Layout Progress!!!

It has been a while since I have posted and even longer since I have posted on layout progress. It has been literally one year since I decided to drop Norwich from the layout plan and make the south end of the visible layout to be Plainfield CT. In October of 2025 I removed the entire track work I had laid for Norwich and planned out the area for Plainfield. I have also taken advantage of the depth of the benchwork to move the North end staging to the back of the bench work that will be hidden by a low back drop. In the last month I laid the main line for the entire layout, well sort of. A portion between Worcester and Plainfield is temporary and will be replaced eventually once a peninsula is built for Putnam. (This is a very long-term plan.) I also laid out the new north end staging as it needs to be in and operating before I do a lot of work in front of it. I have dropped leads and wired the full main line and the staging yard as well.

I have been able to get a train completely around the layout, using DCC. This includes both lift-out sections. I did discover several shorts that I eliminated and replaced a couple of bad turnouts.  The first “Train” was a brand new Rapido 44 tonner number 0811. This unit was assigned to Norwich for a good chunk of the 1950s. I know, I am not doing Norwich anymore, but it may become the Plainfield or Putnam switcher down the line, both literally and figuratively.  I still have a lot of trackwork to do, but I can run a train and that is an awesome accomplishment. Next step is to clean up stray rolling stock from around the layout. I also need to set up a RIP area as I discover cars that need to be fixed, low couplers, wheels that don’t roll and detail issues.

Here is the main line going the Plainfield. The tracks
in the background are the north end staging. 

Here I am starting to drop feeders to the rail, The portion
of track going from the diamond leads to Willimantic CT.
The opposite direction is the route to Providence RI.

Here is the first trin running under its own power into the
staging yard. There will be a short view block hiding
the sating yard. See the photo above.

Please note I have posted a couple of my recent clinics I have present at the New England Prototype meet and/or the New Haven Railroad Historical and Technical Association Convention.

New Haven Railroad County Parlor cars

When the New Haven Railroad purchased it's new stainless steel cars after WWII, part of the order were for a 20 combination Parlor-Baggage cars.  They were delivered in two basic layouts, but these were later modified on some of the cars.  I am not sure if Rapido will make these cars and I really wanted a pair of them for the East Wind trains.  I decided to combine (pun intended) a Rapido car and a set of E&B Valley Car Works sides to create these cars.  I have some photos to show how I went about it.

Here are the incorrectly painted Penn Central coaches that I used to create my Parlor.
A better starting point would to use an unnamed Parlor from Rapido

I removed the sides, but saved the vestibule doors on the end of the car with the
 most vents.  This keeps the doors consistent with other Rapido cars.

The first side removed.

The E&B Valley Car with the skirting and vestibule door removed.
I used Model Flex Red/Orange for the strip and Tamiya Mica Silver
is a close match to the Rapid silver paint.

Here is the unmodified interior from a Rapido Parlor car. You need to remove most of
the seat and then remove the the blue floor and turn it 180 degrees.  The steps must
also be removed from one end and installed in the other.

This show you the major components prior to assembly.  I had to move
some of the vents around to match the prototype.  I did use some
vents from Custom Finishing.  The name boards on the side of the car
are made from .005 styrene. 

you need a door for the baggage end of the car, I used a door from the bulkhead of the
old E&B valley car.  I sealed the window with a piece of styrene.  The door
was then glued to the Rapido vestibule.

Here is a diagram of the cars as delivered.

Rapido Parlors

The newest release from Rapido are the New Haven 300 and 400 series Parlors.  Because the New Haven used the same exterior arrangement, only the interior is different.  The named versions of the cars come with interior pieces to do both kinds of cars as well as all the various length name boards. If I had though more about it , I would have picked up only unnamed cars only, giving me extra interior parts to upgrade other cars. As you can see from the photos, the interior details are very nice.  The only negative is the lighting bar is not wired in and there are no directions on where the capacitor wires.  I may take another car apart to see how it goes, as I have to add shades to them anyway.

This is a full 36 seat parlor

This is the other side.

Here is the interior of what will be Parlor Car New Haven.  The NH had 5
Parlors with this arrangement.

Here is  close up up of the interior parts, They are done very nicely.

This shows the side with out the name board applied.