The Return of the Shifter

The time has come, at long last, to finish the Mantua Shifter.  I began rebuilding this little metal monster in 2002 or thereabouts and have tinkered with it occasionally over the years.  Why has it taken me this long?  I have some thoughts about that and will share them in an upcoming post once they've had time to mellow and mature.  Suffice it to say I'm committing to completing this project NOW before beginning any other model railroad project.

 

Obligatory un-boxing shot.  Former notes, parts packaging and bits.

The first step was assessing the state of things and determining an order of operations.  The tender is completely detailed at this point unless I decide to add any other little bits, minus the coal, of course.  The locomotive still needs some piping beneath the cab and backhead details added.  That's the easy bit, however.  The real challenge is under the hood, er, deck plate.

I'm not entirely sure what I was thinking when I drilled holes in the locomotive and tender frames for routing the wiring.  The two holes - one on each side - were only large enough for one wire each.  To wire the headlight and motor will require four wires, and if I want any power from the loco to get back to the decoder in the tender that'll take two more.  (I say IF, because I might be able to get by with only the tender trucks for pickup and a keep-alive circuit on the decoder, but that's still to be determined).

So the first order of business was enlarging those holes.  Here's the result after a few minutes with a Dremel, a sharp drill bit and some cutting oil:

The front tender truck has been pushed back in order to enlarge the holes behind the white strips.

These holes will sit between the firebox sides and the motor.  Just enough room...I hope.

The wires pass beneath the deck plate through these two holes, beneath the brake cylinders.

 
The metal debris has been cleaned from the bench and I've begun setting up for the next step, determining the resistance for the front and tender lights.  After that I'll begin cutting wire and soldering to connectors; not my favorite task, but essential.

 

The Load's the Thing

In September of 1952 Model Railroader magazine published an article by George Allen titled "Spindletop No. 4".  This article describes in great detail how to build an oil well pumping rig, delicate-looking tower and pump house with notes on how to make it operate.  George drew the plans and built his rig based on actual plans loaned to him - for one night! - from a friend in the engineering department of an oil company.  Naturally he took some liberties for the sake of simplicity without sacrificing all of the detail.  He was also limited by the materials available to the average modeler of the time; card, metal and wood.

Printed on page 24 is this diagram:

Now look at this load:

I know next to nothing about the origins of this flat car.  However, I can say with confidence that the dimensions of the load are identical to the George Allen drawing.  The large counterweights and the axle between them are free to move, sliding laterally in the motor mount, and would no doubt revolve as intended if not for the chain holding them down.  The load is made from wood, paper and metal, just as the article instructs.

Figuring that out was the easy part.  The rest of the car...there's the challenge.  It is obviously scratchbuilt with painted lettering.  The large metal center sill matches the one used on the Suydam reefer I just wrote about in the previous post, but that's the only similarity as Suydam offered no similar kit.  The other commercial detail on the car are the end sills.  Everything else is built up from wood and metal, including the bolsters, stake pockets and underframe cross members.

Being primarily wood with only the center sill and trucks to provide any weight, the car was very light.  Also, the trucks weren't mounted exactly on the car center line.  I was able to fix the alignment issue when I replaced the wood bolsters with metal castings.  For the weight I beat a hunk of old lead into less than 1/16" thin sheets to add some weight to the car.  The final bit of weight came from a metal K brake cylinder I used to replace the original plastic one.  In total the car now weights just shy of 3 ounces, about an ounce and half away from the NMRA Recommended Practice, but enough to keep it on the track without any trouble, so far.

As for a prototype, I found that the T&NO did roster flat cars in the 23xxx range...but the only examples I could find were older truss rod cars.  A similar T&NO design with fishbelly center sill was rostered in the 22xxx range, so somewhere in between may lay the truth.  And what about the pumps?  The first producing onshore oil well in Florida came online in 1943, a bit later than my era.  However, a load such as this moving down through the state on its way to a port for shipment is plausible.  I'm just pleased to be able to include a scratchbuilt car with such a beautifully constructed load in my fleet.

 

Eggs a la Ed Lee

Oh, this car has been on the bench way too long.  That delay has nothing to do with the car itself, rather the good things happening in the rest of my life that keep getting in the way of model railroading.  Still, I'm glad to see it finished and rolling down the track.  Here's the story.

