The Housatonic Railroad in N Scale

[Pomperaugrr]

Work slowly progresses on the Housatonic.

Here are a few more grab shots as I am roughing in Specialty Minerals, in the Canaan section of the layout.  This was formerly a quarry owned by Pfizer and had been here a long time.  It produces a specialized form of limestone used in pharmaceuticals, food, and tile industries.  It was also one of the primary producers of magnesium during WWII. 

The prototype plant is a major customer for the Housatonic RR.  I would love to see some nice Flexiflow Hoppers produced in N scale, as I need a ton of these to represent the actual traffic at Specialty Minerals.

First the prototype plant:


Now for some of the rough models and mock-ups:









I have also finally updated my blog a bit. (See link in signature)



Eric

[Pomperaugrr]

Well, I finally made some time to work on my layout.  I can't believe it has been well over a year since I have done any work on the HRRC layout.  Kids and life can get in the way sometime.  I figured that I had some time for small projects before the football games started yesterday.  These small projects led to bigger projects, and that all equated to progress on the layout.  Thankfully there is a 42" flat screen in the layout room.   

I did not like the mock up I had for Becton Dickenson and the track arrangement for switching.  I ripped out the single track from Canaan to the way too short, New Milford siding and extended that siding all the way to Becton Dickenson.  This will make switching out both New Milford and Becton Dickenson much easier.  I added a small deck girder bridge where I had a culvert for more visual interest.  I took the B&D building apart and reconfigured it to better match the prototype (both building and track arrangement).

Proto shot of B&D:


Re-done B&D model (still just the front of the structure).  The rest of the building needs to be completed.  I wanted to capture the unique loading dock area.  This also shows the roughed in bridge, which still needs paint and abutments.


Finally some views of the extended siding and switching area for B&D:




I also finalized the Canaan yard area and the enginehouse/service area.  I ripped out the old track configuration and redid the entire area to make the track arrangement more prototypical.  The taped together engine house is a stand in until I can scratchbuild one.  All track is cut and still needs to be attached, wired and painted.  While I was at it, I also ripped out the Specialty Minerals trackage and using satellite photos, laid it out to match the prototype.



Proto view of Specialty Minerals.  As you can see, I still need to build a number of buildings, silos and conveyors!


Considering that this is the first time I did anything to the layout in almost 18 months, it felt good to be working on it again.

Eric

[GaryHinshaw]

Great to see the update.  I love this layout because you have such a good eye for capturing the essence of the prototype.

-gfh

[Bsklarski]

Hi Eric, glad to see you are back and working on the layout. I hope to get to visit someday seeing how close I am

Keep up the updates

Brian

[Ian MacMillan]

Glad to see some updates. Keep up the work Eric!

[eagle5473]

Eric,

Great work on the Housy!  I too would also love to visit and see the layout being right over the hill from you.

Aaron

[trainforfun]

Great to see you back in the basement !!!!
I was a little bit lonely there ...

[Blazeman]

Great to see you back in the basement !!!!

The lucky guy has the layout upstairs.

[Pomperaugrr]

Yeah, it is nice to have the layout in a room with heat and central A/C. 

I did some more mocking up of two scenes on Sunday.  The first is Railroad Street, in New Milford.  The building kits are merely taped together at this point so I can get a feel for placement and composition.  They need to be completed along with streets, sidewalks and details. 

This is looking from Rt. 202 toward Bank Street:


This is looking toward Rt. 202, with Bank Street on the left:


Next is some more work mocking up Specialty Minerals in Canaan.  I started building an HO scale "Blue-Star Ready Mix" plant as a pulverised limestone loader.  I still need to scratchbuild catwalks and retractable loading chutes inside the loading bay.  I have about 50% of the structures needed for this built or mocked up.  Still need lots more silos, conveyors, paint and details.




And what will be the scale house for trucks, as well as offices and finishing.  I need to cut out the base of the building behind the truck and build the truck scale in that area, under the overhanging building.



Eric

[Bsklarski]

Looks good Eric, are you planning to model Canaan like it is now with the end of track that crosses the road into the woods to terminate? I think that was the old SNE line?

[Pomperaugrr]

Looks good Eric, are you planning to model Canaan like it is now with the end of track that crosses the road into the woods to terminate? I think that was the old SNE line?

Thanks Brian.  Yes, the track will go upgrade from the diamond and wye by the station.  The track will dead end in a heavily wooded area.   There is enough room for a locomotive and 10 covered hoppers on the dead end stub, while switching out the plant.  Here's a crappy view showing where the track goes up grade.  The CNE track dead ends about 4 inches past the bottom right corner of this photo.  I added in the old bagging plant as a stub siding to the right of the end of CNE trackage.  It is oriented in the wrong direction, but it fits and will be fun to switch.  Again, this is all mocked up.  The engine house and the small Canaan yard were also moved to the CNE line since that makes them accessible and I could fit them in.  The Canaan yard would have to be along the backdrop, hidden by Specialty Minerals if I was being proto-faithful.



Eric

[mrnhn]

Eric what are you going to use for  conveyors  Wendell

[Pomperaugrr]

Eric what are you going to use for  conveyors  Wendell

Hi Wendell.

It is great to hear from you.  I hope all is well!

I have a number of different conveyors.  One will be from the Walthers Flood Loader kit, and I have a bunch of Bernie Kempinski's Alchem etched brass conveyors I have had stored for a few years.  Once this specific type of dolomite limestone gets to the mill building, it is kiln dried and pulverised to an extremely fine powder and is sent to various bult transport silos and the bagging plant by pneumatic piping.  Specialty Minerals dolomite is used in pharmaceuticals, toothpaste, caulk, and a number of other items.

Eric

[Bsklarski]

Any updates?

[Pomperaugrr]

Hi Brian.  It has been well over a year since I touched the layout.  TWo teenaged daughters and yardwork kept me pretty busy.  It was a welcomed break though, as I now have a fresh perspective and renewed interest in moving forward.

I actually just started on the layout again last weekend.  There were a few sprung track locations due to expansion and contraction, and everything needed a good cleaning.  I repaired the buckled areas and left sufficient gaps to minimize future problems.  I wired in additional feeders and started on two new industries:  Sheffield Plastics and Schweitzer-Malduit (medical paper products).  These will hide the staging yard that represents Pittsfield on the northern end of the layout.  I am scratchbuilding and kitbashing all structures, so it is time consuming.  I am getting the basic structure assembled and placed, then when it gets warmer I will do paint and details.  I'll try to post some photos soon.

Eric