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Prototype Information for a Model Railroad.

Connecticut Transfer Railway
Standards and Desired Attributes

Prototype Information

The CTR Is envisioned to be a large short line, similar to Green Bay and Western or the Susquehanna. Loosely based on a single track railroad (with passing sidings) diagonally across the middle of Connecticut using existing and/or abandoned New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad right-of-way. Historical Map.

The Route:

Basically, the route will go from a rebuilt Poughkeepsie Bridge on the Hudson River in New York State to Brewster via trackage rights on Conrail. In Connecticut, CTR will continue to share track with Conrail through Danbury (and its MNCR connection) to Hawleysville. From here, the mainline follows now abandoned right-of-way through to Waterbury. The Watertown branch will be operated as well as a local or two down the Naugatuck line to Devon. This latter operation will be shared with Guilford (mostly Boston & Maine, with some Springfield Terminal) and MNCR. The mainline will continue east of Waterbury on currently abandoned right-of-way through Meridon (CR and Amtrak connection) to Middletown via a new cutoff at Westfield. A branch will follow the Connecticut River north to Hartford, sharing some right-of-way with Guilford and some with Conrail. Another branch will run south to New London on what used to be the Hartford and Connecticut Valley right-of-way, but what is now sometimes operated by the Essex Railroad, a tourist short line, and will connect with Amtrak, Conrail, and Providence and Worcester in the town of Old Saybrook. The mainline will cross the Connecticut river to Portland and continue east along the old Boston and New York Airline right-of-way, which up until this point has been long abandoned. The Colchester branch is to be reactivated, with its connection at Amston.
At Willimantic, the mainline will split. The northeastern fork continues on the old Airline to Putnam (crossing the Providence and Worcester) and through to a Conrail connection at Franklin, Massachusetts, and onward to Boston on Conrail trackage rights. This line will probably carry the majority of the unit trains that will bridge the state of Connecticut. The southeastern fork will drop down a little along shared P&W right-of-way, heading east to cross the old Norwich & Worcester mainline at Plainfield and continues east to Providence, Rhode Island. Central Vermont (and the Canadian National railroads) and Amtrak cross at Willimantic, as does the P&W. For details, see the Route Map.

Train Operations:

Freights will be run on a train order basis, as needed by customers. Industries will be switch by drills, crews sent to switch only. These switch crews will be served by small peddler freights that will set out and pick up freight cars at appropriate passing sidings. There are currently no on line industries in need of dedicated unit trains. Bridge traffic will consist of through Conrail or Guilford COFC/TOFC and/or Auto-rack/Auto-Parts trains, that will hold priority over local trains. The Connecticut Yankee, a luxury train powered by a matched set of Alco A-B-B-A PA-2 locomotives, will run weekly from Hartford, CT to Venice, FL on Mondays and return to Hartford on Thursdays. There will also be adequate equipment for business specials and inspection trains. Steam excursions are possible, as well. Amtrak and Metro-North Commuter Railroad (MNCR) will provide the bulk of the intercity passenger service, with some connecting service provided by CTR RDC's.

Era: Late 1970's to mid 1980's

Equipment: CTR locomotives will be predominantly late model Alco, with some hybrid EMD. See roster. Some NorthEastern RailRoad Museum (NERRM) locomotives (working museum pieces from fallen-flag Northeastern railroads) will be leased on an as needed basis to fill out power requirements during traffic peaks. Anachronistic use of bay window and extended vision cabeese continues (to match locomotives when possible), with some experimentation with electronic train-end devices. Home road revenue equipment will include 50' boxcars, 60' gondolas, 50' covered hoppers, 90' trailer flats, and assorted maintenance of way equipment. Modern streamlined passenger equipment should include adequate sleeping and dining accommodations and vista-dome facilities, all painted to CTR standards (see passenger car roster). A small fleet of RDC-1 and RDC-3 self-propelled passenger cars will provide some connecting commuter services.

Connections:

Non-corporate connections will include Ironco (a scrap metal dealer), A.A.& K. (Anaheim, Asooza, and Kookamonga, a short line common carrier), Conrail, Providence and Worcester, Guilford (B&M, MEC, Springfield Terminal), Central Vermont (w/CN), CP Rail (w/ D&H), Shore Line East, Connecticut Central, and others. Though not physically connected, Andersonapolis Railroad equipment will make frequent appearances on line. The Connecticut Yankee will operate in cooperation with the Lakeside Central (based in Tallahassee FL) and LC equipment frequently will operate on CTR rails. NERRM will lease equipment to CTR on occasion to alleviate power shortages and will run steam and diesel excursions on CTR right-of-way with CTR blessings.

Corporate: A subsidiary of the Andersonapolis Railroad, CTR operates with little corporate meddling. CTR is for all intents and purposes a short line spun off of Conrail using predominantly abandoned New York, New Haven and Hartford right-of-way.

Modeling Information

Standards:
Minimum Radii - 30" Mainline
18" Branch

Maximum Grade - 3.5% Exposed Track
6% Hidden Track
(X% = X inches rise for 100 inches run)

Minimum Turnout - #8 Mainline (Remote in hard-to-reach places
#6 Branchline Hand throws elsewhere)
#4 Yard

Code 100 Track Throughout

Layout:

The modeled portion of the CTR will be a double deck layout. Phase 1, which includes the 1st and Hidden Levels will ostensibly represent Poughkeepsie (the Hidden Level) to Middleton (near the helix), is currently under construction. Cities modeled will include Hawleysville (Conrail connection, beginning of 1st Level), Waterbury, Waterville, and Meriden. The basic layout is a single track folded dog bone with assorted industrial and passing sidings (Phase I ). The city of Waterbury will include a major freight yard, engine yard with turntable, and a passenger yard. Industries to be served by Phase 1 are shown by location at this link.
Phase 2 will model the forking mainline, to some extent. Two point-to-point lines will diverge from Willimantic at the exit from the helix. The Northeastern Fork will pass through the modeled cities of Hampton, Pomfret and Putnam before exiting to the hidden yard at Boston. The Southeastern Fork passes through South Windham (Central Vermont connection), Baltic, and ends at the Providence and Worcester connection at Canterbury/Jewett City. A small yard and engine facility will be included at the last mentioned city. The industries in Phase 2 are shown by location at this link.

