Merry Christmas! And It Is!

As the song "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas" says, "from now on we all will be together." I'm most grateful our family is all together, that we all live close by and are all healthy and happy. Just a few years ago, we would have been astounded to learn we'd all be living in Texas (especially since we're all from the Rocky Mountain/Pacific Northwest part of the country), but here we are, and glad of it, and not just because the winter here is so much milder! Susie and I are privileged to live near and see our daughters, sons-in-law and granddaughters frequently...some parents and grandparents are not so blessed. We are, and we appreciate it every day. God has been good to us indeed.

My model railroading thoughts, etc., will continue in the next post, but for now...Merry Christmas!

Could Be A While!

Well, our house has been on the market since July and we haven't had much action. It's not just us. Local realtors say things have pretty much come to a halt. The only comfort is that Texas is doing better than most of the country. However, we are blessed to have no timetable, no pressing need to move, unlike those with job transfers, etc.

So in the meantime, I will continue to work away at my Orient Express coach. It's not like working on or operating a layout, to be sure, but under the current circumstances it's about all the model railroading I'll be able to do for a while. Besides, it's fun!

Yesterday I finished cutting out the windows for the inner layer of one car side...the "corridor side" of the car. I than begin adding small styrene strips (really small, around 1/16 inch wide) around the inside of the window openings on the outside layer. These will give the openings a finished look, ever so slightly rounded at the corners.

Thinking ahead, I've been considering roof material. The coach roof is quite round and if styren won't curve that much, I may have to use balsa which, when soaked in a vinegar/water mix, is easily curved. That's a trick my son-in-law Craig, who has scratchbuilt model aircraft, taught me.

Orient Express Coach Progress

At last, as promised, here are photos of work to date on my Orient Express coach. It's a 1930s-era coach and is very similar to the one used in the Murder On The Orient Express (1974) movie starring Albert Finney and a superb cast. I'm building it in S Scale, of course, using passenger trucks I had available that are actually close in appearance to the prototype. While this model will never run on my (future reassembled) layout because the coach is European, I hope it will be a nice bookshelf display piece.

I was, as mentioned previously, very fortunate to find detailed plans of the interior and exterior, as well as color photos. This model coach is on display, I understand, at a railroad museum in Mulhouse, France.

Now, for the photos. In order from the top...

Photo 1: This is a little hard to see in the photo, but I drew out the sides in pencil on a sheet of styrene. Each side was drawn twice to provide an outer and inner layer; acetate "glass" will be sandwiched between.

Photo 2, 3: The interior partitions. Materials include basswood, balsa, and cardstock.

Photo 4: The work so far. One side's windows have been cut out and the second layer of that side is in progress.

I've Been Gone

Just realized I haven't posted here in over a month! Seriously, I had no idea how time had passed. We just returned from a trip to Branson, Missouri, where we enjoyed shows and sightseeing and visiting with Susie's sister and her husband, who had driven down from Des Moines.

It's good to be back in our (so far unsold) home after a 1,500-mile roundtrip drive. Now it's time to resume work on my Orient Express coach. Photos soon...I promise!

Orient Express

I've been working on my 1930's Orient Express coach and have the basic frame and interior partitions about finished. Next job will be interior door detail, painting the interior and then adding detail such as seating, tables, etc. Then it will be back to exterior work...sides, ends, etc. I've been thinking about how to model the European-style draft gear and I think I'll make the buffers out of either styrene or brass and the screw couplings using stiff wire. Photos soon!

Obviously, we're still waiting for our house to sell. We've had some showings, but no offers yet. It's more than an understatement to say the market is slow, though better here in Texas than most places.

I Found It

After searching several packed and well-sealed boxes in our garage, I found my Orient Express car model, paint, and plans, as well as my modeling tools and model wood supply. To prepare our home for sale, the "train room" had been packed up, of course, for real estate "staging" purposes.

Anyway, I resumed work on the model a couple of days ago...it's nice to be back into model building!

While I Am Waiting...

