Thursday, March 17, 2011

More track in service

I wrapped more feeders to the bus wires today & am happy to report that all track to Warwick is now in service! 

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Maybrook News

There's big news on the L&HR today.  Following the feeder frenzy on Saturday, I spent some time yesterday and today wrapping the Maybrook feeders around the Maybrook bus wires.  With anticipation and not a little anxiety, I then hooked the bus to the booster & fired up my Digitrax system.  It worked!  Maybrook is wired & operational on all tracks including yard leads and caboose tracks!  I haven't powered turnout frogs or installed slide switches, so there are some dead frogs & flopping turnout points, but that was expected & should be corrected with the installation of slide switches.  The only problem I ran into was the frog on one turnout in the east yard ladder shorting when set for the straight route.  I think I can fix it pretty easily & if not I'll just replace it.  NBD (no big deal) either way. 

Well, I'm pretty excited to see Maybrook coming to life & am anxious to wrap the rest of the feeders & test more track!

Saturday, March 12, 2011

Wiring Madness!

Astounding progress was made today on the L&HR due to the outstanding effort of good friends Mike,  Marcus & Steven!  I can't thank you guys enough for all your hard work today.  Basically, all feeders from NH staging to midway thru Sparta Jct, which is where I've gotten with tracklaying, have been soldered to the rails.  And, bus wire has been pulled past Warwick, plus wire for staging switch machines.  And, Marcus has got my block detection scheme figured out.  I can't thank Mike, Marcus & Steven enough for all their efforts.  In fact, Mike & Steven were soldering at such a pace that their irons were casualties!  Thanks again guys!

Sunday, March 6, 2011

It's Alive!


 Today at 6 pm, 102 days after construction began, the L&HR came alive for the first time!  L&HR C420s 29 & 26 on train MA1 departed Maybrook A&D Track 1 with 25 cars of mixed freight bound for the CNJ at Allentown.  I took some even crappier than usual pix which I'm embarrassed to post--my excuse is that in the excitement I neglected to note that I apparently had the camera auto focus off.

It's hard to believe that only 102 days ago I had a bare room(s) with only a couple of pieces of salvaged benchwork lying on the floor.  As it stands today, all the benchwork is done, almost all of the subroadbed & roadbed is in, and the track is in to Franklin.  I'd like to continue laying mainline track to Andover, but on the other hand now that I've actually run a train, I think maybe it's time to do some wiring & do some real running!

Here's the least crappy of the pix:



Train MA1 on Maybrook A&D1 waiting for clearance to Allentown.  C420 #29 in the lead.



Back end of MA1 on Maybrook A&D1.  Maybrook stretches off into the distance.  This is a 25 car train plus two locos & caboose.  I think this track might hold 50 cars.



MA1 underway from Maybrook, entering the NH mainline heading west for L&H Jct.



MA1 approaching L&H Jct



MA1 on home rails!



MA1 clear L&H Jct!