History of
![[ABEL logo]](./images/ABELLOGO.GIF) |
AMHERST BELT LINES |
![[ARS logo]](./images/ARSLOGO.GIF) |
HO Modular Railroad |
Amherst Railway Society, Inc.
Amherst Belt Lines
The History of the Amherst Belt Lines
by Tom LaRocheCopyright© 1979-1998, Amherst Railway Society, Inc.
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AMHERST BELT LINES |
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HO Modular Railroad |
The Amherst Belt Lines was born several years ago. Amherst Railway Society members who annually assembled the modular layout decided to give their miniature world a personality. As the various members all had their favorite prototype or fictitious railroads, and, since we wanted to keep our identity tied to the Amherst Railway Society, the name Amherst Belt lines was chosen and the logo and colors were based on the Amherst Railway Society's logo.
The railroad's fictional map was also laid out taking into account, as much as possible, the real and fictional locations depicted by the various modules at the time. The fictional route map runs across Massachusetts like a belt. The western terminus is Eastside Yard which roughly equates to the B&M's East Deerfield Yard. The eastern terminus is Lowell Junction and we have various branch lines connecting to other members' locations.
Once upon a time, railroads were in abundance and all were shortlines. As time went on, some railroads merged to improve their ability to compete and, as these railroads grew, they would try to absorb their smaller competitors.
Railroaders, however, are fiercely independent. Several short lines fought off these hostile takeovers even as the railroad giants grew even more powerful. Unfortunately, business began to fall off as customers began to realize that doing business with one large railroad was much simpler than dealing with several small, independent roads. Clearly, something must be done.
Several of the short line owners joined together and developed a plan. They would form an umbrella corporation to act as agent and handle their combined marketing. Customers would see one large transportation system but each railroad would remain independent. The name selected for the new business was The Amherst Belt Lines (ABEL). Each of the shortlines contribute to the operation of the corporation and each has the rights to use the name and logo. Locomotives are independently owned, maintained, and operated although, in recent years, the umbrella corporation has purchased some motive power for 'pool' use.
Like any business, railroads were created to earn their owners money. Railroads do this by picking up freight from one point and delivering it to another. The customer pays a fee based on the type of commodity, its weight, and the distance traveled.
In general, a shipper calls the railroad to request a pickup and negotiate a price. The railroad will then dispatch the appropriate type of car to the shipper who then loads it and notifies the railroad that it is ready to go. The railroad will then pick up the loaded car and assign it to the appropriate train(s) for shipment.
More often than not, a freight car l oaded one one railroad is passed to one or more other railroads before reaching its destination. (Except for large volumes of bulk commodities, i.e. coal, short trips are better handled by trucks.) The loaded freight car is usually picked up by a 'local' train and delivered to a freight yard where it will be assigned to a 'road' train. Locals usually leave a yard in the morning with cars to 'set out' and returns to the same yard in the evening with the cars it has 'picked up'. Road trains pick up blocks of cars from one yard and deliver them to another. Locals are usually fairly short; road trains may be pulling over 100 cars.
Our operation tries to simulate the operation of the prototype railroads. Some of our trains start in our classification yard, repetitively go around the layout and eventually return to the yard - this simulates the 'road' or 'through' freights. Other trains leave the yard and progress around the layout stopping at different industries to pick up and/or set out freight cars - these are our 'locals'.
In the 'real' world, train and yard crews have switch lists to let them know how a car is to be routed. These lists are generated by the business office based on the car's origin and destination. We simulate this by using car cards and waybills. Each car on the layout has a matching card with its reporting marks, (like your auto's license plate), car type, and a physical description. When the car is in the yard, we attach a waybill to its card. This waybill denotes the commodity on board (if any) and the car's destination (i.e. 'Acme Furniture, Amherst - empty for load' or 'Paul's Brewery, Eastside - hops'). If the car's destination is on the layout, it is assigned to a local. If it is destined 'off' the layout, it will be dispatched in a road freight.
![[1998 layout]](./images/layout98.gif)
The layout represents an east - west railroad. The rear of the modules face south and the front or viewer side is facing north. As you watch our trains, you are (or should be) on the viewer's side facing south. (Sorry, but you'll have to take your photos into the sun.)
Our specs define a 'classic' modular layout - two main tracks with trains operating in one direction on each main. We have modified this concept without changing the existing modules. By adding a reversing loop at each end of the layout, we have essentially created a single track layout. A train can start at any point, traverse the layout and one reverse loop, pass its start point on the other track in the opposite direction, traverse the second reverse loop and arrive back at its starting point proceeding in its original direction. One lap of the layout in this fashion takes approximately 40 minutes. The single track main line is approximately 12 scale miles in length!
Most of the 1998 layout can be operated in the classic two track fashion by selecting the appropriate routing at a module called Lowell Junction - see if you can find Lowell Junction (photo below) on the layout diagram at right. You'll be surprised at how much can depend on a 4x4 foot module!
The modules you see on this layout come from many areas of New England and several clubs. We, of course, have modules build by Amherst Railway Society members as well as modules from the Cape Cod Model Railroad Club, the Nashua Valley Railroad Association, and the Pepperell Siding club. Some modules depict locations from the real world but most depict fictional locations allowing the module builder's imagination to run free.
The fictional Amherst Belt Lines has been mapped across southern New England but the layout you see here would not match it's map. The modules, by necessity, are laid out to fit the area allotted by the show committee. You may also note that we have modules with main lines on 2 inch centers while older modules have the mains on 2 1/2 inch centers. This evolving aspect of our specifications also limits module position in the layout. Unlike some modular clubs, we never set up the layout the same way twice. As you can see, our layout designer has a tough job!
Our layout is powered by Power System Incorporated's DYNATROL command control system. Like other command control systems, DYNATROL has a constant DC voltage applied to the rails. In addition to the DC, a control signal is also applied. Each locomotive has a small circuit board which decodes the control signal in order to apply the desired amount of power to the motor in the desired polarity to control the locomotive's speed and direction. These systems eliminate the need to manipulate electrical block switches as the train proceeds along the railroad. It even allows two trains to approach each other in opposite directions in the same block!
![[Lowell Junction]](./images/lowell.jpg)
In 1996 we began to use DYNATROL's most advanced control system featuring wireless control of our trains. The new controllers, (cabs in DYNATROL lingo), use an infra-red (IR) signal similar to your TV's remote control. In addition, we've added the LeapFrog IR-RF converter eliminating the need to point the cab at the IR detectors. My five year old can run trains with this system!