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Another tyro question, guys. I have a copy of one of the above from the 50s, and have seen a 1971 copy advertised for sale. With an interest focusing on the mid/late 1970s, I was wondering how often these books were published? I can see how they might not be produced every year, rather updated by ex...

bml1149 wrote:Simon,
From what I have seen, our ties are all spaced about the same, about 21 inches apart. On crossings we have rebuilt we narrowed them up to 18 inch spacing.
Leverett

Thank you, Leverett.

I suspected as such, but it is great to have it confirmed.

Can I also ask about tie spacing on plain track? Two questions, what was it, and did they close up the spacing at joints, as happened on a lot of roads into the 20th century?

I came across these interesting B&M turnout diagrams, kindly made available by Earl : http://bostonandmainerailroad.redmansefarm.com/TimberBills.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; As they date from the period when the MEC was owned by the B&M, did they share practic...

I have managed to get a reasonable collection of photos of Calais, and quite a lot of other information, but there is one area where I have, so far, drawn a blank. Does anyone know of pictures of track 9, which was the spur coming off the main, to the east of the depot building, or failing that, wha...

Thanks. That's really useful.
I have those diagrams, via DropBox, and I obviously need to spend more time with them!

Chapter 3 of the Mountain Division Study ( http://maine.gov/mdot/ofbs/docs/MountainDivisionStudyReport_001.pdf ) contains startling revelations about the quality of MEC track, from which I can draw interesting conclusions about rail weights, tie spacing and turnout sizes. Very useful material - has ...

Thanks: that's terrific, and I have just ordered a copy of the book!

I'm not sure we've ever claimed to be the Maine Central's historical society, despite being listed as such in some publications (Model Railroader comes to mind). That said, thanks to the late Emmons Lancaster and others, we do have a lot of stuff. Unfortunately, records weren't kept all that well, ...

Almost scarily lightweight.

I just came across a photo showing details I had not seen before, on the New Jersey Freemo blog. Second picture/third image in this blog post: http://njfreemo.blogspot.co.uk/2009/03/calais-trackplan.html . It answers a lot of questions. It's ony been on the web for over seven years. How did I miss t...

Hi Mike, Thank you for that. I hadn't realised just how light the rail was on the Eastport branch. I have the Morning Sun volumes, New England Alcos in Twilight, and the book on the Washington County is in transit to me, plus of course various Internet resources, but it is good to have these things ...

Thank you. That's a good start. I am not surprised that it was probably no heavier than 85lb/yard, wonder how much lighter some of it was. Does anyone know what number frogs were used on the turnouts? I have a thing about using larger numbers than most modellers, but it can be easy to overdo it. Tha...

Hi, Please be gentle with this newcomer to the forum! I am UK based and work in S scale (a glutton for punishment!) and after years of off and on interest, have decided to actually model the MEC downeast, and stop dreaming about it. The terminus at Calais is serving as primary inspiration (modified ...