Redo

I have made changes to my layout plan and moved the modeled portion of the Norwich and Worcester north. Instead of Norwich being the southern end of the layout, I am now making Plainfield CT the southern point of the layout. One of the main reasons I have done this is my version of Norwich was highly freelanced. By moving it to Plainfield, I am able to create a much more accurate model of the area. Here are some photos of my now removed Norwich:

https://norwichandworcester.blogspot.com/2017/02/norwich.html

Here are some shots of the changes.

Here is all the track, roadbed and structured removed. 

Another Shot of the bare foam

I took off the foam as well.

Another shot, please ignore the messy work bench.

Here is some plywood laid down. The portion to
the left will be trimmed down to blend in with
the more narrow section over my work bench.

I was able to save most of the track and turnouts as well as structures. The road bed and and foam was destroyed in the process of removing. I will go into more detail in the near future on the new plans.

First attempt at Static Grass

I am stating to try scenery on my layout.  I am stating the area by my model of the Thermos company factory on the south side of Norwich.  I have used Homasote  in this are and it is dead flat. To give the track work  bit of definition I carved "roadbed" into the Homasote.  It was fairly quick and easy to do.  I used a new blade in a utility knife that is is used in dry-walling.

You can see my carved ditches, as well as the handle of my knife.  Not perfect,
but it breaks up the complete flatness.

My wife gave me an electrostatic flocking machine for Christmas a couple of years ago and I finally got it out to use it.  (She calls it a grass shouter, which sounds much more fun.)  I followed the guidelines that Chris A. spelled out on his blog, xxxxx  I am pretty happy with the results.  I still have a bunch of things to do , but it is moving in the right direction.

 

Duke's Diner

This is the basic parts of Duke's Diner.  The Cast Resin body I found on line, the base I built out of sheet styrene and the stairs that are from a Walthers kit I had kicking around.  I used N Scale Architect brick sheet to wrap the base and stairs.

Here it is with silver paint on the body and brick that is a bit too bright.  I covered some of the windows for the "kitchen" area of the diner. I do need to remove the cross piece in the front left window to match the prototype.  I do need make the sign for the roof and add glass.

Here is the real on in 1958.

NH 44 Tonner 0811

Another project I have completed is the 44 tonner 0811.  This particular locomotive was assigned to switch Norwich for a number of years.  I have seen photos of it in the green and orange paint in several books and I have a photo of it from Bob's Photos in McGinnis paint.

0811 just south of the Norwich Passenger station in 1057

Randy Hamill has a great write up on all of the New Haven's 44 tonners on his blog: http://blog.newbritainstation.com/ .  He explains how to back date the Bachmann phase IV to Phase III, which is correct for the 0811.  It is unfortunate that the Bachmann red is so dark as it is other wise a decent model of the phase IV.  I used the information from Randy's site to model the 0811, so I will only show a few photos of my project.

Here is the cab with the open stack covers and rail gutters added

This shows the hood hatches and door handles I added.

Here is the finished model with some light weathering.

This is the factory painted model.  Not bad, but not great either.

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday

Revising Norwich Track Work

While I am only freelancing the city of Norwich, CT, I have made the track lay out a bit more prototypical as well as more functional.  I added  track to represent the Central Vermont interchange and moved the switch to the bulk track.  I also created a switch lead for the small yard and created a single arrival/departure track.  The photos will show things better.  

North is to the left in this photo.  The track at the bottom of the photo is the bulk track ad the track it connects to i the Central Vermont interchange.  You can see the yard lead as well.

This photo is looking north, the station is on upper left hand side of the photo.  The RDC is n the siding, the main line is the center track and the yard lead is on the right.  The yard lead will also go down to mill as well.  The track work to the lower right leads to the yard.

Norwich 1948

I found this photo of Norwich from 1948, 10 years before my period.  It is looking southward, the main line goes off toward the left about half way up, towards Groton and the shoreline.  Running off the left above the nain is the line that interchanges with the Central Vermont.  From what I read there was also a couple of packing houses and a scrap dealer on that track.  In the photo you can see a bulk track (team track) just above the station.  At this point in time Norwich has no passenger service, so it appears that it is also being used as either a bulk track or cars for interchange with the CV.  the the left (east) of the station, you can see the remains of the old roundhouse and turntable.  the only thing left is the water tower.

