How to landscape a tunnel p. 13
APRIL 2015
Adventures in outdoor model railroading
Rehab a railroad Replacing track and retaining walls, plus new walkways update this railway p. 18
HOW TO Scale down a coal load p. 82 Create a simple water tank p. 58 Build a rivet-making machine p. 50 Make a watchman’s tower p. 46
V IE W ED p. 71
After 18 years of service, the Lake Tahoe & Truckee Railroad needed a facelift. Learn what was revamped and how it was accomplished on p. 18.
www.GardenRailways.com
BONUS ONLINE CONTENT CODE p. 5
Vol. 32 • Issue 2
PLUS: Visit a highly-detailed indoor railroad p. 26
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ONLINE CONTENT CODE: GRW1504 Enter this code at: www.gardenrailways.com/code to gain access to web-exclusive content
APRIL 2015 | Volume 32, Number 2
CONTENTS COVER PHOTO: RICHARD NELSON
How to landscape a tunnel p. 13
Adventures in outdoor model railroading
APRIL 2015
Rehab a railroad Replacing track and retaining walls, plus new walkways update this railway p. 18
6
PRODUC TS REVIEWED p. 71
HOW TO Scale down a coal load p. 82 Create a simple water tank p. 58 Build a rivet-making machine p. 50 Make a watchman’s tower p. 46
PLUS: Visit a highly-detailed indoor railroad p. 26
• How to landscape a tunnel 13 • Rehab a railroad 82 • 6 products reviewed 71 • Scale down a coal load 82 • Create a simple water tank 58 • Build a rivet-making machine 50 • Make a watchman’s tower 46 • Visit a highly-detailed indoor railroad 26
36
FEATURES 26 The Yukan & Naowhut Railroad A highly-detailed indoor alternative by Dutton Foster
32 2015 Garden Railway Convention preview A glimpse of some of the railroads on tour by Walter Weart
36 Staff corner: Don Parker Winches, derricks, and cranes by Don Parker
38 The North Ohio Central Railroad A garden railway that reflects a personal history by Richard Nelson
38
46 A scratchbuilt watchman’s tower Leftover coach parts inspired this structure by Mike Garforth
50 Build a rivet-forming tool Most of the material for this useful device came from the scrap box by Brian Goring
54 Kitbashing a Big Wamp Making a Western Pacific class 251 from an Aristo-Craft 2-8-8-2 by Joel Harrison
58 Build an industrial water tank A simple project produces a useful structure by Nick Kelsey
46
IN EVERY ISSUE 6 From the Editor
Notes from Marc
8 Notes & news
What’s new for the garden railroader
10 Letters
Views from our readers
13 Garden railway basics Tunnel landscaping
18 Greening your railway
Refurbishing a railway in the redwoods
24 Plant portraits
Irish yew
Online extras 68 Events
Upcoming shows and exhibits
69 Online station
A large-scale guide to the Internet
70 Product reviews
62 Miniscaping
66 Raising steam
82 One-page project
Variety in groundcovers: Part 2 A working water tower for live-steam locomotives
The Train Department wheelsets, Phoenix coupler-control board, and more Modifying an out-of-scale coal load
• “Old West outdoors” PDF • Steam-powered drum winch drawings • Watchman’s shanty drawings • Two videos of the North Ohio Central Railroad
www.GardenRailways.com
GARDEN RAILWAYS (ISSN 0747-0622, USPS 713-710) is published bimonthly by Kalmbach Publishing Co., 21027 Crossroads Circle. P.O. Box 1612, Waukesha WI 53187-1612. Periodicals postage paid at Waukesha WI, and additional offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to GARDEN RAILWAYS, PO Box 1612, Waukesha WI 53187-1612. Canada Publication Mail Agreement # 40010760
FROM THE EDITOR
’ve heard a lot of talk about downsizing lately, as many of GR’s readers are aging. This often means selling off a significant portion of one’s possessions, moving to smaller, more manageable quarters, and generally simplifying one’s life. This need not mean it’s time to abandon our hobby, though. This same downsizing approach can apply to the garden railway. Maybe this is a good time to rethink the multi-thousandsquare-foot railroad and focus on a space that is smaller and more manageable in our golden years. There is just as much enjoyment to be had in designing and building a small railroad as a large one— perhaps more. While a small railroad can be brought to fruition more quickly, it can still offer endless opportunity for in-depth development, attention to detail, and 2010’s first place winner: Bent Pedersen’s Bondesbjerg Mountain Railway thoughtful integration in a small garden. In 2010, we sponsored a contest for small garden railways. The results of that contest were gratifying. Not only were we treated to some charming, imaginative, well-executed railways, we were also introduced to some new authors whose work enhanced our pages and inspired other builders of small railways. We felt that this was a good time to run another, similar contest to try to stimulate more interest in little railways. (See the ad on page 70.) Not only can small railways be attractive to older hobbyists, newcomers to the hobby can be intimidated seeing nothing but spectacular, sprawling railroads. While these can be inspiring, they can also be off-putting. A small railroad can seem much more attainable and attractive to someone who is just starting out. This is not to say, however, that a little railway need be less in terms of creativity or execution. In fact, working in a confined space or with limited resources can often be a greater challenge to creativity than having a large empty canvas waiting to be filled. The definition of a small railway is difficult to pin down. It could be a railroad built in a small space, or one that has been built in a larger space but with minimal trackwork and infrastructure. It could also be a railway that has been built with minimal resources, one that relies on recycled or repurposed materials for structures, locomotives, and rolling stock. We’ll leave the exact definition up to you. In our contest, we are looking for much the same things that we were looking for last time: railroads that exhibit a strong theme or purpose, plausibility, creativity, good execution, and attention to detail. We’d like to see railways that are well integrated with their surroundings and that exhibit thoughtful and appropriate use of plant material. If you’re a builder of a small garden railway, we hope you’ll consider entering this contest. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. We look forward to hearing from you.
6
Garden Railways | April 2015
Editor Marc Horovitz Rene Schweitzer Production Editor Horticultural Editor Nancy Norris Vance Bass Technical Editor Contributing Editors Don Parker, Kevin Strong, Jeff Young LuAnn Williams Belter Art Director Senior Graphic Designer Chuck Braasch Michael Barbee Senior Group Circulation Manager Circulation Coordinator Carly Witkowski Production Manager Helene Tsigistras Production Coordinator Jodi Jeranek
Advertising 888-558-1544 Fax: 262-796-0126 Group Ad Sales Manager Scott Redmond Advertising Sales Representative Steve Dake E-mail:
[email protected] PHOTO BY BENT PEDERSEN
I
Small garden railway contest
Advertising Service Representative Jen Zalesky E-mail:
[email protected] Selling Garden Railways magazine or products in your store 800-558-1544, Press 3 Outside U.S. and Canada: 262-796-8776, ext. 818 Fax: 262-798-6592 E-mail:
[email protected] Website: www.Retailers.Kalmbach.com Customer service inquiries 800-533-6644 Weekdays, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Central time Outside U.S. and Canada: 262-796-8776, ext. 421 Fax: 262-796-1615 E-mail:
[email protected] Please include your name, mailing address, and telephone number with any correspondence Subscriptions and product orders 800-533-6644 Weekdays, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Central time Editorial inquiries Marc Horovitz, Editor Phone: 303-377-7785 E-mail:
[email protected] PO Box 460222 Denver CO 80246 or Rene Schweitzer 262-796-8776 Fax: 262-796-1142 E-mail:
[email protected] PO Box 1612 21027 Crossroads Circle Waukesha WI 53187-1612 Kalmbach Publishing Co. President Charles R. Croft Neil Besougloff Associate Publisher Kevin P. Keefe Vice President, Editorial Senior Vice President, Sales & Marketing Daniel R. Lance Nicole McGuire Vice President, Consumer Marketing Corporate Advertising Director Scott Bong Maureen M. Schimmel Corporate Art Director Managing Art Director Michael Soliday SUBSCRIPTION RATE: 1 year (6 issues) $32.95; 2 years (12 issues) $59.95; 3 years (18 issues) $79.95. Canadian: Add $8.00 postage per year. All other international subscriptions: Add $10.00 postage per year. Payable in U.S. funds, drawn on a U.S. bank (Canadian price includes GST) BN 12271 3209 RT. Expedited delivery service surcharges: Domestic first class $15/yr; Canadian air $15/yr; International air $35/yr. Copyright © 2015 Kalmbach Publishing Co.; all rights reserved. Material in this publication may not be reproduced in any form without permission. Not responsible for unsolicited materials. Title registered as trademark. Printed in U.S.A.
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NOTES & NEWS PRODUCTS
Bridges & structures J. S. Woodcrafts, Lomita CA 90717, is offering a grain elevator in (approximately) 1:24 scale. The footprint is 25" x 25" x 28" (with silos and grading house). The large doors are positionable and the building comes in the color of your choice. Visit the company’s website for more information: www.jswoodcrafts.net
Accessories & details
Stoneworks, PO Box 190, Shell Knob MO 65747, has released a Bell Tower (#4253) for a firehouse, church, or school. The kit includes two laser-cut-styrene textures—New England shakes and 6" clapboard siding. Components include .060"thick white styrene, 1/4" x 1/4" uprights, and corner angles. Included is a 7/8" bell with adjustable height. The tower measures 21/8"x 23/8" x 31/4". Price: $14.20. Also from Stoneworks is a 1:24-scale parts kit and plans to build a model of the Glade Creek Mill building (#7205). The prototype is in Babcock State Park, West Virginia. The kit includes 15 windows, six doors in four styles, two front porches, a side-access deck, corner trim, pulley kit, and full-size CAD plans on three 24" x 36" sheets, with painting instructions. The parts are intended to be used with a purchaser-built concrete structure. Building
8
Garden Railways | April 2015
size: 13.5"W x 9.25"L x 22"H. Not included are a figure, wheel, sluice, raceway, stone, and casting masters. Price: $98.50. Website: www.RRStoneworks.com
Electronics & software G-Scale Graphics, 4118 Clayton Ct., Fort Collins CO 80525 is now the US dealer for the new MyLocoSound Universal Sound Board for large-scale steam and diesel locomotives. This new system has improved sound, five sound triggers, and tunable sounds via any universal IR remote. It is compatible with RailBoss RC, Airwire, Revolution, RCS, and others. Product, service, and support is now available directly from G-Scale Graphics. Price: $79 Website: www. GScaleGraphics.net
to make multiple resin castings, even those with slight undercuts. The product features six-minute “pot” life and 30-minute cure. De-airs without vacuum. 2.6pound kit contains approximately 32 total fluid ounces of material. Price: $35.95. Website: www.micromark.com MISCELLANEOUS
Tools
Micro-Mark, 800-225-1066, is offering a two-piece set (#86134) to drill holes in areas unreachable by regular methods. The slim design and two different shapes give you access through small openings, inside dollhouses and electronic cabinets, around details, rigging lines, and drivetrain components. An internal cable transmits the torque of your power screwdriver through the stainless steel tube to the chuck holding the drill bit. It includes a 1/4" hex-drive fitting and chuck with 1/32" capacity. (Drill bit and power screwdriver not included.) Price: $34.95. Also from Micro-Mark is One-ToOne/Express mold rubber (#86226), a super-fast curing, general purpose, liquid mold rubber that is easy to mix: stir equal volumes of A and B together and pour. RTV (room-temperature vulcanizing) formula cures without heat into a soft, pliable mold that reproduces every detail of your pattern and can be used many times
Applied Imagination, 661 Poplar Thicket Rd,. Alexandria KY 41001, has created a large-scale model of the Carson Mansion, the prototype of which is located in Eureka, California. Paul Busse, founder of Applied Imagination, was inspired to build a model of this famous Victorian house by his mother, who had built an HO-scale model of the mansion in 1949, the year Paul was born. As a tribute to his mother, in 2014 Paul and Applied Imagination’s lead botanical architect Cindy Johnson built a 54"-tall model entirely out of natural materials. To read the complete story, visit www. appliedimagination.biz/carson-mansion Accucraft Trains, 33268 Central Ave., Union City CA 94587, has announced the publication of an expanded second edition of Marc Horovitz’s book, A Passion for Steam: Small Scale Steam Locomotives and How They Work. This all color, hardbound book contains 240 pages of essential information for live-steam hobbyists,
GardenRailways.com redesign
Find the information you need faster on our newly-redesigned website. Pulldown menus have been streamlined, the “archive” feature is gone, and content tags will help you find related items easily. The new site is also responsive, meaning the width automatically adjusts based on the screen size on which you’re viewing it. Check it out and let us know what you think.
as well as an extensive gallery of locomotives (expanded by 32 pages over the first edition) that includes a detailed description of each engine. Price: $45. Website: www.accucraft.com
Our online store has also been redesigned. Visit KalmbachHobbyStore.com to find all of our products, including back issues, bound volumes, downloadable PDFs, books, binders, and more!
STAR HOBBY GRW • 02/01/2015 • 2C • 1/2 H
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9
LETTERS French garden-railway video
Last summer, a train enthusiast and film specialist came to shoot a 15-minute film on my garden railway, which has just been uploaded to the web. If you want to view it, it can be found at www.youtube.com/ watch?v=7Nn1idOC1Mg Don’t worry that the narrative is in French. It mainly tells about the history of local trains at the beginning of the 20th century, from which I got my inspiration. The pictures are international! Have a nice trip ! —Bernard Déluard, Fontaine les Dijon, France,
[email protected] [Note: Bernard Déluard’s railway appeared in the February 2003 issue of Garden Railways. I have watched the video, and seeing this beautiful railway in action is a treat. I recommend it. —Ed.]
tery-powered locomotive with two cars and a caboose, which was a Christmas gift from my wife. This was around 1992. Then, one day, I discovered my first largescale kit in a hobby shop. Another love affair started. It was a Bachmann, plastic, clerestory coach that I knew would fit my track. I bought the coach, as well as a combine and an observation coach. As the track on the floor grew, I needed a real locomotive, then a transformer, then another locomotive and more track. I started to scratchbuild more cars. I had to get this thing out of the house. I started benchwork on the patio just after the 4th of July. The layout includes a small town with a train station, stores, a movie house, and small homes, all scratchbuilt. On Thanksgiving it snowed. I need to scratchbuild a snowplow. I need some more turnouts. I need a bigger layout. —Walter Adams,
[email protected]
Dragon transport
Well, here I go again
I’ve been model railroading since I was 15 years old. It all started in 1943 when I took a Christmas job in a small hobby and bicycle shop in Buckhead, Georgia. One day I was unpacking a new stock order and I picked up a box that was marked “Varney HO 0-4-0 Dockside switcher.” As with any teenage boy who sees something for the first time, it was love at first sight—and it’s lasted all of these years. It cost $15 and I received it for my birthday in January. I had plenty of tinplate trains before but this was my first scale model. Then, one day, 60 years later, I got old. My fingers got big and nubby. My eyes needed glasses. My ears needed hearing aids. I couldn’t handle the small stuff like I used to. Then I discovered garden railroads—Nº 1 gauge, 1:29 scale, 45mm track. It sounded like fun again. I started garden railroading under the Christmas tree with a plastic, R-T-R bat-
10
Garden Railways | April 2015
My car is unfinished, as it will be broken down for lumber once all the dragons are transported to the remote training center. Currently these dragons cannot fly or breathe fire, but that will change once they mature. The little dragon on the car is being fed the haunch of some other dire beast to calm him during the trip. They will be trained to become a part of Gondor’s dragon rider “air force.” King Aragorn believes that all the Nazgûl perished with Saron, but why take the chance? (That’s my story, and I'm sticking to it.) —David Meashey, Roanoke, Virginia
Tunnels and expanding foam
I’d like to comment on the technique of using expandable foam to fill the gaps in the tunnel roof, as discussed by Kevin Strong in his article in the February 2015 issue of Garden Railways. Many of these construction foams will absorb moisture if buried in soil or are otherwise exposed to moisture for any length of time. They tend to become brittle over time and will finally disintegrate. Be sure to obtain a waterproof PU (polyurethane) foam. Thanks for an otherwise superb article and issue. GR is by far my favorite gardenrail magazine even though I also subscribe to two German mags. —Guido Rieger, Rees, Germany
Depressed-center flatcar
The depressed-center-flatcar article in the February 2015 issue of GR was most interesting to me. I built a similar car as a hatchling-dragon transport a few years ago. This car, along with other equipment, is part of my Brandywine & Gondor Railroad (The Mainline of Middle Earth), an imaginary railroad built during the Fourth Age of J.R.R. Tolkein’s Middle Earth. I am an enthusiast of the books as well as model railroading, so I thought, “Why not?” Besides, it drives rivet counters crazy—no prototype! I do not have a railway, but it is fun to build the equipment. Besides, the equipment gets quite a bit of attention when our local club exhibits at a train show.
