Correction. There was a land connection SE to the New York, New Haven and Concord RR freight yard next door. Another web site of interest is: http://members.trainweb.com/bedt/indloco/crrnjbxt.html See also http://www.port-kelsey.com/?p=70

Not sure about the image that Trevor shows - looks like the model superimposed on an old photo. If so shows how good Tim Warris' modeling is.

 Fascinating prototype that closed in 1961.

Nigel

STEAM OPERATED RAILWAYS IN RECENT TIMES
The Crab Apple and Orchard Egyptian Railway in Illinois was steam operated as a common carrier right up until the mid 1980’s. Duluth and North Eastern an operated into the early 1960s with  5 venerable steamers while the Buffalo Creek and Gauley railroad in West Virginia was also operated by steam into the mid 1960’s.

STEAM OPERATED RAILWAYS IN RECENT TIMES
The Mississipian and  Reader Railroads were also  steam operated into the 1960’s but Union Steel instead of scrapping some ex Grand Trunk Western 0-8-0’s operated these engines into the 1980’s
London Transport continued to use 0-6-0 tanks (of the Hornby 3F type?) until 1972 or 1973 shunting Underground stock I think through washbays etc.
I am of the belief that an Eastern European city has had a steam operated commuter service as recently as 2010. Also the Harz system in Eastern Germany is operated by. steam locomotives
So a late model car and Steam Engines can be photographed together and there is a prototype for it!

MAINLINE RAILWAY VERY CLOSE TO ROAD TRAFFIC
There are of course many examples of street running of railways in the world but an example of a mainline railway running very close to a road less protective fencing etc exists in Guelph Ontario in Kent St. In fact Kent Street is split by the railway. GO Commuter and VIA Passenger trains also use this line.
You can see this  at Railpictures.ca - Stephen C. Host Photo: Caption: Kevin’s recent shot of L566 parked on the Waterloo spur, had consequences for the rest of the Guelph sub as now the Kitchener terminal would be quite short of motive power. To ensure two jobs operated

RAILWAYS ENDING IN A LOOP
The New York and Long Branch, now New Jersey Transit's North Jersey Coast Line, ends at a loop with a yard in the middle of it. It is a model railroader's dream! The North Jersey Rappenfieldid Transit Company (service ended 1930) was a trolley company. The line parallelled the Erie, climbed a very steep grade, swung to the right to cross the Erie tracks via a through truss bridge then a steep grade down the other side back to grade level. The grade was somewhere around 6% (a guess)

I noticed a number of transit lines in the US that ended in Balloon Loops, notably the Philadelphia Area Transit parallel to the subway system in Philadelphia as well as the MBTA in Boston at Riverside.  Many of the cars were the single ended PCC cars so turning was essential and there were PCC cars operating in San Francisco, Toronto and Pittsburgh so there would have been many other loops needed.

South Australian Railways had two lines at Outer Harbour and Penfield which ended in Balloons, the station at Outer Harbour being at the “apex” of the loop. They were both handy as trains were regularly sent to both to equalise flange wear or single ended locos with passenger consists could be used when there was a shortage of railcars. Eventually the loops were either truncated (Outer Harbour) or the entire branchline closed (Penfield). There were also some other little known balloons in the Port Adelaide area to access some wharves.

Reverse loops weren't unknown in passenger terminals in the US (ATSF in Chicago), or even engine terminals (N&W in Winston Salem NC); but they were rarely used as main running tracks.

A Number of stations in Queensland were at the end of what effectively were balloon loops at Bowen and Townsville as well as Fox Lake in Wisconsin which all received regular trains going in and out of their respective towns.  Thus trains could be also replicated turning and going in the opposite direction as is commonly seen on loop to loop model railways.

VERY SHORT STREAMLINED  PASSENGER TRAINS
While North American Modellers in particular like long trains and among them passenger trains, there are a few examples of very short passenger trains. One I noted on a Model Railroader post consisted of an Alco PA, a streamlined baggage car and a stainless steel observation car.  You can see several examples on http://cs.trains.com/mrr/f/13/t/273933.aspx

LOUSY DECAL JOB ON WEATHERED ROLLINGSTOCK
Look at how poor this paint and decaling job is! They did not even bother covering up the decal film. Prototype photo by T. McAdams


[espee.railfan.net/nonindex/caboose_photos/1764_sp-c-40-7-caboose-thom_mcadams.jpg


A NOTE FROM TREVOR …


This is the last I have of the TAPFE's for now…  much to my chagrin, there just have not been much happening or inputs but you are all quite welcome to add to this one.  I will add more as I find them… I was able to stretch them out from where I was at a few months ago


I did do a bit more digging and there are a few more Hints and Tips to last for about 2-3 months at this stage, so again your contributions directly to me via PM would be appreciated!


