A section on my 12’-by-8’ layout was inspired by Spuyten Duyvil, a station-stop and neighborhood in the Bronx, New York, through which the tracks of the New York Central Railroad (now MTA Metro North Railroad) traversed a curve in a tall, narrow rock cut along the Harlem River. Among the many translations from the Dutch are “in spite of the devil” and “the spouting devil,” which refer to the turbulent waters at the intersection of the Hudson and Harlem Rivers.
I tried to create that effect on my model railroad but my rock cuts don’t do justice to the real thing. Nonetheless, I find it interesting to watch my model trains pass through the narrow cuts. Four tracks appear in the photo. From left to right, the curves are O-72, O-54, O-54, and O-36.
MELGAR
