New Britain Passenger Trains - post-1950

As I noted, the consist books only provide a complete consist for Train No 131/136. They also provide a consist for 128/129 when that train switched from the Comet to a regular locomotive-hauled train.

Starting in the 1950 book, though, it does have a list at the beginning of all of the equipment and the trains assigned. These aren't full consists, but at least I can tell which equipment was used to build the consists (and compare that with photos). The consist books also list which trains are assigned space for storage mail, and based on photos I know that every train had a baggage car. By 1953 all were replaced by RDCs

Train 131 at Stanley Works. Tom McNamara slide c1953.

The Trains

Not all trains run every year.

128/129

• 1950 - Comet
• 1951 - (2) 8500-
• 1953 - RDC-1

150

• 1952 - Express, 8270-
• 1953 - RDC-2, RDC-3

157

• 1950 - Storage, 8270-
• 1951 - Storage, 8270-
• 1952 - Express, 8270-
• 1953 - RDC-2, RDC-3

421

• 1950 - Storage, 600-620
• 1951 - Storage 600-620, 8270- 

443

• 1952 - RDC-2

444

• 1950 - Storage, 600-620
• 1952 - 8270-series
• 1953 - (1-2) RDC-1

446

• 1950 - Storage, 8270-
• 1951 - Storage 600-620, 8270- 
• 1952 - RDC-2
• 1953 - RDC-1

463

• 1950 - Storage, 8270-
• 1951 - Storage, 600-620, 8270-
• 1952 - RDC-2
• 1953 - RDC-1

Modeling

The RDCs are simple, I have the Rapido ones.

The two 8500-series cars for 128/129 in 1951 are the Pullman-Bradley lightweight Smokers, also produced by Rapido. I have them in both Hunter Green and Pullman Green, either of which will be appropriate for this train.

The Comet is relatively simple with the Con-Cor one, although I am working on repainting it in the later scheme. Custom Brass also imported one, including the later scheme, but I like the Con-Cor one better, it's much cheaper, and I think the blue used on the brass model is too light anyway.

The 8270-series are the Pullman-Bradley 11-window lightweights I mentioned in the post on 131/136. I'm largely waiting for Rapido to release these (hint, hint).

I also covered the storage/express cars before. Either the Bethlehem Car Works wood baggage cars, or the old NHRHTA/F&C resin kits for the clerestory and turtle roof versions of the steel cars. The wood cars are the standard ones for these trains.

The 600-series cars, however, are a different story. These are heavyweight cars that were rebuilt from parlor cars. The Walthers 28-1 parlor car is a good starting point. You have to reverse both the roof and the floor, remove the interior, and then make a new side. One of the sides is correct for most of the cars, but the other side is not. In addition, there are at least 5 different versions of the second side. I'm still working on how I will approach these cars, although I have a few ideas. I'll need at least two of them, preferably four.

Designing and Updating Staging

Over time I had added additional staging/storage tracks where I had space. The primary purpose for these is to store locomotives when they are not in use during a session. As I've been preparing the layout for signaling, it occurred to me that it would be useful to minimize the number of turnouts on the signaled track. 

There were seven turnouts to staging/storage tracks along the run-through staging track, but by reconfiguring the arrangement, I can reduce that to two. While these weren't in my original staging design, they were dead space and I decided it would be useful to have storage tracks where locomotives not used during the session could remain on the layout. 

On this side I'll eliminate one turnout on the main, and the second one is moved to a new location. This will create a "lower staging yard" of four short tracks for the RDCs - three long enough for a pair, and the fourth for a single unit. For 1953 sessions, these trains can operate right out of this location. As usual on my layout, they terminate in the same track as they originate.

An additional two tracks will go around behind the Agents desk and will be on a grade. That's fine, because it's storage for locomotives. This replaces the turnout that is currently back there to access these tracks. They will be long enough for the A-B-A and A-B-B-A sets of FA-1/FB-2 locomotives.

I have a general idea of how I think I can fit this using Microengineering Yard Ladder turnouts. I did pick up an extra middle turnout (you can see it in the lower right) but came to the conclusion that it wouldn't fit.

