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Model Railroading in Alaska (and Arizona)

Written by Cliff Green
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Mike Philo

Editor’s note: In a recent e-mail newsletter I mentioned Marty Quaas’ web site about Alaska model railroading (which includes his wonderful layout “The Consolidated South Western Railroad” as well as his well known display layout “Mooselip, Alaska”): http://alaskamodelrrnews.homestead.com/, and reminded 4th Division members that Alaska is part of this division. This is Mike’s reply.

Your recent note on model railroading in Alaska prompted me to write to you. I live in Anchorage and am a member of the NMRA. I belong to the Military Society of Model Railroading Engineers, based on Joint Base Elmendorf Richardson (JBER) in Anchorage. Our club has permanent layouts in HO, HOn3, N and O scales, plus modular layouts in HO, HOn3 and N scales.

For many years we have been displaying our three modular layouts (N, HO, HOn3) at an Anchorage winter festival called Fur Rendezvous (“Fur Rondy” for short). Until a few years ago, Marty Quaas was displaying his Mooselip layout at Fur Rondy, too. It is a wonderful layout and the crowds loved it. So did I. Unfortunately, Marty has not been able to attend Fur Rondy in recent years, probably in large part due to the long drive from his home to Anchorage. Many people, including me, miss him and Mooselip.

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Articles, Convention or Meet, Model Train Show

Train Spotting on the Canadian Pacific Railway

Written by Cliff Green
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by George Chambers

Fig-1 Last spike monument at the rest stop on Highway 1 near Craigellachie, B.C.

Fig-1 Last spike monument at the rest stop on Highway 1 near Craigellachie, B.C.

While on a trip this past September to the Canadian Rockies to visit Yoho, Banff, Jasper and Kootenay National Parks my wife Sally and I did some train spotting on the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) in British Columbia and Alberta. On the way to Revelstoke we stopped at a rest area on Highway 1 near Craigellachie. This is the place where on November 7, 1885 the last spike was driven to complete the building of the CPR. There is a stone monument with brass plaques at this historical place (Fig 1). The restroom and gift shop are both built to look like depots. While there, an eastbound empty coal train came by (Fig 2). We were spending the night in Revelstoke, so had the afternoon to visit the Revelstoke Railway Museum for the CPR. Inside on display is a Mikado class P-2k #5468 and business car #4 built in 1929 that you can walk through (Fig 5). There are also many photo displays, two wooden bridges, and a display with CPR tracks, ferry boat and car barges all built in HO scale (Fig 4). The two wooden bridges have old time CPR trains on them, complete with old NMRA hook horn couplers (Fig 3). Upstairs in the second story mezzanine is an HO scale CPR layout modeling the Rogers Pass – Clanwilliam Lake (west of Revelstoke) area with nice scenery, buildings and bridges.

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Articles, Railroad History

A Narrower View – Our Own Miniature World

Written by Cliff Green
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Syd Schofield

Editors note: Welcome to the 15th article of a series on narrow gauge by Syd Schofield. In this article Syd writes about his personal interests and motivations for narrow gauge modeling. The previous article is available by clicking here, or by filtering with the category “Narrow Gauge”. Syd welcomes discussions and feedback, which can be made by clicking on the comment link at the bottom of the post.

Most of the model train hobbyists have a fascination, however slight, with the quest for travel across the great land masses. The motion from here to there and the machinery necessary to make that happen has been an interest as well as a necessity. Since man has wanted an improvement over foot sore, then animal-powered travel, he has looked at any and all machines for answers. The earliest means of movement across land sought a more level, firm, and direct path and the last one or two hundred years of progress in this effort find some interesting mechanical answers.

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Articles, Narrow Gauge

Selkirk Express 2016, PNR Convention – A Special Report

Written by Cliff Green
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By Rich Thom, Photos by Rich Thom

Editor’s note: In this month’s Skagit Valley and Whidbey Clinic’s PDF newsletter is a special report on the Selkirk Express 2016 PNR Convention which was held in Salmon Arm, British Columbia this past June. This is a very nicely written article with many photos.

Rich’s special report has been extracted to a separate PDF (thanks, Al Frasch!), and is available at https://4dpnr.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Skagit-Valley-Whidbey-SpecialRpt-SelkirkExpress.pdf.

As usual with PDF files your computer (or smart phone or tablet) may need to install an Adobe PDF viewer application (click here for the Adobe download link; I recommend un-checking the optional software offers).

Articles, Convention or Meet, Skagit Valley and Whidbey Island Clinic

Background Buildings for the Dry Gulch & Western

Written by Cliff Green
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By David Yadock

Photo 1 - Background needing buildings

Photo 1 – Background needing buildings

I was needing to make background buildings for a section of my HO scale layout. (See Photo 1.) I had placed some of the Walthers paper cutout buildings but I found them unacceptable. They looked unrealistic where they were located and how they were positioned. The scene really needs depth and detail! The major issue is that the area only has approximately an inch of space between the wall and the railroad track right-of-way. Additionally, there are several lineal feet of wall to cover with the appropriate background/backdrop. I envisioned the scene to be a gritty industrial area with the foreground containing my steam engine facilities.

Photo 2 - Cardboard cut to size with a straightedge and sharp knife

Photo 2 – Cardboard cut to size with a straightedge and sharp knife

Please note, with background construction one must remember that the buildings are just that, a general background (building or otherwise) to be used to direct the observer’s attention away from a blank wall or other offending item. Modelers need to be sneaky when constructing their layout since every standard layout room has many offending characteristics to it. The trick is hiding the problem areas while creating a functional scene. This process makes for some interesting challenges for scenery construction.

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Articles

Travels to 2016 Selkirk Express Regional Convention

Written by Cliff Green
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Alex Brikoff

My wife and I traveled to Salmon Arm, BC last month to take in the 2016 Selkirk Express PNR Regional Convention. The drive from Hope, BC to Kamloops and then on to Salmon Arm was a beautiful drive through some beautiful mountain scenery. The convention hotel was on the shore of Shuswap Lake. The view overlooking the lake was spectacular.

But what I found even more spectacular was that the 4th Division was well represented. It seems like everywhere I turned was a familiar face! Overall, I thought the convention was very well put together with a number of clinics that were historical in nature as well as covering a number of modeling topics as well. Although we didn’t go on any of the tours, I heard reports from folks that the tours were excellent. There were some incredibly well built models and great photographs entered in the contests.

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Articles, Convention or Meet, Model Train Show

Train Spotting in Missouri – Ha Ha Tonka, St. Joe, Union Station, Atchison

Written by Cliff Green
1 Comment

By George Chambers, Photos by George

While on a vacation trip in the middle of May 2016 to visit relatives and friends I was able to do a little rail fanning, as my wife and I drove across Missouri from St. Louis to Kansas City.

Fig. 1 - 18” gauge flat car at Ha Ha Tonka State Park

Fig. 1 – 18” gauge flat car at Ha Ha Tonka State Park

We stopped for a couple of nights at a B&B (bed and breakfast) in the Lake of the Ozarks area. We did some hiking at Ha Ha Tonka State Park where I found what was left of an old narrow gauge railroad. This 18 inch gauge railroad was used to haul stone from a quarry to build a European style castle home started in 1905. This house was being built by Robert M. Snyder, a wealthy businessman from Kansas City. He had bought 5,000 acres of land which is now part of the state park. He died in 1906 in the first auto accident in Kansas City. His sons finished building the stone house and it later became a hotel. It burned up in 1942 as sparks from one of chimneys caught the roof on fire. Only the stone walls still stand. There is a short piece of track with one flat car near the house. The flat cars were hauled by mules.

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Articles, Railroad History

A Narrower View – Short Lines and Resources

Written by Cliff Green
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Syd Schofield

Editors note: Welcome to the 14th article of a series on narrow gauge by Syd Schofield. The previous article is available by clicking here, or by filtering with the category “Narrow Gauge”. Syd welcomes discussions and feedback, which can be made by clicking on the comment link at the bottom of the post.

Narrow gauge short lines can be isolated from or linked to other narrow gauge roads. Those linked may eventually be taken over by the main road or become divested due to business interests. Then there are the lines connected by rail and business interests but chartered and named differently. These arrangements often changed frequently and were reflected in subtle name adjustments. Physical changes range from destruction by natural forces, re-gauging to standard, surrendering to automobile and truck roads (often taking over the roadway) or played-out markets of mines or lumber.

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Articles, Narrow Gauge

An Intro to Free-mo Part 4 – Electrical

Written by Cliff Green
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Alan Ashton, article by Frank Wilhelm with contributions by Al Cunningham

Editors note: Welcome to the 4th article on Free-mo by Alan Ashton and fellow Free-mo enthusiasts. The previous article is available by a clicking here, or by filtering with the category “Free-mo”. Alan welcomes discussions and feedback by comments at the bottom of the post or by e-mailing him at inwafreemo@gmail.com. If you’re interested in helping promote Free-mo in the 4th Division (e.g. event notification or writing articles) please contact me at gi_editor@4dpnr.com.

The 4th installment (in PDF format) of our series on Free-mo is available to read or download by clicking here. Our series of articles is designed to share experiences building Free-mo modules. As always, your comments are appreciated. Enjoy this well thought out document that describes the elements of Free-mo electrical components.

Articles, Free-mo