Click to enlarge..
I have completed work on the first draft of my N-scale St. Johnsbury yard LDE set in 1979. Like a movie on TV from 1979, it has been compressed to fit in the space alloted and formatted to fit my benchwork! The protoype yard was primarily an interchange yard. The MEC would interchange with the CP and the Lamoille Valley RR here. This yard also saw traffic pass through from the B&M with pool trains running both B&M and CP power.
A quick note on the actual track plan. This was done with XtrkCAD 4.0.2, a wonderful freeware track cad program. I am not one to worry overmuch about exact planning of anything except the track.. so please take my building placement and sizing with a grain of salt. I did this using entirely NMRA #6 turnouts to see how much mileage I could get out of a fast tracks #6 jig. Quite a lot, it turns out.
The Plan
The yard itself has been compressed from 7 tracks to 5 tracks. I have maintained a 1.5" spacing in order to facilitate reading car numbers and general handling. Were I to bring that down to 1" I could put in the full seven yard tracks but I think that would be overkill for my needs. The North CP Mainline heads into a helix to reach the CP level of the layout. It will actually bend a little more "up" in practice. The mainline and yard 1 (A/D track) to the south will also head into staging. The rest of the track to the south will end rather abruptly for now. I anticipate using the 6th track as an A/D track or the MEC train and other purposes which is why I don't count it as one of the "five" yard tracks.
I am only representing the north half of the yard where most of the "action" took place. The yard throat here was interesting because it combined the needs of a passenger station as well as two railroad lines. I have tried to maintain the character of the yard throat so it provides the same operational capabilities and challenges as the prototype.
The first image is an old steam era picture that is hanging on the wall of the old station, now a visitor's center. Besides nice detail of the yard throat you can see the second passenger platform that was removed in my time. I maintain the interesting detail of the space left between the mainline and the first yard track where it used to exist in my plan.
The second pic is one I found online that shows the yard as it was in 1974 (photo provided by Bill McCaffrey on Scribd). This is much more like the yard as it appears in my time. The second platform as been removed and there is now only one track paralleling the yard ladder. You can see all yard tracks.
In the distance is the large Purina Feed Mill. I do not plan to model this in my fist attempt at the yard. If I get more space to model the southern half of the yard this would make a wonderful modeling project.
The Swift & Co. Beef building can be seen to the right. While I do not believe it was still in use in my time, it will make a great lineside structure.
The final image of this part of the yard is from my current visit. You can clearly see that it has fallen on hard times. It is but a sad shadow of its former self now that Guilford closed the MEC Mountain Division and the CP routed its bridge traffic over the old D&H line it bought from Guilford. There are now only 4 tracks and is primarily used as a transloading and car storage by the Vermont Railway.
Operating Scheme
The yard will see a minimum of 6 trains a day:
MEC YR-1/RY-2 Portland to St Johnsbury
MEC Local between StJ and Whitefield, NH - primarily switches Gilman paper mill, planned to be on layout
LCRR fast freight (do not yet have a copy of employee timetable for LCRR) leaves after MEC RY-2 arrives
CP 915/916 B&M Pool train from South Deerfield MA to Newport VT.
CP 903/904 "Windor Hotshot" fast freight leaves after RY-2 arrives.
CP 51/50 Local works from Newport VT south past StJ VT. Until I complete Newport.. years away.. it will originate in StJ.
The yard master will primarily be concerned with breaking up the MEC traffic into LCRR and CP trains, and vice-versa. In addition, cars will be set out for the CP and MEC local who will want to block their trains before they leave. There is a tough grade between StJ and Newport VT, so a number of decisions will have to be made about getting cars north. Often Extras had to be run to get all the traffic North. Sometimes especially large CP915 would need to be broken up.
There will also be one Amtrak train a day. It will be the Alouette daily between Boston & Montreal. It will be patterned after the Montrealer NY-Montreal train as far as power, and after the B&M/CP pool train by the same name as far as schedule operating rules. If I really get tickled with passenger traffic I will add the Redwing which was B&M/CP's night version of the same train. If I do that, I may use VIA rail in a nod to the old pooling agreements. For this reason, I am maintaining 18" min radius on the CP mainline.
I have made a few concessions to this being a model railroad. In order to allow switching to proceed more smoothly, I turned the end of the siding to the north into a crossover with an extended yard lead.
In the first image above it would appear that the MEC was used as a yard lead. I may do that here as well which would allow me to eliminate the crossover and just end the siding.
I have also cut down dramatically on the engine servicing and moved the turntable. The table is a bit of a relic, but it is still used to turn engines to this day so I felt it worthwhile so the locals can turn their engines.
Signature Elements
The scene will not be complete without at least some attempt at this imposing structure. This station had an overnight crew right through the 80s.
Unfortunately there were some cars blocking my view of the train side of the station. The other side looks pretty much like this except it has the traditional bay window area for the operator.
It is now a wonderful visitor's center.
This is probably the most recognizable building in the scene. This is a feed mill that is still in use. It can be seen in the steam era photo above. Fortunately for me, Creative Laser Designs is planning a kit of this building. Located in Lyndonville, VT, they have come out with a number of kits of use to me. Yes, Lyndonville WILL be on my layout.
While I think they stopped receiving rail deliveries in my time, I plan to make this one of my few online customers in StJ. How can I resist spotting cars inside that little shed?
Not pictured is a stone building that is on the other side and also part of the complex.
One other very cool little element is the road that goes under the yard. This is a view of the deck where the yard throat crosses the timbers. I have a great pic looking in the tunnel too.. I will update this with that pic as well. I apparently forgot to upload it last night when I was preparing the images for this.
I feel this will give the viewer a nifty little detail to discover and create a more three dimensional feel to the scene.
Other Thoughts
I have planned to leave room for the town of St. Johnsbury to rise up behind the yard. Its a very cool scene when viewed from the industrial road to the east of the yard opposite the town. I have seen another layout on the web ( http://www.njdivnmra.org/NEK/Welcome.html) which features StJ where the operator sat in the StJ side and viewed looking east rather then west as on my plan. There are some good reasons for this. You avoid the modeling headache of the town. You also avoid having to reach over the lineside structures on the eastern side of the yard, a serious consideration. I will keep an eye on how this developes and move things as appropriate. I may have to make some buildings removable to facilitate operating sessions.
In the end, I am modeling the prototype. There is a limit to how much I want to muck about with how things are placed. Since this is the only spot in my space where I can put the yard I would have to flop the entire yard to switch which side the user is looking at. I am loathe to do this. Besides, whats the point of having Alouette service if there is no passenger station? Fortunately my threshold of pain for modeling realism is high. I will be happy if I find a brick building that is "close enough" to the station. I am counting on a nice kit of the ET&HK IDE building, the trackwork, and the over-all setup to give me the signature feel.
Please, I invite criticism as well as any additional info on my prototype!
Regards,
Chris
