The Pequonnock Branch

Thieu Mar 30, 2019

  1. Thieu

    Thieu TrainBoard Member

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    I have built (too) many layouts, and none of them ever got finished. Two of them were called The Pequonnock Branch. Eventually, I decided to quit building layouts and instead focus on building modules. Without a good train room, it felt pointless to start over again and again and again. But now, I have a train room! And it has a door that stays closed all day! So, no dust anymore, and also very important: no cats walking over the layout and leaving their hairs everywhere.

    The new Pequonnock Branch layout will be small, since the room is rather small. And I have several modules and other projects that need storage too, so I can't use all the space. But I hope that it will be enough to build something nice, with a lot of scratchbuilt houses, and tracks to display my roster of New Haven equipment.

    I have started this week with building the wooden frame in my garage. Today, I have put the layout at its spot, in the train room.

    Next step: a trackplan. And then: ordering track.

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  2. Thieu

    Thieu TrainBoard Member

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    I have a the track plan now: a double oval with a station and some industrial spurs. I 'designed' the plan by using trackpieces. After a while, I was happy with the results. There are enough tracks at the station for my passenger cars, and there are enough spurs to spot freight cars. The curves are Kato, the turnouts and flextracks are Peco c55.

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    I also started with renovating some of my scratchbuilt houses. A few only needed a chimney and some weathering, another house needed a complete storefront and paint. A very old factory - built in my early days of scratchbuilding - needed a new roof. The picture on the left shows 'before', the picture on the right 'after'.

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    There was still a New Haven tower kit laying somewhere around. I had bought it many years ago but did not want to build it, since it is wooden lasercut and I really don't like that material..... So I asked my wife to build it :)

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  3. BNSF FAN

    BNSF FAN TrainBoard Supporter

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    I like the track plan. Looks like it will be fun to operate.
     
  4. Hardcoaler

    Hardcoaler TrainBoard Member

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    Wow, she did a great job on it, pagoda roof and all. (y) NYNH&H towers had an unmistakable architectural style all their own.
     
  5. BoxcabE50

    BoxcabE50 HOn30 & N Scales Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    (y)(y)(y):D
     
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  6. Thieu

    Thieu TrainBoard Member

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    Started with a new building for Main Street.

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    Attached Files:

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  7. Thieu

    Thieu TrainBoard Member

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    Finally, I have finished the building:

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  8. rockislandfan

    rockislandfan New Member

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    I like your track plan. Do you have any updated overhead pics?
     
  9. bremner

    bremner Staff Member

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    looks like I am going to have yet another project
     
  10. Thieu

    Thieu TrainBoard Member

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    No, sorry, I haven't done anything about the tracks during the last few months. I am very slow... And I have several projects at the same time. Now, I have to build a oNetrak module before september, so I am a little bit in a hurry. But I am also constructing and detailing some buildings for my layout, otherwise I would probably forget about having the layout.I t is rather hot outside, so I hardly go to the train room......
     
  11. Thieu

    Thieu TrainBoard Member

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    The most difficult task is finding good store names. At least, I think it's difficult..... But I succeeded and gave the stores some names. Most of those names are also used on other modules, so the tobacco shop has several stores now (and since the layout depicts the 50's/60's, smoking is still very healthy :whistle: ).

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  12. BNSF FAN

    BNSF FAN TrainBoard Supporter

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    Naming your building can be both fun and a challenge. Looks like you picked some good ones. The main thing is to for it to sound good and be fun at the same time.

    When building my old layout, I thought about it a lot and then decided it would be cool to name stores after friends and family. These will stay with their names as they transition to the new layout I am building. Some were just too easy like the hobby shop named "Rule's Rails" and "Pat's Pizza". Others followed the persons interest like "Randal's Golf Shop" and "Wendell's Gun & Pawn". Another fun thing was I did one empty building that had a banner that said "Space for Lease" and the phone number was "867-5309". Surely someone here will get that.
     
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  13. mtntrainman

    mtntrainman TrainBoard Supporter

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    Same here. I have a list of family members and friends for bussiness names. I even have our pets names for the same. I just have to get around to making the signs and finally putting them on the buildings (y)
     
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  14. Thieu

    Thieu TrainBoard Member

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    Some of the Dutch names can be translated into English, which somehow disguises the fact that I used the name of a friend or family member. And the comicbook store was easy to link to the guy who likes reading and collecting comicbooks, just like I named the tobacco shop after my smoking grandfather.
     
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  15. bremner

    bremner Staff Member

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    There were a lot of Dutch ran companies in Southern California near the old Pacific Electric tracks in Bellflower
     
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