May Operating Session

Our latest and perhaps one of our most enjoyable train runnin sessions.

Left to right, Andy, Heath, DC, Ted, Rob and Jim. Unfortunately Corey had to leave early.

When planning these sessions, there are always one or two operators that may need to cancel last minute. I lost my mind as I had spent more than a week working out the schedules for two member crews. Another lesson learned... KEEP MY COOL! It worked out great. There were four trains and two had solo operators. This helped me realize that one person can do all the jobs. Now I just need to make a few adjustments to minimize all the paraphernalia an operator needs to carry. Easy! 

This view shows the new ops elements I incorporated into different train orders. The car with derrick is the wreck train with two attached cars. These were mentioned in a couple of writings by trainmen who rode the W&A at the time and other lines such as the VA Central, East TN & GA and GA RR.

Bottom left is a telegraph car. This would take new poles and insulators to set along the line or to replace those needed.

The keg is one of whiskey which seemed appropriate to "support" the troops. Next is a grease bucket, the idea coming from Wilber Kurtz notes that one engineer was asked to meet another train to hand of a bucket of grease. 

Last are pole cars. Lever cars were had not arrived on the W&A in 1863. However, these pole cars were on occasion transported to an area where workers would need to travel down a line to either inspect of conduct minor repairs. 

During this session, each of these were added to a crew's train orders. The feedback was ecstatic as it provided a hands-on experience for the operators.

 

OP Session January 28, 2024

Another fun ride on the W&A, north branch! Operators included members from our ACW RRs group, Corey, Bill and DC, https://groups.io/g/CivilWarRailRoads. Another person, Glyn is a fellow board member in our NMRA Division, and Ed who is a member from our local model RR club, Garden State Central http://www.gardenstatecentral.com/

I had three train schedules prepared. However, a couple of folks couldn't make it last minute  And, I didnt even think about removing the one train. This, however, made for an interesting movement for the crew that encountered this train as it blocked their route. 

One of the compelling aspects of modeling this era is the consistent randomness of situations which were very prototypical then given the demands for both civilian and military needs and requirements.

Below, Bill is Yardmaster in Chattanooga while Ed and Glynn are preparing to depart for points south.

DC, brakeman, and Corey throttling through the Kennesaw Cut with a mixed freight of empties pulled by the W&A 4-4-0 Georgia. All names for the locomotives, as well as businesses and particular land features are consistent with the W&A line in 1863. 

Glynn and Ed taking out the Catoosa for its first run of the day, also a mixed freight with a few passenger stops scheduled along the way.

 

Operations 11.12.2022

For many model railroaders, running trains in a similar fashion to how they operated in real life is an objective to building a layout. Prototype, prototype freelance or freelance, makes no difference. I worked with period information on way bills and schedules to create an experience for friends to visit and work in crews of two. 

Here's the crews from Nov 12...

Dave and Ed changing out cars in Kingston. Dave and I go back to high school. Ed is a member of our local Garden State Central Model RR club in Wall NJ.

Dan and Bill are picking up empties from Camp McDonald at Big Shanty. Both are members of our American Civil War RR's Historical Society. Historians to modelers participate in our monthly zoom meets.

Success!

Aside from the occasional, and in many cases prototypical mishaps and breakdowns, there were issues with derailments and decoder learning. Derailments were found at one turnout which has been rectified. But this is something that does occur. It's 1863. Trackage was rough to begin with. The key is not doing anything about the mishap and excusing oneself with "well, that's prototype". Repairs and fixes are part of the equation.    

Ed and Dave come to the end of their run. Truly, a good time was had by all.

Annual Civil War RR's Meet in Baltimore

We are known as the American Civil War Rail Roads Historical Society, created in 2003. For many years we would rendezvous at a location with ACW RR history. We've been to City Point, Chattanooga, Atlanta, Memphis (2x), Alexandria, Savannah, Harper's Ferry, Gettysburg, Hanover, now Baltimore, for a second time. Prior Baltimore trip was 2012. The trip covers about 3 days, Thursday evening through Sunday morning. Typical trips include site visits, clinics, speaker(s) and ideally operations sessions at a local model railroad. Here are some photos of our trip. Hope you enjoy the ride...

This was at the B&O museum in Ellicott (pronounced Elikit) City. Our guide was incredibly knowledgeable. Being of Irish decent, he was very familiar with the B&O as one of his ancestors was a railman. 

