Hello everyone,
As the title says, I’m new here. My name is Jason and I’m 15 years old from Sudbury, Ontario, Canada. I’ve been reading these forums and have been meaning to subscribe to MRH ever since this site opened up, but I didn‘t get around to it until just recently, so I guess I‘m a little slow. But now I’m finally here, and I’m looking forward to getting some good advice and answers to some of my questions. This is a great site and magazine, and you seem to be a very helpful bunch and I hope to learn a lot from the community. But that’s enough babbling, let’s get on to the main purpose of this thread, my layout plan. But first, just to let you know, this post is pretty long, as I tend to write a lot, so sorry about that if it gets boring.
The Story of the West Bay Railway (WBRC)
The WBRC was inspired by the Thurlow Railway, which was a small railway that operated 2 miles east of Belleville, Ontario serving a large quarry and cement plant up until the late 1970s. For more for a brief history of it, visit http://trainweb.org/oldtimetrains/shortlines/thurlow.html. I came across it accidentally when I was researching the Bay of Quinte Railway, which also used to be located in the area and was (and still is) the railway I always wanted to model. However, realizing that any part of the Bay of Quinte Railway wasn’t going to work within my space, I decided that the Thurlow Railway would be the next best thing, and wanted to model it exactly, although in the present era. The problem though was that even though the quarry and cement plant, as well as the CPR and CNR interchange operations along the railway would be interesting, I didn’t feel there would be enough variety to hold my interest. So, I decided to “protolance” by adding in an industrial park, at the cost of eliminating the cement plant and CPR interchange. After playing around with the plan numerous times, it eventually came to be nothing like the original Thurlow Railway, making it more of a freelanced layout, so I decided to give it it’s current name, the WBRC.
Since my layout went from following a prototype to being freelanced, I needed to create a history for my railway. So, using the Thurlow Railway’s history as a starting point, I came up with the following history for my railway.
The West Bay Railway Company (WBRC) began in 1898 as the Belleville Radial Railway (BRR). Using rails from the former Belleville Street Railway, this electrified line ran 2 ½ miles from the Grand Trunk line east of Belleville to the village of West Bay on the shores of the Bay of Quinte. Its only customer, also it’s owner, was the Belleville Portland Cement Plant, which was able to generate enough traffic to support the line.
In 1951, the line was dieselized, and in 1958, after financial trouble, the railway and cement plant were taken over by Canada Cement (later Lafarge Canada Ltd.), who continued to use the railway line. Switching however, was contracted out to CN (formerly the Grand Trunk), who merged the BRR into their system. There was a switcher permanently placed at the cement plant up until 1974, when Lafarge closed the Belleville Plant. With the line’s only customer gone, CN ceased operations on the line, and after two years, applied to the government for abandonment. It seemed unlikely that the seemingly useless railway would be saved, however, in 1975, the line and quarry properties were purchased by Ag-way Canada Inc, an aggregate company.
This company had recently discovered a very valuable deposit of limestone on the former cement plant site, which could last for up to 50 years, and wanted to use the railway to transport the estimated 40 cars of rail traffic per day that it would generate. In order to do so though, the yard in West Bay had to be relocated to the north end of the village to reach the new quarry and processing facilities. By 1976, this upgrades were complete, and the line was ready to begin operations.
From the beginning, AGC realized it would beneficial for them to own their own locomotive, and in 1976 purchased an EMD NW2 from the TH&B, patched it with their logo, and numbered it as 1300. Over the years though, as traffic increased, this locomotive would prove to be inadequate and very problematic. As a result, AGC replaced the locomotive in 1984 with a former CN EMD GP38-2, patched it with the AGC logo, and numbered it 1301. Although this locomotive was a large investment for the railway, it was perfect for hauling the two daily trains up the grade to the CN interchange, and also prepared the railway for future traffic demands.
