Narrow guage is ALWAYS looking good !
Narrow gauge model railroading is as much of a study as a hobby. It is a place where real, tough, hands-on modeling is almost demanded. One can't just lay down track and purchase any engine or rail car that ever existed on any NG road as in the SG modeling. There is much kit bashing and scratch building demanded if one is modeling a rare NG road.
If one seeks to build a model railroad as fast as possible for the least possible expenditure with the widest range of available materials, motive power and rolling stock then SG is the way to go.
Narrow gauge is not quite the backwater it once was. NG is finally blossoming out of the "few good old boys" club that it used to be, yet it still retains a well respected exclusivity.
An interesting fact and noteworthy commentary is that almost all NG model rails have all had one or more SG roads. They tend to come to NG as experienced and often expert modelers looking for the perceived extra cache' and more challenging work afforded to NG modeling.
This is not talking down the SG modeler or their efforts or work. All of us in NG have been there in SG and have done creditable efforts as peers in the SG effort. Most of us now feel that we have moved on in a special sense to grab the smaller, more comfortable feeling of the little narrow gauge roads with all their idiosyncrosies and special opeartional opportunities and challenges.
It is fun. It is engaging. It is challenging...........It is Narrow gauge.
Richard
If I can't fix it, I can fix it so it can't be fixed
Mike...
I've thought about a snowshed later down the road, but that's a long way off yet... and I doubt if I would even have the room for one on my elfin empire, but I'll keet that option open. Good luck on your Op Session...
Richard... That's really "on target" regarding a modellers narrow gauge education ! There are so many more facets to NG than with standard RR operations and equipment. I bought a book at our last train show (Colorado Memories of the Narrow Gauge Circle). It's about 90% B&W photographs, with a few narrative passages of information... but there's a wealth of details in those old photos.
It's just all part of the journey, I guess...
Bob
One thing about the narrow gauge railroads......The more you read, the more you learn. These roads have a lot of terminology that came new to me after years in class 1 HO railroading. There are things that just sort of never happened on the big roads that were often common place in narrow gauge.
One example was "running light" (engine returning from, or going to, helper/rescue duty alone over a significant distance.)
Another is being forced to "run for water". (engine is low on water with a train in tow or while on a remote siding, switching. It has to stop its duties immediately, uncouple and run to what is hopefully a relatively nearby tank for water and then come all the way back to return to its duties.) This happened a lot where time was consumed in switching at a siding or taking too long for a task that went wrong such as rerailing a tender, car or front pilot wheel.
Another interesting aspect of NG railroading is that on the D&RGW and especially the RGS where the engines were of such low pulling capacity, they could not afford the overhead of hauling their provider with them, (water calf, coal gondola), instead, they would have "rescue sidings". These were often at tiny stops along the road where there would be a business or shipper, but no facilities for the engine should it run critically short of water or coal while there. They would park a water tank car and a gondola of coal on the siding and let it sleep there. Often, a small way-station agent or maintenance crew shack on this siding might also use some of the coal as needed for winter heating and water for bathing or, if boiled, drinking or cooking.
Cool stuff like the above endears the NG to the heart of the railroader the way a big class 1 road just never offered. On a big SG road, crack limiteds and giant 100+ car coal drags virutally never ran short of water. Many double and triple headers with articulateds ran water calves in tow, just another 1 of 100+ consists. Everything was calculated, prefigured and almost all runs were "milk runs". On the narrow gauge, the individual train crews were effectively isolated, self regulating bodies in a single track wilderness. They could go off schedule for hours due to any numer of dilemas peculiar to narrow gauge operartions.
Bob,
Thanks for the compliments. I just got tired of looking at the big hole and trying to imagine the freight depot being there. When the train comes to Durango, there's a whole string of various buildings you pass by, just like on a real train going through a fair sized town. It really completed the last of major elements of Durango, although I still have the refinery and smelter to finish.
Operating session coming up in two weeks, too, so wanted to finish one more thing to the many new projects on the layout since the last one 6 months ago. I have two PSC short cabooses to finish, too. Shouldn't be a problem, as it's down to the final assembly steps; they're already painted because of all the windows and grabs, so just need decals to finish once assembly is complete.
Then I decided to take a crack at the snow shed...
I think that's the last new project before the op session or I will drive myself crazy.
Mike Lehman
Urbana, IL
You did a great job on that freight house, Mike.... 'nice looking operation.
