The Boston & Maine In New Hampshire 6' X 3' Layout

After many years of reading about others progress on their layouts, I have finally decided to document my own. Rather than give you all the information about the hows and whys, I figured I'll update prototype information as I progress on the layout. A sort of "Why that spur is there" and so on. So if it is morning for you as it is for me as I write this, brew up a fresh pot of coffee and read on.

A few things to tell you before we release the brakes on this thread. The layout was technically started in earnest in 2006. Even earlier if one wanted to get even more technical. Rather than show you that progression, I have decided to start in 2006. If the earlier history sounds interesting, that progression is documented in my blog here on Trainboard. Because construction started in 2006, the surroundings will look different from time to time.

Second is what this railroad is. Simply put, I am modeling the B&M Northern line that runs from Concord New Hampshire and terminates in White River Junction. I am modeling a time that is not as popular with many B&M fans, that of the mid to late 1970's. While the older fans of the B&M enjoy modeling the "Berks" and streamlined maroon and multistripe gold F units, I choose to model the B&M from a period I remember. I like the blue and white Geeps as that is what I remember. Also of note, the B&M that had been in bankruptcy for so long was starting to do much better under the leadership of Alan Dustin. The B&M would receive new GP40-2's in 1978, the first new locomotives since receiving the GP38-2's in 1971. But I'm getting ahead of my self, onward!


The first thing I did was design the bench work. Nothing major here, clear pine 1" X 4' and 6' boards make up the "box". The box area is roughly 6 feet long by 3 feet wide. All lumbar is screwed together with wood screws, with pilot holes and a dab of yellow glue for neatness and strength.


Next are the legs. The legs were made of clear pine in two widths. One of 1" X 2" and the other of 1" X 1". The legs are measured at a length to give the layout a hight of 40". Again, wood screws and glue aid in construction. Holes were drilled at the bottom of each leg so that leveling feet that screw in and out could be installed. That way no matter where I set this up, I can have a level layout. Two holes were drilled per leg and are attached to the layout box by two carriage bolts and wing nuts. A small brace is on the corner of each leg also using carriage bolts and wing nuts. The layout is meant to be somewhat portable so that it can be viewed at shows and moved from home to home. It will also fit in most mid sized SUV's or "shudder" Mini Vans.


Here we can see the corner braces I spoke of earlier. Joined with them are stringers that span the width of two legs to aid in alignment. The framing aspect of this layout is done.

More to come....

 

I next glued and installed the fascia. This would later prove to be a bad idea as the fascia seen here is from the layout of previous construction, however it is presented here for posterity.


More for ease of wiring later, I glued and secured with wood screws a piece of 1/8" pine plywood on top of the layout deck. I could have glued the foam down on the girders but I felt the plywood would make it easier to route wires later and give the layout a bit more strength in transport. In retrospect I am glad I have done this as the layout has since moved from Winnebago IL, to Champaign IL, to Mahomet IL to Newton NJ, all within the span of five years! It soon will make another journey back to DeLand IL then Monticello IL. Next I carefully measured and cut a piece of 2" x 4' X 8' pink styrofoam and glued it on top of the 1/8" plywood. When you come to this phase of the build, do yourself a favor and take a walk down the model airplane isle. I wanted to clearly establish the centerline for all my track work. I used a ruler, a home made tool and a Top Flite Panel line pen. One could also use the newer fine point Sharpie pens, however I had easy access to the panel line pen. Here you can see the lines are marked and ready for roadbed.


And now my fancy bit of New England engineering. I wanted the widest radius space would allow. The track is all Atlas Code 55 and because I was using track tools to allow a perfect radius, I carefully measured a piece of foam board, drilled a hole to allow the pen to fit in and found the middle of the layout plus three more points on the edges and well you can see for yourself how it went.

​More to come...

 

Here we have the majority of the roadbed down. I'm using Woodland Scenics foam roadbed as well as their Foam Tack glue. I completely love this combination. At first I was not sure how foam roadbed would do as I was used to the standard cork roadbed on previous HO and N scale layouts. I can report that since the above picture was taken, I have had zero problems with track work. My theory is that the foam is not subject to temp and humidity changes as much as cork. My process for the roadbed is easy and quick. I first slit the individual pieces of roadbed into two pieces with a clean and new #11 blade in my hobby knife. Next I smear a thin layer of the foam tack glue onto the bottom of the roadbed and let the glue set for a minute. The glue is just what it says, "tack". allowing the glue to set up a bit before applying it really helps. The roadbed is placed on either side of the center line drawn earlier then held down with T-pins. I simply lay, press down, apply T-pin and move on. The results are a nice flat roadbed ready for track later. I allowed the glue to dry a few hours before pulling up the T-pins.


