The Housatonic Railroad in N Scale

[jsoflo]

Eric,

Everything looks great! You are really capturing the area very well. I grew up in that general Northern Fairfield County area and you are really nailing it. But where is Specialty minerals? The big mineral processors I am aware of were down on the Danbury/Bethel border (by the Sony Theaters and Pepe's pizza) and are served by the P&W. Much of Housatonic tracks Route 7, are you going to do the very cool road bridges in New Milford? Funny, my folks still live in Sandy Hook and seeing them over the holidays I was trying to find your blog to show my father your layout, I forwarded him a link to your new pictures, equally impressed!

My best,
Jan

[Ian MacMillan]

That corn storage building is exactly what I have been looking for to use for a similar building! Ordering, its only $43 at Walthers right now.

[Pomperaugrr]

Eric,

Everything looks great! You are really capturing the area very well. I grew up in that general Northern Fairfield County area and you are really nailing it. But where is Specialty minerals? The big mineral processors I am aware of were down on the Danbury/Bethel border (by the Sony Theaters and Pepe's pizza) and are served by the P&W. Much of Housatonic tracks Route 7, are you going to do the very cool road bridges in New Milford? Funny, my folks still live in Sandy Hook and seeing them over the holidays I was trying to find your blog to show my father your layout, I forwarded him a link to your new pictures, equally impressed!

My best,
Jan

Jan, Specialty Minerals is located in Canaan, CT.  It used to be owned by Pfizer.  It sits on what little is left of the old Central New England tracks, east of the Canaan Union station.  PM me if you are going to be in the Sandy Hook area, since I live only a few towns over, in Woodbury.  You and your dad can run a few trains.


Ian, that corn storage warehouse is nice for parts.  The siding works for N scale and there is only one roll up door opening, which is easy to hide.  I just cut my walls down height wise along the top of that door opening.  I suppose I could have scratchbuilt it like I did with Quality Oils/Stratas Foods, but I got the kit at a good price and being a kit resulted in a quick build.  I still have all of the parts for the unloading building, which will be used for a factory addition elsewhere on the layout.  It worked out costing less than purchasing evergreen sheets for a comparable sized building.

Eric

[chuck geiger]

the layout rocks because it's all about the major industries around the
layout and not so much the railroad, which is very prototypical.

[Pomperaugrr]

Thanks Chuck.  The actual Housatonic Railroad runs through the woods of western CT and MA for the most part.  I'm looking for realistic operation, so I am minimizing the rural straight stretches and will be including as many customers as I can.  I am trying to minimize compressing the buildings and car capacities, so I am compressing the distances between the towns and industrial areas.

I built in a continuous run track along the backdrop.  It is, or rather will be, mostly hidden from view, but it will allow me to put some mileage on a train before getting to the next town a few feet away.  Since the HRRC only runs one train north and one train south, and I am a solo operator, it will not interfere with my solo operations.  If I have others over to operate, it will be run point to point and on the prototype, and the focus will be on switching industries, instead of over the road trains.

Since the Housatonic is such a small shortline, I am able to model about 90 %of its customer base on the layout.  Train lengths will be 25 to 30 cars, where the prototype runs 25 to 40.  I am currently running a 60 car mixed freight to continue to test my trackwork and turnouts.  Most industries will take the same number of cars as the proto customers.  For example, Kimberly Clark will take 7 boxcars of wetlap in the bay closest to the office area and 5 boxcars in the second interior bay, just like the real thing.

[Ian MacMillan]

Jan, Specialty Minerals is located in Canaan, CT.  It used to be owned by Pfizer.  It sits on what little is left of the old Central New England tracks, east of the Canaan Union station.  PM me if you are going to be in the Sandy Hook area, since I live only a few towns over, in Woodbury.  You and your dad can run a few trains.


Ian, that corn storage warehouse is nice for parts.  The siding works for N scale and there is only one roll up door opening, which is easy to hide.  I just cut my walls down height wise along the top of that door opening.  I suppose I could have scratchbuilt it like I did with Quality Oils/Stratas Foods, but I got the kit at a good price and being a kit resulted in a quick build.  I still have all of the parts for the unloading building, which will be used for a factory addition elsewhere on the layout.  It worked out costing less than purchasing evergreen sheets for a comparable sized building.

Eric

Yeah I figured it could be cheaper. I found them at $35 at MBK today so I may try to see if I can find them cheaper at Springfield (I doubt it), or order 2 of them for a large plant I need. Could the smaller truck door be used for N cars or did it look too big still?

[Pomperaugrr]

Ian, the truck door was far too large for a railcar door.  I had the same idea.  The height and width are just too much.  Looking at the flat roofed portion of the Neeltran building, you can see the height of the walls.  That is how high the truck door is.  I cut the walls at the top of the door height.  I put in an N scale door that would allow an N scale truck to enter the building.



Eric

[Ian MacMillan]

Rogah!

[MEC_FAN]

Eric,

Nice to see your making some progress, love those big industries, its looking good.

John

[Pomperaugrr]

Thanks John.  Your layout was a huge inspiration for me, especially the large industries you are building. 

Eric

[JSL]

That is spectatular! 

[Ian MacMillan]

Anything new Eric?

[Pomperaugrr]

Anything new Eric?

Thanks for asking Ian.

I have not made a whole lot of new progress, although I did get the rest of the walls, roof supports and roof panels installed on Kimberly Clark.  This is a huge building (24" x 42").  The roof panels still need paint and weathering to represent membrane roofing, along with details.  The entire building and power house need a final coat of lighter tone brown paint and detailing, but it is moving along.  The walls with the rail doors will be antique white and the doors light gray.   

The roof panels will be removable to allow access to the two tracks passing through the left rear third of the building and the two interior unloading tracks.  I still need to add interior loading docks, railings, lighting and details inside.  The roof vents and hvac units are just thrown on loose, until I get time to finish it.

Proto reference shot:






Eric

[wazzou]

Modern yes...but awesome all the same Eric.  Great job.

[MichaelWinicki]

That's one bell-ringer of a building Eric!