Operations:

Bridge traffic will run from staging yard to staging yard, as will the Passenger train. All peddlers and switching crews will be based out of Waterbury Yard. A specific operating system has not yet been selected, but at the present time management is leaning toward the car card system with computer generated switch lists for the yardmaster. Some kind of random generator may be used to provide industrial demands.
Crew requirements should be as follows: Road Freights - Engineer & Brakeman; Specials (passenger and unit train) - Engineer; Yardmaster. A Dispatcher may be added when the computer comes online to control track detection and signals. His duty would also be to add situations to the session. As yet, a fast clock has not been deemed necessary.

Scenery:

Eastern foothills, very wooded, with most lines following stream beds, similar to the RDG Newtown and Perkasie Branches. Right-of-way in good condition, with a siding or two questionable. One abandoned spur.
Bridges of varied design; wooden short trestle, through girder, through truss, bascule, stone arch.
One large freight yard, including; Passenger car/inspection train/wreck train storage, intermodal siding, caboose service/storage, rip track.
One large engine facility, including; engine storage space, turntable/roundhouse, fueling facility for diesel, small coal dock and water tower for occasional steam engine, junk yard with work in progress.
Branch terminal similar to NW Centralia/Columbia branch, complete with small engine service facility.
One or two additional small yards, perhaps at interchanges.
Possible industries to include; Weapons plant, sewing machines, jet engines, helicopters, motors, hardware, tools, cutlery, clocks, locks, ball bearings, silverware, submarines, cement plant, tank farm, plastics manufacturing, furniture manufacturing, lumber yard, coal fired power plant, bakery, auto distribution, farm supply (w/ silos).
Some city switching (similar to RDG in Philly near Callowhill).
Working electronics, perhaps with some computer assistance; Crossing signals, block signals of the search light target variety.
Specific features; Elkins Park stone station.Special Operating Rules

Passing Sidings:

All passing sidings (double ended sidings) operate on a right hand rule:
1. Unless otherwise indicated by supervisor, all trains must use right track when entering passing sidings. All switches will be set to facilitate this movement.
2. In the absence of spring switches on passing sidings, or unless otherwise indicated by supervisor, all crews must reset trailing switches to maintain right hand rule for opposing traffic. Failure to do so will result in disciplinary action.

If passing sidings are to be used to facilitate switching of nearby industries, all effort should be made to avoid fouling the through track. Any necessary encroachment of through trackage should first be cleared by supervisor before movement is made.

If traffic and/or supervisor deem necessary, passing sidings may be used for storage of freight cars for peddler freight pick-ups or set-outs. They may not be used for long term storage or lading transfer.

Hidden Areas (Helix, Poughkeepsie and Boston Yards)

Access to any hidden areas limited to one (1) train at a time and strictly regulated by supervisor in order to avoid cornfield meets in the dark where none may see the results. In the case of hidden yards, only one train may move at a time, though others may reside on specified storage tracks.

No storage of trains will be allowed on the helix.

No storage of trains will be allowed on through/distribution tracks of hidden yards. Volume of stored trains is not to exceed capacity of yard, and yard switches are not to be fouled by stored freight cars.

Locomotive Policies

All trains, with the exception of drill (or local switching) trains, will operate with adequate "horsepower" rated to pull twice the "actual" tonnage of the individual train.
1. Tonnage ratings to be found on engine card.
2. Switching may be done with single road engine.

Locomotive lash-ups are to be limited to regionally adjacent railroads:
1. CTR engines may be grouped with Conrail, Guilford, CV, Andersonapolis, Providence & Worcester, Central Connecticut, Short Line East, or any NERRM engine.
2. North Eastern Railroad Museum locomotives should be grouped geographically, or in original partnerships wherever possible.

Aesthetic Policies

Each train will have a caboose that matches at least one of the locomotives.

CONNECTICUT TRANSFER RAILWAY

LOCOMOTIVE ROSTER

Notes

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Passenger Car Roster

CTR "What if" Locomotives - Imaginary Paint Schemes on Imaginary Engines

x - Temporary graphic, direct import from original AutoCad files.

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A Small Historical Blurb (RealLife);

The CTR originally stood for "Choose The Right", a reference to a motto of sorts for very young members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints (often referred to as Mormons). The initials were sketched on a doodle made of a CF-7-like hybrid engine during some down time while I was training to be an Italian speaking missionary in Provo Utah way back in 1977. That doodle stayed with me for a long time, and was eventually redone in felt-tip pen. The name "Connecticut Transfer Railway" seemed to fit without effort, especially as I studied the terrain through which the railroad was to go. Eventually the roster grew to the Alco dominated stable it is now, but it all started with the engine pictured at the top of the page as a simple sketch.

I ask nothing for posted drawings to be displayed on personal sites, as long as permission is granted from the owner (me or another posted artist) and credit is given.

See the AutoCad Page if one desires drawings for commercial use.

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