Our house has been on the market a month now and we've had a couple of showings. The real estate market here in Texas, while better than most of the country, is still slow. So it may be a while before we sell. In the meantime, I've been enjoying time with my wife Susie and other family members and am keeping busy with yard work, catching up on my reading, and miscellaneous projects. My model railroad is packed away, along with rolling stock and modeling tools.

However, I am thinking of opening up a box so I can resume work on a scratchbuilding project I started when we lived in Idaho. It's one of those long-term...very long-term...projects that I work on when I'm in the mood. I had one of those, a scratchbuilt wooden passenger coach, that took me years to complete. I enjoyed working on it, especially since I felt no urgency to finish. The work was relaxing and thoroughly enjoyable and while I was happy with the completed model, I did kind of miss having it to work on!

The project I'm thinking of reviving is a model of an Orient Express coach. Now, I have no interest in constructing anything other than an American layout. Except...the Orient Express, particularly as it was in the 1930's, has always intrigued me. And yes, I have read Murder On The Orient Express twice and have seen the 1974 movie several times. I have long thought it would be fun to construct a model of a 1930's Wagon-Lits coach to display on a bookshelf.

So a while back, while still living in Eagle, Idaho, I started doing some research. I was fortunate enough to find a plan that details the interior compartment arrangements, as well as the exterior. And it was easily convertible to S Scale! I also found useful color photos.

So far, I only have a skeleton of the car constructed from balsa and basswood. I've been concentrating on the interior partitions, but now it's time to work on the ends and sides, which I plan to make from sheet styrene. The trucks are extremely close in appearance to four wheel S Scale passenger trucks I'd purchased from American Models, so that's a real piece of luck.

This project will require great care and can't be rushed. And that's exactly what I'm looking for right now!

Still Waiting, Still Planning

While we're waiting for someone to buy our house, I'm continuing to think about adapting my now-disassembled layout to a "new" room. Since it is unlikely the new space will be exactly the same as the old, I have been passing the time by considering possible "re-assembly" scenarios.

Inconvenient closet location: This may cause some problems. The old room, 11' x 13', had the entry door and closet on the same side, with a window opposite. Some homes we've looked at have a similar room arrangement, though with slightly different dimensions, but which would still accommodate the layout sections built so far without a hitch, and which would require only slight modification of the original plan for the unbuilt layout sections.

Others, however, have the entry and closet on different walls. The most difficult case I've seen so far has the entry on one wall, a closet and a door to the outside on yet a different wall, exactly opposite from the inside entry door. From a fire safety standpoint there's no way I would block the exit to the outside, even with a swinging bridge device, etc. The closet was a single-door, spaced about 18" from the wall. A 24" long swinging bridge would probably work; approaching benchwork would have to allow for the closet door to open, and I would definitely want access for storage of modeling supplies and my large magazine collection. An additional possibility to increase layout space would be small "peninsulas" jutting out into the room from the layout ends.

Room used for other purposes: While most houses we've considered have two guest bedrooms, which means one would be exclusively for model railroading, we've seen a couple with only one guest room, which was pretty spacious. The guest room, in our case, would only be in use a few times per year. So I considered a total layout plan revision, a layout on a bookshelf, say 9'6" x 2'...totally arbitrary dimensions, but I had to start somewhere. I could fairly easily use existing track by simply sawing out the white pine roadbed and the strip of particle board baseboard under it, so my previous work wouldn't be wasted. However, in such limited space I would model an industrial area with relatively dense trackage and use building flats against the backdrop for industry sidings. There would also be room for a small pier, so the harbor terminal theme could be salvaged.

I'd also consider raising the layout height from my present 42" to maybe 48".

I don't think this will be the scenario, but it has been fun to see what kind of track plan would fit in such a compact area. The trains.com website (Model Railroader) has some compact track plans. Though they are in HO, they do provide some usable ideas.

