Sorry to report , there has been nothing accomplished. I know in my last post I said that I was going to bite the bullet, fire up the garage heater and press ahead with the cabinet work for the end of the peninsula. However it got cold here, and not just cold, but dead of winter cold. After a day of work I just wasn’t up to trying to get the garage up to a temp that was acceptable to work in. Temps in Minnesota have been bouncing around in the single digits.
Even though the temps have rebounded rather nicely “the powers that be” have us getting ready to host the family for Thanksgiving. As much as I would to be working on finishing the benchwork, getting together with family truly is important. I do look forward to having everyone over – the in-laws, the kids and the grandkids – there is nothing better. If I can find some time I will try to get some work done, but I doubt that I will. After the Thanksgiving holiday my schedule opens up a bit.
So again I’m sorry, but I would like to wish everyone a “Happy Thanksgiving”.
A quick update as promised although a couple of days late. I finished the last section of the peninsula wall. It wasn’t as straight forward as the rest of the center wall as I had to angle it to gain clearance for the turn back bulge. Though not that it was difficult, I did want to get the angle correct and make sure that it was securely fastened to the rest of the structure.
Angled bracing for the last section of wall.Close up of angled bracing.
After I had the wall in I marked out on the floor the rest of the base cabinetry ( I know again with the cabinets ). The reason for this is because they are an odd shape because of the way the benchwork flares out for the turn back at the end of the peninsula. I wanted to get the angles right for when I cut them on the table saw.
Last section of peninsula wall, with cabinets marked on floor.Alternate view of wall.
With the sudden arrival of winter here in Minnesota, almost a month early, I’m a bit reluctant to head out to the garage to cut the plywood for the cabinets. Although because I’m so close to finishing up the benchwork and can move on to actually laying track, I’ll bite the bullet, fire up the garage heater and press ahead with the cabinets.
Once I do finish the end of the peninsula the plan is to build the base benchwork for the helix. After that is in place, I will then build the actual helix. I have noticed in other modelers blogs that they tend to leave the helix construction for last. I understand this, as the construction of a helix is a bit involved. However I can’t see putting it off as it sets the track height entering into and out of the helix. If you do the rest first and the helix last, then unless you planned it perfectly, your going to end up redoing something.
But not to get ahead of myself, first I’ll finish the peninsula.
I’m writing this post in support of Jim Gore and all the others who have gone through this. If you had not heard Jim Gore, who is a professor of Biology at the University of Tampa and models the Denver & Rio Grande Sante Fe division, had his layout featured in the December issue of Model Railroader. This should have been the highlight of his modeling career ( I know it would have been for me – maybe someday ) I’ve seen the article and his layout and his work is beautiful. However there were several people ( kind word inserted there as I would have preferred to use something else ) didn’t think so.
Jim has modeled a fictional branch of the railroad, one that had been rumored to have been contemplated but never built. He had modeled it using On30 equipment. Side note: standard gauge is 56 1/2″ between railheads, the Denver & Rio Grande was a narrow gauge at 36″ between railheads and On30 is 30″ between railheads. I sure Jim was using On30 because of the wealth of equipment at a reasonable cost put out by Bachmann trains and others. He also had come up with a plausible story as to why he used this gauge.
These trolls had decided that he had gone to far and let him know that what he had done was wrong ( again that was putting it politely ). Now there are always going to modelers out there that don’t agree with something that you’ve done and they usually will politely ( and I truly mean politely ) disagree with you. But these idiots went as far as to contact Jim by e-mail and call him. They totally stepped over the line.
I know to some extent what Jim is going through. Let me explain.
When I was much younger, my father had a friend over who was a “SERIOUS” model railroader. My father invited him down to see they layout. I was playing around with it at the time. Now at that time I enjoyed building things for the layout and running trains, thus a modeler who liked to run trains and not a model railroader. He quickly informed me that I was doing it all wrong. I felt pretty stupid. On the plus side it did make me want to learn more about how things worked on a railroad so that I was “doing it right”. However 40 years later I am still reluctant to join a club because then I would have to have people over who would look at what I have done and would be judging the layout. This blog has been a big step forward to getting past that. Who knows, someday I may join that club.
