Railyard Telegraph Game #104

My hometown is Windsor, Vermont.  It’s the birthplace of Vermont in 1777 where the constitution was signed and the state became an independent republic (long before Texas, Tony) before becoming the 14th state in 1791.  And while Windsor is somewhat notable for other things like the second oldest operating post office, the patents on a number of the precision machine tools that helped the industrial revolution, and the bottling plant of Boston based Harpoon Brewery, I think its greatest contribution was Vermont itself.  You’re welcome… that said, I figured all things Vermont were fair game.


The flatcar itself I ultimately decided to go with a prototype from the Central Vermont, the only one in the late steam era of the railroad.  I was half-tempted to model Rutland flatcar 2753 as a companion to Tony’s DRGW 21158 which brought the carved block of marble that became the tomb of the unknown soldier to Washington DC.  But the CV’s original terminus in the south was Windsor and the Rutland is really Elroy’s baby.  The flatcar itself is a rather unremarkable 36’10” 60000lb fishbelly center sill on arch-bar trucks.  77 cars were built in 1923 and used mostly used to haul blocks of granite from the quarry in Barre, VT (where one of my great-grandfathers worked until his death in 1941.)  There’s one preserved example at the Danbury Railway Museum in Danbury, CT.
 



For the load, I needed something to really represent the state.  Plenty of things come to mind, like maple syrup, dairy farms, and covered bridges.  However, when I was in Alabama introducing myself as a Vermonter, our contribution to popular culture would always come up in the form of Broken Lizard’s 2001 cult classic: Super Troopers. It’s a comedy chronicling the misadventures of a troop of the fictitious Vermont Highway Patrol, inspired by our real life state police.  Seeing as how pop culture has been not entirely accurately been portraying the state since the 1944 jazz standard Moonlight in Vermont, I figured I’d go for something a little more real.  Since I model the steam era, the car is my take on a 1947 Ford Sedan in the original Vermont State Police livery. I patterned it after “Monty” a restored car of the same vintage used at public events.

For my hobo, I was going back and forth on a stoic dairy farmer or a dirty hippie, but in the end I felt like the flatcar and cruiser needed its own State Trooper to escort it.  He is carrying a bottle of pure Vermont Maple syrup, both in reference to a major product of the state and as a nod to the syrup chugging scene from the film.

Glory Days of the Railroad

On September 13th I made my public debut of my the Central Vermont Brick Railway equipment and structures.  Quite a modest showing of it all things considered.  One freight train of an N-5-a, three boxcars: one 40000 series, one 42000 series, and a GTW 515000 series, and a CV 4000 series caboose.  This was in addition to a model of the White River Junction Station and a handful of fall trees. 

The club put on a great layout, the event was a ton of fun, and I had a good time.  I also learned a great deal of things about my designs and running things at a show.

N-5-a was a bit of a disappointment.  Some aspects of the appearance were a last minute rush job, including the oversized CV logo on the tender.  Then, it started the day out by not operating at all.  Once it was running, it shed parts all over the layout.  When it finally shook off its excess brick, it could only do about 5 or 6 laps before sucking the AAA batteries dry.  The L-motor at 1:1 really struggled in the turns and the speed wasn’t all that impressive. 

The big takeaway was that I need to really put my drive system designs through their paces prior to even building the model.  I think motorizing the tender is going to be the way to go for any steam designs.  So I'm going to be working on 1 and 2 motor designs with the XL and train motors.  I'm pretty sure the L motor won't suit my needs. 

The rolling stock had some issues.  The Bettendorf truck on the GTW boxcar performed well, but my arch-bar trucks had a tendency to fall apart on the axle holders.  Both truck sets needed a better way to attach the couplers as the mounts tended to pull themselves loose.  I'll be heading back to LDD on these.  I think some more robust designs shouldn't be too hard to develop.  

On a more positive note.  The caboose received a lot of positive comments, especially from folks in the CVRHS, which I joined that weekend.

Port Lego

The Port LEGO Rail Authority – North Bay was my first attempt at an operating layout in a small space. I built this one in 2004 in my BOQ room at Fort Rucker, AL while I was attending flight school. It was a freelance non-protype layout set in the fictitious city of Port LEGO where most of my childhood LEGO creations resided. It borrows some elements from the classic Timesaver switching puzzle such as the switchback and a runaround. It also incorporates many other design features that creep up in later layouts such as Daigon Alley flats lining the backdrop by the team track and the Industrial Thingamajig building that later became the warehouse flats in Wrightsmouth. Reposted here as part of my thoughts on thinking small and shelf switchers in Lego.