Seashore Trolley Museum's Main Line uses a lot of 85 lb. rail because it was a B&M standard and we could often get it free.  Today that's really light, even for light-rail transit.  Modern heavy duty track is almost all welded with rail between 115 lb/yard and 136 lb.  So I'll post pictures of items of potential modeling interest as they catch my eye. Others welcome.



Side view of a sharp angle (maybe #4) bolted frog in (I think) 80 lb.



Same frog disassembled for cleanout and 1 1/8 inch bolts instead of the 7/8" our predecessors used.

The flat bars with punched hooks are called Hook Plates. They're often seen in older turnouts.

Good morning, all. I got up early to see the youngster off on a mountain climb, so I'll open the lounge.  Fresh hot bread (my aunt in law baked yesterday) on the counter with butter, nut butter, cheese, jam, honey etc. Eggs any way you like (our 10 old hens laid 6 yesterday). Bananas and tangelos in the basket.

Today the Flying Yankee Assoc. has a table at a train show in Hooksett and I should help out. But Seashore track work has consumed my spare time all month, and my layout has to be ready for operators Friday.  So I shouldn't spend much longer at my computer.

Their page has a brief history and a calendar covering the next few months. There are also some photos from 2025:

  https://www.snemrr.org/index.html

The following photos were taken on my first visit in April 2026, when the B&M RR Historical Society visited in lieu of their normal meetings in Lowell. They'd gotten out a lot of B&M locos and equipment for the visitors.  Their own photos show some of pretty much everything.



IIRC, the bridge to the right is an Atlas kit.



Most of the buildings and flats were built by Herm Botzow, who also has a home O 2-rail layout I've never seen.  He has been open for many Tour De Chooches, but I've never found time to visit; between my own layout often being open and the 66 mile air-line distance turning into 101 miles and almost 2 hours because of NH's tourist- and legislature-oriented road network, I'd need most of a day.



Their signal system uses Atlas logic, more in my Lineside Signaling thread.



Some of the structures are real showpieces, many are background flats.

I first presented a Scratchbuilding in Styrene clinic at a HUB Division (Boston MA area) convention in 2001.  I've done it several more times, most recently for the Northeastern Region NERx on-line event in March, 2023. They saved it on YouTube, but the indexing of that event on the NERx site is bollixed. I hope this link gets you about 50 minutes of show & tell, including a couple of models that have threads on Modelers Forum.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RLw7Z4c4cx0&t=7965s

If it doesn't, I was about 2:47 to 3:32 on March 22.  Search around through archived NERx presentations here:

https://nerx.org/past-events/nerx-march-2023.html

I've volunteered to fix the indexing, but to accept the help they have to give me access.

My grandfather bought the farm I live on in 1919, when pretty much everything in this part of New Hampshire was still horse-drawn.  This dual-mode lightweight wagon/sleigh was in the back corner of the barn when I moved here in 1988. Its wheel & axle assemblies must have been left in the barn cellar and disintegrated over the years.

This picture shows the rear runner assembly (left), front runner assembly (center) and load-carrying bed (right).

I decided to join, late, after thinking about some photos a friend sent showing the subject of this project: Turning this strip of hardboard into a model of the original US Rt. 1 overpass over the B&M Eastern Route main just RR west of the Newburyport/Newbury town line.



Jim, if this is too far along to count as a Challenge topic, let me know.

I neglected to photograph it before its concrete crumbled from too much road salt and it was demolished in 1996. But friends found enough to work with Here's a distant shot from the RR east (farther from Boston) side:



Civil Engineering students are boring holes for experimental pile driving. They chose this area because the subgrade is crummy at best and replacement of the old overpass would start soon. Here's a close-up of the east side:



The once double-tracked main line used the right span. The left span only had an industrial lead. Crumbling concrete made them shift the highway to cross the abandoned track at grade on the west side, behind the guardrail visible in the background.

Next a close-up of the west side, which had a sidewalk.  This gives a better view of the concrete pillars and spans that supported both approaches.



I'm building the main bridge spans in styrene. I'm thinking the piers that support the span girders might be worth making patterns and casting. But I'll need, at best, only eight of one kind of half-pier, four of the other. I could cast the approach viaduct segments in resin, or I could cut them out of wood or high-density foam.

