The B&M’s 56-mile Cheshire Branch ran across the southwest corner of New Hampshire between South Ashburnham, Mass. and Bellows Falls, Vermont. In the late-steam era the Cheshire Branch hosted a daily parade of passenger trains, a pair of symbol freights, a pair of local freights and a nocturnal milk train to Boston. It was a “branch” in name only! The goal of the layout is to prototypically replicate the years 1947-48 on the Cheshire. To that end we have modeled five consecutive stations —along with selected industries and scenic highlights— that were located on this busy single-track line. The trains we run on the layout are meant to represent, as best we can, the specific locomotives and rolling stock that operated over the Cheshire Branch in the late-steam era.
