jeff train: október 2012

þriðjudagur, 30. október 2012

House cleaning

We spent some time cleaning up a bunch of branches from the yard and driveway - reminders of the severe weather we've had here in Northern Virginia for the past couple of days. I also took a few minutes this morning to do some housecleaning around the blog as well. You'll notice a new, cleaner look that I hope will be easier to read. I've also adjusted some of the topic links and increased the font size.
Sandy spared us from any bad destruction - we had the power flicker a few times but it never went out, and although our backyard is full of water the basement remains bone dry. Unfortunately not everyone is as lucky. Reports are that New Jersey and New York City took the worst of it. And my extended family in Connecticut is still without power. All those folks are in our thoughts and prayers.

mánudagur, 29. október 2012

CV 40000-series Howe Truss Boxcars

I was in Lancaster, Penn., for the Fine Scale Modeler Expo a few weeks ago. As I reported then, I took a trip to the nearby Strasburg Railroad, which is home to a number of nicely restored steam era freight cars, including a Central Vermont 40,000-series car.

It wasn�t in the best place for photography, but I did manage to get a couple of pictures in the late-afternoon light that show off the details of the car.

History

The Central Vermont received 200 of these single-sheathed 40-foot boxcars from American Car & Foundry in late 1924. These cars, numbered 40000-40199, represent some of the earliest examples of what are commonly referred to as �alternate� standard ARA boxcars. Although never proposed as a standard by the ARA�s Committee on Car Construction, more cars were constructed to this Howe truss design with two diagonals on either side of the door, than were built to the ARA standard single sheath design.

The underframe was wood, with six stringers in place of the typical single pair of steel, Z-section stringers.

Closeup of the end of the restored car shows the ladders,
the top end plate, and the Carmer uncoupling lever.

The CV�s cars were delivered with wood six-foot doors, Andrews trucks, and Hutchins roofs. They had an inside height of 8 feet, 6 inches. As built, they were equipped with vertical brake staffs, but all would eventually be retrofitted with geared handbrakes and Ajax brakewheels. they also came equipped with Carmer uncoupling levers. The sides had seven grab irons, while the ends were equipped with six rung ladders with the stiles mounted far enough from the end to clear the diagonal brace on the end.

AC&F Builder's Photo shows the vertical brake
and end components.

The ends of these cars were perhaps their most unusual feature. They were composite ends (wood with two vertical and two diagonal braces). Spanning these braces across the top was a pressed steel component referred to as a top end plate. The Car Builder�s Cyclopedia, defines an End Plate as:

�A member across the end and connecting the tops of the end posts of a car body and fastened at the ends to the two side plates. It is usually made of the proper form to serve as an end carline.�*

Other single sheathed cars with composite ends used end plates of course, but what seems to make the ones of the CV�s 40000-series cars somewhat unusual is the fact that it was a pressed steel component, not fabricated from standard structural steel components.

The cars remained in service, pretty much as built, through the late 1950s and early 1960s when many of them were retired or placed in some form of company service.

Approximately 25 of these cars were modified with the addition of grain hatches to the roof and hopper bottoms for grain service.

Painting and Lettering

As delivered the cars featured the CV�s then-standard Roman lettering, with �Central Vermont� spelled out across all three �panels� to the left of the doors, and no "CV" initials, with the car numbers centered underneath.

During the Second World War (January 1942), the CV changed to the stacked Gothic lettering, with the road name spelled out in two lines, with the addition of "CV" reporting marks above the car number, like that shown on the restored car at Strasburg, and on this car:

Initially, there was a white line above the �CV and below the car numbers. In later repaintings through the 1950s these lines tended to be removed, like in this view of 40050:

The final paint scheme on these cars was in the early 1960s with the addition of the intertwined CV logo on the door.

Models

A �layout quality� representation of these cars can be made using the old Train Miniature single-sheathed (incorrectly called by modelers �outside braced�) cars. John Nehrich described such a conversion in an old issue of Mainline Modeler, later reprinted in a book by Hundman Publications. Both are long out of print, but you can find old issues of Mainline Modeler at swap meets or on eBay.

About 15-20 years ago Steam Shack produced a series of resin freight car models for a number of CV boxcars, including the 40000-series cars. These models were made for Steam Shack by Funaro & Camerlengo, who still offers these as their Kit 7060 (as built cars) or Kit 7061(cars equipped with roof hatches and hopper bottoms).