Planning While Waiting

Other than reading the latest issue of Model Railroader, my hobby activities have gone dormant, since my layout and equipment are packed up. We have put our home on the market but, these days, a sale could take quite some time. In the meantime we have been looking at homes for sale in the 55-plus neighborhood where we hope to move, and I've paid special attention to potential layout space, which will be in a spare bedroom. One place had a three-car garage, which in a more moderate climate might, if properly prepared, offer space for a layout, but the summers in southeast Texas are way too hot to make that a viable option.

A spare bedroom will be fine, especially if the entry door and closet are on the same side of the room. Otherwise, some form of "swinging bridge" layout section will be needed to get past a closet door.

The layout sections I've built to date will probably fit into a new space without much trouble, but the unbuilt sections of my original plan will almost certainly have to be modified.

Packing Up, Part 2

After disassembly, the layout sections were wrapped in plastic...actually, in extra large lawn and leaf bags. They, along with the leg assemblies, now reside in our garage, ready to move.

Packing Up, Part 1

This is the layout disassembly in progress, as explained below. Photos, from the top:

Photo 1: The rail was cut at section joints, wiring was disconnected from the control panel, rolled up and secured under each section. The sections were then unbolted from one another.

Photo 2: The turntable bridge, control disk and hardware were removed.

Photo 3: The control panel was unbolted for storage.

Photo 4: All track ends at section joints were encased in protective cardboard, as were the turnout Caboose Industries ground throws.

Photo 5: The layout sections just before the leg assemblies were unbolted prior to storage.

Plans Have Solidified

We have definitely made up our minds to put our house on the market mid-summer and move to a smaller, one-story home, preferably a "patio home" in an over-55 community. There are several possible neighborhoods in The Woodlands, a nearby town.

So, I will begin disassembling my layout in the next few days, and packing up my rolling stock. I will keep up my posts, detailing how the disassembly is going. As I've mentioned before, the layout is built in sections 28" wide and either 28" or 48" long. It's simply a matter of disconnecting wiring from my control panel, disconnecting a few rail joiners or, in some cases, using a razor saw to cut rail, and then unbolting the benchwork sections from one another. The legs will simply be unbolted. None of the benchwork or trackwork will be lost in the process, and reassembly after we move should be equally easy. The only thing in question is the unbuilt portion of my track plan, which likely will have to be modified to adapt to a new room.

This would be a bit messier if I'd already put in scenery and structures, but as I haven't yet, the process will be clean, and should be fairly quick.

Layout Setting and "History"

I spent of couple of hours recently painting the rails, using an old, very small brush to apply a mixture of rust and dark brown. Since my layout represents a coastal area, I mixed the paint to favor the rust over the brown; on my previous Idaho-themed layout, I'd let the brown predominate, as it would in that more arid setting. From my observations, there is a definite rail color variation between locales, the shade being affected by humidity and, near a coastline, by salt air. Most of the rail, much of which has been used and reused on four previous layouts (same for the spikes!) and is now laid on a fifth layout, already had been painted, but as I said, I need a little more rust.

I think I'm about to settle on a name for the fictional mainline railroad that will run into my freelanced 1947-era town of Gulf Harbor, Texas. The town and its port are served by the Gulf Harbor Terminal Railway. The mainline road will be called either the Texas Coast Railroad or the Texas Gulf Coast Railroad. Neither existed in reality, though there was a Texas & Gulf. I also thought about Houston & Gulf, which I haven't entirely ruled out. I'll figure it out soon, because I want to start lettering cars; I plan to used Woodland Scenics dry transfer lettering, which has worked well for me in the past, right down to the small "CAPY", etc. letters and numbers.

Whatever the mainline railroad is called, I picture it running from Port Arthur on the Louisiana border to Brownsville at the south end of the Texas coast, with a branch to San Antonio. Other cities served would include Houston, Corpus Christi and, of course, the fictional Gulf Harbor. Since there will actually be only a very short length of track representing the "offstage" mainline connection, I won't be modeling any of the mainline locomotives, but I will have a few freight cars, cabooses, and eventually, two or three passenger cars lettered for that road.

