Twenty-three gathered at
Summer Hill in Oak Harbor for February’s SV&W NMRA Clinic, welcomed by
Clinic Chair Rich Blake. After reviewing the calendar, Rich to
everyone’s delight showed some photos of Al
Frasch’s new N-scale layout that he’s nearly completed in his new home near
Tucson, AZ. Al, a former long-time
member, newsletter editor, and tireless booster of our clinic as well as model
railroad operations in the area, built his new layout in less than two years. Not unexpected from this energetic
modeler—good work, Al!
For Show-and-Tell, Alan Murray brought in his O-scale road overpass (Fig 1).
Fig 1 – Alan Murray’s Road Overpass (WIP)
This is a work-in-progress and Alan will describe the overpass construction in detail at our March meeting. He brought it this evening to show the details of the bents and stringers that will (by next month!) be hidden by roadway decking. The overpass has a home: it will feature in one town on Jon Bentz’s in progress On30 layout in Freeland, joining many other scratch structures already in place. Your reporter visited Jon’s layout recently and it will be a welcome addition to our clinic area’s operations-focused layouts. Beta-testing will start this Spring; no pressure, Jon!
Fig 2 – Another View of Alan’s Overpass
The main subject matter at the meeting was “The World’s Last Woodburners” presented by your Grab Iron reporter. That’s a rather sweeping title, because woodburning steam locos were scattered around the world here and there, on preserved railroads, in museums and so forth, but only in a very few places did entire fleets of motive power in everyday, workaday use still burn wood. Your reporter visited two such places in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s. The first was the Philippines.
Fig 3 – Victorias Millyard, Philippines
The Philippine woodburners were found on the island of Negros, one of the country’s 7,000-plus islands. Here were the majority of the Philippines’ Sugar Centrals, 45 of which were founded by American companies, most between 1912 and 1927. Victorias Milling Company (Fig 3) was the largest of them all, at its peak grinding over 16,000 tons of cane each day during the milling season. All of the motive power—in this case 0-8-0’s—burned wood. Combined, the sugar railroads had over 1,000 miles of track fanning out like a spider web from the coast into the cane fields, on several gauges. Victorias had the most unusual: 600mm, which at 1 foot 11 and 5/8 inches was essentially 2 foot gauge—but not quite!
Clinic Chair Rich Blake welcomed 21 to our first meeting of 2020. Rich was also the evening’s presenter giving, first, a comprehensive review of the 39th National Narrow Gauge Convention held last September in Sacramento. The four-day event featured 54 clinics; 7 modular groups; several special museum and shop tours; and 34 layouts open to convention attendees. Rich’s photos of contest models, dioramas, modular layouts, and the 9 layouts he visited all displayed very high levels of modeling skills.
Rich’s California visit culminated in a very unique event indeed: a special railfan steam-up on the Niles Canyon Railway (www.ncry.org) commemorating the 150th anniversary of the transcontinental railroad’s completion, featuring the newly-restored articulated logging locomotive the “Skookum,” a rare 2-4-4-2. Niles Canyon’s Clover Valley #4, a 2-6-6-2T also recently overhauled, was steamed up and double-headed with Skookum (Figures 1 and 2).
Fig 1 – Clover Valley #4 (left) & Columbia River Belt Line #7 “Skookum” (Photo: Rich Blake) Fig 2 – Skookum #7 (Photo: Rich Blake)
Many steam locos returned to service have dull histories, spending decades rusting away in city parks or museum backshops, but Skookum’s is especially colorful. Baldwin built the 2-4-4-2 Mallet (compound) for Tennessee’s Little River Railroad (https://littleriverrailroad.org/skookum) as their #126 in 1909, but it was too heavy for their rails and they returned it to the builder. Baldwin’s salesmen aggressively pursued northwest logging and short lines to unload their white elephant and in 1910 sold it to the Columbia River Belt Line Railway in Oregon, where the loco worked for ten years. (The Skookum is currently lettered for this first northwest owner.) After 1920 it worked on a number of Washington state lumber companies, the longest stint (1933-1955) with the Deep River Logging Co. as their No. 7. There, in 1955, it rolled off a trestle into a muddy streambed and was abandoned until pulled out five years later by rail enthusiasts. It was disassembled piece by piece and hauled out of the woods to Snoqualmie where it sat for 30 years. It was moved again at some point to Mount Rainier Scenic Railway’s grounds where it sat in a rusty pile for many more years. A succession of dedicated steam preservationists led by Chris Baldo of the Willits Roots of Motive Power team rescued the loco and Skookum was eventually restored by the Oregon Coast Railway shops in Garibaldi OR to running condition in March 2019. “Skookum” is a Native American word meaning “powerful, brave, sturdy” and this old Baldwin product surely lived up to its name. The first of its kind, Skookum encouraged Baldwin to market more articulated Mallets in the northwest, selling many.