Here we see the majority of the track is laid on the layout. The entire mainline as well as the large siding is on the roadbed. All the future spurs and sidings will have a transition from main and will be glued to the layout base per the prototype. This side of the layout will be Potter Place NH and will with very little compression be scale.


The layout will be DCC, so I have installed feeders after every two pieces of flex. In an attempt to best hide the feeders I first used Atlas Code 55 feeders, bent the wire and channeled the wire through the foam and down below as seen here. Once replacement ties are placed, the track is painted, weathered, and ballasted, one will have a hard time seeing these feeders. To keep everything running smoothly, these joints are soldered together. I soldered the curves and all joiners that had feeders, however some rail joiners were not soldered. This was to help with temp and humidity changes as our model track will expand and contract much like the full scale does.

​More to come...

 

Actually the tools I was talking about are rather old school. I drew out the plan in a rather strange way. I used a sheet of paper, scale measured to the area I had and used a plastic template that had all the curves, turnouts and such for N scale. I found this tool at a show a number of years ago and have doodled many a track plan while trackside. To ensure a nice even curve, I use Ribbonrail products Track Alignment Gauge. This is made specifically for N scale flex track. It fits between the ties and used in conjunction with the foam tack glue, makes track work easy and kink free.

 

Hmm. Now you have me thinking- Somewhere around here I have a track planning template, bought about thirty years ago. The search should keep me occupied for too long....

 

The first area of the layout that will get the most work will be that of Potter Place NH. Potter Place NH is a small town just north of Andover NH and south of Danbury NH. At one time, the major NH roads, Route 11 and Route 4 went through town. In the 1950's, NH DOT moved the joint routes just north east of town. While old route 4 still went through town and on to Danbury and White River Junction, the new age of the automobile convinced most to stay on the uncluttered joint route above the town.


Here is a picture of the prototype. We are standing on Cilleyville road looking south towards Concord. The area that is a bike path now is the siding seen in the last picture of this post. The second is what is left of the main. Next we see the small siding as well as the B&M freight depot with a classic (okay not really) Oldsmobile. The road behind the depot is old Route 4. This road follows the B&M Northern line for many miles, all the way up to White River Junction VT. I have not laid the smaller siding that is seen here just off to our left.


Now a closer look at things. The smaller siding that once served this freight depot is clearly seen on our right, followed by the remainder of the main. Again, the bike path in the back ground is the old secondary main, turned large siding sometime after 1925. Check out the classic PS-1 B&M box car from a 1956 order!


Here we see the model version sans the small siding for the freight building. In this picture we see the main line as well as the end of the long siding. At one time this was a dual main, hence the use of roadbed for the siding. Cilleyville road has been marked but not placed yet.

​More to come...

 

I should point out that the track plan originally had a number 7 left hand turnout on this side of the layout. This was originally going to service a Walthers Medusa Cement plant. After more research I realized that this industry was too big for such a small layout. It would also not fit in my scheme of things. In came the wrecking crew.


Here you can see the turnout and associated track and roadbed has been removed. The feeders are installed on the north end of the main (our left). Look closely and you will see the black lines of the former track center lines but also the scale measurements of what will be Cilleyville road.


Here we see the mainline roadbed partially down with the aforementioned feeders installed.

In October, I drove my Father up to PP with me and with a 100' tape measure, I measured as much as I could. Using Cilleyville road as our center point, we measured as many landmarks we could. With each measurement, a picture was taken and the measurements along with the photo number were documented in my book. Once back at the layout in NJ, I could start my work. As fate would have it, the large siding to the south (our right) was identical to the remains in present day Potter Place. Comparing my calculations to the model was easy. While the main was still present, indeed, even the grade crossing was still there, the start of the large siding had been removed some time around 1994. Ironically, this small section of main however is still used, albeit for a hand car during old home days. The turnout had been cut out of the main but both the long ties and remnants of the switch stand remained. The biggest clue however was the two cuts in the main where the turnout and all its hardware was removed, then new rail was added and realigned to to the main. With this information in hand I realized that the first turnout to the large siding was 28 feet from the edge of Cilleyville Road. Now construction would start in earnest.


