jeff train: Steam Locomotives

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þriðjudagur, 9. júní 2015

N&W 611 in action

Steve Daves actually had the foresight to shoot video of N&W 611 last weekend. Very, very brief runby as she passed through Gainesville, Va.
But hey, at least you get to hear the whistle.
Thanks to Steve for giving me permission to share it here.

sunnudagur, 29. mars 2015

John Paganoni's P-1-a #507

Yesterday I had the pleasure of attending our annual Mini-Con here in the Potomac Division of the NMRA. I was one of the judges in the contest room, so I didn't get to see any of the clinics. What I did get was a very close-up look at some excellent models, including this one by my good friend John Paganoni.
Officially, this is a "kit bashed" model - since the drive train and side rods are from a Life-Like-Proto-2000 USRA 0-8-0. I think a small section in the center of the boiler is also original to the Life-Like model. John also used some of the etched parts John Williams sold a few years ago for the tender shell and cab.
Everything - I mean everything - else on this model was extensively redetailed/reworked, and altered to match a Central Vermont P-1-a class 0-8-0 - specifically #507 as she looked in East New London, Conn., in 1951.
In the NMRA contest scoring matrix a "perfect" score is 125 points - this particular model ended up with 112 points.

fimmtudagur, 4. desember 2014

Old Time Trains Web Site and Model Railroad Hobbyist Getting Real column

You'd think I'd found every site on the inter webs that had Central Vermont related information by this point, but every so often I get an email with a link to a site I didn't know about. This was the case tonight when Ian Stronach sent me a note with a link to R.L. Kennedy's web site "Old Time Trains."
There's a lot of neat photos of CV steam, including some wonderful action shots and even a color image of one of the older 2-8-0s, no. 402.
The link below will take you to the page:
Old Time Trains
I should add that Ian contacted me through the Model Railroad Hobbyist website. It reminded me that the current issue of the online ezine has my Getting Real column discussing the large rebuilding effort that saw the Randolph scene replacing the old freelanced paper mill. Most of that has been discussed at one point or another on the blog, but the article tells the whole sordid tale from start to finish!
And thanks Ian for the link!

miðvikudagur, 12. nóvember 2014

Wordless Wednesday #69

miðvikudagur, 10. september 2014

Wordless Wednesday #60

Willimantic, Conn. Photographer and date unknown

miðvikudagur, 13. ágúst 2014

Wordless Wednesday #56

GTW 4-6-2 on Ambassador. Courtesy CVRHS collection.

miðvikudagur, 6. ágúst 2014

Wordless Wednesday #55

CV 4-6-0 220. Photographer and Location unknown. CVRHS Archive Collection

fimmtudagur, 31. júlí 2014

I don't know how they do it

LNWR/LMS King George V class 4-4-0. This thing looks just sooo "British." I'd really like to build my model of it for display if nothing else. But can't until I figure out the "round bits" underneath.

"They" in this case being modelers of British railways. And "it" can be translated to mean "figure out which set of wheels to use..."
Some background.
Years ago my late Grandmother went to see her brother who lived in York, England at the time. She wanted to bring me something back as a gift and, knowing my interest in trains, he suggested going to a train show that happened to be going on that weekend and buying me a model I could put together (the fact that I have enough projects didn't seem to enter her mind, although she'd seen the piles of boxes in the basement plenty of times).
She presented me with a wonderful gift - a Brassmasters kit for a OO scale London Northwestern (later LMS) 4-4-0 called the "George V." I always thought it was kind of cool that the Brits kept naming locomotives long after we ended that practice in this country.
When I opened the box I immediately ran into two problems.
First of all, there are no photos of the model or prototype in the instructions. There's a couple of very rudimentary drawings, sketches really, but there's also a considerable stack of etched parts - and me without an English to American dictionary handy figuring out which part went where was going to present a real challenge.
There isn't even photos on the Brassmasters website. Yes, there's a reference to a set of photos to the almost identical "Precusor" class model. But those images are so small to be almost useless and the model is only shown unpainted. Not a bad thing, but a photo of the painted model would also help. And, let's face it, it's a different engine. And this kit was hardly what one would call cheap.

This thing went back into the box and has sat there for more than a decade.
As you may have noticed from my last post Christine and I just had a wonderful vacation in London and Paris. In London I found a small hobby shop (Ian Allan Publishing - really a bookstore specializing in railway books with some train models - but well worth a visit if you're in London or one of their other locations in the UK - http://www.ianallanpublishing.com/our-shops.htm)
The staff was extremely helpful, as were some of the other customers.
A total of 90 of George V class engines were built, which means they weren't exactly "rare." So I figured there might be a book with lots of pictures, and maybe a drawing of this thing. They had books on every class of locomotives you could think of - except the George V.
At least today we have the internet and I can, and have, Googled pictures of the prototype. And I found a few.
But there's still a second big problem with this thing. There are no wheels in the kit. That's not unusual - seems a little strange but we have plenty of craftsman freight cars and the like that don't include wheels.
Worse, there's no indication of what kind of wheels I need, or who might offer same.
Since I was standing in a train store in England I made the mistake of asking where I could get the wheels for this locomotive.