Here are some pics of my latest structure. It's based on the freighthouse at Durango, for my version of Durango where it also serves as the transfer station for freight from the standard gauge to narrowgauge. It had to be shortened about 20' to fit my space, the platform was reconfigured, and the roof extended on one side to provide better cover when the weather turns inclement.
This is the narrowgauge side, where there is space for four 30' cars at the dock.
This is the south end of the dock. I'll be adding some figures, cargo and a forklift to enliven the area.
The dual-gauge siding will three SG cars or four NG cars.
This pic shows the doors, which are arranged to serve either SG or NG cars on this side of the building.
A long pic of the NG loading dock, taken from the roof of the roundhouse.
Another long shot that shows most of the Durango facilities. Behind the freighthouse if the icehouse. In the background if the station and the dual-gauge yard next to it, with the SG and dual-gauge mainlines on the far left in front of the station itself.
SilvertonRR,
The National Belle is the Campbell kit, modified with the extension down to the loading dock at the siding. It was custom made to fit, based on the various forms it took over the years. There were at least 4 different versions of it from what I recall.
You hit the nail on the head of why I chose Silverton to model. I will add that mashing them together provides lots of prototypical operational complexity, which ups the fun factor.
Not sure about cheapest, best, but Blackstone does have "turn of the century" versions of the C-19 scheduled for the next run.
Everyone has made such positive statements for the era of narrow gauge. When things were slower and more challenging; as far as grades to climb, springtime floods tearing up the tracks because the trains would follow the rivers through the canyons, or wintertime blizzards that blocked the tracks and made them impassable. And Mike, your layout is really nice. The mine that is in Red Mountain Town, the National Belle, is that a Campbell model or did you make that yourself? Regardless, it sure looks good.You know the interesting thing about centering a layout around “Silverton” is that one can legitimately claim that five railroad names were used in and around Silverton. You had “The Silverton Railroad,” the “Silverton, Gladstone and Northerly,”the “Silverton Northern,” the “Denver and Rio Grande,” and Mears was always leasing equipment from the “Rio Grande Southern.” Not to bad for one layout. Everyone keep up the good work, and that C-19 really looks good. What manufacturer would you recommend that makes the least expensive but yet the highest quality early Baldwin type steam locomotive?
My error.....John is one of 6 KATO figures in a pack labeled "seated engine crew" figures. Sorry about the mis-information.
What is really terrible, all the other figures would best be firemen! There is a "sidedness" to seated figures.
Sadly, I prefer my engineers with a slight lean out the window with an arm on the padded leather arm rest.. I also wish they made one looking to the rear as if backing up to watch the brakeman's signals.
Looking at a lot of real "cab" videos currently on you tube of the Cumbres and Toltec and the Durango and Silverton, I see that in the yard and switching, the engineer may spend a lot of time on his feet, over the seat and leaning out of the window. On the working narrow gauge, an engineer spent a large amount of time on sidings and switchbacks going back and forth, cutting out and in cars and helpers. Many towns and sidings were only a few miles apart not much duff time compared to standard gauge long haul "mountains" and articulateds.
Check out the video here.......
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yUJk475hzFk
Watch it all. This is a narrow gauge K-36 or K-37 in use teaching an aspiring fireman. Notice the astute hogger at the throttle. He is a busy man and at no time do we see him, knees together, relaxing in his seat with his hand on the throttle. No! He is legs-cocked in the seat or struggling on his feet over his seat to work the brake, throttle and reversing mechanism. He never takes his right arm off the leather arm rest as he spends most of his time in a bodily three point contact, (two feet and right arm), leaning out the window and making sure his valve gear is behaving as it should and watching his startup rail view forward and backward.
Sure, on long hauls on standard gauge at 50-60 mph the engineer spends almost all his time sitting on his duff. However, the narrow gauge with its close left-right clearances and ill maintained track that is invariably never totally straight or even level, rail to rail, is another matter. Speeds on some branches on the D&RGW, even in the 20's and 30's, are limited by railroad decree, on their own system maps, to no more than 10mph!! This speaks volumes. The narrow gauge engineer and his fireman needed to be hyper-aware and at slow speeds, leaning out a window to get a clearer picture of the rails ahead would not fill his face with 60 mph bugs or a hurricane like windy blast. Quite the contrary, a cool beeze and a bit of relief from a hot boiler head. Most narrow gauge engines, in summer, had the cat walk cab doors locked wide open.
Narrow gauge is railroading apart from what many think of "normal" railroading.
Richard... that's a great looking C-19 and scene! You also did a super job on re-doing "Big John" (what a good loooking Preisler figure...)