Things remained the same for the line until 1985, when AGC granted rail service to a new customer in West Bay, Monaghan Lumber Specialties. In 1988, Ag-way added another spur in West Bay, which was used as a team track and a place for the quarry to receive some of it’s equipement. This was just the beginning, however, as in 1991, a new industrial park began development on the east end of Belleville. Seeing this as a great opportunity to generate more revenue, AGC quickly offered rail service to industries in this new development. By 1994, AGC had two more new customers, Rheem Fabrication Inc. and RS Scrap., a number which would double by 2001 with the addition of EMI Fuels Ltd. and WR Grace Canada Inc.
In 1994, AGC realized that it’s railway was no longer just a private carrier, but a profitable shortline, and decided to give the railway its own identity while still being under the ownership of AGC. As a result, it formed the West Bay Railway Co.. This new railway wasn’t much different from the old one, but the patched EMD GP38-2 was repainted with the railway’s new two tone green paint scheme. Also, one more daily train began operation to serve the new customers in West Bay and the industrial park.
From that day on, the line continued to operate as the WBRC. Serving seven customers, the railway continues to be an important and historical part of the communities of West Bay and Belleville, still having the same laid back pace as it predecessor did, over 100 years ago.
So, that’s the history of my railway- what do you think? Is there any improvements I can make to make it more realistic? Feel free to make any suggestions, as I want to make sure that my railway is plausible.
In addition to my history, I also came up with a fictional “prototype” map of my railway. I did have a hand drawn map that was to scale, however my scanner isn’t working so I made this crude MS Paint map that isn’t to scale.
The Plan
Now that the background information is cleared out of the way, here’s the track plan. The plan is N scale, measures roughly 8’ x 12’, and was drawn with XtrCad.
The Operating Concept
Before you begin to critique my plan, I’ll give you an explanation of the operating concept so that you are better able to find potential problems. Also, you should know that the operating concept WBRC is not meant to be complicated in anyway. Instead it is meant to be laid back, combining some mainline running and simple switching with no tight schedule, signalling, or any reason to hurry. This is meant to be a small shortline after all!
The day for the WBRC crew begins when they pick up their locomotive at the engine house and fuel up for the day ahead. The crew will then run light to the CNR (staging) interchange to pick up 20 empty hopper cars. These will be brought back down to West Bay, where the crew pulls 10 cars at a time through the loader at the quarry. Once all the cars are loaded, they will then run around the train and return the cars to the CNR interchange. The crew will then pick up a mixed train with cars destined for the other industries on the line. On the way back, the crew will switch the only trailing point spur before running around the train in West Bay and switching the industries there and in the industrial park on their way back to the interchange. After dropping the switched cars off at the interchange, the crew will head back to West Bay and take a break until the evening. This will give me a chance to restage the gravel loads. Once I’ve done that, the crew will then end the day by loading another gravel train before returning to the engine house.
So, that’s the basic operating plan. To add more interest, I’ll mix it up sometimes, and include things such as special deliveries of heavy equipment for the quarry. Feel free to point out any flaws or potential problems in the operating plan.
Notes
- There is no backdrop on this layout as I find they make the layout feel small and confined- I prefer a more open feel. As for photos, I’ll just insert a sky using a computer, but that’s what I’d do anyway even if I did have a backdrop. Also, this layout is located in the middle of a room with access to all sides, which gives me the option to operate it from the outside as well.
- The benchwork for the layout has already been built, so it can’t be changed. Also, I’ve already have all of the track needed to complete either plan, so any changes must use the available track pieces.
- This layout will be operated using a Digitrax Zephyr with an UT4 IR throttle. I’ve already tested to see if the IR signal can be picked up from anywhere around the layout, and have not had a problem. For my N Scale Atlas GP38-2, I will be using a Digitrax DN163AO.
- The turnouts on the yard ladder in West Bay are all #5s. Also, the first right turnout at WR Grace in plan 1 is a #5 turnout. All others are #7.
- Speed limits are 20 Mph.
- Looking at the plan, you will notice there is no staging. This is because I don’t have enough funds to build one yet. However, when I do, it will be a simple 4 track yard extended off the bottom right end of the plan and will curve to the left and run along a wall. Until then, I’ll use the West Bay yard as temporary staging, with one consist left in the yard while the other is in use, leaving just enough room for a run around.
So, that’s my plan. Is it realistic? Do you foresee any potential problems? Are there any changes to be made?
Critique away!
