Dick came by to help design and build a bridge for the bulk tracks behind the freight house.
Here's a map to explain the layout of tracks:
Dick came by to help design and build a bridge for the bulk tracks behind the freight house.
Here's a map to explain the layout of tracks:
There are a lot of smaller commodities, along with specialized commodities that won't come to New Britain. Livestock is one I covered earlier. Let's see if there's anything left worth looking at by category:
There are feed dealers in New Britain. C.W. Lines on Chestnut St. Here are two views. It's on the right in the first picture, this side of the railroad tracks, and on the left in the second, on the opposite side.
This also gives us a nice view of both sides of the crossing shanty here. Unfortunately, Chestnut St didn't make the layout, the Berlin Line crosses through the helix at this point.
Reynolds Hugh Grain and Feed Co is on Commercial St, right next to New Britain Yard.
Of course, the most common shipments here are from the meatpacking plants. In New Britain there's the Armour and Swift plants. Of course, others may be seen too, such as this Morrell reefer:
For through freights, there are Armour, Cudahy, and Swift distribution plants in Hartford. Armour, Cudahy, and Swift are also in Holyoke. I know Wilson was in New Haven and New London, possibly others. Hormel, Rath, and Tobin all had a presence in CT, although I haven't identified towns. But they might be seen on the Maybrook freights to Hartford.
Of course, as the picture above shows, other brands may be seen regardless of whether a distribution center is present. 'Generic' meat reefers, such as Mather, or NX, would also be appropriate.
For example, in New Britain there is also AYO Packing Co, M Krawczyk and Sons, Martin Rosol's, and Vitamin Sausage Products, all companies that make sausages and other processed meats, and would likely receive them via rail. In Hartford is Grote & Weigel, Kaufman Bros, Morris Packing, Mucke, Rex Provision, Sparvery Bros, and Stanley Provision. These would also receive reefers, even if it's at a bulk track.
The other products of animals are in such small annual quantities that I won't need to concern myself with them. For example, the 25 annual carloads of leather may be to a single industry somewhere in CT.
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Combined with what I've covered in prior posts, those are all of the commodities for those categories that show up in the 1% waybill study.
The consequent benefits to the railroad and the communities were manifold. For our part, we had a net gain in freight tonnage from these industries of 251,220 tons annually. The communities had a net gain of 141 industries, employing 5,045 persons.
Their food bill alone would be over $3,000,000. Housing and fuel expenditures would be more than a million and a half dollars. They would spend well over a million dollars for clothing, better than $600,000 for household furnishings, and another $400,000 for household operations. Automobiles, entertainment, medical care and other items would run over two millions.
Interesting, too, is the diversity of products turned out by these new industries. The greater the diversity of manufacture in a given territory, the less is the likelihood of disastrous results from untoward conditions affecting a particular type of industry. Diversity is good "insurance."
Here are some of the products represented by the new industries: advertising displays, furniture, groceries, air filters, plastic wire connectors, electrical appliances, printed forms, lithography, Fritos, rulers, toiletries, phonograph record blanks, wallboard, steel products, flooring, paper cartons, lumber, paper, trailer frames, yarn, cranberry sauce, castings, cotton yarn, glassware, construction equipment, plywood boat forms, plastic products, phonograph cabinets, pallets, builders' supplies, concrete blocks, paint brushes, photo equipment, metal tube and hose, dog food, aluminum foil, wire cord, rubber gloves, textiles, jams and jellies, clothes cabinets, wrenches, plasticized fabrics, synthetic felt, paper tubes, Propane gas, bananas, brass and aluminum castings, beverages, cinder blocks, frozen foods, aluminum door frames, steel chain, facial tissue, aluminum skis, woolen yarn, rayon fabrics, nails, fencing, beer, castings and shoes.
Industrial development work began on the New Haven away back in 1911, when, in cooperation with the Boston & Maine, the first railroad industrial development activities were organized. This pioneering produced such excellent results that soon power companies followed the railroads' example, and this was fallowed in turn by greater activity by local chambers of commerce and similar organizations.