Here is the start of Cilleyville Road. Over the years I have experimented with various different types of materials for roads in N scale with various forms of success. Lately, thanks in part to T-Trak, I have developed a somewhat more durable solution than that of hydrocal or other dry mix products. The roadbed is simply made of foam board that is used food in a supermarket or deli. Once the foam is thoroughly washed, I cut the curved sides off until I have a flat piece of foam. Since my measurements of the width of Cilleyville Road turned out to be roughly 24 feet, that transfered into 1 and 3/4 inch in N scale. Using an N scale ruler to measure the width of the road, I cut a strip cutting at roughly a 45 degree angle. For the portion that would but up against the grade, I cut a negative 45 degree angle. The foam roadbed was glued down to the layout as see above. Next a piece of styrene is used to complete the surface of the road. I have found a great and inexpensive supply of plastic styrene at most stores by using standard "For Sale" or "Garage Sale" signs. This too was cut, bevel sanded and was secured to the top of the foam roadbed (and in this case) butted up against the rail with a foam safe CYA glue normally used for RC planes. I used UFO by Satellite City. The center section was added by carefully taking into account the width of the road as well as clearance of rail road equipment after the rails and ties in this area was painted.

As you can see I have bitten off a lot here, but hopefully can prove a point. Just because our pikes are small, doesn't mean they are not packed with detail.

​More to Come...

 

I'm sure this is a bit more wordy than some build threads, but for those interested in prototype modeling, I hope my build thread will help and perhaps inspire. Also, please feel free to ask any questions you might have. Ok, that said, onward!

Lets put the last post into perspective.


Here is modern day Potter Place. We are standing roughly in the middle of the grade crossing on Cilleyville Road. We are looking south (towards Concord). Look carefully and you will see the cut marks in the rail I spoke of earlier. One can also see clearly where a set of tracks went parallel to the main on our right.


Here we have a close up of where the turnout used to lie, 28 feet here to the center line of Cilleyville Road.


Now the same seen in N and as it would have looked in 1976. With this small amount of information, the rest of the town can progress.

So why use Cilleyville Road as a focus? Perhaps because at one time, it was one way people would have entered the town of Potter Place and continued south to Concord via Route 4 or Franklin via Route 11 or even north on Route 4. For a layout such as this, the road becomes the focus because like the traveler, one enters the layout walking towards the road and the layout expands from there. Also, since I was able to nail down the measurements for the turnout to the road, I like the prototype, can build off from that and expand.

I will hold off on painting the road until old Route 4/11 is down. That way I can airbrush, detail and weather and give two roads a somewhat unifying look. So that is next, or maybe I'll do a little scenery work. Hope your enjoying the updates.

​More to Come...

 

With Cilleyville Road set in and not wanting to do anything north of the town until more measurements were received, I felt like getting rid of the pink landscape. For months my efforts of getting a cheap latex paint were thwarted by lack of return "oops paints" and inept store employees. The best was the store clerk who tried to sell me some Martha Stuart house latex paint named "Warm Mocha Latte" or something to that effect for the grand price of $14.95 for a pint.

People on this board have talked about a nice inexpensive paint for years yet for some reason I never let it sink into my thick skull. Then on one of those rare days where I was stocking up on supplies, I remembered said paint. I went over to the craft section of the store and found the "Apple Barrel" brand of acrylics. They came in a squeeze bottle and in a rather large range of colors. At around $1.95 and .99 cents a bottle, I stocked up. It was time to give the Northern line a bit of landscape.


Here we are in Potter Place once again. This would be the northern most corner on the layout. Here we see the main, the short siding on the right and what was once the large siding, turned bike path, to our right. The old B&M freight depot is to our right and just behind the building is old Route 4/11, now depot St. On the small siding to the right is a B&M 50 foot PS-1 from a 1956 order. for perspective, lets see the same location in N scale.


A slight mock up here. Our middle track is the main, the track to the left is the large siding and you can see where the short siding has been mocked up. Currently I can't start this piece of track work yet as I'm waiting for a curved right hand turnout. A Micro Trains B&M FMC 50 foot box car and a Walthers building is standing in for their prototypes.

The landscape here is anything but the fine golf grass landscapes one may find on some landscapes. We have a few elements, mud, earth, weeds, leaves and brush. Step one was to do a bit of land forming as this area is anything but flat.


To the side of the large siding is a rather steep embankment. On my survey trip in October, I risked the chance encounter of the Northern Water Snake and took a look of this area. The area that would be mostly in the un modeled edge of my layout is a mix of a marsh, small run offs and a pond. Prime location for Black Bear and Moose as well as our reptile friend. Back home I removed the edge fascia and carefully carved the embankment with a large knife. I then cut the bottom out with an ordinary wood saw.

​More to Come...