Fig 3 – Dave Clarke’s 2-4-4-2
HO-scale reproductions of Little River Railroad #126 were imported by Gem Models, around 682 of them altogether, over the course of four runs in 1962, 1963, 1964 and 1982. Fig 3 shows one of the 1982 run, produced by Jonan. This run featured can motors and supposedly more detailing than the earlier versions. This beautiful example was painted and lettered by Dave Clarke, our clinic’s master of brass model rebuilds, after installing a sound decoder, speaker, and lights.
Fig 4 – Tom Hawkins’ 2-4-4-2
Fig 4 is another 1982 Gem 2-4-4-2 that Dave Clarke upgraded with DCC and sound, painted and lettered for Tom Hawkins’ HO-scale Port Thomas and Southern Railroad (styled after the Olympic Peninsula’s Port Townsend and Southern). Tom reports that it’s a beautiful runner.
Fig 5 – Rich Thom’s 2-4-4-2
Your reporter plumb forgot to bring his “Skookum” to the meeting, but here it is anyway (Fig 5), photographed on his Coldwater Creek & Cascade Railroad. Rich’s model is from the first 1962 run that Gem imported, made by Akane Model Railroad Co. of Tokyo, and was found in a consignment sale in Sacramento. Gary Jordan, brass hat of the Gilpin Tram multi-gauge layout in Mukilteo, did the upgrade, replacing the open-frame motor with a can motor and installing a Tsunami decoder and 1-inch speaker. It’s the best-running loco on Rich’s layout, with stunning sound.
Fig 6 – Jon Bentz’ On30 Fire Car
In other Show and Tell, Jon Bentz brought in a very nicely-done On30 Fire Car (Fig 6), a kitbash of a Morgan Hill kit (www.morganhillmodels.com). Good news: Jon’s new layout is nearing beta-testing for operations. We’re pleased since we are down to only two layouts hosting regular op sessions on Whidbey Island and it will be exciting to have a third to encourage ops enthusiasts to ride the ferry to our pleasant isle. No pressure, Jon!
Fig 7 – Rich Blake’s Bachmann 2-4-4-2 Coupled to Jon’s Fire Car
Finally, since “Skookum” was a theme for this meeting, Rich Blake brought his On30 Bachmann 2-4-4-2 to couple up with Jon’s Fire Car (Fig 7). It bears little resemblance to Skookum but at least it’s a 2-4-4-2 compound! This loco is slightly weathered with a few added details and features a Tsunami 2 decoder with unique “articulated” chuff sounds. Does anyone know Bachmann’s prototype for their popular 2-4-4-2?
Clinic Chair Rich Blake welcomed 26 to the November meeting, first reviewing the upcoming calendar. Dec 11th will feature our annual Wassail, a tradition dating back at least a dozen years, with all invited to bring a (finger-food) potluck dish to share. The pre-clinic dinner at Alfy’s in Oak Harbor is annulled for this meeting only, and the starting time for the Wassail is 6:30 pm. For the January get-together (Jan 8th), modelers are invited to bring their latest models for detailed discussion of how they created them, and having their models judged (if they wish) for NMRA Achievement Awards.
