Parade Marks Opening of Overpass

The past weekend marked two major milestones for the Carleton Railway. The Carleton Railway took part for the first time in the Saint John club's annual show. Four modules depicting the Carleton Railway's Monticello, Maine freight yard and interchange with the BAR were part of the club's modular layout. An Alco S4 was busy all day switching cars in the yard, while an Alco C424 took its turn on the main line. Even a trio of the railway's vintage Geeps--the only GMD units ever owned by the Carleton Railway--were brought out of retirement for use on the Aroostook subdivision. Then on Saturday evening, at a special operating session manned by an enthusiastic crew from Nova Scotia, the first train operated across the newly completed Northampton subdivision. The train travelled under the "Hiram T. Myshrall Overpass" just after the parade that officially opened the community-saving structure. In the photo below, obtained from the News-Advertiser's ace reporter Freda Mulheron, local politician and community hero Hyram Myshrall waves to the grateful residents of Pembroke as he sits in the first car to cross the new bridge at the front of a giant parade in his honour (click on photo to enlarge).

Module Progress

Here is a very brief update regarding the Carleton Railway's Monticello, Maine freight yard / BAR interchange modules that I have begun constructing. The first photo shows the wiring crew making sure that everything works well electrically. The overview of the four modules in the lower photo shows the track ballasted and some basic ground cover installed. I still have a week to get the module ready to be part of the SJSMRR modular layout. I hope to add a few more scenic details, and I will also install the backdrops. Obviously I will still have lots of work to do in the coming year to make it look complete for the fall 2009 show, but at least it will be in place and operational for this year's show. The gray ballast represents the Carleton Railway's Aroostook subdivision mainline (the far end toward Avondale, and the near end toward Montreal) and freight yard. The brown ballast represents the BAR, which crosses the Carleton Railway at Monticello, Maine (the far end toward Presque Isle [Blake's yet-to be-completed modules] and the near end toward Houlton).

Bob Kane and Bruce Bosence have helped immensely with the project, as did Lou McIntyre earlier in the year. Thanks guys!

Monticello Yard Construction

The first track has been laid for the Carleton Railway's Aroostook Subdivision, which has to this point existed only as staging in the basement furnace room. With help from Bob Kane and Bruce Bosence, all of the track has been laid on the four modules that will represent the interchange betwen the Carleton Railway (double-track mainline at the front) and the BAR (single track mainline at the rear that crosses the CR mainline in the foreground) in Monticello, Maine. The Carleton Railway will provide a yard crew (an S-4) that will be kept busy with industrial switching and interchange trafic. A small yard between the two railways should provide ample space for sorting freight cars and making up trains. The various tracks can be seen more clearly in the view below; the yard lead is at the far end (just inside the double track mainline). The BAR mainline is located so it can connect at the far end with Blake Wooley's BAR modules at Presque Isle (hurry up and get those done, Blake!), and then Blake's modules will connect to Bob Henry's Aroostook Valley Railway at Caribou, which then connects to Bob Kane's Aroostook River Railway at Washburn Jct. All together, the modules will provide an operating Aroostook County layout that will be more than 40 feet long; the two tracks in the foreground can operate independently of the rest of the modules, so at SJSMRR shows the Aroostook County modules can be operated in a prototypical manner without interfering with the trains that are traversing the mainline.
An additional inner track at the southern end is available in case someone wants to entend the operations-oriented modules (anyone want to model Houlton, Maine?).

The SJSMRR Fall Show will be held on November 8 at the Lion's Club (right behind Ken-Val Co-op) in Quispamsis, and the Carleton Railway will be there!

Branchline Completion!

The Northampton Subdivision is now complete--at last. The track crew has completed their work and a test train--2 RSD15s, a few freight cars and a caboose, followed by the heavyweight coach "Muniac", ran from South Newbridge to Northampton and return without incident. The daily Northampton Local may be a "mixed train" with the refurbished coach used to transport farm workers and mill employees to Northampton and to bring shoppers and other travellers to South Newbridge. The photo below shows the branchline heading under the "Hyram Myshrall Overpass" on its way to the community of Northampton. The line to the right will eventualy provide a connection to Grafton. The building in the upper left is in Pembroke.

Pembroke Reconstruction

Public access to Pembroke restored!

As the "Fiddlehead" local passenger train (RDC) stops at Pembroke, residents are pleased that they will once again have highway acccess to the community. The Carleton Railway has been the lifeline to the small community ever since road access was removed because of construction of the new branchline to Northampton. The photo below shows the new road that has been built (sloping down in the foreground) to provide highway access to Pembroke. An overpass will carry traffic across the Northampton branchline
Progress continues slowly as I work on the new branchline to Northampton. Construction of the branchline necessitated major changes in Pembroke--especially the removal of about half of the real estate in the small rural community. In the photos, you can see that the station has been moved to the east (left), the freight station has been removed, and one of the sidings is gone. Pembroke residents and businesses will still have highway access to the outside world via the crossing by the station and the road that goes down the hill to an overpass across the branchline (not quite completed yet). It has been a very busy (stressful, hectic) summer, so I am pleased to have made some progress on the layout!

Pembroke Reconstruction Underway

The addition of the new branchline (the Northampton Subdivision) between South Newbridge and Northampton resulted in major changes for the small Carleton County community of Pembroke. The two industrial sidings were removed, and replaced by a single track directly behind the passenger station. A new road will link the station with the community of Grafton, just downriver. An short overpass will facilitate vehicular traffic over the branchline.

More Alco Power for the Railway

A new Alco C420, #2072, freshly painted in Nortondale and on its way to final lettering and handrail installation at the loco shops in Avondale, waits in the siding in Wakefield along with C420 #2010. The new loco is equipped with QSI sound.

Details!

Preparing for a Photo Shoot

Bob Boudreau spent most of this morning taking photos of several scenes along the Carleton Railway. Preparing for the photo shoot was a reminder of the importance of details. For example, the Newbridge Drug Store had no interior, just big frosted windows, which made it look abandoned in photos. The photos below (obviously taken by me, not by Bob) show the result of adding some simple interior details to the storefront. The billiard parlour already had an interior. The top photo shows the importance of having the traffic signal turned on for a realistic photo (compare the dead signal in the top photo with the ooperating traffic signal in the lower photo).

The problem with the scene along the Little Presqu'Isle stream was that the "water" had been cleaned so many times that the surface had become noticeably scratched, and needed a new thin coat of WS "Realistic Water" to look good in the photos.

I also had to clean up stray ballast along the right-of-way and REALLY dust and vacuum the layout. Once Bob lit his 600-watt spot lights, every piece of dust or tiny cobweb showed clearly in the photos!

Thanks Bob for your time, effort, and skill--I'm looking forward to seeing the results. The photo shoot not only produced photos of far better quality than these ones that I have taken, but it improved the detail and the cleanliness of the layout in the process!