Now We're Rolling!

Ocali Creek Railway 2-6-0 number 145 speeds a train of reefers loaded with Florida citrus toward Northern markets at Christmastime.  Oranges at Christmas have become a tradition for many during this season, thanks to fast, dependable transportation provided by railroads spanning the sunshine state.  The orange and green Shepaug Valley car behind the locomotive is likely headed for Connecticut.  The Ocali Creek is a short line tapping the riches of central Florida.  This train will speed through the tall pine forests to a connection with the Florida East Coast.

Finished the Mogul to a state where I can run it for a while before adding weathering and final details.  In fact, I will likely finish the OCRY cabeese before I weather this locomotive along with the cabeese and some other too-clean rolling stock.  Neither the bell nor whistle cords have been added, and there's no coal in the tender.  That's okay as there are no handrails to pull yourself up into the cab either.  Those are the last details to add.  The railings will go on before I weather, the cords and coal after.

Note how the pure black paint obscures the details in this poor garage light.  HA.  Just kidding.  I hope this photo goes to show that a glossy black paint job looks beautiful and actually highlights the detail, most of which is molded on and not separately applied.  The poor garage light is a basic florescent shop light.  The image was captured with a digital camera set to auto ISO and a close-up macro with no flash.

What's the Intent?

One of the blogs I read from time to time is Mike Cougill's over at OST Publications.  One of his thoughtful musings published just a few hours ago as of this writing is here:

http://www.ostpubs.com/whats-the-intent/

In it, he asks the question which titles his post.  I mirrored it as the title of this post to start something.  I'm hoping that any other bloggers that read this site from time to time will take up the gauntlet and write their own "What's the Intent" post to answer the question for themselves.  (Jim?  Luke?)  Mike's focus lately has been on modeling cameo scenes as a way of advancing ideas about the artistry of the craft of model railroading.

For me, I can sum it all up in one photo and a short description:

 

McDonald, Dale M., 1949-2007. World of Motion attraction in EPCOT Center at the Walt Disney World Resort - Orlando, Florida. 1983. Color slide, . State Archives of Florida, Florida Memory. <https://www.floridamemory.com/items/show/101839>, accessed 18 December 2018.

This rather poor image depicts what has been called the "World's First Traffic Jam".  It's a show scene in the now-extinct World of Motion pavilion at EPCOT Center in Orlando, Florida.  This ride-through attraction showed guests a history of transportation through humorous scenes depicting advances in our mobility, and presenting future transportation possibilities.  (I recommend searching out the attraction on Youtube, as there are several decent ride-through videos you can view.  An image search for this attraction may also turn up a great shot of this scene under construction, with the study model built by Imagineers in the foreground.)

No, I'm not replicating this attraction in my garage, but taking cues from Disney's original mission for EPCOT - to Inspire, Educate and Entertain.  This attraction did that and more.  My railroad will do the same but with a much narrower focus.  It will show scenes typical of the 1920s in central Florida.  There will be humorous scenes, at least one of which will be lifted almost directly from the World of Motion.  Distinctive elements like a paper boy on the corner hawking the daily or the remnants of the horse drawn streetcar track will educate and invite any viewers to ask questions.  Creating believable, realistic scenes will also drive me further into enjoyable research.

The trains themselves will be moving elements within a three dimensional artwork, literally framed.  They will "operate" in traditional model railroad fashion, but the operational function serves the purpose of telling the story.  That story is the specific history of the land boom in 1920's Florida and how the railroads played their part in that story.

Personally, my intent is to create a slice of a world that could have been, into which I can visit and observe and interact.  I can admire this creation and relax as a train trundles through this miniature world, or I can take on the role of conductor, planning the moves to get the pickups picked up and setouts set out, then get back home in time for that new radio program.  Maybe I'll pick up the extra from the kid on the corner.  I hear Lindberg is going to try for a trans-Atlantic flight.

Mogul Update

I have been making steady progress on the IHC 2-6-0 rebuild, reaching the painting and decal stage.  Now all that's left is to wire the LEDs.  The headlight will be wired to two connector pins and the resistors will be wired in the tender, along with the rear light.  The LEDs are prewired nano LEDs from Evan Designs, set into holes drilled into cast brass light housings.