This freezer, NADX 6002, in service of the Pacific Egg Producers of Seattle, is built from 'An "Ed Lee" Kit', from E. Suydam & Co of Duarte, California.  What brings this kit to my bench is its presence on John Allen's Gorre & Daphetid.  Yep, another "Heritage Fleet"car.

NADX 6002 seen on the G&D in May, 1963

I began this car in July - almost exactly four months ago.  I did not deviate far from the kit instructions, only adding weight, backdating the air brakes, and changing a few minor details.  I've got a great prototype image of this car in Hendrickson & Kaminski's Billboard Reefer book.  Suydam got most of the details correct but I took the opportunity to add missing corner straps and reduce the number of grab irons on the sides and ends.

What's funny is that while Suydam did well in this regard, they missed one "colorful" detail, that is, the PEP Eggs banner should be royal blue.  An eBay search turned up some original blueprints for the car with painting instructions and the blue color is noted.  I very carefully added some blue paint to mine and it looks good from 3 feet away.  Red Ball got the color right but has too many hinges and grabs on their NADX 6001.  Likewise Train Miniature's plastic version, NADX 6003 (though in their defense, all of their reefers used the same body).  I mention the hinges because that was a key ingredient to identifying the maker of John's car.  

Sometimes I wonder where the manufacturers get their information and why they make some design choices that don't match the car itself.  It may be clear they're working from an image of the car or even drawings as some claim, and yet, they choose to include the wrong number of hinges on the door.  Go figure.  I can come up with some plausible reasons, but they'd only be guesses.  One is that Suydam was using a black and white photo as reference.  Who knows.

Finally I decided to change the brake detail in order to run this car on my late 20s era railroad.  I took my weathering cues from John's car but toned it down slightly.  The Ed Lee/Suydam kit was fun to build and follows the classic construction methods of kits from this era involving drilling, cutting, shaping, painting, etc.  There's a sublime satisfaction I get from taking a box of parts and turning it into a rolling freight car.  I'm happy with how it turned out and can now run another car "from the G&D" on my railroad.

Let There Be ... Garage Lighting!

This post is a follow-up to my latest garage update.  Since then I've installed new lights inside and out, and have rearranged the room to better accommodate its multiple functions.

To say I'm chuffed about how this lighting solution turned out is an understatement.  A special thanks goes to my retired electrician friend for guiding me through the work step by step.  The pendants I selected were the closest thing I could find to what would have been used in the 30s, without taking out a loan for replicas.  The gooseneck fixture used above the door is likely original to the structure or from the same era.  The clue there was the cloth-coated wire found in the fixture, now replaced with safe, modern wire, properly installed.  Oh, and yes, the switch in the house does indeed operate the gooseneck light on the garage; it has already proved useful at night in the driveway.

These pictures give an idea of the light output, including one florescent fixture I kept plugged in for now; they really aren't necessary anymore but hanging there is a good place to store them until I find a new home for them.  There's still much decluttering to do though some of the stuff near the garage door has already left the building, having been donated to local thrift stores.  I anticipate spending the next two years reducing and relocating excess stuff.  At that time, perhaps before, I may be able to put some sort of test track or loop for running the trains that require a larger radius than my 4x6 layout can provide.  Still, that's a ways away and who knows what will happen in the mean time. 

  

Solid State

 

An unassuming gray box holds the key to worry free motor tool excellence.

This has to be one of the best investments I've made in my hobby tool set. The Dremel Solid State Motor Speed Control lets me dial the motor tool speed down to a near crawl.  I've shattered countless cutoff discs and melted too much plastic with the high rpm built-in speed control Dremel tools.  This vintage beauty combined with an old Weller motor tool lets me use a spinning grinding and cutting tool the way I always imagined - with careful precision - to do fine work.

Note: this variable speed control was made for single-speed, on/off motor tools only.  Fortunately they, like the speed control, can be found readily online.  Not sure where I picked up this Weller but I'm glad it survived the latest round of tool purging.  I found the speed control box on eBay in its original packaging, with spare fuses, for under $30.  Of course the low speed operation doesn't have much torque, but for grinding and shaping soft material this is definitely the way to go.