Fig 1 – Jon Bentz Describes Progress on his Railroad
Several clinic members have layouts in progress including Jon Bentz (Fig 1), who described the status of his Rio Como Railroad. Filling the better part of a 14’ x 39’ room, the On30 pike re-uses many of Jon’s scratch buildings on all-new benchwork. A car float operation is featured. Helping Jon with the construction among others is Cliff Aaker and Alan Murray; Alan, for example, is building the overpass (Fig 2)—a work in progress—for a spot on Jon’s layout.
Fig 2 – Alan Murray’s Overpass (In Progress)Fig 3 – Ted Becker’s Banta Kit
Ted Becker brought in a model for display (Fig 3), a Banta Modelworks HO-scale “Crick Hollow Hardware and Miners Supply.” Ted has thoroughly re-purposed the structure and varied the details.
The Anacortes and Fidalgo Model Railroad Club will host what may be their last open house this weekend November 2nd and 3rd from 10am to 4pm each day. The layout is located in the basement at 419 Q Ave. in the beautiful seaside historic town of Anacortes west of Mount Vernon off HWY 20.
Look for this sign off Q street in Anacortes, the layout is in the basement around the backside of the house in the photo.
The club has been at this location since 1994 starting with a 500 square foot area and about 10 members. Over the last 25 years the club has enjoyed a long and interesting pursuit of building and operating a detailed layout depicting many of the historic railroad features in and around Anacortes, Fidalgo Island and the Skagit Valley.
Scratchbuilt and operating model of the Swinomish Channel swing bridge which is still in use today by the BNSF serving the March Point refinery. You can see the distinctive prototype bridge along HWY 20 on the way to Anacortes.Waterfront scene depicting the busy Anacortes port terminus of the Great Northern Railroad.
A lot of hard work and dedication has gone into the layout and it shows in the many finely constructed structures and scenery details. The layout now occupies the full 1000 square feet available however the club must unfortunately move out within the next year.
Entryway to the basement layout features a re-creation of the La Conner arch span bridge that connects Fidalgo Island to the mainland on what is now Reservation Road.
Hopefully the club can find a new location to host their layout and equipment in the near future. Many members of the club are local PNR 4d NMRA members and regular attendees of both the Mount Vernon and the Skagit Valley and Whidbey NMRA Clinics.
A recent GoSkagit article about the layout is here
History of Anacortes and the local railroads is here
Cliff Aaker, subbing for clinic chair Rich Blake, welcomed 24 to the SV&W NMRA Clinic’s October meeting. Cliff welcomed first-time attendees Roy and Penny Andrukat, Oak Harbor residents modeling in n-scale; we hope they become regulars. Sad news about the Anacortes and Fidalgo Model Railroad Club, whose members are long-time clinic contributors: the lease on their space has been terminated by the building’s owner, a familiar story to many clubs. The club’s annual Fall Open House on Nov 2nd and 3rd will likely be their last. We hope modelers from all over the area will consider paying a visit to the club’s HO-scale 24’ x 45’ layout, featuring Many scratchbuilt bridges and other structures. Hours each day are 10 am to 4 pm; the address is 419 Q Avenue (intersection of 5th and Q), Anacortes.
The evening’s clinician was MMR Mark Malmkar, who reprised highlights of several clinics he presented over the years back in Nebraska, from which Mark and wife Chris relocated to Whidbey Island. Mark first covered diverse topics including: layout design for 4’ x 8’ tabletops; locomotive wheel arrangements; benchwork types; wiring basics; passenger car eras and car types; and dining car window arrangements. Mark is an expert on passenger cars, Pullman Company history and its monopoly on sleeping car services, and the complex Pullman routes and innumerable car variations, and always has good examples and anecdotes to share. We were even pulled back into that era by Mark’s use of flip-charts—if anyone can remember those! (In his defense, he has also given clinics using Powerpoint.)
Fig 1 – Mark Malmkar Shows Sample Foam Scenery Sections
Next, Mark focused on his extensive use of insulating foam scenery (Fig 1). Mark has managed a somewhat rare feat: He packed up and moved his entire Nebraska model railroad to Washington, and is in the process of re-assembling it, with some shifts and rotations of sections here and there to fit the new space. One feature which made this easier—or even possible at all—was his extensive use of foam scenery rather than plaster hardshell. Its light weight and ease of creating large, easily-removable scenery sections and smaller liftouts is well-known. Mark described the tools and adhesives he used to laminate 1” – 1 and ½” – and 2” sheets into landforms, the rasps and carving tools used to sculpt it, and materials to overcoat it to form the final scenic form. Fig 2 shows one of several liftouts Mark brought in to show, this one with a tunnel. Thanks to Mark for an interesting and entertaining presentation.