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This is also the issue announcing the launch of the Cranberry, plus faster service for a lot of trains, many from 5-10 minutes, but the Colonial's running time has been shaved by 45 minutes. The Merchants also gains coaches during the summer months for the first time.
It seems that things aren't quite in the decline that most attribute to the post-war era. To be sure, we do see a decline in the next few years, with a brief boost from the Korean war, but in this period where the railroad has just come out of bankruptcy looks like things are going well.
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Lastly, there's a letter from News Syndicate, Inc. referring to damage to newsprint paper rolls, and the reminder that there is a growing option of having the newsprint shipped via water routes. The author says he was a railroad man who worked the spare board for a decade and would like to see the business stay with the railroad.
As interesting as the letter is, it's the statistics that he quotes that interests me: they receive 600 carloads/month of newsprint.
This is New York City, so they may receive it from several railroads. I don't have the 1% waybill statistics for New York (much less the city), but that's 7,200 carloads a year, and more than double the average delivered to CT 1950-1954.
What do Railroads do?
A digression - for decades we've seen layout plans talk about point-to-point layouts, as if they are inherently different from a layout designed as a loop. But the real point (ahem) is that a real railroad travels and moves goods and/or people between two or more points. So that means you have to design a layout with a start and and end, right?But it probably didn't take long for people to realize that even in the smallest scales, we can't build the entire rail system in our basement (or laundry closet), so we'll need to find a way to include the parts we don't build. Thus the concept of staging.It's pretty simple - you have a layout designed with two ends, and staging at either end to represent everything else. And obviously this has absolutely nothing to do with the layouts we built as uneducated kids on a 4' x 8' loop.Except that my layout has a helix at either end, that goes down to the lower level where the staging is, and it also forms a complete loop. So I guess it can be a loop, but part of the loop is hidden, right?Why don't I just get to my point, which is:Point-to-point is a method of operation, and not necessarily a physical design.Back to my layout to clarify. If I have an open house, I can just put a train on the mainline, and let it loop through the layout for as long as I let it run. It's a loop. But when operating the layout, we consider that the right helix is heading toward Hartford, and the left is going to Plainville, and no train going down one side would ever come back up the other one.Yes, it's certainly possible (and often preferable) to design a physical point-to-point layout. But just because a layout is a loop doesn't mean we have to operate it that way.
I moved the spray booth back to where I originally planned, under the west end of the layout:
A picture I've posted a number of times, taken by Jim Karl in 1949. The last car in the consist is a covered hopper. I was wondering (once again) what might be in this covered hopper, since there isn't an industry in New Britain that would be receiving bulk cement. This car is clearly being switched since it's the DEY-4 (44-tonner) doing the work, so it was for someplace in New Britain.
On Bill's model of Livingston Manor he had learned that there was a cement company that received portland cement in covered hoppers. It was nothing more than a short trestle that allowed the O&W to drop the load directly into dump trucks. So it could still be cement, and unloaded where a conveyor could load it into trucks, for example.
Cement would be the most common load in covered hoppers on through trains as well. So what models are available that I could use?
Looking at the 1% waybill study, about 1/3 of the portland cement from from NY, and 2/3 from PA. There are a number of models available that would be appropriate for those regions. The obvious place to start is the Intermountain model (with the same prototype being produced by Bowser, Eastern Car Works, and Kato in the past). Of the roads offered, I'll plan on:
Note that the D&H, NH, and LNE cars were all built by Pullman Standard and have a different hatch latching mechanism than the models (it should be "type 1c"). I've got a bunch of parts to experiment with modeling this more accurately. Unfortunately, it's not the "type 3" version offered by Yarmouth Model Works (Kit YMW 103). The New Haven car is also a slightly later lettering scheme than I will need.
Other models I have that are also good:
F&C has also released resin kits of a lot of other covered hoppers, many of which would be appropriate for me:
While cement is the most common load in covered hoppers in my era, it's not the only one. In researching other potential loads, I found that there are several related commodities that were common ladings. Bauxite, alumina, and aluminum silicate. Other than for aluminum products themselves, since I'm not familiar with their uses, I looked them up.