Thanks to all for sharing and Mikes continued tours of his excellent layout. The dioramas were first class and showed a great deal of attention to detatil. This has been a good thread on narrow gauge model railroading.
This past weekend I spent changing the undecorated, (now decorated), C-19, "the eight ball", from its generic DCC address of 3 to the engine number of 8. It was simplicity itself. The Tsunami sound decoder responded directly to the Zephyr "extra" in direct programming with the mode switch in blast mode. I selected 2 digit adressing and just entered "8" and hit exit and the job was done.
I have recently read of a lot of issues reported in the electronics forums of people having problems reprogramming engine id's or just altering CV's on Tsunami's. I have just never had any issues.
My real hassle this weekend was installing engineer "Big John" in the cab! It was a 1 hour + job! I attach a photo of the finished effort.
Due to the confines of the diminuitive cab and near zero clearance between the motor shroud and the cab side, I had to shear off John's left arm at the shoulder, shear his lower half off above the belly button and then file like a mad man to get him in. All in all, it was a creditable job in the end, once I ripped out the sun shade. (I'll replace it with a rolled up canvas equivalent soon).
For my old HO Denver and Salt Lake, brass 2-6-6-0, when I was in standard gauge HO, I bought one of those excellent old 1970's engineer castings that was beautifully painted. The engineer has the old red leather cap on with a snow white handlebar moustache and a light smile, leaning out of the loco. I can't rememeber who made this torso only figure, but it was to die for and I have never seen another like it.
I had to repaint parts of "John's" torso and head due to poor finish on the original. This was from the Preiser (sp?) package of 5 or 6 seated engineers.
I am not looking forward to the next engineer install on the undecorated K-27 I have waiting the treatment, though It seems to have more room. Maybe the hard work is over?
Chad,
I know what you mean about the small Shays. They have a charm all their own. I've seen several really sweet ones running at the National, but always had other things ahead of it in priority. It's still kind of that way for the next year or so, but the thinking on the logging branch has started me thinking geared lokey again.
Guys,
Here's a symptom of my interest in logging. It's 6545, one of four 6500 series flats I built last winter from PSC kits. Two were done as conventional flats, but two I built as "fantasy" flats for some traffic I already have identified to make the logging branch more interesting. They're set up with racks to haul long pole stock. This traffic will travel to Alamosa for treatment at the creosote plant there (actually was in Salida, but it's my RR and it's all in staging anyway ).
The idlers are Blackstone 6000 series flats for now. Eventually, the need to use them for other traffic will force me to build some of the dedicated idler cars the Rio Grande used with the pipe trains. I have a mini-pipe train set up this way, too, built with Durango Press pipe gon kits. So I'll need to build probably a dozen idler cars
Thank you Bob, I appreciate the compliment, I did not do too much to dress them up, just a little detail painting, & some rubber cemented in accessories, thank you!
Mike, well, I hope to have that lil guy for a while, & as the technology change it may too. I hope, above all, to preserve the charm it has! I have a couple bigger ones, a 36T & larger, but they just don't draw the affecttion of the little two truck Shay! I really can't explain it, it just 'is' that way..
Thanks guys!
Mike... Thanks again for the great layout tours. Your layout looks fantastic, and I'll bet it is a fun layout for operations, as well.
Chad... That's two good looking locomotives you have, and the scenery is excellent looking.
Oh, she is that tiny! That will be a challenge, but with decoders getting smaller and smaller, you may get the itch to "complicate" things with DCC.
NP2626,
Caution! A visit to the old NG stomping grounds may just unleash the urge to, if not start over, at least squeezein a NG branch. Google Earth is a great resource for exploring and modeling, as it helps tie together what one sees in books and old videos.
One thing about Ophir now is that highway "improvements" have drastically reconfigured the location. It is recognizable if one has a good idea from pics about what it was like before. BTW, if you get the urge, you can still mail a postcard from Ophir by turning off the highway and driving into the town itself a little further up the road that takes one eventually up and over Ophir Pass and then down to US 550 on the east side of the ridge. At least for now...given that the post office is most likely one of those in line for closure.
Thanks for the kind comments!
This thread has got me following the Rio Grande Southern's Right-of-Way on Google Earth. When I retire, I'm going to go to Colorado and visit many of these places. Ophir looks to be a very interesting place, along with Telluride and of course ride the Durango and Silverton!
Truly, if I was to start over again, I think I would be modeling 3 foot Narrow gage in either S or O and probably the RGS, love those Geese!
Mike your doing a great job!
