Amoskeag Northern - 2002

[Ed Kapuscinski]

I dig it!

You saw those recent photos on Facebook of a similar scene, right?

[Ian MacMillan]

You saw those recent photos on Facebook of a similar scene, right?

I did 

[Ian MacMillan]

Little bit of work the last few weeks!

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[Ian MacMillan]

So with the wind down of the summer I have had quite a bit more time to be working on the layout during the day. About 90% of the benchwork is completed with just a swing bridge, a middle isle and the staging yard benchwork to be completed. I am hoping that finances this winter will allow me to purchase the remaining track that is needed to get at least the mainline complete. At this point only the West half of the layout has any track down, however what is down on that side is about 75% complete.


Origionally the layout had been set in 1995, with the eventual history that the Amoskeag Northern almost ceases to exist by 2018. An entire history of the Amoskeag Northern can be read here:
http://amoskeagnorthern.com/index.php/about

On a slow night this week I had the opportunity to read the 183 page, 2012 State of New Hampshire Rail Plan.  While I had glanced over this document back when it was released I apparently did not read a fairly large section on the paper mills in the state. Read this section I did this time and it seems that how I remembered things in the 1990's do not match up with the numbers. I looked this up and I have found The Google tells me its old age? None the less I can still bask in the fact that the 1990's are commonly considered the peak of paper mills for the railroads in New Hampshire. But we are all wrong. The early 2000's mill production and mill carload tonnage are ACTUALLY higher than the commonly accepted 90's peak of the paper industry by modelers and railfans.... in 2002-2006 rail tonnage from New Hampshire mills was just over double of what was done in the mid 1990's; about 450,000 tons compared to 200,000 tons.  The GNP of paper in 2006 began to fall, cheapening paper as paper company consolidations forced companies to close mills to avoid anti-trust issues.  The last part we all knew when that happened, we just for some reason felt to think the peak was earlier.

This really didn't change much in the form of the layout other than the timeframe. I ended up bumping the modeled time of the layout from September 1995 to September 2002 and will have to tweak the history on the layout a little bit to reflect that.  Operations wise it will allow me to run a little bit more modern equipment in the terms of cars, while still having plenty of EMD 4 axle horeses and per diem boxcars galore, plus make the purchase of a few ex Con C40-8Ws more plausible. This would also allow the AN to assume operations of the former New Hampshire & Vermont RR when CSF Acquisitions pulled out of that operation over the Whitefield, NH - St. Johnsbury, VT operation over the former MEC Mountain Division.

Work on the layout mostly has been focusing on the largest of the 4 fictional towns modeled, St. Whitefield, NH; which is also the hub for the railroad. Several large textile mills are in St. Whitefield, and it is loosely based off of St. Johnsbury, VT track plan wise with the textile mills coming from Manchester, NH, Dover, NH, Lawrence, MA and Haverhill, MA. St.Whitefield is where CN's White Mountain Division interchanges with the AN Berlin Mainline, the AN's major link to markets to the west. Amtrak serves the town with daily round trip service from Boston to Montreal.

The station at St. Whitefield is a modified Walthers Pella Depot. Still a lot to do here.
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White Mountain Manufacturing Corp. (manufactures textiles and shoes) is one of St. Whitefields largest mills and one of the few remaining textile/shoe manufactures in the State of New Hampshire. The building is a kitbash of 4 Walthers Front Street kits and 1 of the Corn Unloading sheds. It' measures 52" long and runs along both sides of St. Whitefield Yard. I really like using the Front Street kits for the mill buildings and it has now become my kitbash kit of choice over the Atlas Middlesex Manufacturing.
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[coosvalley]

It all sounds very plausible, except for the Amtrak part...If you base your time frame on paper traffic, then it would be more prototypical to have zero Amtrak trains, to better reflect reality. ....But, as a modeler, I would include Amtrak trains if I wanted them on my layout too!

As far as the NHVT, it's already owned by the Coos Valley Railroad, so you can't have it!...I suppose we could negotiate a trackage rights agreement.....

[Ian MacMillan]

The Amtrak route does not run over the entire system, it only is on the AN for about 19 miles, where it connects onto CN trackage. It is actually very plausible as it mirrors a planned move of the Montrealer on a nearby line.

[coosvalley]

It's your railroad!

[Ian MacMillan]

Updated system maps for the 2002 modeled time frame.

[Ian MacMillan]

I ran out of a few scenery supplies and haven't had a chance to run down to Hobby Lobby (New favorite store) to pick up what I need so I have been working on a few projects that have been lying around such as this Atlas MP15DC for the Profile & Franconia Notch RR. The P&FN is a 9 mile shortline that the AN took over in 2002 from the White Mountain Paper Company, which served their mill in Franconia. In the sale 2 P&FN's two MP15DC's were transferred to AN. During the modeled time frame the two would have been in their P&FN color without modifications, and will actually spend the rest of their service on the AN in those colors. AN would remove them from the roster by 2010. I have the decal artwork done and just have to send it off to Jim at Highball Decals to get them printed, along with all the new AN decals.

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I also spent some time working on the artwork for the baggage car for the Amtrak service on the layout. The inspiration comes from the Vermonter baggage car.
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I'm hoping with the colder weather I can get to working a bit more on scenery, but I also need to pick up more track, and get the rest of the photo back drop up, which is really what has been holding up progress.

[Ian MacMillan]

Work has been continuing at a steady pace on the layout as track is now down across Hatch River, through Wing Road and now into Twin Mountain where the Lincoln Mainline comes off the Berlin Mainline at Zealand Jct. A large paper mill at Twin Mountain will dominate most of the east end of the layout before it enters staging.

The Berlin Mainline crosses the Hatch River just before the old interchange with the New Hampshire Central at Wing Road. The bridge is a Walthers kit with Micro Engineering Code 70/55 track.
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Wing Road is the former interchange with the New Hampshire Central, nee New Hampshire & Vermont. The NHCR has seen few customers west of Wing Road towards Littleton, so the AN has taken up the diamond and the interchange yard will be abandoned. Interchange is now moved to Whitefield for the foreseeable future.
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Looking towards Twin Mountain from the Ammonoosuc River bridge. Here the yard for the Twin Mountain Paper mill will be on either side of the mainline and controlled siding. Where the backdrop curves the Berlin Mainline will enter staging, while the Lincoln Mainline will curve to the right at Zealand Jct. and enter its own staging. Off the Lincoln Mainline at Zeland Jct. the former Profile & Franconia Notch branch will loop back and then up to the mill at Profile, NH
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[Ian MacMillan]

And since I have had quite a few recent requests for a trackchart here it is as of today. 90% of the visible mainline is down and the Profile Branch from Zealand Jct. to Profile has yet to be built so it is subject to change as I start working with track on it.
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