DelawareAndHudson Posted March 4, 2014 Share Posted March 4, 2014 The excess of motive power may just be a reflection of the age and reliability of the geeps and the challenging conditions that might be encountered in winter in New England. Adrian Challenging nature of the line. The line from Rutland to Bellows Falls has some of the most challenging grades and curvature of any "mainline" in New England or most of the eastern US for that matter. When they run loaded ethanol trains, they split them into two 40-car trains to get them over the railroad, putting them back together into a full 80-car train to hand off to the New England Central. Jason Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alcanman Posted March 6, 2014 Author Share Posted March 6, 2014 I've now completed building, painting and weathering the hopper unloading area and storage silos. As I mentioned earlier, it is neccessary to cut a hole in the baseboard to accomodate the unloading pit and conveyor. With the structure 'bedded in', this is how it looks. Mal Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
torikoos Posted March 6, 2014 Share Posted March 6, 2014 It looks great Mal. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glorious NSE Posted March 6, 2014 Share Posted March 6, 2014 Lovely detail with the pit and conveyors. Nice work. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrian Wintle Posted March 6, 2014 Share Posted March 6, 2014 Challenging nature of the line. The line from Rutland to Bellows Falls has some of the most challenging grades and curvature of any "mainline" in New England or most of the eastern US for that matter. When they run loaded ethanol trains, they split them into two 40-car trains to get them over the railroad, putting them back together into a full 80-car train to hand off to the New England Central. Jason Is the curvature too great for six-axle traction or is it just that a bunch of old geeps is cheaper than fewer SDs? Adrian Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DelawareAndHudson Posted March 6, 2014 Share Posted March 6, 2014 Is the curvature too great for six-axle traction or is it just that a bunch of old geeps is cheaper than fewer SDs? Adrian From what I have gathered from Scott Whitney's (Vermont Rail System employee) posts on the VRS Yahoo group, it's a curvature issue. This line is the old Rutland Railroad that shutdown in the early 60's. The State of Vermont bought the Vermont portions of the railroad and leased the Bennington - Rutland - Burlington portion to the Vermont Railway and the Rutland - Bellows Falls line to the Green Mountain Railroad. The Vermont Railway bought the Green Mountain in 1997 essentially putting the Vermont portions of the Rutland back together. Back to the issue though. The line from Rutland to Bellows Falls is EXTREMELY curvey. While 6-axles CAN operate on the line, they cause more wear and tear on the track resulting in higher maintenance costs. I believe there are also issues with various customer sidings where 6-axle power cannot operate. The VRS wants the flexibility to assign any available locomotive to any assignment. Having locomotives that can't perform certain duties would limit their power assignments. That said, at two different extended periods, VRS has leased SD90MAC's from CIT. These are some of the longest locomotives around BUT they have modern steerable trucks. In spite of that, they returned the SD90MAC's after each lease was up. My "money is no object railfan fantasy land" idea of the ideal locomotive for the Vermont Railway? Take an SD40 core (not and SD40-2, they are longer), install the current EMD 6-axle trucks, and replace the old 16V-645 engine with a 12V-710 (same engine in the GP59) and in effect, create an SD59 or SD59S (S is for Short). Like I said, this is pure fantasy but I think it would be the right mix of tractive effort, hp, and overall size for this particular line. Jason Cook Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alcanman Posted March 10, 2014 Author Share Posted March 10, 2014 Six axle power has now appeared at Westbrook in the shape of Guildford (ST) SD26 #623. It's compact size is perfect for a small layout. The Atlas loco is fitted with a Soundtraxx decoder and sounds great Guildford's SD26s were purchased from ATSF in the 1980s. ATSF had prieviously re-built the locos fron SD24s in the 1970s. SD26s were still in operation with Pan Am/Guilford as recently as 2009. Mal Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Scottish Modeller Posted March 12, 2014 RMweb Gold Share Posted March 12, 2014 Hi Mal, You are bad! Showing me things that I want but not managed to get! Anyway... Pan Am boxcar Six axle power has now appeared at Westbrook in the shape of Guildford (ST) SD26 #623. It's compact size is perfect for a small layout. The Atlas loco is fitted with a Soundtraxx decoder and sounds great Guildford's SD26s were purchased from ATSF in the 1980s. ATSF had prieviously re-built the locos fron SD24s in the 1970s. SD26s were still in operation with Pan Am/Guilford as recently as 2009. ST SD26 #623 003.jpg ST SD26 #623 005.jpg Mal Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Scottish Modeller Posted March 13, 2014 RMweb Gold Share Posted March 13, 2014 Hi Mal, Like I said... Pan Am Boxcar..... As new, boxed, had 3 trips up and down Haston Vt. and that's all... Let me know if you are interested. Thanks Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alcanman Posted March 14, 2014 Author Share Posted March 14, 2014 Thanks Phil, I am interested. PM sent. Mal Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alcanman Posted March 14, 2014 Author Share Posted March 14, 2014 With plenty of snow still lying around in northern New England in March, I can see why they stock up on road salt. In this 'fall' pic, MEC GP40 #378 has arrived with the Westbrook local which includes road salt loaded in covered hopper cars. They will be unloaded at the transload facility seen in the background. Mal Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
