I too have been busy as well. There's something about this time of year and Trainzing. Over the past week, I've been furiously adding track and surveying an add-on to my mega-route the Enfield and Eastern. I removed my original Haverhill and Bradford section, and chopped back some other older sections. It seems that as I add new stuff, I end up rebuilding old sections because they don't look as nice.
The new section added, from DEMs, is the old Eastern Railroad from Hampton, New Hampshire to a bit past Newburyport, MA. The length from Hampton to the current EOT is about 18 miles and is almost straight as an arrow. Sadly, this section was abandoned over the years since the early 1970s. The line runs along the salt marshes and was once one of the fastest routes merged into the old B&M when they took over the Eastern Railroad in the 1880s. Near Newburyport, I put in a new drawbridge over the Merrimack River. The real bridge stuck open and abandoned since the early 1970s. There are still signs of the original ROW in place as though everything was stopped in time. Sadly, over time things are becoming obliterated by nature and construction. With the help of Google Maps, Google Earth, Trans Dem, I've been able to bring things back to life. Back in its heyday, Newburyport was the center of clipper ship building and trade. There was once a big dock there, and three or four competing railroads fought their way into the city. All of this gone now except for the commuter rail which ends in the industrial park on the Newbury/Newburyport townline.
http://goo.gl/maps/j6odp
In addition to the mainline, I've added in the three other branches with lots of artist's licensing. The first is a short City Railroad which ran from the junction in Newbury to the docks in Newburyport. I've been inspecting the topomaps and I remember seeing freight cars along the waterfront growing up, but bringing this back to life is difficult. These tracks have been gone since about 1980 without a trace of them anywhere except for a bike path in some places. Coming off this branch, I've added in a former trolley line out to Plum Island. This is more freelance as there is not a trace anywhere except for a funny jog in the road near the old airstrip. This line probably ran down the streets in the city then along the road to the island. On my route, this will be a modern trolley system for tourists going out to the points.
And finally in this general area, I'm adding back in the old Bradford and Newburyport. This line was abandoned during the 1940s and 1950s. It connected with a wye junction in Georgetown and ran up through Byfield. The are is mostly rural with only a couple of towns. There are still traces today as a string of power lines uses the ROW. To add this in properly, I had to delete my previous Bradford and Haverhill section in order to put these in the right place. Sadly, the merge function in TS12 does not work properly, otherwise I would have just added in my already completed baseboards, and saved a lot of time instead of rebuilding.
The other major branch, on the opposite side of the Merrimack River ran to Amesbury, MA. Amesbury was the site of carriage builders and once had its own electric railroad. This branch existed up until the early 1970s, and was officially abandoned in the early 1980s. The line connected to the Eastern RR at Salisbury and followed the Pow Wow river for a small stretch. Today Walmart has plunked down a super store on one section of the ROW, and what's left is a walking trail. I've done a bit of artist's licensing on this too. In Amesbury, where the original line terminated, I've continued the line through town and upgrade to connect to my original route. This section has required some upgrades to bring the route up and over the Pow Wow hill and other surrounding uplands. In comparison to Newburyport and the salt marshes, Amesbury and Hampton, on the north side of the Merrimack, are quite high at 150 m.
John
The new section added, from DEMs, is the old Eastern Railroad from Hampton, New Hampshire to a bit past Newburyport, MA. The length from Hampton to the current EOT is about 18 miles and is almost straight as an arrow. Sadly, this section was abandoned over the years since the early 1970s. The line runs along the salt marshes and was once one of the fastest routes merged into the old B&M when they took over the Eastern Railroad in the 1880s. Near Newburyport, I put in a new drawbridge over the Merrimack River. The real bridge stuck open and abandoned since the early 1970s. There are still signs of the original ROW in place as though everything was stopped in time. Sadly, over time things are becoming obliterated by nature and construction. With the help of Google Maps, Google Earth, Trans Dem, I've been able to bring things back to life. Back in its heyday, Newburyport was the center of clipper ship building and trade. There was once a big dock there, and three or four competing railroads fought their way into the city. All of this gone now except for the commuter rail which ends in the industrial park on the Newbury/Newburyport townline.
http://goo.gl/maps/j6odp
In addition to the mainline, I've added in the three other branches with lots of artist's licensing. The first is a short City Railroad which ran from the junction in Newbury to the docks in Newburyport. I've been inspecting the topomaps and I remember seeing freight cars along the waterfront growing up, but bringing this back to life is difficult. These tracks have been gone since about 1980 without a trace of them anywhere except for a bike path in some places. Coming off this branch, I've added in a former trolley line out to Plum Island. This is more freelance as there is not a trace anywhere except for a funny jog in the road near the old airstrip. This line probably ran down the streets in the city then along the road to the island. On my route, this will be a modern trolley system for tourists going out to the points.
And finally in this general area, I'm adding back in the old Bradford and Newburyport. This line was abandoned during the 1940s and 1950s. It connected with a wye junction in Georgetown and ran up through Byfield. The are is mostly rural with only a couple of towns. There are still traces today as a string of power lines uses the ROW. To add this in properly, I had to delete my previous Bradford and Haverhill section in order to put these in the right place. Sadly, the merge function in TS12 does not work properly, otherwise I would have just added in my already completed baseboards, and saved a lot of time instead of rebuilding.
The other major branch, on the opposite side of the Merrimack River ran to Amesbury, MA. Amesbury was the site of carriage builders and once had its own electric railroad. This branch existed up until the early 1970s, and was officially abandoned in the early 1980s. The line connected to the Eastern RR at Salisbury and followed the Pow Wow river for a small stretch. Today Walmart has plunked down a super store on one section of the ROW, and what's left is a walking trail. I've done a bit of artist's licensing on this too. In Amesbury, where the original line terminated, I've continued the line through town and upgrade to connect to my original route. This section has required some upgrades to bring the route up and over the Pow Wow hill and other surrounding uplands. In comparison to Newburyport and the salt marshes, Amesbury and Hampton, on the north side of the Merrimack, are quite high at 150 m.
John
