Philip Stead’s 30’ x 52’ O/On3

The LDSIG layout tour featured the Philip Stead’s 30’ x 52’ O/On3 layout which replicates operations on the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad (Pueblo Division, Alamosa/Chama Subdivision) on September 23, 1949. Brass K-36s, bridges, and mountain scenery make it a great place to visit and operate.    

Courtesy of Gerard Fitzgerald

The W.H. Whiton blows her whistle and officially commences operation of the Civil War Roadshow at the 2013 NMRA Atlanta Convention. Huzzzzahhhh!

Bill Welch and Gabriella add a finishing touch to the Civil War Roadshow

Paul Dobbs mans the main desk at the American Civil War Rail Road Historical Society table in the Civil War SIG room.

The Civil War Road show layout that Gerard Fitzgerald built with Bernie Kimpinski was assembled and operational in less than an hour with the help of a few friends and a cordless drill.

Scale Rails editor Steven Priest displays the detailed plans of his new multi-deck track plan for his Santa Fe St. Louis Division in the Layout Design SIG room.

The Civil War Roadshow Arrives in Atlanta! by Gerard Fitzgerald

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This is the first in what I will hope will be a series of special guest blog posts this week from the 2013 Atlanta NMRA National Convention. Philip has graciously appointed me the James River Division (Blog) Minister without Portfolio for the duration. As such I will hopefully be sending some nice photos and a few thoughts back to those of you at home in the next week or so. This is my third national convention and will be my longest stay to date (Five days!!!) as I was only in Philadelphia and Hartford for 2-3 days respectively. I used to live in the Atlanta area and as a proud graduate of the University of Georgia, it is always great when I get a chance to go back and visit the Peach State.

My interest in attending the 2013 NMRA National convention was driven in part by my membership and participation in two of the NMRA’s special interest groups or SIGs  (http://www.nmra.org/national/sig/sig.html). The Layout Design SIG   (http://www.ldsig.org ) is one of the oldest NMRA SIGs and turned thirty last year. In fact the LDSIG, which was founded by my friend Doug Gurin, may have been the very first SIG (?), but was nonetheless in the very first group.  On the other hand the American Civil War Rail Road Historical Society (ACWRRHS) is the newest, having formally joined the NMRA less than a year or so ago. The group has however existed for a number of years prior to formal NMRA affiliation, drawing together modelers interested in recreating the railroads and operations of not only the American Civil War but also the ante-bellum period though the end of Reconstruction.  The Civil War SIG is having a sort of coming out party in the railroad hub of Atlanta, Georgia with a number of members bringing layouts, dioramas, models, displays, etc… The ACWRRHS  has a Yahoo! discussion forum at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Civil_War_RRs/ and much like the LDSIG is always interested in attracting new members.

When attending a national convention the LDSIG room is always an interesting place to hang out between clinics and tour bus trips to meet other modelers and see raelly amazing displays and architectural models built to assist modelers in creating and successfully completing their dream layouts, regardless of size or scale. The Operations SIG members often meet in the same or an adjoining room so there is usually an all star line up of famous hobbyists wandering around who are eager to discuss what is new and interesting in the hobby. One could for instance strike up a conversation with various members of the layout design intelligentsia… like current Layout Design Journal (LDJ) editor Byron Henderson. For the record, on Monday morning Byron is once again holding a Layout Design Boot Camp, a multi-hour, full immersion series of clinics, designed (no pun intended) to introduce new comers and even experienced modelers to the tools and theory of layout design.  If you are here in Atlanta and cannot get to the LDSIG Boot Camp, and still want to learn more about …say when to add a passing siding to a layout, whether a helix will work or fit, or how many staging tracks you might need for your next project layout (the quick answer is twice as many as you think!), drop by the LDSIG clinic room and pull up a chair. Or if you are not able to be in Atlanta this week, drop by the website, the yahoo group, or better yet subscribe to the LDJ, I think you will find it a great way to become a more well rounded model railroader.

My week here is going to be interesting and is somewhat scheduled although I hope to see some first rate clinics and some nifty layouts.. My primary responsibilities are to give three clinics and also transport and assemble the Civil War Roadshow layout, an O-scale fine scale portable switching layout which I had the pleasure of helping design and build under the carful leadership of my very good pal Bernie Kimpinski (http://usmrr.blogspot.com). Bernie is also giving two clinics. We are holding operating sessions this week in the CWSIG room and the layout will also be open for most of the week while that room is accessible.

On Wednesday Bernie and I, in addition to dozens of others, will be going on a self -guided tour of special layouts on the LDSIG layout tour, which is usually my favorite part of a national convention. It is a great opportunity to visit, study, and photograph layouts in various stages of design and construction. Better yet, visitors get to pick the brains of the layout owners and come away with useful insights in how to design and build better model railroads in the future. I predict about 600 photos that day with my digital SLR.

