Branchline and short line track

[Trainman203]

Where'd you grow up Len?  In South Louisiana where I'm from the weeds could completely take over in a season, and did on the shortlines.  It was, and still is, a semi tropical climate.  As a kid I had to mow the grass twice a week.  Only the Class One mains really tried to wage a full battle.  On the lesser lines the weeds and rotting ties were a constant battle.

The branches of the Class ones did a little better but not much.  The MP branch back home, originally  a Frisco sponsored shortline that ended up with the MOP, was a classic weedy lightly laid track pike.  I walked many a mile over parts of it.

I've never seen anyone try to model this overgrown jungle-like setting on a layout.

I'm making mistakes as I go but eventually I'm going to get some of the track completely inundated in weeds and grass. I'm going to have vines up the telephone poles too.

[Len]

Mostly I grew up in New England (Conn, Mass, VT), with a couple of years when I was real young near St. Louis, MO and Colorodo Springs, CO.

Len

[jbrock27]

I'm going to have vines up the telephone poles too.

That's a pretty neat effect!

[electrical whiz kid]

Len;
My compliments; along with Jim, Roger as well.  I grew up on the Old Colony Line (Quincy/Braintree) on the South Shore, and , didn't get to learn as much about the New Haven in a broad sense there.  Little forays over to the North End of Boston/Somerville- where the B&M held sway, as well as South Boston, South Station, (my dad worked at Gillette) and the Dover Street engine terminal, provided many hours of fascination for me.
As such, the New Haven and the B&M were excellent places to learn about first class railroading on a relatively small scale.  Most of the main line track-work was excellent and the roads reflected that, until the McGinnis era.  There were a lot of bridges in the Boston Area, such as the Fort Point Channel, and the Charles River Basin.
The layout I am building, however, would reflect [an area that] the Housatonic branch operated on.  On it, I have seen a lot of stuff worthy of model-work, from Danbury, Ct; on up to Pittsfield, Ma.  There was a good array of power, as well as a diversification of rolling stock, such as depressed-centre cars for transformers, milk cars; and, stretching my imagination, electric power through a tunnel (Hoosac).  Lots and lots of good stuff.


Rich C.

[Len]

Yeah, McGinnis is the worst thing that ever happened to the New Haven. I think I'm probably one of the few people that can't stand his paint scheme. I've always thought the earlier ones were much nicer, especially the Hunter green with gold lettering and pin stripes. Even the buff and green passenger scheme was nicer.

Len

[jbrock27]

Rich you really hate that McGinnis guy!  (yes, I understand why)  I would swear not a month goes by where you don't mention his name with venom.  Sometimes even more than once in a month, LOL!

Is your version of The Hossac Tunnel going to be haunted?

[electrical whiz kid]

Len;
In one of the books I have on the New Haven, there is a photo of a DL-109-in McGinnis colours.  The text read: "The poor DL-109 deserved better".  The first thing I thought of when I saw it was "Dumbo" all made up as a clown.

As do you, I liked the original colours.  There was either a 600HP diesel or an early RS-1 that plied the line between South Boston, and Braintree that was in that hinter green garb.  My buddy and I  used to watch the commuters coming into Quincy Centre station with an I-4 on stud.  This was in about 51-52.  I was almost eight years of age.  Then, one day;
ENTER THE RDC...  And I don't mean my initials!  They were quiet, almost spooky, with their muted Nathan chimes; they smelled good, though...

RIch C

[CNE Runner]

Hi again everyone...it has been awhile. I was interested in the 'look' that Trainman203 is trying to achieve. I, too, would like to make the ROA of the Monks Island Railway a bit more 'un-kept'. I especially liked your photos (...and my 'weathering hand' is quivering as well RogerTRA).

Regarding the New Haven RR, I still am annoyed that the 'powers to be' of the New Haven chose to eliminate all rail lines north of Hopewell Junction, NY. After their subsidiary (the Central New England Railway) absorbed my beloved Newburgh, Dutchess & Connecticut RR in the 1920s, it was finally torn up on 1938. All scrap steel was then sent to Japan (and you know the rest).

The New Haven went through several periods of, what I call, 'railroad financial intrigue'. I highly recommend reading the book The New Haven Railroad: Its Rise and Fall by John L. Weller [Hastings House Publishers, 1969]. The author navigates the reader through this complicated (and often illegal) series of events.

All in all an interesting set of topics. I look forward to my next visit to the forum.

Regards,
Ray

[electrical whiz kid]

Ray;
There was one published about five years before the one you mentioned; I recall reading it while on duty...
It sort of paralleled what you mention here.  Yup.  The New Haven was run pretty much like our government is today...
About the only sensible thing the receivers did was to buy those E-33s from the Virginian.

RIch .C 

[Desertdweller]

If you are going to model a shortline in the Deep South, especially one after 1930, don't forget the kudzu!
This obnoxious weed was imported from Japan as an ornamental, like ivy.  It was used to stabilize stream banks.

