!OST #14_rev - O scale trains

Photos by Ed Rappe, Layout drawing by Carey Hinch.There is a vibrant community of Boston and Maine modelersthat I have had the pleasure of meeting. One of them is JohnPeterson. John lives in the greater Washington, DC area andhas been an O scale modeler for many years. His first layoutwas in HO scale, based on The Boston and Maine RR. He thenmoved up to On2, modeling the Maine narrow gauge railroads,as the prototype was close to his northern New England roots.After about 20 years of modeling narrow gauge, John decidedto return to his first love, the Boston and Maine, though thistime in O scale.Growing up on the North Shore near Salem, Mass., John hasalways been interested in the Boston and Maine. He commutedto college behind steam in those famous B&M wooden commutercoaches and witnessed the transition to Diesel power.John is an early member of the B&M Historical Society, havingjoined while he was in the Army and studying for his Master’sDegree in the greater Boston Area. He uses the resources of thesociety, as well as other sources, to do a great deal of researchon the railroad and the multiple eras he models. He runs late1940’s steam, early 1950’s first generation Diesels, and the‘Blue Bird’ era of the early 1960’s, though he is careful not tomingle them on the layout at the same time.John’s layout represents a B&M branch line serving thepaper mill industry around Berlin and Groveton, New Hampshire.He developed a point-to-point track plan running fromWoodsville, N. H. to Berlin, and Woodsville to Groveton. Theresulting track plan also provides for the option of continuousrunning. The overall layout size is 17 by 28 feet. The minimumradius is 48 inches and track height varies from 46 to 52 inchesabove the floor.John started to build the layout in 1995, using “L-girder” andopen-grid construction for his benchwork. He had trains runningin about 6 months. All of the trackage features Code 125rail, hand-laid with either scratch-built or Old Pullmanturnouts. A current project involves the replacement of turnoutpoints and frogs with highly detailed cast components. Thetrack is laid on milled Homabed roadbed, laminated to a ? inchplywood sub-roadbed. All but five of the turnouts are handthrown,as John likes to have the operators walk with their trainMay/June ’04 - O Scale Trains • 15