Good morning, all. Refilling my hens' water took three times as long as usual today, most of which was making a direct path from the house to the cattle barn.  I've loaded the coffee urn and put fruit, muffins, bread etc. on the counter for anyone who needs a nibble this late in the morning.

My next job is finding a vehicle inspection station near me; A Federal court just overturned NH's new law that would have ended inspections this month. I didn't think that was a good idea; in my life I've seen plenty of cars with holes in the floor, dripping oil and sometimes even gas. But our Legislature didn't want to increase the inspection station fee enough to keep the small garages in business. Then maybe some modeling.  Also, my wife has started a house scratchbuild, which I should photograph and post.

Visions Government Solutions puts towns and cities assessing data online in 9 states: VT, NH, ME, MA, CT, RI, PA and VA.:

https://www.vgsi.com/taxpayer-info/

Service is on a town-by-town basis; you won't find my house here because our assessing company has its own site.  But if you want the overall dimensions of the Amesbury MA Eastern RR station, select Massachusetts, then Amesbury, enter 32 Elm St. Click on the plan to show it in a separate window, then have your browser save it as an image. All properties appear to have a current picture of one side.

Good morning all, from my motel in central Pennsylvania.  Like many motels, it's next to a highway. This one's is only 2 lanes, but there's an industrial track a hundred yards away that's been switched at least twice since we got here.  The sun rises noticeably later here than at my home on the NH seacoast.  First thing will be a college tour, then a half day or so at Gettysburg. Focus will be on the battlefield rather than the tourist RR.

This build is based on an article and plan starting with page 22 of the October 1953 Model Railroader. The author, Paul Larson, became the editor of MR in 1956. Art Schmidt did the photography, it appears Paul drew the plan.  My MR only goes back to 1967, so I'm working from a photocopy provided by an RR-Line member some time back.

I got the materials and started work a few years ago, but stopped when I found water-based PVA glue made the roof sheathing curl. Weight and clamping didn't help, I was left with an ugly, highly visible joint. I'd previously built a couple of Northeastern/Ambroid wood open platform coaches using old Ambroid cement with no curling trouble at all.  Sadly, it appears I can't get anything in the same chemical family as Ambroid anymore.  I suppose I could try Goo, Weldwood or another contact cement.

Your thoughts?

Good morning, all.  The homemade bread was warm when I put it in the breadbox. Cold cuts and cheeses in the fridge, jam marmalade and peanut butter on the counter, honey over by the hot water urn with assorted teas. Coffee urn warming up with Joint Bar blend.

It's been mostly cloudy on the NH Seacoast, with heavier clouds forecast this afternoon. High of 70F expected.  I'm home doing paperwork.and paying bills.  If I get up to the attic layout, I'm feeling like going back to work on my 2nd freight car scratchbuild, a Swift 36' reefer from another old MR article.  But because I'm feeling good about the brass flat car, I may give the reefer a brass underframe instead of the wood used by the author.

Good morning, all. Muffins, fresh bread, butter and other things to go on it are on the counter and apples and pears in the basket.  The coffee urn is warming up with Ballast Fork blend, as is the hot water for tea.  The cook may have something more formal planned for later.

It's foggy and about 60F on the NH Seacoast, with mostly sunny weather forecast later.  I'm off to the Trolley Museum for track and mechanical work, then Planning Board after dinner tonight.  But before I go a couple of bills to pay.

The New Haven RR ordered 124 class NE-5 steel center-cupola cabooses during WWII. They're popular among Northeastern modelers because they passed to Penn Central, then Conrail. The B&M bought 20 similar cabooses, differing only in having two steps at each corner instead of three.  They've been imported in brass but I started with a RTR plastic model from Centralia Car Shops/Intermountain.



Four main subassemblies separated, with Tomar LED marker lamps, resistors (center right) and a compact bridge rectifier (lower right) I wish I'd written down the part number for - they're a convenient size for HO car lighting projects.



Tomar's marker lights look pretty good close up, except the stem that goes into the car body kept me from mounting them right at the corner, where the prototype's brackets were.



I had to drill holes in the weight and the interior molding to bring power from the trucks.



Simple phosphor bronze wire axle wipers collect power for the markers.

There's a thin, high haze over the lower Merrimack Valley, but plenty of sun is coming through. From high 50s overnight, the guessers say mid 80s this afternoon. And it seems today's haze isn't wildfire smoke (that arrives tomorrow) so "eat, drink and be merry..."