But getting back to Jim. He was very gracious about all the criticism and kindly replied to it by saying that it was his layout, his reality and that this is only a hobby. He is a better man then I am. I probably would have lashed out at them, making matters worse.
So to Jim, hang in there, a majority of modelers support you and what you have done. I will offer to you the same sage advice that I offer to my grandson when he takes a tumble – ” shake it off buddy “. And remember this, those that can – Do, those that can’t – criticize the others.
Though I have made progress, it isn’t technically with the layout. As I have been building the cabinets and benchwork and slowly getting all the “stuff” stored away underneath, there have been some items that just weren’t going to fit underneath. These items have been slowly pushed to the end of the layout room waiting to go somewhere.
As they were in the way of the peninsula end construction, that day has now come.
I will be spending this weekend reconfiguring our store room to more efficiently use the space so that I can get these last few large items out of my way. Once that is done I will have the last section of the basement freed up for construction of the peninsula end. I have already got some of it put away and uncovered floor space that I haven’t seen in about 8 months. With the last of it gone I will be able to move forward as there won’t be anything in the way.
I should have progress to report and pictures to prove it by mid week.
Again, stay tuned and thank you for your patience.
Happy Halloween to all out there. Pictured above is an old Bev-Bel Halloween car from 1978. For those who don’t know or don’t remember, Bev-Bel was a company that bought undecorated Athearn train cars and painted them for smaller rail lines or regional lines not produced by the major manufacturers ( Athearn, Roundhouse, etc.) They also made specialty cars like the one above to celebrate the different seasons.
I apologize for the lack of posts this month. October Tends to be a busy month work wise, with a heavy travel schedule. Add to that trying to get everything done around the house that needs to be taken care of before the snow flies and the thought of getting anything done downstairs seems like wishful thinking.
But the good news is that I have been able to make progress on the layout. I managed to squeeze in a little here and there, and before you know it the benchwork is nearing completion. It seems like when you don’t have big blocks of time to finish something, you kind of write off the little bits of found time as not enough to get anything done.
I know this will be different as I get into later stages of layout construction, such as track work or scenery construction, where you can accomplish a lot in small blocks of time. But I put aside the natural inclination to say “oh well, maybe tomorrow” and do what I could with what time I had. And it’s truly amazing what you can get done when you do that.
First off, finished the last set of major cabinets on the other side of the peninsula. There will be a couple of small cabinets that go on the turn back portion of the peninsula. Now I know there are some out there who are throwing the arms up and saying “what is it with you and cabinets”. Let me explain. There are a lot of modelers out there who build their layouts and use the underside for storage. I don’t want to offend anyone, but I’ve done this and I have found that the stuff under the layout tends to pile up and slowly creeps out from underneath.
And even though my loving wife totally supports my hobby and consented to the whole basement as a layout room, still thinks of it as the basement and thus a place where things go that she doesn’t want upstairs. So storage was important.
Anyway, cabinets are done.
Last set of main cabinets installed.
Second, finished the lower level benchwork over the new cabinets.
Lower deck benchwork in place on cabinets.
And last but not least, I was able to temporarily install the upper level of benchwork along the entire peninsula. The reason I did it this way was so that I could get all the pieces cut to size and all wire run holes drilled. For the most part the pieces are a solid stringer that extends all the way across. But there was some fitting of pieces around the support posts and the pieces that make up the outside corner. Now that I have them all cut and drilled I will take them out, paint them and reinstall them. I can then install the rim joist.
Upper lever benchwork installed on peninsula.Upper level benchwork in back aisle. The “hole” is still open for the helix.Alternate view of upper level benchwork on peninsula.Upper level benchwork on other aisle.
Side note: I was sure once the other cabinets were installed on the other side of the peninsula that the stability of the center support “wall” would be fairly solid. I was surprised, happily so, that it is rock solid. I felt so confident in its strength that I played around with the idea of having my wife take a picture of me laying across the upper benchwork stringers. Common sense got the better of me and I decided not to press my luck.
