The New Haven owned the mainline and the spur at the time. The spur was known as the 'Groton Branch' The main industries served were Sunoco Ready Mix Cement, near where the spur left the main, Groton Airport, Esso Oil, Pfizer, and Electric Boat Company.  The track is still there, and can be followed on Google maps:

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Groton,+CT/@41.3412721,-72.0417338,16.58z/data=!4m6!3m5!1s0x89e6093f23ffd9e5:0x44ff1732c5e11cc5!8m2!3d41.3481528!4d-72.078663!16zL20vMDNsaGoz?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI2MDMxMS4wIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D

It splits off the main right at South Rd, runs west past Tilcon Connecticut (Was Sunoco), then turns sound towards Beer'd Brewing and down to the airport. The siding with the station and freight house there is long gone. It then heads west again, passing through a golf course and on to Pfizer, Something oil, and Electric boat.  Except for the branch tracks headed to Electric Boat, the old Pfizer tracks are gone. There is still a fair amount of track left at Electric Boat.

Len

This is the description for the 'SoundValue' 0-6-0 from Bachmann's on-line store. There is no mention of smoke:

Features Include
 Authentic USRA standard design
 Precision motor
 Soundtraxx® Hyperdrive2™ Advanced Motor Control for refined low-speed operation
 Flex-Map function mapping technology for reassigning function keys F0-F28 to any effect
 Hyperlight™ equipped headlight and reverse light with Rule 17 operation or automatic direction control
 Soundtraxx® Econami™16-bit polyphonic sound with user-adjustable sound effect and volume options
 Completely hidden drivetrain
 Upgraded locomotive body with refined and improved boiler and cab details
 Newly tooled roadname-specific coal or oil tender with operating backup light
 Operating LED headlight with roadname-specific placement
 Separately applied metal handrails and uncoupling levers
 Separately applied bell, number plate, and clear cab windows
 Highly detailed painted bodies with precision graphics
 Upgraded chassis and operating see-through drive wheels with spokes
 Metal siderods
 Blackened metal wheels with RP25 contours on locomotive and tender
 Magnetically operated E-Z Mate® Mark II coupler on the front and rear
 Product Measurements: L 9.5 in., W 1.5 in., H 2 in.
 Performs best on 18" radius curves or greater
 Retail Package Measurements: L 10.2 in., W 1.8 in., H 3.4 in.

The earlier version of the 0-6-0 had smoke, but no DCC decoder.

Decoder function outputs do not supply enough current to operate a smoke unit. You sould have to use the function output to trigger a relay that supplied track voltage/current directly to the smoke unit heater. And there is not really room for that in most HO locos.

Len

Going through some Sanbord Fire Insurance maps and came across this one, published in 1951, that includes the Pfizer Chemical plant.  I worked there 1970 - 1972, and those track curves are sharp, and listening to flange aqueal was pretty much an all day thing. 15" and 18" radius curves would be right for this one.

Expand the pic for details. The building labeled 'Machine Shop' was actually the maintenance shed for the Pfizers in house locos.  There were a pair of 44 Tonners, painted dark Navy blue, when I was there. A 70 Tonner was added after I left, and the paint was changed to "Safety Orange".

You could use the same general configuration for another industry on a large layout, or just use it as a standalong switching layout.  There was plenty of activity going on, and not just tank cars. There would be boxcars to pick up 100lb sacks of finished dry chemicals and deliver sacks of chemicals used in production. Covered hoppers for bulk pickup of dry powdery chemicals. Even flat cars bringing in pipe and valves for mixing tanks.

Link to page:

https://www.loc.gov/resource/g3784nm.g3784nm_g011521951/?sp=75&st=image

Len

Some ON BOARD decoders are finiky and you have to put a 1/4 or 1/2 watt 1,000 ohm resister across the track when programing. Similar to what's you have to do with some sound decoders. Also, SoundValue locos have sound, not DCC ONNBOARD locos.

Len

If the industrial area can be seen from both sides, one option is to use bacground scene buildings that are only an inch or so deep mounted back-to-back. This would give the appearnce of two different industries serving sidings running more or less parallel to each other.

Len

AnyRail, free demo limited to 50 track sections, or SCARM, free, software both have libraries for EZ-Track that take the guesswork out of layout planning.

Len

I use an NCE system, and have had to use the same solution of putting a 1K ohm resistor across the tracks as Jeff mentioned.  Also have to do this with some non-Bachmann sound decoders.

Len

I suspect your tender was custom lettered by/for SteamGene in recognition of the early railways of Virginia, rather than for an actual railroad.  As far as I can determine, the Tidewater and Piedmont Railways were completely seperate lines:

Tidewater Railway Co. eventually became Virginian Railway:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tidewater_Railway

Piedmont Railroad went through a lot of gyrations before eventually connecting Danville, VA and Greensboro, NC. In 1894 it was absorbed into the Southern.
http://virginiaplaces.org/rail/piedmont.html

Virginia may just refer to the fact the other two railroads operated in Virginia, or it may be a reference to the Virgina Central Railroad that had a similar history to the other two. Eventually becoming part of the C&O Railroad.
https://encyclopediavirginia.org/entries/virginia-central-railroad-during-the-civil-war-the/

The last time SteamGene posted was back in November 2010.

Len

You may find some on eBay or Worthpoint. It might be simpler to use another mfg's Code 80 track that comes in 30 degree and 15 degree sections to replicate those old Bachmann 45 degree arc curves.

Len

It looks like all the parts are available to "build your own" from the parts store.  I've done this with some 'Thomas & Friends' locos that went out of production, but the parts to build one were still available. As you noted, it's more expensive than buying a complete loco. But the alternatives are doing without, or buying a pig in a poke on eBay.

Len

No, it's plastic, and very detailed. Definately not Plasticville.  Almost like something you'd get from Walthers.

Len

Pulled this out of production kit from a box of stuff that had been in storage for some time. Looks like an interesting kit, but I'm curious if anyone who has built this in the past can give me a heads up on any pitfalls to avoid. Things like construction going smoother if certain steps are done in a different order than shown in the instructions.

This is the kit:



Len

Bachmann probably does not offer curved turnouts because the demand isn't high enough to justify the cost of tooling up to make them. Several other manufactures offer curved turnouts, only the majority of them are in Code 83 rail size.  Atlas and Peco both offer curved turnouts in Code 100 rail, but without roadbed. Shinohara used to offer curved turnouts in their Code 100 line, but that entire line was dropped in favor of Code 83 rail. You may find the Code 100 versions on eBay, but they tend to be pricey.

Len

Almost all slot cars sold as "HO" are actually S-scale (1/64th), and would fit right in on an American Flyer layout. Unfortunately, that doesn't do much for HO modelers.  It's similar to the situate where 1/76th scale models are sold as being "HO" (3.5mm/ft scale), when in fact they are actually "OO" (4mm/ft scale) because the trains for both run on the same 16.5mm gauge track.

If you want operating vehicles on the track, you're pretty much stuck with the oversize stuff. The other option is fill in the slots and use static scale vehicles.

Len

For any "kitbashers" who can't wait on Bachmann, the chassis from the Mantua 2-8-2, latest version, makes a good starting point to make your own.

Len