Sunday, August 13, 2017

"Prototype" tour, part one

I just returned from a two-week family vacation in mid-coast Maine, including a week spent along the coast north of Thomaston and St. George. On the drive back we detoured off Route 1 to drive the length of the peninsula, so I had a chance to take a lot of photos that will be helpful when (and if!) I get to the scenery stage.

At least for now, I imagine the Thomaston yard and engine facilities as being situated just east of town, across a stream called the Mill River. They would be located in the meadow to the left of the tracks in the following image, which was taken looking west toward town. (The bridge in the distance is the Maine Central bridge over the Mill River.) The narrow gauge tracks would curve left (south) just before the point from which this photo was taken.


Placing the terminal in this location would mean a hike into town for anyone traveling up the peninsula to spend the day in Thomaston, but my rationale is that the St. G. R. R. was built primarily to serve the quarries, and that the founders decided it was too expensive to build a bridge just to accommodate the relatively small amount of passenger traffic. If I get more space in the future I might add a bridge to enable direct access to the town.

From Thomaston, the line turns south to run along the Saint George River, passing farms as well as undeveloped land. The next section of the layout (the narrow section along the side wall) will reflect this scenery.



I will also include a road crossing in this section, and one or two small streams, but this stretch of the layout will be mostly free of structures.