Mainline nears completion!

I don't feel as if I've made a whole lot of progress this week, but looking back I guess I have.  All mainline track is laid except for the last piece of flex to connect with west end Phillipsburg/Allentown staging.  All tortoises are installed, all feeders have been placed & those midway thru Andover Jct have been connected.  The west yard lead at Warwick has been installed, all slide switches in Maybrook have linkages, except 2, frogs at the west end of Maybrook have been wired.  I hope to get the rest of the feeders connected tomorrow & hope to put the mainline in service to the end of track at the entrance to west end staging.  West end staging will be deferred for a week or so until I get some surplus twin coil switch machines, since I've given up on Atlas under the table machines.  I'll keep using the ones I've already installed, but won't be installing any more.

The time is getting closer & closer for near full scale test sessions!  As of today I'm 2 weeks shy of 5 months since construction started.  I don't think I'll be able to initiate near full scale test sessions by the 6 month anniversary, but I think I won't miss it by much.

Progress Continues

Well, it's been more than 2 weeks since the last update & the L&HR has continued to progress.  Since then I took a week off from work & basically worked full time on the RR.  Between that & evenings & last weekend & with the help of Steven Johnson & Marcus Neubacher, I've wrapped all the feeders from the feeder frenzy of a couple of weeks ago & all track is in service to the west end of Sparta Jct.  Tortoises have been installed through the west end of Sparta Jct & have been tested and are in service through the east end of Sparta Jct.  Track has been laid to the east end of Andover Jct & track and roadbed have been acquired to complete the mainline into west end staging (Phillipsburg/Allentown).  All bus wire has been pulled through west end staging.  additional loconet cable & 6 throttle jacks have been installed, thanx to the generosity of CRI&P management.  slide switches & linkages have been installed in Maybrook and along the mainline.  I think my focus at this point will be to complete the mainline & west end staging.  Once that's complete I can begin some operations testing.

Beyond the construction progress, the big news is that test trains have run successfully from Maybrook to Sparta Jct & return.  Last Saturday I ran the first west bound revenue freight from Maybrook to Sparta Jct, & after delivery of the loconet cable & 6 throttle jacks, Steven Johnson ran the first east bound revenue freight from Sparta Jct to Maybrook.   Last Sunday Marcus came to help with slide switch installation.  Before starting on that project, he ran a "stress test" westbound freight.  2 C420s departed Maybrook with 24 cars, stopping at Warwick to set off 5 underweight cars & pick up 11 fully weighted cars, making a 30 car train, all fully weighted, plus caboose.  I'm pleased to report that 2 C420s made it all the way from Warwick to Franklin (almost a continuous grade at about 1% to DeKays & about 1.75% from DeKays to Hamburg before easing off to Franklin), although it was a very close call in some locations, particularly when the train was stretched thru turnback curves between DeKays & Hamburg.  Nevertheless, expert train handling by Marcus got the job done; very impressive!  In any event, since I'm planning 25 car max trains, I now feel confident that 2 C420s can handle that train length.  Since the other L&HR road power will be Atlas Classic RS3s, & a pair of Atlas CNJ SD35s, both of which I know to be good pullers, I'm confident that all L&HR trains can operate over the road with 2 units. 

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! 

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.