Ponaganset Northern Railroad - Dave Richter

The Ponaganset Northern is a 2-rail O scale railroad set in central and eastern Massachusetts in 1959-60 and has about 200 feet of main line track with several passing sidings of varying lengths. During a typical operating session, we run 7 to 10 trains. This is a primarily freight railroad but occasionally run short passenger trains that may include a milk train.

The Ponaganset Northern operates one of its own trains as well as those of the Boston & Maine, the New Haven and the Canadian Pacific and the road is entirely dieselized.
A prominent feature of the railroad is the Mystic River Industrial District. It is an island industrial area connected to the mainland by through plate girder bridge and features six industries that have varying car capacities. The MRID has tight curves and sharp turnouts that are switched by a two-man crew using either a GE 45-ton or 70-ton locomotive.
Another operator spends full time switching the Defense Supply Center — Springfield. The DCS receives box cars of supplies, flat cars with military loads and tank cars of fuel and sends out loaded flat cars and empty cars to be picked up by main line trains.

Yard K is an assembly yard for trains. The yardmaster adds and takes off locomotives and cabooses. He controls trains through his yard.

Main line train engineers perform switching at the Mobil Oil tank farm, a coal-fired power plant, a West India Fruit warehouse, a REA facility and two transfer tracks.

The assistant dispatcher/Tower A operator can sit throughout session and controls the flow of trains and most power switches. The person operating DSCS can also sit for much of the session.

The Ponaganset Northern uses NCE DCC and most locomotives are equipped with sound. If you enjoy the weight of O scale equipment and switching, you’ll want to sign up for the Ponaganset Northern.

Layout is in Upper Arlington OH approximately 9 miles/20 minutes from the Convention site.

Layout Owner

David Richter

Location

Columbus, OH

Scale

O

Layout Size

38 ft x 28 ft

Era

Mid 50s

Crew Complement

4 - 7

Completion

Track: 100%
Scenery: 70%
Electrical: 100%

Control System

NCE - Radio

Dispatching Method

Verbal/Mother-May-I

Car Forwarding

Switch Lists

Pets

None