Because of a move, John had to dismantle his LVRR Buffalo Division HO-scale railroad. The layout he is building in his new home has included trackage for some other railroads,  but it still has a Lehigh Valley presence. He wanted the geography to represent any eastern road, at least on the mainline, but it roughly represents areas from the Lehigh River Valley to Buffalo. John likes that he can run almost any set of power in his collection, right up to Conrail, and it will look okay.

The draw bridges are his rendition of CP DRAW over the Buffalo River in winter. Heading east from the Tifft staging yard, visitors come out of winter and into spring along the Lehigh & Lake Erie Branch, and then into Tifft Junction near Bison yard on a hazy spring/summer afternoon. The main line disappears under the Lackawanna Steel plant, and pops out east of Buffalo.  The deck truss bridge carries the double mainline across the Lehigh River with a transition to autumn and disappears while it turns back on itself and heads westward back to Buffalo.

The Hojack branch line is an out-and-back reverse loop adding in some Erie customers. The Bethlehem Steel plant boasts 2 furnaces, an ore dock serviced by three Hulett ore unloaders and a coke operation. Rigidized Metals and other South Buffalo industries are coming along. 

He told me he is currently working on a model of the Buffalo fireboat Cotter and plans to put that in his Buffalo River scene, breaking the ice.