Well, in my opinion, 2001 really is one of the best times to model the NEC in New Jersey. I can't think of a single model that isn't available, or at least, not imminently available (IMW "modern" Arrow III Married pairs?). The only thing you'd have to kit bash is an E60MA, and that is not terribly difficult. 2001 has many of the short lived schemes like the Phase IV on locomotives, as well as the "Acela" styling on the Amfleets. There is also a fine mix of Phase III and Phas IV stuff. The available models (HHP8s, AEM7s) tend to reflect the early 2000s better than they do their current paint jobs, as slight as the differences may be.
I'm pretty sure IMW makes the Path trains. There are E60MAs, Acelas, HHP8s, AEM7s, ALP44s, ALP46s, Arrow IIIs, you can't really go wrong.
Modeling Newark is also a good idea, since that is the one train station that ALL trains stop at. This way, you can always know when a trains is coming or going, giving you extra control about operating it.
As far as you having a ton of the IHP kits, I'm not surprised. It seems most people jumped on them when they came out, but almost every single person wanted to model a "later" Arrow, after the 1992 modifications. This only bugs me since there are only so many Arrow kits available, and several people I know are hacking them up trying to make them "Modern". I'd almost rather buy them the IMW kits and trade so that everyone gets the models they want. It seems doubtful that I'll ever get a hold of any additional Arrow III kits, i'm sure all the ones that were made probably have a home at this point. And we all know the "RTR" married pair versions will be WAY more expensive, and produced in far smaller runs. I've been lucky up to this point, but I'm thinking modeling the NEC is going to be much harder very shortly.
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Anyways, as far as operations go, I also want to model about an hour or two of the NEC, but between Lane Tower and Metropark (although almost any segment in New Jersey is fair game, for now), during the summer of 1979. In particular, I want to try and get Union interlocking and Rahway station as well, since I too want to model some of the limited diesel trains that run this way.
However, given that I have a limited amount of trains that I can expect to own in this lifetime, I've been trying to figure out "When" is the "best" time to model the NEC, and where? Seeing as I was born 10 years after the fact, I have none of the perception that someone then did. I decided I would make a "Master" schedule of NEC trains, and find the schedules of all Amtrak, NJ DOT, and Conrail trains. The Conrail trains were the trickiest, but by this time I've found just about all of them.
I've actually been working on this all summer, and I have only just recently decided its good enough to present, although you won't be able to see much detail here.
I first made them into tables in Excel, but that wasn't enough. It was too difficult to interpret the data. Certain trains ran faster than others, and there was no good way to sort them. If i wanted to model Rahway, not all trains stopped at Rahway, so how would I know approximately when they would pass?
To do this, I made a scatter plot in Excel, and then connected the dots. After a little cleaning, I got this- a Line Graph schedule of the entire NEC in New Jersey on an weekday.
The bottom of the graph is the early morning (12 AM), while the top of the graph is 11:59 PM. the White horizontal lines are approximatley an hour.
New York is the set of dots on the right, while Philadelphia is the set of dots on the left. Though hard to follow, the dots go like this:
Philadelphia-Trenton-Princeton Junction-Jersey Avenue-New Brunswick-Edison-Metuchen-Metropark-Rahway-North Rahway-Linden-Elizabeth-North Elizabeth-Lane Tower-Newark-New York.
In excel, I can identify which trains are which lines, but for here, you will all have to be satisfied with the color code.
Light Blue- NJ DOT trains between Trenton, or Jersey Avenue (Arrow MU)
Orange- NJ DOT trains to South Amboy (Arrow MU)
Purple- NJ DOT Trains to Bay Head (GG1-exchanges with E8)
Red- NJ DOT Trains to Bay Head (GP40P Express trains)[note, the 5300 series trains did not got to NYC. However, the corresponding train the red line touches in New York is the connecting train one would have to take to reach NYC]
Green- Amtrak Long Distance trains (such as the broadway limited, Silver Meteor, etc)
Lime Green Amtrak Clocker Trains
Yellow/Gold Metroliner service (Metroliner MU)
Blue Conrail Freight trains
Link to a larger version-
http://i543.photobucket.com/albums/gg44 ... ofixed.jpg
I'm still not sure when the best time is, but I can make an educated guess now. I can see when certain trains might meet, or when there are to many trains on the track for me to realistically model. I can find the sweet spot, so to speak. Its looking like that might be between 10 AM-12PM, or close to between 2PM-4PM. the Rush hours are clearly visible, and so I know "when" to avoid.
If there is any interest in the Excel sheet itself with all the schedules, let me know.
Elite Juice Jack Modeler.