November 16th Meetup

November 16, 2019, Modeling Outreach Program Event – A Joint Event with the James River Division

On Saturday the 16th of November, we’re in for a bit of treat as the Potomac Division in company with the James River Division to have a day together for several clinics, some layouts to visit, and lots of time for socialization where we can talk about model railroading together. 

Doors open at 9 am and we’ll gather together in Room 109 for a few words, a cup of coffee, and maybe even a donut or two. After that we’ll have two tracks for clinics where you will have a selection of four clinics before lunch. After the clinics, we are planning to hold an open discussion on the Achievement Program where you can bring your models and we can either do an evaluation for an award or just discuss whatever you want regarding all aspects of the Achievement Program with at least three MMR’s. We’ll have a modeling theme as well so that you can bring your models for display and popular vote – theme is: a scratchbuilt or kitbashedpiece of rolling stock that you built.

Lunch will be on your own – plenty of local options for foragingwithin 20 minutes along Rt. 29/15.  

In the afternoon we’ll have at least two layouts open to visit in thegeneral area. So come on out for our November end of the year fling!

Where?

The Battlefield Baptist Church is located on US 29/15 at 4361 Lee Highway Warrenton, VA 20187 

From the Washington area, take Route 66 West.  Get off on either Rt. 29 South (Exit 43A) or on Rt. 15 South at Hay Market (Exit 40A).  Head South.  The church is ~5 miles from I-66 on the left soon after passing the traffic light at Vint Hill Road.

Clinic Track 1  --  Room 106	Clinic Track 2 --  Room 106
9:30 am	9:30 am
Jerry Stanley  “Building the Building for Building the Layout”	Rod Vance  "Vinegar, Pickles and Railroads... Oh My!"
10:30 am	10:30 am
John Sethian - "Modeling in 2 rail O Scale””	Terry Terrance – “Modeling the B&O West End”
11:30 --  Room 109	11:30 --  Room 109
Achievement Program - an open discussion	Achievement Program - an open discussion
12:00 pm Lunch (on your own)	12:00 pm Lunch (on your own)
1:00 pm Open House Layout	1:00 pm Open House Layout
Terry Terrance – The M&K Junction Model Railroad	Cam Green - Maine Central Railroad – Lower Road

Clinic Synopses

Jerry Stanley - “Building the Building for Building the Layout”

In the clinic I’ll talk about the process to select a building site. I hope to have a video loop playing of the actual construction drawings of the "Hobby Barn" playing on the flat screen TV. In the clinic I will go throughwhat type of building to build on different terrains, the basic requirements to provide a set of plans for a building permit, and “things to consider”when designing your hobby room building.

Rod Vance - "Vinegar, Pickles and Railroads ... Oh My!"  

This clinic talks about modeling the pickle and vinegar industries during the time period from the late 1800s to the early 1970s. We'll talk about how pickles and vinegar were made and processed, including looking at the typical structures and facilities used in their production. We'll also talk about the special railroad cars used to transport pickles and vinegar. We'll finish by surveying some of the structures and freight car models commercially available that can be used to represent the pickle and vinegar industries.

John Sethian - "Modeling in 2 rail O Scale”
O Scale has many advantages:  The larger size gives the feel of heavy moving machinery, and fine details can be added and seen without heroics.  O Scale is not outrageously expensive, does not require an aircraft hangarsize space, and most equipment is readily available. The talk presents the basics for O Scale modeling, including sources, suppliers, and techniques.  

Terry Terrance – “Modeling the B&O West End”

How does one go about modeling an iconic, yet isolated and obscure part of the Baltimore & Ohio's original main line? This clinic will describe how I went about it.

• The seed of an idea.

• Objectives?

• What to include, what to omit.

• Developing the track plan

• What time period?

• Locomotive roster

• Rolling stock fleet

• How I built the layout: civil engineering, electrical engineering, etc.

While I built my representation of the West End in O Scale, this clinic will be as scale agnostic as possible.

Layouts

We’ll have handouts with directions for each layout from the church available after the open discussion on the Achievement Program

Cam Green - Maine Central Railroad – Lower Road  (HO Scale)  

HO scale double deck layout featuring the “Lower Road” between Yarmouth Junction, ME to Augusta ME. Set in the late 1970’s and operated per prototype with some modelling license. Operations center around Brunswick Yard where several local freights exchange cars and Augusta where several locals worked through from Waterville, Me. DCC Digitrax control system. Train orders are used to govern movements.

Terry Terrance – The M&K Junction Model Railroad (O Scale)

Part of the “double humped” B&O crossing of the Allegheny mountains, the grade on Briery Mountain (Cranberry Grade), the crossing of the Cheat River at Rowlesburg, WV and the grade up Laurel Mountain (Cheat River Grade), is depicted in condensed form on this layout. Rowlesburg was a helper station as trains needed to be pushed up the grades in both directions out of Rowlesburg. The Morgantown and Kingwood Railroad (merged into the B&O after 1922) interchanged with the B&O at Rowlesburg, ergo the railroad's name for Rowlesburg – M&K Junction. The time period is late 1949 through early 1952 – the period when diesels and steam co-existed at M&K. Seven, four-unit F7 diesel sets arrived in 1949 and were so superior in heavy mountain railroading that the subdivision was dieselized in 1952.

The track is designed to create the feel of the prototype with heavy grades and very little tangent (straight) track and to be “scenically sincere”, that is, trains pass through a scene only once. There are few on-line industries on the prototype and few will be included on the model railroad (some have been added for scenic/operational interest). A model of the B&O's 4 stone-arch Tray Run Viaduct is planned. The model will be 2/3 full scale size and over 6’ long. The B&O's crossing of Cheat River is represented with a truncated single span bridge.  

 

The basement is approximately 25 ½ x 36 feet. Minimum mainline radius is 60”, and that is only on the inner track on one curve. The minimum radius elsewhere is 62” or larger. The layout is 2-rail, “O” scale. The layout runs on a Digital Command Control (DCC) system using a combination of Lenz power/command stations; Java Model Railroad Interface (JMRI) software and computer control; JMRI WiFi throttles running on Android devices; and locomotive and accessory decoders from many different manufacturers