Bauxite is the stone that aluminum is mined from.
Alumina is basically powdered aluminum separated from the bauxite. Although it has many uses, one of its common uses is as an abrasive, in sandpaper as well as cutting disks, etc. So I'm wondering if it might be used at Stanley Works or the other hardware companies.
I also found that aluminum silicate is a common ingredient in porcelain insulators. I also noticed that General Electric leased a number of covered hoppers. That got me wondering whether the GE plant in Plainville would receive them. Apparently that location was originally Trumbull Electric Co, taken over by GE, and manufactured porcelain fixtures, switchboards and panels, among other things.
So add another Intermountain option:
Of course, that means I need to determine where such commodities would be sourced.
This lead to some interesting resources, such as this 1967 US Government report on Bauxite Reserves and Potential Aluminum Resources of the World. It's primary sources in North America are Arkansas, and to a lesser degree Alabama and Georgia in the southeast, and Oregon and Portland in the northwest.
Looking through my copy of the 1948 Rand McNally Railroad Atlas and aided with Google maps, I looked for the locations noted in the report to determine what railroads served them.
Arkansas
The general region on the map would also include MP, RI, SLSW, and SL-SF. The Intermountain Rock Island covered hopper is stenciled, "When empty return to Bauxite Ark."
Alabama
Georgia
Oregon
Washington
Quite a few railroads over that area which would allow quite an interesting mix of cars. So let's check the 1% waybill study for cars inbound to CT to get a mix.
Aluminum Ore is listed, would that be correct?
Checking the AAR Commodity List, 311 Aluminum Ore and Concentrates includes alumina, aluminum ore, bauxites or, bauxite ore concentrates, and bauxite. Aluminum silicate isn't noted by name, but this looks like the proper category since there are no aluminum based products listed under 399 Products of Mines, N.O.S.
And where did it come from?
75 cars from Illinois and 33 cars from...Canada?
OK, digging through some more resources like this and this. Under the heading How is Aluminum Made? on the second page it notes. "There are no bauxite mines in Canada." However, processing the bauxite takes a lot of electricity, so the processing plants are often built where electricity is cheaper, such as large rivers.
So in Canada in my era Canadian alumina and aluminum silicate is all processed by the Aluminum Company of Canada in Arvida, Shawinigan, Beauharnois, and La Tuque, Canada, via the CN or CP. The True Line (now Atlas) slab side hopper models would be appropriate. Both CN and CP had cars appropriate for my era:
In East St. Louis, the Aluminum Ore Co owned the A&S Railroad. Intermountain has a covered hopper model leased to the Aluminum Ore Co. These were owned by SHPX, and in 1952 33% of the SHPX covered hoppers were leased to Aluminum Ore Co. So these would probably be the most common cars.
Many roads served East St Louis, including B&O, CB&Q, IC, L&N, NYC (Big Four), and many others. Again, Intermountain makes cars for many of the appropriate roads:
The variations of hatch latching mechanisms, along with pretty much everything else to know about the ACF-Design 1,958 Cu Ft 70-ton covered hoppers that are the basis of the Intermountain models is detailed in Railway Prototype Cyclopedia volumes 27, 28, and 30.
Note that a number of the roads have more than one group of these covered hoppers, often with different mechanisms, or closed instead of open sides. Where possible, Intermountain appears to have only used the number groups that have the "type 1" mechanisms. Only when a road doesn't have that particular mechanism does it appear they have lettered the car without regard to the mechanism.
For those interested in the Yarmouth Model Works minikit for the "type 3" mechanism, since there is'nt a list of owners noted on the site I'll provide one here. It was used on cars owned by: ATSF, C&S, CB&Q, CIL, CNW, DRG&W, DMIR, DPCX, EJ&E, GN, I-GN, LS&BC, M-I, M-K-T, MP, SL-SF, and StL&BM.
By chance I happen to already own one lettered for Aluminum Ore company, plus a CB&Q, and WAB car from Intermountain. Lucky guess!
