a large manufacturing base. This is a large and diverse territory; We model representative parts of it. Major modeled locations are: - Greenville in Jersey City, NJ - Busy waterfront car float operations
- Bethlehem, PA - The main Bethlehem Steel works
- Allentown, PA - Our company offices and our main yard, a modern rider hump. It is also the terminus for short-distance passenger service to New York.
- Fleetwood, PA - original location of the "Body by Fleetwood" plant
- Hershey, PA - Home of Hershey Chocolate "The sweetest place on Earth"
- Palmerton, PA - Home of the main NJ Zinc plant
- Wilkes-Barre, PA - A rich source of traffic in anthracite
- Plainfield, NJ - Suburban area with substantial local industry
It takes a lot of people diligently working to keep a Class One railroad fluid. From the switcher slowly dragging hot metal cars at the steel mill to the dispatcher overseeing it all, there are a wide variety of jobs for everyone.
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