If this were for a scenicked portion of the layout, I would have modified the regular No. 5 or No. 6 Microengineering turnouts so I could curve them to follow the main, but in this case a straight ladder is fine...provided I can get reasonable radius curves to enter and exit.

I have a further two yard ladder turnouts to fit at the far end, so I mock up some ideas there too. I've tried drawing things out like this, and spent some time in the past with some of the CAD programs designed for model railroads but have found that nothing is as good as just working with track, for me. In part because as I see where things lie, I see other options and can tweak the concept instantly.

I had some cork sheets left over from making the cork board at the Agent's desk and they were the correct thickness so I used those as the roadbed and started connecting track. I'm shooting for a minimum of 26" radius here, but 24" will work just fine if I have to do that. 

This process involves ensuring that the tracks not only fit for this section, but that I'll have enough clearance at the far end for the curve to the second part. At this point, it looks pretty good.

Of course, prior to gluing it down I want to test it with the RDCs too in order to make sure they are long enough.

Looking around the corner, I've switched to Woodland Scenics foam roadbed sheets, since that's what Roger had in stock, and also their 2% grade starters to get up to the higher benchwork as it goes around the corner. 

I have a window cut out in the utility room to access behind the Agent's desk. I need to fill in the track where I removed the turnout - easily accessible but hidden while operating from the layout room. Locomotives can be stored here from the clearance point of the turnout, and I took care (using 85' passenger cars) to ensure clearance around the corner of the desk and between the tracks. The main line track will run along the edge of the cork roadbed, and I can move it further out if needed, to ensure the storage tracks won't interfere with operations.

On the other side, I've already moved the main line turnouts. Like the other side, I had HO scale cork roadbed in the original track arrangement. I found it easier to rip that all out and use the foam sheets instead.

To make this side work, I have a couple of Walthers curved turnouts, one curved Peco, and the rest standard Microengineering ones that I had on hand. I've tried a number of configurations and landed on this. It eliminates 4 main line turnouts.

One track will be sized specifically for the Comet and another track for spare cabooses. That will leave two longer tracks for storage of diesel locomotives not in use. The track through the ladder goes to the Walthers turntable used to turn locomotives during the session. I went with the Walthers one because the controller has a button that will turn the bridge 180 degrees, which is really all I need it for. But I will have room to make storage tracks for the steam locomotives when the time comes.

I used insulated joiners to isolate these storage tracks, and may also add switches so I can turn them off during sessions. 

Model Railroading Myths: Switching Time

One of the common truisms I often hear in model railroading, is that a fast clock is problematic for switching heavy layouts, because we switch in 1:1 or "real" time. Although I've disagreed with this assessment in the past, today I got a chance to put it to the test.

I spent the day on Tuesday working the CNZR with my buddy Dale. He's a conductor on the railroad, and I've always wanted to go out on a run with him. I got to do much more than that, throwing the iron, setting and releasing handbrakes, chocking wheels, and connecting the air hoses, among other things. It was great fun (and a lot of work!) to be a "real" railroader for a day. And it also highlighted how much longer it takes to actually switch out cars on the real railroad.

I didn't really take any decent pictures, a couple of short videos, but for the most part just enjoyed the experience instead.

The Griffins line has a single industry - Home Depot. They have two sidings, one holds 9 box cars, and the other 5 flat cars, plus room on the leads for another 8-9 cars if needed. There's also a storage track that will hold 11 cars, and up the line is a runaround that will hold another 11 cars. You can see cars on the storage track below on the left, and note the break between the first flat car, and the four other flat cars. That's crossing for the forklift.

The runaround is about a mile north. So this morning the railroad had:
Runaround - 9 loaded 85-foot center-beam flats (could fit 2, maybe 3 more cars)
Storage - 5 loaded center-beam flats, 4 (might have been 5) loaded box cars.
The sidings were full, but the leads empty.

5 flats were empty and to be pulled, but only 2 of the box cars were ready to go, but they weren't ready to take any new cars today. In addition, the oldest cars must be spotted first (so the inbound cars today won't be spotted for a couple of days). On the boxcar track, they also don't like new cars to be placed in front (at the lead end) of older cars in the back. And they sometimes take several days, even a week or more, to empty the boxcars.

