Newburytown Yard and Diesel House

Newburytown Yard and Diesel House Welcome to the Newburytown Yard and Diesel House Model Railroad layout.

I will be posting updates and progress on the development of this layout including the rolling stock and landscaping.

GE U30B 2856This is a Walthers Proto model I picked up for a bargain price pre-fitted with sound from Nicholas Smith Tra...
01/05/2026

GE U30B 2856

This is a Walthers Proto model I picked up for a bargain price pre-fitted with sound from Nicholas Smith Trains just outside Philadelphia a couple of years back. For a Proto model it's very nicely detailed and as usual with these, runs very well with a decent sound as well.

The real loco was originally purchased by the New York Central in September 1967, only 3 months before it became the Penn Central. Moving over to Conrail in April 1976, the U30Bs were on the whole fairly quick to receive the blue paint of the merged railroad. They had around a decade under Conrail control before they succumbed to the mid-80s culls with the introduction of new power.

As images of these units show them relatively clean, I have not gone as heavy as I did with the GP20, using a lighter wash colour on the paintwork, but still the same methods used on it, just not as much. I also had to re-number the number boards as they were in the later black number on white instead of the original white on black, not a process I particularly enjoy but it makes a difference!

EMD GP20 Conrail 2111The GP20 was one of the first EMD classes to be fitted with turbochargers to allow full horsepower ...
28/04/2026

EMD GP20 Conrail 2111

The GP20 was one of the first EMD classes to be fitted with turbochargers to allow full horsepower at higher altitudes. Ironically, under Conrail ownership, the turbos would be removed as they were causing maintenance issues, they would still be rated for 2000hp as they were not used anywhere with thinner air.

2111 was built in 1961 for the New York Central as 6113, in 1968 it passed to Penn Central with the merger with the Pennsylvania Railroad, gaining it's later number. In 1976 it transferred to Conrail on its formation and kept the same number. It was retired from service by Conrail in mid-1985.

The model is from Broadway Limited Imports and is fitted with sound and keep-alive.

I have removed some of the front pipes to reflect it's condition and then weathered it with a brown panel line wash and various colours with the airbrush and then a matt varnish on the roof and underframes. I have included images of the model before for comparison.

It's the little details that really make a scene and I've been making some even at these early stages. Firstly we have s...
26/04/2026

It's the little details that really make a scene and I've been making some even at these early stages.

Firstly we have some 'Hayes Bumpers' these are there to stop trains from leaving the end of a siding. For my layout, this is the fuel and sand roads. These are a design from the late 1960s but are freely available in the UK and I have pictures of them in use at a few engine houses so it will do for me. They are Peco SL-8340, sprayed primer, then Vallejo Model-Air yellow. Then weathered with a deep brown chipping colour stippled followed by Ammo Neutral and Neutral Brown washes. They are just posed in place for now until I have weathered the track.

The other things are switch stands. These both show the engineer which way a switch (point/junction) is set and allow it to be changed. There are various types and heights but I have gone for low yard style ones (Razor 20C). These are Rapido Inc RailCrew kits which can be made to work but mine are purely cosmetic and will be fitted to the points once ground work is nearing completion to try and reduce the chance of them being damaged. They were sprayed with Ammo Rail Center Sleeper Grime and then the shrouds and lenses picked out with AK RealColor Markers.

These will hopefully add to the track works overall look and help add to the immersion.

The EMD BL2The BL2 s were dinosaurs even in the 1970s, WM bought theirs in 1948 and only got 2. They were found to be ha...
25/04/2026

The EMD BL2

The BL2 s were dinosaurs even in the 1970s, WM bought theirs in 1948 and only got 2. They were found to be hard to work on and less useful to operate than the standard F-units they were based on so further orders were placed for the F7 (the BL2 is basically an F3 inside). These lasted until the mid-80s and both are preserved today.

This is a Proto2000 model that arrived with me in a bit of a state. For a start it had the usual Proto cracked gears but also had a couple of missing grabs and a previous owned had seen fit to paint almost anything that stuck off the side of the body shell either silver or yellow. It was a bit of a state!

I have replaced the grab irons and repainted everything as per images of the real locos. The chassis was then tackled. I do have a few replacement gears in stock but I have other projects that they are allocated to, then I happened upon another loco on eBay with a chassis already converted. It had a bit of a rubbish repaint but was mechanically sound and only £55. That was bought and the chassis swapped, as well as some of the modifications that the owner had done like mounting the couplings to the body instead of the chassis.

It now runs really nice and has a good TCS chip with keep-alive fitted. Just needs lights but that's for another day!

It finally got a weathering of the roof and some light soot marks on the sides, as well as brake dust on the running gear and pilots to give it the lived-in 1970s look.

For my first rolling stock post, a Western Maryland hopper. This is a Bowser model of a 70t hopper but it is representin...
25/04/2026

For my first rolling stock post, a Western Maryland hopper.

This is a Bowser model of a 70t hopper but it is representing a unique freight car on the WM.

Built by the Bethlehem Steel Co in late 1963, it was the only 4-bay hopper on the WM system (all others having 2 or 3 bays). Originally painted Grey, it gained the classic brown in the early 1970s and then repainted in Chessie Blue in the 1980s, lasting until the late 80's.

The model is a modified Bowser model. I got it as a partly constructed kit and unfortunately it had the chassis on backwards and stuck fast but I'll overlook that. I fitted the real coal load and Kadee 36" wheels and weathered it using oil washes and airbrush.

24/04/2026

So the basic idea of the layout is somewhere to run my collection of 1970s/80s Northeastern USA models.

It is loosely based on the area between Harrisburg and York in Pennsylvania and has been named Newburytown after the similar Newberrytown on the Susquehanna River just west of 3 Mile Island but with the name changed as Bury, UK is where I live.

It will eventually consist of an interchange yard and a diesel shop to service the locomotives that visit the yard, being built around the perimeter of my basement. At the moment it just consists of the diesel shops and servicing points, the rest being added as space and time allows.

It is set between January 1974 and December 1981 encompassing the introduction of Conrail and the slow absorbsion of the Western Maryland into the Chessie System allowing a range of colours to legitimately be used on the layout.

The Interchange Yard will primarily serve the Western Maryland, Penn Central and Reading Railway (the latter 2 merging into Conrail) but will also see other Chessie services and the occasional run through of the Norfolk & Western. Amtrak will also run services through the area, with a Washington DC/Baltimore to Buffalo NY service running this way to serve the smaller communities on semi-fast services and a Sleeper service also running.

Finally, there is a small heritage movement that will run occasional excursion trains in the area, including Steam

I look forward to bringing you more on my layout as well as some tips on how I do things.

24/04/2026

Welcome to the Facebook home of the Newburytown Yard and Diesel Shop model railroad layout. It is currently being constructed in the basement of my house in Bury in the UK. It is based on a fictional interchange yard and engine servicing yard in Pennsylvania in the area of the real Newberrytown just to the west of 3 Mile Island between Harrisburg and York. I Live in Bury in the UK, hence the change in name.

I hope to keep this page updated with the progress of the build and some other info about the rolling stock and real railways that make up the layout.

If you would like to see anything or have any suggestions then please let me know.

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Bury

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