April Op Session

Thanks to the great crew that showed up to run the Carleton Railway this evening!  Special commendation goes to Brett and George who worked in the Avondale yard for the first time and did a great job.  Very few potatoes are being shipped at this time of year so the trains were a little shorter and the yards not as busy as they are during harvest season.  The new staging tracks make it easier for me to remove surplus rolling stock from the layout to simulate the seasonal ebb and flow of railway traffic.  In the above photo, westbound Extra 2010 is arriving in the Avondale yard from Waterville just as the Carleton-York Peddler way freight is about to depart for its slow journey to Millville.  

PEI Visitors

A crew from PEI visited the railway in late February and did an excellent job of moving freight and passengers across the line.  I thoroughly enjoyed their visit.  Taylor Main has posted a number of great photos from their trip to Saint John (including some shots of Lou McIntyre's "Hampton & St. Martins Railway").  The link to Taylor's blog is here:

PEI visitors in Saint John -- February 2015

Thanks for visiting, guys!

Cloverdale Subdivision soon to open

CLOVERDALE SUBDIVISION

The Carleton Railway's new Cloverdale subdivision will soon begin providing efficient rail service between Millville and Maplewood.  Although Maplewood represents a very rural area in northern York County, it will provide a steady source of forest product traffic for the railway as well as additional farm shipments.  With the anticipated opening of the line, other industries are expressing interest in the area.  The subdivision will be ready in time for the next operating session on Saturday, February 21 (and for the session for guests from PEI on February 28).

LANE'S CREEK

Also new is the community of Lane's Creek, Carleton County, located along highway 103 between Wakefield and Pembroke on the Avondale Subdivision.  The major industry in the community is the F.W. Boyer Tannery (which in the real world existed a few miles up river in Victoria Corner).  

NEW EMPLOYEE TIMETABLE
Employee Time Table No. 8 has been printed and is now in effect on the railway.  Crew members would of course be wise to study it before operating sessions, making note of changes.  Complimentary copies will be available at the next SJSMR open house at the Lancaster Mall on February 14.

Open House at the Lancaster Mall

Today was our club's first open house in the Lancaster Mall in West Saint John.  We ran a lot of trains and had a great time!  Above, the Aroostook Local passes a potato field and takes its time on a warm summer's morning as it leaves Monticello, Maine on the way to Avondale, NB. (double click the photo to enlarge it).  Two Alco units -- C420 #2010 and C424 #2405 -- provide the power. The Carleton Railway is represented by six modules in the club's modular layout.  The two tracks in the foreground (gray ballast) belong to the Carleton Railway; the third track (brown ballast) is the Bangor and Aroostook Railroad.

Here the west-bound local returns to Monticello.   Downtown Monticello is a bustling place on a late summer afternoon.  

Nothampton Saw Mill Adds Wood Chip Loader

Saw Mill Expansion

In the photo below, a high-sided wood chip hopper car has been spotted at the new wood chip loader beside the Patterson Lumber Mill in Northampton.  The Patterson family was convinced by the railway that there would be a growing market for woodchips, and that the railway would provide the best means for transport.  The loader is a very basic scratch-built structure, connected to the mill by a long overhead pipe that travels across the mill yard.  

FINALLY -- AN OPERATING SESSION!

A crew of eight from Prince Edward Island did an exceptional job of moving freight on the Carleton Railway this afternoon.  In the two photos below, Steve Dickie was the very busy yardmaster in South Newbridge, while Ed Cooke worked with Chris Mears in Avondale yard.  

 Taylor Main runs a freight on the upper level.

The next regular operating session will be on Friday evening, March 21.

Monticello (module) scenes

I am finally posting some recent photos of the Monticello, Maine area that is modelled on my six 4' HO-scale modules.  The photos were taken during the Saint John club's annual show in Quispamsis in early November. The modules depict a fictional junction between the BAR and the Carleton Railway (click on the photos to enlarge them).

Below, the local autobody shop hides its supply of dilapidated cars with an old wooden fence.  The well-maintained tracks in the foreground belong to the Carleton Railway.  The BAR passenger car and the MPG warehouse in the background are on BAR tracks.  The junction is just to the left of the photo.   

You can tell there is a fall chill in the afternoon air as folks head for a warm cup of coffee at the West End Diner.  CPR Trainmaster 8901 is leading westbound Carleton Railway train #21 (The Fast Freight) as it waits to depart the Monticello yard.  The CPR and the Carleton Railway pool motive power and personnel for this priority freight.

The Carleton Railway's busy classification yard in Monticello is designed for the efficient sorting of freight and connects directly with the BAR, allowing for interchange in both directions.

Because of its two railways near the downtown area, the small rural community of Monticello has become an important commercial centre.