Merrimack Western Railroad: Heavy Traffic in a Suburban Backyard

[@kevinvega5374]

I remember seeing this as a kid when we would ride our dirt bikes along the river. Soooo cool always wondered if the owner still had it up and running 30 plus years later

[@mischef18]

Yep did enjoy this video so thanks for taking us around the world with you. Awesome the trackage is still there with each new owner of the property. Safe travels. Ken.

[@CameronMcCreary]

I just subscribed after viewing the second time around. When I was a kid being raised in the Long Beach, CA area we and my family would visit various theme parks and my brother and I would ride the small trains. There aren't many left. I current live in the Roseville, CA area and though it is a railroad town; there are no rideable hobby railroads in the area. Keep up the good work. ❤❤❤

[@MillBrookRailroad]

Thanks for watching and subscribing! If you don't mind a short drive, there is the Sacramento Valley Live Steamers in Hagan Community Park in Rancho Cordova. www.svlsrm.org/

[@micksbackyardaquaponics1408]

This video clip was. Amazing to watch there an keep up the amazing video clip there 👍👍🚂🚂

[@jimshafer3101]

A lot of nice railroad clubs up your way

[@MillBrookRailroad]

They are nice, but most of them are private tracks within one unusual club, Northeast Live Steamers, who purposely don’t have a club track.

[@stephenhottle6783]

Very cool. Reminded me of the family guys lazy river 😅

[@MillBrookRailroad]

It reminded me of LA traffic. 😀

[@Coosa_Valley_Railroad]

Cool railroad, we enjoy the hobby also! After building one as well, still enjoy the videos and others having fun. The best fun ever. Thanks for the effort posting the videos.

[@avlisk]

I always thought this was a west coast, warm weather hobby. I'm surprised that there seem to be so many miniature railways in the frozen northeast. Thanks for the video.

[@MillBrookRailroad]

This is where it all started! At least in North America, anyway. I'm in Vermont, which is even colder than southern New Hampshire! I don't stop running trains for winter weather. This is definitely an all weather hobby for me.

[@natevince3154]

These railroads are everywhere. Even some out of the way places have these private or club tracks.

[@WHJeffB]

Nice trackwork... I recognize the frog castings and machined C-channel points. Nice stuff, but not cheap!

[@MillBrookRailroad]

This was the showcase track for Railroad Supply, so I would expect it to be built with the best they had. Definitely not cheap, but good quality stuff. If you have an old RRSC catalog, you'll see this railroad in all the pictures.

[@tvtoms]

Great looking track and nice variety of locos running too.

[@ЛЬВИНИ]

Excellent shot. Like !!!

[@MillBrookRailroad]

Thanks!

[@vettebecker1]

Nice layout. I was thinking Railroad Supply moved to South Carolina, but I haven't been able to contact them for a while now foe F-7 parts.

[@MillBrookRailroad]

They are in the process of moving. They're still in NH at the moment, but Mike is working two jobs to finance the move, so RRSC appears to be on hold temporarily. Mike and his sons were the ones who have arranged this meet for the past several years.

[@artillerest43rdva7]

i saw a leaner in the woods! it will fall or come down in the next high winds!leaning rt to lt. looks quite dead! very nice track, with some high grades, here and there. on the curves! that was great that it was saved and not torn up !nice run

[@MillBrookRailroad]

I tend not to worry about other people's trees. I have enough trouble with my own. It is a neat little track, though! I think the most amazing thing is that the owners do not own a locomotive.

[@WHJeffB]

@@MillBrookRailroad That's crazy... No locomotive, but all that track?! I'll probably have a locomotive before I have track.

[@northpennvalleysteamrailroad]

Awesome video 😊

[@MillBrookRailroad]

Thanks!

[@carolinecleaveley-q1r]

Hi aaron. some unusual locos .

[@WorthlessNickores]

That coal car... 🤣

[@MillBrookRailroad]

Which one?

