Boston & Maine Eastern Route Progress

[jbvb]

I started this thread on RR-Line (now gone) in January 2008, a little more than 17 years ago.  It eventually grew to 96 pages.  Reposted here it will be smaller, because I'm leaving out comments by others: some are members here, some not, some have passed.
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I'm modeling the Boston & Maine's Eastern Route in HO standard gauge in my (now) 225-year-old house's attic. The attic has its pluses and minuses - plenty of space, just up the stairs and finished, but the combination of the sloping ceiling and a 36" minimum radius meant I could only do an around-the-walls plan. Also, it can get a bit hot in the summer and cold in the winter.

The layout incorporates my Rowley MA modules, in 2008 the only finished scenery, in the rural northern half of the attic. The southeast corner is where I'm building my compressed version of West Lynn, MA including the General Electric River works and the West Lynn creamery.



This photo shows the mainline curve passing the future creamery (spur under the file) and the Saugus Branch (long staging tracks) coming in from the left. I was spiking rail on the branch, building the switch comes next. The flying plywood was actually pretty rigid with the flange below and the backdrop partially installed.  It got better when I brought the backdrop around to the left edge of the photo.

Links to my other threads:  Over 17 years on RR-Line, I added progress to old threads and referred to them via these links:
Page 1 Jan. 2008: Benchwork and track for Bennett St. West Lynn -> Structures near Bexley Tunnel and Enginehouse
2008-12: MRC Prodigy Advance Throttle Control Bus: https://modelersforum.com/index.php?topic=6886
2009-02: New England Farmhouse by Creative Laser Design: https://modelersforum.com/index.php?topic=6887
Page 2 Jun. 2009: Start on Rt. 1A overpass & Little River benchwork.-> Build diode matrix for west entrance to Draw staging.
2010-04: Merrimac St. Bridge in Newburyport: https://modelersforum.com/index.php?topic=6888
Page 3 Jul. 2010: Track through Newburyport to Draw almost complete -> Landforms for Little River
2010-10: Guard House for the Gear Works thread: https://modelersforum.com/index.php?topic=6908
Page 4 Mar. 2011: Scenery at Rt. 1A & Little River -> Work on Merrimack & Washington Streets in Newburyport
2011-06: Before Galvanized W-Section Guardrails thread: https://modelersforum.com/index.php?topic=6910
Page 5 Nov. 2011: Install Bennett St. backdrop -> Bennett St. Yard track complete
2011-11: Gothic Arch Dairy Barn in HO Styrene thread: https://modelersforum.com/index.php?topic=6890
2011-11: Clam Box build with a little kitbashing and detailing: https://modelersforum.com/index.php?topic=6911
Page 6 Nov. 2012: Complete Newburyport West control panel -> High St. cut and overpass mostly complete
2013-05: Prototypic Dwarf Signals In HO thread: https://modelersforum.com/index.php?topic=6884
Page 7 Jun. 2013: Finish High St. cut -> Applying printed windows to Hytron
Page 8 Dec. 2013: Static grass applied around Clam Box
Page 9 May 2014: Pit track at Bexley Enginehouse
2014-11: Upgrade GHQ 2-Axle Hay Wagon: https://modelersforum.com/index.php?topic=6856
Page 10 Feb. 2015: Build Acme Fast Freight in West Lynn, Gorin Machine in Bexley, prep for Model RR Scenery AP evaluation
2015-05: Lineside Signal thread: https://modelersforum.com/index.php?topic=6882.0
Page 11 Nov. 2015: Bexley Depot area, finish signals > Bexley Baggage/Express building nearly done
Page 12 Feb. 2017: Completing Boxed Pony Truss Overpass > City RR partly in service
Page 13 Feb. 2018: Completed Newburyport City RR Track.
2020-03: 28 Winter St. house in styrene: https://modelersforum.com/index.php?topic=6766
2021-02: PRR 40' flat car in brass: https://modelersforum.com/index.php?topic=6764.0
2021-04: Kanthima's Scratchbuilt Structures thread: https://modelersforum.com/index.php?topic=6926

[Mr. Critter]

Photo's not showing-up, sir, at least not for me. Just a little blue question-mark icon.

[deemery]

I see the photos, it might have been the occasional 'photo resolution delay'.

dave

[Mr. Critter]

I see it now.  Benchwork and a clamp lamp.

Stand down the pixel-fire department.

[jbvb]

My Rowley MA modules have been to many train shows, most in New England but they've been as far south and west as Kansas City, as far north as Saint John NB, as far east as Dortmund in Germany.  Some photos are on my site: http://www.faracresfarm.com/jbvb/rr/gallery/index.html

In early 2008 the southwest corner had a bunch of structures, but they weren't in finished scenery. I posted a panoramic shot or two over the weekend. Ties in this area are a mix of Campbell Profile, home-made and Mt. Albert Scale Lumber, glued to homasote with yellow carpenter's glue. I use the tie jig/tape process, but usually hand-place switch ties.

