Tom
Brodrick's Providence and Worcester
Mark Andersen
The
“woostir,” as Northeast fans or those former Massachusetts residents
fondly say is well represented by the Brodrick subdivision in Damascus
Maryland. This fondness is akin to being a Red Sox fan as
well. Sharing this space with his wife Gail and her
professional
sewing alcove, Tom has incorporated his design for the P & W in
the
remaining space. Ever a work in progress, our host has
created a
Digitrax controlled and protected two level layout. Connected
with a single spiral helix and long sloping approaches, Tom’s layout
operates through an inner city locale in eastern
Massachusetts.
Serving many towns and cities along the way, a coal plant and many
smaller industries are well represented. These include fuel depots and
coal companies to manufacturing concerns and warehousing, all requiring
rail service and commodity exchange.
Starting in the main room
when coming downstairs, there are two yards, each on a different level
designed as terminal freight yards. Either starting or terminating
points on this point to point layout, trains are dispatched to the
engineer for operations. Walking through to the back part of
the
basement, you enter the two tiered aisle ways of the rest of the
railroad and Tom’s modeling workbench areas. Designed for
operations, many switching operations occur in the various communities
using preplaced assigned switchers once the consist arrives.
Designed
as single track system with many passing sidings, operations become
creative when train consist traffic picks up. Ever concerned
about railroad income, the Brodrick Division most recently redesigned
and added a container yard. This services the through trains
from
various container yards around the country bringing product to this
Boston suburb railroad empire. Also, this adds to the
complexity
of switching when operations night occurs on the P & W.
As
with most railroads, scenery and building construction is an ongoing
task and Tom has been busy. His current dam project and
subsequent scenery adds to the end of one loop of an aisle and
continues on through to the surrounding adjacent communities.
Always upgrading cars, repairing track and maintaining his fleet of
P & W motive power, we can always look forward to entertaining
times on Tom’s layout.
We
want to “Thank” Tom and Gail for opening their home to the Division and
for his tireless efforts as Layout Tour director. If you have
a
layout, small, medium or large, contact Tom and show it to your fellow
members, as we would enjoy seeing it and sharing in our model
railroading hobby.
Jalbum
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