jadebullet
might be back?
Hello everyone. As is probably obvious to you by now, I have decided to begin writing a blog chronicling my efforts in constructing the Mayburry Northern in Trainz.
First, a little bit of history. The Mayburry Northern was chartered in 1843 as the Mayburry Vermont and Western, which ran from the small town of Mayburry, New Hampshire, on the border of Vermont and New Hampshire, northeast to the town of Barre, south of Montpelier. This spot would form an important interchange point between the Mayburry Vermont and Western, and the Central Vermont upon that railroad's founding in 1847. The MV&W also interchanged with the Boston and Maine at St. Hardwick, the town across the river and the border from Mayburry, NH.
For the next couple of years saw the MV&W expanding with the acquisition of several smaller railroads which extended its lines north, while the railroad expanded southeast from Mayburry by laying its own tracks.
Unfortunately all of this came to an end with the panic of 1873. The aggressive expansion campaign had put the Mayburry Vermont and Western into heavy debt and the economic panic threw them into bankruptcy. The railroad was purchased by an enterprising banker named Edward Faust, who, in addition to the MV&W, purchased the New Hampshire Maine and Northern, New England Colonial Railway, and the South New England River Line, all of which were in receivership due to the panic. His plan was simple. He would combine all of these railroads into a singular trunk line with the intent on connecting New York City with Montreal, as well as a line extending to the east in order to tap the lumber rich Maine North Woods. The line to Montreal would use the original Mayburry Vermont & Western mainline up to Barre before running via trackage rights on the Central Vermont up to the Canadian City. This newly merged railroad was named the Mayburry Northern as the border town formed an important junction for the line.
Post WWII, the railroad was hit with the same economic downturn that every other railroad was hit with due to the rise in trucking and airliners, as well as the auto boom. Passenger service was slowly reduced to only the important trains between New York and Montreal before that too was abandoned and handed off to Amtrak. Just like the other railroads, the post WWII era brought about change for the railroad as well, as the line moved from steam to diesel. The railroad purchased its first diesels during WWII in order to ease the strain of the war effort. The road was completely dieselized by 1954.
This transition period is the period that I am modeling, specifically I am starting in 1950. My eventual goal is to have a version of the route for the steam to diesel transition, then adapt a version from it for the late 50s, the 60s, as well as the 1970s, though that is much further down the line. For right now, I am sticking with the early 50s.
The first step in any good route is planning. Using a pencil and paper, I have sketched out the general path that I want the route to take, and written copious notes on it, well before I even started staring at a grey baseboard. I have also made the decision to model late winter, early spring, also known in New England as the mud season, drawing inspiration from [FONT=arial, sans-serif]Mike Confalone's Allagash model railroad. As such, I will be focusing not only on operation, which is very important to me, but making the route look as detailed as possible and focusing on being accurate to the New England prototype, so look forward to seeing various scenes showing off the beauty of New England. [/FONT]
[FONT=arial, sans-serif]To start off, I have decided to focus my attention on the town of Mayburry, NH and its sister town, St. Hardwick, VT. This town was home to the original Mayburry Vermont and Western engine shops, and was an important interchange between the Boston and Maine, and the Mayburry Northern. The Canadian National also ran down the Mayburry Northern to interchange with the B&M at St. Hardwick as part of a long standing agreement allowing the Mayburry Northern to reach Montreal. Mayburry was also the junction point where the mainline split between the Montreal Division, and the North Woods division.[/FONT]
[FONT=arial, sans-serif]The nice thing about a blog, as opposed to the forums, is that I can show off the WIP part of the route without trying to make it into a pretty screenshot, so there will probably be a lot of unfinished scenes in my screens in this blog. I will also be discussing some of the processes I am using to create my route. [/FONT]
[FONT=arial, sans-serif]So let's get started with a quick tour of what I have done on Mayburry, NH.[/FONT]
[FONT=arial, sans-serif]First off, we have a quick overview of the area. To the left is the Boston and Maine St. Hardwick yard. To the right, we have the Mayburry Northern Mayburry yard, with the river, and the state border, separating them. [/FONT]
Next we have a quick look at the engine servicing facility of the Mayburry Yard.
At the roundhouse you can see the newly added diesel servicing fuel pump. As this wasn't a major servicing point for diesels at this time, it only consisted of a single fuel pump placed next to the sand tower. As the road dieselized further, this facility would be further expanded upon.
Finally, we see the main junction between the MBYN and the B&M. The mainline of the Mayburry Northern towards Montreal crossed over the B&M mainline and paralleled it for a short distance before breaking off to the west. The North Woods division headed north as soon as the line crossed over the border into Vermont.
Finally, I would like to talk about a prototypical concept that I am attempting to stay faithful to, though once I start getting to grades, it will be a lot more time consuming of a process. In real life railroading, the mainline will normally be a slightly higher elevation than sidings, as well as a heavier rail. As such, I am raising the mainline .10 higher than the sidings and yard track. I am also using a 132lb rail for the mainline, and a 100lb rail, with older ties, for sidings. This will hopefully translate to a better overall aesthetic to the route.
Here is an example, and yes, I will be swaping out the default switch stands at some point. The yard lead is on the left, while the mainline tracks are on the right.
Anyway, I hope that you have enjoyed my first blog post, and feel free to leave any questions, suggestions or comments below so that I can further improve my blog, or your own route building ability. I am also open to writing more instructional blog posts on certain techniques so if you guys would like to see anything, feel free to ask and I will see what I can do.
