While I was out... and Cody too!

Hello again. The summer flew by, as always. So here’s a summary posting of the ferroequinological goodness I’ve been up to these past three months…

In June, we traveled to Illinois to visit family and trains. We visited the Illinois Railway Museum during their celebration of the Railroad Post Office (RPO). My son Wesley got to experience a real, running steam locomotive for the first time, as we were happy to see that SLSF decapod #1630 was operational that day. We also got to visit the J Neils Lumber Company shay #5 in steam shop, which was “close” to running as a refit continued (the shay should be fully operational for the 2019 season). Plus, we got to see dozens of other locomotives, rolling stock, and “railroad accessories” at the country’s largest train museum! Wesley also got his first ride on a streetcar (CTA “Red Rocket” #3142), and we got to enjoy the day with my Uncle Bill (another long-time ferroequinologist). When I was young, I was blessed to be able to go to IRM frequently, but it’s a bit harder when one lives 1200 miles away…

Speaking of Uncle Bill, we were able to stay with him and Aunt Dee in the Chicago area. And Wesley got the opportunity to see his great O Gauge layout. While visiting my wife’s relatives north of Chicago, we took a trip to the Chicago Botanical Gardens and viewed their substantial outdoor G Scale layout. I had never been there before and was delighted by the dozen trains they were running simultaneously through a landscape of American landmarks. We all had a great time experiencing the mesh of gardening and model railroading!

Back home, and after cleaning up the “wreck of the wreckers”, I switched the layout to an all-Lionel-Post-War-steam roster. The planned roster never actually ran, but here it is anyway:

Track 1: #2034 2-4-2 steam with LL searchlight, NYC gondola, LV hopper and a LL SP-style caboose

Track 2: #2037 2-6-4 steam with 6 6464-series boxcars and a LL bay window caboose

Track 3: #2035 2-6-4 steam with a set of silver O27 streamlined passenger cars

Track 4 #671 6-8-6 steam with remaining O27 Post-War freight cars and a work caboose

Right off the bat, there were a few setbacks. #2037, while a reliable runner, doesn’t have the strength to pull itself and 7 freight cars. Also, #2035 wouldn’t advance more than a couple wheel revolutions. It would reverse for a few inches, but after a bit of cleaning and troubleshooting I couldn’t get it running, so I took it out of service. Then, some tests of the turbine (#671) proved that it was in a rather cantankerous mood. First, the whistle mechanism got stuck in the “on” position. Then, it started giving me intermittent electrical problems, causing trains on other tracks to malfunction, due to their connection through the transformer. And finally, the thing looks and sounds like a fireworks display when operating, with its thunderous grinding sounds and constant under-chassis sparking. So 671 was put out of service too.

The eventual roster that actually went into service, keeping to the “spirit” of all-steam Post-War running, was:

Track 1: #2034 2-4-2 steam with LL searchlight, NYC gondola, LV hopper and a LL SP-style caboose

Track 2: #2037 2-6-4 steam with 3 6464-series boxcars and a LL bay window caboose

Track 3: modern Lionel Illinois Central 2-6-4 steam with a variety of O27 Post-War rolling stock and a work caboose

Track 4 Union Pacific #2023 FA diesel and the other 3 6464-series boxcars and a LL SP-style caboose

This roster ran well for a few months, and then I encountered more steam trouble. Both #2034 and the IC steamer went offline. Diesel 2023 moved to Track 1 and the MTH NP 0-6-0 steamer took over Track 4 (note that the NP still does not output any sounds).

Back in the real world, I got a picture of a freight train at sunset in Big Timber, MT, with the Crazy Mountains in the background.

And, since it’s been so long since the last update, I’ve changed the roster a second time! The current roster, through the end of October 2018, is “Passenger trains”:

Track 1: Trolley

Track 2: CSS Interurbans

Track 3: RI E7A and partial Rocky Mountain Rocket

Track 4 CBQ E8AA and the Bozeman Zephyr

This setup is far less problematic than the previous one. The major issue is that running 18” cars (and really long locomotives) on Track 3 is always a poor idea, as they end up bumping into trains on both Track 2 and Track 4. So, the short Rocky Mountain Rocket only got to run when Track 2 and Track 4 trains were parked in safe places.