February 3 I ran the first train onto the West Lynn section. But before I it got far, I had to recharge the Train Engineer's batteries. Still...



Because I had the photofloods out, I also shot the area around the Bexley engine terminal (just east of the Bexley Tunnel, which substitutes for Salem MA and its Salem Tunnel, which I hadn't room to model).



Timetable West, towards the tunnel. The structures are commercial kits, minimally customized. Turntable and ash host are Walthers. Yard office is the BEST Salisbury Point Station kit. Visible track is handlaid code 83.



Looking timetable East, the body of the yard disappears in amongst the house's frame timbers.

[jbvb]

Not sure what happened to the "panoramic views" I mentioned above.  They were gone from the RR-Line thread when I backed it up.  I probably meant this photo. It's the only part of my layout I didn't build myself.  It was the town of Sawyer on the Tech Model Railroad Club's layout at MIT.  I learned how to build the oddball switches I still use working on Sawyer in the mid '70s.



When old Bldg. 20 was demolished, there wasn't room for Sawyer in the new space, so I drove our Dakota to Cambridge, carried it down 2 flights of stairs myself and brought it home. I did have help carrying it up to the attic.  Here I've extended the main around the south side of my attic, made a low backdrop and placed a Red Wing Milling kit I won in a raffle.

[jbvb]

There are about 2000 new ties in this picture, maybe 1/8 cut down from Mt. Albert's 16 footers.  Looking at the wood in the kindling bucket and preferring the Campbell Profile Tie approach, where theirs are over 20 scale feet long, so both sides of most cuts are usable. I used .0125" Homa-Bed to raise the main and middle siding above the running tracks and GE plant, and it was a joy to work with. Would have gone faster if I'd bought his shims rather than sanding my own.

The Hub Division Modular Group's container got packed around March 1, 2008. I didn't see my Rowley modules until April 14 (setup for Intermodellbau in Dortmund).  So I finally got back to West Lynn. I had gotten the ties above stained and ballasted, and now I'd spiked enough rail so I need another couple thousand MicroEngineering spikes. Wasn't worth a photo til I got into the switches for the Middle track, though.



I'd finished a couple of switches and the first train ran as far as the West Lynn "middle" track switches. Another couple packs of joiners, spikes and a bundle of rail were on the way (via the LHS, not the web site which claimed to have them in stock, but didn't).



I got a little work in before flying off to Dortmund, but I didn't post another picture in this thread till early May. Looking north, I'm building track through GE's River Works in West Lynn, with my future staging location  behind the framing timbers in the background. I install roadbed first (if I'm using it, 1/8" HomaBed here, or 1/4" pine lattice stock), then ties, sand & stain ties, then ballast, then rail.

[GPdemayo]

Hand laid track can't be beat, well done James.....

[jbvb]

Thanks, Greg.  I didn't post another picture till July 19; work travel, haying season and a 6-month wait for Code 83 rail intervened.



Here, I'd laid 4 switches on the easterly lead. The spur to the right is spiked Code 55 and from then on I thought more seriously when I hear or read "handlaid in Code 55" (or 40, for that matter); I'd glued Code 55 down previously (guardrails on the Rowley River bridge), which I found a lot easier. Also, this represents me switching from M$ Photo editor, which made jaggies in the image, to DigiKam on FreeBSD Unix. DigiKam is still doing the job for me 17 years later.
 


By early September I built a shoofly at the W. end to connect the east running track with an old loop I'd scabbed together. That got me back to running out-and-back from Bexley Yard.

[jbvb]

After an 8 month wait, I finally got the bundle of weathered M-E Code 83 rail:



That let me finish the crossover from the WB main to the westerly running track. And then I started the yard during the month I spent thinking about switch controls and the main line panel layout - Three fourths of the reason this layout goes so much slower than some others is that every !%&$# thing turns into a design project; I can do design, but it would be a thin living at the speed I do it.



After considering the simple push-pull rod scheme, I settled on more of Humpyard Purveyance's switch levers (now out of production). But I'd never used them in association with a block panel before, so I spent longer than I should have thinking about usability, access, hand clearance etc. I used slide switches for point contacts, so needed to modifiy the cable clamps to hold the cable sheath better.

This post is dedicated to P.L. Robertson, who has saved me from many, many wrecked screwheads on this project...

[jbvb]

By November 2008, I'd gotten the West Lynn panel wired up and five of the switches connected to their Humpyard levers.



I used Radio Shack 2P6T rotary switches - they're only rated for 0.3A but that hasn't been an issue because usually blocks (at least in an
industrial area) don't get switched when a locomotive is in them. I used much heavier-duty toggles where locos will be stored.

