What’s in a name?

The Monument City Terminal Division. That’s the name of my layout. I can understand if you have questions as to why; it’s not exactly what I would call an intuitive name for a Chessie System-based layout modeled after Baltimore.

But it does make sense. Mostly. If you have some background info. Let’s see if breaking it down helps you understand better…

“The”

A definite article that indicates that its noun is a particular one identifiable to the listener or to refer to objects we regard as unique.

(I included that one for the grammar geeks out there. And I know you’re out there…)

“Monument City”

I decided early that while I wanted the layout to represent Baltimore, I did not want to be tied down to faithfully replicating each detail. I wanted the license to change things as I saw fit. Prototype-based freelancing. So I decided that I would rename the city and various elements within it. It’s not Baltimore, it’s the flavor of Baltimore. Which is not as good as the flavor of bacon… but what is?

Anyway, for those that have been following along, you’ll know that I discovered Wicomico St. via the B-More Ghosts site. The observant among you will notice that their web address is www.monumentalcity.net, and that is because one of Baltimore’s nicknames is—you guessed it—The Monumental City.  A trip to the Baltimore page on Wikipedia uncovers the following:

Baltimore acquired its moniker, "The Monumental City" after an 1827 visit to Baltimore by President John Quincy Adams. At an evening function Adams gave the following toast: "Baltimore: the Monumental City—May the days of her safety be as prosperous and happy, as the days of her dangers have been trying and triumphant."

Those observant folks I mentioned before will also probably have noticed that they call it the “Monumental City” while I use “Monument City.” There are reasons for that. Really. And here they are:

1. I thought “Monumental City” didn’t roll off the tongue as well.
   
2. Since no one but me—and now you, enlightened readers—are going to know what the reference is anyway, I could get away with it.
   
3. Truth be told, when I decided on the name, I hadn’t looked the the B-More Ghosts site for quite some time, and I actually misremembered the name as “Monument City.” By the time I realized my gaffe, I liked the name the way I had it. After considering it, <refer to item 1>.  

Ultimately, it’s because, as the layout owner who is admittedly proto-freelancing, I can. If you don’t like it, feel free to create your own “Monumental City” layout. I have no issue with that. I’m sticking with “Monument City.”

“Terminal Division”

Someone asked me, after reading my initial post, whether I called it the “Terminal Division” because it was to be my last layout. While I suppose it could be my last layout (building it may kill me—alternately Laura will kill me if I don’t build it), I’m not saying that definitively.

No, I called it that for a very different reason.

First, various railroads have “Terminals,” “Terminal Division”s or “Terminal Subdivision”s. They tend to be areas where a line ends or where there is a lot of switching to be done, as is the plan on the MCTD. 

Second, the Baltimore & Ohio (and later CSX) called the area the “Baltimore Terminal.” In fact, the roadway book that I used to create the Wicomico St. plan covers the Baltimore Terminal circa 1989. This subdivision basically includes the entire city of Baltimore and some of its outskirts. To this day, CSX has a Baltimore Terminal Subdivision.

So you replace Baltimore—which I’ve cleverly pseudonymed “Monument City”—and you can pretty easily make the jump to “Monument City Terminal Subdivision.”  (For you aforementioned grammar geeks, no, “pseudonymed” is not a word.)

Which begs the question: why is mine the “Monument City Terminal Division” (minus the “sub”)? I’ll give you a hint. It’s a little like item 1 above.

And because I can.

Why would we want Wicomico? (Whew!)

After Announcing this blog to a number of my friends, the first thing I heard back was, “Where’s the track plan?” Well, here it is. Sort of. In a minute. But first I think you need to know why I chose this spot.
Wicomico Street is located in Baltimore, MD, on the west side of the Inner Harbor. These days, it's a stone's throw from Oriole Park at Camden Yards and M&T Stadium where the Baltimore Ravens play. Today, it's still a fairly busy industrial area with this mysterious, unused railroad track embedded in the middle of the road. In 1984, though, it was still an active switching area for the B&O (operating under the auspices of the Chessie System).

There's a bit of a chicken and egg thing going on here. I'm fuzzy about whether I stumbled upon the B-More Ghosts "Street Trackage Survivors" page first and that piqued my interest, or if I saw Pentrex' Street Running video first and then went looking for suitable B&O candidates, stumbling across Wicomico in the process. In any case, I was hooked on the concept and I decided very quickly that street running was something I wanted to do on my layout.

The B-More Ghosts site showed only two pictures of Wicomico St. This one and this one. It wasn’t much to go on, but enough to get me excited. But thankfully, there's Google Maps (and now Bing bird's-eye view). From there I could make out that there was still lots of track left in the street. For example, as you can see in Figure 1, which shows Ellicott Engineering, there is still a ton of track in the asphalt, even to this day. (You can see this view yourself here.) It made it very easy to figure out the layout and that this was once a pretty active area.