NP 2626 "Northern Pacific, really terrific"
Northern Pacific Railway Historical Association: http://www.nprha.org/
Thanks Mike,
Well She is an almost box stock PSC 22T, DC, without any lighting.I added a couple temporary (rubber cemented) accessories, to preserve the model as stock.Although I have not thought about sound or DCC in it's tiny body, (motor is in the oil bunker) and it does have some backhead detail)! I have considered putting a an Ngineering 5V circuit in it, but that would not be directional in DC, for SMD LED's. So for now, I just enjoy it as she is. I gave up quite a bit to get her, so I do not want to chance any negative impact right now.
Good looking diorama. I need to make something like that to do some outside photography.
What's the background on your Shay? DCC or +sound? I've been thinking about geared locos lately, so kind of curious what people are running. I have a logging branch in the planning stages, even got the place marked on the wall that needs the sawzall applied to it...
WOW!!!
You guys really have amazing models & layouts!
Here are a couple of mine from my photo display...
Here's the last bit of the Tour of the Line. It'll cover the dual gauge line that runs west from Durango. All aboard!
37] Having arrived at the end of the Little Lines, we return to Durango to proceed west again by dual gauge track. This overview shows the Silverton branch above, with RGS junction below. The RGS enters the tunnel and goes onto Dolores, etc, while curving around to the left through the staging area and back out under the overpass south of Carbon Junction. This also provides another NG continuous run loop for break-in and testing, in addition to staging for the RGS. 38] An overview of Hesperus. There are industries here that serve narrowgauge customers by transferring groceries and building materials, a stockyard, and a co-op elevator from the standard gauge. Then there's coal...very important if you want to run steam and power your industries. 39] Hesperus station, with the May Day Mine in the background. It has loads in-empties out that loops around to Dove Creek, where a hidden "power plant" is located. The "rocks" are Rubber Rocks and form a 8 foot long lift out to access staging tracks underneath Rockwood above. 40] The track arrangement at Hesperus, where the 3rd rail ends and the standard gauge proceeds west to Dove Creek. 41] The Rubber Rocks you see here also form lift outs. Wish I didn't have so much hidden track, but I planned well and built well, with plenty of access if needed. So far, it's been remarkably trouble-free. I do have 8 CCTV cameras to help operators keep track of what's going on out of sight.That's the end of the 3rd rail, just before the bridge in the last pic. The layout continues on Dove Creek in standard gauge in the area underneath Silverton and Eureka. I hope you've enjoyed the trip. See you at the Saloon!
Here is today's installment of Tour of the Line.
30] Back at the Silverton wye, the SRR curves off to the right past the hoodoos. 31] Chattanooga is sleepy right now, but a large tramway landing is planned, to be called the Silver Ledge, once I figure out how to finance purchase of the upcoming Anvil Mountain Models Iowa-Tiger tram house. The bucket line of the tramway will rise to the ceiling over the aisle if all goes as planned. 32] An overview, which is what you'd see stepping through the layout room door. Chattanooga is to the left on the lower line, curving around to out-of-sight location of Sheridan on the right. 33] Sheridan nestled in below Animas Forks. A small mine is scheduled to be here. The tunnel that curves to the left curves to the right once inside, emerging from the tunnel portal on the right just before entering Red Mountain, out-of-sight to the right and tucked under the stairs. 34] Red Mountain overview. 35] Track arrangement at Red Mountain. The wye track that disappears under the stairs curves to the left and eventually emerges on the SG&N leg of the Silverton wye. This allows a continuous loop for break-in running. It could also permit staging of SG&N trains, if I somehow don't have enough going on and want to implement them, too. 36] View of downtown Red Mountain, with the Mother Jones Mill in the background. Never mind the various military vehicles. Rumor is the miner's militia is rather well-armed. The Wobblies run the town and, after their expulsion from Telluride, have vowed to never be driven out again - and seem to be making that stick. The IWW union hall is the two-story brick building next to the MJ Mill.
Thanks for the latest tour, Mike... you have a great looking layout. That mill operation will be a fine addition to your operations.
Leaving Silverton for Animas Forks on the old Silverton Northern, our train backs to SN Junction...