Clinic Chair Rich Blake welcomed 26 to the first SV&W NMRA Clinic of the season. This clinic was devoted to scratchbuilding; so without further ado, let’s get to it.
Fig 1. Cliff Aaker describes his scratchbuilding methods.
Area modelers were invited to bring in their scratchbuilding efforts, both completed and in progress, and most are on the table next to Cliff Aaker (Fig 1), who led off the evening with his presentation “Methods and Tools for Scratchbuilding Scale Models.” Cliff discussed his general approach, in which he either copies a commercial model—to improve upon it by adding details and “personality” for his own railroad—or more typically working from prototype photos. From photos he works out roof pitch and other dimensions using window, door and other features–for example, a standard door height of 6’10”. Often he builds a paper or art board mockup for a project if it’s complicated or must fit a precise space; his first such was building a road bridge for the Anacortes & Fidalgo Model Railroad Club, whose members are long-time clinic contributors.
Fig 2. One of Cliff’s scratchbuilt reefers (On30 scale).
Like most everyone, Cliff uses a mix of purchased and scratch detail parts. For his On30 reefer in Fig 2, brake wheels, roof hatches, turnbuckles—and of course couplers–are commercial parts. Other details, door hardware, latches, stirrups, and grab irons are scratch. Cliff passed around his grab iron bending and drilling jigs; the stirrups are fashioned from bent staples.
Fig 3. A boxcar by Cliff (On30 scale).
Cliff’s box cars (Fig 3 shows one example) are built over a solid wood core, or plug. This automatically keeps all car sides and ends square and provides the needed weight. All car sheathing is Kappler Lumber scribed wood. Roofs are either wood planks or ribbed metal. Metal ribs are simulated with paper strips cut with a rotary cutter. The styrene door channels were glued to the carbody with “old” thick styrene glue, which Cliff found to adhere well to wood.
Fig 4. A flatcar by Cliff (On30 scale).
Flatcars (Fig 4) are difficult to weight properly without unsightly lead weights glued to the underbody, or weighted loads. Cliff solves this by using 1/16” lead sheet sandwiched under the decking. The stake pockets are commercial parts, the stirrups scratch.
Fig 5. Scratchbuilt skeleton car by Cliff (On30 scale).
The metal parts on the skeleton log car in Fig 5 were fabricated using concrete patch and latex rubber molds. (Cliff described multiple uses of two types of concrete patch at our March 2019 clinic.) The trucks on this car, available from Precision Vintage Classics (www.pvc-sn3.com), use 3D-printed sideframes. The cars in Figures 2 and 3 also use PVC trucks.
Fig 6. Cliff Aaker’s scratchbuilt copper smelter building in O-scale. (9 volt battery for lighting effects)
Cliff brought two of his scratchbuilt O-scale buildings to discuss some of the construction methods used. The copper smelter (partial view in Fig 6) was based on drawings of a smelter in Bodie, CA published in Narrow Gauge & Short Line Gazette. Quickcrete Concrete Crack Seal was used to make the furnace and chimney. The roofing is ordinary household aluminum foil cut with a rotary cutter and scissors, then shaped with a tool from Brunel Hobbies, their “Corrugated Iron Maker” (www.brunelhobbies.com.au). Cliff uses all three readily available thicknesses of aluminum foil in his models.
Fig 7. Scratchbuilt depot by Cliff.
The freelanced depot (Fig 7) was designed with a deliberately high-peaked roof, 12/12 pitch, to provide maximum elevation for an IR sensor which, in conjunction with a servo, battery and Arduino, operates a train order signal (not shown) using a TV remote. During assembly, walls were kept square using a fixture constructed of Lego pieces. The beautifully-executed roof is built with individual Western Red Cedar roofing shakes. Thin wood sheets of cedar were cut into strips with a rotary cutter, chopped, and applied one-by-one with double-sided tape. Fine work, Cliff, and a great clinic!
