I recently moved to the "left coast" and have some room in my bedroom for a 2-walls layout plus a small staging area. However, I had no idea what I wanted to build. After several hours and many searches, I was frustated and still not sure of what I wanted. I reall didn't want some random switching layout, I wanted something "real." So I started cycling prototypical locations I was fimiliar with and finally found one I wanted to model. The CP (D&H)/GRS (B&M) joint main between Mechanicville and Crescent, NY was an area I spent a lot of time between 2001 and 2003 while I was in college. I decided on the west end of this stretch, which would provide enough track and scenery options to make something worthwhile. The trackplan would also fit my available space. The two pictures below show the general area from a Terraserver view and from a track chart I quickly drew up. This is the resulting trackplan. I shrunk the benchwork to 1 foot wide on both sides, rather than eat up the excess space in my bedroom. I should note it is in N scale using Atlas C55 track. <u>Reasons I choose this line:</u> Activity, it was always an interesting place. Here is a list of daily trains run by the railroads in the time period I would like to model. <u>D&H:</u> 168/169 (268/269) 515/514 258/259 SC-R (Tues & Friday evenings) Occasional Phosphate and Grain trains <u>GRS:</u> MOED/EDMO MOAY/AYMO SEED/EDRJ SRED/EDSR (off and on) RJ-1 Avg. 3 per week coal trains off either the CP (with NS power) or the CSX. Variety in motive power was staggering. CP had a mix of SD40-2s, both theirs and SOO line and including the "red barn" SD40-2Fs. SOO SD60s and SD60Ms were also not uncommon. The occasional SD90/43 and AC4400 also made the trip south. Locals were powered by GP38-2s (including D&H and STL&H painted versions), GP40-2s, or GP9us. GRS's motive power was anything but normal. High and low hood GP35s and GP40s, ex-CN GP40-2WLs, SD26s, HH SD45s, SD39s - just a staggering array. Coal trains would typically run with 3 NS Dash 9s or a pair of CSX AC4400s, but other varieties were common, including lease power and the rare SD80MACs. CP's 168/169 always ran with a pair of high-horspower NS units, usually a pair of Dash 9s, but again, anything was game. Simplicity of the track and surrounding area to hone some of my skills in tracklaying and scenery. It is tough to recreate a real area convincingly. Familiarity - with all that time spent in the area, hopefully I'll be able to create a convincing, detailed model.
Nice work there Corey. I like the simplicity and the fact you've got history i nthe area will make the layout that much cooler. What about adding another staging track or two? That way you could have the higher volume of traffic without having to stage the trains as much? Just a thought.
Yeah it's a thought, I have thought about connecting the staging to the other end of the layout to form a loop, for a "temporary" staging area that I can set up when I want to run the layout. This would increase staging capacity as well as provide an opportunity for through-trains. But mainly I want to try out some new things and hone my skills as I mentioned. Oh, and it's in N-scale.
Corey, Looks very interesting and great to see you settling in your new home and employment. How would you operate this layout? Also are you considering any industries to switch?
Darren: Thank you, nice to be back and finally have some time to model. Paul: The only "industry" to switch here is the Interchange track. D&H local SC-R and B&M local RJ-1 swap cars here (SC-R delivers tues/fri nights, RJ-1 will come up a day or two after to swap out). The siding at this location though (between CPF 477 and 475) is frequently used to split/combine the 168/169 intermodal train. The Ayer, MA bound freight is dropped for the B&M MOAY then the train continues to Albany, NY. The opposite happens for the other direction, the AYMO combines with the train up from Albany, NY. There are also occasional coal trains parked here awaiting recrew. There is an industry at MP 472.8, but there really isn't a lot of switching on this section of the road. If I had more room I could have included this industry as well as the Mohawk yard between mileposts 481 and 483. If I moved down closer to Albany (off the joint trackage and onto straight D&H track), there is a daily local that switches several sidings along that stretch, but modeling that area didn't really provide me with enough to test CTC signalling to the extent I wanted to (plus I would loose all the Guilford trains and the SC-R local, along with any coal traffic). The interlocking combination provided at the location I chose would stretch the logic ability of any system.
My DHVM is still expanding so you might find images of the area you are modelling there that might not have been awile back. I still expanding the site by leaps and bounds as more material is still coming in from various sources.
I actually finished the benchwork last week, now it's time to order track and decide what I want to use for foam and roadbed. I am thinking of using the Woodland Scenics foam boards and roadbed for this project to see how they work out.
