Providence and Worcester Railroad

Don Irace

Don Irace's layout is 42 x 25 with 2 decks. It is a fictitious line from Worcester Ma. to Fresh Pond in Queens NY. It represents the Providence & Worcester Railroad as a regional freight carrier with trackage rights on the Amtrak NEC. Commodities include paper goods, produce, coal, stone, plastic resins, lumber, grain, cement, chemicals, general merchandise and scrap metals. Interchange is made with CSX Transportation, Sea View Transportation, Sea View is a short line railroad located in Davisville, RI and the New England Central Railroad in Ct, and the Guilford Rail System in Gardner Ma, and (ex Boston & Maine) two way radios are used to communicate with the train crews. The railroad is dispatcher controlled by means of CTC (Centralized Traffic Control) using JMRI PanelPro dispatching software with two dispatchers.

Contact Info Don Irace
No. Scituate, RI
(401)-647-2455
pwmrr@cox.net

Layout at a glance Name: Providence and Worcester
Scale: HO
Size: 42'x 25'
Prototype: Providence and Worcester
Locale: Southern New England
Era: Present Day
Style: Around the wall with peninsula
Mainline run: 539'
Minimum radius: 18"
Minimum turnout: #6 main, #4 industrial
Maximum grade: 2%
Benchwork: open grid and tabletop
Height: 30" to 68"
Roadbed: Sound board over plywood
Track: Atlas code 100
Scenery: Plaster cloth over foam and cardboard
Backdrop: Painted hardboard and drywall
Control: DCC/NCE

Operating positions: Dispatcher: 1 local and 1 remote East and West
Yard Masters: Worcester Yard handles west bound traffic and any eastbound turns. Fresh Pond Yard handles east bound traffic and west bound turns in addition to Bay Ridge Switching.
Locals: six positions (3) Worcester, (2) Midway and (1) Cedar Hill
Interchange Trains: three positions (1) Worcester, (2) Fresh Pond
Coal Train: one position Worcester to Fresh Pond with at Greenwood Power Plant
Stone Train: one position out of Worcester to Tilcon plant in Old Saybrook
Passenger: one position
Extras: As needed

Comments: A typical session runs for about 3 hrs. There is no duck under. The 2 dispatchers control their own territory and will pass the trains off to each others territory between Davisville and CP 18 where you will have to change radio channels. Signals are red or green with yellow going in and out of the yard limits. Signals and mainline turnouts are controlled by the dispatchers. We use nail aprons for you to hold your radio and Car cards. Form Ds (special movements) and Rule 241s (permission by a red signal) will be issued verbally. The railroad has very limited handicap accessibility due to the heights during a session.

Most recent update: 2008 December 21
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