Entry no.14 - Mayfield
Mayfield is one of those extra little towns I made at the edge of the regional map. It's a little more dense, but not as scenic as its northern neighbor Gravenhurst(Entry 11 & 12).
City Hall & the Mayfield "Welcome sign"
I meant to put this entry up last week but I spent most of my spare time working on one of my three major projects - the street map project. I've almost completed mapping the Middle East borough, which comprises a total area of 24sq/km, 13sq/km of which is developed. The other two major projects are the RHW IRP(seen in entry's 4 & 13) and my ToS Batting project, which I will formerly introduce shortly.
Map making isn't too difficult in and of itself, but if you want to do make an accurate map it is very time consuming. I've easily spent over 100hrs in the the last month alone working on the map. And the Middle East borough only represents about approx. 20% of the total land mass of the region. Thankfully it's turning out as well as I had hoped for which motives me to continue(eg; Entry 6).
That brings me to my next example, the street map of Mayfield;
aerial comparison;
There is some higher density development near the train station and highway
But otherwise the town is mostly suburban and industrial in nature
As seen on the images above, Mayfield is served by one 700-series highway and a commuter rail station on the Fastraxx ME line. Highway 709 cuts through the center of the town running east to west and there are two small interchanges within the city, each operating in the opposite direction.
Both interchanges had to be rebuilt, basically they could be considered smaller projects within the RHW IRP(Interchange Rebuild Project).
Considering their small size, it was a rather simple conversion and nothing like the making of Spaghetti Junction.
The Fastraxx Mayfield station, is located on the northwest corner of town. It's one of two new stations opened on the ME line as a result of a system-wide rail corridor electrification project. The station is located a only 600m SE of the Gravenhurst Fastraxx station. However it is more of a transit oriented station as opposed to Gravenhurst's park and ride station. Train service on the line is peak period only. Halmark interegional trains also operate on the line but outside of emergencies, do not stop at the Mayfield station. Total ridership is approx. 1550(mornings & evenings) which amounts to a 8.5% peak period transit mode share city-wide.
The Fastraxx Mayfield station
The eastern exit of the 1.4 km long Delhi tunnel is located just west of the Mayfield train station.
This tunnel takes the ME line underneath the Trueno river and into Lindin City.
One mainline freight rail line runs through the city - GWR's Calico subdivision which cuts across the east side of town. It's one of the few mainline corridors in the region that is only single tracked and has multiple crossings at grade. 4 short industrial spurs branch off the mainline within Mayfield. GWR has a small intermodal facility in this area which draws a substantial amount of local freight traffic called the Eastgate Intermodel Facility.
Of the 227 daily(weekday) freight car movements originating within Mayfield, 160 or 70% of them are transferred onto trains at the Eastgate intermodal facility. The facility has 4 yard tracks numbered from the east E1 to E4. Each track has 275ft of usable space 320ft(recently extended) of useable space, enough for five six "Azura standard" freight cars. This space is measured to whats called the fouling point. This is not It is not the location of the switch point itself but rather the spot where cars cannot pass each other on adjacent tracks. The facility is currently operating near capacity, unfortunately expansion of the facility is difficult due to nearby structures, specifically the canal.
A small shipping canal runs through Mayfield called the Aluka Canal.
Dimensions & info;
- Maximum vessel length: 150ft/46m
- Maximum draft(depth): 16ft/5m
- Maximum above-water clearance: 20ft/6m
- Total Number of locks: 7
- Length of the canal: 13.2 km
- Elevation change between Cisco Bay & Moncton: 125ft/38m
- Average transit time between the two: 4.5 hours
lock 2
- Built: 1896
- Last refurbishment: 1982
- Length: 150ft/46m
- Width: 21ft/6.5m
- Fall(lift height): 36ft/11m
Lock 3
- First built: 1896
- Latest refurbishment: 1977
- Length: 150ft/46m
- Width: 21ft/6.5m
- Fall(lift height): 43ft/13m
The canal begins in Lexenborg, the city just south of Mayfield where it connects to the Supra river. It passes through Mayfield and continues eastward 12km to a town called Moncton. The canal was built in 1894 as an alternative means to ship goods from Industrial Area D to the rest of the region and beyond and shipping operations are run by the Aluka Seaway Authority. The canal been in use for over 120 years though it may not be for much longer. Originally it was highly competitive with the railroads but in recent decades usage has declined drastically as the railways have consolidated and become far more efficient at moving goods. The large the railway companies became the larger budgets they had. They could easily afford large expenditures to upgrade and modernize their systems i.e. adding tracks, signalizing previously dark territory, modernizing locomotive and freight car fleets, etc. The Aluka seaway authority however is only a comparable small entity with a limited budget and cannot afford to replace and expand the locks which permanently limit vessel size to 150ft. In addition, only barges can pass through the canal due to very low clearances at nearly all bridges. The two locks of the Aluka canal in Mayfield connect to Grenadier pond, a small body of water located in the south west corner of the city
Since both locks raise the canal above the water level in Grenadier pond excess water must be drained out by another route - in this case via the old Aluka creek. The last remnants of Aluka creek can be seen on the northern side of the pond. The creek was built over and now runs beneath Mayfield before draining out into the Trueno river.
As for Grenadier pond, its where the citizens of Mayfield can unwind and go for a walk in the park
The hydro pylon which is part of the Lexenborg interconnection to the Mildread hydro corridor. It is now protected by a significant amount of riprap after the SS Hermes lost power and ran adrift subsequently colliding with one of the concrete piers of the old hydro tower back in 1987.
Although the structure did not collapse it was badly damaged and needed to be replaced. Needless to say the PRPA - Pretoria Regional Power Authority did not make the same mistake twice and properly fortified(like a tank!) the new pylon.
The concludes the tour of Mayfield.
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