Paint is all acrylic except for the brass bits.  The graphite is a craft paint called 'tin' and the red is called 'lipstick'.  The black is BLACK - not gray, or weathered black, or black warmed with red and softened with white a la John Allen, but BLACK.  I've never been a fan of painting a locomotive any color other than what it was or is in real life.  Funnily enough, I freelance.  Still, black is black.

I got a bit of an orange peel finish on the cab roof, due to the gloss varnish not going on thick enough.  I'm not happy with the way the gloss behaved - some of the paint buckled and wrinkled, but it wasn't in a place where it will be seen.  Overall the finish is fine, but I am going to look into the Tamiya varnishes as I've heard great things about them.

Once the LEDs are wired I will reassemble the loco and add final touches like the crew, coal load and bell and whistle cords.  I have cleaned paint from the tender trucks but will run the engine on DC to turn the drivers.  Weathering is something that'll happen down the road, most likely.

BTW - my most recent post on "What Vintage" has far and away surpassed any other post I've made on this blog.  Welcome to all the new readers who came by for that post.  Stick around and check out some of the other posts and feel free to comment!

What Vintage?

     A while back I experienced the sublime joy and pleasant challenge that comes from building a craftsman kit. This was no ordinary kit – it was an HO scale model of an HO scale model – a 'tribute' kit to a box car skillfully built and whimsically lettered by John Allen of Gorre & Daphetid fame. Not only that, but this car is a throwback to earlier kit construction methods; it was made primarily of paper.

     Though the car ends, sides, roof and even the inner structure are made of paper, they were laser cut and printed. The underframe is cast resin, and details (the ones that weren't paper) are from Tichy and Grandt Line. That means full underbody detail with all the fiddly bits. Couplers? Kadee scale size, naturally. Trucks? Tichy arch bar.

     And another thing – this kit is now out of production and the manufacturer, sadly, out of business. The car I built is a 'Superior Detritus' box car offered by Full Circle Models. John Allen's original was a Central Valley box car kit. My kit was lettered (and weathered!) by computer. John's was lettered by hand.  Right-click and open this image in a new window for a REALLY big version:

     All this prompted me to ask, “Just what is 'vintage' anymore”? For example, is this piece of rolling stock, 'vintage'? If you define vintage as 'old', then the answer is no. After all, the kit is only a few years old. But if you didn't know how old it was, would it have that 'vintage' look? How does a model railroader define 'vintage'?

     Webster's listing for the word vintage includes three relevant definitions:

1. a collection of contemporaneous and similar persons or things
2. a period of origin or manufacture
3. length of existence 

     By one of these definitions you could say a boxcar kit produced in 2014 is 2014 vintage, like the model year on an automobile. This definition works for my detritus car too – it is a 2010 vintage kit.  But my car also fits another of Webster's definitions; the model represents a car built in the late 1800's. In that sense the period of origin or manufacture is not defined by the actual age of the model, but the perceived age of the car the model represents. So in this sense it is an 1890s vintage car.

     Even so, isn't this really dodging the question or escaping on a technicality? I get the feeling that 'vintage', to many modelers, represents that 'golden' era of American-made craftsman kits. You know, the ones that came with a tube of glue bearing the same name as the kit box, or similar boxes of wood and metal parts with printed car sides or decals to apply. Couplers? Take your pick – after all, you had to supply them. Trucks? If you were lucky they 'snapped' onto the bolster. These were kits from the 'vintage' era of model railroading, surely.

     I love those kits, (even though I am 1975 vintage, myself), and the Detritus car almost fits this definition also, doesn't it? It is no 'shake the box' kit. Though laser cut, it required a great deal of patience, time and craftsmanship to assemble. It is in fact, a model of a model built in that 'vintage' era. So my car is a 2010 vintage kit, representing a late 1800's vintage box car, based on a 1950's vintage model, built using a mix of 'vintage' and modern techniques. Whew! I'd say it's vintage all around, wouldn't you?