"What type, EM, P:4, or OO?" was the reply....

All I could think to say was "uh, Round."

I ended up learning a lot about wheels, and the differences in British scales. Deciding which wheels to use impacts how the kit goes together in a rather significant way since P4 requires bending the etched chassis at one point, and OO means bending it in another. At least that's what I able to ascertain from my reading of the instruction sheets and discussion with the helpful staff in the store. But I still didn't get any wheels. (I did buy a considerable stack of books on Irish Railways.)
But "sourcing" the wheels is apparently going to be a considerable challenge.
Made me appreciate RP25 all the more....

miðvikudagur, 16. júlí 2014

Wordless Wednesday #54

föstudagur, 16. maí 2014

An M-3-a on a bridge

Was playing around with some other header images and took a few pictures - this time showing the front end of a train!
CV M-3-a 450 heads a short way freight across Williams Creek.

miðvikudagur, 2. apríl 2014

Wordless Wednesday #41 - Prototype inspiration for 'Williams Creek' scene on my layout

Photo courtesy Bob's Photos

laugardagur, 22. mars 2014

Steam Locomotive Colors - 2

In a previous post (here) I offered an opinion that while steam locomotives can be all shades of black, "Grimy Black" - actually a dark gray - is not one of them.
I got several email replies to that post claiming that the "shiny" engines were from an earlier era - by the late steam era the locomotives were allowed to get dirty and turn "Grimy Black" in color. Another claimed that since the engine I offered as an example was a passenger locomotive (4-8-2 no. 600) she would have been better maintained.
Such would not be true of, say a workaday 2-8-0 on a way freight.
Here's a shot of M-3-a 2-8-0 no. 454 working the Southern Division local. This was taken in the fall of 1956 - and 454, and all other CV steamers, would be retired within a few months. Hardly something that would be pulling the pride of the line�and again she's weathered but certainly not Grimy Black.

miðvikudagur, 12. mars 2014

Wordless Wednesday #38

þriðjudagur, 11. febrúar 2014

Steam Locomotive Colors

George Dimond, courtesy Central Vermont Railway Historical Society

For many years model railroaders were told to paint steam locomotives "Grimy Black" - which is basically a flat, dark gray. In addition, model railroaders started weathering steam locomotives to appear so old, dingy, and poorly maintained that they looked like they were on the verge of falling apart.
Supposedly this made the models look better in the low light levels typical of most model railroads - and all that weathering supposedly made the details "stand out." Really, it was another example of the extreme weathering - to the point of caricature - that gripped the hobby in the 1950s and still hasn't let up in some quarters.

Studying prototype pictures, at least of the Central Vermont, shows the shop and road crews took great pride in their iron steeds, and the locomotives showed a hard-working, but well maintained appearance even in the last few years of steam.

This shot shows 2-10-4 no. 707 arriving in White River Junction in September 1953. By this point she's the last of her class in service and would soon be relegated to standby duties out of White River Jct. She may be dusty and soot covered in this photo, and appears to have been working hard out of the road, but she's most definitely not gray.
An even better example is the lead image of 4-8-2 no. 600 being readied for another run at the White River engine terminal. In March, 1954 she's not only not gray or "Grimy Black," she's shiny!
The lesson here is to feel free to paint your steamers black, and to take it easy on the weathering.
If you find there's not enough light in the layout room then consider adding more lighting to your layout instead of lightening your locomotives.

miðvikudagur, 5. júní 2013

Wordless Wednesday #19

þriðjudagur, 6. september 2011

"Houston, We have a problem"

We had family visiting for most of the weekend, so I didn't get a lot done on layout - until they left for the airport on Monday morning. I spent the first part of Monday afternoon getting the remaining feeders connected to the buss wires. Then I tweaked a troublesome turnout on the south end of Richmond (just beyond the bridge scene). Once I got the passenger cars through it without any issues I dug out the Division Point 2-10-4s and one of my Overland 4-8-2s.

The 2-10-4 made it through the mainline route of the switch - the diverging route traveling northbound direction was no joy - that wasn't a surprise and is something I can handle with a timetable special instruction (there's no reason for a 2-10-4 to be on that siding anyway).

Then I got out the first 4-8-2 - it ran back and forth just fine, I was thrilled. Then, the engine stopped. I mean it just froze. I immediately suspected a wiring issue - after all I was testing the wiring. Then I figured perhaps it was a track issue - no problem, the engine was on the rails. Then I noticed the side rods were a funny shape - the main rod looked like a mountain range - going up and down. That can't be right. Apparently the long screw holding the valve gear assembly into the third driver had loosened to the point where it slipped out of the driver on one side - throwing everything out of whack.

I put the engine back in the box, and put the other 4-8-2 on the track - checking it to be sure it was in good shape. It ran back and forth even better until it started stuttering - I shut it off right away and examined it closely. Believe it or not, this engine had the EXACT SAME issue - loosing it's siderod screw after a few runs back and forth.
So now I have two engines that are down hard until I have enough time to really work through the issue. I've never been much of a locomotive mechanic - looks like that's about to change.
I'm so mad I could spit.