This section has views of paired prototype and model photos of the same scene. Scroll down to the following scenes: Iona Island, Bridge South of Highland Falls, NY, Bear Mountain Bridge, and Cornwall Coal Dock.
A painting by Bob Skiba showing the first run of the Mountaineer traveling south between Bear Mountain Bridge and Iona Island. The O&W had trackage rights on the West Shore (NYC) for the roughly fifty miles between Weehawken, NJ and Cornwall, NY. You can purchase your own print at the New York Ontario and Western Railway Historical Society's web site at http://www.nyow.org/sales.html. Go about 55% down the page and look for the picture of the print. Painting copywrite NYO&W R'wy Hist. Soc. and reproduced with permission. This is my interpretation of the painting. I have not painted my locomotives yet, but the New York Central "lighting stripe" paint scheme is a reasonable substitute. After all, it is on its own rails.
This is bridge hanging on the edge of a cliff along the Hudson River just south of Highland Fall, NY. The bridge does not span a stream, just a steep slope into the river. My interpretation of the scene- still under construction.
The West Shore (previously NYC but now CSX) line passing under the Bear Mountain Bridge. Sorry for the seam down the middle. I had to paste two photos together - the old fashion way with tape. The interpetation had to condense the size of the trestle since the module was only two feet long. This scene is still under construction. The view of the tunnel entrance visible on the model is blocked by a tree on the east side of the Hudson where the prototype photo was taken. In the prototype photograph the arch bridge carries highway US 9W. On my layout the bridge will carry the second or back lap of the track.
This, other prototype photos and general information came from the "Marine Line Equipment" book published by the Ontario and Western Railway Histoical Society. The Cornwall Coal Dock was built around the turn of the century. Traffin fell off significantly during the Great Depression. This my interpretation of the the facility and my first major scratch building project. I built it as a "warm-up" for the north Weehawken coal dock. All dimensional information, except lenght, comes from interpretation of picutres. I could not find any drawings.
As noted in the comparison of model and prototype, the water end of the dock is higher than the land end. This is more easily noticed when looking at the difference bent bracing below. The prototype had three unloading "spots" on each side whereas the model, being roughly two-thirds as large, only has two spots. The tall pocket has been weathered.
Left: This is a blowup on one of the coal pockets.

Below Left: The coal chutes will be glued in the upright position. They are in a down and loose before I did the weathering.

Below Right: The room lights shifts the weathering color to a green. It is really a grey to simulate sun bleaching. O&W cars started life as undec Atlas. Decals were printed on an ALPS from infromation supplied by O&WHS members Mal Houck and Bill Schneider.

Left: The 114 an NW2 is only a slightly modified Life Like SW900/1200. The sealed beam headlight was replaced with and Evergree tube and the grill was filed down. The decals were printed on and ALPS following the HO decals designed by Mal Houck and used by permission.