Lessons Applied from May Ops

During the May ops, operators were forthcoming with two excellent suggestions. One was to add two throttle fascia panels to conduct their operating. One was added to Tunnel Hill. This allowed for ease of access as it can be a tight area for 2-3 crews. The other was in Atlanta. This one will provide access to running into and out from the roundhouse. 

The craziness to install Atlanta...

Laying new cable...

But AFTER a whole lotta stuff needed to be moved...

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.

Where Have I Been!?!

Since April I have embarked on a new journey; in addition, have been hosting bi-monthly zoom meets, fine tuning my locomotives and finishing off a new section of the layout with scenery.

As some of you may know of the NMRA, National Model Railroader's Association, they have a program called the Achievement Program. This is to encourage model railroaders' endeavors to develop  their skills, show their accomplishments and further the comradery with fellow modelers. 

The AP is a very structured and in-depth process. There are a total of 11 categories, 7 of which are required if you are working toward your Master Model Railroader (MMR) certificate. I started off with the category of Structures. To give you an idea, here is one form (the SOQ) to note the structures to be judged. 6 must be scratch built. The others can be kits, kitbashed or combination of all three, including scratch built.

 To date, I have four that made the cut: Roundhouse, Chattanooga Car Shed

Schofield Rolling Mill and the Cotton Depot in Kingston

An MMR certificate, however, is not necessarily my goal. I have been learning so much from other modelers to fine tune my skills along with the fun of our conversations and just hanging out with fellow enthusiasts.   

Here are the Mid Eastern Region Division members assessing the Cotton Depot in Kingston... Left to right, Glyn, a MMR, Mike, on his way to MMR, Fred, also an MMR and a lead judge, and Jack. Glyn, Mike, and Jack are also being trained to judge. Next post will cover the new scenery addition.

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.

NEW TRACK WORK & STUBS

Since the layout expansion I have been quite busy laying new track including 4 stub turnouts, one being a 3-way. The latter is quite the challenge in finding a workable solution for switching the single fly rails as the typical machine throws one way or the other. Mike Prokop of our NMRA Division suggested, and confirmed by my good friend Ray Russel, that a "servo" is the way to go. Of course I have NO idea what that is or means. However, with the 2-way stubs I am most familiar. 
I use assembled stubs by BK Enterprises, known today as Trout Creek. Although you can ask for a #4, 6, etc., they typically come with longer rails than needed; they are also adjustable given the frog size you may require.
These come with metal plates that hold the switch together. You need to unsolder the plates, then align, gauge then spike the rails. 

Simply apply your hot iron and separate the rails. There is an advantage to having the turnout nearly cut to size, most so the frog. My track, however, required modifications of these by either adjusting length and curve  to meet the already laid track, and then of course ensuring gauge and flange gaps were accurate...

In all, two curved, one straight and one 3-way were installed. Unknowingly, I used #4 templates thinking that's what I needed. However these were too acute. I used closer to #6. 

Above photo also shows the initial positioning of the 3-way. Ray fortunately laid the ties using a jig. I simply spiked the rails. However, I had NOT considered the foundry being a visual impediment to the stub; therefore I needed to move the stub!

 

 

 I made a variety of cuts and end shapes for the ties. Photos of the times show everything from milled to roughly hewn, different lengths and naturally weathered since there was no creosote then.

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.