Why Pick the Rockland Branch As Inspiration?

So I've been talking a lot about what I've been building.  But I've said very little as to why, and what is inspiring me.  Why am I departing from my Somerset project, to the Rockland branch?

The Rockland concept grew from a series from a series of conversations with Brandon K.  He is a good friend of mine, and is an avid Maine Central modeler.  He noted that the arrangement of the yard and peninsula was much akin to the design of the Maine Central at Rockland.  Trains enter town passing Dragon Cement, and entering a yard on the outskirts of town.  From there, a branchline ran down to the waterfront and a series of industries.  A large cement plant is an industry I've been interested incorporating into a layout provided extra motivation.  Another factor is that the port of Rockland in my scenario is served by the Somerset, through affiliate road Northern Terminal.  Ironically, this is the line modeled by Brandon on his home layout.

So with a prototype for inspiration, why not freelance a port served by the Somerset?  My motivation was, and still is, to keep this layout freelanced.  Motive power and rolling stock is fair game.  Sure, I want to keep everything in a set period, but that period is flexible.  One of the great things about modeling scenes in Maine is that change is slow.  However, for now, I am centralizing the Atlantic Branch on the fall of 1980, the same period of time for my Somerset project. 

For the overall scope of my Somerset Line, was modeling the section connecting the Canadian Pacific to the Maine Central.  To that end, I have collected a small fleet of equipment for both of those lines. 

With a location and associated equipment for a period of interest, I was off.  But recently, I acquired a beautiful Morristown and Erie C424 from another friend.  This unit was used by the M&E on the Rockland branch when they held the lease on the line during the mid 2000s.  Will this drive a change in era?  Stay tuned...