A track plan

So, I have not posted here for a while, but there are some developments.

I have added another box car and a caboose from Tower Models, and laid out a small layout based on the standard gauge Wantage Town track plan (rather loosely it has to be admited).

The passenger station is at the front (Unit Models Modular Depot on the lower left of the plan) with a combine car in the platform. The 2-4-4FT Forney is in the head shunt of the run round with three standard Bachmann wagons (a tank and two box cars) in the loop. A Hopper wagon is sitting in the headshunt of the power station siding ( there is room for the Forney and a hopper wagon in the head shunt).

Now this is does not seem to be prototypical for Maine two foot railways, they seem to lack run round facilities, but for model railways, you would need to have a locomotive to take the train back out (unlikely in view of the short length of the trains modelled).

From the pictures in the book, Winslow had two sidings (one of which connected to a turntable and the loco shed). To operate that would require two locomotives to be in steam or cable shunting which is rather messy.

There will be future developments...

Why the Miskatonic Valley Railway?

It all started many years ago when I read a book of short stories by an American author called HP Lovecraft. Most of his stories are set in the New England region of the USA. One of them even mentions a narrow gauge railway (abandoned by the time of the story).

And so when I saw a Bachmann On30 2-4-4FT with DCC sound going cheap, I needed somewhere to run it.

Now the Forney Patent locomotive produced by Bachmann are common on the Maine two foot railways, and some other New England lines, instantly suggesting a location for the layout.

Now the narrow gauge railway mentioned in the story (Shadow over Innsmouth) is abandoned, but coud be brought back to life after (and because of) the events in the story. A small terminus with surrounding abandoned warehouses and a quayside, sounds like a plan. Unfortunately there is the question of populating the layout. No one does suitable post 1927 figures, so that went onto the back burner.

So casting through the locations mentioned in the books and shown on various maps, I came across the fictional Aylesbury (MA), the nearest town to the village of Dunwich. So the line runs from Salem (a name to conjure with) to Aylesbury. Now to design a suitable terminus.

In the UK, very few shops stock books on the American railways (niche market in a niche market), so when I found a copy of the "Narrow Gauge in the Sheepscot Valley - volume 3" (Gary Koler and Chris McChesney, 2003) I bought it. It includes the Winslow branch with its terminus that (p95) "occupies no less than a couple of acres" (about two football pitches). Though it has a description, it does not have is a track diagram.

One of the captions states there are three switches, the text says the "western siding ran in front of the station", there is a short storage siding behind the station and one more siding leading to the coal shed, turntable and engine shed. So three points, no run round. Unfortunately, I have not managed to track down the location of one of the points. The search continues.