Left to right, Charlie Taylor who models the M&C, O scale, and lives in Tennessee. DC Cebula, living in Delaware, models an HO freelance layout, the Del Central. The back of John Bopp who models in HO scale and is an historian of locomotives.

Here we all are in front of the William Mason 4-4-0 in the B&O RR Museum Roundhouse. This loco was leased by Disney for the Great Locomotive Chase and used as the Texas. Jeffrey Hunter, Slim Pickens and other actors rode this baby! 

Left to right, Charlie, Ken Bruns, Paul Ciesmelewski, DC, myself, John Bopp, David Bjorkman, Phil Ruehl and Marty Vaughn. 

I was able to get a peek into the cab. Later found out that this is verboten! 

Here we are at Bernie Kempinski's O scale USMRR Aquia Line participating in an operations session that Bernie had arranged for us. This is the highlight for many of us!

Until next time... Happy Rails!

Workin on the DC - Delaware Central RR

 This past Tuesday I took a ride to Newark DE to see our good friend DC Cebula and his progress on his period layout. WOW has been motorin! Prior to making this photo happen, he began last year preparing the layout room in his basement. Herculean effort it was. Now his benchwork is completed and track is being set in preparation for permanent bedding.

To our right, your left, is a return loop. His is building a freelance prototype of the DE Central RR. All of his 30 plus turnouts have been built with Fast Tracks templates. One remarkable attribute of DC is his meticulous attention to all construction, from benchwork to track work, etc. During my time with him, as I have made two trips in two weeks, we have built the laser cut throw devices and placed the track exactly where it will be permanently adhered. Visit his website, https://delawarecentralrailroad.blogspot.com/

Although he has not uploaded layout photos yet, you will see his magnificent modeling skills.

Member's Bin Busy!

Over the last several weeks, as we have been honoring the "stay home" recommendations, I have been hearing from several friends and members about their respective projects. This post is to give y'all an idea on what folks are doing, from masters to beginners. There are four, most of whom you have seen before. First up, Charlie Taylor's M&C, Memphis and Charleston. He is currently further detailing the area in and around Memphis. Charlie is one of us 'crazy' modelers. In addition to hand carving tunnel entryways as limestone block, Charlie just finished carving this cobblestone street. 
This is the area planned for the cobblestones, around the M&C Depot. 

He uses a sheet of bass wood for carving the stones.

And here are two photos with final results...

Next we have a relatively new modeler, Paul Ciesmelewski. I met Paul through a local hobby shop, Hobby Masters, which unfortunately is no longer. However, Paul is one of those other rare modelers focusing on civil war and coincidentally, the Western & Atlantic. He has already scratch built the Chattanooga Car Shed and a church. His next project is the premier hotel of this dirt water town, at the time, the Crutchfield House. It was located within a short walking distance from the shed, or passenger depot. 

He has a unique approach in that he is building the shell to be able to be removed from the interior structure. 

Paul is dividing the interior into three floors and about 16 rooms. 

Main structure complete, he is adding this roof. Eventually Paul plans to add basic interiors, wall paper and home made furniture items. His 'crazy', however,... adding lights to the fireplaces! His layout will also depict the battle of Mission or Missionary Ridge in 1863. 

Someone known to most ACWRRHS members and perhaps in the model railroad community, LeBron Mathews, is DE-constructing his W&A with a reno plan to allow more options to run his railroad, operations and, as important given his inventory, storage. As he has begun to remove structures and dismantle track, to counter balance the remorse of tear-down he is also upgrading structures with finer details, if you can imagine that for LeBron. The LOC (library of Congress) is his primary source. 

Most of LeBron's work is scratch building. One example of his upgrading is the Atlanta Hotel. A photo prior to the changes below.

His rebuild shows a completely different roof trim, sign with yellow trim, balcony spindles removed for a solid wall and red shutters. What other changes can you see?

How does he know this? There are a couple of sources. One is the LOC where TIFF files reveal slight variations of color as well as details otherwise undetected. Second source is information about structure building at that time. As an example, two primary colors were used for trim and shudders. Generally speaking, green was primarily used on residential and small businesses. Red would be found on the more high end establishments such as the Atlanta Hotel, one of a few in Atlanta.

In addition to his scratch building, LeBron also uses kits. One of the most similar looking period structures is made my DPM, Design Preservation Models. Here he changed out the roof from flat to tin.

His coloring and weathering is off the charts! George Selios would be proud!