 

  

GM&G Ventilated Boxcar

The Gorre & Daphetid "Heritage Fleet" keeps on growing.  I suspect I have nine or ten cars, total, that are identical in make and model to John's cars, and another half dozen cars from private roads that ran on the G&D but don't match the car type.  This latest car fits the first category, being a Central Valley ventilated boxcar lettered for the Georgia, Midland and Gulf, number 1254, as seen on the G&D.  However, I didn't set out to build a replica of John's car.  

A while back I built one of these cars lettered for the Mobile & Ohio and had such an enjoyable time that I decided to look for more.  More were found and procured with the intent of making a fleet for the Ocali Creek Railway.  Of the cars I found in various states of disrepair, this one - GM&G 1254 - just happened to have the nicest 'bones' and was close to complete.  Donor parts from the other cars made up the lost parts.  I even decided to use the Central Valley dress-snap truck attachment, not knowing for sure what John did but guessing he might have used the original kit parts.

One bonus specific to this car; it fits my 1920s era perfectly and can see regular operation hauling perishables on the Ocali Creek Railway.  Enjoy the images below from the reconstruction process and a picture of the car with its Heritage Fleet brethren. 

Ocali Creek Mogul 145 does the honors, pulling the current G&D Heritage Fleet cars tailed by an Ocali Creek caboose.

 

The One and Only Covered Hopper

One, and only one.  As best I can tell John Allen only ever rostered one covered hopper in his entire fleet of rolling stock.  And, based on scant evidence, admittedly, my best guess for that car's road name is "Jack Frost" Cane Sugar.  More confidently I can say the make of the car was an MDC Roundhouse 2 Bay Covered Hopper.  The rib spacing, round hatches and body shape tell that story pretty clearly.  Beyond that we get into the realm of speculation.

A close-up crop from the Optimum Use of Space slide show.  Note: this is a reflection - you're looking at the left end of the car on the right side of the image.  The proof of this is the G&D boxcar to the right, whose lettering is reversed.  Original photo by John Allen.

Dating it on the G&D is difficult since it shows up so infrequently.  The best color image comes from John's clinic on the Optimum Use of Space.  Even then it doesn't clearly show the full side and is only seen reflected in the mirror at Great Divide behind a bridge column.  If you've got the Westcott book you can see it on page 4 but only a top view.  Jerry Drake's clinic on the G&D includes a full side view - completely shaded almost to the point of silhouette.  And so it goes.  Still, unless new evidence surfaces, I remain convinced it is a Jack Frost car based on the schemes of what was available in the model train marketplace during the 1960s.  I'll let you visit the gdlines.org site and dig around to see if you can find it on your own.

"Lagoon Blue" was nearly an exact match.  Trucks are metal and sprung to match what would have been under the car originally though the MR review notes the wheels were plastic.

Model Railroader reviewed the car, new, in August 1962.  There seem to be two variations in the lettering - the key difference being the position of the 'sugar baby', either next to the Jack Frost lettering or beneath it.  Without knowing when the car appeared on the G&D or when Roundhouse changed the lettering I had no guidance on which version to look for.  Being the G&D aficionado I am I had to have one for my Heritage Fleet - my own roster of cars found on fallen flag model railroads.  The car was surprisingly difficult to find on the second hand market as a complete, unbuilt kit.  Though I suspect the version I selected is not the oldest, it more closely matches the lettering on a prototype image I found, for what that's worth.  

Tamiya black panel liner provides a shadow effect to make the best of the thick plastic running board.  My acrylic weathering sludge in the cup is a mix of charcoal gray, tan and a drop of rust.

The MR review states this was an easy kit to build.  I struggled to get the hopper door braces cut to length and glued in place, and needed to spend a while with a set of files to get the underframe to fit correctly.  Roundhouse suggests painting the underframe black but I chose to match the brilliant blue of the sides, as that seems to be what the prototype did (again, that matters less than trying to match how John built his, but that's impossible to know with current images).  Where I tried to more closely follow John's practices was with the weathering.  There having a good prototype image IS important, as this is what John followed when weathering his cars, though his results often appear quite heavy handed.

 

Overall I'm pleased with the result, both in terms of adding another car to the G&D Heritage Fleet and on its own merit as a bright and colorful car.  As of writing this post, the next heritage car under construction is a GM&G ventilated box car, for which there is far better photographic evidence!  Thanks for reading.  Feel free to comment or ask questions.