Oh yes, we had another baby too. He decided to come a little early. At home. With just my wife and I in attendance. So guess who got to deliver Cody? The ferroequinologist, that’s who. Everybody is healthy and the 4 of us are adjusting to each other, and Cody enjoys watching the trains run J Special addition!

We've kept our tradition of giving our boys middle names that are also steam locomotive classes. Wesley Hudson, and now Cody Selkirk. Selkirk is a Canadian 2-10-4. Why Canadian? Well, my bride and I were married in Canada, and Cody happened to arrive on our anniversary! Plus, "Cody" means "helper", and thus his name can be translated "helper locomotive".

Take care and keep those rails shiny til next time!

Wesley and the 1630

Happy day at IRM

Wesley and Uncle Bill detrain the Red Rocket

Two Hudsons: CBQ 3007 and Wesley

Wesley and Shay #5, both asleep

Wesley and I marvel at Uncle Bill's train layout

At the botanical gardens, a Santa Fe loco meanders between Old Faithful and Old Faithful Inn

The botanical garden layout is impressive; I could easily spend a few hours there!

Back in MT, we have the Post-War consists

Big Timber sunset on Sept 7th, 2018

Night time passenger trains

Myself and my boy, Cody Selkirk

Wesley, Cody and I watching trains downstairs

Cody and his boxcar

So blessed to have these two unique cars in my collection

Geepers!

Happy New Year and welcome back to my occasionally-updated blog. For the next month or so, a gang of General Purpose ("GP" or Geep") diesels have control of the layout, so let’s go check them out!

First, on Track 1, Williams-made Illinois Central GP9 #8959 leads a short freight consisting of a CNW hopper, NP reefer and a Texaco tanker, trailed by a wood sided Illinois Central caboose.

Next up, the snappy looking Rock Island GP9 (also manufactured by Williams) pulls a mixed freight on Track 2. Here's the roadnames, car types, and builders: NP hopper (MTH), D&H hopper (Lionel), MRR gondola (MTH), CGW tanker (K-Line), NP log car (Lionel), CSS boxcar (Weaver), Baker's Chocolate tanker (K-Line), and a Rock Island caboose (Lionel).

Track 3 hosts an abbreviated Bozeman Zephyr with a Lionel Postwar Celebration Series Burlington GP7 at the point. Behind the locomotive is the newest addition to the roster, a boxcar celebrating and commemorating the birth of my son Wesley Hudson last November. This short Zephyr includes a baggage car, coach and observation car.

And, Track 4 finds a double-headed snowy reefer freight! Lionel Chicago & Northwestern GP7s numbers 1518 and 8375 haul an 11-car train while pushing the CNW rotary snow plow through the drifts. The colorful reefer cars are filled with dog food (Doggie Diner), ham (Dubuque), baked beans (Heinz), assorted groceries (IGA), butter (Land-O-Lakes), biscuits (Merchant), mustard (Nash), bananas (Northern Refrigerator), fruit (Pacific Fruit Express), and cheese (Phenix). The whole deal is followed by a red CNW caboose.

Hope you enjoy these views of the new GP roster! Keep those rails shiny ~

The double-headed snowy reefer freight

Burlington Geep and Special Addition Bozeman Zephyr

Spiffy CRI&P Geep

Logs and South Shore

Geep Season

Mid-layout view

IC Geep

The Town of Red Stone

Howdy folks, there wasn’t any train activity this week, so today I’ll talk a bit about a town I’ll be building on the future train layout.