I was pleased to see my humble scratchbuilt depressed-center flatcar build in the February 2015 issue and thought I would send you a photo of my most recent attempt. The skills I learned from constructing that first car allowed me to dream bigger and kitbash a heavy duty version of it using pieces from USAT and Bachmann cars. The transformer load is from LGB but had to have a new base built to fit. The moral/ lesson of the
In retrospect, I wish I had cemented story is to keep trying and to keep the floor of the tunnel to prevent them on building. from digging and causing derailments. I’d also like to comment on Kevin Plus a smooth floor would make it easier Strong’s “how to” tunnel article: I built a to clean out the tunnel. —Todd Haskins, long curved tunnel for my RR years ago Brewster. MA using a similar approach and I used small rocks for ballast like he did, and this has proven to be problematic. I have a critter One-page project problem, and they make their way inside I received the February 2015 issue of GR the tunnel to dig around in the rock baland was scanning the articles. When I last, which they leave piled on the tracks. gotCLAMPS to the “One-page project” I was almost SPLIT JAW RAIL
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in disbelief; this is a solution that I have been trying to figure out over the winter. Thank you, Paul Smith and GR. —Mark Miller,
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If you have something to say, send your comments to “Letters,” c/o Garden Railways, PO Box 460222, Denver CO 80246 USA; or e-mail them to mhorovitz@garden railways.com LEWIS MARTIN POLK, INC GRW • 04/01/2015 • BW • 1/8 V
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Garden Railways | April 2015
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KEVIN STRONG
GARDEN RAILWAY BASICS
Tunnels
Part 3: Landscaping
PHOTOS BY THE AUTHOR EXCEPT AS NOTED
1. Tunnel portals can be purchased commercially. These are foam castings, representing both stone and wood portals.
With the rocks, dirt, and a few plants already in place, the tunnel on the author’s Tuscarora Railroad is ready to do its job—primarily that of filling in the back corner of the loop. Tuscarora Railroad Nº 5 exits in the first of what will become many trips through.
W
hen I left off last time, I had what amounted to a big, concrete-block tube over the track. While it was technically a “tunnel”—certainly as defined by my kids, for whom “tunnel” means “train running between your legs as you stand over it”—for me, it was lacking that certain aesthetic realism I’ve worked to capture in the rest of the garden. So, with the core structure in place, it was time to make a mountain out of the molehill. To make that mountain, I knew I’d
About the series Part 1: Tunnel planning & design Part 2: Construction
need lots of dirt and rocks. My first stop was the local landscaping yard to get a load of rip-rap. These are small boulders, ranging in size from a softball to a basketball. At this particular place, it’s kind of catch-as-catch-can in terms of color and uniformity. However, the alternative is what they call “moss rock,” which is basically the same stuff, just ranging in size from volleyball to beachball, and at five times the price. I’m cheap, so $50 per ton suited me a lot better than $250 per ton. More importantly, though, there was no way I was going to be able to move beachball-size boulders by myself, especially uphill onto the railroad, over existing track and bushes, without causing damage to the garden or me. I availed myself of my father-in-law’s
pickup truck to carry a ton of rip-rap. When you’re loading one ton of rock into the back of a truck, you’re thinking, “There’s no way this is going to be enough,” because it takes up surprisingly little space in the truck bed. However, when you’re unloading said rock into your side yard, where you can sort it by size, shape, and color, you’re thinking “Good grief! That’s a lot of rock.” Then, when you ultimately start installing that rock into the landscape, you’re back to “Oh, no! I didn’t get enough.” (Fortunately, it ended up being enough—barely!) Because this tunnel is in the corner of the railroad, I needed to build a low retaining wall so that any dirt and rock I built up for the mountain wouldn’t rest against the neighbors’ fences. For this, I used cedar fence slats, building them up about 18" above the existing ground. I screwed this wall to the existing boards that framed the railroad. It’s probably a bit under-engineered but it’s also not holding back a lot of dirt, given the nature of the tunnel and how close it comes to the edge of the fence.
The portals
With the low retaining wall in place, I started contemplating what, exactly, I wanted to do for the tunnel portals. My first thought was to cast a concrete portal similar to one of those on the East Broad Top. I made some Styrofoam mock-ups but there wasn’t enough room for them to look right so I opted for a simpler, www.GardenRailways.com
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GARDEN RAILWAY BASICS
2. Tunnel portals act as photo frames for our trains. This set of concrete portals, on the garden railroad at the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad museum in Baltimore, Maryland, sits under a large evergreen bush, which gives the mountain more visual mass.
3. The author in his element, playing with dirt and rocks, creating the perfect portal for the tunnel. Many different configurations were tried before he found a “look” that he liked. ALLISON STRONG
5. Different rocks can give a tunnel entrance different looks. Here, slightly rounder, but flatter Pennsylvania fieldstone rocks are stacked to create a more stratified look to the natural-rock entrance on Jim Strong’s Woodland Railway.
4. The front portal is in place. Other, larger rocks are used to create a terraced look that will create the side of the mountain but also allow ample room for plants to soften the rockwork and eventually create a more vegetative, rather than rocky, look to the tunnel.
natural-rock portal based on another EBT tunnel. You can buy commercial tunnel portals (photo 1) or make them yourself out of wood, foam, or concrete (photo 2). When building a natural-stone portal, the stone should look “natural” but it also needs to be structurally sound—especially the stone that goes over the top. Depending on the nature of the stone you’re using, you might even consider using mortar or construction adhesive to hold the rocks in place. I did not. I didn’t want to build the portal, make it permanent with some kind of adhesive, then decide I didn’t like it after I finished the landscaping. The rocks I’m using have sharp, angular corners that tend to lock into place. For the portals, I used large, vertical rocks
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Garden Railways | April 2015
on the sides (photo 3). These vertical rock walls draw your eyes away from the concrete-block walls of the tunnel proper, so you focus more on the portal itself. The top of the portal on either end is a rather large, flattish stone (photo 4). I handpicked a half dozen or so potential rocks specifically for that purpose when I was first loading the stones in place. Different types of stone will give the portal a different look (photo 5).
Backfilling
With the rocks built up around the portals of the tunnel, I could then work on filling in the dirt for the rest of the mountain. I don’t know who coined the phrase “dirt cheap,” but they apparently never bought topsoil. I compared prices for having bulk topsoil delivered, loading it myself, or buying bags of the stuff, one cubic foot at a time, at the local Home Depot. Much to my surprise, the Home Depot option was the cheapest (photo 6). I bought 20 bags, just to see how far that got me on my mountain.
6. Bags of topsoil proved to be the cheapest source of dirt necessary to build up the mountain over the tunnel. Here, the topsoil is being dumped in the space between the tunnel and the retaining wall along the fence. The retaining wall keeps the dirt away from the fence itself.
I started along the front edge of the mountain, because that was a blend of soil and rockwork, as I built the visible part of the mountain. I’m opposed to mountains made up of random piles of rock, so I took some time to try to place the rocks so they looked natural (knowing that the plantings will eventually drape over and soften the rock). This is where the artistry of landscaping comes into play, so I wouldn’t call it “work.” In the end, I managed to use up almost all of my rocks and most of the 20 bags of topsoil, and I still had to fill in the space between the tunnel and the retaining wall. I made another trip to Home Depot for another 20 bags of topsoil, then went back to work moving the dirt. Filling the back side was much, much simpler, as there
Care and feeding of your tunnel
7. The finished tunnel, with a few plants set about for possible locations. The dirt will undoubtedly settle over the winter so the author will bring in additional dirt next spring, when he begins to add plants to the mountain.
was no landscaping involved (photo 7). However, I had to be careful not to trip on the landscaping I had already installed along the front edge. I sometimes wondered if I had gone about things backward but I managed to fill in the spaces without twisting my ankle, so I guess it all worked out in the end. At this point, the tunnel was about as complete as I expected to get it for the season. My intention is to give the dirt time to settle over the winter, aided by my two dogs, who love to run on top of the mountain in a vain attempt to frighten the squirrels along the top of the fence, to which they are now 18" closer! I’ll come back in the spring with a few bags of potting soil as a top layer and begin the process of foresting the mountain.
Plants
I did put a few plants in place but, like the portals, I’m not sold on the finished product yet, so I anticipate moving and changing things next spring. For the most part, I planted them just to give my brain something to visualize over the winter. My plan is to use fairly tall bushes along the back edge, to increase the mountain’s illusion of height without needing a lot of extra dirt. I’ll plant groundcovers along the front edge of the mountain to blend it into the rest of the garden. If you’re attending the National Garden Railway Convention in Denver this year, please stop by and see the progress firsthand!
Tunnels can bring a lot of visual interest to your railroad but they do require a little care to keep things trouble free, which mostly involves things that can accumulate inside the tunnel. First, there’s water. Water by itself won’t do a lot of damage to the track but you don’t want it to pool inside the tunnel. Design your tunnel so that the track doesn’t dip in the middle, allowing the water to potentially pool in the low spot. Keep the track level or on a constant grade from one end to the other. More often, though, tunnel headaches come from other things getting inside the tunnel. The wind will blow lots of debris into the tunnel where you can’t see it. Some modelers plug their tunnels (especially in the winter, when they’re not operating regularly) to keep leaves and other debris out (photos A, B). Alas, flora is only half the problem. Tunnels are protected environments that will attract all manner of fauna. It’s not uncommon to see a train enter a tunnel and something hop, run, or slither out in advance of it at the other end. Worse, critters may decide to take up permanent residence, building dens that will derail your train inside. And, for unknown reasons, tunnel entrances tend to attract flying insects. Thus, it’s common to see spiders build webs across tunnel portals to snag an easy meal (photo C). As much as I enjoy weathering my equipment, clearing spider webs with the smokestack isn’t a technique I recommend. An occasional visual inspection of your tunnel is often a good idea. If you can’t see all the way through, grab a video camera or smartphone and record a slow trip through the tunnel to see if there’s anything inside that might cause an issue (photo D).
A. Jim Strong’s Woodland Railway, as the name implies, is located in the woods. Because of this, falling leaves are a continual problem, especially in the fall and winter, when wind can blow the leaves into the tunnel, completely clogging it.
B. To combat the leaf problem, Jim uses stuffed plastic bags to seal the tunnels when not in use during fall and winter months. This keeps leaves and most critters out of the tunnels, so they’re ready to go whenever trains need to get through.
C. Spider webs are common across tunnel portals so plan to remove them by hand or clean them off the front of your locomotive.
D. A smartphone can provide an easy tool to visually inspect the interior of the tunnel, to check for obstructions and other potential maintenance issues.
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GREENING YOUR RAILWAY
Refurbishing a railway in the redwoods
A
fter 18 years of service, Don and Sue Watters’ Lake Tahoe & Truckee railroad needed a major overhaul. Running trains had become difficult because years of fixes here and there created trackwork problems down the line. Don enlisted my grandson Lake Phillips and me to refurbish all aspects of the railway (photo 1). Before getting started, though, we took “before” pictures (photos 2 and 5) to identify necessary improvements.
Growing pains
Don outlined the issues and together we proposed solutions: • Give in to the widening redwood trees by rerouting roadbed • Refit and lower the track by excavation for easier curves and grades • Terrace the space of certain slopes with scale retaining walls, one of which would accommodate a steamup siding • Install more railroad scenes for nonrun days, with several new sidings to show off rolling stock • Prevent human accidents on raised beds with access steps • Improve plantings with more of what works in shade • Renovate and reinforce buildings, then reconstruct towns • Increase scenes that depict the historical Lake Tahoe area, as seen in books
PHOTOS BY AUTHOR EXCEPT AS NOTED
Retaining wall renewal
1. The Sierras. From Little Truckee River’s sawmill, trains pass several towns all the way to Lake Tahoe’s mines in the distance. Thirty years ago, Don and Sue Watters planted more redwoods in their already woodsy backyard to remind them of their favorite recreational area. The effect is quite dwarfing for viewers, who can picture themselves climbing aboard the scale trains at one of the many depots. A shady habitat and successful irrigation encourage baby tears (Soleirolia soleirolii, Zone 9-11) and native moss to creep over rocks and walls.
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Garden Railways | April 2015
One 10'-long retaining wall (actually two pressure-treated boards fastened one behind the other) solved multiple problems (photo 1). The “before” shot (photo 2), shows no room for a steamup siding. We first removed all but the bottom row of boulders and several long, thick roots that had lifted the roadbed. Installing the wooden retaining walls brought the siding much closer for reaching live-steam trains. (For instructions, see “Build stronger retaining walls,” August 2012 GR.) More land in front gives the distant mountain town of Squaw Valley a grander footing, with tree-planting territory befit-
2. BEFORE: Redwood roots have lifted the track beyond practical grades and erosion has washed away ballast in the front. The track is too close to the redwoods, which continue to increase their girth. More land is needed closer to the lawn for live steamers. The new retaining wall on the ground will form terraces higher up on the slope and will open out the platform for the switch resting on top, as well as a newly expanded sawmill and siding on the left.
ting the Sierras it models. Lowering this area created opportunities down the line, as seen in the distance of photo 1, where a long bridge spans a valley.
Steel for spanning
Our favorite way of building a single span, 10' bridge (where underneath
3. Tahoe-bound passengers now ride on a 2" x 6" x 10' long, galvanizedsteel stud, disguised with scale redwood lumber to recreate a historic bridge of the Sierras. Note the rudimentary 1:1 steps in the stone wall to the right of the bridge. Moss and violets (Viola odorata, Zones 4-9) thrive in the shade. Diffuse sunlight brightens the chartreuse foliage of dozens of lemon cypress conifers (Cupressus macrocarpa ‘Wilma Goldcrest’, Zones 5-10) foresting the track to Truckee, far away.
support will be negligible) is to use a base of steel studs. They’re strong enough for building 1:1 hospitals, so the guys at the construction-materials store laugh at me when they hear I’m using them for model trains, but falling branches won’t harm them much. In photo 3, the redwoods had widened their trunks and pushed the
track off the raised bed. Rather than build roadbed on the stacked-boulder slope, we spanned the curved wall and let the newly added town of Martis Landing take over the old track area. Because we’re modeling a historic wooden bridge, we glued and screwed a base of redwood 1 x 4 x 10s onto the flange/sides of the 16-gauge steel piece. Then we brad-nailed and Titebond-glued scale lumber vertically to that board. To enhance the wooden look of his creation, Lake added trestle bents underneath, which don’t actually add function. The same goes for the cribbing on either end—it’s just for looks, but the wooden railings may be needed as trains enter from a curve with a switch on that end.
Restoring track
4. Unlike many of the blurry photos available for modelers, John Hugh Coker’s painting “Train meets the Tahoe” is a wonderful source for details. Don imagined this pier in scale on top of his concrete-block wall. PAINTING © JOHN HUGH COKER, USED WITH PERMISSION
Long ago, Don had upgraded all his locomotives to battery power, one of which pushes Earl Martin’s track-sweeper car to clear the track of redwood leaves, a huge savings of time and effort. Yet, the trees drip sap on the rails and irrigation leaves salts, causing corrosion. Much of the LGB brass-rail flex track was temporarily removed to repair the railway. In spite of the years, the track was still serviceable but in need of maintenance. The UV-resistant ties did in fact resist the sun’s effects but most sections had www.GardenRailways.com
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GREENING YOUR RAILWAY tions for an alternative method. For an exhaustive treatise on how to fix up used track, read Paul D. Race’s blog “Refurbishing Garden Railroad Track” at http://familygardentrains.com/primer/ maintenance/track_refurb/track_refurb. htm
Understanding history
5. BEFORE: Left to right, the mainline, which is too close to the tree, will become a siding and boulders above the portal will be exchanged with flagstone for the wider mainline. A new portal is ready to install. Far right, the mainline needs lowering, which will expose the concrete-block wall.
dangling or missing ties where the tie plates had become “un-spiked,” probably from being stepped on. No longer would the ties slide on the rails, as they did 18 years ago. Cement-like corrosion between
ties had to be scraped off an inch at a time. For this I used a titanium honing tool that I like for cleaning and sharpening my steel pruner blades. It worked but was tedious, and I would welcome sugges-
Don did his homework when planning his railroad. He laid out the Sierra towns sequentially, most depots labeled with their historic names. He examined bridge prototypes, trains, and other details in books with old photos of real places, back in the heyday of train transport through this rustic area of California. Don was inspired by the painting in photo 4, which appears on the rear cover of Rails Around Lake Tahoe: Steam Trains and Steamboats by Mallory Hope Ferrell. The “before” photo (photo 5) shows multiple problems, the fixing of which would create opportunities for more scale scenes. In the rear of the LT&T, the concrete-block retaining wall would be raised and turned into Lake Tahoe’s pier, with a famous (still standing) depot (photo 6).
REGIONAL GARDENING REPORT Zones listed are USDA Hardiness Zones Why did you refurbish Right-of-way and civil your 18-year-old railway? engineering Don and Sue Watters Los Altos, California, Zone 9 Early one Sunday, we hit the panic button. The roots of our giant backyard redwoods had upended the concreteblock retaining wall that supports the rear of our railroad. The wall was about to knock down the wooden fence separating our yard from the one next door. First, we warned the neighbors. Next, we crossed our fingers and hoped that the fence would hold for the rest of the day: we and our Lake Tahoe & Truckee railroad (LT&T) were scheduled to host the Bay Area Garden Railway Society’s (BAGRS) Annual Summer Picnic for the first time.
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Garden Railways | April 2015
The fence survived the picnic! We brought in a contractor to rebuild the retaining wall so that this problem would not occur again. Fixing the redwood root problem required re-engineering of the turnaround loop at that end of the railroad, including day-lighting one tunnel under the town of Truckee (see Feb. 2015 GR, “Do over! Turning a tunnel into a canyon”). While we were at it, we decided to scrape out the excess ballast from five remaining tunnels, increase the radius of the turnaround loop, and reduce the ruling grade to just over 2%. Nancy Norris was able to do this by constructing her trademark retaining walls, applying many days of elbow grease, and using a “magic” level to even out the grades. The resulting visual and operational
A composite of several smaller buildings, the sawmill has been overturned to show how joints and ridges now remain straight. Don reinforced internal joints and bottom edges with glued-in aluminum-angle pieces. NANCY NORRIS
improvements were so impressive that we decided to revamp the “Georgetown Loop” turnaround at the other end of the
6. On the left, the mainline has moved away from the tree onto new rockwork and cribbing. A new siding stores freight cars, always seen from the patio. Leaning flagstones above the newly portaled tunnel replace boulders that were in the way of upgrades. Upper right, the non-scale concrete blocks are hidden now with the façade of Lake Tahoe’s pier and depot, including a siding.
“Gold in them thar hills” had to be modeled on the LT&T. Serendipity at the rock yard supplied the chipped flagstone for a small mine opening (photo 7). The row of vertical flagstones created new
railway in a similar fashion, while leaving the original 12' curved trestle intact.
Towns and buildings These civil-engineering changes required us to downsize Truckee and the two small settlements along the line. We used the surplus buildings to create three other small communities along the railroad and we kitbashed four of them into a sawmill that we’d been talking about building for years. We also decided to refurbish most of the buildings, which had been sitting outside year round for 18 years. We “soda blasted” a number of the larger, more complicated structures (along with most of our rolling stock), chemically removed paint from another handful, and scraped/sanded the rest. We used 1/2" aluminum-angle stock and exterior-grade construction adhesive to “de-warp” the damage from years of sun and rain. New portals made of small, indi-
7. Far below the big mine operators on the mountain, 0-scale ore cars suggest work is in progress deep within a mom-and-pop gold mine. A track-maintenance vehicle readies the turnout above. Folks in the old town of Brockway Summit (elevation 7,179') carry on, seemingly unaware that this little place would one day become a fancy “scenic overlook” for tourists on the north side of Lake Tahoe.
land just above for another siding and a wider-radius mainline through the mountain town of Brockway Summit. Whereas the Watters’ original Lake Tahoe & Truckee railroad was interesting in its
vidual stone tiles (Lowes) glued to a styrene backing now dress up the entrances to the corrugated-plastic-pipe tunnels.
Looking back, looking ahead The Lake Tahoe & Truckee was originally constructed in 1996 by Jack Verducci, Master Model Railroader, with the help of my wife Sue and me and several BAGRS volunteers. If you have the April 2003
own right, these new changes made it possible to run trains more frequently; and when they’re not running, the new settlements, structures, and sidings recreate the history.
Model Railroader, see my article about our garden railway, “The Old West outdoors.” For our next project, we are thinking about rerouting the mainline at the front of the railway over the pond/patio to eliminate the problem of other redwood roots lifting and displacing the track and switches. We hope to complete this in time for the 2016 National Garden Railway Convention, which our club will be hosting.
Online extra Registered users can download a copy of Don Watters’ article from the April 2003 Model Railroader. Visit www.GardenRailways. com and type “Don Watters” in the search box.
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The Yukan & Naowhut Railroad A highly-detailed indoor alternative
by Dutton Foster | St. Paul, Minnesota |
I
am building an indoor railroad. There, I’ve said it. Before you label me a traitor to the garden-railway movement, let me add that my outdoor pike, the PD&Q, is 29 years old. Despite assaults by snow and rain, leaves and acorns, rabbits and squirrels, dogs and occasional crowds, it staggers on. But now, I’m in my mid-70s, and am building a large-scale indoor railroad in our vacation home near Lake Superior. When we looked at this house, I heard a faint voice cry, “Buy me and build a railroad in my basement!” So we did and I am. We average five days a month up there, but I’ve built many projects at home and taken them up to install. The Y&N is a line for all seasons, a line for eye-level viewing, and a line for a new group of friends to help us enjoy. It’s still a work in progress and will be for (I hope) years to come. Along with several smaller rooms, the 40' x 37' basement includes a large main room with windowsills about four feet 1. Panoramic view of Arcania. Various businesses on Main Street overlook the depot area and local industries.
26
Garden Railways | April 2015
PHOTOS BY THE AUTHOR, ILLUSTRATION BY MARC HOROVITZ
from the floor and a foot above grade, allowing a “dog door” through the window screen that leads to an outdoor reverse loop. Indoors or out, I prefer an around-the-wall (or fence) trackplan, allowing the viewer to stand inside the railroad and view one scene at a time, as well as leaving space for other activities (in this case, a ping-pong table). I also like backdrops, which enhance the illusion of space and distance. This type of layout allows me to omit detailing the backsides of structures—why build it if no one can see it?
Concept of the Yukan & Naowhut
The Yukan & Naowhut (name inspired by grandsons Yuki and Naoki) circles the entire basement. There is about 190 feet of indoor mainline, with one yard and a wye, one passing siding midway around the line, and several spurs along the way. The line is battery powered, using RCS
controls and various sound systems. All switches are manual; there is no signaling, other than order boards at the two depots. The line is level except in the workshop room, where the track climbs, crosses over itself, and descends again to the basic height of 52". Having modeled western scenery on my outdoor line, I’m basing the Y&N on the northern Minnesota landscape, which allows for hills, cliffs, and gorges, but no snowcapped peaks. The Y&N is a depression-era shortline subsidiary of the PD&Q, running older and often secondhand equipment (steam, archbars, truss rods) in short, slow trains. Not surprisingly, equipment lettered for the PD&Q is frequently seen on the Y&N. At present, the line serves a brewery, grain elevator, cattle-loading pen, steamboat landing, and stone quarry. Still in the envisioning stage are a lumber mill, interchange junction, fishing camp, and specialty iron-ore mine. At present, the Y&N includes more than 20 scratchbuilt struc-
2. The Arrowhead Farmers Organization Coop elevator and feed store in Arcania. Styrofoam walls are embossed with a 2"-square block faced with rubber stair tread, creating a corrugated effect. Doors, windows, and roofing are from Precision Products.
3. Nº 3 approaches the Settin Stone quarry. The scratchbuilt Bad Axe gondola was the author’s first attempt at large-scale modeling. Modeled scenery here is only two inches deep.
tures, including a growing number of reduced-scale background flats. I use Styrofoam for buildings, portals, retaining walls and abutments, landforms, and roadbed. Scenery is about 75% complete.
How to lay cheap and quick branchline track
Battery power allows me to use aluminum rail (easily curved with pliers and vise). I lay the rail directly on 3/4" foamboard (over a wood base), holding it in gauge temporarily with drywall screws, then tacking it in place with hot glue and removing the screws. After a dose of brown latex or spray paint, I hot-glue random three-piece ties cut from stained popsicle sticks or egg-carton foam. Some of the ties consist
4. The Schmeckbesser Brewery dominates the town of Arcania. Styrofoam makes excellent stonework, but it also works for wooden structures. Note that the track has occasional three-piece ties visible.
Snowdin
Sawt oot h
5
mit Sum
Up
The railway at a glance
Dn
* Workshop
* Landing
Duck under
8
Up
Utilities
Boat
Arca 7
The Yukan & Naowhut Railroad
*
2
6
9
nia
4
To outdoor loop
*
10
1
Unfinished areas
3
Farm Quarry
11
5. Doodlebug Nº 12, still lettered for the Paradox, Dilemma & Quandary, makes a station stop at Snowdin on a cold winter evening. Background flats are mostly cardboard. Lighting is battery-powered LED holiday lights meant for wreaths.
28
Garden Railways | April 2015
Name: Yukan & Naowhut Railroad Size of railroad: 37' x 40' Scale: 1:22.5 Gauge: Nº 1 Era: 1940 Theme: Northern Minnesota shortline Age: Four years Motive power: Modified LGB Forney, kitbashed gas-electric doodlebug Length of mainline: 190' indoor, 40' outdoor loop Maximum gradient: 4.5% Type of track: Mixed, mostly handlaid directly on roadbed, some Aristo-Craft sectional Minimum radius: 4' (mostly 5') Structures: Two depots, three major industries, coaling shed, water tank, sandhouse, section house, farm buildings, residential and commercial flats, all scratchbuilt Control system: RCS/battery Website: None, but photos on Flickr: Type “PD&Q Railway” into Google Images and click on any train picture that comes up
of only the outside ends, some of one end and the middle, etc. After scattered ties are down, I add ballast (kitty litter, some sawdust, bits of lichen, sand, or chicken grit) and, with a dry brush, I remove it from the tops of the ties. Spraying with water, followed by diluted white glue, finishes the job. Since I’m still using code332 rail (don’t ask why), this method gives the impression of lower, lighter rail with most ties buried and only a few poking out. In the “winter-night room,” I used some cut down pine outside-corner molding for rail, since its base does not show under the Styrofoam snow. The outdoor loop, subject to visits by deer and other critters, is Aristo-Craft sectional track with stone ballast on a treated-wood roadbed, raised about two feet above grade. It is reached via the previously mentioned “dog door” flap in a window screen and a short length of removable track. Most of the indoor turnouts are scratchbuilt, patterned on commercial
6. Caboose Nº 1 is a shortened and lowered Bachmann unit, with some windows blanked and revised steps and platform details. Rotating the smokejack turns on the lights.
ten-foot radius switches. I cut, file, and bend the 10 pieces of rail required, spike them to a 3/4" pine base with 5/8" nails (the pine takes nails more easily than plywood), and use a wood frog point. All turnouts are of the spring variety for easy operation; a storm window turn-button mounted between the points holds them in the reverse position for diverging movement. My greatest operational challenge is remembering to return each switch to the unlocked position after a train passes! Dummy switchstands are gradually appearing. Given the cost of commercial track, this “cheap and quick” method seems worthwhile for creating branchline track. Substituting treated wooden roadbed and using outdoor glue and rock ballast, it could be viable in the garden as well. Modeling every tie is boring and can be expensive, and all we really need is an impression.
7. The bucket coaling station and sand shed adjoin the feed store and elevator.
8. Nº 3, battery-powered with RCS controls and MyLocoSound sound, hauls beer through the threatening autumnal weather of the utility room.
A trip on the Y&N
Commencing at the awkward little yard at Arcania, our doodlebug (kitbashed from bits of several Bachmann passenger cars) sputters into life and we trundle off. On a hill above the railroad, the town’s main street boasts a number of businesses. We cross a five-foot-long deck timber truss bridge retired from outdoor use on the PD&Q, then enjoy a classic farmscape above the line as we approach the junction where the outdoor branch diverges toward a nearby window. The indoor line meanders west along the long wall of the main room, crossing a
9. Luckily for passengers waiting for Nº 12’s departure, the Arcania cattle pens are unoccupied. www.GardenRailways.com
29
10. Steamboat-excursion passengers, some in period dress, seem reluctant to disembark and board their train home, to the apparent annoyance of the conductor.
low trestle spanning a windowsill, and approaching the Settin Stone quarry with its short spur. Turning north, we cross a curiously unscenicked stretch designed to blend with the diagonal-panelled end wall, which takes us to a steamboat landing at which a sidewheeler (an unexpected and beautifully built donation by a master boat builder) is loading freight and passengers. Shortly, we enter the first of many tunnels and discover that it’s autumn in the utility room, with a storm brewing in the background. Another tunnel quickly plunges us into the third room, where an eternal winter night blankets the village and depot of Snowdin. Here, we wait at the depot until a mixed eastbound train, pulled by a Forney (LGB, modified) clears the west switch of the passing siding. Off we trundle, soon emerging into the workshop, past an interchange track and up a 4% looping grade that takes us over a trestle, a pony truss, and over Sawtooth Summit, then down and across another trestle. More tunnels take us across the stair landing and back into Arcania.
Future developments
11. Grandsons Yuki and Naoki, on their annual visit from Japan, shepherd a long (for this railroad) freight past the junction with the outdoor loop, overlooked by a picturesque hillside farm.
About the author Dutton Foster, a retired teacher of English and theater, began his outdoor large-scale efforts in 1984. As an amateur landscape painter and longtime designer of sets for high school plays, he’s learned much that can be applied to the world of model railroading. Married for 51 years, Dutton and his spouse Caroline enjoy birding, biking, cooking, making music, and being with their children and grandchildren. Their daughter lives near their “up north” vacation home, and their son in Kyoto, Japan.
30
Garden Railways | April 2015
At this writing, portions of the Y&N are fully developed while others are rudimentary or still conceptual. Sawtooth Summit is largely unscenicked, as is the outdoor loop. When scenery and structures reach relative completion, there will be time to upgrade couplers, add a locomotive or some rolling stock (perhaps a live steamer), add more lineside detail and vegetation, and develop the (seasonal) outdoor branch, which is just an unscenicked elevated track at present. Future industries may include a stonecutting company, bulk-oil depot, and lumber mill. My best guess is that most viewers will enjoy the outdoor branch from the basement, watching through the window, as it’s a long trip upstairs and out the back door to reach the outdoor line. I foresee simple, easily maintained outdoor landscaping, perhaps one or two extremely sturdy weatherproof and deerproof structures, and that’s about it. Meanwhile, back indoors, it’s exciting to run trains without having to police every inch of track for twigs, acorns, or frost heave, and to view the trains from a realistic height instead of seeing mostly roofs. I hope for many years of pleasure developing and running the Y&N.
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2015 Garden Railway Con by Walter Weart | Arvada, Colorado |
PHOTOS AS NOTED
BYRON FENTON
T
Byron and Marta Fenton
Gold Dust & Red Rocks Railroad The Gold Dust & Red Rocks Railroad, established in 1998, is a loop folded into a C-shape, located on a sloping hill. Total trackage is 450', with 270' of mainline. The setting is mountainous, with a waterfall and a 50'-long stream leading to a small pond. The train runs along a ledge on one side of a small mountain, passing through two tunnels. There is a curved, 40'-long trestle, an arch bridge, and four scratchbuilt truss bridges. The railroad also features a waterfall, stream, and two town sites. Plantings include over 200 scale trees. A spur line goes into the basement for train storage.
ROBERT FINCH
he National Garden Railway Convention, hosted by the Denver Garden Railway Society, is set for July 5-11, 2015, at the Crowne Plaza—Denver International Airport hotel. Activities at the convention will include garden-railway tours; clinics; vendor displays; an ice-cream social; a barbeque at the Colorado Railroad Museum; a banquet featuring the Buffalo Bill and Annie Oakley Show; and a “Trainertainment” buffet with a David Moffat interpreter speaking about Moffat’s involvement in promotion and construction of the railroads in the Rocky Mountain region, Richard Luckin video producer, and Dick Kreck, author of the Union Pacific story Hell on Wheels. As well as the many Denver-area garden railways that will be open during the scheduled tours, on July 11 we’ll be offering additional railway tours in connection with the Northern Colorado Garden Railroaders. Colorado has many tourist railroads, and tours will be offered to the Leadville Colorado & Southern Railroad, the Georgetown Loop Railroad (combined with a tour of the Lebanon mine), the Pikes Peak Cog Railway, and the Royal Gorge Railroad. If you arrive early or stay later, you can visit the Forney Museum of Transportation, ride Denver’s awardwinning light-rail system, or just enjoy some of the best scenery to be found anywhere. There are more suggestions on the convention’s website: www. NGRC2015.com Here are just a few of the garden railways that will be open during the convention.
Convention video Joel Waszak and Martha Miller Unnamed railroad
A convention-preview video has been posted on YouTube. You can see the four-minute program by searching for “NGRC 2015” or going to https://www. youtube.com/watch?v=xqZHZhcpZM8
32
Garden Railways | April 2015
Joel and Martha’s garden railway, established in 2005, was inspired by the Colorado & North Western Railroad. Nicknamed the Switzerland Trail, the C&NW connected mining towns west of Boulder, and provided day trips and picnics for tourists. The garden railroad is fully integrated into the landscaping, which includes flagstone paths, benches, a bridge, a pond (Glacier Lake), and a gazebo. Miniature plants, groundcovers, and buildings line the railway throughout the yard. With over 500' of track, the railroad has two reverse loops, two major spurs, and a main terminus (Boulder), which includes a turntable. Grades are between 2% and 4%, with tunnels and much trestle work connecting the mountain towns and mines. Locomotives are live steam and battery-powered R/C. Buildings run the gamut from ready made to scratchbuilt. Many historic buildings represented were scratchbuilt of wood and stone.
Dave and Jean Gross
ROBERT FINCH
ROBERT FINCH
onvention preview
A glimpse of some of the railroads on the tour
San Miguel Southern Railway
Richard and Alice Kloewer
The San Miguel Southern Railway was started in June of 1994 with 246' of LGB track. The railroad is operated with radio-controlled locomotives and track power. In 2006, an additional 143' of track was installed. The railroad is located across a hill in the backyard. It features two truss bridges, one 6' curved trestle, and one low bridge. The railway features locomotives and equipment of various Colorado narrow-gauge railroads, including the D&RGW, C&S, RGS, Uintah, and Denver, South Park & Pacific. The San Miguel Southern also has nonColorado steam locomotives to operate on the railway. Buildings that represent those found along Colorado’s narrow-gauge lines have been acquired from various sources.
The Rosebud Railway was established in 1999 and now has more than 1,200' of track. It includes six interconnected lines and all trains park in the garage. The mainline is an automated block system that can run three trains. It is all built on a trestle that goes through a mountain and back through the garage. There are two ground-level lines (one a freight, the other a logging line), and a raised trolley line winds around a mountain. A cog line runs to the garage roof. Features include a dairy farm, scratchbuilt buildings and bridges, and a grain elevator, complete with silos. The Rosebud Railway is surrounded on three sides by roses.
ROBERT FINCH
CHRIS GREENWALD
Rosebud Railway
Chris and Nola Greenwald
Bob and Erlene Finch
The Grunenwalt Berg Bahn, established in 1999, is a DC powered, remote-control railroad modeled on a rural 1920s theme. It features over 300' of mainline track, running as a simple loop through a mature garden, over four bridges, through a 6' tunnel, and under two decks. There are also two sidings. The level mainline has a 10' minimum radius. There is a 12' long, 20"-high redwood trestle. Over 20 hand-fired clay buildings, designed and built by the owner, are a prominent feature. Additional wood buildings are built to stay outdoors—these have corrugated roofs made from tin cans. The depot’s waiting platform has a stainedglass roof supported by welded-steel columns. The railroad runs LGB and Bachmann locomotives.
Construction of the Colorado & Northern Pass Railroad began in 2011. An ore train loops around the mining town of Moss Rock on an elevated track, travelling behind the waterfall and continuing around Auntie Em’s country farm, where characters from the Wizard of Oz walk down the Yellow Brick Road to the Emerald City. The mainline runs through a tunnel in Moss Rock Mountain, under the waterfall, and continues on behind the raised garden wall, emerging on a long trestle around the east end of the yard. The loop continues a second time around the yard, through gardens and past a 1950s-era town. The line includes steam engines, freight trains, and a diesel passenger train. There is 500' of track and many kit and kitbashed structures.
Grunenwalt Berg Bahn
Colorado & Northern Pass Railroad
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35
STAFF CORNER: DON PARKER
A member of GR’s staff discusses recent projects
Winches, derricks, and cranes
1. A logging derrick works in the Big Hoot Timber Camp on the author’s Hoot ’n’ Holler Railroad. PHOTOS BY THE AUTHOR
D
uring the development of the two railroads I’ve built, I found I needed several lifting devices typical of the era I model—the 1920s in the Appalachian region of the US. For lighter work, I use mechanical cranes powered by hand winches; for heavier lifting, I model steam-powered winches—for example, in a log-moving wood derrick (photo 1). The latter was an
Historical footnote Derricks were named for their resemblance to a type of gallows, from which a hangman’s noose hung. The derrick-type of gallows got its name from Thomas Derrick, an English executioner from the Elizabethan era.
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Garden Railways | April 2015
engineering project I’ll share with you here. I’ll also show you a scratchbuilt wood-derrick coal loader I made, powered by hand. Winches are devices that spool out or take in ropes or cables, using a variety of power sources (photo 2). Cranes are basically mobile winches that power lifting arms with a wide range of strength, reach, and controllability (photo 3). Derricks, on the other hand, consist of a fixed central tower, or mast, and a boom assembly. The logging derrick I modeled has a braced central mast and a boom that is swivelhinged at the bottom, allowing it to move in all four directions. I designed it from photos I found online. I used Ozark Miniatures white-metal castings for the blocks and sheaves, and dyed twine for the cables (photo 4). Hanging from the end of the boom is a smaller pulley block and a
2. A steam-powered winch motor drives the cable drum for raising and lowering the lift (elevator) in the vertical shaft of the Skunk Holler Mine.
logging tong, where logs are grasped and moved (in the case of the Hoot ’n’ Holler Railroad, to a logging flume, where they slide down to a mill pond—photo 1). The donkey winch motor on this derrick is powered by a steam engine, which I cobbled together from a soda can, piston and valve gear from a decommissioned
3. A maintenance-of-way crew makes track repairs, using a hand winch and small crane (made from a white-metal kit from Ozark Miniatures) to unload ties.
Bachmann ten-wheeler, an assortment of gears, and odds and ends from my collection of parts and pieces (photo 5). I intended the boom to be moved from side to side by smaller winches on either side, with cables passing through pulley blocks on the bracing timbers connected to the boom near its base. I didn’t get that far into the project before the derrick was put into commission without that detail. I then intended to add pull ropes so that the boom could be moved by a couple of strong lackeys, but that never got done either. The coal-loading derrick was designed and constructed from a photo in an HOscale catalog. In this case, the central mast swivels and has a braced horizontal boom, with the main sheave at its end. A cable runs from a geared, hand-cranked winch, passing through the sheave to a pulley block and hook used to lift large buckets of coal (photo 6). The mast is rotated by grunt power, likely with a long lever wedged between the two vertical timbers of the mast.
Online extras Registered users can download drawings for a steam-powered drum winch. Visit www.Garden Railways.com and type “drum winch” in the search box.
4. The wood logging derrick with braced central mast and swinging boom. Note the hinge at the bottom of the boom. The horizontal I-beam at the top swivels to allow the cable and pulley blocks to turn with the boom.
5. In the foreground, at the end of the boom, is the sheave and pulley-block mounting; above that is the lower end of the mast, shaped and covered with a metal tube, which acts as a bearing for a rotating sleeve (center, resting on the baseplate). The sleeve has metal hinge plates between which the boom pivots up and down. The smaller, central tube, soldered to the base, is a support brace over which the mast fits. The donkey steam engine at the top is described in the text. The outer, small winch drums were intended to control lateral movement of the boom.
6. The wood derrick coaling station (on the author’s former Rustin & Decrepit Railroad) is unloading a delivery of coal.
Don Parker is a retired physician who does volunteer work with Christian medical groups. He is a Master Gardener with the Ohio State University Extension, has studied art, and enjoys designing gardens and watercolor painting. Favorite outdoor activities include gardening, hiking, and canoeing.
www.GardenRailways.com
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The North Ohio Central Railroad A garden railroad that reflects a personal history by Richard Nelson | Salina, Kansas |
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Garden Railways | April 2015
PHOTOS BY THE AUTHOR, ILLUSTRATION BY MARC HOROVITZ
1. The AT&SF passenger train waits on the depot siding. Four buildings in the background (starting at left) include a model of a 100-year-old church that is still used in Munden, Kansas; the 27 room lodge the author designed; Wall Drug Store, from Wall, South Dakota (slightly modified); the depot, modeled after the Williams depot by the Grand Canyon, built by the Santa Fe in the early 1900s. Two types of stonecrop soften the rocks.
2. At the right, a train of grain hoppers heads for the mainline. On the left, an AT&SF passenger train passes the pizza plant. At the plant, a pneumatic flour hopper is unloading into the upright silos while a boxcar containing tomato paste for the making of pizza pies is unloaded unto the building. Perennial plants will be ablaze with color in the spring.
I
retired in August of 2004 from a wheat grain and flour milling company, where I was employed for 42 years. During this time I was the traffic manager, a liaison between our company and the railroads for 22 years. I was privileged to get to know many fine railroad representatives and their railroads. A high percentage of our raw and finished products was moved by rail. We received grain by hopper cars and shipped our finished product—wheat flour—in bags by boxcar. Bulk flour was loaded into pneumatic Airslide hopper cars. We had a
3. Workers wait to service the steam locomotive with water, coal, oil, and grease. Note the round, decorative rock between the tracks. The tracks prevent the round river rock from moving around.
private fleet of Airslides plus railroadassigned cars in which to ship our flour. When I retired, I wanted to do something to keep me busy at home. I was already an active woodworker and liked to work with my hands. After all, I had been sitting at a desk and using my head skills for the past 42 years. In the first part of 2005 I started reading articles in Garden Railways magazine, and I made a decision to build a railroad garden. During the winter of 2005, I started to design a garden that would be large enough for buildings, a mountain area, a walkway,
and a gazebo that would look like an old rail car. The buildings would include a grain elevator, flour mill, and a user of these finished products: a pizza plant. All of these would represent my work history. My wife’s hobby is flower and vegetable gardening. She agreed to help find and plant suitable-size plants.
Getting started
The garden area needed a lot of leveling, as our ground is on a hill. Since we live outside the city, the area would have to be fenced to keep out the deer and other www.GardenRailways.com
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Mainline (diesel) Lodge
1
Mainline (steam)
8 10
7
Engine house
4' tunnel
Depot
Wall Drug Store
North Ohio Central Railroad
5
3
Bridge
Church Gazebo
Cement crossing 9 Master switch box
4
11
Service track
2
6 Pizza plant
Grain elevator
Flour mill Fence
The railway at a glance Name: North Ohio Central Railroad Size: 32' x 48' Scale: 1:29 Gauge: Nº 1 Era: 1940-1960 Theme: South side, industrial; north side, mountains, depot, and lodging Age: 8 years Motive power: Battery-powered diesels and steam locomotives; one live-steam engine Length of mainline: 233' Maximum gradient: 1.5% Type of track: Aristo-Craft and LGB brass track Minimum radius: 5' Structures: All scratchbuilt—grain elevator, wheat-flour mill, pizza plant, depot, Wall Drug store, lodge, church Control system: R/C by LocoLinc and Aristo-Craft Revolution Train Engineer
animals. Also, the fence would have to be solid to reduce the wind in the garden. In March of 2006 I started building the fence. I had seen an idea at a garden show where discarded tires were used as a wall to contain dirt. I talked with the local tire dealer that I did business with, and he was more than happy to get rid of old tires, at no cost to me. I used 190 tires, with 79 tons of dirt packed into them. I covered them with engineering cloth, which
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Garden Railways | April 2015
would contain the dirt but let water pass through. This leveled the ground between the tires and the finished blocks on the front side. I also installed water and electrical lines for a future drip-irrigation system for the plants and trees, and for electricity in the garden. When I subscribed to GR, I also bought the book, Beginning Garden Railroading (now out of print— Ed.), which had the scale-and-gauge numbers I needed to get started.
Structures
The majority of my buildings are scratchbuilt from my own scale drawings. My first structure was the grain elevator. It was sure fun, building it to scale and placing my first locomotive by it. I wanted this structure to stay out in the weather, so materials had to be weather resistant. I used PVC tubing for the elevator tanks, cement backer board (Hardibacker) for the head house, and real roofing material for the roof. I welded the safety rail on top of the elevator tanks out of 3/16"-diameter steel rod. The top of the head house is a part from a discarded microwave oven. The flour mill came next. It is a close replica of the flour mill I managed. It was also built to stay out in the weather. Again, I used Hardibacker for the walls, and actual roofing material for the roof. I had help creating the large dust bin. That came from J.S. Woodcrafts, an advertiser in Garden Railways. The other bins, tanks, and miscellaneous parts came from heavy aluminum containers and pieces of an old refrigerator and computer that I remade to look like things that would be used in flour manufacturing. The pizza plant is a scaled-down version of the plant to which we delivered flour by truck. In my version, the plant is
4. The fenced train garden is separate from the rest of the yard. The garden is entered over two mainlines set in a concrete walkway that leads to an oval garden, where the theme is associated with the author’s work and travel. Industry is on the left; on the right are a lake, mountain, and structures to accommodate folks who travel by train.
5. The 4-6-4 emerges from the four-foot rock tunnel. The wildlife below watches a father and son fishing in the lake.
6. A private, empty bulk-flour hopper waits to be picked up from the siding near the bulk silos. The silos were made in two modules that can be removed and stored. www.GardenRailways.com
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7. The retaining wall holding 79 tons of dirt. The upper surface is covered with natural rock and coral bells, which blend with the boulders. Between the dwarf Alberta spruce trees and the fence, the author used 190 tires as a retaining wall around the perimeter. Blue Spruce sedum crops up between stones.
8. The train has passed and people are moving to and from the depot to the various buildings via wood walkways. Dwarf Alberta spruce between the buildings has been tightly sheared to accommodate the pedestrians.
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Garden Railways | April 2015
served by rail. Again, some of the parts I had made by J.S. Woodcrafts. Many of the items on the roof and next to the building were fragile and would not withstand a Kansas storm. I built them in modules that we remove after open days. Even the winged chimneys come off. One of the chimneys has a smoke generator that gives off a little smoke when a pizza gets somewhat overdone. The large refrigerator condensers have 12V fans. Flour bins are made of heavy aluminum beer bottles. The office has a finished second floor, with a large conference table and employees working out a problem. The main structure stays out during the summer months. It is also built of cement board. The depot is built of cedar, with siding machined to look like lap siding. The roof is real roofing material and could stay out in the weather. Chimneys are made of extruded aluminum and they extend to the floor of the depot. I made the chimneys so that I can cut off a 4" piece of
9. The scratchbuilt flour mill and grain elevator are close replicas of the place the author spent much of his working life. The prototype mill was chartered in the early 1900s and is still producing 600,000 pounds of wheat flour a day. These two structures have been in the garden for over six years with only light maintenance. Both have lamps with fixtures the author made out of small-diameter aluminum tubing and fender washers.
punk to drop down them, which provides around 10 to 15 minutes of smoke. The chimneys are removable for cleaning. The building has wood-plank floor. There is a fireplace that lights up, a ticket counter, and a restaurant with folks inside, waiting for the train. This building is put away after an open day. The next building I built was the great lodge, which was built to fit into a curve between the tracks. It is made of cedar logs that I machined. The lodge has 27 rooms, some of which are occupied by furniture and people. My wife made curtains for those who do not want to be seen. The top center room is the bridal suite, occupied by a bride and groom. It has a canopy bed, a fireplace that lights up, a couch, chairs, and a makeup table. It also has a chandelier and pole light. The bottom right portion of the structure is the commissary, with stoves, dishes, and tables. If you look through the windows, you’ll see folks enjoying their meals. The
Plants on the North Ohio Central Railroad Salina, Kansas | USDA Hardiness Zone 6 CONIFERS Dwarf Alberta spruce
Picea glauca ‘Conica’ GROUNDCOVER Bugleweed
Ajuga reptans
Silver mound wormwood
Artemisia schmidtiana ‘Silver Mound’
Tickseed
Creeping phlox
Frosty Fire dianthus, pinks
Pearlwort
Coreopsis sp.
Phlox subulatum
Dianthus x allwoodii ‘Frosty Fire’ Silver Indiana coral bells
Heuchera ‘Silver Indiana’
Sagina procumbens Blue Spruce stonecrop
Sedum reflexum ‘Blue Spruce’ Sedum, stonecrop
Sedum sp.
White candytuft
Iberis sempervirens
roof is cement board covered with aluminum and was made with lighting installed for all the rooms. Floors can be removed through the removable roof for service. This building also has two chimneys that burn punk and can be removed for clean-
ing. The lodge is made to take the weather but I do not leave it out. The last building I made in the winter months was the Wall Drug store. It, too, is made of cedar logs with a wood-plank floor. The roofing is real and this building www.GardenRailways.com
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10. Santa Fe A-B-A diesels with a passenger train wait on the siding in front of the lodge, Wall Drug, and the depot. All of the buildings were designed and scratchbuilt by the author.
could stay outside, but it doesn’t. Inside are shelves stocked with goods, including a table with bolts of cloth and a sewing machine. There’s a counter with a cash register and a clerk waiting to ring up your purchases. The building was built with lighting, both inside and in the covered walkways. During the last couple of years I have added lighting to all my buildings. Some of the lights I made and some I bought. The necessary wiring was, for the most part, buried when I built the garden. I used two-prong trailer connections for my structures where the wires surface from the ground. Transformers that power the lights are 12V, housed at one location for service to all buildings.
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Garden Railways | April 2015
The railroad
Track and buildings are relatively level but the walking area follows the contour of the ground. The entrance at the east is the highest, with the track and buildings being about one foot higher than the path. As you proceed to the west end, the path descends a little, so the track and buildings are about 2'10" higher than the path. This allows guests to be able to look into the buildings’ interiors. Track switches are pneumatically controlled. A covered master switch box contains the track schematic with all the toggle controls. A compressor is hidden behind the elevator. When it runs, I tell my guests that the elevator is operating and mixing wheat.
Battery power
My inventory of locomotives includes two Aristo-Craft SD-45s (freight engines), an EMD F3 A-B-A set by USA trains (passenger engines), a live-steam 2-8-2 Mikado and a 4-6-2 Pacific by Aristo-Craft, and an electric JID 4-6-4 Hudson by USA trains. All locomotives except the live-steam Mikado are battery powered. Batteries are contained within the bodies or tenders of the locomotives (see “Installing batteries in Aristo-Craft locomotives,” June 2013, GR). All of the locomotives have quickly replaceable lithium-ion battery packs, except the SD-45, which still has a battery pack fixed inside. I hope to change that so it, too, is quickly replaceable.
11. A Union Pacific SD-45 brings grain hoppers down the siding for storage near the flour mill. The scratchbuilt grain elevator can be seen in the background.
About the author
Creeping phlox adds color to the railroad in the spring. This is a low-maintenance perennial that takes light watering and some trimming.
I also have three trailing battery cars, all boxcars. Two of the cars carry three 6V gel-cell batteries. These two cars run with two different sets of passenger cars to provide electric power for lighting the interior of the cars. The third boxcar has a quick-change lithium-ion battery pack for backing up the locomotives. I am in the process of modifying one of the boxcars to look like a generator car. There are several things I like about this hobby. One is scratchbuilding the structures, which I do during the winter months. Most of the structures, from drawing them to building them, take from two to three months. I work when time is available, not to a strict schedule. Springtime, when all the flowers are
Richard Nelson was employed in the milling and grain industry for 42 years, 22 of which were spent as a traffic manger, working with various railroads regarding equipment, shipping, routing, and rates. The balance of his employment was as general manager of the facility. He enjoyed building the garden and all of the scratchbuilt structures. He is also interested in woodworking and creating things for friends, family, and charity. His wife Harriett is an avid gardener and has contributed to the plants in the train garden. Richard and Harriet enjoy entertaining and travel and have six grandchildren. They have an open house each year where many train enthusiasts, including the Wichita Area Garden Railway Society, are invited for an evening of entertainment.
blooming and we are in the garden working on the placement of the new structure, is always a pleasure. Later in the summer we have an open house for invited guests. This is one of the best aspects of a train garden—you can share it with other people. Young railroad enthusiasts are reluctant to leave and cannot wait to come back (an attitude shared by older visitors). This encourages me to build new things to keep their interest. Meeting all of the interesting people who attend is also a positive experience. There are also some irritating things that garden railroaders have to accept. The weather is one. Being in Kansas, our storms come with high winds, hail, and always the threat of something worse.
Mice will eat anything so you must run everything you can in conduits. Even though we have a cat, I set out traps that the mouser can’t reach. There is always something to do: vegetation to cut back, weeds to pull, or something to change that isn’t just right. All of this is what makes railroad gardening unique over all other hobbies.
Online extras Registered users of our website can view two videos of the North Ohio Central. Visit www.Garden Railways.com and type “North Ohio Central” in the search box.
www.GardenRailways.com
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INTERMEDIATE PROJECT
The scratchbuilt watchman’s tower in place on the author’s garden railway.
A scratchbuilt watchman’s tower Leftover coach parts inspired this structure by Mike Garforth | Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, England |
S
ometimes it never ceases to amaze me how one project can unintentionally lead to another, previously unimagined. This was the case with the watchman’s tower. My garden railway has tight curves, down to 30" radius, and I decided to reduce the length of my Bachmann coaches to produce a rake of “shorty” coaches that would better fit this environment. All went well and the 30' coaches, combine, and baggage car now trundle around, looking much more in keeping with the
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Garden Railways | April 2015
PHOTOS BY THE AUTHOR, ILLUSTRATION BY MARC HOROVITZ
track they have to negotiate. Looking at the selection of odd, leftover off-cuts (no modeler ever throws anything away), it occurred to me that the window sections might make up into a small trackside cabin. A quick look through my collection of old Garden Railways and Model Railroader magazines shifted my idea to one of raising the cabin on legs to produce a more interesting structure, and the idea of the watchman’s tower was born. The cabin was made by using lengths
of Plastruct 3/16" angle to form the corners, into which were glued the ex-coach side pieces. The door was formed by adding a simple frame around one window section. A piece of 1/8" ply was cut to form a sub floor, onto which I glued a section of coach flooring. The completed floor was then simply glued in place on the old floor braces. This left a lip of about 1/4", which proved ideal for holding the legs in place. The cabin roof is made of four pieces of thin ply, onto which I glued a covering of slate-embossed styrene. Thin strips of
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Scale for 1:13.7 (7⁄8”) in actual inches 0
1
2
3
4
Scale for 1:20.3 in actual inches 0
1
2
3
4
Scale for 1:22.5 in actual inches 0
1
2
3
4
Scale for 1:24 in actual inches 0
1
2
3
4
Scale for 1:32 in actual inches
To scale these drawings for your scale, enlarge them so the inch scale printed above exactly matches a ruler. Below are approximate percentages. Check your results against the ruler. 1:32—107% 1:24—143% 1:22.5—152% 1:20.3—168% 1:13.7—249%
The Heritage Route
www.GardenRailways.com
47
A three-quarter view of the tower. Windows and wall panels came from an old Bachmann coach.
gaffer’s tape were run down the outer corner seams and a gaffer-tape cap top was fitted at the peak. A hole through the roof supported a length of 3/8"-diameter styrene tube, which formed the chimney stack. The roof was then given a coat of autoprimer gray, followed by semi-gloss black. I made a removable roof for the tower cabin to be able to extract bugs that decided to set up house inside, and for easy cleaning of the interior. To prevent the roof blowing off in high winds, I added an internal 3/16" x 1/2" platform to the upper part of the cabin, and a box-type fitting to the underside of the roof that formed a snug fit into the cabin “platform.” The cabin support tower is made of North Eastern scale lumber, which was distressed with a fine-tooth saw blade to give a woodgrain effect, before being cut
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Garden Railways | April 2015
The back side of the structure.
to length. The four main legs are 3/8" square, with 1/4" x 3/32" diagonal bracing. The outer platform and stairway supports are 3/16" square, with 1/4" x 3/32" bracing. The steps were made from 1/2" x 1/8" stripwood, as were the side supports. The platforms themselves are scribed 1/8" sheet. All the pieces were glued together with waterproof white glue, then soaked in a bath of wood preserver. The whole tower was then sprayed a nice maroon color from a can of auto spray. Seath Valley Railroad dry-transfers were added to the front and rear faces of the cabin, the glazing was fitted, and a stove was added to one corner of the cabin. Oh yes—Jack the watchman was glued to one of the outer platforms. The whole structure has survived 11 years in the open and, apart from having
to re-glue the odd handrail due to careless handling, and re-spraying the roof once, it looks to be good for a few more years, no doubt with more natural weathering. The tower would make a nice, simple project using styrene strip and sheet instead of the leftover parts and wood I used. Now, what can I produce from the remaining seats, partitions, and roofing of the original coaches?
Online extras Registered users of our website can download drawings of another watchman’s shanty, designed by Ted Stinson. Visit www.GardenRail ways.com and type “Plan set #81” in the search box.
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49
ADVANCED PROJECT
Build a
rivet-forming tool Most of the material for this useful device came from the scrap box by Brian Goring | Pleucadeuc, France |
PHOTOS BY THE AUTHOR, ILLUSTRATIONS BY MARC HOROVITZ
The author built this rivet machine mostly out of scrap for little cost.
At the top of the photo are the punch and die. Below are examples of rivets punched into styrene and brass sheet.
or straight lining, and it required the rivets to be glued in place. Having spent such a large sum of money on something that did not fulfill the desired role, I had to resort to a cheap and more useful alternative. I began to formulate ideas for a do-it-yourself version. The drawings presented here show materials and the method of construction. None of the materials actually cost me anything—like most serious garden railroaders, I am a hoarder and have accumulated a large stock of useful material.
The frame
I
am building a live-steam model of a Darjeeling and Himalayan B-class locomotive, but I am trying to capture more of the atmosphere of the real thing than commercially available models offer. However; this has presented problems of its own—namely the vast number of rivets used on the actual engines. These are definitely part of the character these enchanting machines and cannot be ignored. I originally thought of using real rivets. However, the size and quantity of those used on the prototype did not make
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Garden Railways | April 2015
this a realistic option, so they had to be simulated. Looking through a French model magazine, I came across an advertisement for a tool of American manufacture that was capable of producing rivets of different sizes. It seemed to fit the bill and I duly sent for one. Upon receiving it, I was disappointed. Not only did it use a hand-held punch, but required a special sort of lead laminated sheet on which to produce the rivets. The tool was expensive and there was no way of ensuring accurate spacing
The main part of the tool came from a beautiful piece of stainless steel bar, 25 x 19mm. Three hacksaw blades and two 5mm drill bits later, I arrived at the lengths shown in the drawings. This part of the project is where the most care and accuracy is needed. A bench drill press is a must. I would recommend aluminum or mild steel for these parts. Once they are cut to length, you can start drilling the holes. To ensure that the positions of the holes are marked and center punched on the 132mm bar (part A) accurately, place the bar in the machine vise, making absolutely sure that the drill is at right angles
to the bar. When accurate hole shape and size are important, start with a small drill and increase the sizes gradually until you reach the finished size. Do this without moving the vise. It’s tedious but it ensures accurate centering. At this point, leave the holes at 5mm and clamp the bar to the 122mm piece (part B), ensuring the ends and sides are flush. Again, it is vital that the bars be at right angles to the drill and that the 5mm drill passes through the previously-drilled hole without interference. After drilling, the holes in the longer bar can be opened out to 6mm. Remember to use the 5mm drill to center the bar first. This operation is carried out at one end of the bars only at this time. The next task is to cut the threads in the shorter bar using an M5 tap. After cutting the threads, bolt the two pieces together. They should fit flush together, particularly the sides. The holes that the punch will slide in can be drilled next, again using the 5mm drill. Without moving the vise, open the holes out to 6mm, to a depth of 40mm. This will allow a 6mm thread in the bottom bar for attaching the base. The punch and die holes should now be in perfect alignment, which is vital to the machine’s function. Drilling the depth-regulating screw hole is straightforward. Drill 5mm all the way through, then open the hole up half way from the bottom with a 6mm drill. The top is tapped M6. To finish the frame, clamp the 32mm spacer (part B) to the top piece and drill the 6mm holes. The whole assembly can now be bolted together and a quick check with a 6mm rod or drill will test the alignment of the punch and die.
Part A
Part B
Part J Part L Part F Part K
Part G Part D Part G
Ball bearing and axle
Part C
Part E Part H All of the parts for the machine. None are difficult to make, although a drill press is necessary and a lathe is required for a couple of the parts.
The lever assembly
The material for the lever assembly is mild-steel bar, 19 x 4.9mm. Cut the upright support arms (part G) and mark and center-punch the hole positions. These are 6mm in diameter when finished but, again, I suggest starting small and working your way up. It might be a good idea to mark out and drill the frame first, then drill one hole in the support arm— the bottom one, perhaps, and bolt the two together to locate the second hole. Repeat for the second arm, then bolt both arms together to drill the pivot holes. This will ensure everything lines up.
The machine in use. An auxiliary guide has been placed at the back of the machine. The original guide is at the left—note the groove milled into it.
Having drilled the second hole in the frame, the two arms can be bolted to it using M6 x 40 screws and nuts. The reason for the long screws is that there should be a length of plain, unthreaded shank within the assembly, which is best for use as a pivot. The excess can be sawn off. Next, cut two lengths of the bar to 72mm (part F). Mark out the position of
the three holes. Note the centerline of the 1 �8 " hole. Clamp the two pieces together and drill the first hole, which is the 6mm one that forms the pivot for the lever. The other hole on the centerline can be of any size, as its purpose is to clamp all three pieces together. The 1 �8 " hole is for the axle of a 3 �8 " ball bearing. This is not strictly required but it does make the operation www.GardenRailways.com
51
much smoother. Without it, there is a tendency to jar when the lever transitions from the vertical to the horizontal.
Frame parts Counterbore for allen screw
Tap M6
28
32
55 2 holes 6mm
16
B
All dimensions are in millimeters
All parts shown at 50% actual size
8
L
25
25
16
6 13
25
A 8
Punch and die
12
6
132
Tap M6 122
Spring 6
10
25
C Tap M6
180 12
D Lever assembly parts
320
Rounded hex 10
19 3.2
E 6mm
5mm
J
60
72
22
22
1.5
9.5
Punch
15
19 3.2
F
Mill groove for clearance around die
1⁄8"
1 1.5
6 19
Parts list
A, B, & C Mild steel or aluminum bar, 15mm x 25mm D Aluminum or mild steel—shape and size depends on availability E Mild steel bar, 19mm x 4.9mm F & G Mild steel bar, 19mm x 4.9mm, make 2 H Plastic block, 40mm x 35mm x 15mm J Mild steel or drill rod, 6mm Ø K Mild steel or drill rod, 6mm Ø—O.D. of the top portion of the die can vary to suit rivet spacing L Spring—25mm x 6mm I.D.
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Garden Railways | April 2015
1.5
20 6
25 35
3 holes, 6mm
H
Tap M6 12.5
30
G
13
56
40
12.5 15
Guide
Additional parts Qty. Name 2 Allen screw 2 Allen screw 1 Allen screw 1 Nut 1 Steel rod 1 Ball bearing 1 Screw 1 Nut 3 Screw 3 Nut 1 Screw
Size M6 x 55mm M6 x 15mm M6 x 30mm M6 1⁄8" x 20mm 3⁄8" Ø x 1⁄8" bore M5 x 25mm M5 M6 x 40mm M6 M6 x 20mm
K
Die
The next items are the punch (part J) and die (part K). These can be made from mild steel or drill rod. The second is preferable, as it can be hardened and tempered. Unfortunately, I had no drill rod, so I made mine from 6mm mild steel. These items really require the use of a lathe. After going to all those lengths to ensure that the two 6mm holes line up, if the punch and die are not concentric, all will have been in vain. For a 1.5mm rivet head in 0.012" shim brass, the die hole is 1.5mm in diameter x a depth of 1.5mm. The head of the punch should be turned down to 1mm diameter for a length of 1.5mm, and the end shaped into a hemisphere. In use, the depth of the punch is regulated by the screw at the end of the frame, limiting the amount of lever movement. One millimeter is a good figure. Spacing of the rivets is achieved by bringing the head of the first-formed rivet in contact with the edge of the die. It follows that, by varying the diameter of the die round about its head, the spacing of the rivets can be altered. The device is quite capable of making 2mm-diameter rivet heads in 0.5mmthick brass. Remember that the hole in the die must be the be punch size plus 2x the thickness of metal used. The return spring for the punch (part L) is a standard size and should be easily available at a hardware store. The ball bearing was obtained from a model-R/C-car shop and it cost very little. Concerning the base (part D), the scrap yard did me proud by providing me with a 180mm diameter aluminium offcut, 13mm thick. I used cap-head screws to fasten the base to the frame but countersunk screws would work equally well. Construction of the plastic linear guide is self explanatory. It could just as well have been made from aluminium but plastic was available. The total cost to me to build this press was less than two dollars. The screws I got from an industrial-fasteners warehouse—they were sweepings from the warehouse floor!
Fruit of the author’s labor. The part-finished Darjeeling B-class 0-4-0T shows how important, visually, the rivets are to this project.
The machine in use
This machine has had a fair amount of usage, but not without some problems. The first of these was not being able to get the rivets close enough to the edge of the material. I solved this problem by milling a 6mm half groove in the center of the guide (part H). Accuracy is essential in placing this groove. If milling is not practical, then clamp a second piece of the same material to the guide and drill a 6mm hole exactly through the joint; that will achieve the same result. The second problem concerns the ball bearing. Things were fine using brass up to 0.020" thick but, when I tried using 0.032"-thick material, there was a loud bang and the bearing disintegrated. It is unlikely that I would want to form artificial rivets in that thickness of material. I made a wheel out of brass to the same dimensions as the bearing, so this should avoid the problem, although the action is not quite as smooth. Be forewarned. I am pleased with the device and there is potential to put it to other uses—for example, punching holes in material that is too thin to drill conventionally.
A guide has been clamped to the work to enable a perfectly straight, angled line of rivets. www.GardenRailways.com
53
ADVANCED PROJECT
Kitbashing a Big Wamp
Making a Western Pacific class 251 from an Aristo-Craft 2-8-8-2 by Joel Harrison | Sacramento, California |
Western Pacific Nº 253, a 2-8-8-2 articulated locomotive, heads up a long freight drag on the author’s California garden railway. The locomotive was extensively kitbashed from an Aristo-Craft model. JOEL HARRISON
PHOTOS AS NOTED
M
y garden railroad is modeled after a portion of the Western Pacific Railroad’s Feather River Canyon in Northern California. After reading an article in GR by Alan Olson (February 2008) regarding his conversion of an AristoCraft USRA Mallet into a Denver & Rio Grande Western, I was motivated by the thought of having my 2-8-8-2 kitbashed to resemble a WP engine. I contacted Alan to see if he would like to collaborate on this project. I found him through the Colorado Railroad Museum, where he spends time, and he agreed to my request.
The prototype
When delivered from Baldwin Locomotive Works in 1931, the WP 2-8-8-2s were
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Garden Railways | April 2015
The black sections are the only original parts of the tender, which was lengthened and raised with styrene to match the prototype. Also shown are the Accucraft Commonwealth six-wheel trucks. ALAN OLSON
among the most powerful steam locomotives in the world. They were designed to pull heavy Pacific Fruit Express trains (65-74 cars) up the 1% grade over the 117mile track from Oroville to Portola at 18-25 mph. These engines were fitted with
a Franklin booster on the trailing truck to assist in starting heavy trains. They were also used in pulling troop trains during WWII. Enginemen called these behemoth locomotives “Big Wamps.” I began by researching information in
books, in newsletters, on postcards, in magazines, and on the Internet, even going to museums to acquire details on these locomotives. There were only six engines in this class built and they were all scrapped by 1952. Some of the details that made the WP 2-8-8-2s stand out from the others include the following: they were “simple” (not compound) locomotives, with superheated high-pressure cylinders on both engine sets; they had distinctive deflectors on their smoke stacks; they had Elesco feedwater heaters; their dual air-pump compressors were mounted on the front of the smokebox; and the pilot and front beams had deck-mounted headlights. The top of the boiler was also different from most 2-8-8-2s in the configuration of the safety valves, turret, sand dome, and feedwater heater. The front pilot truck and rear Delta trailing truck were external friction-bearing type. Their tenders had 6,000-gallon oil bunkers and were long USRA-types with Commonwealth threeaxle trucks.
A completely new pilot was scratchbuilt from various sizes and shapes of styrene. Handrails were made of brass rods, soldered together for strength. The original headlight housing was modified to fit the new deck. ALAN OLSON
The clam-shell-type smoke deflector took some research to determine just how it should look. Fortunately, Joel found several photos that helped. The delicate deflector assembly is a snug fit over the stack and can be removed for transport. ALAN OLSON
Requirements
Once the details had been worked out, I began a “modification list” to coordinate with Alan. Given that there weren’t many available surviving photos of these engines, a lot of what we could do would be somewhat speculative. This left us room for a little improvising. In other words, by looking at the model, one would see a locomotive and tender that appeared to have a close resemblance to a WP 2-8-8-2. Plus, I was looking for a locomotive that would be functional on my garden railroad and would be right at home pulling long freights.
Modifications
The first step in the modification process was to change out the low-pressure (front) cylinder set that came with the locomotive from Aristo-Craft. A new high-pressure assembly was ordered. The appropriate supports were then fabricated to provide strength and an exact fit. This proved to be important, as I wanted to be sure that the valve motion would be free moving with no binding. A Phoenix PB9 sound system was ordered, giving me the capability of using two speakers and being able to adjust the “Mallet mode and second-chuff-trigger
The smokebox was extended with a spacer, and a new smokebox face and door were added. The original cross-compound air pumps were moved from the side of the boiler and mounted to the smokebox face. Also visible on top is the rectangular cover for the superheater, with the many bolt-head castings and the cylindrical feedwater heater. ALAN OLSON
mode.” After removing the top portion of the boiler for access to the area that would be the lower firebox, I drilled holes and mounted a 31/2" speaker for the rear engine set. I drilled another set of holes near the front end (in the bottom of the smokebox), where a small, oval speaker was mounted to provide sound for the front engine set. I fabricated dense cardboard baffle enclosures for the backsides of both speakers to obtain better performance, as I wanted the locomotive to have the distinctive sound of the driving-wheel sets a
bit out of synchronization. This installation and set up was handled by Ron Titus. To trigger the chuffs, Ron placed magnets on one driving wheel on each set, somewhat out of “quarter,” to achieve the distinctive out-of-phase beat characteristic of these big engines. Once this installation was complete, we ran a test (with the engine on rollers) to ensure that the sound produced was what I was looking for. Finally, I needed a set of decals for the locomotive and tender. I contacted Stan Cedarleaf for a custom set, and he produced his usual fine product. By now www.GardenRailways.com
55
H.L. BROADBELT COLLECTION
The finished, weathered model conveys the massiveness and hard life of the prototype. ALAN OLSON
This Baldwin builder’s photo shows a sister locomotive of the author’s model. Ten of these massive locomotives comprised the largest engines on the Western Pacific line.
A Delta trailing truck was made by adding cantilevered boxes to the sides of a stock trailing-truck frame. These were used to hang the cut-down Delta truck castings. The large curved arch was removed, a new arch was fabricated from styrene, and brass wire was added to simulate the raised perimeter cross section of the prototype. ALAN OLSON
most of the detail parts had been collected and it was time to pack up the locomotive and tender for Alan to work his magic.
The tender
The tender was the first order of business. After comparing the Aristo-Craft tender to prototype photographs, we decided that the tender and frame would require extensive modifications. The body was lengthened 11/2" and raised by 1/2". A unique vent was fabricated (common to almost all of Western Pacific’s tenders) using styrene and brass tubing. Another
56
Garden Railways | April 2015
distinction of big WP tenders was a hatch, which Alan fabricated by mating two layers of .090" styrene and attaching modified Ozark Miniatures hinges. He then fabricated the Western Pacific-style rear light, ladder, and grab irons. Archer #AR88051 0-scale bridge rivets were applied to the tender-tank sides. These are resin rivets on decal paper; two layers were needed to make the rivet depth enough to stand out after painting. Once they were dry, gray primer was applied; then two coats of Testors Model Master gloss-black paint, the enameled heralds of the Western Pacific—Feather River Route, and decals completed the tender (before the final weathering).
The boiler
The boiler was extensively modified, first by removing all the details. The smokebox was lengthened by adding 1/2" to each end.
This was needed to accommodate the Elesco feedwater heater, superheater manifold cover, and smoke-stack extension. The Elesco feedwater heater was modified by adding the appropriate rivet and bolt detail. The boiler bands are two sizes of strip styrene and are located to represent the narrow spacing over the firebox and standard spacing up to the smokebox. The superheater access patch is a piece of flat styrene sheet with nut-and-bolt castings added around the perimeter. The stock classification lights, as received, had red lenses. Those were replaced with clear and green lenses made from circles cut from lighting-gel samples. Studying photos of the prototype pilot deck suggested another total rebuild. The basic components were sized to be proportional to the Aristo-Craft front end. The original headlight was modified by adding the front number board and brass
The author’s garden railway was designed to resemble a portion of the Western Pacific Railroad’s Feather River Canyon in Northern California. Nº 253 looks right at home, hauling its long freight train through the rocky terrain. JOEL HARRISON
ALAN OLSON
angle for mounting to the deck. Care was taken to avoid making the detailing too delicate for everyday use. The front tube pilot was a modified product from Trackside Details. A new trailing truck (friction outsidebearing type) was built from a Delta trailing truck. The large, curved arch was removed and a more squared-off arch was fabricated with styrene, with brass wire added to simulate the raised-perimeter cross section.
Weathering
Weathering on Nº 253 was done with a combination of materials. These engines were worked hard and little time was spent on “spit and polish.” This model had to look dirty. To remove any grease or oil, the running gear was thoroughly cleaned with Bestine solvent, which is commonly used as a reducer for rubber cement. Then the wheel treads and flanges were masked off and a light dusting of Krylon gray primer was sprayed on. This was to give some “tooth” to the metal and plastic surfaces before various colors of chalk were applied and sealed
The finished locomotive ready for a test run at the Denver Garden Railway Society’s railway at the Colorado Railroad Museum. Weathering was done with acrylic washes and chalks. The engineer’s clothing is painted white to match a photo that Joel has in his collection.
with some Testors Dullcote. After that, some dry brushing on areas such as the smokebox was done with acrylic craft paint. Finally, the engineer (wearing a white hat and jacket) and the fireman received custom paint jobs to give life to the cab. What a fun project this turned out to be! Working with a master modeler like
Alan was a joy. Not only did we converse about the project but, since both of us had operated coal-fired steam locomotives at museums, that gave us an even closer connection to the outcome of Nº 253. I am very happy with Nº 253 and hope it encourage others to consider building their favorite locomotives for their own garden railroads. www.GardenRailways.com
57
BEGINNER PROJECT
Build an industrial water tank T A simple project produces a useful structure by Nick Kelsey | Canby, Oregon |
PHOTOS BY THE AUTHOR
his round, wooden water tank would be suitable in an industrial setting and it conforms to the “10-foot rule.” Mine will be going on the roof of the new brewery in town. The dimensions of a Noxzema jar make this a quick-and-easy project. Craft sticks are long enough to form the tank sides and they fit the circumference of the jar with little or no trimming. Refer to the sidebars for materials and tools.
The tank The author built this attractive industrial water tank out of a Noxzema jar and hobby craft sticks.
Using a square and marking pen, create some guidelines on the side of the jar (photo 1). Then coat the exterior of the jar with a thin layer of Liquid Nails adhesive. Place the craft sticks on the jar (photo 2) until you have covered the entire surface (photo 3). Don’t worry if the sticks are not perfectly vertical or bulge out from the jar a little. We will address that later. Cut several lengths of wire long enough to wrap around the tank. Twist the ends together. Too long is much better than too short. Remove bends and kinks in the wire, if needed, by pulling the wire over the corner of a block of wood or the edge of your bench. This should also put a nice curve on the wire. Place a loop of wire near the top of the tank, twist the ends together, then tighten it by further twisting with pliers. Repeat for the bottom of the tank (photo 4).
Materials Empty Noxzema jar (or similar) Wood craft or “Popsicle” sticks Plastic tubing Stripwood for ladder Liquid Nails or similar adhesive Titebond III or similar waterproof wood glue Garden wire or similar Scrap 3/8" square cedar strips Wood stain or other finish as desired
58
Garden Railways | April 2015
1. Guidelines, made with a square and a permanent marker on the side of the jar, help to keep the staves vertical.
2. Craft sticks are glued to the jar.
3. The entire jar has been covered with craft sticks.
4. Wires with their ends twisted draw the staves tightly to the jar.
5. With their ends trimmed, the wires resemble hoops.
6. The staves have been trimmed and sanded flush with the top and bottom of the jar.
7. Craft sticks are glued to the staves to form the top of the tank.
8. Boards have been roughly trimmed. They will next be sanded smooth.
9. Pins have been used to represent nails, suggesting a wooden substructure.
10. Wooden planks forming the base are pin-nailed to the cross members beneath.
Now you can adjust any out-of-square staves, making them vertical; any bulging should be taken up by the wire. Add additional hoops around the staves as necessary. Clip off the twisted section at about 1/4" and push the wire ends down flat with the staves to simulate the hoop fastenings (photo 5). Now it’s time to cut off the staves. You can use a handsaw for this or, if you are very careful, a chop saw. When the staves are cut nearly to length, sand them flush with the top and bottom of the jar (photo 6). The stopping point is when you start sanding the jar lid and bottom as well as the staves. Now for the top of the tank. Put Titebond or other good wood glue on the top edges of the staves, and a coating of Liquid Nails on the jar. Starting at one edge, lay craft sticks across the top, then adjust them to cover the top evenly. There should be about 1/16" overhang on the sides (photo 7). Once the glue has set up, use diagonal cutters to trim the craft sticks close to the staves (photo 8), then use a belt sander as a stationary sander to take down the excess, leaving a slight overhang. I then
www.GardenRailways.com
59
Tools Pliers Diagonal cutters Sandpaper and block Hand saw Razor saw Box cutter Square Pencil Marking pen 11. Plastic tubing was bent to shape with a heat gun.
Optional Belt sander Chop saw Pin nailer
12. The pipe has been painted black and inserted into a hole made in the top.
drew lines across the top and pin-nailed the boards to simulate fastenings to beams under the top (photo 9).
The base
13. The ladder, made from scrap, is being held in place by a piece of wire.
14. The finished tank, ready to install.
I found some pieces of cedar from an earlier scratchbuilding project to use as beams for the platform. These were about 3/8" square. You can use whatever wood you have available. Cut four pieces, each 4" long. Set them on edge and, using Titebond, glue craft sticks on top to make a 4" x 4" platform. There will be a slight overhang on the two sides. You can leave this or trim it off later, as you wish. I also pinnailed the planks to the beams, as the heads will rust and make a nice detail (photo 10). I sanded the base and glued the tank to it using Titebond on the bottom of the tank staves.
Piping and ladder
15. This earlier tank has a square-cornered feed pipe.
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Garden Railways | April 2015
I found some scrap plastic tubing and, using a heat gun, bent the end into a U-shape (photo 11). You could also cut plastic tubing at 45° angles to make a square-corner pipe if you prefer. I painted the tubing black and drilled holes in the top of the tank and base into which I inserted the pipe (photo 12). Make sure to avoid the pin nails when choosing where to put the pipe. I made my ladder out of some scrap cedar, glued with Titebond, then Titebond-glued it to the side of the tank, using another loop of wire to hold the ladder in place while the glue dried (photo 13). Make a hatch out of craft sticks and scrap, and glue it on the top of the tank. I stained my tank with a coating of walnut stain and, when it dried, sprayed on a coating of clear matte finish. The tank was then ready to install (photo 14). Photo 15 shows my first tank, with the squarecorner feed pipe.
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Gold Rush, beautiful national parks, and Indian culture are famous for Colorado, the highest-altitude state of America. Colorado‘s unique scenery offers prairie grasslands, majestic mountains and shining rivers. You will feel the flair of the Wild West in the mining towns of Durango and Silverton. The days will be filled with breath taking rides on board the Royal Gorge Route Railroad, the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad - America’s longest and highest narrow gauge steam railway -, the famous Durango & Silverton Railroad and the Rio Grande Scenic Railroad. A visit to the Great Sand Dunes National Park is also included. Option: National Garden Railway Convention in Denver – a must for all train fans! (July 5 - 11, 2015)
Swiss Alps Classic Express & Bernina Nostalgic Express Tour August 9 - 16, 2015
8.5“
This tour will take you to the charming city of Zurich, the world’s famous holiday resort St. Moritz, and to the renowned town Zermatt, at the foot of the Matterhorn. Two very exciting train journeys make this tour unique. The special “Bernina Nostalgic Express” train is traveling from St. Moritz to Tirano, Italy. The train consists of two nostalgic yellow Bernina railcars, two nostalgic passenger cars, an open panoramic car, and the Pullman salon car. The other spectacular chartered train excursion will be on board the “Swiss Alps Classic Express” train, taking you from St. Moritz over the Albula line, across the Oberalp pass at 6669 ft and over the Furka line to Zermatt. The train consists of the historical E-Loc of the Matterhorn Gotthard Bahn, a dining car and, on part of the route, of an open panoramic car. After 30 years, this unique train is now offering a direct journey from St. Moritz to Zermatt, as it once was offered until 1981 from the Glacier Express.
French Riviera and Spain September 11 - 22, 2015
Nice, located on the beautiful French Riviera will be the start of the tour. You will then travel 151 km along the Cote d’Azur on board the “Train des Pignes” (pine cone train) from Nice to Digne-les-Bains. Part of the line will be by the steam-powered train “Puget Théniers Annot”! You will visit Monaco, bounded by the French and Italian Riviera, and Avignon, also known as the “city of popes”. Two other exciting steam excursions with the “Train De L’Ardeche” through the Ardeche Mountains are next in the tour program. The “Le Mastrou” is a steam train operating since more than 120 years and the “Train des Gorges” is a charming ride to the Mediterranean section of this route. The famous railway line of the “Yellow Train” (Le train Jaune) is the pride, joy, and symbol of the Catalan Pyrenees. The route of 63 km climbs 1200 m in height to Bolquére, the highest station in France. Next, you will travel by train to Barcelona, Spain, famous for the many Romanesque, Gothic and Renaissance buildings. Narrow
LGB souvenir wagon included on each tour for every family
Gauge Paradise - LGBTOURS P.O. Box 130807 - Tampa - Florida 33681-0807 Tel: (813) 831-0357 - E-mail:
[email protected] www.LGBTours.com Photos by courtesy of bahnurlaub.de and Train des Pignes.
Fully escorted tours!
www.GardenRailways.com 11“
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DON PARKER
MINISCAPING
Variety in groundcovers: Part 2
1. Highland Cream thyme sprawls over a sandstone cliff on the author’s Hoot ’n’ Holler Railroad. It could be a patch of wild blueberries frequented by local black bears. PHOTOS BY THE AUTHOR
I
n the last issue, I presented the case for variety in the use of groundcover on our railroads. In this issue, I’ll show you seven additional less-common groundcovers for you to consider and I’ll review some basics on how to grow groundcovers.
Sun lovers
There are quite a number of thymes (Thymus spp.) to choose from for the garden railroad. The best ones are the creeping varieties that stay low to the ground, produce dense mats of foliage and, in some cases, lovely drifts of flowers, from white to pink to rose-red. If you’re looking for a choice variety of creeping thyme that is eye catching and yet very low growing, with tiny foliage, look no further than Highland Cream thyme (T. praecox ‘Highland Cream’ Zones 4-8—photo 1). With variegated leaves edged in cream, and a scattering of light-pink flowers in
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Garden Railways | April 2015
early summer, this slow-spreading groundcover looks great creeping over rocks in well drained, sandy, or gravelly soils. It grows best in sun but will tolerate light shade. Another light-colored groundcover is Sunshine veronica (a.k.a. speedwell— Veronica repens ‘Sunshine’, Zones 4-9— photo 2). It grows low, barely reaching 1" tall, creeps slowly, with stems that root as they spread, enjoys sunshine (wile tolerating part shade), and lives up to its name, with golden yellowish-green leaves. It produces pale-blue flowers in late spring. For striking foliage and ruby-red flowers, try the ornamental-strawberry cultivar Ruby Red (Fragaria x ‘Ruby Red’, Zones 4-8—photo 3). The interesting foliage may be somewhat out of scale but it provides great contrast to other groundcovers. It grows 1-2" tall, spreads moderately, and blooms beautifully from early
2. Sunshine veronica stays low to the ground, providing bold color to areas that need jazzing up.
summer to frost. It is semi-evergreen and quite hardy. For best flowering, grow it in full sun, although it will still make a decent groundcover in part shade. Average soil without fertilizer will stimulate more flowers and the occasional bonus of a small, edible berry.
PHOTO TAKEN AT MULBERRY CREEK HERB FARM, HURON, OHIO
4. Miniature valerian makes a dense groundcover with interesting foliage texture and eye-catching flowers.
weeds by its tight growth and blooms repeatedly with small white flowers from mid-spring to early fall in average soil.
Shade lovers
3. On the right and spreading behind the elevated roadbed, Ruby Red ornamental strawberry adds striking color and texture to the scene. On the left, around the support, is Kenilworth ivy, blooming in a shady spot. PHOTO TAKEN AT THE FRANKLIN PARK CONSERVATORY, COLUMBUS, OHIO
5. Alpine white star creeper growing in part-sun makes a good pasture for this farmer’s cow (on the author’s former railroad, the Rustin and Decrepit.)
Miniature valerian (Valeriana supina, Zones 4-8) is quite striking when in bloom, with clusters of pink flowers that appear in late May to July (photo 4). The leaves are 1/2" across, spreading out from each plant to about 12", making a dense mat 2-3" deep. Like many alpine plants, it
likes a gritty, well-drained soil (amended with sand or fine gravel) and grows in sun to part sun. Alpine white star creeper is a good spreader for part sun (or full sun in moist soil—Pratia puberula [pedunculata] ‘Alba’, Zones 5-10—photo 5). It inhibits
Kenilworth ivy (Cymbalaria muralis, Zones 5-8) is a shade-lover that grows 2-3" tall and makes a good groundcover, or can grow in dry-laid walls (photo 3). It spreads by runners that root as they go, evergreen in warmer regions of its hardiness range and semi-evergreen in the northern ones. The flowers are striking (appearing from May to August), shaped like tiny blue-violet snapdragons with yellow throats. For an attractive groundcover for shaded areas (away from track or scale structures), consider miniature impatiens Firefly Pink, which can jazz up a shady spot (Impatiens walleriana ‘Firefly Pink’, Zones 10-11—photo 6). In most areas of the US, it is grown as an annual from purchased plants in pots or multi-cell flats. It can be grown from seed with care to avoid damping off of the seedlings (a fungal disease that destroys the stem at the soil level). It thrives in part-to-full shade, growing 4-8" tall in fertile, loamy soil, producing abundant flowers all summer. A groundcover useful for dry (or moist) shady areas is Vinca minor (creeping myrtle, common periwinkle, Zones 4-8—photo 7). This plant is cockroach tough, growing in full shade to full sun in almost any soil. It can creep into adjacent areas and overpower more retiring plants, so use it where its spread can be controlled. It is best grown in larger areas that need dense cover and its height of 4-6" is not a problem. (Note: Kentucky, Tennessee, South Carolina, and Georgia www.GardenRailways.com
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MINISCAPING consider it invasive and have placed it on their regulated list.)
PHOTO TAKEN IN THE CHICAGO BOTANICAL GARDEN
Benefits of groundcover
6. Firefly Pink impatiens turns a lackluster shady area into a show spot.
Groundcovers provide a number of functions beside making the railroad garden look good. For most of us, they need to be in scale and add to the realism of the scene. They cover the bare soil and serve as a living mulch, shading out weeds and keeping the ground cool and moist. They help prevent water runoff that could result in soil erosion or flooding of low areas. They reduce the splashing of water and dirt onto buildings and figures during hard rains. They do all this better than other plantings because of their mat-like, dense growth. Of course, some groundcovers are better at this than others, producing tighter growth of foliage and quicker coverage of the soil. You might want to consider those factors when planning and buying groundcover plants.
Planting and maintenance
7. Vinca minor will fill in areas where other groundcovers falter, such as a shady dry spot. This log train is on the blind spur of a switchback on the author’s former railroad, the Rustin & Decrepit.
8. A staggered-row arrangement will give faster coverage for this planting of fairy fern (a.k.a. brass buttons—Leptinella gruveri, evergreen in Zones 8-10, but hardy to Zone 5, with protection). Photo taken one year after planting.
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Garden Railways | April 2015
Because groundcovers live for many years in the same spot, it is worth the effort to adequately prepare the soil before you plant. Any perennial weeds should be completely eliminated. Incorporating a 2" layer of organic matter, such as compost or well-rotted manure, will improve drainage in high-clay soils and waterholding capacity of sandy soils. Space the plants according to their size, the immediate effect desired, and their rate of growth. A rule of thumb for groundcovers is, “the first year it sleeps, the second year it creeps, and the third year it leaps.” Some weeding of the area between the spreading plants will likely be needed the first year and less the second year. By the third year, weeding is rarely needed. A staggered-row planting pattern will usually result in the quickest coverage of the area (photo 8). Groundcovers may be planted any time of year, although fall and spring are best. Fall planting allows plants to establish good root systems, ready to take off the following spring. Groundcovers do not need fertilizer, with the exception of flowering annuals, which do best if given monthly water-soluble fertilizer applications.
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JEFF YOUNG
RAISING STEAM
A
A working water tower for live-steam locomotives
lthough running a live steamer adds a new dimension of realism to the garden railway, I am always looking for ways to further improve the experience. For locomotives with tanks and tenders that hold water, I figured that one way to do this would be to actually fill them from a working water tower during the course of a run. As the majority of my live steamers are of British narrow-gauge prototypes, my research led me to a British watertower design comprised of a stone column with a metal tank on top (photo 1). I made the column for the water-tower from cast stones, using Jigstones silicone molds. A number of stone sets were cast in quick-setting concrete grout, then were assembled using a soupy mix of the same grout. The column is 3" x 3", with a height of 6.5". The grout I used was stark white, so I painted it with Krylon gray spray primer, then weathered it with washes of black, dark gray, and brown acrylic paint. For the tank, I selected a clear, 4" acrylic cube, obtained from the local storage-box store. There was a small lip on the top to hold the lid in place, which I removed with a razor saw. To make it look like a riveted metal tank, I added brass strips from Swift Sixteen in the UK. These strips come with dimples halfetched on the backside. Using a pointed tool in a bench press, I embossed these dimples to form rivets. With the tank cosmetically completed, my mind turned to the water-supply design. Previous experiments with 1/8" pipe and small valves from the hardware store suggested that the delivery of the water would be too slow, taking several minutes to fill the tender. One day, though, while changing a washer on a tap, it came to me. I could make my own larger-capacity valve using commercial tap washers and machined bits of brass. After an hour or so of lathe work, I built a valve around a tap washer and a 1/4" delivery
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Garden Railways | April 2015
T-handle Mounting screw
Threaded valvestem guide
Threaded section Valve stem Valve-stem guide Valve Tap washer
Mounting screw Mounting hardware
2. A home-made valve was incorporated into a plastic box from a container store.
1. The author built this functional Britishstyle water tank to service his live-steam locomotives.
pipe. The valve is opened by unscrewing the T-handle at the top of the tank. Two pieces of brass hex bar guide the valve stem. The valve stem and one of the hex pieces are threaded to allow for opening and closing the valve, to allow for a household tap. I carefully drilled a hole in the bottom of the acrylic box, near one side, for the valve. A threaded nut and fiber washer hold the valve bottom to the tank and ensure a watertight seal. The valve is held to the side of tank with two small bolts to the hex pieces. Photo 2 shows the valve assembly mounted in the tank. British water tanks use a canvas tube to direct the water from the tank into the
3. The finished tank in use. A couple of turns of the T-handle and the tender is filled in 30 seconds.
tender. I used a piece of 1/4"-diameter surgical tubing covered with an expandable fiberglass sleeve. The whole tank exterior was spray painted a dark green and the interior matte black. A length of chain and loop was added as a scale representation of the prototype valve. To fill the tender, the hose is placed in the water-hatch opening and the valve handle is unscrewed a couple of turns (photo 3). It fills the tender in less that 30 seconds and brings a new dimension of realism to running my locomotives. It has me thinking of more projects—a working coaling tower and ash pit perhaps?
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EVENTS 7-8 March, 2015: Annual Rails in the Garden • Self-guided tour of 17 garden railroads, sponsored by the Tucson Garden Railway Society • Information: www. Tucsongrs.org 14-15 March, 2015: The Midlands Garden Rail Show, Warwickshire Exhibition Centre, Fosse Way, Nr. Leamington Spa, CV31 1XN, UK • 10am-4pm • www. largescalemodelrail.co.uk 27-28 March, 2015: East Coast Large Scale Train Show, York Expo Center, York PA • Fri., 9am-6pm; Sat., 9am-4pm • http://www.eclsts.com 23-27 June, 2015: “Cruisin’ to North Conway” Big Train Operator Club convention/2015. North Conway, NH. White Mountain Hotel & Resort. Info: Bob Somogyi • 630-562-5420 • btoeditor@ sbcglobal.net • www.bigtrainoperator.com 6-11 July, 2015: National Garden Railway Convention, sponsored by the Devver Garden Railway Society • Crowne Plaza Hotel, Denver CO • Doug Mayes •
[email protected] • www.ngrc2015.com 15-19 July, 2015: National Summer Steamup, Lions Gate Hotel, McClellan (Sacramento), CA • steamup@summer steamup.com • www.summersteamup.com Future Garden Railway Conventions 2016: Bay Area, CA— http://ngrc2016.com 2017: Tulsa, OK— www.thinktulsa17.com 2018: Atlanta, GA— http://ggrs.info/GGRS/In_the_News/ Entries/2014/5/16_2018_National_ Convention_is_Coming_to_Atlanta!!.html Event notices are published at no charge. Due to space limitations, we will accept, at our discretion, listings that pertain to predominantly garden-railway or small-scale-live-steam events. Listings that reach us before our deadline and fit the space available will be published. Send your listings to Garden Railways, PO Box 460222, Denver CO 80246, or e-mail to
[email protected] Find events for more model-train scales in our database at Trains.com
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Garden Railways | April 2015
SEND YOUR VERY OWN CUSTOMIZED E-MAIL MARKETING MESSAGE
ONLINE STATION VANCE BASS
I
t’s time for my yearly reminder: if you’re interested in following the links in my column, you don’t have to painstakingly retype them from the printed page. Our trusty Production Editor Rene Schweitzer saves you the trouble and keeps a web page with all these links on www.GardenRailways.com Log in (registration is free) and search for “online station links.” There’s also an index to each issue’s articles, linked from the “Resources” tab at the top of the page. Those are two ways to save yourself some tedium while looking for cool large-scale stuff. Now, you may think that winter is over—temperatures are rising, maybe some daffodils or tulips have started putting up shoots—but winter is a fickle beast. In March 2011 (spring, right?) California’s Donner Pass had over 200 inches of snow base, with an incoming storm expected to dump another four feet in the Sierra Nevadas. Union Pacific loses a lot of money if their tracks are under snow, so they work hard to keep them clear. When there’s that much snow, there’s only one tool for the job: steam-powered rotary snowplows, built in the 1920s. This half-hour documentary is white-knuckle excitement and better “reality TV” than all those phony celebrity melodramas: video.pbs.org/video/2365218614/ Speaking of documentaries, here’s another one with good prototype interest: trainmasters.tv/video-player/tmtv-201312-act-iii If you’ve ever played with one of those wooden “train whistles” from a tourist gift shop, you know they leave a lot to be desired. I tell myself “it can’t be that hard to make, can it?” This video answers that question: yes, it is. Making a whistle is an art as well as a science. But if you have an air compressor (or a boiler!) in your shop, you could still have your own whistle: mdwhistles.com (prototype size) or www.mintzwhistles.com (about half size). I have an old Mintz aluminum whistle that I loaned to a theater production a few years ago. When the stage hand opened the valve on the portable air tank, the audience jumped and looked around to make sure there wasn’t a train coming. Whooooo!