[@gabereiser]

It's always the steamers... What sucks is there's no good electric option for steamers if you want real steam power. Those old broilers have seen better days. Kudos to the owners for keeping them running. It's such a shame this is a dying hobby due to cost of land and locomotives but it looks like fun. - N Scale Guy

[@MillBrookRailroad]

Thanks for your comments. However, not all of those boilers are old. Some are younger than the electrics. There are also many battery electric options on the market. They range from relatively inexpensive 2 axle industrial switchers to beautiful six axle SD-45's and more modern power, and even some steam outline battery electrics. This size railroad puts you into the small motorsport class of hobby, so the price is relative to motorcycles, 4-wheelers and snowmobiles. All rural hobbies. Now, I really wouldn't call this a dying hobby, but i would call it a rural hobby. Land is less expensive where it is less developed and you'll find construction laborers owning homes and sometimes building these railroads. One of my reasons for starting this channel is to show people what this hobby is and that it doesn't have to be a rich man's hobby if they don't want it to be. I intend to spur growth by showing the backyard railroading hobby and the inclusive world in which it exists. Featuring examples starting with my own railroad, built on a shoestring, and going all the way to the most opulent railroad that I can visit. Like N scale, this has a hobby that equalizes people. It brings doctors and lawyers together with blue-collar workers, and the only thing they care about is how long it took you to build it. Scratchbuilding is not dead here. Perhaps one thing that does make it look like a dying hobby is the fact that these little railroads are ethereal by their very nature. They are often built as retirement projects and last the lifetime of the builder. Most of these little railroads last 10 or 20 years. Then, just like many an N scale pike, they are dismantled and sold off or discarded. The only thing left being the pictures that someone remembered to take. Many a little engine (steam and otherwise) has met the scrappers torch at the end of the first owner's life with very few miles put on them, but many more get sold off to new people entering the hobby. Also, there are actually young people who are active in this hobby. You don't have to own a track. You just need to know someone who does. Track owners are often happy to have help building and maintaining the track, which can be a lot of work. It'll keep you in shape. By my observation, the only engines that are in danger of extinction at this point are the once ubiquitous diesel outline gas hydrostatic locomotives that are being repowered with battery electric drive systems. They sound like lawnmowers going down the track, and that has always been an unpopular thing about them. So, I invite you to take a deeper look into this backyard railroading hobby (formerly known as live steam). You don't have to join it if you don't want to, but I think you'll find it interesting. Just like I find the history of Tri-ang treble O and 9mm gauge interesting (I still have my old N scale layout). Thanks for watching, and sorry for the long reply. It seemed like your comments needed more than just a quick answer.

[@theRondackJCT]

Hey look I'm in this one lol

[@MillBrookRailroad]

Indeed, you are!

[@dzymslizzy3641]

Awesome! Some of those grades seemed pretty steep...camera angle, perhaps?

[@MillBrookRailroad]

It is a steep little railroad.

[@solarusthelonghaulerrailfa3226]

So I assume that RR supply is still in business right 😁✋

[@MillBrookRailroad]

RRSC is still in business.

[@petercruikshank2618]

A just curious question... Why is there only sporadic ballast...maybe only on the curves? Are the ties heavier?

[@MillBrookRailroad]

The track fell under years of disrepair. This is a slightly rehabilitated condition.

[@northamericanrailfilms3025]

my brother goes to college in manchester!

[@MillBrookRailroad]

My wife got her accounting degree in Manchester.

[@northamericanrailfilms3025]

@@MillBrookRailroad cool! I live in CT and am starting a railroad in my backyard. I might buy one of your locomotives.

[@MillBrookRailroad]

@@northamericanrailfilms3025 That sounds great! At this point, I build them in the winter, deliver them in the spring and take orders from spring to December.

[@northamericanrailfilms3025]

@@MillBrookRailroad i dont have the money now, but i can order by April.

[@MillBrookRailroad]

@@northamericanrailfilms3025 Sounds good.

[@ComerProductions193]

Iv ran that green southern mogul

[@MillBrookRailroad]

I got to run it, too. It's the same design as my mogul.

[@ComerProductions193]

@@MillBrookRailroad yeah it’s it’s a good solid engine I learned to run steam on that engine.

[@OceanViewLocomotiveMachineCo]

Somewhere some heads belonging to club railroad insufferable safety freaks just exploded seeing such a trestle that tall, only wide as the ties, and no handrails.

[@MillBrookRailroad]

... and yet, nobody has ever fallen off.

[@thomasciarlariello]

Freudian

[@LookUpTheKalergiPlanWhitePeeps]

My intellect or God given pattern recognition, tells me that there are certain fathers missing from this event. Should have raised your daughters better.

[@MillBrookRailroad]

I didn't observe that when I was there. Plenty of fathers around. Every child seemed to have one. There may have been a mother or two missing...

[@LookUpTheKalergiPlanWhitePeeps]

@@MillBrookRailroad Funny, plenty of mixed kids only one black male. Guess he gets around.