Along the Right of Way ...

Bowser Introduces some RTR hoppers...

  Milepost 189

Bowser Manufacturing has introduced some new, RTR cars that might be of interest to HO scale modelers.  The models are in stock and should be at your favorite hobby shop now. 

For the longest time, Bowser primarily dealt with locomotive kits from the steam era and primarily they were models of the Pennsylvania Railroad since Bowser was located in the Pa. state.  More recently they have expanded to kits and now are doing some preassembled and weathered models as well.

You may recall from a previous post that this past summer, we visited with Lee English & the fine folks there.  At that time, he told me about why they had decided to go to some preassembled models to go with their veteran kits.  Quite simply, it was the changing expectations of today's consumers.  Some people simply don't want to spend the time assembling & painting cars that they buy.  To me, that's a lot of the fun but others may feel differently.

The cars look sharp and would be a nice addition to your layout if you happen to either model the particular roads they are available in or the time period that they were used.  For more information on Bowser and their line of products, you may visit their web site at: http://www.bowser-trains.com/

Until next time...

dlm

It sure has been cold......

  Milepost 188

Brrr!!!  It sure has been cold here in NW Ohio lately.  I'm usually a few posts ahead in my work, so hopefully by the time you read this, it will have warmed up some.  But as I sit here at my PC, it is a sweltering 8° outside.  I say sweltering as you can see from the photo, a couple of nights ago, it was MUCH COLDER than that.   The mercury dipped to at least -13° in the morning hours of Jan. 16.

We were very fortunate in that there were no service outages, no frozen pipes, etc.  Our electricity stayed on and the furnace worked to keep us warm. 

This may be a bit off of the right of way, but I did think about the cold temperatures and the affect that they would have on the railroads.  First, think about the engine & yard crews; they still have to be out coupling cars, connecting air hoses and throwing switches.  While there may be a temporary halt in "routine" maintenance, if there is a problem with train signals, crossing gates or radio towers, you know that someone has to go out and make the necessary repairs.

But think back to the days when brakemen had to walk the train... ON the train cars with ice & snow, cold winds... that would have been a very dangerous position to be in.  And when you think of a steam locomotive, you think of massive amounts of heat, etc.  But I've read where that simply wasn't the case.  The engine crew would be hot on the side facing the boiler and freezing on the back side.  The cabs were open for the most part so there wasn't a whole lot of protection from the cold.

Then there was the special case of the poor fireman on the back of the camelbacks that were not uncommon in the nation's northeast... in many cases, they were out on a platform with no protection from the elements at all.  Some roads did include a small canopy over the work area but that wouldn't help much when the locomotive was rolling down the tracks and the icy winds were howling.  There is more than one report where a fireman simply walked off the job and quit on the spot.  If I were out shoveling coal in -13° weather for hours on end with virtually no protection from the elements, I couldn't say that I'd blame him.

But the cold could cause other problems as well... water from the steam engine's tender would freeze on the tender deck making a real mess.  The hoses feeding the water to the locomotive could freeze as well.  If the coal were at all damp, it would freeze into one very large chunk that would have to be broken apart.  Even the oil burners weren't immune to the cold... fuel oil in that kind of temperature turned into something resembling road tar.

Today, switches along the line are protected with heaters.  If the switch won't move or lock into position due to ice & snow, an operator, sometimes many miles away, simply hits a button and gas or oil fed flames melt away the offending obstructions.  But back in the days before these conveniences, ice & snow had to be removed by hand.

The icicles that formed along the gutter over our garage presented a bit of a hazard to us but in a way, they were interesting & pretty enough to warrant some pictures.  But when we admire such things in photos or from the comfort & warmth of our home or car, we should keep in mind those who have to be out in the elements working on our behalf.  This includes the men & women who work along the right of way.

Until next time... when I hope it's warmer...

dlm

Model Trains & my Foreign Language Lesson...

Milepost 187

OK, so I'll admit that I've been really interested in finding an EM-1 or a DM&IR 2-8-8-4 lately.  So much so that I even made a few phone calls to some brass locomotive dealers over the weekend.  Along the way, what I got was my first foreign language lesson that is related to model railroading.

Now, I took Spanish in high school and aside from picking off a few phrases when we went to Mexico back in the late 1960s, I didn't find it all that useful.  That was the extent of my foreign language training other than when I went to England while still in college.  I know, I know... with today's world economy, we are all supposed to be more in tune with foreign countries and their languages.  But I digress...

You have to realize that I'm 110% an American kind of guy.  When I go to a Greek restaurant, I order a gyro (pronounced JI-ro).  I do NOT order a gyro (pronounced year-o).  That's simple... when I took science classes in school, we talked about a JI-ro-scope, not a year-o-scope.  So I'm on solid ground on that one.  So imagine my surprise when I talked to this brass dealer and told him that I wanted an Akane (pronounced ah-CANE) brass locomotive.  This request was met with dead silence...  Finally, the person on the other end of the phone said, "You want a what???"

The connection was good and I've been told that I speak clearly so I wasn't sure what the cause of the confusion was.  I once again told him that I was looking for an Akane (ah-CANE) locomotive.  Silence again.  After a period of time that lasted way too long, he said, "Are you saying that you want an Akane (pronounced uh-CON-ee) locomotive?"  Now it was my turn to be silent.  Either one or the other of us was way wrong in our pronunciation OR we were speaking two different languages.

Not wanting to sound too off-base, I hesitantly asked, "Is that the way your pronounce it?  I always thought it was Akane (pronounced ah-CANE)."

"No, it's Japanese.  It's pronounced uh-CON-ee."

And that, ladies & gentlemen was the extent of my first foreign language lesson as it related to model railroading.  And while I enjoyed my conversation with said brass locomotive dealer, the only thing I did get was a language lesson because he didn't have an Akane locomotive in stock... no matter how you pronounce it!  : (      Until next time...

dlm

Better Pictures (I hope)...

Milepost 186

One of the other things that appeared under our Christmas tree was something that I've kind of been looking at since I got my new camera back in 2007.

It is a photo cube or a light tent depending on what the particular manufacturer calls it.  The idea as you can see is simple... you place an object to be photographed in the cube, you shine the lights on the outside of the cube which illuminates the inside with a softer, diffused light then you take the photo using a tripod for extra stability. 

I recently took some time to look back at some of my previous posts and decided that in some cases, the photos were lacking.  I also received feedback from a couple of readers that "the photos made the blog successful."  So I concluded that I needed to use good pictures as often as possible to keep reader interest.  I certainly have other photo interests that I'll use this for so it's not strictly a train accessory.

In the next few days, I'll experiment with some railroad models, etc and share the results with you.  Until then...

dlm

Maintenance Time...

Milepost 185

When it's time for maintenance on the big trains, they often pull into a loco service facility that allows maintenance staff to walk under the engine to inspect, service and otherwise care for their charge.  In the model world, while some of us may model such a scene complete with loco service pits in the roundhouse, we are a little big to get down under our engines for routine inspection & service  The solution for many of us is to try to balance the loco upside down with one hand and work on it with the other... not the best of situations.  Sooner or later, the loco will roll and you will utter some new words that would make a sailor blush and the loco lands on the floor in irreparable pieces.

Several companies market foam loco cradles but I decided that a good project would be to build my own.  A quick trip to the local lumber yard got me some nicely planed lumber for the job.  I cut mine about 18" long thinking that this would hold the longest loco that I have on my roster.  Simply gluing & tacking the two sides into the "U" shape shown took no time at all.  The longest time was waiting for the glue to dry thoroughly.  The next morning, I stapled some foam packing material to the inside of the rack then trimmed it flush with the sides.  Note that I did staple the foam along the top so as to not have anything that might scratch the loco's finish.  A final step was to glue a little of the scrap foam material on the bottom so that the wood wouldn't damage anything when I sat it down.  My locos fit in the cradle nicely so I guess the job was a complete success.  Cost of the entire project was under $4 for the lumber as I had the rest of the materials laying around.  Only problem is that now, I will have one less excuse for those sluggishly performing engines on my layout.  Guess I'd better get busy and get them "up to snuff."  Until next time...

dlm

J.J. Young Photo Display

Milepost 184

By the time this is posted, it may be too late for you to visit the J.J. Young photo exhibit in Wheeling, West Virginia, but I still wanted to share my visit with you as it is quite a display.  John Young started taking pictures of railroad related things when he got his first camera in the late 1930s.  He was seen trackside almost everywhere he lived and recorded on film, the day to day things that so many people took for granted at that time.  Now, those days are gone but have fortunately been preserved by John and his cameras.

The display was located in the Artisans Center in Wheeling, located at 1400 Main Street.  The show consists of about 40 photos that are either B&O Railroad related or are of the station there in town.  The collection of photos was given to the Northern West Virginia Community College by John; the college's main campus is located in the old B&O Station in Wheeling.