Lastly, I’m posting a couple of pictures of display cabinets. The first two are ones that my father had made for me after I got back into the hobby after I was married. He tried to match the original. The doors were made of 1/4″ plywood and warped badly. I replaced them with clear plexiglass .
The other two cases built by my father for me.
All but about 6 of the engines are old Athearn Blue Box or Bachmann DC engines.
The other case was the original one that my father made for me about 45 years ago. At one time it held all of my engines and train cars, but that was along time ago. I’m repairing some damage on the doors and will paint them to match the cabinets.
Original train case built into base cabinets.
Next up: either the end of the peninsula or the base for the helix.
As I was reading through my last post after publishing it, I realized that some may get the impression that I was going to run the railroad with about 70 railcars and a whole lot of engines. And cabooses.
The home road lettered cars that I talked about, the coal hoppers and boxcars, would be in addition to the other cars that I have lettered for other railroads. These would be the other railroads that operate in the upper Midwest and northwest that would interchange with the Continental Northern. Examples would be the Northern Pacific, the Great Northern, the Union Pacific, Soo line … you get the idea.
The number of home road cars that will eventually be on the layout has yet to be determined. Right now I have 30 hoppers lettered for the CN, but I know that I will need another 15 for basic operation. The 20 boxcars that I had mentioned is just a start. I have to get every thing out on the layout to see what I have. From there I will make sure the percentage of home road cars to “foreign” cars is right.
For those who don’t know, when a shipper sends something in a boxcar, for example, and the car is interchanged onto another railroad, the receiving railroad has to pay the home road for the time that the boxcar is on their line. The receiving railroad would then make sure that the car got to its destination as quickly as possible, was unloaded and sent on its merry way. Either back to its home road or loaded with something new and shipped of to a destination on some other railroad. That is why the greatest percentage of a type of car will always belong to the home road on a layout. And that is why I have to see what I have and then adjust so that I have the appearance of a reasonable percentage of cars.
There are those out there with enough experience that probably understood this from the beginning, but it was bugging me and I felt that a clarification was in order. OK, clarified. I hope.
Below are a couple of pictures: the first is of a 2-8-2 Mikado with a string of hoppers.( sorry about the fuzziness, still working on depth of field) The second is of a pair of SD-7’s, one lettered for the CN and the other for the old road.
I have tried to keep the Locomotive and rolling stock roster for the Continental Northern as appropriate as possible. When dealing with a freelance railroad the trend is sometimes “anything goes”. The bulk of the motive power is 2-8-0’s and 2-8-2 Mikado’s. These wheel arrangements would handle the Midwest flatlands relatively well. The lighter engines are supplemented with 4-8-4 Northerns and 4-8-2 Mountains, as they had to handle the mountainous regions out west. Add in several compounds because: A. other roads used them to get through the Cascades in the Pacific Northwest and B: they are really cool. There are also several GP and SD-7’s as dieselization shows up even on this subdivision.
The thought process is as follows: as the Continental Northern dieselizes, the newer power ( diesels ) are used out west where the lack of needed maintenance and frequent refueling ( water and coal ) are better suited to diesels. The older steam engines are moved to the eastern divisions, where there are shorter runs between towns and maintenance facilities.
ROLLING STOCK
The main reason I backdated the layout to 1954 was that inexpensive, high quality steam locomotives became available. Bachmann (bachmanntrains.com) and Athearn (athearn.com) led the way followed by Broadway Limited (broadway-limited.com) with their DCC/ sound equipped locomotives. The hardest thing to give up was the diverse rolling stock of the more modern era’s. It seems as if each commodity has it’s own type of railcar. When I first switched I figured there would be a whole lot of boxcars and not much else. At least I would be able to cabooses on the trains, oh well.
Once I started to research the era more I realized that, yes there would be a whole lot of boxcars, there were a lot more types of cars in use. So yes, there will be boxcars, as well as hoppers for hauling coal, flatcars, tank cars, gondolas and short covered hoppers, which were starting to show up for some commodities. And cabooses.