And there were 16 (!) cars at the interchange in Hartford to come up the line.

We went out with two locomotives (A GP-9 and GP-20), and started at Home Depot:
Pulled the 5 flat cars and dropped them on the main.
Pulled the 2 box cars and dropped them on the main.
Moved the 5 flats to the siding.
Moved the box cars to the siding, leaving two of them on the lead.

These 4 moves took between 1 1/2 to 2 hours in real time. In addition to throwing the iron, it involves pulling the wheel chocks, opening a knuckle, coupling up the cars, connecting the air hoses, releasing or setting hand brakes (on three cars minimum), verifying that the other brakes are released when picking up, testing the brakes, along with the paperwork.

For example, to pick up the flat cars, we had to connect to the first car, pull the chocks, hook up the air, and release the brake. We then had to connect to the other cut of flats, connect the air, pull the chocks on the first car, release the handbrakes on three of them, and check that the last car didn't have the brake set, then pull them out. Then reverse the project to set out new cars. On the box cars, every car has chocks, since they need to stay in front of their spotting location.

On a typical model railroad those four moves might take 15-30 minutes. I've seen four moves like this take much less. With a 4x fast clock, that's 1 to 2 hours. We don't model all of the manual steps it takes, and even if we simulate some of them by taking a little time, it's still a pretty good match for a 3 to 4x fast clock.

This makes sense, though. Most of the operating sessions I've run on nearly any layout, a local freight is often expected to take the entire session to run, while the through trains operate following the fast clock schedule. We had to wait for clarification of the work needed for one car, so the whole day was from 9:30 to 4:00.

When watching others switching on a model railroad, I've come to the conclusion that there are two primary reasons why it often takes longer:

1. Operators that don't know the layout as well as real railroaders that work the job every day;
2. Trains that aren't blocked like the prototype, requiring more switching moves

Other contributing factors are often:

1. The track layout and design;
2. Running too many cars/switching moves

If you've followed the prototype track arrangement, that's not an issue. Traffic can be significant (as today showed). But, we only actually spotted 7 cars, and pulled 7 cars. All of the other moves were just to find someplace to store the loads to be delivered when they are ready for them. For my sessions, I have set my goal to have my industries at about 50% or so to capacity, and switch about 50% of those in a given session. This will vary, and with the right crews excess capacity like this week on the CNZR can be fun.

It also reminds me of Lance Mindheim and other modelers' small layouts. This is a a great example with one industry, two sidings, and two storage locations, but clearly enough work for a single crew of one or two to operate for a couple of hours.

I like to operate while keeping in mind my "men on the ground" and slow down at a turnout to let them off to throw the iron, and pick them up, etc. It adds a fun dimension to the operation, and something more than just "go ahead" or "go back" for the engineer. And I don't anticipate adding too many pauses, since even a 2-5 minute delay on a 4x fast clock isn't really noticeable.

The rest of the day was interesting as well, because of the amount of space to work in Hartford as well. With 7 cars going down, and 16 to bring back (and 1 that was there in error, so really 17 in that cut), we wouldn't be able to run around the new cut. So we pulled a locomotive at the end of the train, and used that as the locomotive on the way back with the cut sandwiched between the two locomotives. Since the delivery included only two flat cars, we were able to squeeze 13 cars on the storage track, and left the two flats with a box car between them on the flat car lead. Because of the blocking, we had to move a cut of box cars to the storage track, then the three cars to the flat car lead, then the remaining cars to the storage track.

So I had a blast operating 1:1 and, as always, learned more about how the railroad actually operates.

Layout progress - Fascia and workspaces

 I've been working on the fascia for the staging level.

There's a basic fascia starting at the Agent's desk, that goes behind the spray booth:

What has been a process is deciding how I wanted to do the fascia along the main part of staging. The skirting is banquet table skirting which is very inexpensive at Amazon. But it only comes in one height, which was a bit too short. My original thought was to leave the top shelf visible, but I decided to make a hinged fascia instead. It's a simple process of using a continuous hinge (aka piano hinge) and a piece of 1"x lumber to screw it to. I have a couple left to build (was waiting for the hinges). Behind the skirting is Ikea Ivar shelving. 

At the far end of the room is the crew desk. The desk has a full hinged fascia.

