This and the next post are an overview introduction to version 3 of my Northern New England Scenic N scale layout to date. For those of you who followed along at nscale.net, there is nothing new in these first two posts of the NNEScenic here at RMR. But for others this is the catch-up to where I am today.
The railroad was started on 8/26/19. Having taken 5 months off from the railroad in the first half of 2020 and another 5 months off again in the first half of 2021, the progress represents about 12 months of actual work on the railroad to date. Progress is going to begin again now for the remainder of 2021.
The layout space is 26'x17' and will eventually be 3 levels. Here is how the room looked at the start:
The first photo is looking towards the staging yard at the bottom of the design diagrams below. The second photo is looking towards the top of the layout diagrams below.
Here are the current designs for the three levels. Lowest level (Level 1) is the NH stretch of the Eastern B&M route that goes from Boston to Portland, ME. The layout section starts from on layout staging in Salem, MA and depicts seacoast NH travelling through Seabrook, Hampton Falls, Hampton, North Hampton, and terminating in Portsmouth, NH.
As these diagrams and the photos on the next page will show, I like to have a lot of negative space depicting scenery with enough length for my longest trains between towns and on sidings. My planned longest train will be about 30 cars with three diesels and a caboose for about 10' of length. The lowest level will be operated essentially point to point between Salem, MA and Portsmouth NH, th0ugh I will eventually have a track through-wall into the unfinished basement area from Portsmouth to some off layout staging primarily to represent the passenger trains continuing on to Portland or coming from Portland. The helix at the lower right represents the Lawrence branch and will only very occasionally be used between Salem, MA and Haverhill in operations.
Middle level (level 2) starts with the NH stretch of the Western B&M route that goes from Boston to Portland, ME, but diverges at Rochester NH to head north to Ossipee and Wolfeboro. It starts with more on layout staging in Haverhill MA and proceeds through Exeter, NH, Dover, and Rochester before heading north to the lakes region.
The middle level and top level will be used together eventually, running from Haverhill to Dover and Dover through the White Mountains to Gilman VT by virtue of the second helix connecting the middle and top levels at the top of the diagram.
The top level (level 3) is in the White Mountains of NH from North Conway through Bartlett and Crawford Notch to Fabyan and then across to the old paper mill at Gilman VT.
I will minimally model the interchange of power between B&M and MEC at Intervale by using an easily and quickly mountable/removable cassette that I have been contemplating a simple design for. Through use of both helices, I will also be able to have continuous running on the middle and top levels which will be of interest for grandkids and other visitors.
Operations will be designed and can start anytime after trackwork for the first level is done (which as of now means I just need to replace generic staging with the Salem, MA design and do the Portsmouth trackwork.) As the second and third levels get built over the coming several years, I will be able to vary operations based on number of operators and interest. I have tried to minimize overlap of operating locations for the three levels as much as possible so someday in theory a fairly large crew could operate the entire layout at once.
Next post of this overview series will show some photos of the progress to date as well as links to a series of videos of a long train testing out the trackwork.
-Ed
The railroad was started on 8/26/19. Having taken 5 months off from the railroad in the first half of 2020 and another 5 months off again in the first half of 2021, the progress represents about 12 months of actual work on the railroad to date. Progress is going to begin again now for the remainder of 2021.
The layout space is 26'x17' and will eventually be 3 levels. Here is how the room looked at the start:
The first photo is looking towards the staging yard at the bottom of the design diagrams below. The second photo is looking towards the top of the layout diagrams below.
Here are the current designs for the three levels. Lowest level (Level 1) is the NH stretch of the Eastern B&M route that goes from Boston to Portland, ME. The layout section starts from on layout staging in Salem, MA and depicts seacoast NH travelling through Seabrook, Hampton Falls, Hampton, North Hampton, and terminating in Portsmouth, NH.
As these diagrams and the photos on the next page will show, I like to have a lot of negative space depicting scenery with enough length for my longest trains between towns and on sidings. My planned longest train will be about 30 cars with three diesels and a caboose for about 10' of length. The lowest level will be operated essentially point to point between Salem, MA and Portsmouth NH, th0ugh I will eventually have a track through-wall into the unfinished basement area from Portsmouth to some off layout staging primarily to represent the passenger trains continuing on to Portland or coming from Portland. The helix at the lower right represents the Lawrence branch and will only very occasionally be used between Salem, MA and Haverhill in operations.
Middle level (level 2) starts with the NH stretch of the Western B&M route that goes from Boston to Portland, ME, but diverges at Rochester NH to head north to Ossipee and Wolfeboro. It starts with more on layout staging in Haverhill MA and proceeds through Exeter, NH, Dover, and Rochester before heading north to the lakes region.
The middle level and top level will be used together eventually, running from Haverhill to Dover and Dover through the White Mountains to Gilman VT by virtue of the second helix connecting the middle and top levels at the top of the diagram.
The top level (level 3) is in the White Mountains of NH from North Conway through Bartlett and Crawford Notch to Fabyan and then across to the old paper mill at Gilman VT.
I will minimally model the interchange of power between B&M and MEC at Intervale by using an easily and quickly mountable/removable cassette that I have been contemplating a simple design for. Through use of both helices, I will also be able to have continuous running on the middle and top levels which will be of interest for grandkids and other visitors.
Operations will be designed and can start anytime after trackwork for the first level is done (which as of now means I just need to replace generic staging with the Salem, MA design and do the Portsmouth trackwork.) As the second and third levels get built over the coming several years, I will be able to vary operations based on number of operators and interest. I have tried to minimize overlap of operating locations for the three levels as much as possible so someday in theory a fairly large crew could operate the entire layout at once.
Next post of this overview series will show some photos of the progress to date as well as links to a series of videos of a long train testing out the trackwork.
-Ed
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