Plans of Monongahela Railroad's Erecting and Machine Shops

Keep the Trains Rolling on Your Model Railroad Layout

Modeling railroad maintenance facilities adds authenticity 

Monongahela Erecting and Machine Shops

Roundhouses for locomotive maintenance are common on steam-era model railroad layouts, but heavy rebuilding work was done in a separate erecting shop, which usually had a machine shop attached or very close nearby for fabricating the many replacement parts needed by a steam locomotive.

The Monongahela Railroad erecting shop at Brownsville, Pennsylvania is a great example of an erecting shop that could be built on a model railroad layout. Unlike many of the larger railroads, the Monon facilities are small enough that they don’t have to be “selectively compressed” to fit on a model railroad layout as would be required to fit facilities modeled on a major railroad’s shops.

Erecting shops outlived roundhouses, which were mostly demolished when railroads "dieselized." So where a roundhouse marks a model railroad as being set no later than the late 1950s, erecting shops are much less limiting to a model railroad "theme."

With the large window areas, the Monongahela Railroad erecting and machine shops would be a perfect model to create with detailed interiors. Placed close to the front of a model railroad layout and provided with interior lighting, the models would be an impressive focal point on any model pike.