Essex branch HO v4

[nuno81291]

More progress at basic ground cover.

[Ian MacMillan]

Yeah you do, and you just might be employed on his prototype...

Bingo!

I can help you with the signaling and operations in MBTA commuter territory.  I owned LA2 and LA4 for the last 7 months, working the metro Boston locals. I mostly worked Lawrence, Woburn, Somerville, Boston and Everett.

[nuno81291]

Wow you must be a wealth of information then! I'll bug you about the signals when I "finish" the messy scenery work and am getting closer to operational trains. Since I don't really have a prototype for this it would be great to have some advice in regards to making a semi plausible representation of signaling in commuter territory. Your layouts have been inspiring and have certainly influenced my choice of prototype.

[Ian MacMillan]

Hey, anytime you are ready I've got on the ground knowledge and plenty of photos and track charts. Glad my modeling can be an inspiration for you.


Just a quick one in reference to signaled customer sidings. On the entire BM/MBTA territory I can only think of two locations. First is Univar in Salem.  The siding has a dwarf signal at Castle Hill interlocking. Gives a stop, restricting, or slow clear aspect. The siding is the old Salem yard lead, hence why it is signaled.

Second is New England Resin in Woburn. Their lead comes off the "4 track" at Anderson station via the Wilbur interlocking. It has a 3 light dwarf. Stop, restricting, slow approach and slow clear.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Ian, this actually reminds me of a signaling question that I'm embarrassed to not know.

What signal aspect, under NORAC rules would be displayed at an interlocking for a train that's going to entered unsignaled territory (either a yard or a branchline that requires a Form D)? Would it be the signal for the interlocking itself (ie, medium/slow clear), or would it be something like restricting?

[Guilford Guy]

Restricting. Dispatchers can't plug in a specific signal, only a yes (not red) or no (red) authority. On dark territory, there's no communication with the control point signal that there is a train anywhere beyond it. I'm not aware of any location on me and Ian's railroad where the interlocking goes straight into dark territory. At Crescent NY and Hoosick Jct NY it is all Yard Limits/Other than main track between the control point, and the beginning of DCS/TWC territory. Always a restricting going into this as well.

[Ian MacMillan]

We have three spots that I know off off the top of my head that go from an interlocking right into Form D dark territory and it is not always a restricting signal given.

CPN 28 in Manchester, NH gives a clear or a medium clear on a triple target searchlight, into the Form D limits north.
CPF 240 in Dover, NH gives you a medium clear on a triple target searchlight in to NHN Form D territory.

The other is on the Lewiston branch at Bruinswick where you go from PAR to State of ME Form D rackage where you get a slow clear.

The signal is for the interlocking and technically the distant block beyond it for the distant signal for the other direction. The end signal territory triangle would be facing you on the distant signal for the interlocking coming off the non signaled line. After that timetable rules apply.

Now industrial tracks are different... coming off an interlocking into an industrial track or rule 98 yard will almost always give you a restricting because there's no distant circut.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Ok, so this makes sense: the signal is for the interlocking, but not the following block in those cases.

[nuno81291]

Here is a station I found semi locally. Ironically it is very similar to my station (I wish I found this before I painted mine...oh well. Good example of weathering to aim for in the surrounding area/platform and parking lot for my station scene. Perhaps Ian could suggest whether a smaller station like this would have a low platform (asphalt) with a mini high at the end for ADA in the early/mid 90s? Not sure all stations had accessibility then...need to dig around more.



The following shows a couple mock up ideas for the middle/left industry. I have no idea what I am making my industries and am leaning toward generic repurposed buildings that could either be warehousing/transloading such as a few examples I have seen. Having the two buildings share a spur seems uncommon in my research somi figure I can call it a general logistics company with multiple spots for cars depending on type etc. my biggest impasse has been deciding on the form of these structures so I can start slicing and dicing and actually getting them installed on the layout.









The following building arrangement I am pretty happy with. This may end up being a generic logistics company as well... Perhaps I follow through with making it a recycled paper based mfg. it has a covered spur and an uncovered spur...again no clue what to do here but at least it looks nice to my eye. I also moved the house and liquor store to this corner and like the arrangement. It feels busy like a Lowell or Lawrence where every last inch is developed for the most part. I think this little scene could take a lot of detailing to bring it to life.




 
This last building sort of gets my idea across with the left most structure- some industry that has sprawled with various types of construction/siding material evoking a feeling of an old slapped together pile of sh**.

Expect a decent amount of graffiti and strewn about junk and detris... The goal of this layout is to get a feel of a gritty industrial city like Lawrence in the 90s before any gentrification. Cold, and dirty- unlike most layouts I see that are idyllic and set in summer.

imgur

[Ian MacMillan]

Ok, so this makes sense: the signal is for the interlocking, but not the following block in those cases.

The interlocking signal is for the interlocking and the next block. If you don't have a block beyond the interlocking you will get a restricting. But if coming the other way has a distant signal to the home signal there would be a block so going inton the dark territory you would get a permissive signals for the interlocking and the distant block. The end signal territory sign would be at the distant signal and then you'd be at timetable speed and rules.

This is the southbound distant signal to CPN 28 on the PanAm Northern main in Manchester, NH.  We are heading north in Form D territory. You can see the distant signal and the end signal territory sign. When we comega north through CPN 28 we get a medium clear which is good through the interlocking and up to this distant. After that it's ruled by Form D and timetable speed. You still need the Form D from the interlocking through the distant block (Line 2)....otherwise you are OOS!

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[kt9797]

The photo backdrop for your river scene is that the Clocktower Building in Maynard?

[nuno81291]

It is actually a building in Nashua. Not sure which but I do recall Photoshopping Nashua off the side! Thanks for the interest

[Ian MacMillan]

It is actually a building in Nashua. Not sure which but I do recall Photoshopping Nashua off the side! Thanks for the interest5

That is the Lockheed Martin/ BAE Systems building off Canal St. My father has worked in that building since 1982!

[kt9797]

Thanks for the info. It looks great by the way been planning on doing something similar so always interested in how others are going about doing it. Look forward to you future posts.

[nuno81291]

So tonight I reinstalled the temporary bridge track to show family the "train set". After the oohs and aahs I finally got to hooking up all the feeders I previously dropped, cleaned all the rail and did an informal ops session. 293 had no issues assembling various cuts into a 20 car train that I proceeded to haphazardly ditch in my various spurs.

However the Amtrak had a few issues with the non rolling Walthers am-stones. Need to figure out a way to get these things to roll a bit better. Granted pulling them through their tightest spec minimum radius is a recipe for disaster, oh well we shall find a way to make it work!

On the docket is the rest of the tortoise installs, as well as the NCE switch decoders, fascia mounted toggles.

Having the layout operational has breathed some new energy into my modeling. eventually I will get around to structures and signals but progress from here on out will be at a snails pace! Here's some photos of some of the action: