From my workbench

5th Layout Plan Complete


Well, this will be my 5th and hopefully final layout. I signed a 99 year land lease with my wife and I will start to tear out walls and installing electrical this winter. The space will be 15' x 31'.
This is a 90% HO and 10% HOn3 layout.
This will be based during the World War II era.
Southern Pacific & Cotton Belt.
It is a dual level layout with a helix (Top level shown). 2 main lines, 3 yards and 2 locomotive terminals including turntables. My plan is to hand lay all of the exposed track and switches.
I am running an Easy DCC system, currently only have 2 power districts (but may require more), 2 throttles are mounted on the control panel (see future posting on this project) as well as one wireless throttle for walk around.

Image of the month

I was born and raised in El Paso, Texas. As a kid I would visit nearby Cloudcroft New Mexico. I would explore and admire the old wooden railroad trestle located at Mexican Canyon. Here are a couple of photographs from the past and present of that very trestle. I plan on stratchbuilding this trestle on my layout.




Thanks to the hard work of volunteers this trestle is being saving from further degradation. See more information about their efforts here; http://www.fs.fed.us/r3/lincoln/projects/trestle.htm

New Model Railroad Magazine

I have been introduced to a new on-line Model Railroad magazine created by Joe Fugate. He is the same craftsman that brought you the DVD set mentioned on this web-site. Joe's vision is to bring a free, yes I said free, magazine to the hobby that includes state of the are web technology.

He is planning to launch the first edition in January 2009. I highly recommend this as a resource for the modeler out there.
If you get a chance check out the web site at

http://www.model-railroad-hobbyist.com/

I am having a blast just meeting folks and posting and reading the blogs...

Image of the Month

After watching "Voyages, Trains Unlimited" on History International, I was introduced to the photographic work of O. Winston Link. His artistry is unbelievable, unfortunately he passed away in 2001, but his work lives on. I encourage you to take some moments and visit his website at

http://www.linkmuseum.org

Without a doubt, as you will see, he was the best...

Product Review Joe Fugates Siskiyou Line Video Set

I recently purchased the 5 DVD set from Joe Fugate. It comprised of the following;

1) Model Railroad Volume 1 - Modeling a Prototype

2) Model Railroad Volume 2 - Design & construction

3) Model Railroad Volume 3 - Electrical / DCC & control

4) Model Railroad Volume 4 - Scenery & bridges - pt 1

5) Model Railroad Volume 5 - Scenery & bridges - pt 2

Joe has done a really good job in production of this set, I found myself watching the entire set well into the wee hours of the morning and since, have watched them a couple of times. Joe split up the volumes into mini chapters that make it easy to focus on a particular task such as trees, benchwork, DCC and so on. The information he presents if very helpful and I had several revelations while watching some of his techniques and tips (the term, "why didn't I think of that" came up quite a bit) . The set is $99.00 if you buy the 5 dvds or individually priced if you don’t want to buy all of them at the same time, trust me, you will want all of them.

I have seen many Model Railroad videos in my time (40 years experience), but hands down this is the best I have seen so far. I look forward to ordering more of his work and I fully anticipate that I will be purchasing all of his offerings.

I give this product 5 out of 5 lanterns. Great job Joe!

His website is http://model-trains-video.com/page.php?1

Product Review Fast Tracks

One of the decisions regarding my layout was to hand lay my track work in areas that are visible. It looks 100 times better than the typical factory produced flex or sectional track. I use code 83 track size that is more prototypical, and the tracks over all look with the individual wood ties looks outstanding. One of the most difficult aspects of laying your own track are the switches. Keeping everything in gauge, functioning correctly and appearance is difficult. It take many years of experience to produce a hand laid switch for instance.

I have found a product that you may be interested in. It is well known by advanced modelers and I find it to be one of the best ways to produce your switches perfectly every time. It is called Fast Tracks. This product uses a fixture to produce the switch, you can even buy the laser cut ties as well that neatly fit within the switch. The upfront cost is not cheap but not outrageous either, but if your going to produce lots of switches, the cost per switch versus Walthers, Shinohara, or Pico is cheaper and the results are remarkable. It took about two switches for me to get the methodology down pat but once you figure out the got cha's you will be proud of your work. It takes time to do these and is far much more work than installing a factory switch, but when it is all said and done, you will find a great deal of pride in knowing that your trackage is hand laid.
Web site ; www.handlaidtrack.com/











I give this product 5 out of 5 lanterns, Ron and Tim are great to work with, and the product workmanship is great.