I went home over the Christmas Holiday to spend Christmas Day with my mother in my hometown of Tiltonsville, Ohio.  We visited the display on Christmas Eve.  As such, we didn't spend much time there as they were planning to close the center earlier than usual due to the holiday.  So I was only able to spend about 20 minutes there but would have certainly liked to have spent much more time studying each of the photos on display.  Most were around 11"x14" and were matted & framed for a very nice visual presentation.  Many were identified with their location and date; some were even signed.  I was able to take pictures of the photos on display and some of those are displayed here.

Unfortunately, John is no longer with us but he did have the foresight to donate his photos to organizations who would see to their being available to interested persons for years to come.  Most went to the West Virginia Archives, some went to a group in southern New York where John lived for a while and about 200 went to the community college's alumni association.  I don't know how often the photos are on display, but I'm guessing that a periodic search on the Internet for shows at the Artisans Center in Wheeling would turn up possible future display dates.  If I'm made aware of a future showing, I'll be sure to post here.

Until next time...

dlm

The Greatest Layout of Them All?

  Milepost 183

You can get into trouble in a real hurry when you start using terms like best & greatest... those terms are very subjective and relative to a lot of factors.  Would a "great" baseball player from 50 years ago even be able to compete with today's better trained and conditioned athletes?  Who knows, but it is sure to spark a lively conversation whenever the subject is brought up.

The same is true about anything, including model railroading.  There are different times, different eras, even different materials available today than what there was just a few years ago.  You can go on and on as to why such a discussion is irrelevant.  However, there is a general consensus that John Allen's Gorre & Daphetid is certainly among the best if not the best model railroad ever.  What John did has served as inspiration to anyone who has ever seen his work and has been the subject of countless discussions, magazine articles and even a full-blown book.

John was a photographer by profession and some say that this helped him in his modeling efforts as he was able to balance scenes, lay out various shapes convincingly, pay close attention to detail and had an eye for color.  I've heard that he would complete a scene on his layout, take a photo of it, enlarge that photo to an 8x10 then examine it with a magnifying glass.  Only when he could no longer find fault with the photo was he convinced that the scene was completed.

John was a prolific author, writing many "how to" articles about things he did on his railroad.  As I mentioned, he served as inspiration for many model railroaders who came into contact with his Gorre & Daphetid through the pages of MODEL RAILROADER and other model railroad magazines of the day.  And he did all of this in a day when ready-to-roll models and preassembled kits were scarce at best.  In his day, most items were scratchbuilt from wood, cardboard and other materials commonly at hand.  That makes his accomplishment even more spectacular.

His sense of humor was always present in his life and his work.  Close examination of his layout would reveal some things placed there strictly for the entertainment of his guests.  Even the name of the railroad itself, Gorre & Daphetid is simply another way to spell gory and defeated, the way John sometimes felt after a long period of working on his pike.  If you find other photos of John's layout, you will see other examples of his keen sense of humor.

John passed away in the 1970s.  Soon after, all but a small portion of his layout was destroyed in a fire in the home where he lived.  Today, the G&D is preserved only in photos and the memory of the lucky few who were able to see it firsthand.  A visit to the MODEL RAILROADER web site will give you a little more information about this very innovative model railroad.

A few posts ago, I mentioned that MODEL RAILROADER turned 75 this month.  As part of a year-long run up to this anniversary, they chose twelve of the best layouts ever built to feature one a month in their magazine.  They completed this layout tour with John's G&D.  While you may or may not agree with their choice of number one, you will have to admit that his results in the days of plaster & screenwire are pretty special indeed.

A special "thank you" to MODEL RAILROADER magazine for their permission to use the above photo of John's layout.  It can be found in the January, 2009, issue.

Until next time...

dlm

MODEL RAILROADER Turns Seventy-five!

Milepost 182

 MODEL RAILROADER Magazine turns 75 this month.  Founded in 1932 amidst the depths of the Great Depression, MR has grown to become "the" magazine of model railroading.

Al Kalmbach was very interested in model railroading and was thinking that a magazine would be a great way to collect & share ideas about the hobby with similar minded enthusiasts.  From that humble beginning, the magazine has spurred the growth of the hobby by sharing, leading, inspiring and promoting our hobby.

