The Mountain Vista Railroad
a.k.a. White River & Northern IX

With my health diagnosis came a great many changes in my modeling plans. The Black River & Western was cancelled for very obvious reasons; this layout was discontinued owing to its demanding nature, and the Newport & Rock Falls II was fully finished. This layout became the seed for one last modeling adventure: the White River & Northern X, which was the predecessor (in name only) to this layout. Below remains the website of the Mountain Vista, just the way I left it before going down one last layout road.

The Mountain Vista Railroad is a fictional tourist line in the White Mountains of New Hampshire, circa 1959. It's a point-to-point scheme, running from the town of Augustine to a resort at Bearcamp and back. This mini-layout has unexpectedly become a serious hotbed of animation and special effects.

17 October 2020 Work has begun on the cut. (Layout is turned 180°.) Timelapse

Layout Summary

Theme:

tourist railroad

Setting:

White Mountains, New Hampshire, circa 1959

Scale:

N

Size:

30" x 48"

Track:

Rail Craft Code 40 flex and Micro Engineering Code 55 flex

Turnouts:

custom handlaid Code 40 and Micro Engineering Code 55

Min. radius:

8.5"

Max. grade:

3.5%

Control:

battery-powered homemade PWM throttle

Benchwork:

Gatorfoam

Scenery:

sanded grout over foam board

Rockwork:

Cripplebush Valley rubber rock

Year:

2020

Status:

~30% complete

Disposition:

gone

Chapters

  1. My Very Last Layout
  2. A Brief Fake History
  3. Building Stuff
  4. With a Little Help
  5. Rolling Stock
  6. More Real Estate for Augustine
  7. The Only Constant
  8. Animation and Special Effects
  9. Scenery
  10. Power and Control
  11. Something I Had To Do
  12. The Upside of a Hurricane

Layout Index

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