I have the bulk of the hoppers for coal, I bought data only hoppers from Walthers (walthers.com). I still need to get another set. These are lettered for the Continental Northern. I have looking at picking up about twenty data only boxcars from Accurail (accurail.com), however they have been out of stock. I hope they will do another run soon. These will also be lettered for the Continental Northern. I have been lettering the cars with custom decals from Rail Graphics (railgraphicsdecals.com), I would highly recommend them.
PASSENGER CARS
There won’t be any “name” trains running on the railroad, as the run from the Twin Cities to Duluth is only about 120 miles. There will be daily passenger runs, but the trains will be mainly coaches. These will be mostly older, heavyweight cars.
A found treasure. How often do we hope we find some little treasure someplace as we poke through a hobby shop? There is a hobby shop here in town that used to operate out of an old house. You would poke through the different rooms that were crammed floor to ceiling with merchandise. Newer stuff up front, older towards the back. Every once in awhile I would find something tucked in back that caught my eye. Maybe I didn’t need it but the price tag was original and now it was a great deal.
That store moved to a new retail location and those kind of finds disappeared as they went through their inventory and figured out what they had.
Recently while I was on a business trip to Los Angeles I had some time and I was walking around. I happened across a antiques store that had some Lionel trains in the window. My father-in-law has several old Lionel and Marx train sets that he still runs and I went in to see if they had something that I could pick up as a gift. Looking at what they had on hand, even though I’m not familiar with the Lionel second hand market, I thought it was a little over priced.
Looking further I came across a display case with some HO trains on display. One of the items caught my eye. It was a brass narrow gauge 2-8-2 Mikado. The owner came over and asked if I needed any help. I asked him how much for that “gold” engine in the back of the case. He replied ( with some disgust in his voice ) ” that it wasn’t gold, it was only brass and that it was $35.00″ . To tell the truth I almost crapped my pants, I was almost sure I missed a 1 or 2 in front of that number. He confirmed that the price was right and not seeming too anxious I told him I would take it. Now I don’t model narrow gauge and I’m not sure I could ever fit it into the scheme of what I’m doing but $35.00 for a brass engine, c’mon.
So, I have my treasure found and a great little story. Below are a picture of the “treasure” and a size comparison for those unfamiliar with narrow gauge versus standard gauge.
Narrow gauge 2-8-2 in brass.Size comparison of narrow gauge to standard gauge.
When a model railroader talks about “track cleaning” your first thought would be either a bright boy, cleaning solution or a tracking cleaning car being pushed around the layout.
I had mentioned earlier that when the old layout came down I was happy that I had used diluted white glue to hold the ballast in place. Because when it came time to lift the track off all I had to do was wet the track work and slide a putty knife underneath to lift it off the roadbed. The problem is that all the ballast is still glued to the track work.
I had planned to pick a nice summer day and spend a few hours cleaning it outside on the deck, as I didn’t want to do this in the basement because of the water. Best intentions and all, I found myself quickly running out of summer. Faced with the fact that I will be done with the basic benchwork soon and will want to start laying track as soon as it’s done and the weather will getting colder outside, I carved out an afternoon to get it cleaned off.
Not that it’s difficult to do. I set up a pair of saw horses and put a plastic storage box with the track in it on them. Next I filled it with warm water and let it soak for awhile.
Track from the old layout needing to be cleaned.The track soaking in warm water.
Then I spent the next 3 hours with a small brush scrubbing ballast off the track. At first I had doubts that I would be able to finish it in one day as the pile of track in the storage container never seemed to dwindle. But you tend to find a rhythm and the work went pretty fast.
Scrubbed clean of ballast and drying.Clean and dry, ready for installation when I get to that point.
My question is this: How come you never hear about anybody having to do this? There have been plenty of people who have torn down major layouts in the railroad publications so that they can build a new major layout. But they never talk about saving the old track and prepping it for the new layout. Do they not save it? I can’t imagine scrapping it all and buying new. I will admit that the thought of starting over again with all new track is extremely appealing, I just can’t even wrap my head around the cost of replacing it all.
