NEB&W Guide to Our Model Chateaugay Scene

Last Update: 2009-11-13

Layout Photo Gallery Table of Contents

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• Overview
• North End
• The Burlington, VT Section
• A Composite Section
• The Chatham, NY Section
• The Freelanced Yard
• The Plattsburgh, NY Section
• At The South End
• South Junction

Overview

• In location, Chateaugay is akin to Plattsburgh, NY. In Plattsburgh, the engine terminal was alongside the Saranac River where it empties into the lake.
  • [1877 panoramic prototype view.]
    
  • [Fictitious map of Chateaugay, with the section actually modeled in green. In Chateaugay, the engine terminal is alongside the mouth of the Chateaugay River.]
  • [Fictitious map of Chateaugay, bigger. (Have to touch it up.)

• The center of Chateaugay is based on Chatham, NY, the entire wedge-shaped block with the distinctive clocktower on the point, as well as the some of the other buildings near the depot.
  • [Prototype aerial view.]
  • [Model aerial view of the unfinished scene. Sections of Plattsburgh are grafted on just west (to the left) of the O&LR track.]

• Overview of the Chateaugay scene, looking south.
  • [Model view.]
  • [Another model view. Photo by James Lauser.]

North End

• The NEB&W main is in the background, the equally fictitious Oldensburg & Lake Richelieu's main is in the fore. As the tracks pass under the highway bridge, they go into a hidden turning loop, although in theory they are heading up toward the Canadian border.
  • [Model photo, by James Lauser.]
  The road overpass was based on a local prototype - I can't remember from where. The girdger bridge is an Atlas one, with the ends curved down and a sidewalk and railings installed on the outside.

• Chateaugay Co-op is modeled as a mirror image of a Co-op in Lowville, NY.
  • [Lowville prototype c. 1970's.]
  • [Mirror image.]
  • [Model view.]
  • [Model photo, by James Lauser.]
  The reason it was done as a mirror image was that we only had the one photo at the time. We flipped the image so the known side faced the aisle. This wound up making a very awkward arrangement as the spur should be next to the track and the wagon and truck side should be facing the opposite side, not squeezed in between the complex and the main.

• Arendt's Lumber was a freelanced design (built for the last layout), inspired by a Bill Rau model (Alter's Hardware), modified by features of Greek Revival buildings in Orange County, NY. The name and slogan came from a teaching assistant, Paul Arendt, who started each semester by telling his class "You aren't Arendt, I Arendt". (He was a great TA.) The main building was built of individual boards and hand-lettered.
  • [Model photo, by James Lauser.]

• The coal bins at Arendt's Building & Supply were kitbashed from a couple of Bachmann Coaling Towers. This was sort of inspired by a coal shed at Arlington, VT on the Rutland. A depressed area on the other side made loading of vehicles easier. (If you want to model this, note the red and white stick on the near corner on the prototype photo, marked off in foot increments.)
  • [Prototype view c. '72.]
  • [Model view.]
  • [Model view of the other side.]

• Behind Chateaugay Grocery.
  • [Model view, sky digitally added.]

A Composite Section

• The Margaret Street crossing. The brick building on the right is from the Burlington, VT section. The crossing shanty is based on the Rutland's from Bellows Falls, VT. The other buildings are kitbashed.
  • [Bellows Falls shanty c. 1939. Photo courtesy Bob Nimke. What makes this structure so picturesque (in my opinion) is the little annex to the left.]
  • [Ball signal shanty c. 1957. Photo by Jim Shaughnessy.]
  • [Model view looking up Margaret Street.]
  • [Model view, lower angle.]
  • [Model view looking down Margaret Street.]

• The blue house in the background was kitbashed from a Revell farmhouse.
  • [Model photo by James Lauser.]

• The O&LR main crosses the NEB&W past the interlocking tower to run through the back section of town.
  • [Model view by James Lauser.]

• Another view of the crossing. The interlocking tower is a kitbashed Alexander kit. The church was kitbashed from a Kibri church and two Bachmann HO scale cathedrals. The gas station was kitbashed from a Campbell Skuyll Valley depot.
  • [Model view.]

• A close-up of the gas station, kitbashed by Carl Westerdahl.
  • [Model photo by James Lauser.]

• The white house was kitbashed from an AHM Aunt Millie's house kit, with Campbell windows and a scratchbuilt side addition. (Model photos by James Lauser.)
  • [Street view.]
  • [Rear view.]

• The red house was also a Revell farmhouse kitbash. Model photos by James Lauser.
  • [Street view.]
  • [Rear view.]

