Start of piggyback service

We have piggyback service in Portland now.

Temporary Barge

I'm way behind in posting any info on my updates. You will see that many of these pictures are way behind the actual progress, but I'll try to get them in the proper order.

I decided to put in a temporary barge until the scenery is complete in the back. This allows us to do barge actions while waiting for the whole thing to be finished

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New Control Panels

The panels are fully functional for both locations. All current tracks are operable in Portland. One extra control button for when the barge is actually installed

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Panels Ready to Install

Unfortunately the tape pulled off some of the black paint, but we are ready to get back downstairs and change out some electronics.

New panels

With all of the changes in Portland, I needed to make a new panel for Portland. I initially made one similar to the bottom, but sized for the top. It was cramped.

During the last session, I noticed that Bath had a much larger panel than needed. The good news was Bath needed to be fixed anyway. There was a button in the wrong spot.
I decided to go ahead and make two new panels, with the intent of swapping the two boxes around. There is more work involved, but it will be better in the long run.

These particular panels will get painted white and then the tape will be removed revealing a black track diagram. The holes for the lights and buttons are already in, they are hidden by the tape.

Portland update

The Portland track that is connected to the main and sidings is complete. I will have to finish up the industrial sidings after the next op session.

The carfloat will be on the south end of Portland and lowered into place to make the waterfront.

Looking at Portland from the south to the north. On the right will be the car float.

Looking south from the northern end of Portland. On the right will be A&P in the back, American Hardware in the middle and Casco Bay Printers up close. On the left will be Chase Transfer

Portland has the potential of becoming a full time job.

Car Float

I have been playing around with the layout for the car float. My initial idea was to place the small yard behind the car float, but I was worried about reaching behind the car float. 

The first picture shows the yard in the front and the barge lowered down behind it

This makes the car float harder to reach and hides the car float from sight. In this case the cars on the float are harder to get to.

This shows the the original plan. If I keep the yard turnouts to the right of the car float crane it should be okay. The barge will be more visible and I'll be able to add wharf area scenery toward the front.

I believe I'll go with the original plan.

First look at the car float

Working up ideas for how the car float will sit in Portland. Each has a benefit that needs to be looked at for which will work the beat.

This one has a better angle for the connection to the siding.

This one has the opportunity to place the holding yard in the front or behind the boat.

Portland progress

It s time to change Portland. It will be the last major construction on the layout. I do not want to cancel a session, so I try to do as much as I can before tearing up the actual layout. In this case it was just easier to "go for it" and hope for the best.

 In the first picture you can see all of the old Code 100 track is now gone and I'm working on cleaning up where new roadbed will go.

I have now added the new benchwork table top where the return loop used to be and started gluing down the roadbed for the mainline and two sidings. In the fore ground is the location of the car float.

I Guess I Need a Slogan

With the change of name I'll need to figure out a slogan for the initials CBN or CBNR.

The old initials had a decent one. BRWM - "Best Ride Within Maine"

CBN Herald and Decals

I made a slight modification to the previously posted heralds. It's color comes in between the two earlier ones and more correctly matches the CMQ herald color

I also found the CMQ decals and the correct paint colors at Highball Graphics. Since most of the decal is here maybe getting the herald and road name printed won't be so bad.

The paint scheme looks like this.

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They suggest Tru Color TCP-84 Maersk Blue and TCP-121 Mo PAC Eagle Gray.

I have ordered the decals and will get the paint soon. I guess learning how to paint and decal is finally rising to the top of my list.

Name Change is Back

Along time ago I was looking into a name change. The original name didn't fit anymore. I also had a hard time trying to make a good logo. One reason was the long Name. I brought it up about a year and half ago, with some possible changes. Since that time I saw pictures of the Central Maine & Quebec Railroad. I liked their logo and paint scheme a lot. I also have always liked the Belfast and Moosehead Railroad name. It runs out they both have a moose in their logo.

The name I had always leaned toward was Casco Bay Northen, which pretty much covers the area I'm modeling.