Fig 8. Alan Murray’s O-scale scratchbuilt oil tank.
Other scratchbuilders in the group had the opportunity to describe their show-and-tell items. Alan Murray brought two of his fine O-scale structures, including the oil tank in Fig 8. Alan has discussed his techniques in several of our previous clinics, which include sawing all of his scale boards from sheet—no purchased (expensive) stripwood for him! Note the N-B-W castings, essential for any model to qualify for an NMRA Achievement Program award.
Fig 9. Alan Murray’s Olympia station interior view.
Alan showed slides detailing the history of the train station in Olympia, and his remarkable reproduction of it in O-Scale. The single photo of it here (Fig 9) can’t possibly do it justice. It sits not on land, but a pier, and the pier (not shown) is just as well-crafted as the station. Alan has featured his Olympia station module construction in previous clinics.
Fig 10. Iver Johnson’s HO-scale scratchbuilt watertank car.Fig 11. Curt Johnson’s HO-scale tool shed.Fig 12. Jack Tingstad’s Tennessee Pass depot in HO-scale.Fig 13. Jon Bentz’ O-scale sawmill and freight house both scratchbuilt.
Iver
Johnson showed off his
water tank for a logging line, Fig 10. Curt Johnson got the idea for his
scratch shed, Fig 11, from a Walther’s Catalog.
Jack Tingstad built the
replica of the Tennessee Pass Station, Fig 12, from plans he was able to obtain
after he was unsuccessful in finding one of the original kits which had gone
out of production. Jon Bentz brought two of his O-scale structures, both freelance, a
sawmill and a work-in-progress freight house (Fig 13).
Thanks to all for bringing
in some fine models and describing some of their techniques.
Bay Lumber No 2 rumbling past the Camp 4 freight house with a load of logs.
This was our 7th year participating in this event and it is one of our favorites as the museum provides a great gallery space for our layout. Since this is one of the less known “trainshows” there is considerably less spectator traffic than the big shows around Puget Sound. This allows us to focus more on operations and having fun with our layout and equipment.
Eric Sitiko as conductor and Alan Murray as engineer operating on the east end of the layout. Cliff Aaker and Byron Osborn working the Willapa Cranberry module.Paul Vaughn running the layout as Dispatcher. The separate room for the dispatcher was a nice location.
We ran two days of TTTO operations and are now
sporting a new station stop semaphore built by Cliff Aaker that is controlled
by an Arduino CPU board and a servo. The
dispatcher also acting as station operator can now use a TV remote control to
operate the semaphore to indicate stop for orders at the station. It really adds a prototypical element to our
operations.
The 23 Extra West stopped at Wye Tank to collect a set of train orders. Note the tower and semaphore indicating “stop” signal. This active signalling feature is raised and lowered with a TV remote control by the dispatcher. The tower was designed and built by Cliff Aaker and uses an Arduino micro computer to control the servo logic and infrared sensor.
The group also had the good fortune through Paul Vaughn’s efforts of gathering a large donation of structures from George Chambers of Issaquah. He graciously donated the items due to a downsize in living arrangements with the only caveat that the structures be displayed for all to enjoy. We have several spots for these finely detailed structures and they really add a lot of visual interest and operational opportunities. Thanks George!!!
Nice Barber Shop and Power Plant structure donated to the group by George Chambers.Small station with figures along with other small items donated by George Chambers.
Everybody had fun and enjoyed a nice relaxing weekend. This event runs every year on the 2nd weekend in July so start planning now and maybe we will see you next year.
Announcing the annual “Clamshell Days” in Ilwaco at the Columbia Pacific Heritage Museum 13 and 14 July 2019 celebrating the historic Ilwaco Railway and Navigation Co which was the northwest’s only long standing narrow gauge railroad.