On Thursday I have a clinic in the early afternoon and then will man a help desk in the LDSIG room to discuss design issues with modelers who have come by to discuss what they are doing…or trying to do. The help desk is open all week and is by appointment. It is a very useful way to get advice on how to design the layout you have been scribbling on napkins for the past few years but not yet fully pulled together.

On Friday morning, NMRA members get first crack at the National Train Show before the regular/normal people are allowed in. The National Train Show is always interesting and a wonderful way to see all the new things you cannot afford but need to soon purchase regardless. Later that afternoon I will be attending the LDSIG dinner at the Trackside Grill followed by a lecture and tour at the which is being held at the Southern Museum of Civil War and Locomotive History (http://www.southernmuseum.org ) both of which are located in Kennesaw.

I have been to the museum in the past using their wonderful Southern Railroad archive and it is a great place to visit if you have an interest in the history of southern railroads and industrial technology. Finally, on Saturday, I plan to hit one or two layouts on another self guided tour in the greater Atlanta area before driving back to Charlottesville.

I think/hope later posts will be shorter on text and longer on photos with perhaps a wrap up a week or so later following my return to Charlottesville.

Let me note the day was not a complete success. While I was inside unloading the Roadshow someone (apparently another model railroader here at the convention) hit my car while I was unloading the Roadshow and destroyed my back tail light. They were nice enough to just drive away and leave a jumble of broken glass and metal next to my car. So much for my first five minutes in the hotel parking lot!!!

(Photos to follow in the next post)

Contests Announced for 2013-2014 JRD Meets

They are as follows:

Fall 2013 - small on-line structure

Early 2014 - truck/tractor trailer with a detailed load

Mid 2014 - kitbashed freight car

Fall 2014 - structure with plaster walls

Model Railroading Down on the Peninsula

Model Railroading Down on the Peninsula.

Gerard J. Fitzgerald

On Saturday June 15^th, the NMRA Tidewater Division meeting was held at the United States Army Transportation Museum at Fort Eustis in Newport News, Virginia.  The Tidewater group was gracious enough to sponsor this get together as a joint meeting with the James River Division (JRD) to foster camaraderie among neighboring NMRA groups. Of the approximately thirty-five attendees fifteen were JRD members from Charlottesville and Richmond (unfortunately no JRD officers were able to attend). 

Fort Eustis is of course known in model railroading circles because it is where generations of Army personnel have learned railroad operations for domestic and overseas military activities. Founded in March 7, 1918 for the military build up presaging America’s late entry into World War I, Camp Abraham Eustis became Fort Eustis, a permanent military installation, in 1923.  Today this post, along with its satellite installation Fort Story, is home to the U.S. Army Transportation Corps, the U.S. Army Transportation Center, and the U.S. Army Transportation School, among others. Because of these training facilities Fort Eustis still contains some complex operational railroad infrastructure. In 2010, the facility was combined with Langley Air Force base to form Joint Base Langley-Eustis.

This privately owned railcar has been refurbished with a US Navy theme and was open to those who attended the NMRA meeting at United States Army Transportation Museum at Fort Eustis. The car is Amtrak mainline certified and is used a few times each year.

The Army Transportation Museum is a wonderful place to host a model railroad meet because the displays examine the evolution of military transportation and logistics from the American Revolution to the present day. We were allowed free access to the museum displays both inside and out. The museum has a newly rebuilt outside display of various military locomotives and rolling stock which date back to World War I. Unfortunately the scheduled clinician was forced to cancel at the last moment. This turned out fine because it allowed more time for a special guided tour of a private railcar at the museum that is not open to the general public. In addition, a museum employee took visitor’s to the fort’s locomotive facility (which is normally off limits) and not only fired up an Army GP10 (a rebuilt GP9) but was nice enough to pull the valve covers so those in attendance could witness the working valve train. This back stage pass to see prototype military railroading made this visit to Fort Eustis a real winner. Speaking of winning… the JRD made out well during the popular vote contest involving railroad photography. Former JRD member Howard Heltman who was in town visiting from Pennsylvania, was awarded first place for prototype photos. Much to my great surprise, I somehow took first place for model photos

In lieu of lunch I went over to photograph the former C&O station at nearby Lee Hall. That building, which has seen better days, has been moved across the CSX mainline tracks and is now undergoing an exhaustive and expensive restoration ( www.leehalldepot.org ).

The C&O’s Lee Hall Station was built in the early 1880s and was rebuilt and expanded up through 1918. The station, which has seen better days, was moved across the CSX mainline in June of 2009. The building is currently undergoing a lengthy and expensive process of historic preservation.

As if the prototype offerings at the museum were not enough, the Tidewater Division had club and home layout tours arranged and open all the way from the Chesapeake Bay & Western club layout  (www.cbw-mrc.com ) in Yorktown, the Tidewater Modular Railroad Club ( www.tmrctd.org ) in Virginia Beach, and five homes layouts in Ford’s Colony in nearby Williamsburg.

Pennsy Power is alive and well on the Tyrone and Clearfield branch lines on Ed Rappe’s O-scale layout. 