 

Garage Update

We've been in this house three years now.  When we first moved in I wrote about my detached garage, and the possibilities for using the space for hobby purposes.  By September of 2022 I had settled in enough to set up a workbench there alongside the layout, still hopeful that the space could be used.  But by September of 2023 I had determined the garage was not a suitable place for model trains, beyond storage - and even that's less than ideal.  Since then I have said nothing more about it but work on the space has resumed so it is time for an update.

Let's start here:

Eagle eyed among you might see it says "Abandon Hope All Ye Who Enter Here"...ha.  No, it says "2 110V circ 20A w/switch leg".  I braved the crawl space to find the junction box where the wiring comes from the garage into the house.  I was rewarded with the solution to a mystery we have pondered since we moved in, a light switch with no apparent function.  Now we know.  A cable run in the garage that seemed to go nowhere and connect to nothing actually connects to that light switch in the den, and will allow a person to operate a garage light from the house.  Neat.  But I digress.

What led me under the house was the garage wiring, specifically that mystery cable.  But the mystery cable wasn't a mystery until we started examining the garage wiring in more detail.  That room needs additional outlets and better lighting.  We (me, my son, and retired electrician Jack) were looking at options and plotting the current system.  Turns out there's enough room on the circuit to add all the lighting I want and the outlets I'll need.  Great.  But I'm still burying the lead.

Why now?  Why after all this time have I returned to the garage project?  Because I have finally arrived at a place of...well, let's not say peace, but acceptance.  The beginning of peace.  I accept this space will make a decent shop for cutting, sanding, painting, plastering, etc..  I accept this will likely never be a space for a large, beautifully scenicked layout populated with craftsman structures and vintage rolling stock.  I had suspected this would be the case last year but now I have come to terms with this idea.

That acceptance broke the log jam that had stymied any real progress on restructuring that area.  Sure, I had tinkered around with some decluttering, having a successful yard sale, clearing out items that could live elsewhere, but with no clear picture of what the space would be beyond a cluttered storage unit with some tools and supplies strewn about.  Accepting that this room will, for the foreseeable future, be primarily a shop for "messy" projects, with a well-organized storage space, and secondarily a home for the family bicycles, allowed me to make concrete choices to move the space in that direction.

One such choice is depicted below in a sequence of images:

 

Going, going, gone!  These built-in shelves served their purpose but have now been deemed surplus to requirements.  The window is likely original to the structure (1930s) and is a feature of the room, in my opinion.  My workbench will live there beneath it, with storage racks on either side.  The redwood planks that made up the shelves - former roof boards from the garage's original roof - will be repurposed.  The outlet in the image above will be shifted closer to that window and the extension cord leading up to the ceiling will go away once new lighting is installed.

I'm excited about the possibilities for this space, a feeling I haven't had since I moved in.  Now those possibilities aren't some distant dream of what might be, rather, they're a set of steps I can take right away to improve this room and build a shop that supports my hobbies and meets my family's needs.  Look for future updates as the work continues.  Thanks for reading.

Towards a G&D 2-8-0

No, this isn't a post about the "Putnam" 2-8-0 kit-mingle, but a new 2-8-0 project - at least the research stage.  A few years back a friend of a friend needed to sell some trains to make a little traveling cash - I know, this sounds sketchy but it's all above board, I promise.  I nearly made the mistake of buying another Spectrum 4-6-0 but narrowly avoided that fate after spotting the wheel lope; I swear half of those must be lemons.  Instead, I purchased the most reliable runner Bachmann ever made, in my opinion, the "evergreen" Spectrum 2-8-0, as Iain Rice once dubbed it.

Before the cash had even changed hands I had begun to formulate a plan for what this engine might become.  Readers who have been with this blog a while know I can't leave well enough alone and must modify and manipulate a locomotive, rarely leaving it in an un-molested state as the manufacturer designed it.  My first consideration was an ET&WNC 2-8-0, detailed to match one of their two ex-Southern standard gauge engines (one still steaming today and another under restoration).  However that option had too many compromises and difficulties.

