Another Modelers Season Ends

In the WRD last post you viewed Peter Mumby's photos of the White River Division. Now here is my photos taken thirty years after my 1957 photo session in WRJ. We see a B&M Guilford engine coasting through the yard. Contemporary freight cars can be found laying over in the tracks once filled by 40' boxcars.

 Era of changes

 on the White River Division



Last week Peter Mumby was over on two afternoons with his collection of what I call contemporary equipment and engines. We had a couple of long photo sessions that went really well. On day two of our photo shoot I also had my last layout visitor for the season in the midst of the train staging. He got a kind of "Back to the Future" look at the White River Division.

Peter Mumby is seen staging a double crossing of  CN-CPR freight's during our two day photo shoot. Peter had brought over a group of engines and cars that could have been seen in New England during the 1980's.

After two days during which I lost count the number of times I ducked under my duck under I realised why I could not move the day after. Last week was the last continuous running of the WRD. The duck under is coming out and my layout will become a point to point operation. I seem to only run the layout as point to point anyway. Most trains enter the layout from staging at one end and depart into staging at the other.

 After a week of rain I can not find a leak from my window or wall in the layout room. I still plan to take a closer look next week at this area as I have already taken the trim off the window. Now that it is warm and once the ground drys a little I can also take a good look outside.

What I think might happen to my layout is WRJ station scene will become one end of the layout. The foreground main line through the countryside and the area that my drop in modules at West Barre are will be removed. The staging tracks will then become WRJ yard as I do not want trains leaving WRJ to head right into staging. The coal tower and sand shed will be foreground structures. One switch leading into staging at Bellows Crossing will be removed that has always bothered me. It is the only curved switch on the layout and gives me problems with passenger cars and long engines. The track will then become almost straight there. The yard area will be portable and removable since I may have to get at the wall in the future. Also if we move at some point I can then take the yard with me. In fact everything I will be building from this point forward will be removable and portable. Just over half of the layout will remain as is. At the opposite end from WRJ I will build a curve into the next room that will house Bellows Falls yard. This curved area I will try to include my drop in modules of Fairlee and West Barre.

A lone MEC engine heads out onto the causeway with a short freights.

I guess I will have till next fall when I begin modeling again to figure things out. I am really glad to be getting rid of the duck under and I feel the White River Division will become a better layout in the process...George Dutka

Two leased geeps are seen heading out on the causeway which is my entry duck-under to the White River Division. One can see the other end of the layout which is Bellows Crossing.  This is one of the last photos that will be taken of this portion of the layout.

A WRD freight is lead by a duo of MEC U25B's out over the duck-under causeway. These two engines once operated on the WRD regularly before scenery and structures were added.  You see they where originally mine. I had built and detailed them from Bowser models along with the MEC caboose seen in the other photo. Once I committed to DCC-sound I sold them to Peter Mumby so I would had extra funds to purchase 1950's era DCC sound engines. It has been at least 10 years since they have last  been on the White River Division.