So I break out Photoshop and try to relearn how to do things. The first try was to modify the BML to colors that matched an engine picture I had and make the Moose a single color like the CMQ.

Then I changed the Moose to black. And even tried a black outline.

Then I brought back the original colors of the Moose.

Then I modified the colors to bett match the CMQ logo colors. I also tried a darker gray, but you couldn't see the name real good. Depending on the light in the picture the engine seems to change colors somewhat.

I'm leaning toward the lighter blue and the Moose with the shading, but I may have to try other colors first.

I also have all of the other names that was mentioned earlier in the photoshop version of this picture, but they are hidden for now. 

Plans for Portland

Here are plans for Portland. The top part of the plan is very similar to what is already in place. Everything to the front is new. I hope to make Portland a lot more water front. This will include the barge (car float) and hopefully three other wharf areas.

I did a preliminary set up and all looks good, but things might change a little as I get started. My biggest worry would be over loading Brunswick yard. At the moment I'm using the old sawmill tracks as a temporary barge. It doesn't do justice to the real thing, but I get a feel for what will happen to the yard. 

Since I made all the changes to the upper and lower level, I added about 25 cars to the layout. The good news is that at least half won't get into Brunswick. So maybe it won't be a problem.

Car Float Will Happen

I decide to go,with the car float, so here is the car float under construction. 

It was suggested that I should use metal rails instead of the provided plastic rails. It was a slight pain to do that, but the results are definitely better. I also started the car float apron to make sure that the change of rails wouldn't mess me up.

Hill Brake Needed

When I made the hill to get down to Bangor, I had to. Start a little closer to Katahdin, to keep the grade lower. During the next Op Session, it was discovered that a hill brake would be needed. I started to make just a temporary block, but decided I could get it done in time for the next session.

It took a few tries with the bending of the wire bit came came up with this.

I had to turn the wire sideways and add a washer to hold the wire in place. I used the block of wood to hold the wire where I wanted it to be.

A view of the brake when it is holding the train in place. it can be operated from a local control panel and by the dispatcher. It will also affect

Next Up Orrington

One of the reasons for these changes was to get more room for the Paper Mill. The move of JB Barrels to Bangor, means that all of Orrington can be the Paper Mill.

First up was to make the coal track accessible from the siding. I then moved the pulp track to the old JBB tracks. Then rearranged the Kraft Mill and Tank car tracks a little.

I lengthened all of the tracks, but the Coal track. As you can see by the amount of cars that ended up here the last time, it was a good idea.

I ended up with about 10 extra spots for the paper mill. Most of those spots come to the pulpwood track. It went from 2 to 6 spots.

Bangor is complete.

George C Brown Sawmill

City proper of Bangor. hood Dairy in the far left. job Barrel in the far right. Bangor Freight in the near right. Bangor Freight Station on the mainline.

New Portland Terminal Wooh Chip Hoppers loaded at the Chip track at George C Brown.

Checking to see if a car float will work.

A carfloat is planned for Portland's expansion, so I decided to test I it would work.

It appears that an angled approach would be best.

Mainline Back In Service

The mainline was returned to service in plenty of time. Since all of these sidings are new and weren't needed right away, I got them mostly in place, but didn't activate them.

In the next picture you will see a new dairy for the Milk Train to work. brown Barrel will be moved from Orrington. And a new freight station.

George C Brown will be moved from two locations to here. 

All in all I will gain four spots from here. Now onto the programming changes.

Things are coming together

After some struggles things are starting to work out. I was able to get Bangor (Old Brewer) down to a switching height of 1" lower than Orrington.

Bangor was moved to the left about eight feet to help in getting the track down to a better height.

Cut in a bridge and a place for my covered bridge while I was at it.

Upper level widening

I had 1 month between sessions and only planned on reducing 8' of upper decking by 9", but keeping the track work.  Needless to say the plan went to hell quickly. The wires were running through holes in the benchwork, which meant I had to disconnect all of them. So what happened was ~30 feet of trackwork got removed.

Since I had to go beyond initial ideas I decided to relay all of the track too.

Looking at this I wondered what I was thinking.