After a bit more cogitating I decided it would make a fine Gorre & Daphetid tribute locomotive.  John Allen was fond of the 2-8-0 wheel arrangement, owning four of them, three from different railroads but redetailed or at least repainted for the G&D.  I wouldn't be attempting to make the Bachmann model match a specific 2-8-0 from the G&D stable, but a plausible G&D 2-8-0.  All I'd need to do is modify a few details to disguise the look of the Bachmann model and give it a G&D "family" appearance.  A high headlight, tender coal bunker extensions, maybe a cinder catcher on the stack, and other small details here and there should do it.  Now to find a similar prototype from which I could gain some guidance...

See this site for similar images: https://snyrr.com/category/uncategorized/116/

Susquehanna & New York number 116 fits the bill, but almost...needs a few more modifications...let's see...

This photo is available for purchase from Taplines at https://www.ebay.com/str/taplinesrailroadphotography

S&NY 116 became Meridian & Bigbee River 116 and is preserved on display in Meridian, Mississippi.  The Taplines image above (I'm hoping the link to the listing will be enough to justify its use here...) shows the engine sans spark arrestor and with a lowered headlight.  If I were happy with the look of the Bachmann headlight, (and its dim glow), I could just leave it where it is, but I like it up high and that matches the G&D style.  Point being, there's plenty of flexibility in detail options not only because I'm modeling a plausible locomotive from a freelanced railroad but also in terms of the prototype practices.  Just because it's freelanced doesn't give a modeler license to stray from the practical realities of railroading.  I would argue it makes the freelancer's task that much more challenging; otherwise, you're wandering into the artist's realm of fantasy and out of the real-world grounding that railroads have provided for modelers.

As mentioned above, this project is really just in the research stage and that's fine for now.  When it finally comes time to modify the Bachmann Spectrum 2-8-0, I'll have plenty of prototype practice and modeler's imagery to guide me through the work.  I've got most, if not all, of the parts, paint and details I'll need to do the conversion, and the engine is a smooth-running example of Bachmann's early Spectrum products before gears started splitting.  Some day this will make a fine tribute loco to pull a train of heritage cars.

 

Another Hopper Contender

Another Hopper?  

Edward Hopper, that is, and once again there's another look-alike that might take its inspiration from Hopper's painting, or perhaps Disneyland Paris.  You be the judge:

Hopper's original, House by the Railroad

Noch's Geisterhaus

Phantom Manor at Disneyland Paris

Allowing that Hopper's house is most likley a pastiche of Second Empire architectural styles and not an exact duplicate of an actual place, we are freed from any chains - ghostly or otherwise - and able to interpret both the painting and these potentially derivative works without prejudice.  Noch's offering appears to be a very close copy of the Phantom Manor, minus the chimneys - an odd omission.

To my eye the Phantom Manor appears more like Hopper's house.  The smaller windows on the Mansard roof in the DL Paris structure are no doubt there to offer a sense of forced perspective, to give the mansion a bit more height and enhance the foreboding feeling, and the porches on the side simply to make the structure busier and more visually interesting.

Disney Imagineers were reportedly inspired by a school building in Carson City, Nevada when they designed the Phantom Manor.  I've seen the Nevada structure in person and in my opinion, no, it's not a match.  There are some similarities, but if it was the inspiration they strayed far from the source in the final product.   

Some out in the world wide web claim the Disney designers were influenced by the Bates Mansion from Psycho.  I doubt that also, and attribute this effect to the public consciousness of that iconic structure; scary house = haunted mansion, similar silhouette, etc.  But if there's any truth in that rumor then Phantom Manor owes its lineage at least in part to Hopper, as his paintings were an inspiration for Hitchcock and his team.

 

 

About that shed...

Last summer I posted about mocking up structures for my NMRBO24 diorama entry.  For reasons I won't elaborate on here I never finished that diorama but I did finish the little shed.  The prototype inspiration was a dilapidated structure down the road in Hopland, California, seen here:

 Now the in-progress shots:

 

Finally the finished structure, complete with hand-painted sign of my own design:

Trademarked logos were not allowed on the diorama entries for the NMRBO contest, so I freelanced a pickle company.  This is a nod to my paternal grandmother, Pearl Rosenbaum Gallimore.  She made pickles, and is reported to have enjoyed drinking the juice from the jar when the pickles were gone.  I don't doubt she did.

Tom's Trucking

This model has been awaiting its day on the workbench far too long.

