beliveable shortline?

[Anonymous]

im going to model the guilford RR on my new layout, but recently found an atlas c424 in guilford colors. it has boston and maine markings. i now want to create a conecticut shortline, a branchline of guilford. i would call it the "fairfeild & new london" does this sound like a pluasable name for a frieght railroad? what is the minimum radius for an HO c424?

thanx in advance
GEARHEAD426[8]

[roadrat]

If the c424 is a 4 axle unit then I think 18" is the bare min. if its a 6 axle then I think the bare min is 22".
Your RR name sounds good to me but I'm no expert in RR names, I am still trying to find one of my own.


bill

[BRJN]

That sounds plausible, but I would hedge my bets by checking with an atlas and a dictionary.

What would your RR do for a living that the New Haven and the Penn Central could not manage to do?

[pcarrell]

It sounds OK to me.

Fairfield is very nice but I don't know that it offers much RR action.

I would suggest though that maybe you should change Fairfield to Bridgeport. You see, I lived in both through most of the 80's and Bridgeport would offer much more railroading opportunities. Fairfield is mainly an upper class suburban area. About all they have for RR's to do is haul commuters to New York. Bridgeport on the other hand, is far more industrial. The Sikorski (spelling?) helicopter people are there as well as many other manufacturers. Shipping is pretty busy also. Commuters could be done because the same line that runs from New York to Fairfield continues on into Bridgeport. Furthermore, there is the Long Island ferry. It docks in Bridgeport. More Commuters!

If you look at a map you'll find that Bridgeport is right next to Fairfield. When driving form one to the other there is very little in the way of scenery to tell you that you've passed from one to the other. Just a sign, and the feeling of moving from some VERY nice suburbs to the city.

Maybe you are already familiar with the area and already know all this, but i thought I'd share.

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by pcarrell

It sounds OK to me.

Fairfield is very nice but I don't know that it offers much RR action.

I would suggest though that maybe you should change Fairfield to Bridgeport. You see, I lived in both through most of the 80's and Bridgeport would offer much more railroading opportunities. Fairfield is mainly an upper class suburban area. About all they have for RR's to do is haul commuters to New York. Bridgeport on the other hand, is far more industrial. The Sikorski (spelling?) helicopter people are there as well as many other manufacturers. Shipping is pretty busy also. Commuters could be done because the same line that runs from New York to Fairfield continues on into Bridgeport. Furthermore, there is the Long Island ferry. It docks in Bridgeport. More Commuters!

If you look at a map you'll find that Bridgeport is right next to Fairfield. When driving form one to the other there is very little in the way of scenery to tell you that you've passed from one to the other. Just a sign, and the feeling of moving from some VERY nice suburbs to the city.

Maybe you are already familiar with the area and already know all this, but i thought I'd share.

that sounds good to me. i plan to have a steel stamping mill on my layout(coil cars in, scrap gondalas out) and i could have boxcars of finished stamped stuff outbound to the sikorski plant on a future extention(its a 4x8).

as for the commuters and larger industral activity, i plan to build a large layout when i get a house of my own, and it could "interchange" with the current layout. i currently live in gales ferry in CT(near groton) and we have some RR action near the CT river, the latest i saw was CN rmpx 9426 and a necr geep humping cars around near the new london yard. ill need to ask some switchman if sikorski recives rail deliveries, and take a trip to bridgeport.

BRJN, to answer your question, my railroad is post- new haven, and might have aquired old NH equipment. Penn Central probably wouldnt bother with small southern CT local freights.
[8]

[waltersrails]

sounds good to me. i thought at first you where talking about my town of Fairfield, IL
lol

[David_Telesha]

There are no industries what so-ever that receive rail in Bridgeport - Sikorsky doesn't.

There is a small plant on the Stratford border that gets covered hoppers but thats it. It is served by CSX.

Don't bother driving all the way to Bridgeport - its not worth going.

BTW, if it was 1970ish or before, I'd have a totally different answer...

[roadrat]

The great thing about model railroading is that in your world Sikorsky will decide that is does need a rail siding and maybe some big wig will decide to build a factory right there in bridgeport.
I know in my MRR world CP is going to abandon it's Mattawamkeag subdivision 20 years early[;)].

bill

[BRAKIE]

QUOTE: Originally posted by David_Telesha

There are no industries what so-ever that receive rail in Bridgeport - Sikorsky doesn't.

There is a small plant on the Stratford border that gets covered hoppers but thats it. It is served by CSX.

Don't bother driving all the way to Bridgeport - its not worth going.

BTW, if it was 1970ish or before, I'd have a totally different answer...