The Gulf Harbor Terminal Railway won't have much rolling stock of its own, aside from a tank car for loco fuel and a couple of MOW cars. For the latter I have a scratchbuilt model of an 1890's wood gondola (from a Model Railroader plan), and I plan to have a steam loco tender converted to a water/fuel MOW car, another item to be derived from my American Flyer carbody collection.

GHT motive power, as described in previous posts, consists of an 0-6-0 steam loco and an NW-2 diesel. The "history" is that the 0-6-0 is the sole survivor of a trio of aging steam engines, two of which were replaced by the single (and secondhand) NW-2 in 1946 when the crush of wartime traffic had subsided. The GHT operates on a tight budget and diesels are expensive, so the old 0-6-0 will remain in service for another half-dozen years or so. Right now, in 1947, it's kept plenty busy.

The GHT has its own three-stall roundhouse, an old brick structure, and a 60-foot turntable. The roundhouse and turntable come from my old Idaho layout. I rebuilt the deck of the table, which is of the old "armstrong" variety with a push pole that, given its very limited use, is good enough for the tightfisted GHT. I'm in the process of almost completely rebuilding the roundhouse, since the model suffered some damge being removed from my old layout.

As mentioned in earlier posts, I'm concentrating on completing the "left" side of the layout (please see previously posted plan), which features the yard and depot areas, as well as the town's business district. The complete layout will measure 11 x 13 feet; the left portion is about 8 x 10. The remainder will be a port and industrial area, with the edge (only a suggestion, really) of a residential area in the "upper right hand" corner. I visualize the port as having two "general cargo" piers and a few small industries, such as a fuel (oil and coal) dealer, lumber company, a maritime supply firm, wholesale grocery company, etc.

My plan is to completely finish the yard/depot section before moving on to the rest. We're still contemplating a possible move to a patio home (maybe a 55-and-over neighborhood) within the next year and I don't want construction to go too far in case I need to disassemble the layout and revise the port area portion of the plan to fit a different space. It's deliberately built in bolted-together sections, so moving it should be fairly easy, and the present sections should fit into any home's spare bedroom without problems. Section sizes range from 28 x 28 inches to 28 x 48 inches, easily transportable.

I will (I hope) soon install the much-delayed backdrop, and that will also be sectionalized to match the benchwork. I will use Masonite for the backdrop, with 1 x 1 inch supports, which will be screwed to the benchwork, again for quick disassembly/reassembly. The backdrop will be painted to simulate hazy blue sky.

When I started building my layout, I pictured it being further along at this point. However, I'm quite happy with what I've got so far. The completed track is solid, has been thoroughly tested and provides smooth running, so I guess slow and steady progress has its merits! I'm really enjoying working on it, and that's what counts. I'm very blessed to be retired and thus not have a schedule.

This is, after all, a hobby!

Rolling Stock Repairs

Now that tracklaying is complete (on the "left" portion of my planned layout; see plan in earlier post), I've turned my attention to rolling stock. Most of it survived packing and moving from Idaho with little damage, having been carefully wrapped in layers of the Idaho Statesman newspaper. What damage there was amounted to dislodged features like air hoses and steps, etc. These damages are easily repaired.

I have also been checking out each car's trucks, coupler heights and weight to ensure uniformity. I'd previously put off properly weighting a couple of cars because they had performed well enough, but now I'm making sure they're right. I want to be able to back a long string of cars without problems. Of course, a "long string" on a switching layout like mine might be only five or six!

I also unearthed some additional American Flyer carbodies I'd acquired over 30 years ago when we lived in Seattle. Flyer bodies are well-scaled, and with the addition of scale trucks, couplers and other detail, should look great. I've got enough carbodies to double my rolling stock roster. That will have to wait, however. Right now, I need to do some repainting and relettering of my existing cars. More about that in a future post.

Layout Progress; 0-6-0 Coal to Oil Conversion

The photos, in descending order:

1. The yard area and, in the back corner, the depot site, with the freight house siding at the rear. All track has been laid and tested in the "left" half of the layout (please refer to track plan in much earlier post), which is all I'm planning to construct for now.