Cheers


Trevor

London Transport used ex GWR 57xx pannier tanks to replace the ex Metropolitan Railway locos. They were used to haul engineering trains when the juice was off overnight and also on the trains from the demolition of the Met power station at Neasden to Watford Tip. Models have been made by Bachmann in 00 gauge, Graham Farish in N gauge and now by Dapol in 0 Gauge.

COAL TRAVELLING IN BOTH DIRECTIONS ON DOUBLE TRACK
In Central News South Wales, from Wollongong 50 miles south of Sydney to Newcastle about 104 rail miles north of Sydney are both double track mainlines.   Because of export of coal  from the Steelworks in the Wollongong area and the need for specific coals in the refining process, as well as coal mines at intermediate points supplying different market areas, both mainlines could see loaded coal trains running in both directions.

Hi Trevor’.   Haven’t you heard the phrase “ Coals to Newcastle “ . Nice to hear from you. Best wishes Kevin 

After a long break…


A ONE MAN RAILROAD - ACTUALLY OPERATED BY ONE MAN
In Illinois. There was a small ex interurban railway section remaining in operation of the Aurora, Elgin and Fox River Interurban , that delivered coal from the mainline to a State Hospital using street trackage written up in Model Railroader in 1967 as a railroad you can model.  The Hospital converted to gas and the railway shut in 1973.
The Fuel Facility? Apparently the driver/engineer/conductor/ track man (all rolled into one) pulled  up at a service station and used the pump!  So for all you lone wolf modellers out there (including me) there is a prototype of sorts for you!

After a VERY long break…
A below mainline staging/storage yard?  In New South Wales, a spur from the Hornsby line down to a car yard by the harbour side well below the line of sight of the line it ran off from, not unlike some efforts I have seen on model railway layouts.

I also noted in Montreal when I was there that the Metro Trains at the then end of the line at Bonaventure disappeared into a dead end tunnel ( and servicing depot?… my memory is not that good from 1976) effectively a staging track. Although I have not seen such an end of line in Paris, I would imagine a similar arrangement on their Metro system.

RAILCARS BEING HAULED BY LOCOMOTIVES Pt 1
There have been many instances of Railcars being hauled by locomotives 
From Byron Thomas  Saint John NB Canada
This shot that I took in the very early 1970’s showing a CN RDC behind 2, CN RS 18’s on the East end of the station that they used for their runs east to Moncton. The RDC might have broken down and some CN power was used to get it back east or needed the power in Moncton for some time sensitive freight. 
It did not happen often but one would see some “ strange consists”. This was one!

RAILCARS BEING HAULED BY LOCOMOTIVES Pt 2
The Budd Cars of the old Commonwealth Railways were getting a bit unreliable in the early 1970’s and many were hauled by locomotives on local runs from Port Pirie to Port Augusta in South Australia. The cars were eventually refurbished in the mid 1980’s and achieved another 5 years of life or so

RAILCARS BEING HAULED BY LOCOMOTIVES Pt 3
The South Australian Railways Bluebird Railcars were initially fitted with French COTAL gearboxes but they were apparently very prone to failure.  There is a picture of a 4 car Bluebird being hauled out of Tailem Bend by a 600 class Pacific towards Adelaide after such a failure
During Holiday times, rollingstock resources could be stretched.  The Angaston/Truro lines of the SAR were normally serviced by Model 75 Brill Railcars and Trailers but a shortage of power cars I believe in 1961 was overcome by a 620 class 4-6-2 hauling 4 Brill trailers.

STEAM LOCOMOTIVES AND MODERN TRAINS
Back in the 1990's the Victorian Railway trading as Vline, ran a training program for drivers and firemen so that steam locos would have qualified crew. R class 4-6-4's would head up Geelong passenger trains during school holiday periods and K class 2-8-0's were rostered for local freights as well as some passenger services including a couple of commuter runs, hauling recently built or repainted rollingstock.

Fast forward to 2020 and here is a link to the Union Pacific Challenger pulling a number of double stack containers

https://youtu.be/XhgHrDbN4EU

No doubt UP's Big Boy and 844 have also done similar stints along with Norfolk Southerns locos.