This site is dedicated to information on life in the Connecticut River Valley during the early post-war period. While all aspects of that period are fodder for exploration, the primary focus is on re-creating the day-to-day movement of freight along the picturesque Valley & Airline branches of the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad during an Autumn day in the late 1940s. 

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Layout at a Glance


Thanks to Randy Hammill for the drawing

Prototype: Connecticut Valley Branch of the New York New Haven & Hartford, as well as a portion of the Air Line branch

Locale: Wethersfield, CT to Old Saybrook CT (Hartford, New Haven, and New London represented by staging)

Period: October, 1947 - 1949

Scale: HO (1:87.1)

Layout Size (approx): 14x18 (left room)13x19 (right room), 5.5x14.7 (Saybrook extension) - Total 580 sq.ft.

Style: Walk-in

Benchwork: Traditional L-girder

Roadbed: Cork

Track: MicroEngineering Code 70 w/#6 turnouts, Mix of Code 83 & 70 on the Shore Line & Airline.

Mainline Run (approx.): 70' (Wethersfield to Middletown), 25' ("Air Line" branch), 65' (East Haddam to Old Saybrook), 62' dogbone (Shoreline), 25' hidden (East Haddam to Middletown)

Maximum Grade: 2% (East Haddam to Middletown)

Minimum Radius: 24"

Power & Control: NCE wireless DCC & primarily manual point-thrown turnouts; Old Saybrook turnouts all powered remotely from a prototype-styled model board.

Backdrop: Masonite with vinyl coved corners

Scenery: Cardboard lattice, plaster cloth, 2" foamboard