BRWM Construction

Early Construction

Click on the pictures for a better view

	The last oval layout.  It was disconnected at one and hooked up with the expansion, as we moved along the wall.
	Early picture of Acadia area.  The town was eventually placed in the front, so you wouldn't lean over into a moving train.
	The staging (Boston) before Searsport was placed above it.
	Laying the "Ground" of Portland.  Below Portland is the hidden staging of Bangor.
	Portland and Searsport with their common turntable.  Sometimes you have to compromise.
	Another view of Portland, with some of the rolling stock.
	The town of Belfast and the area where the helix would eventually be placed.

Helix Construction

Travel to the upper deck is done via a helix. The helix radius is 24". The helix was made with 1 x 4 boards with the angles cut to allow 12 peices to be joined end to end to make on complete circle. The boards were joined with biscuits. This allows for no butt plates between the sections. The risers are 2 x 2's with evenly spaced notches cut out and the road bed inserted into it. There is aproximately a 2% grade up to the top. So far there have been no problems pulling NMRA weighted cars up the hill.

Problems - Just remember that as soon as you cover it up the problems start.

There is a wye just inside the helix at the bottom, which was powered by a PECO switch machine, which intermittently failed during operating sessions. This was real difficult to fix. I finally changed to a Tortoise switch machine and was able to finish the repairs. Things have been fine ever since.

The helix showing how the risers were placed.		The finished helix partially covered with  foam and screen
Helix work is still progressing. The hardboard fascia makes a big difference in the finished look and feel.		Scenery is starting to move around the upper deck.

Upper Staging

The upper staging is stub ended. The only way to turn our trains was by hand. This created the problem of handling the engines far to often. This could lead to shell damage or worse, dropping the engines. I was going to add a Wye just to turn engines. Mike Porterfield came up with the idea to make the wye long enough for a whole train and place one leg on a view block for the lower level.

We were originally going to operate the turnouts from the staging yard, but found that it would be more efficient to be able to operate the turnouts from either side of the Wye. It turned out to be a great way to save wear and tear on the equipment and make it easy to turn trains between sessions. The operators are even turning the trains during the session when their run ends.

Trackwork and Aisle space changes

Operators did not like the crossing in Rockland. It was difficult to pull cars out.	So I moved the crossing and those that have operated in Rockland liked the changes.
You'll notice in the center of the picture a piece of benchwork coming out into the aisle. This made an unnecessary tight spot in the floor space	I solved that by removing the extra six inches and cut 2 inches off of the front of the bencwork that you see on the left hand side.

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Updated March 20, 2006.