First, a little bit of history. The Mayburry Northern was chartered in 1843 as the Mayburry Vermont and Western, which ran from the small town of Mayburry, New Hampshire, on the border of Vermont and New Hampshire, northeast to the town of Barre, south of Montpelier. This spot would form an important interchange point between the Mayburry Vermont and Western, and the Central Vermont upon that railroad's founding in 1847. The MV&W also interchanged with the Boston and Maine at St. Hardwick, the town across the river and the border from Mayburry, NH.
For the next couple of years saw the MV&W expanding with the acquisition of several smaller railroads which extended its lines north, while the railroad expanded southeast from Mayburry by laying its own tracks.
Unfortunately all of this came to an end with the panic of 1873. The aggressive expansion campaign had put the Mayburry Vermont and Western into heavy debt and the economic panic threw them into bankruptcy. The railroad was purchased by an enterprising banker named Edward Faust, who, in addition to the MV&W, purchased the New Hampshire Maine and Northern, New England Colonial Railway, and the South New England River Line, all of which were in receivership due to the panic. His plan was simple. He would combine all of these railroads into a singular trunk line with the intent on connecting New York City with Montreal, as well as a line extending to the east in order to tap the lumber rich Maine North Woods. The line to Montreal would use the original Mayburry Vermont & Western mainline up to Barre before running via trackage rights on the Central Vermont up to the Canadian City. This newly merged railroad was named the Mayburry Northern as the border town formed an important junction for the line.
Post WWII, the railroad was hit with the same economic downturn that every other railroad was hit with due to the rise in trucking and airliners, as well as the auto boom. Passenger service was slowly reduced to only the important trains between New York and Montreal before that too was abandoned and handed off to Amtrak. Just like the other railroads, the post WWII era brought about change for the railroad as well, as the line moved from steam to diesel. The railroad purchased its first diesels during WWII in order to ease the strain of the war effort. The road was completely dieselized by 1954.
This transition period is the period that I am modeling, specifically I am starting in 1950. My eventual goal is to have a version of the route for the steam to diesel transition, then adapt a version from it for the late 50s, the 60s, as well as the 1970s, though that is much further down the line. For right now, I am sticking with the early 50s.
The first step in any good route is planning. Using a pencil and paper, I have sketched out the general path that I want the route to take, and written copious notes on it, well before I even started staring at a grey baseboard. I have also made the decision to model late winter, early spring, also known in New England as the mud season, drawing inspiration from [FONT=arial, sans-serif]Mike Confalone's Allagash model railroad. As such, I will be focusing not only on operation, which is very important to me, but making the route look as detailed as possible and focusing on being accurate to the New England prototype, so look forward to seeing various scenes showing off the beauty of New England. [/FONT]
[FONT=arial, sans-serif]To start off, I have decided to focus my attention on the town of Mayburry, NH and its sister town, St. Hardwick, VT. This town was home to the original Mayburry Vermont and Western engine shops, and was an important interchange between the Boston and Maine, and the Mayburry Northern. The Canadian National also ran down the Mayburry Northern to interchange with the B&M at St. Hardwick as part of a long standing agreement allowing the Mayburry Northern to reach Montreal. Mayburry was also the junction point where the mainline split between the Montreal Division, and the North Woods division.[/FONT]
[FONT=arial, sans-serif]The nice thing about a blog, as opposed to the forums, is that I can show off the WIP part of the route without trying to make it into a pretty screenshot, so there will probably be a lot of unfinished scenes in my screens in this blog. I will also be discussing some of the processes I am using to create my route. [/FONT]
[FONT=arial, sans-serif]So let's get started with a quick tour of what I have done on Mayburry, NH.[/FONT]
[FONT=arial, sans-serif]First off, we have a quick overview of the area. To the left is the Boston and Maine St. Hardwick yard. To the right, we have the Mayburry Northern Mayburry yard, with the river, and the state border, separating them. [/FONT]
Next we have a quick look at the engine servicing facility of the Mayburry Yard.
At the roundhouse you can see the newly added diesel servicing fuel pump. As this wasn't a major servicing point for diesels at this time, it only consisted of a single fuel pump placed next to the sand tower. As the road dieselized further, this facility would be further expanded upon.
Finally, we see the main junction between the MBYN and the B&M. The mainline of the Mayburry Northern towards Montreal crossed over the B&M mainline and paralleled it for a short distance before breaking off to the west. The North Woods division headed north as soon as the line crossed over the border into Vermont.
Finally, I would like to talk about a prototypical concept that I am attempting to stay faithful to, though once I start getting to grades, it will be a lot more time consuming of a process. In real life railroading, the mainline will normally be a slightly higher elevation than sidings, as well as a heavier rail. As such, I am raising the mainline .10 higher than the sidings and yard track. I am also using a 132lb rail for the mainline, and a 100lb rail, with older ties, for sidings. This will hopefully translate to a better overall aesthetic to the route.
Here is an example, and yes, I will be swaping out the default switch stands at some point. The yard lead is on the left, while the mainline tracks are on the right.
Anyway, I hope that you have enjoyed my first blog post, and feel free to leave any questions, suggestions or comments below so that I can further improve my blog, or your own route building ability. I am also open to writing more instructional blog posts on certain techniques so if you guys would like to see anything, feel free to ask and I will see what I can do.