Kaolin is a type of clay used in the papermaking industry for finishing glossy papers. So cars with this commodity are appropriate for Holyoke. Nine cars owned by SHPX were built in 1940 and leased to Edgar Brothers Co of Metuchen, NJ (25051-25059). These cars had "type 1" mechanisms and open sides and are a match for the Intermountain model, although they haven't released this scheme.
Where did Kaolin come from? It's part of 323 Clay and Bentonite, which came from quite a few locations across the country to CT:
Edgar Brothers was based in NJ, but also mined in Edgar, FL. So these would be appropriate cars. It appears Georgia is the largest producer. I've also learned that Kaolin is often shipped as a slurry in tank cars, so that's another possibility. But since the Edgar Brothers were prototype cars, I may see if I can get some decals produced for them (or maybe Intermountain will add the scheme to their line).
Edgar Brothers also sold sand. A lot of the bulk sand sent to CT would have been used by the railroad. It would also have been shipped in bags in box car. But with an average of 1,250 cars annually, there would certainly be covered hoppers in the mix by this era. Two-thirds of this was from NJ, the rest from NY, except for a small amount (25 carloads) from Illinois. All of the local roads noted before, plus the Edgar Bros SHPX cars, would cover this traffic.
Food commodities are common today, but even in my era malted barley, flour, sodium bicarbonate, and granulated sugar were shipped in covered hoppers, although I can't think of any bulk customers that would result in such loads running through New Britain.
The same applies for fertilizer, powdered gypsum (although US Gypsum did have plants on the NH), potash, limestone, zinc oxide, etc.
Carbon black was another common commodity in covered hoppers, and while there were tire plants in CT, once again I don't think the cars would be running through New Britain. Rail Shop made a Carbon Black car (and a PRR H30 kit) but they don't seem to have an active website anymore. I have some of the Carbon Black cars and may be able to justify a car on a through train.
Kimberly-Clark leased cars from SHPX and they were based in New Milford. I'm not sure what commodity they were used for, but they would be very appropriate for somebody modeling the Berkshire line, but not coming through New Britain unfortunately (cars destined for the Berkshire from Springfield are routed through Cedar Hill).
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Overall, covered hoppers won't be a common car delivered to New Britain, but as the photo shows they are receiving some in my era. Cars on their way to Hartford, Plainville or Holyoke are certainly appropriate, though, and with a greater variety than I originally thought.
As you may know, Chris' layout grew out of a Shoreliner article by our friend John Wallace and his experience as a teenager when he was able to ride (and fire) the Valley Local. The article details the work of the day quite extensively, and John has continued to provide insight and information to Chris as he builds his layout.
Chris gave me a copy of this article a while ago, and I thought it would be worth posting here. This is from the October 1946 issue of Along the Line, a (usually monthly) employee magazine.
The article doesn't list an author, and it appears to be a railroad employee writing it. It covers a day on the Canal Local - not the YN/NY freight through New Britain, but the local freight that handles the traffic on the south end of the Canal Line. At the time of this article it was NHDX #4 (later NX-18).
After leaving New Haven it serviced:
Picks up and sets off over-dimension cars at Highwood. Connects at Plainville to & from HDX #5.
This train is very similar to the Valley Local. The Canal Line by this era is freight only, and in Manual Block territory, but there's only a single local freight. The freight houses in Mt. Carmel, Cheshire, Milldale, Plantsville, and Southington are all served by truck, not rail. It originates in New Haven, and turns at a junction and small yard at Plainville, and exchanges cars with another local freight. It would be very easy to model with New Haven as staging, and the east/west Highland Line, along with the north branch of the Canal Line also going to staging (or stub-ended). The cars from HDX-5 could simply be waiting in Plainville Yard.
Day Train Order stations are at Mt. Carmel and Milldale (Bob Belletzkie has helped get the train order signal operational at Milldale again).
I don't have assignments before the April 20, 1948 Engine Utilization report, but on that day it was J-1 3010 and it reports that it was only a 34 mile run. It’s about that far to Plainville, so they must not have gone that far on that day.