There are some issues with the F&C kit - the sides are rendered as heavily weathered - which some feel is a little on the heavy side (I tend to agree), making the model look like the prototype did late in life and not as these cars would have looked in service. There's also some issues with the ends - primarily the height of the end sill - on the resin cars it's much taller than on the prototype. But the Steam Shack/F&C kits do represent a good starting place for an accurate model.

*Thanks to Dennis Storzek for his help in determining the most accurate description for the components of these cars.

miðvikudagur, 17. október 2012

Peninsula Campaign - How it looks today

It's been a couple of months shy of two years since I basically tore down most of my layout and started rebuilding it in its current configuration. I had the opportunity to take a couple of photos of the peninsula this evening.
I wanted to create the impression in the viewer's mind that they were seeing some New England countryside with an occasional glance of the railroad in its surroundings. Instead, I thought the "Front Door" looked more like some sort of giant modern art sculpture. It was all about the infrastructure and not about aesthetics. And it really grated on me. Here's a look at how the layout entrance looked the day before I tore the upper deck off:

And here's what the same viewpoint looks like today (pardon the leaning buildings - most of them are simple mockups propped in place):

Comparing these two shots has convinced me all the work and effort have certainly been worthwhile.
It's been a long journey, and it's not over yet, but I feel pretty good about how things are looking.

HO Scale Steam Era Freight Car Trucks

Well known freight car modeler and historian Richard Hendrickson has recently updated his summary of HO scale steam era freight car trucks, available online HERE. If you ever needed to know how a "Bettendorf T Section" differs from an "ARA Cast Steel with Spring Plank" - well, here's your chance to find out!

þriðjudagur, 16. október 2012

To-Do List - Mid October Progress Report

A few weeks back I blogged about my current layout To-Do list. So, in the interest of keeping things honest, here's my progress to date:

1. Improve the layout lighting throughout the room. Investigating several options. There may be an article here.
Not sure there's an article here, but we have installed 4 four-foot fluorescent fixtures - and have four more (at least) to install. This is a group project, and I'm working on scheduling a second work session with some local modelers to wrap this one up.

2. Realign mainline track on one side of peninsula (there's a strange track alignment that the guys suggested looked odd enough to be reworked. Of course, this will require some modification to the foamboard surface of the layout, but shouldn't be too bad) - (Estimate 2 evenings)
Modifying the mainline was easy, but this project got a little out of control, and I ended up moving a hillside, extensively reworking the scenery behind Waterbury, adding two new rivers, and several hundred trees. All in all, this task has taken considerably longer than the estimate, but it's been far more involved than simply realigning some track.

3. Add coal trestle siding to Everett. Again this will require some modification to the terrain, and some track modification. To fit the coal trestle siding in place may require lengthening the passing siding slightly and handlaying a turnout on the south end. - (Estimate 4 evenings)
Haven't started this yet.

4. Essex Junction trackwork - Three more turnouts to handlay - then the remaining spurs need to be installed. - (Estimate 4 evenings)
One turnout remains, along with some siding track.

5. Drop feeders in WRJ yard - (Estimate 1 evening)
All the track in place in White River Junction has feeders installed.

6. Feeders in Everett, Essex Junction, and north-end staging - (Estimate 3 evenings) (Note: includes running a new length of buss wire).
About half complete

7. Bridge street overpass (abutments, bridge, and track needs to be complete so I can get to the WRJ passenger station area - (Estimate 2 evenings)
No additional progress.

8. Install yardmasters desk in WRJ (John Paganoni is building this for me, but it will need some time to install - (Estimate 1 evening)
Desk complete, needs to be installed.

It's going to be a busy fall as I also have to prepare for the clinic I'm giving at the Fine-Scale Expo in Strasburg in October and the MER Convention the following week!

