Building my own version of Rob Mountenay's Merkiomen Valley Branch

This year has been extremely productive in terms of model railroading. I’ve been building stuff almost non-stop since January, hopping from one of my favourite theme to another. I’m glad most Monk structures are done and almost completed (except the feed mill), I had a blast weathering modern hopper cars and finishing the QSSR after more than a decade and now elected to do something I call the freedom layout which is a little outside of my usual purview.

I decided to build what I call a freedom layout. Something I didn’t design and felt offered great opportunity to simply practice my art. The idea is to remove the hours, weeks, months or even years of agonizing over a track plan. The reality if things is that railroads are codified things. A siding will always be a siding, a passing track will always be a passing track. Stations are generally always build following the same generic rules. A coal dealer and a fuel distributor are similar across the continent. They vary in details and implementation, but it’s all a flavour over an underlaying theme.

 

I generally love, as an architect, to be able to say the track plan is my own design. That I controlled all aspects of layout building, but sometimes, you just need to let it go. The Monk subdivision is my personal take on a nice prototype-oriented layout. However, there are all kind of things I want to build which cannot fit that prototype. Also, I have a lot of rolling stock without a purpose, including all the Harlem Station cars. So I thought to myself, while looking at 4’ x 8’ plans when exploring Quebec & Gosford concepts, that maybe I could try something that free my mind from planning and focus only on executing and exploring my personal creative process. No more analysis paralysis.

 

For some reasons, Robert Mountenay’s Merkiomen Branch caugh my eyes. The layout was well balanced, keeping all the strength of the Alkali Central, but making it more universal. I particularly appreciated the two towns, the scenic rural side and the more urban one. Each scene was well composed and used interesting structures that would make sense together. I really liked it and thought it would be a neat opportunity. The layout would be set in my old kitchen that is bound to be restored to its 19^th century appearance when it was a spacious 16’ x 17’ living room.

 

Lance Mindheim had pioneered that idea of a public gallery of small layouts into a neat space and I thought it would be perfect. In fact, since a year, the Stanstead module has been exhibited in that room and everybody visiting the house loved it. Having the trains in a public room, not in a corner of the basement, removed the creepiness associated with model railroading and made people appreciate the intricate work and the realistic appearance. At the end of the day, my hobby finally got its recognition as art and not just as some trivial pursuit (even if it is!). People may say all they want, but modelling railroading generally captivate most peoples.

 

So, I made up my mind of building a replica of Rob Mountenay's Merkiomen. I had the material in the basement and enough space in the old living room. I had many other reasons for that too; one being to have a neat loop to test, break in and run locomotives, an excuse to reuse all my American-themed buildings and rolling stock, and first and foremost, the simple joy of building a classic generic layout with a cheesy track plan yet trying my best to use it as a canvas to express my intentions in my own personal style.

 

My first impressions were that working with someone else's plan was a little bit weird. As I mentioned to Chris Mears, I felt like an imposter at times, and on other moments, it felt like replicating a “prototype”. Yet, with my experience acquired over the years, it's like running on a perfectly well-maintained track field after having trained over rough forest trail. You just bolt from the depart line and you are at your best!

 

After a day, I reached that level of completion

That doesn't mean I didn't add my touch to Robert’s plan. I've been optimizing the layout with #6 turnouts for sidings and was able to use two #8 on the mainline/interchange, which means I will be able to run some larger locomotives and rolling stock if wanted or needed for programming and break-in period. Large 24’’/28’’ Walthers curved turnouts were also used, which made the track flow nicely. I also reorganized the passing track so it would no longer require weird moves on the interchange track.

 

Construction and track laying was straightforward and in a matter of a few days, all the basic stuff was in place. The fun could start and that meant building the structures. Early on, I decided to set the layout somewhere around Pennsylvania. I’ve had the chance to railfan the area twice and kind of knew it a little bit. My 1950s rolling stock being mainly PRR, Erie and Reading, it was an easy and obvious choice that overlapped with Robert’s own era and prototype. For some reason, the Reading was extremely attractive to me because, as a kid, I always gazed at Bachmann’s yellow boxes of the late 1970s and early 1980s, obsessing over that Reading I10sa Consolidation. That was the fist HO model of a large steamer I had ever seen and it made a durable impression. Also, Reading and PRR structures in rural areas shared many characteristics and a somewhat similar paint scheme. That would make my life easier. Add to that attractive Reading coal hoppers and I was hooked about the idea of restoring and improving an old Bachmann Plus 2-8-0 as the main star of the layout.

 

This 1950s from John Diobzko's collection provided inspiration

After a while, while searching over the internet for suitable prototypes, I discovered by sheer luck many old pictures that clearly were Robert Mountenay’s source of inspiration. It was fun to see these structures and how he reinterpreted them. At that point, I knew that I would be replicating the same prototypes he used, but doing it my own way. I would redraw my own set of architectural drawings from the prototype pictures, select the building materials and do it my own way. Once again, it was all about applying my own artistic flair to something already existing. Robert’s work was simply making the selection for me, but the final editing would be my own take. So far, I completed the coal trestle by reinterpreting the old Mil-Scale Jacobs Coal Co. kit used by Robert. I found the instructions online and adapted them so the result work look better and more prototypical (more on that specific structure later!). I’m currently doing the same with the stations, the feed mill and the lumber supplier.

A low-quality picture from an auction site provided enough information (source: WorthPoint)

Elsewhere, I’m thinking about making different choices. By example, I don’t like the Easton Mill which always struck me as caricatural and suffering from poor proportions. I will replace it with a wooden clad or asbestos clad small creamery that fits better the theme and provides a more balanced scene. Once again, I’m making my own drawing based of well-known kits on the market, but giving them my own twist.

At the end of the day, using Robert’s layout as a plan enables me to dip further into scratchbuilding and personalising items. The time saved from planning is reinvested in crafting the elements one by one with deeper scrutiny, which provides a certain level of freedom. The same applies with the structures. Since I'm not replicating a specific prototype, it is all about capturing the essence of the place in a realistic and informed manner. Al that said, I hope this little side project will provide even more experience when I will be tackling the Monk Subdivision.