Newest Model

As part of my model railroading hobby, I really enjoy brass locomotives and rolling stock. They really are superior to the plastic counterparts. Of course each one of us has our opinion on this subject, but I believe that brass is a life time purchase, are a better investment, and all and all are better quality. Unfortunately, you will pay a great deal more for good quality brass versus plastic. This is one of my newer pieces, it is a Sunset F-4 SP with a vanderbilt tender. I outfitted it with LEDs forward and reverse lamps, crew, and tsunami TSU 1000 DCC decoder with sound. I was fortunate in that I was able to mount the speaker as well as the decoder in the boiler, making this a pretty clean install. As I spoke earlier about cost, this baby will set you back about $675.00 after decoder and modifications. Gunning's hobbies (see posting regarding good deals on brass) is my favorite place for brass. This piece was from a collection from an actual employee of Sunset Models.

We are not alone out there...

Did you ever wonder who else out there are railroad nuts? Check this out, the list of notables past and present is amazing...

http://www.reference.com/browse/wiki/List_of_rail_transport_modellers

Somehow I don't think I will ever see Tom Hanks or Gene Hackman and the local train shop, but you never know.

Image of the month

Shots courtesy of my friend Steve Milam, these are of the BNSF line north of GWB tollway in Dallas...

Problems with dirty track?

One of the things that frustrates model railroaders is maintenance in the form of cleaning track. There are opposing camps and its almost a religious battle regarding replacement of the factory wheel sets on older and cheaper rolling stock from the plastic to steel wheels.
I have started to convert everything I have to steel wheels (most new rolling stock that is worth its weight will have them already). They sound better rolling down the line, add a bit more weight to the rolling stock and (in my opinion) they keep the track clean in the long run.
The primary reason this works (I believe) is that steel wheel dissipate electrostatic accumulation where as plastic wheels store energy which attracts dust and dirt and distributes it to the rails.
As for choice, I personally like the Intermountain steel wheels, 33" for freight and 36" for passenger cars. They are dead-on in guage and scale, look good and the needles are machined perfectly.
When converting Tyco or Model Power you will need to open up the needle pockets (I use an Ex-acto blade tip to bore out) on the trucks a bit to allow for a good "spin" but Blue Box Athearn, Walthers, and Roundhouse are install and go.
If your planning on weathering your rolling stock or really if you not planning too, paint the inner hubs with rust color, it really makes the wheels pop. Even new prototype rolling stock right out of the factory will have rusty wheel sets.
The Intermountain wheels will run you about $2.50ish per car but they are well worth the investment in operation and you wont be a cleaning track more than running on it.

Vendor recommendation - railroadmemories.com

Do you collect Railroad Memorabilia?
If you collect Railroad Memorabilia, this auction site hosts the best of the best artifacts... they hold auctions a few times a year. Railroad Memories has been supplying the railroad community with quality memorabilia since 1987 through retail sales and mail bid auction catalogs. I enjoy just looking at what as sold over the years, it gives you an idea of the value of most railroad memorabilia and they list the best.

http://www.railroadmemories.com/

Image of the Month

I found this image, very nice viewpoint from inside a Southern Pacific roundhouse. The locomotive in the foreground appears to be 2182 which would have been a T-8 but the pilot (headlamp location) does not match photos from ESPEE web site. Regardless, its a nice photo.

Vendor recommendation - Gunnings Hobbies

Looking for a good deal on Brass?
I have been purchasing my Brass gear from Stephen over at Gunning's Hobbies located in the Bay Area.

http://www.gunnings.com

He is good honest man and his models are impeccable and a great deal too.
He is the one to go too for those "nice" brass loco's and rolling stock...

Great research website for ESPEE fans

http://espee.railfan.net/sp_steam-index.html

This is a great site for researching great Southern Pacific Railroad, particularly Steam. If your modeling this fallen flag, this is must see site.