Orange County Railroading is History You Want to Hear

The November 14th Meet at the Historic Southern Station in Orange, VA will include a talk by Orange County Historian Frank Walker.  Most know that Orange County currently hosts both Norfolk Southern and the Buckingham Branch.  How many know that besides predecessor owners Southern and C&O there were two other railroads in Orange County?   The Radian Railroad went West from Orange through Wolftown to the Mountains as a narrow gauge railroad.  The Potomac, Fredericksburg and Piedmont which switched between standard gauge and narrow gauge while only ever making it from Fredericksburg to Orange.  Prior to all this Orange County was significant to the American Civil War in the area of railroading among many other areas.  Frank Walker will inform us about these areas.  If you model either of the two main railroads in the county or are looking for something new to model then come and explore.

Colorado comes to Orange on November 14th

Well known O Scale modeler Andrew Dodge comes to the JRD meet in Orange on November 14th at the historic train station in downtown Orange, VA.  Photos of this well known fine scale layout by Gerard Fitzgerald were featured in our Report on the 2013 MER.  The quality of the work on this layout is some of the finest seen today.  Some of you may be unaware that Andrew had a famous On3 layout on the Denver South Park and Pacific in the same space.  His decision to venture into something new caused some consternation initially but those of us who have seen his layout are glad he has inspired us with something new.  We hope that you come to be inspired by this master of the hobby.

Good Meet Last Saturday

The JRD had a good meet last Saturday with Chuck Hladik giving a hands on clinic on the topic of making trees using the fiber material over a crepe myrtle set of branches.   The method is effective and straight forward producing an very nice result that would look good on any layout of the appropriate scale at a relatively inexpensive price.  The crepe myrtle branches might be the toughest thing to find and I may have to seek a source of supply for myself.  The fill that is used for the canopy is usually available in craft stores before Halloween as it is used for decorations.  Perhaps I can persuade to move forward and make some trees.

Meeting Tomorrow

Remember that we have a meeting this Saturday in Lymchburg. Learn how to make trees for your layout with our hands on clinic with Chuck Hladik.  You will be able to take one home.  

The modeling theme is a freight car with graffiti.  If you have one please bring it to share with others your creation. 

For those traveling down US 29 please remember there is a music festival in Nelson County and this may cause traffic issues so allow extra time or adjust your route. 

Hope to see you there and please check the Meeting Page for details. 

JRD and Opsig Weekend Ops 2015

The JRD and Opsig are proud to announce the Central Virginia Weekend Ops 2015 on the weekend of October 9-11th of this year.  There are three days with three sessions and several layouts for each session.  They vary from N to O including narrow gauge.  The method of operations go from sequential to TT&TO and CTC.  For those interested please to to the JRD Website for more details

Are You Modeling?

It is the dog days of Summer and this means hot weather and thunderstorms may force you inside for part of the day.  Do you use this time to bring your layout back to life or make some progress on that car, locomotive, or building that is still on your bench since Spring?  There are several projects in my hopper that reflect all of the above.  Time to make some progress and maybe bring something to show at the next JRD meet.  How about you?

Crossties for June 2015 Now Available

Most of you should have received you June 2015 Crossties through an email.  If you did not please check the Crossties page and click on the link for your copy.

Are you Weathered?

When you work for a railroad one of the first things you realize is that it is an industrial environment. This means that there is dirt and grim everywhere which is not cleaned except for very few places like corporate offices and equipment used in passenger service.  Bring you freight cars and diesels to next months JRD meet to not only learn about weathering but to actually weather your car or diesel locomotive.  The cost will be 2 to 5 dollars per person.  Cost will vary by the scale and number of cars.  All NMRA members are welcome.  Others may join the NRMA at the meeting.

Weaver Models Closing

It was announced that Weaver Models is closing June 29, 2015.  The owner is retiring and was unable to find a buyer for the business. This is a huge loss to the O scale community and a big loss for the Model Railroading community in general. Weaver Models started making hopper cars for the two rail O market and expanded into 3 rail.  They made many affordable and reliable locomotives which are the mainstay of many O Scale layouts.  The average model railroader probably knows of Weaver Models through their Scalecoat Paint line which was an affordable and quality paint sold good size bottles at reasonable prices.  Our thanks to Weaver for 50 years of service to the hobby.  

What is an RPO?

The term RPO usually in model railroad circles is thought to stand for Railway Post Office which is correct for a certain time in railway history.  Today, I would like to propose a new use to describe one of the fastest growing parts of the hobby. This is the operations side.  Operators are constantly trying to be more realistic in their approach to this aspect of modeling the prototype railroads.  What do you call these folks?  If we have Railway Prototype Modelers then I propose we now use the term Railway Prototype Operators.  They are the new RPO.

Great Meeting in Richmond

The JRD had a great meeting last Saturday in Richmond at the old Southern Railway station on Hull Street.  It was a great venue full of atmosphere and history yet plenty of things to see and do.  Many fine exhibits, a gift shop where several good deals were found, and a large HO layout with many fine scenes taking shape every time you look around the corner. The Old Dominion Chapter of the NRHS were great hosts and the JRD wishes to say Thank You.

The meeting consisted of four parts with two sections by Kurt Reisweber who is a noted author and photographer with an extensive collection bolstered by his extensive knowledge of the history of the Hampton Roads area.  He was gracious in sharing his knowledge while answering the many questions from the attendees.  We look forward to hopefully hearing from him again

The annual meeting of the JRD did decide one major issue in deciding to dissolve the library. The upkeep and sheer size while having very little activity convinced the membership that we could use the time, resources, and energy of the division better in other areas.  Ken Montero has agreed to spearhead the disposal of the library.  Also, Ken has agreed to become the new editor of the division's Crosstie newsletter so expect him to call on JRD members for material.  The last topic was the adjustment of boundaries to add some areas on our western border which is unorganized territory at the moment.  This topic will be discussed more at future meetings

The fourth section was Larry Hudson who is a retire RF&P and CSX employee.  Larry brought an informative talk about railroad operations and signaling.  He years of experience as a railroad employee both on the tracks and in management came through in his presentation.  Larry still has much we could from him and hopefully he can return when the JRD is next in Richmond

After the official meeting members were able to tour the Hull St Museum, the HO layout and the old Main Street Station across the James River.  Thank you to everyone who helped bring these folks to the JRD and to the many who help prep, set up and clean up after the meetings.