Clinic preparation requires building up some foreground trees to various levels of completion and a small diorama to display them. Luckily, all the stuff for this will eventually wind up on the layout - but trees and such aren't going to fix the lighting in the room nor will they get the layout operational.
This took A LOT longer than I anticipated. Although I enjoyed doing the clinic, I think it's fairly safe to say I would have completed all the other items on my To-Do list if clinic preps hadn't taken all my free time for almost three weeks. With them out of the way, I can resume progress.

sunnudagur, 14. október 2012

Fine Scale Expo 2012

Just returned from the Fine Scale Expo in Lancaster, Pa. Overall, I had a good time - it was a fairly small show (although there were 500 registered attendees over the three days) - and it's very focused on craftsman structure kits. I overheard one gentleman complain to his wife that "For a train show, there's no trains!" Actually, the only model trains were the five or six items entered in the popular vote contest. This show isn't about trains - it's all about structures.
I arrived Friday afternoon, wandered around the dealer show and picked up a couple of items that I thought were appropriate for the layout. I also picked up a pre-production set of parts for an upcoming model of a New England mill building. The manufacturer asked me to build it and install it in the layout in time for him to have some photos of the finished model to show at the Springfield show. Since I was going to build the mill anyway, it worked out well for both of us!
I ran into George Dutka and Don Janes there - I always enjoy spending time with fellow CV modelers. As an aside, I was thrilled, and somewhat surprised, at the number of people who mentioned they follow this blog. Thanks! Nice to know someone is reading my scribbles!

Friday night I gave a hands-on clinic for 21 people - showing them how to bend and form wire tree armatures. The comments were very positive, and I enjoyed it although if I ever do that clinic again I'll change the approach slightly. We weren't able to completely finish the trees in the time allotted - and we couldn't spraypaint in the hotel and it was too dark and little too chilly outside, so the trees stopped at the "ready for final painting and leaf texture stage." I'm quite pleased at how good some of the finished trees looked, especially when you consider these were first-time efforts! Oh well, I guess you learn something every time you "premiere" a clinic.

One of the highlights of the show was the "Muskrat Ramble," and On30 layout that was built by a group of Australian modelers. It now has a permanent home in Florida, but was transported to the show and set up and running for the event.
The banquet on Saturday night was a special treat. I thought about heading out of town early, but was glad I stayed. The banquet was held at the Pennsylvania State Railroad Museum - which is right across the street from the Strasburg tourist railroad (see photo above). I got there early enough that I was able to get a few photos of the fully-restored CV 40000-series boxcar at the Strasburg, as well as some other pieces of equipment like this Rutland boxcar.

The banquet food was nothing to write home about (it was okay, but typical of such events). The setting - among the restored PRR and Conrail locomotives - couldn't be beat! After presenting the awards for each of the contest categories, the main event featured a pair of speeches by Dave Frary and Bob Mitchell, two well-known model railroaders. Mercifully, they kept their remarks brief and to the point - and were certainly entertaining.

All in all a good weekend.

miðvikudagur, 10. október 2012

White River Junction Featured in October 2012 RMC

In the October 2012 RMC you can find two articles on modeling White River Jct. Don Janes and George Dutka, two of my friends and fellow CV modelers, have articles describing their HO scale versions of White River Junction, Vermont. Don has modelled the yard and roundhouse while George focuses on the Station area.
You can find regular updates from both of these excellent modelers on George's blog (see the link on the right).
They also have the cover shots for this article - one (on Don's layout) features a CV M-3-a and a CN C-Liner awaiting their next assignments at the White River coaling tower (an Alkem Scale Models kit). The inset photo shows a CN engine and some of blue and white thing in front of the station on George's layout.

Here's the cover -

I promise that's the last RMC cover for a while . . .two posts in a row featuring RMC covers is sufficient for now. But this is sufficiently inspiring to get me in gear to finish MY version of WRJ!

þriðjudagur, 9. október 2012

Model Railroad Influences

What model railroad articles or authors influenced you as an aspiring young/beginning model railroader?
Although I find inspiration nearly everywhere I look on the internet and in the magazines today, my earliest influences, like most modelers, were in the pages of the model railroad magazines. And despite the fact that I would later be on the staff of Model Railroader, the majority of my early influences were found in the pages of Railroad Model Craftsman. Some of my model railroad heroes shared their work with us through the pages of this magazine at that time - names like Dave Frary, Bob Hayden, and Art Curren. Little did I know I'd get to know the three of them as friends and co-workers when I joined the MR staff - at the time they were model railroad giants to me.

For the generation of modelers that came before me, John Allen is often heralded as the greatest inspiration. And though I admired (and still admire) his creation, I never really considered him one of my direct inspirations. To this day if you ask my generation of model railroaders who their greatest inspiration was I think Allen McClelland would win hands down. His Virginian & Ohio series ran in RMC about the time I was in high school � and was a real shift in the way model railroaders considered everything from design to operation. In many ways, the V&O and its creator defined the �modern� model railroad layout. I devoured every word of that series. Allen�s fictional railroad was so well thought out that I remember searching (in vain) through a railroad atlas in the local library for the V&O.