By April, 1949 it is handled by DERS-1b (RS-1) 0670. That locomotive lives on (sort of) on the roster of CNZR. It's not operable right now, but Dale and I continue to hope...
By fall of that year it's DEY-5 (S-2) 0620. No. 0606 is assigned in October, 1950.
By April 1952 it had been upgraded to DERS-2c (RS-3) 533, then 550 in fall of that year, 594 in fall 1954, 560 a year later,
In September of 1956 it's now a DEY-7 (SW-1200) 651, and in April, 1957 it's 652.
There are few railroaders
who have more of a finger on the pulse of business than the crew of a way
freight. And few get closer to our customers. The way freight crew know which
plants are busy and which are in the doldrums. They know what new plants are being
built, and where expansion is planned. They know these things because they live
with the industries in their territory. They know and talk with our customers.
They are friends.
The five men who run the Canal Local are just such a crew.
This train leaves New Haven each morning around 9:45 a.m. to serve the
industries on the "Canal", or Northampton Branch, as far as Plainville.
Not only do the men know all their customers, but even know most of our
neighbors who live adjacent to the tracks. And they perform little extra
services for many of them, .in addition to giving
them bang-up railroad service.
For the shipping clerk at Clark Bros. plant at Milldale,
they have a Boston newspaper. A dozen or more of their customers look for delivery
of copies of ALONG THE LINE each month, as do also some of their friends in
houses along the right of way. At Southington they invariably drop off a
piece of ice for Rose Verderame, clerk at the freight office. And returning the
compliment, in wintertime Rose always has a cup of hot "Java" for the
boys when the way freight arrives.
There's no doubt about it—this way freight job is a friendly
job! The crew of the Canal Local enjoy their run and you would have a hard time
weaning them away from it. The three train crew members alone have a total of
one hundred and fourteen years' service between them right there on the "Canal"
line. Leading off is Conductor Abram D. W. Holmes, Jr." Ducky" to you
and to all his customers and railroad buddies from New Haven to Plainville.
"Ducky", who lives in Springfield and deadheads back and forth to New
Haven every day, has operated on the "Canal" line for forty-two
years. He knows every tie and rail joint on the line, and the family history of
the occupants of most of the houses within sight as the Canal Local shuttles
back and forth delivering and collecting freight at the plants and stations en
route. And he recalls that his wife's grandmother rode down from Northampton to
New Haven on the old canal in pre-railroading days. It took her a night and a
day to make the trip.
Frederick Henry Miller is the "flag"-his buddies know him as "Highball" ("Because I'm so fast," Fred modestly admits)-and he's been working the "Canal Local" for thirty-six years, as has his partner, William A. Cumm, brakeman, known to all and sundry as "Biddy". "Biddy" lives in Haydenville, Mass., and gets home only at weekends, going home Saturday evenings and coming back to New Haven Monday mornings. During the week he makes his home at the Railroad "Y". "Highball" lives in New Haven. He is one of three Miller brothers, all of whom were working on the "Canal" at one time, and they were affectionately nicknamed "Highball," "Fishball" and "Cannonball". Another brother, Benny, still works on the New York division.
The day we rode the caboose of the Canal Local as guest of "Ducky" Holmes, it was pouring rain most of the time-but the boys take that right in their stride. Togged out in oilskin hats, rubber raincoats, and boots, a bit of rain doesn't bother them at all.
On the head-end was Engineer Matthew O'Dea and Fireman James Cavanaugh. Pulling out of Water Street Yard at New
Haven, our train, with five freight cars, rolled through the east cut and across
the main line tracks and then "across lots" through the "Canal"
cut, right through the city of New Haven, past the Arena, past the old Grove
Street Cemetery where rest the remains of Noah Webster, Lyman Beecher, Eli Whitney,
Samuel F. B.-Morse
and other distinguished New Englanders; and then, parallel to Winchester and
Dixwell Avenues, out to Hamden.
Passing through Hamden, "Ducky"
called attention to an "A" pole at the entrance to Winchester's powder
house reservation. It's a pole similar to a whistle post, except that it has
the letter "A" instead of a "W". As our train service readers
will know, but others probably not, this means that before entering the gate
with a cut of cars the air must be coupled up.
