Notes on Designing, Building and Operating Model Railroads

A recent summer weekday was spent in a library, specifically, the special collections room in the Michael Schwartz Library of Cleveland State University. Upon entering, my eyes were drawn to several large images of Cleveland’s past and a large collection of O scale model trolleys positioned atop a long shelving unit. This is really one cool joint. Among the railroad archives collected here are documents from the Nickel Plate, Erie-Lackawanna, Wheeling & Lake Erie, and the Newburgh & South Shore. I went in search of W&LE maps and N&SS images. I did not find those specific items, but I did find and review W&LE images and N&SS maps. Reviewing these items were well worth the time.
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I have an interest in freight cars and marvel over the advances made in freight car construction between 1919 and the end of the steam era in the late 1950s. The late 1926 period I am concentrating on for this layout is fascinating as steel-sheathed box cars are just gaining a foothold on the US freight car fleet. The Wheeling & Lake Erie fleet is also quite interesting and a number of freight cars will be challenging to build and produce. A review of the 1925 and 1926 Official Railway Equipment Registers offer a good picture of the W&LE fleet. These ORER volumes are available on disc from two vendors. Donald R.Hensley, Jr., offers the October 1926 ORER. Al Westerfield offers a 1925 ORER.

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What a busy couple of months it has been. My new job has ramped up and I’ve attended two model railroad events. The proto meet in Marion, Ohio was lots of fun. Images have been posted to document this first time event.

I was recently in Charleston, W. Va. for the Coalfield Express, an NMRA regional convention. It was great seeing many old friends, solid clinics, fabulous contest models, and a few home layouts. I came away from both events inspired and motivated to push forward. The lead image kind of sums up what I take away from these events. My friend Frank is watching an S scale B&O EM-1 pull by at the top of a grade. His face may seem expressionless, but he was pretty thrilled. Just after the image was taken, Frank assisted the engineer in turning the big loco on a wye and reconnecting with the train to head back downhill. Conventions and model railroad meets are filled with opportunities to possibly operate on a model railroad, attend insightful presentations, and sit around enjoying discussions with others. I don’t think I’ve ever regretted attending an event. Additionally, I know my modeling skills would not be the same had I just stayed home. These weekends away are some of the best times to learn something new.!

So, where does that leave me on the home workbench and layout? Believe it or not, ten box car kits are wrapping up and benchwork may begin soon. I’ve got a few more kits targeted for the next batch through the car shop and hope to start laying rail some time soon. A few updates and essays are almost ready to post. Stay tuned!

With the impending arrival of warmer weather, I notice my schedule has several interesting events. Before getting to that, here’s a recap on recent modeling and design difficulties and progress.

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It seems I’ve been keeping busy with lots of little projects since the last post. One of those “little” projects actually turned into a large project and occupied a good chunk of time.

I’ve been the webmaster for a model railroad club in Morgantown, W. Va., and a member since the group formed back in 1987. The members have been building a large HO scale model railroad since the early 1990s. Over the last couple of years, I’ve been trying to create a web page tour of the model railroad but I really didn’t have enough quality images to do this well. This project has been on my mind more since moving away from Morgantown early in 2009. It’s not an easy task to convey a model railroad with 500 feet of mainline into a few web pages and images. Lots of pondering and idea scribbling happened on paper before the computer was even turned on.

I visited Morgantown at the very end of December 2009 and spent a day just taking images along the mainline to capture the flavor of the railroad at this point in time. A tripod was used to steady my Nikon D60 and the white balance settings for the camera were adjusted for the layout room. All focus was done manually and a timer was used on the shutter release. Several images were taken at each location using various exposure times at the smallest aperture opening of the camera lens. After getting back to the Ohio home, the images were reviewed and several were chosen for web use. These were adjusted, enhanced, cropped and sized using Photoshop for use on the web pages. Descriptive text was written then new web pages were created for each location. A couple of new graphics were developed to assist with the tour and everything was carefully compiled into the HTML code. The project wrapped up about a week ago. A model railroad is ever evolving, but at least this layout tour captures the efforts of one club in the middle of a long journey.

Between the web work tasks, I’ve also been sorting out the freight car fleet to see what fits and what does not. We accumulate hobby stuff like wild animals. I’ve pulled several items and upgraded some to encourage an easier sell at the spring train shows. Along the way I spruced up a recent purchase and documented some weathering techniques. You can find out more at this Model-Railroad-Hobbyist blog entry.

There has been some progress on the home layout. A few more 1926 era freight cars are being constructed and I have a better understanding of the Wheeling & Lake Erie freight car fleet of that time. I may elaborate more on that soon.

And no, I still have not sanded the layout room floor.

On November 6th, I journeyed to Syracuse, NY, to participate in a Free-Mo meet at the Great New York State Model Train Fair. About twenty participating model railroaders came from central New York and from as far away as Boston, MA, and Akron, OH. Most of the participants brought one or more Free-Mo modules to assemble into a linear model railroad. Click here for a PDF of the overall plan.

Modular display layouts have become common fixtures at large train shows. Many of these layouts are composed of modules that are built to published standards to ease assembly into the large display. The N-Trak standards were one of the earliest accepted design standards I can recall. The National Model Railroad Association (NMRA) modified these for use in other scales and variations of these standards continue to be followed. A typical presentation features a multi-track mainline running through individual scenes in a large circle. The Free-Mo standards enable a single track railroad display using Digital Command Control (DCC) to move trains along the route. At this time, I feel the Free-Mo standards set a level for a display layout that enables use of the most current model train control ideas and technology.

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The seasons have turned from summer to autumn, and winter is arriving soon. All around my region projects are being completed. Familiar orange and white highway barrels are disappearing and the last harvests are being gathered. Meanwhile, my home layout project has stalled. The layout room floor remains untouched and in need of sanding and finishing. Someday soon this task will be completed and I can begin erecting the layout benchwork. For the want of a nail…

Other projects are moving forward even as the layout has not progressed. I’ve turned to my large stash of freight car kits and started building a few. Several are now ready for the paint shop. So to make this a more interesting read, I offer a progress report from the car shop foreman.

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