Prototype to Model

Prototype to Model, also known as PtoM, is a relatively new section in Model Railroader magazine. Editor Eric White publishes photos of models that replicate an actual prototype image. When my dear friend Andy submitted this photo, his intention was for the Trackside Photos section of the magazine. However, Eric responded, informing us of this new segment in the magazine called PtoM. 

The first photo is by George Barnard, the photographer who accompanied Sherman during his Atlanta Campaign, showing the Atlanta yards in1864, after the Union capture of the city. A few weeks later, the Car Shed, or passenger station, along with all rail facilities were destroyed by the Union forces.

The photo below shows what Andy did to blend my layout with this image. Can you tell which aspects are modeled?

CHATTANOOGA CAR SHED PART IV

90% completed and closing in on several details, this is pretty much how she'll be looking with the Crutchfield House, the premier hotel of Chattanooga in the background. Not my backdrop though.

When viewing this structure in period photos they all have the roof showing up white. Being a metal roof of tin, that is understandable given it would be reflecting the sun. But the actual color of course is not white. After looking at many photos of tin roofs on line, several conversations with friends and one or two with metal workers, the roof has a dull to very low gloss of gray. I am still experimenting such as a medium gray with light gray dry brushing to a semi metallic gray color on the cupola. All brush painting and no airbrushing or spray painting.

FEB 2020 OPS SESSION / SHAKEDOWN & PEACHTREE ST RENOVATION VIDEO

It's what can happen when my honey decides to go visit one of her friends for more than 4 days... INVITE THE CREW! In addition to DC and Andy, a very good friend and contributor was able to visit as well, LeBron Matthews. One day we will feature his remarkable modeling as he too models the W&A, referenced as the south branch. LeBron is from Columbus Georgia.


This crew was here on Wednesday working on different projects as well as to help prep for the Thursday night ops session. DC continues to scenic the new section. More on this section and DC's work in a future post.

 LeBron scenicing Atlanta; grass was more likely in many areas around the tracks and yard than I considered. Where there is no traffic most likely there'd be grasses. Needless to say, the added greenery has a few effects. 1) it pulls the elements of Atlanta together, the green is the connector to the structures. 2) it fills out the area of Atlanta; makes it "pop" as some like to say.
3) the color adds a pleasing invitation to the eye.

Andy took on his first structure, a Woodlands Scenics casting of the Tack Shed. The door off the hinge was his intention!
Six other fellas came by for the session. Adding LeBron and Paul, we grouped them into four 2-man crews, one engineer and one brakeman. In addition to operating the loco, the engineer handled the way bill/schedule. Brakeman had responsibility for coupling, switching. Here Lebron, engineer, along with his brakeman Paul, maneuver the Dr. Thompson consist into Big Shanty. DC and I were trouble shooters.

Engineers and Brakemen

Left to right, LeBron, DC, Ray, Paul, Bill, TR, Dave, Hilmar, Ed and Andy. Paul, Ed and Hilmar are from our local RR club, Garden State Central. Paul is building an HO scale W&A layout, focusing on the Battle of Mission Ridge. Ray has a MASSIVE HO multi-level layout, Norfolk and Western. Bill and Dave contribute to his layout and all three are members of the Model RR Club. Andy is our resident photographer and videographer. He excels at tree making ,and during this visit apprenticed with LeBron on scenic work.

Lessons learned or reinforced

1) Prior to ops session, have a friend review the schedule/way bills. We found out, 30 minutes prior to people arriving, the schedules included the same cars! During staging this was most apparent as one person set up a consist, went off to do another, only to return and find the cars he set gone!  
2) Always invite guests to offer feedback. Most often they will not offer input to avoid offending. This also shows them that your intention is to improve the efficiency and fun. 
3) Just because a person has done the brakeman job a few times does NOT mean they know how to engineer a locomotive! Although we are familiar with shorts, we had an excessive number this time. Speaking with one engineer at the end, I realized this engineer did not know that he could not run a loco into an adjacent turnout if the rails were not aligned to the track he was exiting! Good news is that this one breakdown indicated that we did not have a massive, layout wide, short issue to untangle.
4) Coupled with number 3, invite operators who are familiar operating on your layout. Then be sure to partner the most familiar with newest guests.
5) The realization that metal wheels can cause a short when the stub rails are either too close or wheel sets are too loose and hitting both rails simultaneously.