• A close-up of the kitbashed church, vaguely based on one in Shelburne, VT. (The offset tower, the rear cross-section, the steeple.)
  • [Shelburne postcard.]
  • [Prototype photo.]
  • [Model photo. Photo by James Lauser.]

• Running through the back section of town. Photo by Jeff English.
  • [Model view.]

• On the street side of this block.
  • [Model Photo by James Lauser.]

• Further south on Lake Street, a block of freelanced stores.
  • [Model view.
  • [Model Photo by James Lauser.]

• The NEB&W brick freight house was copied after the D&H's at Whitehall, NY. (The freight house was a little odd in that there was a large roof overhang on the track side but cut back on the street side.)
  • [Prototype c. 1919.]
  • [Prototype c. 1931.]
  • [Other end c. 1973.]
  • [Close-up of a door c. 1973.]
  • [Close-up of the gable c. 1973.]
  • [Close-up on the sign c. 1970's, not there in 1931.]
  • [Model view by Bill Mischler, who also built all the vehicles seen in this photo.]
  • [Another model view.]
  • [Another model view.]
  • [Another model view.]

• This Phil Hastings photo c. 1950 of Burlington yard was the inspiration for the Chateaugay coal dealer. Photo courtesy of Jim Shaughnessy, from his book The Rutland Road.
  • [Prototype view.]
  • [Same model view as above.]

Engine Terminal

• The NEB&W engine terminal. Coaling and sand towers scratchbuilt by Bill Mischler. The terminal is akin to the Burlington, VT one in that it is next to the lake.
  • [Aerial view of the engine terminal in Burlington, VT. Photo courtesy Jim Shaughnessy.]
  • [Mirror image.]
  • [Model view by James Lauser.]
  • [Model view.]
  • [Prototype photo in our collection.]
  • [Model view close-up by Jeff English. (The screwed up color shift if my fault.)]

• The Chateaugay roundhouse was scratchbuilt by Tony Steele from balsa wood, using a wood-burning tool to emboss the bricks.
  • [Model photo, by James Lauser.]

• A Mikado enters the Chateaugay roundhouse. Jeff English painted the engine and took the photo.
  • [Model view.]

• Interior view of the roundhouse.
  • [Model view.]

• An NEB&W 4-8-4 Taconic is being turned on the turntable. Turntable scratchbuilt by Tony Steele, locomotive kitbashed by Jeff English, who also took the photo.
  • [Model view.]

The Freelanced Yard

• Chateaugay yard.
  • [Model photo by James Lauser.]

• Chateaugay yard with oil tanks and O&LR freight house in rear.
  • [Model view.]

• A high level view of the yard looking south, with the Chatham section to the right.
  • [Model photo, by James Lauser.]

• The O&LR freight house with the creamery behind it. (The creamery was based on plans for an O&W creamery.)
  • [Model view.]

• The O&LR freight house with Durkee Street behind it.
  • [Model view.]

• Bird's eye view of the south end. Photo by Bill Mischler.
  • [Model view by Bill Mischler.]
  • [Model view.]

At The South End

• The fuel dealer was kitbashed by Tony Steele from several oil tanks (Kibri, Alexander, Williams Bros.) and an Timberline Edwards warehouse. There are lots of storage tanks in Burlington, VT (and I think also Plattsburgh), but as far as I know, the complex is not based closely on any specific prototype. At the time this was built, the era of the layout was not too well defined, but I think if we did this again, the tanks would not be light gray, they'd be either silver or white.
  • [Model photo.]
  • [Model photo, looking the other way.]

Ice House

• The ice house at Burlington.
  • [Prototype photo, unknown photographer, from our collection.]

• South end of Chateaugay looking toward the ice house. (Our model is based on a D&H standard plan, as we didn't have information at the time as to what the Burlington one looked like.)
  • [Model view.]

"Hastings Bay" Drawbridge

• Hastings Bay at the south end of Chateaugay.
  • [Model view by Jeff English.]
  • [Another model view.]

• We were inspired by these Phil Hastings photos in Jim Shaughnessy's The Rutland Road for this bay, even though it would have to be a mirror image. In fact, since the prototype inlet had no name, we named our model after this legendary photographer.
  We still haven't modeled the distinctive draw bridge. (Alas, some day. . .)
  • [Prototype view of the south end of Burlington yard.]
  • [Prototype view from the coaling tower. (Note the ice house obscured by the loco's smoke.)]
  • [Mirror image.]
  • [View of the drawbridge, 1972, looking north - roundhouse in the distance.]

See our Layout Guide for Chateaugay

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