While not as famous as the Colorado and California narrow gauge railroads, the IR&N is no less interesting and is steeped in unique history. The museum keeps this history alive and well with their exclusive exhibit and preservation of an original IR&N passenger car, the “Nachotta” that is only open for public inspection during the Clamshell Days weekend. Self guided tours are also offered over the southwest peninsula touring various historical sites and structures along the original IR&N railroad right of way. If you have any interest in northwest rail history, the IR&N certainly shares a significant part and shaped the heritage of the southwest coast of Washington.
This event is attended annually by the Pacific Northwest On30 Modular Group and the museum provides an ample space for a large layout configuration. Operating sessions are hosted each day and any 4D member is invited to come out and run an op session with us. Note that this is not a “trainshow” in the usual format (i.e. no vendors or swap meet) but is a celebration of local railroad history. The event is open from 10:00AM to 4:00PM on Saturday and Sunday. See the Clamshell Days webpage for directions and more information.
On 19 May 2019 thirty members and guests of the SV&W Clinic attended their second spring train excursion field trip on the Lake Whatcom Railway in Wickersham WA just east of Lake Whatcom and Bellingham.
Skagit Valley and Whidbey members and guests at the Lake Whatcom Railway.
Our trip was once again coordinated by our excellent Program Coordinator – Susan Gonzales who also somehow gave us a brilliant sunny spring day as well. A special note of appreciation also goes to Jan Clarke who coordinated food orders and provided picnic box lunches for our train riders.
Lake Whatcom Railway owner/superintendant Frank Culp looks on from the footboard of a vintage NP passenger car while SV&W Program Coordinator Susan Gonzales enthusiastically gets an “all aboard” call going.
Our trip started in the tiny village of Wickersham which was once a station stop for the Northern Pacific on it’s way to Sumas. The BNSF branch still runs through this area today. The railroad grounds contain a wye and a large engine shop/car shed. We rode behind a vintage Alco S1 diesel which was originally assigned to the Northern Pacific Terminal Company as No 30 in Portland OR.
Vintage Alco S-1 which once served on the Northern Pacific Terminal Co. in Portland OR. working the yard at Wickersham.
After boarding we headed out on what was once a branch line along the south shore of Lake Whatcom on the Bellingham Bay and Eastern Railroad Company line that connected Bellingham to the NP Mainline at Wickersham. Our ride took us to the shores of Mirror Lake for a picnic stop and some fun on a pump car for the kids (and adult kids).
Picnic stop near Mirror Lake.
Once back at Wickersham, some of us explored the NP No 1070 Class L-9 0-6-0 steam locomotive in the shop and watched the crew turn the Alco on the wye to put the passenger coach away. It was a great day out in the sun and everyone had a good time. Check the Lake Whatcom Railway’s website for their event schedule, it is worth the trip.
Northern Pacific 0-6-0 Class L-9 No. 1070 in the Wickersham shop awaiting restoration. The locomotive is in very good condition and will likely be seen under steam again.Backhead details on the NP No. 1070.Mount Vernon Terminal No 3 a Plymouth Diesel sits near the engine shed.Ex Longview Portland and Northern speeder which is used for track maintenance.
Cliff Aaker, filling in for Clinic Chair Rich Blake on business travel, introduced tonight’s two clinicians who presented two highly interesting talks about track planning for operations. Both presenters are NMRA MMR’s with decades of experience between them. Their layouts are very different not only in the era modeled, but also in their builders’ “druthers” (as layout design guru John Armstrong put it). One shared feature, though, is that both railroads center on Colorado—not surprising considering the fascinating prototypes that this mountainous state offered.Jack Tingstad, MMR was up first with his talk titled “Making an Old Track Plan Work.” Jack’s HO-scale Cloud City and Western RR, begun about 20 years ago, has now been hosting operating sessions for 12 years,
Fig 1 – Jack Tingstad’s Cloud City & Western
with crew sizes varying
between 6 and 8. The main section (Fig
1) is in a ground-floor room 12’ by 21’ in Jack’s home in Coupeville. Jack’s layout was adapted from a John
Armstrong plan (thus the “old track plan” descriptor) but whereas Armstrong’s
plan featured a “big city” setting, Jack wanted his set in the Colorado
mountains in the steam era and revised it accordingly. His “druthers” included:
“Massive”
scenery—extending to the room ceiling and to just feet above the floor in
places
Maximize
switching opportunities
No
duck-unders
“Visually
separated” town scenes to the extent possible
24”
radius minimum mainline radius with easements
Minimum
#6 mainline turnouts
Micro
Engineering track in Codes 83/70/55 for mainlines/passing tracks/spurs
Jack’s resulting track plan is shown in Fig 2.