The ATLANTA SHIFT

After two operations sessions it came to pass that one aisle was unacceptable. Although I thought I had planned the scheduling efficiently enough, the reality of UNplanned consequences take shape. I discussed a few possibilities to minimize and not overcompensate to expand the aisle. After some consternations and reassurance from a couple of reliable friends, we decided to cut!First I took a few days to clear the deck underneath the section. Fortunately I have plenty of friends including members of the Garden State Central Model Railroad Club and those who have been contributors over the past 10 plus years.

Here is a time-lapse shot by good friend Andy Salcius of the ATLANTA SHIFT. You will see initial planning, then Ray appears with his saws-all... it felt extreme, like being at a field hospital and the doc says, "Just amputate!" Shortly after, you see the crew appear. Not knowing how difficult the shift would be I invited about 10 fellas. At first I though 4-6 would be sufficient. But given all the unexpected shift encounters I could conjure up, 10-12 was best. This was an affirmation on good planning... hours, and it paid off as the actual maneuver took about 1 minute.

https://youtu.be/WyrxSlqehII

Chattanooga Car Shed... Cupola and Completed

The cupola was a bit more tedious. Thankfully those glass plate photos allow the extreme zoom. As a result we can see that it was not all windows but a pattern of two windows then louvers. I reason that the louvers provided some ventilation for the locomotive smoke. My challenge was how to ensure I could cement the roof evenly and in one application. I intentionally did not add a floor to the cupola for access to the inside. Once I had the roof set using the rubber bands I could apply the CA to the seem between roof and walls from the inside. 

Here is the completed cupola ready for a coat of paint. It was primed white then masked to only expose the louvers which I decided on a green tone. I chose green for a couple of reasons. It appears that for some reason green was common for structure trim. The other, and more important rationale, was that the period photos show the louvers being darker than the windows. Could they have been something other than green? Absolutely. After further consideration I may have used a dark tan. Anyhow I'm satisfied.

In this photo below you will notice that the roof has been painted a gray tone. After MANY conversations and viewing period as well as contemporary photos there is a general consensus that a period photo, although appearing white, is clearly just the reflection of sun light. The reality is that a metal roof would have a gray tone. The question is how weathered would this roof have been. The Car Shed was constructed in mid to late 1850's so not so old given the period pics are 1864. When viewing the period pictures there appears to be little if any wear. Assuming this latter point, there may be a slight sheen which is my current experiment. The cupola roof was painted with a Craftsmart color, Silver Gray from Michael's. This has a slight sheen. The main roof was painted using 2 other craft paint gray colors of a matte finish. Next is to 'dirty' the roofs up a bit with dry brushing and washes. Missed the down spots as you can see.
Windows and louvers are from Grandt Line as well as the Double S corbels on the cupola and the corbels on the main roof. Down spouts are Evergreen round stock just bent. I was pleasantly surprised that they held the shape.

Good friend Andy Salcius shot this one below and of course added some photo shop to mask the ceiling.

NMRA OPEN HOUSE

November is open house for those model railroaders affiliated with the National Model Railroad Association. This is in addition to the local Divisions who sponsor Division Meets throughout the year where members also open their layouts to visitors. The following photos and video is from 11.18, last Saturday and although not a bright sunny day we had a reasonable turnout. The gentleman below with glasses, Dick Genthner, has been a long standing member of our Division and is a very accomplished modeler. Any compliment from Dick is one to appreciate.

 

Overlooking the Atlanta rail yards is Dick with another Division member, Herb, who also has been a terrific model railroader. Both gentlemen have established layouts conducting operations on a regular basis, one of my goals. 

Newest engineer on the W&A, DC Cebula, is running the locomotive Alabama of the Georgia RR which had an interchange in Atlanta. This view is overlooking Kingston. The interchange here was to the Rome RR, not Italy of course.

 
From inside the Macon & Western depot office. Windows were framed inside. Rafters and floor joists by LeBron Mathews.

 
Other photos and videos are forthcoming. But for now, here is a montage of videos shot by our good friend Andy Salcius who also took the photographs.