My first visit was to 2600 square foot walk in basement of Pennsylvania Railroad modeler Ed Rappe. Mr. Rappe is building a multi-deck/mushroom O-scale (2 rail) representation of mainline and branch line operations from Altoona to Gallitizen in 1952. Big Pennsy steam along with Centipedes and multiple lash-up diesels pull 30 car freights and passenger trains along 64-inch minimum radius super elevated curves. The beautifully designed and executed layout features wireless walk around DCC, 118 turnouts, a massive engine terminal and roundhouse complex, ceiling suspended hidden staging, hidden lower staging  (all layout staging uses video cameras that allow operators to follow their “out of sight” trains) and a very realistic recreation of Horseshoe Curve that not surprisingly includes all four tracks. All turnouts are hand laid and built to fit which enhances the overall layout symmetry. Photos of the layout do not do justice to its size and its meticulous level of design and craftsmanship. All in all, Mr. Rappe is well on his way to building one of the finest layouts in the country.

The large size and wonderful geometric flow of design Ed Rappe’s O scale layout can be seen in this long shot down one of the four aisles which divide the layout. The mainline is at the lower left while the branch line clings to the hillside at right.

Host Ed Rappe, second from left, explains the intricacies of his turn out routing and hidden staging system on his massive Pennsylvania Railroad themed layout in central Pennsylvania circa 1952. From Left to Right: Tom Sullivan (Tidewater), Don Wells (JRD), Howard Heltman (former JRD) and Mike Garber (JRD).

As if that was not enough Pennsy Power for Williamsburg, or even for the immediate neighborhood, upon leaving the Rappe layout I drove a few blocks to Jim Taverna’s 1700 square foot basement which houses the Susquehanna Division of the Pennsylvania Railroad in 1955/56 also in O-scale [2 rail] (http:/ www.prr-northerncentral.blogspot.com ). While not as far along scenery wise, Mr. Taverna’s layout features a fully operational double track main line, a large yard at Northumberland which is not yet completed, and a very steep coal branch line that climbs to ceiling heights at Mt. Carmel. The layout employs wireless DC throttles and has an eight-track double ended holding yard beneath the main yard for staging. The layout features 62-inch minimum radius curves and 1.75% grades on the main in contrast with 52-inch radius and 2.5 % grades on the branch line. Another interesting feature is the use of leased steam power from the Reading, RF&P, and AT&SF per prototype practice.  

Massive main line bridges and a double track mainline are the order of the day on Jim Taverna’s 1700 square foot Susquehanna Division of the Pennsylvania Railroad.

My final stop was Jack Brown’s 26 x 20 foot HO Western Maryland Railway that models the Appalachian region between Cumberland, Maryland and Ridgeley, West Virginia. Mr. Brown and his wife Barbara have authored many model railroad articles in addition to the book Western Maryland Color Guide to Freight and Passenger Equipment. The railroad takes full advantage of their prototype expertise and features the colorful WM diesels and recreations of the shop and yard complex at Hagerstown in the period between 1969-1974. The layout features code 83, 70, and 55 rail along with DC wiring and hand held wireless throttles. Aside from the fine mountain scenery the layout includes a number of scratch built WM buildings including the Ridgeley sand tower. Mr. Brown’s WM was a great layout to visit and a wonderful place to close out a fine day of model railroading before a fine meal in downtown Williamsburg.

Jack Brown scratch built this wonderful model of the WM sand tower at Rideley, West Virginia. 

My only regret was not having the time to visit the two other home layouts on tour. Gale Treiber’s is building the HO Cement Belt Railroad above his garage, a model railroad that replicates operations in a valley northwest of Allentown, Pennsylvania. In addition Hans Schwartz is constructing a free-lanced N scale layout based on Atlantic Coast Line operations between Richmond, Virginia and Charleston South Carolina in a 19 x 3 foot space. For details please go to Mr. Schwartz’s blog at www.aclinn.blogspot.com .

I had a wonderful time and hopefully we can return the favor and invite these fine people up to our division sometime in the future. As for me, I will be filling in as a guest blogger again next month and reporting in from my adventures at the NMRA National Convention in Atlanta, Georgia.

Gerry may be reached at  gfitzgerald111@gmail.com

MER Clinics Posted

The MER has posted the final Clinics List for this Falls convention.  Thanks to Gerard Fitzgerald for the heads up.

Thanks for the Memories

Saturday June 14th was the end of an era for the model railroading community in the Richmond area.  For many years Chesterfield Hobbies stocked trains from small to large, 2 rail or 3 rail. standard and narrow gauge.  The trains occupied about two thirds of the well stocked store which is odd in these days.  A trip to the store was one which many outside of Richmond looked forward to in anticipation.   Owned and staffed by Adrian Cates and Tom English who gave years of good service and advice.  Adrian is planning to continue fixing Lionel trains as a side business. We wish Adrian well in his 'retirement' and wish Tom was still here to see it. Thanks for the memories guys.