Rock Crusher Relocation

This is the quarry scene with the rock crusher as it appeared on my earlier version of the Green Mountain Division

An Old Structure Moves To A New Location..by Don Janes

    A few years ago when I tore down my original Green Mountain Division I had a lot of structures left over.  At first I felt that I had to use them on the new layout because I had spent so much time and money to buy and build them but as I got into the construction of the new layout I was finding that most structures weren't going to fit as I had hoped. I struggled with selling them even though I knew I wouldn't have a spot for most of them. I finally sold the Bellows Falls freight house and an engine house to George as he was going to model Bellows Falls on his new layout expansion and I was not. After that it wasn't so hard and since then I have sold quite a few of the older structures with a few more to sell.  One structure I wanted to keep was a rock crusher I had scatchbuilt.  I like the idea of a stone quarry with a large crusher and sorting building to add some operation to the layout. As you can see from the above photo it only had a small rail car capacity but was a busy little scene.

A CNR 2-8-0 hauls a freight by the quarry

The new location has two tracks, one for loads and another for empty car storage.  The center track runs through a rock cut to the hidden staging behind Waterbury. The foreground track is the visible mainline through Waterbury

      When I discussed placing this structure on the new layout George thought it might look a little more like a W.Virginia or Pennsylvania coal loader than a New England rock crusher but I think with the right scenery and signage I can make it look at home in Vermont.  I added two tracks this time for a little more operation and more car capacity.  There will be a section beyond the crusher where the stone is being dug out as well as a conveyor representing another quarry further away.

A couple of more shots of the roughed in crusher and open quarry area

       So far I have located the rock crusher, roughed in the scenery and carved the rock. I will have to do a little backdrop painting then start adding ground cover, trees and details to the scene.  I think the scene will also need a couple of smaller building like an office and storage shed.  I hope to make this a busy location on the layout which will provide local switching and pick-ups and set outs for mainline trains.  I have a little Rutland 70 Tonner that will likely be the quarry switcher.  It has a Loksound decoder and will sound great shuffling hoppers around the quarry

Rutland #500, a 70 Tonner will be the Quarry switch once the scene is complete.