Chattanooga to Tunnel Hill

My good friend Andy Salcius was here a few weeks ago and posted this video he took of the most recent excursion through Georgia on the W&A. A few things to note is that the landscape and structures are period in that they have been extensively researched. Most structures are either scratch built from period photos, illustrations and/or diagrams. The time is summer 1863. Chattanooga was on the verge of being captured by the Union Army of the Cumberland, led by General Rosecrans. Locals were evacuating to points south while Confederate troops and military supplies were be transported both north, from Georgia, and south from Virginia to meet the Yankee incursion. They were to eventually meet the Union army at a place called Chickamauga Creek were the south would experience its only clear victory in the western theater of war.

 

W&A Roundhouse - Pano

New fun with the iPhone camera. My good friend  Andy Salcius was here for a couple of days. His first project was setting up this blog. He has taken many photos and videos subsequently of the layout. For this visit we experimented with panoramic photography for something slightly different to experience. He started with the idea to make a small pivotable jig. After several renditions we landed on this rig. It appears to be on a platform/flat car. That is correct! It was the first scratch built car I attempted about 25 years ago. The base however was two angled bolsters which caused it to tip left or right. He added the four posts to stabilize and high enough to hold his iPhone. Inside the car is an inverted deck made 3D by Andy when he worked for Makerbot. The inverted deck being too unstable I found the car as a sturdier base. 

Here is photo of the jig in service that Andy created. We added a few shims to ensure stability.

 

Photo below is about the 10th shot after experimenting with different Jerry-rigged jigs and using the one shown above.

Of course this view is premature in that my research continues to find some information on what the interior may have looked like during the war years. So far, thanks to the folks at the B&O Museum, the Savannah Railroad Museum and a period photo from Dave Bright (csa-railroads.com) of the Petersburg Roundhouse, I am ready to begin adding elements. These will include one or two winches in bays, gas lamps in some of the bays, a load of work benches, shelving and more debris from general maintenance.

Kingston to Dalton and Beyond

A recent visit this March by friends who have been contributing to the construction of the Western and Atlantic RR for many years, DC Cebula, Brain Kammerrer, Christopher Eldridge and Andy Salcius, have moved us toward the last phase on this layout. 10 years in the making, Andy, aka Uriah Stephens, shot this "creative" video with a few sound effects, unlikely heard in any steam locomotive sound decoder.
 

The following photos attribute the recent work projects with their respective authors. I use this term author deliberately since the skills that each person brings is at a level where I trust their ability to "author" their sense of a scene or scene element. 

 LeBron, on his January 2013 visit, has painted, inserted and here is dry brushing the perimeter fence (Musket Miniatures) of the Barnsley Estate. Godfrey Barnsley, if you missed prior postings, was a cotton trader. With offices in Atlanta, New Orleans, Savannah and London, interestingly he was opposed to slavery and paid all his workers.

He was also known for his extraordinary gardens, some of which we plan for the center section just in front of his home. This mansion was scratch built by Christopher from book illustrations in Barnsley Gardens. You can see Chris' work under LABELS for Barnsley.

 

 

 

A New Modeler

I have known Andy for about 15 years., mostly through his cello music and improvisational gatherings. He has been integral to helping me establish this blog. He also takes great photos. However he had never done any modeling. A few months ago he took on making trees, with a little coaxing, as a first. As you may know, trees are always a scenic feature, especially those in foregrounds. A simple technique I use Andy is demonstrating here with medium and large plastic trees by Scenic Express. First step is to cut the plastic pin molded onto the tree base. The intent is to insert a brad for easy replanting. Once the tip is removed a hole is drilled into the base the size of the brad, and about 1/8" to 1/4" deep. There is usually plastic residue on the bit and is easily removed by simply unscrewing the plastic from the bit. The brad heads are cut off with a wire cutter. We adhere the brad into the new hole in the tree base using  blue Loctite CA glue; it is a gel. The brad extends about a 1/2" from the hole. Next step is to heat the tree to soften the plastic, then gently bend branches. The last photo shows the results. Interestingly Andy started bending the branches, AND the trunks! Although slight, it offers a more realistic contrast than every tree being boringly straight. This may sound obvious but it never came to mind. This is one good reason to have someone working on the layout that has no prior knowledge or limited thinking! You can expect new ways and approaches to any aspect of modeling.

Heating the plastic then twisting and

bending branches and trunks.

Below: final inspection before deployment into the fields 

The finished products below waiting for their paint job and foliage.