It's the last day of Newburyport's Yankee Homecoming, so in a bit I'm off to watch the parade.  Modeling unlikely today as I'm still working on my All-Crop 66 combine. After last week's rain, the wheat was "chewy" yesterday - that water content grows mold in storage. Should be "breaks leaving powdery surface" by mid-week.

I'm starting this thread for the whole Forum membership.  Demonstrations, experiments, Q&A, new materials are all appropriate. I'm going to start with my own oddball practices, but if you've figured out how to repair "over the throwbar" point contacts, keep old cork roadbed from getting brittle, repair broken Maerklin track connectors, or effortlessly fasten down Code 55 rail, let us know.

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Full size or model, trains need track.  These days the major scales have multiple ready to lay options for most common RR track and turnouts. However, minor gauges, trolley fans and modelers of specific prototypes are often required to hand-lay what they want.  I learned to hand-lay when it was the standard of my college club. I find its durability and flexibility justify the extra effort to build it.

Roadbed ranges from molded-to-the-track (E-Z Track & competitors) through cork, sticky plastic, plain and profiled Homasote to pine lattice stock. I've used all except the sticky plastic; my experience with other people's modules hasn't encouraged me.

Subroadbed is a tradeoff between light and sturdy. Careful planning and construction can produce light but stable support, but the extra effort required usually limits it to modules. Home and club layouts today often use strips of plywood instead of the second-growth lumber most readily available.

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The NMRA Achievement Program's Civil Engineer certificate used to require detailed track. Here's what I did with mostly Detail Associates parts on a hand-laid Code 100 HO turnout. Yes, Code 100 is really large rail in HO, but that was what the HUB Module standard required.



Joint bars and a strip applied to model a bolted frog (much less common these days than before 1980).



Post-1900 turnouts have special slide plates to support the points, and other special plates to support and position the closure and stock rails where they're too close together for conventional tie plates.  I didn't try to do physical tie plates, as they're normally only 1/2 inch thick; I painted them on.  Proto-48 and the related projects for other scales offer physical tie plates these days.

I'm up early enjoying the cool of the morning: The lower Merrimack Valley is 70-ish with a few high clouds, headed for the high 80s with late afternoon thunderstorms. I stopped by on my way out to the Trolley Museum:  The urn's warming up with Tie Plate blend, hot water's on, pastries, fruit and cereal on the counter. Don't know what the cook has planned for later arrivals.

I'm wearing long pants, sleeves and a vest. Several bands of rain expected into early Wednesday, but tomorrow's high is claimed to be 84F. Those who are troubled by scales, skip ahead: I weigh a bit more than I ought to so eating only the minimum through the weekend.  Coffee and hot water are heating up, fruit is on the counter.

I have some Flying Yankee editing to do, then get my kid's friend to her late afternoon flight.  The kid will need to learn how to deal with Boston traffic, but Driver's Ed north of the border didn't include even a taste. He can watch me this time.  Hope I can get the new signal to a photogenic stage in between and after.

Good morning, all. It's overcast on the NH seacoast with smoke from Canadian fires visible but not so thick I can smell it. Rain expected tonight and tomorrow. My wife just returned with an upgraded driver's license, so I'll leave the kitchen and counter to later arrivals.

I was passing by and opened up but only a light breakfast: Coffee urn warming up with Track Wrench blend, water for tea and hot chocolate (still cool enough for that in NH), fruit, bagels & fixings, bread to toast or just butter, fresh milk and OJ.

The NH seacoast cooled off late last night after the thunderstorms passed; this morning has been cool with a lot of high haze - hope it's clouds rather than Canadian smoke. My wife and stepson went to his school's graduation and sometime this afternoon he'll bring back a guest. Until then I'll model railroad.  First order of business: locate 25 tiny rectifiers I finally need 12 years after I bought them. IIRC they arrived packed in a tube, but for 7 mm rectifiers the tube could be less than a foot long.

More wet weather forecast for Monday & Tuesday, but maybe a haying (or track work) window later in the week.

Good morning, all.  On my way out I thought to open the lounge: Urn is heating up with Tie Crane blend, hot water for tea or cocoa, fruit, cereal, rolls and pastries on the counter.

The NH seacoast is clear and headed for the 70s. Modeling today is unlikely: first to Seashore for track work, then home to a Selectboard meeting postponed due to Monday's holiday.