torikoos Posted March 15, 2014 Share Posted March 15, 2014 Love the SD26's too by the way, a bit of weathering on that unit would complete the picture for me :-) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alcanman Posted March 15, 2014 Author Share Posted March 15, 2014 Thanks Koos. Both locos will be weathered in due course. Mal Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alcanman Posted March 20, 2014 Author Share Posted March 20, 2014 My decision to deliver road salt to Westbrook seems fully justified. With this kind of weather they are going to need plenty for the foreseeable future. Mal Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jrossouw79 Posted March 20, 2014 Share Posted March 20, 2014 With plenty of snow still lying around in northern New England in March, I can see why they stock up on road salt. In this 'fall' pic, MEC GP40 #378 has arrived with the Westbrook local which includes road salt loaded in covered hopper cars. They will be unloaded at the transload facility seen in the background. Westbrook 12th March 2014 003new.jpg Mal Hi Mal! That high hood Geep of yours looked so nice to me that I went and got myself one from Trainworld. Its not a Guilford one but a Norfolk Southern GP38-2 from Athearn Genesis with DCC & Sound. Note that since I'm a newbie to this hobby this will only be my second ever loco that I own so I hope it will be a good one. Anyways keep up the good work and looking forward to some more pictures! Cheers! Jacques Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alcanman Posted March 21, 2014 Author Share Posted March 21, 2014 Thanks Jacques and a nice choice of loco too. There is something special about high nose geeps, particularly those still in operation today. The high nose GP40s were a big influence in my decison to model Pan Am/GRS Mal Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrian Wintle Posted March 21, 2014 Share Posted March 21, 2014 Hi Mal! That high hood Geep of yours looked so nice to me that I went and got myself one from Trainworld. Its not a Guilford one but a Norfolk Southern GP38-2 from Athearn Genesis with DCC & Sound. Note that since I'm a newbie to this hobby this will only be my second ever loco that I own so I hope it will be a good one. Anyways keep up the good work and looking forward to some more pictures! Cheers! Jacques I've been looking at those, and I don't model in HO. Adrian Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alcanman Posted March 21, 2014 Author Share Posted March 21, 2014 This week I've been working on the team track unloading area and the small yard office which was included in the Walthers kit I used for the hopper unloading transload facility. I've imagined that the team track unloading area and office to have replaced the old station platform and depot from back in the day when Westbrook had a passenger service. Placing cars on the front siding track gives the opportunity to operate the layout Inglenook style with the loco shoving cars into the yard to be switched. Mal Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
torikoos Posted March 22, 2014 Share Posted March 22, 2014 This week I've been working on the team track unloading area and the small yard office which was included in the Walthers kit I used for the hopper unloading transload facility. I've imagined that the team track unloading area and office to have replaced the old station platform and depot from back in the day when Westbrook had a passenger service. Placing cars on the front siding track gives the opportunity to operate the layout Inglenook style with the loco shoving cars into the yard to be switched. wb yard office 005.jpg Mal Again nice work Mal. I'm sure we're not far of an operating / switching video or two now :-) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alcanman Posted March 22, 2014 Author Share Posted March 22, 2014 Thanks Koos. Yes, shouldn't be too long before the first video comes along. Today, I'm going along to a local exhibition and hoping to pick up some much needed covered hopper cars. Also looking forward to seeing 'Braddock' again. http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/53276-braddock/ Mal Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
torikoos Posted March 22, 2014 Share Posted March 22, 2014 Bradock looks great, are you going to 'Ally Pally' in the London Area? (not knowing where you live). Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alcanman Posted March 22, 2014 Author Share Posted March 22, 2014 Just returned from the Perth Green, Jarrow, Exhibition. Braddock was superb with lots of P&LE power. Mal Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
torikoos Posted March 23, 2014 Share Posted March 23, 2014 Bradock looks great, are you going to 'Ally Pally' in the London Area? (not knowing where you live). I should have looked closer at what's written below your avatar.... :-) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alcanman Posted April 10, 2014 Author Share Posted April 10, 2014 Progress has been slow lately, however, I've now started working on the right hand end of the layout. To the right of the yard office is some rough ground used as a parking lot. Farther along we can see a new structure, Westbrook hardware store which also has a small parking lot. In the background I've started some greenery which will eventually be filled with sea foam Super Trees. One tree has already been planted. The non-railed served warehouse can also been seen in the background. Mal Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robatron86 Posted April 10, 2014 Share Posted April 10, 2014 Top work Mal. What did you use for the rough ground cover? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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