The train layout will be based on the mid-1950’s, and Red Stone will be a bustling western town of about 2,000 people. It will be an important railroad community, linking the fictional layout to big cities like Denver, Kansas City and San Francisco. The four chief railroads that will have operations in Red Stone will be the Santa Fe (ATSF), the Katy (MKT), the Rock Island (CRI&P) and the Frisco (SL&SF). The town will have plenty of through-passenger traffic, and will be located near oil fields, cattle ranches, crop fields and a military base, which will provide interesting freight traffic.

Generally, Red Stone will be south of the city of Silver Falls and west of Cedar Falls, a logging town. North of Red Stone will be a desert area with some interesting sandstone rock formations, and a small creek will run along the east side of the town. Several train tracks will be located along the south side of town, and that’s where a collection of railroad buildings will be found (station, sheds, water tower). East of these structures, at the end of McLintock Avenue, will be a church with a cemetery and a small park. Traveling north on Huskie Street will bring visitors to a variety of businesses including the Big Boy Bakery, Jackey Lowp’s Bar, and the Wall Pharmacy. There will also be several homes and a gas station near the corner of Huskie Street and Tamarack Road. North of town will be some bleachers where onlookers can view rodeos and other events near the sandstone rocks.

From a real-world standpoint, the Red Stone area will be located at the southwest corner of the future train layout, and will a 7x9 foot area, so it will be roughly the same size as the current train set I’m operating. Initial plans are shown in the pictures below. I hope everybody has a great day, and keep your rails shiny ~

Red Stone details

Red Stone showing Area divisions

More engines back in service

Over the past week, I was able to make some nice progress in train-land.

Northern Pacific Quirk

I tried running the NP 0-6-0 on a track by itself. Upon startup, the whistle began sounding non-stop automatically. Pushing the whistle or bell buttons on the transformer would not resolve this. I looked up solutions on the Internet, and after a few trials, I found a fix. MTH locomotives running Proto-Sounds 2.0 or 3.0 should not be the only thing on a track drawing power. Add a lighted car to the track (or wire an accessory that uses a lightbulb to the track), and the extra power usage somehow resolves the issue. So, all is well with the 0-6-0.

Southern Railroad Surprise

I opened up the SR F3 A unit to repair it, but found that it was working properly. Previously, it seemed like the rear motor was frozen up, putting a lot of pressure on the front motor. I checked the connections and confirmed that both motors were spinning merrily along, so I closed up the engine and deemed it ready for service. This #2356 locomotive is at least 60 years old.

Rock Island Return

I opened up the RI 4-8-4, and confirmed that the motor drive is not staying in contact with the main gear (slipping). I experimented with different motor angles and came up with a good one using some scrap pieces of cork. The cork worked well temporarily, but needed to be replaced with something safer and more permanent. The next day, I picked up some rubber erasers and cut them to fit the locomotive. The locomotive tested well with the new rubber spacers, so I re-affixed the shell.

I also got out more trains for the new roster and inventoried them.

Fancy new blue rubber spacers under the Rock Island 4-8-4 motor

This Northern is back in action. It is currently the 2nd-largest locomotive in the fleet.

RI 4-8-4 ready for service

Catch Up

Howdy - this post will give some brief details about my railroading exploits over the past year, when this blog was on hiatus. And of course, there are spiffy pics at the bottom!

July 2014
-Took some photos of individual trains while changing out the roster.
-Trains on track included the CNW Doodlebugs, Lionel Lines Columbia-class 2-4-2 Postwar steamer "trying" to pull the Rock Island Denver Rocket, Rock Island Northern 4-8-4 with a reefer freight, and Illinois Central GP9 with a caboose train.
-Repair work on the CNS&M Electroliner. One motor was failing to run, putting a lot of pressure on the second motor. I deemed that either the motor was bad, or that I did not have the tools/skills to repair. I send the Electroliner to Illinois to await repair in Michigan.
-On a hot day I photographed track repair equipment at work near the Billings Depot.
-I won my first game of Ticket to Ride.
-Set up the new roster: Track 1 - CBQ GP7 and small freight, Track 2 - CNW F7 and freight, Track 3 - Trackside Construction set headed by MP-15, Track 4 - Frisco Mikado 2-8-2 and freight