Coming· to a plant on the
west side of the tracks, Conductor Holmes explained that this was the Plasticrete
plant, where building blocks are manufactured out of cinders. "There's an
industry I've seen grow in just a couple of years, from a single tiny building
to that big plant-and they're constantly expanding. We handle a lot of freight
for them. Just shows the power of a new ideal"
At Highwood siding we picked up
one load and two empties—high cars which would not clear the bridges through
the cut in New Haven and so had to be taken around via Plainville. Then we passed
from the New Haven Division into Hartford Division jurisdiction.
At the W. I. Clark siding, a car
was set off loaded with cork for a new freezing plant they were installing.
At Mt. Carmel, on this
particular day, there was nothing but company mail. But on the siding, placed
there the day previous, was a huge bridge girder, loaded on three flat-cars and
destined to be used in the building of the bridge over Whitney Avenue which is
a part of the extension of the Wilbur Cross Highway.
The Canal Local carries mostly heavy
freight-steel, lumber, feed. "Down by this next bend," remarked our
host, "is Munson's house--he's the superintendent of the cemetery - and
they always ring a bell and wave to us as the train goes by, or if it's after
dark, signal with a flashlight." Just friendly stuff!"
And over here on the other side -the
woman in that house always waves to us. Oh, that's her daughter, Mary, out
there today. She had infantile paralysis."
At Cheshire we picked up one car
at the Cheshire Ball & Socket plant, and while "Highball" was
flagging his job, the manager of the Cheshire Coal & Lumber Co. came over
to pass the time of day.
Beyond Cheshire, the. old canal
became very much in evidence, running alongside the tracks for miles at a
stretch. The water apparently is stagnant.
At Milldale one car was picked
up, and the Plainville cars were swung behind the Atwater Manufacturing "drops" since
it is difficult to go in there with too many cars. The Atwater plant
manufactures clutches and other items for Ford cars. At the Atwater plant two
cars were dropped and three picked up.
At Atwater's the caboose was cut off while cars were switched.
There were no drops or pick-ups
that particular day at the Blakeslee Drop Forge at Plantsville, but Conductor
Holmes stopped there to telephone and get the "dope" on how much
Atwater freight would be ready for pick-up on the return trip.
At Southington Harry Blanchette
and Rose Verderame greeted the Canal Local. Rose got her ice and Harry, who is
the son of Agent Harry Blanchette at Willimantic compared notes with the crew.
'
Plainville was reached about
2:15. There all hands took fifteen minutes to fortify the inner man at a local
lunchroom and then proceeded to do the local work at the several plants there—Peck,
Stow & Wilcox's hardware factory, Southington Hardware, Tubular Products Co.
(during the war they turned out miles of tubes for airplanes), Southington
Lumber (a Diamond
Match affiliate), and Pratt & Whitney's. The last-named plant covers an
area a quarter-mile square and the Canal Local handled for its construction
over 200 carloads of piles, 68 carloads of wooden blocks, and a great deal of
other material, as well as hundreds of cars of highly important materials when
the plant started operations.
At Plainville the train was
turned on the "Y" and cars left by the Hartford Local were picked up
and then, southbound, there was repetition of the northbound trip—stops to drop
or pick up cars all along the line.
Back at Water Street at 6:40
p.m., "Ducky" was fortunate enough to be able that day to make No. 80
home, after checking in at the Yard Office. Another day's work accomplished, customers
satisfied, and then-home!
Just a day on a way freight.
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The first thing that comes to mind when I read this (again) is that for the most part, railroading is the same thing every day. The crew knows their territory very well, and they know where there are challenges (don't bring too many cars at Atwater, for example).
I want to work this into my sessions where I can by having a seasoned "qualified" operator as conductor to teach new operators (as engineers) the line. I will also detail how the crews work New Britain. In my case, since they are switching crews, it will vary a bit more than a local freight.