For those of you who may not be familiar with MODEL RAILROADER, in its pages, you will find "how to" articles, layout tours and photos, track planning ideas, product reviews, columns and editorials all with the goal of making model railroading a very enjoyable hobby.  The magazine is primarily devoted to HO scale trains, but articles about other scales are also included.  From time to time, related subjects such as electronics, model photography and actual railroad history are covered as well.  If you are interested in model railroading as a hobby, I'd encourage you to pick up a current copy of MR at your favorite newsstand.  I'm sure it will provide you with several hours of enjoyable reading as well as many more hours of dreaming about that perfect model railroad.

It is probably the goal of every model railroader to have something published in MODEL RAILROADER.  As I continue to work on my layout, in the back of my mind is that great shot or even feature article of my eastern Ohio NKP railroad.  It is a goal like this that has served as an inspiration to all of us to do just a little better.  One of these days, I'm hoping to write a piece telling you that one of my stories will grace the pages of MR.

Happy Birthday MODEL RAILROADER!  May you have many more...

dlm

New Year's Check-up

Milepost 181

This time last year, I posted about a few things that I wanted to cover here in 2008.  As with most New Year's resolutions, I didn't do too well.  Let's see... the only things I did do that I talked about were raising the layout by about 6 inches and posting the story about the kitbashed station.  What I didn't do included lettering some cars, "grafting" a tower onto a station, reworking some disaster engines and a few other things.  That is one of the reasons I don't like to make these resolutions... we seldom seem to keep them.  Even worse, when you write them down and post them like I did here, there's no getting away from what you said!

But it is a good time to look ahead into this new year and at least think about some of the things I'd like to do.  With that in mind, I present the following musings...

a.  My collection of non-model railroad train stuff is getting out of hand.  I'd like to get all of those old photos, newspaper clippings, books and everything else organized.  That way, when someone asks about something, I'll have at least a clue as to where to find it.

b.  I have about 300 unassembled freight cars.  I'd like to get a substantial number of them built.  In the process, I'll never need that many so I'd like to weed out some of the ones that simply don't belong.

c.  I still need some track laid on my layout.  There are two sidings that still need put into place and none of the staging tracks are even laid out yet. 

d.  Once those things are done, then there is the whole idea of wiring the layout.  While that will take quite some time, at least I'd like to get started on it.

e.  I'd like to finish some basic scenery... I still have lots of white plaster showing that looks like a late snow storm when I take photos.  At least a coat of green paint will tame that down and allow me to show you some of the progress in other areas of my layout.

f.  I'm going to give myself some elbow room on this one... I'd like to learn more about this great hobby and then share some of those things with you.

Hmmm... this list is already longer than I wanted it to be.  There are only so many hours in a day and so many days in a year; I'll never get them all done.  But it never hurts to have a goal and to aim towards that.  I'd better get busy!  Until next time...

dlm

Trains on Game Day

Milepost 180

Well, here we are in the midst of college football's bowl season.  While I really enjoy football and have taken a brief hiatus from modeling, there is sometimes a bit too much of a good thing.  I read somewhere that there are going to be something like 32 bowl games this season... and some think we still need a play-off that would add even more games to the already crowded schedule.

I'm not sure when the thought first crossed my mind, but somewhere, I've heard about special trains that were run during football season to haul fans & school alum to a big game.  A little research told me that some schools had a train for every game on the road including any bowl game if their school was lucky enough to be chosen for one.  That must have been a pretty neat way to attend a game... meet at the local train station and let the railroad do the driving while you spend time with friends talking about the upcoming contest and (hopefully) bragging about your team's victory on the return trip.

A Google search led me to this article about a high school football train.  It is an interesting read.  The story was written by Ron Chandler and is posted on the Chesapeake & Ohio Historical Society's web site.  The story can be found at this link:

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3943/is_/ai_n8935329

I have heard of special trains for pro & college games but the thought never occurred to me that some high school games would also warrant a special train but it makes sense.  In some areas of our country, high school football is as big as it gets; it would make sense that a big game would necessitate a special rail trip.

Our friends over in Europe and other parts of the world are pretty accustomed to this as rail transportation is much more common there, even today.  Back in 1972 when I visited England, I remember the excitement of the crowd leaving Victoria Station to attend some championship rugby match.  That was a long time ago and I'm not really a rugby fan so I don't remember the particulars but it would still be a great way to travel to see a big game.

Enjoy the football games if you are so inclined; if not, they are almost over.  Until next time...

dlm