Behind the fascia is the cars I need to repair, and the ESU LokProgrammer programming track. 

Recently there was a Facebook post asking, "What does your work space look like? Since I have a small basement, I've had to make the most of the space I have. This is a secondary desk, and I'll probably use it for installing and programming decoders, at least until those are all done. I'll design the storage and stock the tools here for that purpose.

It's primary function is a desk for the switching crews. They can use it for paperwork and refreshments. It's located beneath the end of the layout that is also the yard lead, and where I expect they will work with their paperwork.

I've been using the shelf to the left of the desk as the RIP track, where problem equipment is placed during a session. I haven't decided if I like the large storage drawers there, but it's a possibility.

To the right is the turntable in staging, and a scanner for photos, negatives and slides. That will be hidden behind a hinged fascia. You can see the helix and a rolling cart with electrical supplies.

Continuing to the right is another set of shelves. The top shelf (currently with cork and Woodland Scenics styrofoam grades) is spaced to allow crews to use as another workspace or place to put refreshments while operating.

Turning back the other way gives an overview of the main (Agent's) desk, storage, and spray booth:

Heading between the helixes (with the Agent's desk on your right), there's shelving under Stanley Works:

This houses the New Haven Railroad specific library, and a working shelf for the Stanley Works crew.

Under the Berlin Line to the left is a duckunder to a closet that is under the stairs, you can see the empty boxes that are stored there. The rest is the library, prototype books (Car Builders' Cyclopedias, Routing Guides, Shippers' Guides, etc.) on the left, with history and modeling books on the right. I still need to finish clearing off the bottom shelves on the right.

Turning the corner is the space under Whiting St Yard, which is where the fridge and bar is. Refreshments will be served under this as well, and the chop saw will remain. There is also some rolling storage that goes in the space beyond the chop saw for storing freight cars.

The top of the rolling cart will serve as the workspace for the crew, and they can keep their drinks on the shelf here.

I'm still finishing up some trackwork and cleaning up the rest of the basement to do a proper layout tour soon!

Organizing - Paints

 One of the things that's often forgotten in layout design is storage. Yes, most have storage under the layout, but good storage requires some thought and design. I'm used to this since we live in a fairly small house, but once you start filling the basement with a layout you also eliminate a lot of potential storage.

In addition to below the layout, there is also useable space on the walls above staging. It's also conveniently well lit, and is perfect for small items like paint.

Since I had previously determined that storing Vallejo paints upside down was not a good approach, I picked up some shelves designed for nail polish:

They were inexpensive, and since they are relatively deep they fit a number of different types of paint bottles. They are also deep enough to fit two Vallejo/AK Interactive/MIG 17 ml bottles, so when I'm running low and order a fresh bottle of a color there is room for that without taking more horizontal space.

The next question was what order should I store them. If you're not familiar with Vallejo, AK Interactive, or similar paints, each is assigned a number. For example, 70.819 is Iraqi Sand, and 70.822 is German C(amouflage) Black Brown. The colors aren't numbered in a color order. In other words, there isn't a block that is all greens. I could organize them by colors, but I decided numerically will work best because I note the number in my lists for mixing formulas, or which color I used for a particular project. So it will be easier to find that way. In addition, it's easier for quickly checking if I have a particular color.

I didn't want all of the paint stored at the desk itself, primarily for appearances since it's the Agent's desk too.

I'll need more shelves. I could easily fit a middle row, but for now wanted the space for taller bottles. Now that I've tested them, I'll get enough for the entire wall. I'm estimating that with two rows I'll be able to fit about 344 bottles of paint. A third row would add another 172, but I don't think I'll need that...yet.

Along the Line Nov-Dec 1946: Thompsonville

Mail Service New Haven Style

A two-page article on moving mail by train. There is some interesting information on how mail is moved on trains, and it notes that there are 27 60-foot RPOs, 25 30' Compartment RPO/Baggage, and 5 15' Compartment RPO/Baggage cars. It notes that 263 trains are authorized for mail service, with 85 with RPOs, 46 with full-length storage cars, and the rest with lesser amounts of storage mail. Three trains, 179 and 181 Boston to Penn Station, and 180 in the reverse direction, have multiple RPOs. It is believed that Train 180 carries more mail than any other train in the world.