Figure 1: The arrows clearly show still-extant track embedded in the
pavement coming off of Wicomico St. into Ellicott Engineering. (Click image to enlarge.)

Street running? Check.

Figure 2: Wicomico Street map from
Baltimore Division Roadway Maps II.
(Click image to enlarge.)

I pored over the Google aerial photos for a long time. And that was great. But while I thought it was a neat area, I still had no idea what any of the industries were and what they might possibly ship and receive. Then the B&O Historical Society came to the rescue. I purchased from them a book called Baltimore Division Roadway Maps II (B&O H.S. Item number 71002 for anyone who is interested). I can't tell you how invaluable this book has been. As you can see in Figure 2, it shows the industry names, their layout (as of the late 80s) and in some cases how many spots they had for loads. This went a long way towards getting a workable plan on paper.


So I liked its operating potential. Another thing I liked about it was that it was compact, and therefore buildable; a good starter project. A bonus is that it happens to be right in the middle of a lot of railroading in the city, so when it comes time to expand, there are many options.

And there was one other thing about it I liked: saying Wicomico. It’s fun. Wicomico. Wicomico. Wicomico. Try it.

So now we get to the plan (“Finally!” I can hear some of you saying). As mentioned in the Givens and Druthers, I wanted to model the area as a Layout Design Element, to steal a term from Tony Koester. In essence a selectively compressed version of the real thing, with the benefit being that you can be assured it will operate correctly because the prototype operated it. I realized that it laid out very nicely into five 2x4 tables, with each table being a block. I added back some trackage that’s visible in the aerial (and in person) but no longer shown as active in the roadway map. Here is what I ended up with. And it was good.

Compare it to the map. I think I covered the bases. This plan would allow me to add staging at the left end (which is where the track connected to the main), and have a decent operating run. 
But like God with Adam before Eve, I couldn’t leave well enough alone, as we’ll discuss later.

All new! Living "Givens and Druthers" Page

I've added a page especially for Givens and Druthers. As these things can change (and I remember more, either on my own or with help from posters) this page will always have the latest and greatest list. A living document, if you will.

Comments and suggestions always welcome.

Joe

Welcome to the MCTD!

Hello everyone, and welcome to my blog for the Monument City Terminal Division.

With a new house and an empty basement, it's time to start working on a layout. Over the last thirteen years as a member of the Worcester Model Railroaders, I've learned that my operational interests lean towards switching. I'm definitely not a fan of "railfan" style operations (which we operation snobs at the club refer to as "running round-and-round"). While I can appreciate the draw of watching a nicely-modeled train running through a well-constructed scene, it simply doesn't hold my attention for long. Switching, however, is like a 3D logic puzzle for me. And it can change. You can make it easier or harder depending on your mood. I like that.

When I first got back into model railroading in my 20s, I had decided to create a freelanced road. Over time, I rediscovered my love of the Chessie System, with a focus on the Baltimore & Ohio, and the freelancing took a back seat. Along the way, I determined that the city of Baltimore embodied so much of what I wanted to replicated in model form. As such, I've decided to make that the focus of the layout.

After some thought, here's where I think I'm heading and what I'd like to see:

Givens and Druthers

My "Givens and Druthers" list includes the following (subject to modification or editing--but unlikely to face wholesale changes--at any time).

Givens

• Industrial Theme heavy on switching
• Based on B&O operations in Baltimore, MD
• Chessie System era (Specifically July 1984)
• Proto-freelanced, replicating some features of Baltimore relatively faithfully, while other features are an attempt to capture the flavor of the area.
• 30" minimum radius (mainline)
  24" minimum radius (industrial)
• Maximum Grade: 2%
• Point-to-point operation
• Continuous running option for breaking in locomotives and open  houses
• Coal branch to have a place to use some of the Craftsman-style kits that I've been acquiring over the last couple years.
• Street running
• LDE-style representation of Wicomico St. in Baltimore
• Control System: Digitrax DCC

Druthers

• Specific Industries to Model:
  - Ellicott Engineering (Wicomico St.)
  - GM Auto plant
  - Brewery
  - Coal Mine
  - Coal Dock
  - Paper Mill
  - TOFC Ramp
  
• Interchange with at least one other railroad (in order of preference):
  - Conrail
  - N&W (yes, I'm taking some license with the timeline and the location)
  - Wachusett & Erie (my original free-lanced road)
• Phased construction
  - Phase 1: Wicomico St module
  - Phase 2: Black Lick Coal Branch
  - Phase 3/4: Halethorpe Industrial Area
  - Phase 3/4: Sparrow's Point Branch

The reason for the "Phase 3/4" designation in the druthers list is that I'm not sure which section I would tackle first.

[NOTE: I've added a Givens and Druthers page here, which will always contain the latest and greatest list.]

In an upcoming post I'll share with you my thoughts about modeling Wicomico St. as an "almost" LDE, the trackplan for the Wicomico St. industrial area, and the layout of the current space I have to work with, among other things.

Thanks for coming by!
Joe