Chris has detailed his solo sessions on two of his freights on his blog, and they are also a great tutorial for crews who will work the jobs:
The stop to call and find out how much work there will be on the way back is also quite interesting. Even where the freight houses are served by truck, there will still be an Agent and a phone. We saw in the Along the Line article following BO-5 that the crew received orders at New Britain for work in Plainville. Now we can see that even in this era before radios that the crew could also check with Agents down the line for additional work.
Industries continue loading/unloading cars through the day. So the crew won't know what all of their work is when they leave in the morning. Adding work through the session is not only prototypical, but makes the operations more interesting. I'm also always looking for confirmation on how to do it more prototypically than just stopping and checking the bill box at every industry.
This is a small freight, with only 5 cars to start, a great model railroad local:
They arrived at Plainville with 10 cars. Two of those were cars from their original consist leaving New Haven. These must have been for the industries in Plainville, although the article doesn't specify the work that was done. This local worked Plainville, so any cars on HDX-5 for Plainville would have been left for them to deliver. The 3 over-dimension cars would be for HDX-5, and they would also leave any outbound cars that had originally come via HDX-5. We don't know how many cars they returned with, nor how much work there was on the way back.
Note that they didn't leave any cars along the line to pick up on the way back, as we frequently do (and John recalls the crew doing) on the Valley Line. They picked up 5 on the way.
As small as this job seems, it's still a full ops session job, and would take (me anyway) 3-4 hours to complete, which is a full day with a 3:1 or 4:1 fast clock.
Scene 1: A road freight has arrived, and the locomotives need to go for their inspection and maintenance to prepare for the next run. Hostlers uncouple from the consist, and head to the engine house.Scene 1a: In the meantime, a yard crew starts classifying the inbound cars, building new trains, or shoving the cars to an interchange track to be picked up by another road.Scene 1b: A switching crew is handling work at several industries within yard limits.Scene 1c: A train is near ready for departure, and the hostlers are on their way with the road power.The crew is given their orders, and throw the iron just after the latest passenger train passes, and starts to pull out onto the main.Scene 2: The road freight is on the high iron, on its way to Cedar Hill and making good time. They'll have to take the siding at a couple of points to let the first class passenger trains pass, before pulling into the yard.Scene 2a: The first class passenger train is running from station-to-station, and turning at the terminal at the end of its run for the return trip.
Most of my recent modeling hasn't been that post-worthy. Gluing down track, etc., and I've had a lot more research/computer time recently (thus all the posts on commodities), but I wanted to keep up with the modeling posts too.
I did spend a couple of evenings de-flashing 7 resin hopper kits worth of parts. The top box is 3 kits, and each of the other boxes two additional kits, each box being a different prototype.
I have 6 more to go. I'm kind of making a habit of this when I have some spare time that's not long enough for another project. I have already cleaned the flash off of the hopper bodies, and also drilled holes. So I'll be ready to do a push to finish assembling them once I've gathered the prototype material and made sure I have trucks for them.I also added a couple more short staging tracks behind the Agent's desk where I realized I had some space (and a couple of spare turnouts):
These will be used for parking locomotives not used in a given session. I'd like to have enough tracks to store all of the locomotives on the layout to minimize handling. I will probably install switches to cut power to the tracks when not used.I had considered installing a track for Skinner Chuck Co. on the inside of this curve (the only major industry missing), but it really just won't fit. This entire section should be on a broad curve going the other direction, but the basement wall got in the way...
The light blue masonite has two new industries, North & Judd storage, and P&F Corbin coal track, so I'm glad I was able to add those. The rest of the work on Track No. 5 will wait, because I want to use the forthcoming Fast Tracks Diamond Line crossing once they are available. They look amazing. I'm also considering hand laying the turnout at the end of Track No. 5, which is currently a curved Walthers turnout.
The rest of the work has been continuing to rearrange the basement and find homes for everything, final tweaks on trackwork and dropping feeders. I'll spend a day (hopefully with Chris' help) soldering them all to the rail, since that's easier with two people for a lot of these locations. I'm really not that far from having a fully operational layout again, and that's a priority.