Maine Central "mountain Division" By Train Simulator Enthusiasts

Discussion in 'Content Developer's Area' started by TrainSimEnthusiasts-Eric, Sep 14, 2019.

  1. TrainSimEnthusiasts-Eric

    TrainSimEnthusiasts-Eric New Member

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    Hello, and thank you for viewing our thread regarding out Work-in-Progress map "Mountain Division", based on the real life rail line belonging to the Maine Central Railroad.

    Having personally worked on this rail line, and spending quite a bit of time on the open rails, I was able to take in the details that tourists may not see on their few or only times on the line.

    This Rail line was officially left to rot, but the State of New Hampshire Department of Transportation bought the line, and now a tourist railway keeps the rails shiny during the nice weather months. Weather has been known to be extreme in these remote locations, and this line would generally close during the winter months due to risk of avalanche, but also the fact that the ruling grade and heavy tonnages paired with the labor of gravity, mother nature would generally win every time.

    Many men lost their lives building this rail line, and notable, most if not all of this railway was built before modern machinery. Man, Horse, and tools built this line from the ground up, conquering some of the most extreme territory the area has to offer. It is also notable that this rail line passes at the foot of Mount Washington, the tallest Peak in the US, east of the Mississippi River.

    Per wiki:
    "The Mountain Division was the shortest route from Portland to points west of Chicago. It saw relatively heavy through freight traffic from termination of the joint operating agreement with the Boston & Maine Railroad (B&M) in 1953, until abandonment in 1983 when GTI favored B&M routing. The westbound grade was 2.2% for 18.5 miles (29.8 km) from Bemis (Notchland) to the summit at Crawford Notch.[3] MEC operated 2-6-6-2 Mallet locomotives #1201-1204 on the Mountain Division from 1911 through the 1920s. The Mallets had been built for the B&M's Hoosac Tunnel in 1910 and were sold to MEC when Hoosac Tunnel was electrified the following year. The Mallets were built to burn oil, but were converted to burn coal after local fire departments had difficulty extinguishing oil fires.[4] Two large firemen were required to hand fire the coal-burning Mallets westbound.[5] One Mallet was stationed in Portland, another at Lancaster on the Beecher Falls Branch, and a third at the Bartlett helper wye, while the fourth Mallet was undergoing maintenance."

    Thank you for your interest in this route, please feel free to follow our progress here:
    Facebook.com/TrainSimulatorEnthusiasts

    Thank you for your time in reading this.

    Sincerely,

    Eric Chase
    Founder, Train Simulator Enthusiasts
     
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