21] Looking upgrade on the SNRR from its junction at Silverton. 22] A close-up of the bridge just before Eureka. The scenery in the background lifts out to provide access to the back side of the wye. 23] Eureka! After limping along for years, the Sunnyside Mill [under construction] has underwent quite a reviavl recently. It is rumored to be the source of minerals highly desired by the government for "national security" purposes. It still ships precious metal ores and concentrates, too. 24] Overview of Eureka track arrangement. 25] Looking back at the mock-up of the Sunnyside Mill. It will be served by a tramway, going up the mountain to the right to the mine. 26] Looking up the grade to Animas Forks. The entrance door to the layout room is in the background, so we've come almost full circle since we entered from staging, which is off to the right from what's visible. 27] This is the site of a planned snowshed. The engineer says it will be better built than the one that Mears built. 28] Arriving at Animas Forks, this is an overview of the track arrangement, with the snow shed covered turntable on the left. There will be a tramway landing and ore bins at the spur on the right (which will actually be the other end of the tramway from the Sunnyside on the other side of the mountain. 29] The Gold Prince Mill. I've finished the canopy over the coal dump at the powerhouse. I've also been arranging structures in anticipation of building the town, but haven't settled on a final plan yet.That's all for now...Next episode, we travel to Red Mountain on the old Silverton RR.
Richard,
A loco always looks more like it belongs when it's lettered. You're ahead of me on this, but it's something I've been thinking of doing lately -- getting some custom decals made.
My group of lines, a consolidation of the Silverton RR, the SG&N and the SN RR, is called the Silverton Union RR. I'm planning on doing sets of decals that will letter passenger and freight equipment for the SURR, as well as at least some of the predecessor lines. That way I'll be able to do both SURR equipment and items "inherited" from the earlier lines.
Nice looking layout, Mike... I really like the looks of your Silverton yard (4 sidings), and the Depot. I plan on doing a small yard like that on my "elfin empire" if I have the room. Thanks again, It was a fun tour!
Richard... I like your C-19. (Nice work there, my friend....)
Sir Madog... That's one good looking scooner, you can be proud of that BlueNose.
Good work, one and all.....
Nice looking T-12 complete with sway-backed passenger car. Great!
Thanks Mike for the continuing tour of you NG layout. There is a lot of effort desplayed there.
I struggled with my first decaling in ~20 years this past weekend and considering my normal 66 year old ticks and weaking eyesight I think it came out OK for a first pass. I decaled my undecorated Blackstone C-19 with custom decals produced for me by Don Manlick.
The Pyle headlight number boards were the most frightening endeavor.....(man those little 8's gave me a fit!). They have been solvaseted and now the engine awaits the matte over coating. I post a couple of images below. A few might note that I haven't put the grab irons on the MicroTrains gon yet.
This thread is full of neat Narrow gauge activities. I appreciate that others, while not in narrow gauge, appreciate it and note that they have always wanted to do some narrow gauge work. I was like all of you non-narrow gaugers who pined for the activity, but held back. I collected odd little narrow gauge bits and pieces from about 1972 until 2000, but it took until 2010 for me to chuck the standard gauge and start my long supressed narrow gauge ambitions.
Small world. My dad was stationed in Germany with the AF in the early 70s. I graduated from high school there. My wife's dad was in Navy submarines and stationed in Japan. She took it one step further and attended and graduated from Japanese high school.
Yep, some cool trains overseas. Right now I'm eying several HOe and HOm diesel locos for conversion to HOn3. I also have a very nice modern Rio Grande NG passenger train whose coaches were produced as a special run by D+R, based on Swiss prototype cars. I took a Swiss postal car and repainted it to Rio Grande colors to provide the baggage/express car.
I call it the Shavano Zephyr. It's a luxury cruise train that operates over the Narrow Gauge Circle that connects with my Four Corners Division of the D&RGW.
Here's the next installment of the Tour of the Line.
Mike
17] The overview of Silverton's trackage shows the Silverton Northern rising as it passes between the backdrop and my falsefront town of Silverton. I hope to eventually replace the "town" with more detailed low-relief buildings, but it works for now.18] The Silverton depot. 19] While it's unprototypical, the 4-track yard at Silverton is important for handling the traffic generated on my much busier than real life Silverton Union RR, an employee-owned amalgamation of the Three Little Lines. 20] The wye at Silverton. Like various other features, it's similar to real life, but in a little different place or otherwise changed to fit. The SN crosses it on the bridge, the line entering the tunnel represents the SG&N (but I've not yet needed the extra traffic), and the line to the right from the wye is the SRR.
Ulrich,
There's nothing wrong with your Westside... it's one good looking little Lokey! I also like the shots (model & prototype) of the Japan Rail locomotives. I'm retired military, and was stationed both in Japan & Germany and fell in love with the trains of both countries.
Before I started my last HO pike about a dozen years ago, I almost made the switch to Marklin trains... but I still love to watch 'em do their stuff!
Stay well... Bob