Then I didn't post on the layout thread till April 2009. Life intervened, plus I figured out how to use old RJ-45 Ethernet jacks and cable to wire up the MRC Prodigy Advance throttle bus around the layout, and built my second laser-cut wood kit (Creative Laser Designs "New England Farmhouse"). By then I was beginning scenery in the Bexley area:



The effort required to do proper foundations for these structures showed why sloping street scenes aren't so common in models. Two of the buildings are DPM, Saulena's is Bar Mills laser-cut wood, the rest were carved out of Walthers' Merchants' Row.

[jbvb]

The westbound (towards North Station, Boston) commuter exiting Bexley Tunnel shows something I've given a good deal of thought to: The prototype (in Salem, MA, replaced 1958) was notoriously tight; it couldn't even handle PRR round-roof steel boxcars. A few years ago, I scratchbuilt a bridge to clear the NMRA gauge, but in 3/4 angle photos, it looms up above my steam-era equipment in a way that leaves me dissatisfied. This portal isn't as small as the prototype - it will clear Plate C, but IMO it looks a lot better.

Also, I was thinking about my engine terminal, and that led me to dig out my Suydam Diesel House to study how the pits were built. It's first structure I ever built (early '70s), and one of the reasons I've avoided cardstock in my construction since. It didn't fit this layout, so it's since been re-homed.  I hope the new owner got around to popping the old Goo loose, steam-ironing everything flat and sealing the
surfaces thoroughly before reassembling it.

[jbvb]

I continued to work on the west portal area in Bexley. Mid-April 2009 I got the portal's stonework carved, using a carbide-tipped tool I originally bought when I got tired of scoring my 4' x 8' sheet of .040" styrene with an XActo. One tip is a sharp angle, the other is broader and makes decent mortar lines.



This kind of granite masonry is all over New England, and in most places all that's changed is the soot finally weathering off 40-50 years after the end of steam (if somebody tells me the RRs actually painted the stone black, I'll be astonished). Here's the portal in place, with the buildings that go atop the tunnel ready for detail painting (the next week's project).



This needed another batch of A&I wash. I've got pictures and notes on prototypes for these cut-and-cover "Arches" here:

http://www.faracresfarm.com/jbvb/rr/arches.html

[deemery]

James, do you happen to know where the B&M (and predecessor RRs) quarried that dark stone?

dave

[jbvb]

Dave the stone itself isn't actually that dark color. Near the coast, 40 years of weather and salt spray removed most of the black revealing gray granite. But in Dover, 20 miles inland, the black remains. I suspect it's mostly soot, glued by dried-up steam oil.

I eventually applied "Wood Putty" over the screen wire - It's basically wood flour and fish glue - dries hard without much expansion or contraction. Compared to plaster, it has two major advantages: It sticks to itself, and it doesn't make dust. It's also strong, and over screen wire fairly light. On my Rowley modules, it's held up for 18 years of transportation and shows. Regrettably, Savogran discontinued it around 2000 (I bought a couple of cases).

I'm not sure what I'll do when I run out of Wood Putty; I'll definitely try Durham's Water Putty, but I don't know how it's made. I've built plaster hard-shell, but I found it brittle. I'm experimenting with foam in another location. I covered it with ground goop, as the foam is removable, and I wasn't sure I could keep a plaster texture layer attached if it flexes.

Progress in the next couple of weeks was two kitbashed buildings that face Maxwell Sq. (intersection of Railroad, Washington and Lafayette streets in Bexley).



The left is several different parts of Walthers' "Merchants' Row", the right is most of a Rix "Furniture Showroom". The duct from the hood is .080 x .125 styrene heated in the oven, then bent and mounted with .010 x .030 brass bar from Detail Associates. The roof access way and the chimneys were built from Vollmer brick sheet; the chimneys took only a little less time than it would have to drive to the LHS and buy some castings. I used 91% isopropyl in this batch of A&I, and did not expect what it did to the paint. I let the paint dry more than 24 hours the next time. For these purposes I'd normally use 70% anyway. I tried a gravel roof on the Rix building, using WS fine gray ballast, came out OK.

Progress in the next couple of weeks was mostly a pretty much by-the-instructions build of Walthers "Parkview Terrace" for behind the engine terminal:



Progress in the next couple of weeks was mostly a pretty much by-the-instructions build of Walthers "Parkview Terrace" for behind the engine terminal.  All I added was paint and the window treatments (two colors of masking tape). The one glitch in the build was that the back step casting (from the porch to ground level) need another step's height to really reach the porch. I didn't fix it, as it will be well into the background for both in-person viewing and photos.

The layout didn't get much attention in the next 6 weeks; I had to get my Rowley modules ready for showing at Hartford National. And it was haying season...