The Gray Wall

Did You Know? Out of the nearly 650 Railroads operating today in the United States, the Brownsville and Rio Grande International Railroad sports the longest name, at 44 letters long.

This past week was devoted to prepping for Easter, and for a monumental project: rebuilding the listing concrete-block retaining wall along our driveway. The wall was originally built incorrectly by a previous owner, and the roots of the apple tree have been pushing it outward for a number of years. Bill, Andrew, Amber, and I tackled the demolition and reconstruction project. Obviously, this took away from time to work on the railroad.

I cleared the train table, and vacuumed up the sawdust from all the hole-drilling last week. KevinG from work got to see the room on Friday while he was helping deliver concrete for the wall project. On Easter the whole gang came down to see the Broadway Limited riding around Track 4, along with Edgar's amazed looks each time it passed by. Bill also managed a win against me in a dual of the Rail Baron board game. 

Happy train time

 Appropriately, the fourteenth in this series of future passenger train topics is the Pennsylvania Railroad's Broadway Limited.

Along with its competitor (and future fellow member of Penn Central), the New York Central, the Pennsylvania Railroad ran a flagship passenger train between New York and Chicago. The Pennsy's Broadway Limited began its run in 1912 and continued through 1995. This train was not named after the theatre-lined street in New York, instead it refers to the "broad way" of the Railroad's 4-track main line. It changed its appearance and motive power many times during its 83-year run. It began as an eight-car steam-powered heavyweight set. In 1938, it was upgraded to a streamlined train, pulled by electric GG1 locomotives or various streamlined steamers on various parts of the route.

The PRR had unique engines and cars - they were a railroad of experimentation. Of particular interest, since meeting my wife and experiencing her theatrical dreams, is the Theatre Scenery Car. These 45 baggage cars were designed to carry set pieces from one venue to another, as shows toured throughout the country. Currently, there is one O-Scale version of the "Shakespeare", made by Weaver Models. Other Theatre Scenery Cars included the "Hamlet", "Caesar", "Richelieu", and "Pinafore".

My fictional version of the Broadway Limited is an early MTH 5-car heavyweight set, pulled by the massive Williams GG1 electric engine. The real GG1 received its power from an 11,000-volt overhead catenary system, and this did not stretch all the way to Chicago. The peculiar devices on the top of the engine which collect the power are called "pantographs". But, on my railroad, my custom GG1 can be powered by catenary or a unique internal quantum singularity, which will allow it to travel anywhere on the layout.

My impression of the passengers on the original Broadway Limited is that they were mostly traveling for business or upper-class pleasure in New York or Chicago. Not so much the type that would fancy the dusty streets of Red Stone, or the tent accommodations of Iron Horse National Park, or the company of gruff lumberjacks and miners of Cedar Falls, or the quaint-to-bizarre agro-tourism options of the town of Pinecone, or the north woods hideaway of Fence Lake. I think these folks may take this train to have a relaxing en route lunch or meet with fellow businesspeople in the parlor car before returning to Silver Falls for cocktails and a show. Or, maybe the local theatre troupe will commandeer the train and bring their gear to the Lodge at Iron Horse National Park for a special weekend show, performing for the other passengers as they travel down the line :) 

Keep your rails shiny ~

Theatre Scenery Car "Shakespeare" from http://passcarphotos.info

A GG1 pulling a PRR heavyweight passenger train.
Photo from Bob Coolidge's site at http://www.bcoolidge.com

Underground Wires

Happy Palindrome Week to all ~ 41714 ~

On Saturday, I met with Cal and discussed options for selling the assessed train collection. I provided him with a spreadsheet showing the value of each item, along with notes, and the potentiality of selling said items through various means. For the time I've worked on the project, he very generously gifted me several items I was interested in! He is analyzing the data and will advise if he needs further assistance from me.

Cal owns a company called Billings Bronze, and you can learn more about the business here: www.billingsbronze.com
I had the pleasure of seeing many monuments in various stages of completion during my many visits to complete the train collection assessment. Cal and his team do exemplary, award-winning work. Please consider Billings Bronze for all of your bronze sculpture needs!