There was a 15' RPO on train 131/136 through New Britain, and Bethlehem Car works has a model (which I'll be building soon). The 60' RPO was available as a NHRHTA kit made by F&C and can be found on eBay from time-to-time. I have one partially built that will be going to Chris when I complete it since I won't need the 60' cars.

Nearly every passenger train through New Britain when hauled by locomotives carried storage mail in the baggage cars. In addition, a car was spotted at New Britain Station which went to Hartford each evening on Train 472. Steel baggage cars of two different sizes, with both clerestory roofs and turtle roofs, were also previously available from NHRHTA kits made by F&C. I have a couple that I started myself and a couple started by Ted Culotta to finish, plus two from Lee Ritchie's estate. In addition, Bethlehem Car Works makes kits for the wooden baggage cars. I have two of the kits, but the first release had incorrectly spaced doors. I started modifying mine, but will probably scratchbuild them instead, since I'd like to try scratchbuilding a few cars and they seem to be a relatively easy option.

Rug Cutting de luxe

As many of you know (and it's mentioned in my clinic on Prototype Modeling), I was originally building a layout featuring Windsor Locks and Thompsonville. Both towns featured a number of industries, but the largest was Bigelow-Sanford Carpet Co. This brief article provides some details about the business. Of particular interest is the indication that they are increasing capacity to 30,000 pounds of raw wool annually. Between Thompsonville (their headquarters) and Amsterdam, NY they are believed to have the greatest carpet-producing capacity in the world. In addition to handling freight, two passenger specials handle the annual employee outing to Rye, NY.

All carpet wools are shipped from Scotland, Ireland, India, China, Tibet, Iceland, New Zealand, Africa, Persia, Syria, and South America, and transferred to rail. Which means shipments from the California coast are just as possible as from New York, Boston, or the south.

Thompsonville itself is a very compact town to model, although the bulk of the traffic is Springfield - Hartford and/or New Haven passenger trains, usually a round trip hourly, if not more. Many of these are full length, 10-12 heavyweights, Pullman-Bradley lightweights, or the stainless steel cars depending on the era, with I-4 and I-5 steam locomotives, or a pair of DL-109s. So not short trains.

Main St. runs along the factory, and crosses under the railroad just south of the passenger station, and then crosses over the CT River. The passenger and freight stations are separated from the Bigelow-Sanford factory by Commerce St., but it really seems like little more than a driveway

Across the tracks is the International Casket Hardware Co., plus the Bigelow coal trestle and power house. 

I was recently looking through these after I was contacted by Jim, who is modeling the Springfield line in N-Scale. One map in particular that I found very useful is of the station area with a diagram for a new oil unloading facility:

This is the next section of this map showing the rest of the Bigelow factory and power house:

The oil unloading facility was installed on the side track for the International Casket Co, but is for Conn. Light & Power which was located behind the driveway for the Casket Co (about where the tank car diagram is). It's nothing but a simple pipe with a second line for steam heat.

I know that the track next to New Britain Station received tank cars for Stanley Tools, but I've never been able to identify how they were unloaded there. Until I find something indicating a different approach, I'll model a simple standpipe like this.

The map highlights how compact this scene is though, starting with a bridge over Main St., then the passenger and freight stations on one side, and International Casket Hardware Co on the other side, with the Bigelow-Sanford power house behind that. 

George Ford Photos

Back when I was planning on modeling Thompsonville, George Ford was generous enough to loan me a series of photos and slides that he took 1968-1970. With his permission, I'll share some with here.

Here's the station, looking toward Springfield:

You can see Bigelow Sanford behind the station, and a little further down the tracks is the freight house. The picture is taken from the bridge over Main St, you can see the girders between the tracks.

Here's the freight house:

This is a great view from just past the Main St. bridge. You can see the Westfield Plate Co, which was the location of the International Casket Hardware Co. earlier (I don't know when it changed) on the left. The coal silo is part of the Bigelow-Sanford Power Plant, I think.