While my current version of Norwich is very much freelanced, I have made a couple of changes to it based on this photo.   I had the bulk track that is just south of the station, but no interchange track.  I have rearranged the track on my version of Norwich to more closely match the layout here.  The yard at the real Norwich, it is south just over the bridge and under the tunnel to the south. On my layout a small yard will be on the est side of the main, across from the station.
While the changes I made are minor, it adds more operations to Norwich and at least make it a tad closer to the prototype.

Tank Car

My friend Bill C. mentioned a Lehigh Gas tank car that was lettered for Norwich, Conn.  I have other info other then then the photo.  Does anybody know more about the company or the car.  Where in Norwich was the company located, did they have just the one car, what years was it in service.

Did Atlas or Kadee make a model or are there any decals available to letter it?

Wordless Wednesday

Fixer Upper Part 3

I have finished it up.  I have added the chimney and the exterior staircase.  The stares and railings are Central Valley products.  The rest is just sheet and strip styrene.  It really helps New Havenize the scene.  I am also working on the Thermos building as well as figuring out what to use as ballast.  I discovered my cheap source of material has magnetic bits, and that is bad as it can get into motors and such.

Fixer Upper Part 2

I was able to get a new cast resin roof from the Hobby Gallery and I painted it using craft paint and then weathered it with pan pastels.  I repainted the brick on the tower box car red, the wood trim, widows and doors Pullman green and the cement weathered concrete.  I painted the interior a dark gray to town it down from the white.  For mortar I uses DAP fast and final spackle.  I heard about using this on the Mike and Scotty Pod cast.  I have a bit of touch up to do, add a some details and build the exterior stair case.  New kits are still available from the Hobby Gallery.

Wordless Wednesday

Bridging the Gap

I need to pick up  new roof for my tower as the current one is missing a big chunk out of  corner.  Steve from Hobby Gallery will have one at the Springfield show, so I do not have to wait long.  In the mean time, I have constructed a Rix concrete overpass to continue the road on the upper area of Norwich If that area looks familiar, it is John Pryke's South Boston from the large layout he had in Acton MA. I built the bridge bet the instructions and the base coat of paint is Krylon Camo Khaki.  It still needs to be permanently placed and weathered.  I still have more work to do in the area, so I will wait to permanently place it.

The American Thermos Comapany

The American Thermos Company was a major part of Norwich from the 1920's through to 1986 when manufacturing finally ended.  I am using Walthers' Water Front Warehouse to represent the main building.  I will have some smaller ancillary structures as well.  I have also started to paint my track before I start on scenery.  I am using  camouflage brown as a base and then will weather the track later on in the process.

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday

Norwich

After having the layout sit forlorn for a number of months, I have cleaned it up, fixed the track work, wired it, so it now functional.  I still have a couple of industrial sidings that need to be laid as well as the south end staging yard.  Here are some photos going from north to south.

This is Atlantic Packaging an a roofless tower.  The the left if the north end staging yard.

The next shot is the fuel dealer.

Here is the station and the Worcester to New London RDC.  I am using Windsor Station here.

Here is the beginning of the small yard plus the team track.

The south end of Norwich.  I am very fortunate to have John Pryke's small Boston scene from his original layout. 

 I can run some trains and do some switching.  Next I can start on some scenery. 

New Blog

I have decided to start up a blog, not to replace my website, but to supplement it.  I have decided to start work on the southern end of the layout while I finish up the rest of the room.  Norwich, CT will be the the anchor at the south end of the railroad as well as the most urban and industrial towns on the modeled part of the layout.  I am freelancing Norwich for the most part, but using actual industries from there, such as Atlantic Packaging and Thermos.  I will have staging yards on each end of the section I am building and will move the yards as I build each new section.  My web site is at: http://www.freewebs.com/nynhh/  Here is a shot of what will be Atlantic Packaging.