 

Here we are just a bit further north on the line from the pictures in the last post. Look carefully to our left next to where the large siding turned trail is and you can see the start of the embankment to the pond. There is not much room there between trail and embankment. The tree population that is there looks young, I would say within the last 25 years. That tells me that when B&M still owned and operated this stretch, these trees were not here. So those will not be in the N scale scene.


I will apologize here right now for getting so into my work and not stopping and taking progress pictures here, but then again we have all seen plaster cloth. I cut said plaster cloth into 4" sections, wet and applied to the area, overlapping by half as I did. Once the surface dried, I went ahead and painted the area with an assortment of the Apple Barrel colors with a foam brush. I mixed browns and grays for the embankment and then mixed the black in for the pond area. While the embankment was wet, I sprinkled on some Woodland Scenics weeds, dirt and various other ground covers. Last, I applied some talus, and rock.


Now this scene is far from done, our local GP9 is out with a solitary BN car running on the siding. To make this scene complete I still need to add my curved turnout, replace ties, paint the rails, paint the ties, weather the track then add to the landscape. I will ad small granite rock out croppings on the embankment as well as the pond floor, this is the granite state after all. Next will come a ground cover of ground leaves and debris such as limbs and tree remains. Once this is done, a shallow cover of water will come up to the embankment and cover the pond area with many of the details sticking out of the water. Perhaps a deer or Moose will occupy the area. Once landscape is done, I will finish the scene with ballast.

So even though this is just a corner of the layout, it still packs a bit of detail. I'll return to this section later. Next I'll discuss how to replicate a long straight mainline that reaches into the distance while modeling in a small 6X3 foot space.

​More to come...

 

Thank you Primavw and everyone that may be reading. Again, I realize that most of this looks rather boring as I am comparing a stark model lanscape of track work to a photograph of an actual place. What's more, the prototype place modeled has changed some what since 1976, a full 35 years later. However this is all important for me to at least make the scenes look right.

As work progressed, I realized I was running out of measurements. My Father and I had successfully measured all the landmarks from the edge of Cilleyville road and south, but did not get anything north including the platform, station and size of the adjacent parking area. This would later rear up its ugly head later when I tried to install the spur north of the station. A quick look at my notes showed that I had written down a name and number I had found on the station back in October. Pat (last name left out for privacy) was the current Curator of the Potter Place Stations and General store, someone who could help with some questions. I made plans to head to New Hampshire in December, a few days after Christmas, to observe said holiday and to take some time to get measurements.


I contacted Pat and told her what I was doing and we agreed to meet later that afternoon. Potter Place is just a short drive from where my parents are and where I grew up. Upon arriving, my Father and older brother and I started our measurements of all land marks north of Cilleyville road. Once Pat showed up, many questions were answered and for at three hours, we were given the grand tour of the town, both in it's present form and how it looked 100 years ago. Pat found the map which is the picture above. As you look at the map, realize that from this perspective, we are standing in the middle of the layout. We can see the large siding as well as the main and smaller siding on our left and the passenger station on our right. Cilleyville Road, as in the layout, is in the middle, connecting to Route 4/11.


With measurements in hand, a large amount of pictures from Potter Place past and a new contact I was ready to finalize a lot of the layout. Originally before my December trip, I had located and replicated a spur just north of the station. As you can see above, I took great pains to "get it right" by making a transition from the main and into the dirt as well as try to give the look of many years of frost heaves. Unfortunately once I started comparing my notes and measurements to what I had on my layout, it just didn't add up. Out came the wrecking crew once again.


Once all the math had been done, I ran into the next problem. I was running out of straight main line track. Not to far from where the Potter Place station would go was the start of my curve that brought my trains to the other end of the layout again. I needed to give the look of a straight main line, yet allow for continuous operation at shows, but hide the fact the layout is indeed an oval. Help me Obi Wan Kanobi, your my only hope....

​More to come...

 

Thank you Hank, and rest assured, there will be some Minuteman steam and diesel as I have now found evidence of such things on this line in the 1970's! The thought of perhaps donating this to Pat and the Historical Society has crossed my mind. Were I to move back to New Hampshire versus Illinois soon, I would end up helping restore that boxcar as well as other items found there. Time will tell and it may happen as I still want a walk around layout for the C&I line of the CB&Q at some point in my life.