August 2014
-Saw a wacky-looking ballast recycling machine near the Depot.
-Also at the Depot, a special MRL train pulling a mix of modern and heavyweight passenger cars was parked for a day.
-Repaired Postwar #2034 to working order

September 2014
-My bride gave me a beautiful piece of artwork - a hand painted historic map of the Montana Railroad
-A string of nine BNSF locomotives came through Billings
-My folks were in town and visited the train layout
-While traveling, saw two enormous new MRL EMD SD70ACe locomotives followed by two little SW switcher locomotives in an EB train

October 2014
-Set up a model logging train at work as part of a "north woods" Halloween theme

November 2014
-Set up the new roster: Track 1 - LL 2-4-2 and small freight, Track 2 NP 0-6-0 and logging train, Track 3 - CNW GP7 #1518 and reefer freight, Track 4 - complete Vista Dome North Coast Limited passenger train (chasing its own tail)
-Decided to sell the K-Line Milwaukee Road GP7, as it is not a scale locomotive

December 2014
-Set up Christmas tree on the layout, with train ornaments
-Set up permanent Christmas lights under the layout for storage illumination
-Hosted family on Christmas day in the train room
-Set up CNW 0-8-0 freight around Christmas tree in the library room
-Prepared train tickets for visitors to the train room, and stamped them upon admission

No activity for a few months

April 2015
-Set up the new roster: Track 1 - green Brill trolley, Track 2 - CNW 0-8-0 and ore car train, Track 3 - GN 2-8-2 and mixed freight, Track 4 - CNW F7's and bi-level passenger train with the UP American View.
-Took various photos of the roster

May 2015
-Got to see a Lionel Smithsonian-edition NYC 20th Century Limited set at an auction in Lewistown. Only 500 of these were produced.
-At the auction, bought: ZW transformer, mint BA&P freight tag, numerous railroad paperwork items (majority from 1893), several railroad maps, framed painting of an NYC steam train, a heavy box of railroad spikes, and a large 1961 Burlington wall map of its western US tracks

June 2015
-Set up the new roster: Track 1 - CNW Doodlebugs, Track 2 - IC GP9 and caboose train, Track 3 - RI GP9 and CNW GP7 #1518 with the CNW Minnesota and Black Hills Express heavyweight passenger train, Track 4 - CNW 4-6-2 with a hopper car train
-Put all of the trains away in preparation for the remainder of railroad items to arrive from IL
-At the end of June, we set out for Illinois, and the rest you know! Now we're caught up, and keeping those rails shiny ~

CNW Doodlebugs take a ride on Track 4

A fast reefer freight heads around Track 4, pulled by the RI Northern

Electroliner under repair

Removing old, and installing new ties on MRL tracks by the Depot

First time playing, first time winning - Ticket to Ride

CBQ GP7, CNW F7, Trackside MP15, and Frisco Mikado all pulling freights

Special MRL passenger train at the Depot

Wacky looking ballast machine in Billings

Postwar 2034 undergoing repairs

Example of O27 vs O steam locomotives in action

Hand painted map of the Montana Railroad

9 locos at once

2 big locos and 2 small ones

Halloween at work

NP 0-6-0 pulls a log train

The Vista Dome North Coast Limited chases its own tail, while the 2034 zips around Track 1

Christmas time in the Train Room

Under-table illumination

Special Christmas tickets for the Train Room

My nephew enjoys the CNW 0-8-0 circling a Christmas tree

A trolley, the CNW 0-8-0, the GN 2-8-2, and the CNW F7's are all featured in Spring 2015

The switcher and the road engine at night

The illuminated 21" CNW Bilevels

The trolley takes a night trip

Busy day on the layout

A steel caboose follows the ore train

One of 500 Lionel Smithsonian NYC 20th Century Limited sets

Hat is a wee bit small for me

CNW Pacific #2903 pulls a long row of hopper cars

RI and CNW geeps team up to pull a heavyweight passenger train

Doodlebugs and cabeese