Another modeler, who�s work we didn�t see anywhere near enough of at the time, was Dick Elwell. His Hoosac Valley Railroad remains a favorite � and unlike the V&O it still exists today (although in a different house than when I first encountered it in the pages of RMC). See this post for some photos of the current version of Dick's masterpiece.

Two other modelers who were an influence on me are not as well remembered as Dick and Allen today � but they still provided me with a significant amount of inspiration. Interestingly, they both modeled 19^th century railroads. I'm not sure what that means, if anything, except perhaps their work was unusual enough that it really made an impression on me. Or maybe because my first HO set was an AHM 4-4-0 "Reno" I thought their articles applied to me more directly. In any event, their modeling and articles made quite an impression since I remember it clearly more than 30 (yikes!) years later.

I don�t think either is active in the hobby anymore. (I believe one may have passed away a number of years ago.) (NOTE - See the comment section below)

The first of these two was Lester Jordan. He modeled a little-known Pennsylvania narrow gauge shortline called the BB&K that interchanged with the Shawmut (RMC, February 1978). His article, Trees of Autumn (RMC, October 1979) showed me that modeling realistic autumn scenery was possible, and the key was to have the overall tone of the coloration reflect the way trees actually changed color. His article on �Painting Russia Iron� appeared in the March 1978 RMC �and remains the best treatment of that subject I�ve ever seen. I remember referencing it when I was answering a question for MR�s Paint Shop some 20 years later.

The last big influence I remember from my formative years was Russell Griffin. Perhaps it was because he modeled New England (like Elwell), which was home to me, at a time when it seemed like no one modeled standard gauge New England railroads, that I found his articles so appealing. I still recall them after all these years �

November 1978 � �The Stone Fence� � a how-to showing how to build a true New England signature item.

July 1980 � �A New England Enginehouse� � At a time when it seemed every kit on the market was either over weathered to the point of stretching plausibility or was some fanciful version of reality this was a well-worn structure with the simple, basic lines that are a hallmark of New England vernacular architecture.

June 1979 RMC � �An American from a Mogul� � this was my first attempt at kitbashing � and my model came out pretty well. A neat project converting a Roundhouse (now Model Die Casting) �Old Timer� 2-6-0 into a �beefy� 4-4-0. Lots of neat detailing tips (as a bonus he also built and detailed one 2-6-0 �stock.�

December 1977 � �Personalize Your People� � Russ started out as a military wargamer who learned how to convert figures. He applied those lessons to create model citizens who looked right in his 19^th century world. I still use the tips in this article.

There were others of course, but these four gentlemen really inspired me �way back when� to try different materials and techniques. For that I�m thankful since they really opened up a lifetime of challenge and fun.
So, who were/are your well-known, and perhaps not-so-well-known modeling inspirations?

fimmtudagur, 4. október 2012

Peninsula Progress - Things Coming Together

Or at least it's starting to look finished. It's amazing what that last 1/16th of an inch can do to convert the scene from a construction site it was a few weeks ago into something resembling a slice of the real world.
The impetus was some out-of-town visitors coming by tomorrow. So I planted some trees and positioned an old store leftover from the last SNE. Not sure if I'll use it in location shown.

This is the side of the peninsula opposite the Waterbury scene. Plan calls for a simple grade crossing for the as yet unfinished road (currently a rough gray streak!). Of course we'll have pole lines, ballast, cinders, and maybe a section house. To the right of the track between the road and the bridge will be a pasture scene surrounded by an old stone fence.... But before getting to all the pretty stuff need to get the mechanical issues like track and wiring. To that end I'm going to put away the scenery stuff for a while and focus on getting the entire layout up and running. So stand by for more track and wiring shots. . .
But I couldn't resist trying one "pretty picture" test - Obviously, the water isn't finished yet and there's more tweaking needed to the rocks - but the scene is finally starting to look like something.

mánudagur, 1. október 2012

Progress on the Peninsula

Making good progress on the bridge scene and the peninsula "blob." Over the weekend I made a bunch of Supertrees - these are prepositioned on Styrofoam panels and are ready for planting.
Here's a view of about 1/4 of the trees I made yesterday.

More to follow.