The structure is a well-built Fine Scale Miniatures Truck Terminal.  It was built for the Calapooya Pacific, Tom Gates' magnificent model railroad near my hometown in central Florida.  The kit came on the scene in 1971; I'm not sure when it was built.  Next it was owned by the Ocala Model Railroaders who dismantled and stored the CP, and now it resides in my collection, courtesy of that same club.  To say the Calapooya Pacific was an influence on my development as a model railroader is an understatement.  Hence, this model will get special treatment and occupy a piece of prime real estate on the Pine Branch Park layout.

Note the loading dock and its roof - both hanging in the air!  The roof needs two posts and piers, though I may give it three since I think that might look better.  The dock needs legs and stairs.  I've got the stairs and some of the leg and bracing material though I'm missing the posts and piers for the roof.  There are two chimneys and I've got those as well.  However the real challenge will be the gutters.  All four corners have significant damage and are missing material.  

Fortunately I've got some FSM gutter stock laying around.  A while back I stumbled across an eBay listing for the two stall engine house - minus the box and instructions but otherwise complete.  On both that structure and this one George (Sellios) instructs the modeler to put gutters on the rakes.  This isn't a very common feature, at least not that I've ever seen.  There weren't any included on this structure and I'm not going to put them on the engine house which makes them available for use here to repair the eave troughs.  By the way, I didn't know what a roof rake was until I began researching that design element.  Yet one more way this hobby rewards the modeler who is willing to learn new things.

Here's Tom's Trucking in place on the Calapooya Pacific from the May 1981 Model Railroader magazine, page 56.  The structure is on the far left just behind the locomotive.

I've been careful not to attribute the structure to Gates himself, as the article from which this photo comes - written by Gates - mentions that many of the Fine Scale (Miniatures) structures were built by Pat Ford.  "She is a master structures builder and has won many awards in the NMRA Sunshine Region contests.  All of the buildings and structures are modeled to reflect heavy use through weathering and apparent repairs."  So, my repairs will not look out of place if I don't get the coloration dead on matched.  Good to know.

I'm in no hurry to finish this as life has thrown some curve balls at me and I'm juggling them as I catch them.  But that's also important, taking my time that is, to honor this structure's heritage and do the best job I can.  Results will be shared when ready.

Geissel Got It

Recently my attention was directed once more to the Chester Valley Railroad of J. Harold Geissel. This was the “Layout of the Month” in the November 1939 Model Railroader. That original article wasn't the starting point this time around, rather, it was the article by editor Russ Larson exactly 30 years later in the November 1969 issue. “What makes an outstanding layout?” asks the title. The author answers in the text below:

“I feel the basic ingredients for a good layout are:

• A good track plan

• Authentic structures
• Attention to scenic detail
• Realistic operation, including the selection of rolling stock
  

The final product must be judged, at least partially, on how well the modeler blends these basic ingredients together. It also takes an intangible something extra. To create an outstanding layout you must, I believe, go beyond what is commonly done and develop something better in at least one of these basic layout qualities.”

Note he begins by describing what makes a “good” layout before leading the reader to the answer to his question, what makes that layout “outstanding”.  I appreciate his points and think they're not bad at all.  And yet...

I think he missed one crucial ingredient; the concept.

Oh yes, this is one of those contrary articles in which I espouse my fervent belief that the concept and the plan are distinctly different elements. What Larson missed is what Geissel explicitly stated in his article from August 1939. (The November “Layout of the Month” article shows the track plan which was reprinted in Larson's article while the August '39 article is by Geissel himself and includes photos, also reprinted in '69.) Quote:

“The Chester Valley is now in its third location as an operating layout. While the basic idea carries along without change, each layout has been different; the track plan has been simplified, curve radii have been increased, and real railroad practice has been followed more closely." p.386

Sorry Uncle Russ, but it all boils down to the "basic idea", i.e., the concept.  Geissel's article begins with a description of his rationale for choosing a short line - an idea that had remained with him since childhood.  Once a good concept takes root in your mind, grows, blooms and drops seed, it can be nigh impossible to dislodge, should that be desired (it most likely will not be).  How the concept is executed can change with income, location, skill, energy, etc. but a good idea - a good story - can call forth creativity for a lifetime, or at least until it has run its course and been successfully expressed.