These are the new additions to the collection:

• Yellow & Green House - this was an item my wife thought was cute, so I was sure to acquire it for her. It is an old Plasticville house with little monetary value, but it is solid and will last for years to come.
• ZW Transformer 250W - I have been seeking out a ZW transformer for many years. Lionel made two versions of this model, a 250W and 275W edition. This was the most powerful train transformer on the market for several decades, and should be able to operate 4 trains at once. I am looking forward to hooking it up and testing it out!
• Complete Service Manual for Lionel Trains - this is a hardback book that has seen a bit of use. It has a plethora of useful knowledge for servicing and repairing Lionel Postwar trains.
• Personal affects - these include a binder of notes and some photographs from the original owner of these trains. I find it to be historically interesting, and will archive these.
• Several tubes of paint - I'm not really sure if these were used with the train set, but they may still have use for crafting purposes.
• Lube Kit - this is a Lionel maintenance kit (missing grease) made in the 40's and 50's. All of my equipment is due for service, so this will really come in handy.
• Bag of realistic logs - most model trains come with "logs" that are made from dowel rods. These actually look like O-scale logs and will make great scenic details or lumber loads.
• Pike Place Fish Market Truck - this is a really cool vehicle made for the 51st TCA convention. It is a 1950's era truck which has a load of several large, frozen fish in the bed for Pike Place Fish Market in Seattle. The logo paint is a bit worn on one side, which decreases the collector's value, but I plan to display this on the train set, not keep it in a box :)
• Misc scale details - the collection contained many details, but most of them were not truly O-Scale. These seem to be the few that would be at home on the layout of the future, and include things like a wheelbarrow, hand truck, pop machine, and table.
• Misc parts, wires, electronics - the collection, which included over 20 operating accessories, had LOTS of wire running about. This pile of wire includes a bag of distribution blocks, which are really handy for sending power throughout the train layout.
• Misc metal, possibly for loads - a bag of real-life scrap metal, which will look great in a gondola car. We are not really sure what it used to be.
• Vertical fuel tank with extra lid - this is a plastic storage tank of some sort. I'm not sure if it is really O-Scale, but it would seem to fit in on the layout.
• 4 metal sheds - these were probably HO structures originally, but will fit in quite well as O-Scale switch, signal or electric boxes.
• 2 double outhouses - for the rural inhabitants of my train layout communities, these will solve many problems...
• Semi-scale playground set - I believe this is a Plasticville set of accessories that has been painted by the previous owner. These are not scale items, but they will bring a child-like cheer to the toy train layout.
• Pile of people - there are about 40-50 people, of various types and scale-accuracies. People really do help bring a layout to life, so the more the merrier!
• Benches - some of these are scale, and will provide a place to take a break for the citizens of the layout.
• Box of evergreen trees - some of these were purchased, and some appear home-made. Regardless, they can all be used to add some greenery to the layouts.

Amber's house

This is a REALLY HANDY book

Some spiffy metal sheds

New citizens of the layout

Over the weekend I screwed all of the track to the table and drilled access holes for track power wires.

Screws

Wire holes

On Tuesday I labeled each access hole with the track number under the table. Then I drilled horizontal holes through the under-table supports to hold the wire for each track. I labeled these by track number as well. I routed 10-gauge wire through all the holes - two continuous wires for each loop. On Wednesday, I installed hooks under the table for wire management, and successfully tested all four outputs on the ZW. Wow it feels good to use one of these! Smooth acceleration and lots of power to boot.

Keeping track of tracks under the table

Wire management, with Red and Harold

Keep your rails shiny!

Rail Tests

Happy Titanic Launch Day to all~

This week involved testing and adjustments to the track. The four loops are now numbered, with the inmost loop called #1, and the outer loop as #4. Testing involves placing the longest available piece of rolling stock that can handle the loop's turning radius on the track. I similar piece of rolling stock (usually a long passenger car) is placed on the adjacent loop. These two cars are then run around both loops in tandem to see if they come into contact with each other where the tracks curve. If they hit each other, one or both loops need to be adjusted (moving the entire loop, or making the loop larger or smaller by adding/removing straight tracks), or a "length limit" must be imposed on the loop to insure cars do not bump while in service.

Loops 1 and 2 have a maximum curve of O31. Loop 3 is O42, and loop 4 is O72.  The outer two loops can handle 18" cars at the same time, but that is the limit. 15" cars on loop 2 will bump cars on loop 3, so 13.5" is going to be the limit for this one.  All of the loops can physically handle the longest cars possible for their radius, but this may mean that a train cannot run on the adjacent loop. For example, the 21" C&NW bi-level cars can run on loop 4, but that would mean a train cannot be running on loop 3 at the same time.

This is somewhat limiting, but I'm okay with it - there are lots of tracks crammed into a relatively small space, so limits are inevitable. For the tests, I used cars from the Northern Pacific Vista Dome North Coast Limited set, the Union Pacific American View coach, a variety of recently-arrived freight cars (mostly tank cars), and the Montana Rail Link and Chicago & North Western Geeps for motive power.

Despite all of the tests, trains will need to be tested on a per-run basis before going into service. I'm sure real railroads do that too.

Train Room guests this week included Andrew, Edgar, and Darren

Edgar sees model trains for the first time

I made a few stops to Central Hobbies to pick up half tracks to make needed adjustments during the testing phase. I was able to spend some time speaking with the owner and train-master Al, and it was great to talk about O-gauge railroading with someone who knew what I was talking about! I may be able to help out with model train repair work in the future - I may not be an expert, but some experience is better than none.