Onward! When I last left you, I had a problem, space. It really is the last frontier in modeling terms. I needed to depict a long straight main line past the station as seen in the post above. Problem is, I still need continuous operation for shows and so that oval demon rears its ugly head again. Turns out the very thing that was/is my enemy, is also my friend. The original plan was to model the route 11 overpass that goes over the main line past the passenger station. This overpass is part of Route 11 and would also form the basis for the ridge line that would act as a scenic block, breaking the layout into two places. Imagine the Route, roughly splitting the layout in two in a semi serpentine pattern. The south end of Route 4 now Depot Street, would progress up hill and intersect with Route 11. By turning right at the intersection, we would cross the two tracks and head south towards Concord. The north end of Route 4 from Cilleyville road would head north and under Route 11 (in this era) and connect to Route 11 just before the overpass. See how I tied that up in a neat bow? Route 11, becomes the scenic divider on top of a hill and crosses the tracks in two places. Viewed from Potter Place, this is Route 11. Viewed from the other side, the road can be anything. One scenic detail, two different places in time. We just have one problem, space.

Remember that when I came back to Jersey, I realized that my mainline as modeled then was much too short, and the spur was too close to the platform. Closer analysis of the main line with the north spur and subsequent Route 11 overpass brought me to the conclusion that within the confines of my space, neither would be viewable. Essentially, they were further down the line. So much for using the Route 11 Overpass over the line! But I still had the problem with not enough main line. Then my coffee kicked in.


I carefully removed the spur, and after a lot of measuring, I cut the track out and installed a right hand #5 turnout. as seen here. Take a close look. To our right is the paper template of the approximate size and place of Potter Place station. To our right is the "model main", straight ahead is the "prototype main." Now I know what your thinking, your saying out load at your monitor right now, "Yeah but Jim, there is no switch there and now that track is going to cross Route 4 and totally ruin the prototype look you were working towards!" Well yes and no. Remember how I said space is our friend too? Well I don't need to model the overpass as it's a scale two feet down the line. Further research into the area in the 1970's showed that the area between the mainline and Route 4 was dense with trees. Yes, the model main will cross Route 4, but you won't see it. In fact, you won't see the end of the mainline unless you look at the main from its level. Between terrain and trees, the edge of the layout, it's end and the oval, all of it, will not be seen. Kind of like what Hollywood does with towns and buildings. What is seen looks real, but walk around to the side of the set and you see that the building is nothing more than a false front wall. This is another way to use force perspective in our modeling. The viewer will see a train emerge from a densely wooded area, going past the station, crossing Cilleyville road, past the freight depot and out of frame. The illusion here is to force the viewer to believe he or she is track side in Potter Place, watching a train from White River Junction head down to Concord. Perhaps a way to say in modeling terms, "Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain!"
Now to further illustrate my points before we start planting trees.


Here we see our local GP9 taking the model main. The area just past the station will be hilly and covered with trees, just like the prototype. Anything past the black gondola will not be visible when finished.


Here now we see the prototype main with our local heading north to White River Junction VT. Again anything past the black gondola will not be visible.

So there you have it. Can I pull it off? Can I still use Route 11 as a natural scenic divider? Stay tuned.

​More to come...

 

Railroad Bill, thanks for your post and advice. Good to know what you have done since both of us are using the same DCC, the Zephyr. So far I have three drops on the main oval. The "industry" side will probably have drops on each industry spur and soldered connections. On the main, I only soldered the two pieces of flex that make the curves. This was done mainly to keep the dreaded kink out of the connection halfway into the curve. It's good to know your reliability your having with a larger layout, now I don't feel so guilty for not soldering every joint. I figured to leave some joints unsoldered so expansion would not later kink my main.

Thanks for the kind words and the post with your helpful information

 

Thank you very much, I'm glad your enjoying the thread and hope it can help out on your layout as well. To answer your primary question, why yes!


So here we are as of this morning as evidenced by the fresh cup of coffee, and yes, it is a B&M mug:thumbs_up: From the front of the layout is Potter Place. North is to our left, south to our right. Cilleyville road is in the center, the dark path to the left is the roadbed for North Route 4. Paper templates notate the area of the Passenger station (left) and freight depot (right). The back area with all the track is yet to be modeled. That track and its spurs will be re-done at a future date. You can see in this view I have started laying the roadbed to Route 4. I'm simply using styrofoam meat trays for this. I wash them, cut the edges off then cut them to the road size, beveling the edges. Once all the foam roadbed is down, I sand this smooth and glue the styrene on top, rough it up, feather the edges, then I mix up some Hydrocal with few drops of Grimy Black in it and use that to smooth over my transitions. Once all my road is laid, I'll go back and distress, airbrush, patch, line and weather the road.

As of this morning, I have been painting and detailing the track between Cilleyville Road and the #5 switch past the Passenger station. I'm hand painting it so it is taking longer, but my theory is that most of the critical eyes will be in this area so individual tie painting and weathering will only help capture the feel. Another advantage of a small layout.

​More to Come...