From past the freight house:

And a little farther down the track, looking back toward Hartford:

Here's the station looking toward Hartford:

And the bridge over Main St. from track level:

Main St. itself crossed the CT River just past the station:

Bigelow-Sanford had a 25-ton locomotive to work the coal trestle and plant. The old Grandt Line model is the same prototype.

Here are a some views of along the Bigelow plant. The first shows the back of the freight house.

There was also an industry track that went into the plant itself, this is taken looking down that track toward the main line:

FL-9 2049 in front of Westfield Plate Co.

The back of the station:

Baggage Cars

Somebody was looking for some baggage car kits, so I was looking through photos to identify the classes of baggage cars I'd need (and what I could spare) and came across something rather interesting. I also needed to finish the updating the page on the new website for passenger equipment, which led to more digging, and yet another interesting find. The result? A post on baggage cars.

Steel Underframe (Wood) Baggage Cars (3800-3946)

Photos seem to confirm that all of the Highland Line passenger trains were assigned Steel Underframe Baggage Cars from the 3800-3946 series of cars. Like Pete Puma, I'll need three or four of them.

The next question is whether I need any steel baggage cars, and which ones. I knew that they showed up in several of the photos at the station. Each day there's a baggage car that is spotted at the station to bring storage mail to Hartford in the evening. I'm 99% sure that these would be 60' steel cars from the 5300-5404 series, and not the longer 70' cars since Train No. 472 is assigned 60' of storage mail.

Can I identify if they are the steel underframe vs steel cars? For example, in one of several Kent Cochrane photos, shere's I-2 No. 1300 at the station. To the left you can see the end of the baggage car.

If you note, the end rails are a simple right angle. That's the arrangement on the 3800-series of cars. Here's I-1 No. 1007 at the station and you can clearly see that the train has a wooden baggage car.

But at the station is another baggage car. If I zoom in, we can see that it has an upper right handrail at about a 45-degree angle.

That's a signature feature of the Osgood-Bradley built steel baggage cars. It won't tell us the length of the car, but since it's only assigned 60' of storage mail, I'm comfortable with that. Are they common?

60' Steel Baggage Car (5300-5404)

But then things get more interesting...

Three photos show alternate angles of baggage cars at the station. First is this baggage car behind DEY-4 No. 0803. You can see a belt line, so it's a steel car (I have commented in the past that I thought it was wood). What I find more interesting is that it's in the yard. That leads me to believe these were probably brought to New Britain by a freight train.

The second photo taken by Jim Karl on the 1949 day is moments later. Ted Culotta noticed the clerestory roof behind No. 0802, and I found the photo above later.

But wait, looking at the spacing between the Ward ventilators, there are six "windows" between them. A photo of in the Bob Liljestrand book shows that the 60' car have only four. Is that a 70' car?

The F&C model, and the prototype photo on their site shows the 70' car also has only four. But here are two photos (the second is of No. 5532) that show some of them had different spacings.

I already have a couple of the 70' car kits in progress, but the vents are cast into the roof and that complicates things. But it is interesting to see a 70' car in New Britain. Since this is a clerestory roof, it's from the 5500-5569 series of cars.

70' Steel Baggage Cars (5500-5569)

In that second Jim Karl photo we can also clearly see the side of two baggage cars spotted at the station. The first is clearly steel, and the second is wood. With three cars, it looks like several may have been brought at the beginning of the week. Counting panels, it appears to be a 60' car.

There's another even better shot of a steel and a wood baggage in the photo of the Comet at the station. These seems to be in the middle of a switching move, because the cars are sitting on the westbound main (Track No. 1). 

In true New Haven fashion, though, it has to be different. The number of panels is obviously different than in the other photo. It also doesn't have Ward vents, nor the angled end railing. Yes, this is a different car. Unique, in fact, on the New Haven. Car no. 5407 was purchased second-hand in 1942 and is the only car on the railroad like it. 

60' Steel Baggage Car (5407)

Could the baggage car in the photo of No. 1300 above also be this car since it lacks the angled end railing? No, because it has an Ajax handbrake, and 5407 has a "vertical wheel type," which, in the photo, looks a lot like an Equipco handbrake.

Some time ago I had used the Jim Karl photo as a commentary on rare cars. Well, here are a couple more. And apparently I need more baggage cars than I thought...