Fig 2 – Track Plan for Jack Tingstad’s Cloud City & Western
The plan is “loop to loop”
with the eastern and western loops at Glenwood Springs (upper level) and Salida
(lower level) shown at the upper right-hand corner of the track plan. The two levels are connected by a 24”-radius,
two-turn helix at the lower center of the plan.
The layout’s major yard is at Cloud City (Leadville), midway between
Glenwood Springs and Salida, lower right in Fig 2. All of the towns are named for actual places
in Colorado but their relationships to each other on the layout do not adhere
to their actual prototype locations.
Whereas large staging
yards, either concealed on lower levels, visible, or in separate rooms, are
currently in vogue, Jack built what might be called distributed staging all
around the layout, all hidden from view, most below scenery. See Fig 2.
He can stage up to 15 trains prior to starting an operating
session. A few years ago Jack acquired
“trackage rights” to a room adjacent to his original layout space, in which he
added a new yard, East and West Breckinridge, with tracks leading through the
wall from Granite Junction and Cloud City.
This room also functions as crew lounge.
The addition greatly expanded operations and adds two crew slots to work
the busy yard.
Jack’s “old track plan” certainly
works well as this reporter–a regular crew member–can confirm, and he
considers it a success. However, there
are always lessons learned and Jack shared a few:
Make
sure to provide access to all hidden track; Jack has no fewer than 20 lift-outs,
of which 4 or 5 are used frequently, others rarely
Although
they save much space, avoid 3-way turnouts as their complexity can cause loco
hesitation and other issues
Ditto
double-slip switches; Jack has one in his town of Malta, as part of a switching
puzzle in a small space, but crews can have trouble with it
Ensure
spurs and sidings where cars are to be spotted are dead-flat—otherwise clothes
pins or other braking devices are needed to prevent roll-aways
Use
of compound ladders in yards on modest-sized layouts can save space; Jack used
them in his Breckinridge addition
Mark
Malmkar, MMR, was up
next. His layout is about the same age
as Jack’s but has traveled many more miles!
Begun in Nebraska in 1990, Mark’s layout—built in sections–was moved to
two more houses in that state, with revisions to fit the spaces available. Following some years of storage, the layout
has been moved yet again to its new home in Oak Harbor where it is now being
re-assembled, with plans to considerably expand it as well.
Fig 3 – Mark Malmkar’s HO-Scale Rocky Mountain Central
Mark’s current plan for his HO-scale layout
in its new location is shown in Fig 3.
The space is 40’ in its long dimension.
His freelanced railroad is called the Rocky Mountain Central. It’s
a two-level pike (lower level is shown in green and upper in blue) with a helix
interconnecting the two. Despite being
similarly located in Colorado, Mark has far different “druthers” for his layout
compared to Jack’s:
Transition
era, 1955, with some steam but mostly diesel
Town
plans replicating prototype as much as possible
Kansas
City and Chicago staging yards originating and terminating trains; most traffic
comes from Chicago
Rock
Island, CB&Q, and AT&SF trains cross Rocky Mountain Central’s trackage
Passenger
train emphasis, especially dome cars (Mark’s favorites)
Mark’s layout features
24-inch minimum radius curves and Code 100 track throughout for improved
operation. Referring to Fig 3, the
sections at the top and at the right of the drawing are mostly re-assembled and
in place; the central peninsula and Glenwood Springs at the lower left (now
Mark’s office space) are planned for later construction. Mark anticipates 3-hour operating sessions
with 6- to 12-trains running, with an average of 8, and 3 to 6 crew on the
mainline. Crews could grow to 12 to 14,
but aisle congestion, especially where switching districts are close together
and on both levels, might make that too optimistic. Mark’s first op sessions will tell!
Great ideas—from modelers
with years of experience—for our own layouts.