This stuff grows at a rate that has to be witnessed to be believed.  It grows two feet per day.  When I worked for a shortline in Mississippi, I would cut the stuff with my locomotive wheels going south in the morning, then when I would return that afternoon, it would have grown back over the rails and I would cut it again.  I have also had trains stall in the stuff on hills.

One time, I took a GP7 through a double-ended siding that had not been used in years.  A huge pile of kudzu accumulated on the pilot.  I tried to pick up an armful to clean it off.  It was like trying to lift a washtub full of water.

Kudzu spreads through runners from a central root, like strawberries.  It will completely engulf anything that stays still long enough.  I have seen it overgrow freight cars that have been parked too long on side tracks.
It also takes over trees and telephone poles.  It will kill a tree.

Kudzu has large. triangular leaves.  It has delicate little purple flowers that smell like grapes.  You can make jelly out of the blossoms.

You could model kudzu in HO by using green thread and little paper leaves.  Sacrifice some surplus freight cars and abandoned buildings to it.  It would be a very typical addition that I have never seen modeled.

Les

[jbrock27]

After their subsidiary (the Central New England Railway) absorbed my beloved Newburgh, Dutchess & Connecticut RR in the 1920s, it was finally torn up on 1938. All scrap steel was then sent to Japan (and you know the rest).

An American pilot at the Battle of Midway was quoted as saying "here comes a chunk of 5th Avenue El !" when flying through Japanese flak...

[Len]

There are places heading north from Raleigh, NC on US1 to pick up I-85 that have disappeared under the kudzu. They sprayed it with something one year that killed it, and left an awful greyish mess hanging in the trees. But the next spring it was back again.

Don't remember where I found it, but here's a "recipe" for making a couple of acres of kudzu almost as fast as nature:

"Get some old panty hose and cut them to fit the area you want to cover,
adding about 3" to the diameter for "droopage".  Drape this over trees,
poles, mailboxes, sheds, etc., and shape it as best you can to get a
realistic droop. You don't want it stretched tight - just let it find its
way. (Don't forget to poke the tops of trees and power line poles through
the canopy; they haven't been completely covered by kudzu yet.) Fasten the
edges of the panty hose to the layout using the adhesive of your choice - I
prefer contact cement, but white glue, AC or rubber cement will work. Let it
dry overnight.

Next, make a green wash using el-cheapo acrylic paint & wet water - about
60/40, but this isn't rocket science. Any shade of green will work - I
prefer a darker forest green as a base coat. Using a big 'ole brush (1" or
more, depending on the area you're "kudzu-ing") slop the paint over the
(hopefully tan-colored) panty hose. If it ain't dark enough to your liking,
do it again. Keep the washes thin, though - you don't want to paint the
hose, just tint it green.

Now grab a ziplock bag and add in two or three green foams (Coarse), a
yellow (medium), and a few more greens & browns (fine). Shake it all up,
hose down the hosiery with dilute white glue and sprinkle on the "leaves".
Let it dry overnight.

Add another wash of the green paint over the top to tie all the colors
together - add a few sprinkles of a lighter green to a few areas as
highlights -  add a splash of fine yellow here & there as flowers - add a
bit of brown for dead leaves - add some flocking over the whole thing for
different texture - a few tiny twigs sticking out could be dead beanches or
vines - blend the edges into the surrounding scenery with clump foliage...."

Len

[Irbricksceo]

Hi again everyone...it has been awhile. I was interested in the 'look' that Trainman203 is trying to achieve. I, too, would like to make the ROA of the Monks Island Railway a bit more 'un-kept'. I especially liked your photos (...and my 'weathering hand' is quivering as well RogerTRA).

Regarding the New Haven RR, I still am annoyed that the 'powers to be' of the New Haven chose to eliminate all rail lines north of Hopewell Junction, NY. After their subsidiary (the Central New England Railway) absorbed my beloved Newburgh, Dutchess & Connecticut RR in the 1920s, it was finally torn up on 1938. All scrap steel was then sent to Japan (and you know the rest).

The New Haven went through several periods of, what I call, 'railroad financial intrigue'. I highly recommend reading the book The New Haven Railroad: Its Rise and Fall by John L. Weller [Hastings House Publishers, 1969]. The author navigates the reader through this complicated (and often illegal) series of events.

All in all an interesting set of topics. I look forward to my next visit to the forum.

Regards,
Ray

I could never really come to like the New haven, the government forced the Pennslyvania and New York Central to take it with them if they were to get their merger approved and, since the NH was completely profitless, it hastened the fall of the Penn Central.

[electrical whiz kid]

Not so fast, there; sonny;

I'll be the first to agree with you that the New Haven was the "ugly step-child" that the PC had to take; but before you go and stick your metatarsals into your food chute, check out the goings on in the dark chambers of the Penn Central "executive" bathrooms...Seriously, it took a dite more than the then scrawny little dwarf-like misshapen  New Haven to bring the mighty Penn Central to it's knees.

RIch C.

[jbrock27]

From strictly a color scheme standpoint, I really like the last NH color scheme.

And I love that video that can be found on YouTube, of the movie Penn Central put together, way back when, begging the Feds for dough.  Cracks me up