Next up is the Delaware Central RR. Our good friend, and co-founder of the American Civil War RR Historical Society, DC Cebula is beginning his foray building a layout. After MUCH re-configuring... no not the layout plan although that is always a process, he is revamping his basement first! Already with new lighting, outlets, relocating his "stuff" and having purchased lumber, here is his latest track plan. Grids are 1' so this will be a 4'x12', however I believe he mentioned he is working to extend it to 18' . The red line is the backdrop, narrow side for staging. However, please do take a ride to and into his new BLOG! 

https://delawarecentralrailroad.blogspot.com/

One fella you may have heard about in one conversation of another as only a few of us know is Rhett Tyler. He certainly has the right name for our era. Rhett has been nt only modeling but has built some of thee most detailed accurate models of locomotives. He did one for me based on a photo from Chattanooga, #50, a USMRR 4-4-0. That was when I was planning to have Union forces in Chattanooga and Confederate in Atlanta. However, after he built this gorgeous model I soon after dropped the Union idea. It is now being reconfigured as the Tennessee, a Georgia RR loco. Check out the piping and the prototypical cross head guide. 

Decals are compliments to John Ott, another master who we quite honored to have in our midst and joined us for the Gettysburg meet in 2015.

Rhett is modeling the New York Central & Hudson River RR. His bridge is scratch built. And these are just a few of his collection of locomotives. I believe he has close to 14. His knowledge of locomotives is extraordinary as well as rolling stock of the era. I have called him on many occasions when uncertain about a design element when doing my own rebuilds.

As you can see, and perhaps you as well, we are channeling our energies that can uplift us when the news can be quite disturbing. In one way we intend that these posts and photos will be a contribution to you, as an inspiration or at very least an enjoyable read. Very Best! 

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.

Expanding the Aisle and Filling the Gap

Long time its been! I've had a few questions about Chattanooga Car Shed dimensions, contacting me and Musket Miniatures. My email address is thomradice@gmail.com. I'll be sure to follow up if you wish to post your questions there.

I started hosting operating sessions last winter/spring. A large realization was the narrow passage at the head of the peninsula. This past May I decided to open it by making a cut between the south side of Kennesaw and the Confederate Redoubt. The two following photos show DC installing the new section and its completion.

The outlet was repositioned in the corner. Adding the new section now allowed for a new siding and the aspiration to add the Schofield Rolling Mill. The remains are in the photo below. General Hood, abandoning Atlanta, was forced to destroy his ammunition and supply trains here which caused the destruction of the mill.
A significant feature of this industry is that it was built along a rail line. Most industries were not. My space allows for one track. I'll TAKE IT! 

Next step was to layout a couple of turnout templates. The layout being set in 1863, installing stub switches was a given; but I had not done curved let alone a 3-way, the latter allowing for greater operational possibilities. Here are two shots, one of the curved templates then the 3-way. Ties were preset for the 3-way by my friend Ray Russel who has been a valued contributor. On blog home page, got to Labels, scroll to Videos. The first one should be "Atlanta Shift", a time lapse by Andy Salcius of the adjustment where Ray is cutting the layout and about 12 club members are moving the 14' section that expanded the aisle.

You'll notice sections of Homasote inlaid. This is to both hold the spikes as well as ensuring a level deck.

 

Once the 3-way was installed I realized I had inadequately planned for the Rolling Mill! It blocked accessibility to the entire 3-way. Hence, the turnout needed to be removed and relocated!
A key step however, prior to spiking the rails, is to solder the "headblock", the long tie, to the "fly rails" , the two rails that were operated by the switch stand. The headblock will be attached to a throw bar connected to the Tortoise switch machine. It also keeps the rails in gauge.

Photo below, the Homasote is laid-in and rails are still attached to their metal sprue which is soldered. Next pic is a close up. These turnouts are from BK Enterprises, the only source I know.

These next two photos show the ties being positioned for one of the curved turnouts, then the rails being positioned.

Next was to uninstall the 3-way. I spent some time thinking about the easiest approach as did NOT want rip out the rails, etc. and re-spike the entire configuration. As the Homasote was glued into the pink insulation foam, I considered cutting away a section of the insulation foam the length of the Homasote to undermine it.

The section out, the caulk I used fortunately was ease to pry loose!

The open space was relatively easy to refill with other insulation foam.

Here is the placement of the rolling mill footprint. As progress continue I'll be posting more photos and text.