David,Wasn't for modeling licenses several famous model railroads would have nothing to haul..Although my C&HV isn't famous I had to use modeling licenses to fill my freight cars with more "freight" aka stale air.[:D]

[BRAKIE]

GEARHEAD,IMHO Bridgeport and New London sounds good..[:D] Food for thought..My CH&V is one of 7 short lines owned by the CDB Indusrtries..Your short line could be part of the Guilford system.
===============================================================
BRJN asks:What would your RR do for a living that the New Haven and the Penn Central could not manage to do?
============================================================
Starting in the early 70s railroads started spinning off marginal profit branch lines..This was the beginning of the modern short line era and in that light Gearheads short line idea is very believable.

[pcarrell]

I find it difficult to believe (not saying it's impossibe) that a city the size of Bridgeport, with all its docks and heavy industry, don't have a rather extensive rail industry.

I wasn't into trains so much when I lived there, but it's a good size city with a port and heavy industry, and that will draw the rails.

The helecopter plant does a lot of testing of copters, but it also has a very large shop area, so something is going on in there. I'm sorry but I can't remember if there's rails there or not.

Whatever the case, the ports are there, New York is not to far away, the commuter line is there, and New Haven and Hartford are just north of there, so something HAS to be happening, you know?

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by BRJN

That sounds plausible, but I would hedge my bets by checking with an atlas and a dictionary.

What would your RR do for a living that the New Haven and the Penn Central could not manage to do?

Use it as a bridge line...for part of the traffic at least.
You can transfer or run through.

With the ferry mentioned you could go to a rail ferry...to?

[David_Telesha]

Hey Brakie![:D]

I'm not saying there's anything wrong with that.[:p]

But going down there won't really help anything is what I was getting at. You'll see a bunch of run down factories and might wind up with bullet holes in your car!! Most of what was there is gone - believe me. I live near Gales Ferry and its a long trip down to B'port.

PCarrel:

Hard as it is to believe, the only rail infrastructure down there is the New Haven line and the siding I was talking about by St. Micheal's Cemetary. That facility that gets covered hoppers is the only customer in the area - I was told this by MN, P&W, and CSX employees.

Bridgeport used to be covered with tracks - but they are all removed, paved over, or disconnected. There are some down by Remington Arms (abandoned and mostly demolished) and here and there, but not much.

What I meant to get at in my previous post was if you want to get a good idea of what it was like and for heavy industry, look at some pre-1970 pictures of the New Haven and Penn Central in Bridgeport.

If you go there now, you won't get an idea of the heavy industry and endless trackage that once was in Bridgeport - not to mention the once beautiful downtown with its shopping.

So, no - nothing is "happening" - sad as it is.
Sikorsky owns its own fleet of tractor trailers and what isn't flown you will see on the back of trailers, including rotors, engines, etc.. Heavy industry in Bridgeport is dead Stanley is gone, the steel companies are gone, Metropolitan auto body is gone, gone gone gone.
My parents grew up in Bridgeport and lived in the region, and I have been down there many times - so I have a good what was and is unfortunately no more. B'port used to be an awesome city.

-------------------------------

Gearhead:

My suggestion would be the Waterbury and New London - it has a nice ring to it. Plus, Guilford currently operates the Highland line Berlin to Waterbury and its currently a nicer city - plus its more scenic outside the downtown - Waterbury used to be in the brass business and had lots of industry as well.

It's more of the area you'd expect a industrial "shortline" - plus it gives the opportunity to model diesel MN branchline commuter trains and the Railroad Museum of New England which is in the area.

That way, your NH F-7 (puschased/owned by CDOT for Shore Line East NH-New London and stored at RMNE) and your NH RS unit would fit right in.

Then you could tie it in with a large layout like the branchline the real thing is!

Cool huh?[8D][:D]

[BRAKIE]

David,I know what you are talking about since I seen industrial cities fade into near ghost towns here in Ohio with very little industry and in some cases railroads left..[:(]
The point I was trying to make is some times we must add industries where there is little industries or coal mines that would warrant rail service.[;)][:D]

Of course we could take the easy way out and model a abandon short line,branch line or industrial branch.[:0] Just think of all the money we could save!! [;)] [:p]

[pcarrell]

QUOTE: Originally posted by David_Telesha

Hey Brakie![:D]

PCarrel:

Hard as it is to believe, the only rail infrastructure down there is the New Haven line and the siding I was talking about by St. Micheal's Cemetary.

Well, like I said, I haven't been around there in about 20 odd years. Maybe either some modelers license is in order, or maybe backdating????? [8D]