Category Archives: Locomotives and Rolling Stock

Breaking News: C&S Locomotive and Rolling Stock Roster Changes, Corinna Ground Breaking!

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Management at the Corinna & Searsport Railroad has returned from weekend festivities rejuvenated, jazzed and generally ready to move forward with big plans for the railroad. The biggest announcement is that the groundbreaking for the railroad facilities at the town of Corinna will take place within the next two weeks! Even now, supplies are being laid in and organized in anticipation.

With the availability of narrow gauge 2-6-2′s in question, the Corinna & Searsport top brass have opted to instead procure an additional 2-4-4 Forney, especially in light of the very favorable recent test results and extended operational tests this past weekend. Another factor playing into this decision was the cost — not only that of the locomotive, but also in upgrades to the railroad’s infrastructure that would be required by operation of the larger engine.

Arrangements will be made to purchase the new locomotive in the near future.

Additional consideration has also been given to the construction of new, 30′ freight cars for the railroad, replacing the aging fleet of 24′ cars. Construction of the new rolling stock will begin as soon as the car shop finishes the designs. Plans presently call for 16 double-sheathed box cars, of which four will be insulated as well. Additionally, 15 flat cars will be placed in service, all with stake pockets allowing these cars to be used in a variety of configurations.

Finally, although playing heavily into managements’ decision to build a New England narrow gauge railroad in the first place, possible future operations of funky gas-mechanical and “D-Cell” locomotives has been cancelled, although various railcars and railbusses will play a vital role in railroad operations.

Fall Mid-Hudson Meet

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Alan Carroll - the master of the bash

Alan Carroll - the master of the bash

Kevin Hunter and I took a day trip up to the Mid-Hudson meet yesterday, and had a great time. I spent a couple of hours with Alan Carroll, who chopped a pair of 2-4-4′s down to 0-4-4′s for me (they’ll be nos. 4 and 5 on the roster).

I learned a huge amount from Alan yesterday (I do every time I talk with him), and got to see first-hand just how well S-scale standard gauge freight work as O-scale narrow gauge cars — 40′ double sheathed box cars are almost exactly the right dimension to represent a 30′ Maine 2-foot boxcar! I picked up a Showcase single-sheathed car from Alan for reference purposes. The length and width are dot-on, while the height is only off by about 3-scale inches.

The Showcase cars aren’t perfect in several areas, but only one really bothers me. The car ends are far too modern, being steel “dreadnaught” ends. While the details are all too small, they’re not that far off. And, they look right nice behind the Forneys.

Kevin Hunter - building a railroad light-n-easy

Kevin Hunter - building a railroad light-n-easy

Kevin Hunter demonstrated his methods for building model railroads and modules to an attentive group of almost a dozen onlookers. We also demonstrated our “gate legs” for modules, and sold several leg kits.

I missed the tree-making clinic, which was one of the things I specifically drove the five hours for. Hopefully, it will be repeated in the spring.

Les Davis - Mr. DCC

Les Davis - Mr. DCC

Les Davis, as well as being “the man” when it comes to weathering, has taken on the mantle of being the DCC programming expert. I’m glad someone knowledgeable has stepped up to do this, as well as offer the service of installing and setting up locos for people who can’t do it themselves. I really hope he never tires of doing it, because he does it so well.

On the ride up and back, Kevin and I talked extensively about the plans for my railroad (a conversation we continued late this afternoon). We’ve decided that my layout will have no legs. Instead, the parts around the walls will be cantilevered out on steel brackets, and the peninsula will be suspended from the ceiling joists. Track will be code 70, and will be mostly hand-laid. The exception to the hand-laid track will be Corinna, which will be Micro Engineering flex and turnouts. If all goes incredibly well, you’ll be able to see the town of Corinna in person at the 2011 National Narrow Gauge Convention in Hickory, NC. next September. After the convention, the Corinna sections will be permanently installed as part of my home layout.

A Little Planning

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Not much happening, except planning and dreaming. Other “stuph” has gotten in the way of progress of late. That said, a few things have happened:

  • Locos 9 and 10 have come back from the paint shop of Les Davis and look fabulous!
  • Some thought has been given to the room, where it will be entered, where a wall will be built, and the overall shape of the layout.
  • A sketch of a plan has developed for the town of Corinna.
Corinna, ME, c.1936

Corinna, ME, c.1936

Poppin’ and Droppin’ at Kimberton

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Some time ago, I commented that the idea of using fomecore as a roadbed material was not as successful as I’d hoped it would be. Unfortunately, I was not able to show a really good picture of just what went wrong. However, after an unfortunate incident this past weekend at Kimberton involving the module, a small girl and the concrete floor, I’ve got a great shot to illustrate the problem. (For those keeping score, the floor won, the little girl came in second, and the module lost).

Warped Fomecore roadbed

Warped Fomecore roadbed

Anyway, despite having applied a layer of glue across the full surface of the sheet, it is pulling away from the plywood sub-roadbed. The plan to correct the issue is a two-parter. First, I’m going to try using staples to hold the foam down. Then I’ll re-scenic around the foam.

I took a few pictures at the show, which you can see here.

Kimberton was nice and relaxed — a little smaller than previous years. I didn’t pick up much, except for a few pairs of SR&RL freight car trucks, and a couple of really nice older books on the WW&F — Big Dreams and Little Wheels by Ruby Crosby Wiggin and The WW&F Two-Footer by Clinton F. Thurlow. The both contain some info and photographs I hadn’t seen before, and the price was great.

We debuted a few new modules this time around. The modules that Sean Heath and I built as Maryland Minibunch modules some years back came back to me from John Weigel’s layout a couple weeks back, and Kevin Hunter and I built some new legs for them and we got them running for the weekend. The still need a bit of renovation, but they did generate a lot of interest.

Kevin Hunter and I drove up together with our modules. I recently put a hitch on the van, and used it to haul all of our stuff. The old van took us up there just fine — almost. Just about 15 minutes before we arrived, it started misfiring. I called the local Ford dealer to see about it getting fixed, but they didn’t have parts, and were completely booked. In any event, the van got us home just fine, so I’ll take it in next week.

In other news, Corinna & Southern Forneys #9 and #10 have been sent to the Big Horn & Moose Drool shops for a little dress-up. Other locos will be following as time permits.