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!

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!

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!

A Milestone!

It's been a while since I posted an update, but I figured I should post one today since today marks a milestone on the L&HR.  All track is in at Maybrook, except for the yard leads and the engine terminal.  I think there's a half a case of track in this yard! 

Here's a couple of pix:

West yard throat.  Westbound A&D and class tracks to the left, eastbound to the right.  Mainline is the right most westbound track.  The turnouts appear grey because they are salvaged & still have ballast on them. 

East yard throat.  Westbound A&D and class tracks to the right, eastbound to the right.  The middle track with the curve in it is the mainline.  New Haven staging is visible to the left.

Construction continues

Several people have mentioned that working even an hour each evening results in a lot of progress & I certainly agree.  During the past week following that plan, I installed the roadbed through to west of DeKays and the mainline & siding track up to the west end of Warwick.  Sunday I laid track west of Warwick.  Marcus came down to help out & he installed roadbed most of the way to Franklin.  He also helped install salvaged Atlas code 55 switch machines in the New Haven staging yard.  This project was a big PITA and definitely a two person job.  Thanx Marcus, I couldn't have gotten them installed without your help!  I remembered that installing them on the Peconic, my former RR, was a PITA, but I had forgotten how much of one.  So, the NH staging yard is nearing completion, too.  I also decided to lay out the east Maybrook yard throat & the Warwick yard throats & made an unpleasant discovery that I don't have enough salvaged turnouts to complete those yards.  I'm 10 #5L short, mostly because the throwbars on the remaining salvaged turnouts are cut off on the wrong side--they were right on the Peconic but not on the L&HR.  Bummer.  I put in another hour or so tonight & got track laid through the east DeKays turnout.  I think I need to follow up all this track work with some wiring & start running a train or two!

Here's some pix of the most recent progress: 

East end of Greycourt

West end of Greycourt looking east

Looking west between Greycourt and Warwick.  Limestone quarry spur to right.

East end of Warwick.  Yard lead to left.

West end Warwick. 

Spur off mainline between Warwick & DeKays.

Mainline between Warwick & DeKays.  Looking east.

Current end of track.  East turnout at DeKays.

Roadbed installed between DeKays & Franklin.  Looking west.

Current end of roadbed between DeKays & Franklin.

Construction Update

Well, it's again been a long time since I posted an update.  However, I've not been idle in the past few weeks.  Construction has continued & the subroadbed is basically complete except for the Ogdensburg Branch, a few sidings and the upper level above Maybrook, which will be Andover Jct and west end staging.  I decided to leave that as open grid for the time being to facilitate construction of east end staging and Maybrook.  Also, I've installed roadbed from the west end of Maybrook to Warwick, as well as roadbed for the west half of Maybrook.  I started laying some track, too, & have installed 10 feet of east end staging (7 tracks) and about 10 feet of mainline from the west end of Maybrook through the NH/L&HR junction switch and on west toward Greycourt.  I've also installed the Tortoise for the junction switch.  The west Maybrook yard throat has been laid out but not secured.  Below are a few pix of the recent progress.

Thanks also to Jeff & Marcus for helping out a couple Sundays ago!

West end of DeKays showing one wall of dispatcher's office

East end of DeKays with mainline further west above.  Also showing dispatcher's office wall.

Overall view of DeKays below, mainline west toward Franklin above, and what will be dispatcher's office.

A dark shot showing Franklin (upper level).

Mainline roadbed west of Greycourt heading toward Warwick.

West yard throat Maybrook.

West end Maybrook.

New Haven staging.  Maybrook to right.  A short scene divider will seperate staging & Maybrook.

Greycourt roadbed in place.

Construction update

It's been a while since I last posted an update.  Well, Christmas is over & construction has resumed.  As of yesterday I completed installation of the subroadbed from Maybrook to Warwick.  Today Marcus and I installed the subroadbed west from Warwick to just short of the east end of DeKays.  We also cut the subroadbed for DeKays siding and a few feet beyond.  Thanx Marcus!

Here are some pix of the progress to date:


Heading west from Maybrook.  L&HR to the right, NH to the left.

L&HR mainline heading west toward Greycourt.

East end Greycourt

Interchange track at Greycourt to the left.  It will end at the backdrop.  It is *not* leaning side to side, that's a camera illusion!

Greycourt.  Erie main & yard (dummy track) will be located on the panel below, probably 4 tracks total.  L&HR passes overhead on a plate girder bridge.

West end of Greycourt.



Heading west between Greycourt and Warwick.  Industrial spur, probably limestone loading, to right.


Further west from Greycourt to Warwick.  State School spur to left.

Curve into Warwick, heading west.  Roadbed is wider to accommodate east yard lead.

West out of Warwick towards DeKays

Further west out of Warwick towards DeKays

Even further west of Warwick towards DeKays

East end of DeKays middle of pic. Roadbed not secured.

DeKays

West end of DeKays

West of DeKays.  Mainline will curve to right and then turnback at end of peninsula.