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The Chichester & Sweet Hollow RR is loosely based upon the Middletown to Willimantic segment of the New Haven RR. This outdoor 1:29 scale railroad is designed for true timetable and train order operations using real time. You can't see the next siding from most locations, so you have to know the rules and pay attention.
A reservoir under construction near Barnesville is providing a small percentage of its spoils to assist the C&SH in converting an old trestle into a fill. Until the trestle over Sweet Hollow gorge is back in action, much freight traffic is being offloaded at Sweet Hollow Industrial Transfer Co. where trucks swarm around the loading platforms. (This model is some twelve feet long with its own sound system.) Traffic is heavy here and demands much of the crews. The sounds of a busy transfer depot are heard throughout the valley.
The year is 1958 and the important terminal grain elevator at Middletown is struggling to handle the burgeoning traffic. Local collection elevators fear giving up their forty-foot boxcars out of concern that they will not be replaced. Covered hoppers are being transloaded at a rapid pace, allowing the now more primitive boxcars to be returned to smaller local elevators. Grain is being sorted and transferred to brand new 100 ton hoppers, while grain doors are being removed from the forty footers that will soon be taken out of grain service. But it is the harvest and there are never enough cars to handle demand.
This layout has pioneered many new construction methods. It is 2000 feet long with new terminal facilities at Barnesville, our connection to the rest of the national rail network. In case of inclement weather, we will operate the Great Lakes & Iron Range indoor layout. Please see that description for details.
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