Hopewell Junction Model Railroad Club

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HOPEWELL JUNCTION MODEL RAILROAD CLUB

Our Layout	Trackplan	Historical Photos
Member Craftsmanship	Links	Contact Us

The Hopewell Junction Model Railroad Club was founded in 1993 by a group of modelers who wanted to reconstruct in HO scale the busy rail junction at Hopewell NY as it was in the 1920s. Originally a three way junction of the Newburgh, Dutchess, and Connecticut Railroad (ND&C), the New York and New England Railroad (NY&NE), and the Dutchess County Railroad, Hopewell Junction soon became consolidated as part of the Central New England Railroad. By the early 1900s the Central New England had been totally absorbed by its parent, the New York, New Haven, and Hartford. Out of respect to the history, our club's railroad is the Hudson Northern, which explains the inverted NH (New Haven) logo on our wallpaper and equipment.

The club is no longer active, but when active it operated an HO scale modular layout that it displayed at local train shows and hosted an Open House the second weekend of each December. While active they earned two first place honors and a second place ribbon at the GATS in Danbury CT. For several summers in the mid to late 1990s the layout was featured at a historical railroad exhibit in Clinton Corners New York. The club met the first and third Fridays of each month between September and June. Meetings were held at the East Fishkill Town Recreation Building on Rt. 82 in Hopewell Junction, NY.

Our layout is made of modules that range from 2' to 6' long and 30" wide. When all of our modules are in place we measure 24'x 26'. Our modules are constructed according to the standards developed by the NMRA so that we can join up with any other club that also uses NMRA standards.

Click on the links to see images of our layout. (See if you can find the "Master of Suspense".) The backgrounds have been altered for your visual pleasure. We wish our backgrounds looked this good. Some day!

Click on to return to where you were.

Our goal is to accurately represent Hopewell Junction as it was in the mid 1920's. To that end we have scratch-built and kit-bashed several of the structures that existed at that time. These were built using photographs and maps that we have been able to gather over the years. Other structures will be built as time permits.

Among those buildings that we have built so far are:

the Borden's Creamery
the original ND&C passenger station at its position in the era we model
the NY&NE passenger station built when it arrived from Connecticut
the freight house at the junction
one of the track-side hotels
one of the engine houses that serviced helper engines
and a track car shed.

     In addition to the Hopewell Junction corner section , the club owns the other corner modules. One is a scratch-built portrayal of the coal loading facility that was East of the yards (another view). Another is an example of how building foam can be used to make convincing rock face as the original NY&NE carved a hairpin turn in a cut at the north end of Stormville Mountain. The other corner represents a rural farm and orchard scene that typified the economy of the areas through which the Dutchess County railroads ran.

     The club also owns a module that demonstrates the construction of a module that we use when we put on clinics at shows. One 2' piece has a Plexiglas top so the wiring can be seen while the other, a 4' construction module, ranges from bare wood on one end to the other end that has all the scenery completed.

     Our most recent project has been the addition of a fiddle yard so that we can more easily make up and break down the ultra-long trains that we normally run at shows.

Individual club members also have contributed privately owned modules.
     A 12' long yard represents the freight yards that could be found to the east of the actual junction at Hopewell. This working yard is compressed based on a track-plan map that we were able to purchase.

     A 4' module represents the village of Stormville as it was in 1935. The creator of that module took photographs and measurements of the buildings that still exist and used period photographs and interviews to build the building exactly as they appeared, including color, at that time.

     One of our members overcame his fear of heights and braved his way onto the bridge at Towners NY that crosses over the still existent Harlem Line. The measurements and photographs that he was able to gather were the basis for a module of the Towners area including the Towners Bridge. Notice the detail that he built into the bridge.

     Fully lighted buildings highlight another individual's module. This module portrays a village set in the 1950s and has stores and other businesses whose interiors are highly detailed with goods on the shelves, bottles on the bar rack, a deli case complete with cold cuts in the general store, and scratch-built power lawnmowers. another view

We have found some old pictures of Hopewell Junction that we used to construct our layout and buildings. To view these old photographs click on the locomotive.

Links of interest to model railroaders.
If you would like to link your site to ours, please contact us at mailcar@optonline.net

Last updated January 2, 2001

For further information about the club activities click here.

Support this website by joining the Silver Rails TrainWeb Club for as little as $1 per month. Click here for info.