I continued work on the train collection assessment project for Cal. This week was spent mostly on the computer, filling in record details and speculating on potential buyers for all, or for pieces of, the collection.

On Monday night, a real-train collision occurred a few blocks east of my office. Four hopper cars filled with barley rolled away from a switch crew and collided with a westbound locomotive. The lead barley car derailed after hitting the locomotive. The main line was closed from 9 p.m. Monday to 4 a.m. Tuesday, while mechanical engineers and operating officials from Montana Rail Link responded to the scene. Investigations are continuing. (details retrived from the Billings Gazette)

I took a look at the scene on Wednesday, which was mostly cleared up. The MRL crane unit was onsite, along with the impacted hopper car and the grain recovery equipment. There were just a few small piles of barley scattered near the track. Based on the impressions in the damaged hopper, it looks like the set of 4 cars snuck onto the main line, and the WB train hit the last hopper head-on. It looks like the "face" of the front locomotive is imprinted into the end of the hopper. The above information from the newspaper makes it sound like the hopper car hit the engine, but most likely the engine hit the hopper!

Keep your rails shiny~

Couplers aren't supposed to be pointed in that direction...

Testing and Assessing

As March came to an end, I was able to fit in a few more hours working on the railroads. On Thursday, I received the track to complete the train layout. I tested the O-42 loop, and the inner O-31 loop. I honestly couldn't remember the track sequence for the next O-31 loop, so I wrote it down the next day :) I found that, with the crossover piece on the inner O-31 loop, additional lockons were required to keep electric currents flowing. "Lockons" are a nifty little invention that allows you to connect electrical wires to the inner and an outer rail without soldering directly to the rail. On Saturday I began testing the placement of the track, to make sure that trains running on one loop would not touch trains running on other loops.

Also on Saturday, I spent 6 hours continuing the assessment of the trains Cal is hosting. I made it through all of the traditional train items. Highlights included a number of PostWar accessories, specifically all 3 of Lionel's coal loaders. Also present are empty boxes for motorized units #50, 55, and 58. I began going through the boxes/piles of miscellaneous "stuff". I've already found several integral pieces that go with previously assessed trains or accessories. What remains are the miscellaneous items, a few boxes of Atlas O track, and a stack of railroad books, magazines, and VHS tapes.

On Monday, I entered all of my notes on the Lionel assessment into Excel. On Tuesday, I put in 3 more hours on the collection, and completed all of the note-taking and photography. Last night, Amber helped me solve a few mysteries regarding a "which accessory goes with which item" question. Thank you dear. I also continued testing track placement on the new layout.

At work on the PostWar collection

MRL and C&NW Geeps testing out the new track

The thirteenth entry in this series on future passenger trains is a long one: The Northern Pacific Vista Dome North Coast Limited.
The two-tone green scheme reminds me of the mighty, endless forests of the Rockies. About 50 years ago, I would have been able to watch this magnificent train stop and pass through Billings from the present location of my desk at work! The "North Coast Limited" began service from Chicago to Seattle in 1900. Its route took it through Bismarck, ND and Billings, MT. In 1948, the train was reconfigured with streamlined passenger cars. And again, in 1954 it was modified into "The Vista Dome North Coast Limited" featuring 4 dome cars throughout the consist, promoting a "modern" way to view the majesty of God's Northern Rocky Mountains. It was at this time that the two-tone green color scheme began to be used. I would imagine that I would have taken this train to a place in the mountains decorated like our Cabin Room. The North Coast Limited was one way of getting from Chicago to Yellowstone National Park - from Livingston, MT, the Northern Pacific's Yellowstone Park Line could take you within a few hundred feet of the North Entrance's Roosevelt Arch. The VDNCL made its last run in 1970. But, it will live on on Mark's MT Railroads!

My North Coast Limited is the longest passenger car consist in the fleet, sporting an impressive 11 cars, 5 of which are domes (see pic at top of this entry). The cars were manufactured by MTH. It is pulled by Lionel F3 ABA locomotives. The total length is 21 feet, which is crying out for a giant layout to run on. But, I'll have fun with it on the new 8x7 set in the Train Room, as we wait for the train layout of the future to come to be. 21 feet of O-Scale train equates to 1,008 feet of full-sized train! Of course, to be scale-accurate, I would need a station platform over 21' long to accomodate this train... I don't think that will come to be. We'll just say that the North Coast Limited is not based in Silver Falls, allowing it to process a few cars at a time at Liberty Station. :) Keep your rails shiny!

The North Coast Limited in Billings - picture from the Northern Pacific Railroad Historical Association