A visit to the other 7-1/4" gauge railroad in town: the Shady Pines Railroad. 

There's a story about that loco that I may share next week. Let's just say it didn't used to be well built.

@@MillBrookRailroad Wold love to see some more info on the loco. I have it in my head that I will one day build a loco but its gotta be a "steamer"... however dealing with boiler certs and such seems like a pain and I was actually contemplating if an electric steamer would be viable. Also I have to ask... is there a reason behind the flat deck spelling "Canadien" (Montreal hockey team) instead of Canadian National?

They aren't on edges on the Mill Brook Railroad. They are 2x2 sleepers.

There will be more visits. This railway is a lot like a logging railroad. It needs to drop down one story to get to the incomplete loop. The shed is the old carriage barn from the Kennedy estate in Windsor, VT. (That would be the inventors of the Fig Newton, not the political Kennedys). It was a grand estate that was broken up over the years, starting in the 1920's. The main house is long gone, but the servant house is in the video and the gardener's house is also still standing. The turntable idea has merit. There is one at the back of the shed just large enough for the climax but there isn't quite enough room to put one at the entrance to the barn.

It spent a year here, but it didn't do well due to mechanical issues. It's been rebuilt since then. I absolutely could use a locomotive the size of the climax, though. What I'll actually do will probably be smaller, though. I'm planning on building a batch of locomotives like the MLBK 70.

That's the way Canadian National does it. Canadien National is French for Canadian National, which is English for three ring circus. :-)

That would be cool.

He certainly doesn't miss the bitumen melting on his shoes, that's for sure. Good bloke, though. True blue.

It depends on the rail, but a good rule of thumb is to space ties evenly, the space of a tie apart. The Shady Pines does not consistently follow that rule of thumb. It works out, though. Mostly due to heavy steel rail and light loads.

@@MillBrookRailroad Thank you! I doubt I'll ever lay a single rail (not enough property or $$$ to do it), but it was something I was curious about. Thanks for all these videos. 😉

The 3 way switch is a real hoot....Congrats on the engineering to have that in operation...

I had thought about overhead wire on the MLBK, but the batteries do so well by themselves that I really can't justify the expense. Instead, I'm experimenting with different radio control systems. Now, I'm not sure if it was noticeable but the red box cab is in the barn at the Shady Pines. It had been on loan to the MLBK for awhile.

@@MillBrookRailroad ah, i see

I asked Charlie what he had once and he said it was 15 inch gauge in Quechee and 24 inch gauge in his pasture in West Hartford.

@@MillBrookRailroad That 15" Charlie had had live steam if I remember correctly. Don't remember he had a 24" setup. That had to be quit a few years ago that you asked Charlie as he has been dead for a while.

@@tassi13827 It was about 7 or 8 years back. He was at the tractor dealership in Westminster.

@@MillBrookRailroad We had bought a few trucks from him, I remodeled the roundhouse for him. He ended up owning 7 dealerships and then everything fell apart including one bank president going to prison and many others were in deep do do. Charlie once ran for Governor.

@@tassi13827 I remember all that. By the time I met Charlie personally he had long been retired and Brody was running Santa's Land and a TYM tractor dealership.

Single track. No turntable. Run backwards down the hill, forward up the hill.

Ridiculous, but he smiles all the time he's running it.