2. I've begun weathering the track with a mix of rust and brown paint, applied to the sides of the rails with a small brush, and to switch guard rails, wing rails and flangeways.

3. I essentially dismantled my old roundhouse, which had suffered some damage moving from Idaho, and am completely rebuilding the sides. The roundhouse floor will get a coat of patching plaster, which will then be sanded and colored to represent weathered and stained concrete.

4., 5., 6. I decided to have some fun with the freight house track and depict one of those battered, neglected sidings we've all seen. My favorite example is the track on Snake River Avenue in Lewiston, Idaho, which I saw when it was part of the Camas Prairie Railroad. It appeared as if every length of rail was at a different height, giving the track a roller-coaster appearance. It was about as crooked, uneven, mud-and-weed covered as track could be and still function which, strangely enough, it did! It served the Lewiston Grain Growers elevators and a couple of other minor industries. I actually saw a switcher with a boxcar running on that track one day, and running very slowly, bouncing along as if it would derail any moment.

Anyway, on my siding I deliberately used some short pieces of rail and spiked them in such a way as to add a little crookedness. Not so much, of course, as to compromise gauge. I tested both my engines on it without any problems. With the addition of dirt (ballast on this type of siding is a technicality), weeds and debris, it should look about right.

7., 8. My 0-6-0 now represents an oil-burner. The oil bunker was made out of styrene; the fittings were miscellaneous items from my scrap box. The bunker design was based on that on a UP 0-6-0 in the December 1958 Model Railroader and a Texas & Pacific 0-6-0 in the magazine's March 1986 issue.

I'm Back

Due to a number of things, primarily an unexpected medical problem, I haven't posted here in some time. I also haven't been able to work on my layout. However, things are settled down now and I will soon be posting again and catching up.

Layout Progress Reflections Part 1

I still plan to post photos of my 0-6-0 converstion to an oil-burner. But for now, a few quick thoughts about what I've accomplished so far and where I plan to go.

Work has been slowed by the time demands (and fun) of getting our new puppy settled in, but I have laid some more track. My plan, as I mentioned previously, is to finish this section of the layout, including scenery, before moving on to the rest, which includes the port and industry areas, etc. Briefly, my reasons are:

1. I like scenery work (including structures) and would like to get to it.

2. It would be nice to get all of my rolling stock on the rails and operate it, even for some (at this point) limited switching.

3. I'd like to put up my backdrop.

4. There is a possibility that we will move to an "age 55 plus" or similar patio home community in the next year to year and a half. The move would be short, within 10 miles or so. We are in a nice neighborhood but really think we'd enjoy more being among people our own age. We will want to do something like this eventually, anyway. A move would doubtless entail adapting my layout plans to a different room configuration. My layout is in "modular" 28 inch and 48 inch sections, and at its current size would be an easy fit in just about any spare bedroom, so I think it's best for now to completely finish the segments I've built so far; by the time that's accomplished, it may be time to move.

Happy New Year!

Now that Christmas is over, I'm getting back into model railroading again. The coal-to-oil conversion on my 0-6-0 is complete and I will include a photo in an upcoming post, along with a listing of the reference materials I used.

I've also completed testing the track laid so far. The 0-6-0 is my "severest critic" in smoking out any problems with gauge or alignment, and thus far there have been few corrections required, and those have been made. In this phase of the layout I still have a couple of sidings to lay; the ties are down, just need rail. I hope to complete this in the next few days. Once that's done it's time to start putting freight cars on the track, after any damage from packing and moving is corrected, along with any extra detailing I feel moved to add.

At that point the track on the "left" and two-thirds of the "top" of the layout will be done (see track plan in a previous post). I'm going to stop there and begin scenery and structure work on that portion before I go further in the track plan. More about that, and the rationale behind it, in a future post.

A non-railroad aside: Two weeks ago we acquired another dog, a cocker spaniel/poodle puppy. She's now two months old and is already partly housebroken and is learning to play fetch. Her name is Molly and we're delighted to have her.