Garden Railways’ Email Blast Call today to find out more! Steve Dake • 1-888-558-1544 ext. 630
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We’re sponsoring a contest to find
SMALL GARDEN RAILWAYS
to feature in Garden Railways. 2ND PRIZE $
1ST PRIZE $
300
ay plus your railw at featured in GRtes our usual ra
200
ay plus your railw at featured in GRtes our usual ra
What’s a small railroad? We would like to see creative garden railways built in compact or difficult spaces. Due to the broad scope of garden railroading and the great diversity in available space, we are not setting parameters as far as track length or square footage. Use your own judgement. If you think you have a small garden railway, chances are that we’ll think so, too. What are we looking for? • Railways that are well integrated with their garden and surroundings • Railways with a strong theme • Well-executed railways
3RD PRIZE $
100
First place in 2010: Bent Pedersen’s Bondesbjerg Mountain Railway
ay plus your railw at featured in GRtes our usual ra
Who’s eligible? Garden railroaders from all over the world are eligible to enter unless specifically excluded by our official rules. Garden railways of any scale or gauge (except ride-on sizes) are eligible. Narrow gauge, standard gauge, mainline, branch line, industrial, or any other type of railroad can enter. Any type of power is eligible, including live steam, track power, battery, radio control, DCC, or clockwork. What do you need to submit? Complete submission guidelines can be found at www.GardenRailways.com/ smallrailroads or send an SASE to Garden Railways contest, PO Box 1612, Waukesha WI 53187. All entries must be received by JulyGARDEN 31, 2015.RAILWAY CONV 31ST NAT’L
GRW • 02/01/2015 • 2C • 1/2 H
Questions? Call 303-377-7785 or write to
[email protected]
Second place in 2010: Wayne Tausig’s Yosemite Valley Garden Railway
Third place in 2010: Ray Dunakin’s In-Ko-Pah Railroad
2015 NATIONAL
GARDEN RAILWAY CONVENTION July 5-11, 2015 - Denver, Colorado
COME FOR THE TRAINS 52 Layouts in 5 Days - 7 Featured in Garden Railways 57 Vendors and 120 Booths in the Convention Hotel Pre-Convention Bus Tours: Georgetown Loop, Leadville C&S RR, Pikes Peak Cog Railway and Royal Gorge Route RR Colorado Railroad Museum and BBQ Clinics - 30 Plus Educational and Entertaining Programs Other Colorado Railroads/Attractions Including Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge and Cumbres & Toltec Scenic RRs
AND ENJOY THE REST Denver Museums, Zoo, Botanic Gardens and Professional Sports
National & State Parks - Spectacular Scenery, Camping, Fishing and Hiking Summer Resorts - Aspen, Breckenridge, Steamboat Springs and Vail 70
Garden Railways | April 2015
See Our Promotional Video and Register!
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PRODUCT REVIEWS
Finescale wheelsets
T
he Griffin Wheel Company was a Chicago-based foundry that manufactured chilled iron railroad-car wheels from the 1880s on. The company made wheels for freight cars, passenger cars, tenders, and street railways, in addition to specialty wheels for a wide variety of industrial applications. In addition to the Chicago foundry, the company had branches in Boston, St. Paul, Detroit, Kansas City, Tacoma, Los Angeles, and Denver. Wheels for the Denver & Rio Grande West-
VITAL STATISTICS 1:20.3 scale, gauge-1 wheelsets The Train Department 26 Coral Drive Hazlet NJ 07730 Price: $9.50 per axle Website: www.thetraindepartment.com Cast metal, gauge-1 wheelsets; stainlesssteel axles; raised letters on face and back of wheels; raised fins on inside of wheels; coned tread; long or short journals available (see text); wheels insulated at hub. Dimensions: diameter over tread at fillet, 1.280" (26" in 1:20.3 scale); flange depth, .050"; back-toback, varies between 1.564 and 1.578— averages around 1.570"; tread width, .163"
ern Railroad were made primarily in Denver. These wheels had raised lettering on their faces saying “Griffin Denver,” along with some numerals. The Train Department is offering replicas of the company’s 26" narrow-gauge wheelsets in 1:20.3 scale. The wheels are cast in a slightly magnetic alloy and are mounted on what appear to be stainlesssteel axles. Wheel treads and flanges are machined, as are the faces and backs of the wheel rims. The flange profile appears to be near scale and includes a fillet at the base of the flange. Treads are coned, which should aid good tracking on curves. Cast into the face of each wheel are the words “Griffin” and “Denver,” along with a variety of numbers, some quite small. Curved fins are cast into the back of each wheel, along with some additional lettering, including “2-14-40” and “D&RGW.” The quality of the castings and of the turned-flange profiles is excellent. The lettering is sharp and crisp and the background has the typical grainy look of a
PROS and CONS PROS: High level of realism; excellent flange profile; insulated at the hub; excellent tracking characteristics CONS: None
casting. The back-to-back dimensions, while somewhat variable, fall within the NMRA specifications and should cause no trouble on properly gauged track. The wheelsets are available with either long or short axle ends (journals). The long journals are intended for Bachmann, Hartford, or other trucks that take the standard large-scale axle length. Shortjournal wheelsets are designed as replacements for Accucraft or AMS wheelsets. These are intended to be used with ball bearings (not included). If needed, these bearings can be obtained from The Train Department for $8 per set of eight. The wheels are supplied unpainted, so you’ll need to attend to that. I tested the wheelsets in a USA Trains boxcar, removing the plastic wheelsets and replacing them with these. The new ones fit perfectly. As the boxcar is 1:22.5 scale, the new wheels were slightly bigger than the old ones. Once fitted, I took the car out to the railway and gave it a healthy shove. The new wheelsets lowered the center of gravity and also provide more momentum to the car. The car sailed along beautifully, easily and quietly traversing my handlaid switches. The rolling characteristics of the wheels are excellent. If you are interested in new, fine running, more realistic, closer-to-scale wheelsets for your narrowgauge rolling stock, these are definitely ones to consider. —M. Horovitz
Online extras For subscribers: Read reviews of other Train Department products. Visit www.GardenRailways. com and type in “Train Department” in the search box.
www.GardenRailways.com
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PRODUCT REVIEWS
Radio control for track power
T
he RailBoss 4 Trackside R/C is an electronic speed-and-direction controller designed to remotely control track powered, largescale trains. No modifications are required to track-powered locomotives for use with this system. Various functions are easily programmable. A DIP switch, push button, and LED are used for programming. You will need to download and print out the Operation and Installation Manual from the G-Scale Graphics website if you want a hard copy. The instruction manual is clear and includes plenty of images and graphics. The Trackside 4 receiver/base station is 41/2 " x 31/4" x 15/8", and goes between your existing power pack or any other 7-25V DC power supply and the track. It is rated
VITAL STATISTICS 2.4Ghz R/C system for trackpowered trains G-Scale Graphics 4118 Clayton Ct. Fort Collins CO 80525 Price: $209 + s&h Website: www.GScaleGraphics.net RailBoss 4 Trackside; 2.4Ghz system for controlling track-powered trains via radio; includes transmitter, receiving base station, online instruction manual
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Garden Railways | April 2015
at 10 amps output to the track, so it should be able to run those big engines and consists. The power input is protected from damage due to reverse polarity—it will not operate until the polarity is correct. Further protection is supplied by a 10 amp, blade-type automotive fuse. The base station is a combination speed-and-direction control board and radio transceiver. Transmitter commands control a pulse-width-modulation motor driver designed to allow nice, slow, prototypical speed control of your locomotive. Momentum is fully programmable, and can be turned on and off via the transmitter for switching operations. The pocket sized, six-button TX (transmitter) is 25/8" x 31/2" x 1" and controls the trackside RX (receiver) via a 2.4GHz direct-sequence-spread-spectrum (DSSS) radio system. The manufacturer indicates a line-of-sight range of up to 250'. The TX is powered by a 3V buttontype battery that uses power only when a button is pushed; there is no on/off
PROS and CONS PROS: 10amp power; pocket sized transmitter; easy-to-program features; excellent range; smooth operating characteristics; thorough instruction manual CONS: Size of the labeling on the TX handset may be a bit small for some older eyes
switch. “Forward” and “reverse” will not function while the locomotive is in motion, and pressing “stop” gives a quick speed reduction but it is not instantaneous. Both of these save on wear and tear on gears. My only concern was with the size of the labeling on the TX handset, which may be a bit small for some older eyes. However, the label size is limited by the small size of the handset itself. I tested the RailBoss 4 Trackside at the DGRS garden railway on the grounds of the Colorado Railroad Museum. Wiring it in was easy, with just two power wires in and two track-feed wires out. I made sure that the ventilation screen on the RX box was not covered. The receiver had already been “taught” at the factory what transmitter it was shipped with, so there were no frequency settings to deal with. That was all it took to start operating using the factory settings for speed, with momentum off. Control was smooth and straightforward, with short-duration inputs giving small results and longer ones giving faster responses. I used the RailBoss with locomotives from Accucraft, Aristo-Craft, Bachmann, Hartland, LGB, and USA Trains with no problems. The direction of locomotive travel is based on the way you place your locomotive on the track. Just put your engine on the track in the direction it would normally travel. When the Trackside RX is first powered up, “Forward” will be selected. If your locomotive runs backwards, you can either reverse the wires to the track or change User Parameter 1, as directed in the manual. To test the range, I simply paced a distance until I reached a point where I could not operate the locomotive, which was around 220' and was not line of sight—all of the radio-control equipment at the DGRS railway is inside a wood-framed building. This is an impressive operating range, well beyond what the average garden railway might require. Next, I decided to change the programming for speed. The default minimum and maximum speed settings are
0% battery voltage for minimum and 100% battery voltage for maximum. The instructions indicate that most motors require more than zero volts to get moving. You can set the minimum voltage to just slightly less than what it would take to make the locomotive move, so there will be no delay in getting the locomotive going. To start the throttle-programming mode, I held down the “2nd” key, “Slower,” and “Stop” buttons together, until the LED in the receiver box started flashing quickly. To set minimum speed, I pressed the “Faster” button to just barely get the locomotive moving. Then I pressed the “Slower” button to stop it. Pressing “Reverse” saved the minimum-speed setting. (The minimum speed must be less than 50% battery voltage.) I set the maximum speed, by using the “Faster” and “Slower” buttons to run the locomotive at the desired speed. Pressing “Forward” saved the maximum-speed setting (which must be greater than 50% battery voltage). Pressing the “Stop” button saved the setting and exited throttle-programming mode. The LED stopped flashing. The label on the TX handset has helpful notations about which buttons can be used with the “2nd” button for programming. To change from the momentum rate of acceleration to the fast rate for switching operations was just a matter of pressing the “2nd” and “Stop” buttons. Saving the running speed was done with the “2nd” and “Slower” buttons; recalling the saved speed was done with the “2nd” and “Faster” buttons. Going back to the default settings was easy as well. All of these programming steps are simple and clear. Further programming can be done for the throttle momentum and direction control by using the pair of two-position DIP switches housed in the trackside RX box. Parameters can be changed by moving the switches as per the drawings. The RailBoss 4 Trackside R/C is a good choice for anyone wanting use track power with radio control, either for a firsttime operation or to replace a unit that has failed and cannot be repaired. It is simple to use, operation is smooth, range is excellent, and it has a variety of easily programmable functions. —A. Olson
Operate couplers remotely
P
hoenix Sound Systems, long known for their quality sound systems, has branched out into the world of remote uncoupling. Their new board is designed to control two, independent, remotely controlled couplers. It’s compatible with both DCC and R/C control systems. The board is small, just under 2" x 1" x 1/2". It has connectors for two servo motors as well as two solenoid-driven devices. While designed to drive remote-controlled couplers, these could be used to drive other accessories as well. (Phoenix’s website shows the board being used to control a turnout.) Phoenix makes a solenoid-controlled automatic coupler that works with this board (also reviewed in this issue) and the board will also work with Kadee’s servo-controlled coupler (reviewed in April 2013 issue). The board is ideally suited to work with DCC-controlled installations, either “traditional” track-powered DCC or via the DCC output of an Airwire throttle. The board is not exclusively DCC, though. It also has two “trigger” inputs to the board that allow it to be controlled by other R/C systems that have auxiliaryfunction outputs for triggering sounds or
VITAL STATISTICS Remote coupler-control board Phoenix Sound Systems, Inc. 3514 West Liberty Rd. Ann Arbor MI 48103 Price: $75 Website: www.phoenixsound.com DCC and R/C-compatible control for remotecontrolled couplers
lights, such as the Crest Revolution, RCS, or Railboss systems. Programming of the board is done via a DCC control system. While that sounds like it might limit the board’s operation for those not running DCC control systems, there’s not a big need for programming if you’re using this in a non-DCC environment. The board’s job is to energize a solenoid on command; you hit the trigger, it energizes the solenoid, and the coupler opens. That changes a little if you are controlling a servo and need to adjust the start and stop positions but the default movement was sufficient to move the servo about 90°. There are plans down the road to allow the user to use Phoenix’s computer interface to be able to program the board, but that aspect is still in development. However, the default settings on the board will likely be fine for most nonDCC applications. In terms of the parameters you can program into the board via a DCC controller, you can map each of the two independent coupler functions to any of the available DCC functions (1-28). You can also adjust the start and end positions of the servo travel, the speed at which it travels, and the length of time the servo stays open, from 0 to 30 seconds. You can also cause the servo to open, then close automatically—what the instructions call
PROS and CONS PROS: Able to control two couplers independently; controls both servo- and solenoidbased uncouplers CONS: Programming (fine-tuning) controls via DCC interface only
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Full-size drawings
Plan set #83
Registered users can download plans for two different projects related to articles in this issue. Get both steam-winch (related to “Staff corner”) and watchman’s shanty drawings (related to “A scratchbuilt watchman’s tower”) . Click on “Full-size drawings” under “How to.”
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PRODUCT REVIEWS “on-off keying,” where you can use the servo output as an on/off toggle. You can also program the address of the decoder to match that of the locomotive in which it’s installed. Programming is most effective in “service mode.” Operationally, the board works well. I hooked it up to my DCC command station, set the address to the default “3,” and, with the push of a button, was able to open the coupler. The board has four outputs, tied together in pairs (they call it “A” and “B”). I found I could connect a servo coupler and solenoid coupler to either the “A” or “B” output, and it would control both of them at the same time. It’s not an “either/ or” kind of thing. The outputs are limited to 100mA, though, so if you were to install it so that both outputs were being used, you should be careful not to overload the board. I hooked the servo coupler up to “A” and the solenoid coupler up to “B,” and could control both independently via two different function buttons. With regard to controlling a servo, I found different servos behaved differently when connected to the board. All of them worked okay but one would stutter a bit when moving while another moved smoothly. I don’t know what the difference might be. Also, sometimes the servo would “chatter” at the end of the throw. Phoenix tells me they’re working to revise the software to allow power to the servo to be cut off at the end of the throw, thus saving power and stopping the chattering, but that’s not yet available. Hooking the control board up to nonDCC control systems is simple as well. A sample wiring diagram is included in the instruction manual. I hooked my board up to a Crest Revolution receiver per those instructions and had no trouble triggering the couplers. I am becoming more of a fan of electronics that allow me to do cool stuff, like remote uncoupling. I can easily see where animating your locomotive could become addictive in its own right. The more products that become available to facilitate automating our trains, the better, as far as I’m concerned. I think this board will make a welcome addition to that arsenal. —K. Strong
Open this coupler anywhere
W
ith today’s advanced electronic controls (DCC, battery R/C, etc.), it’s becoming more common to use available auxiliary function commands to control various aspects of our trains heretofore left alone. We can add prototypical lights, smoke, sound, and, more recently, remote-controlled uncouplers. Phoenix Sound has just released a circuit board for remotely controlling couplers (see review above), and they have introduced their own remote-controlled coupler that plugs into that board. The Phoenix coupler is a knuckle-style coupler, on par in size with the Kadee “G” scale coupler. The coupler is 3D printed in nylon. The coupler itself (exclusive of the shank) measures 11/16" wide x 1/2" tall x 3/4" long. A solenoid is neatly attached to the bottom of the coupler. My review sample was dark blue, but that’s nothing a can of paint can’t fix. It operates like a prototypical coupler, in that there’s a knuckle that opens to allow the coupler to connect and disconnect from other cars. In the case of this coupler, the knuckle is spring loaded
VITAL STATISTICS Remote-controlled coupler Phoenix Sound Systems, Inc. 3514 West Liberty Rd. Ann Arbor MI 48103 Price: $47 Website: www.phoenixsound.com Large scale, remotely controlled coupler; online instruction manual
so that it pops open, and the “trip pin” is a metal rod connected to the electronic solenoid. When the solenoid is energized, it pulls this rod back, thus releasing the knuckle. The coupler is currently only available in a truck-mounted configuration. Depending on the equipment to which you’re mounting the coupler, this could be a good or bad thing. It’s easy to mount it on a typical truck-mounted coupler arm. I mounted mine on an LGB truck for testing purposes. You may have to do some light cutting or filing to get it to fit properly, depending. If you’re going with a body-mounted coupler, you’ll have to do some fiddling to get the coupler to fit on the mount. I don’t think this would be difficult, but I do hope Phoenix releases a body-mounted version in the not-too-distant future. My tests were conducted on my shelf railroad in my workshop. I found the coupler to be reliable. It opened and closed easily and seemed to withstand a fair amount of tension. The effects of a long, heavy train were simulated by letting the drivers of the locomotive slip, the locomotive tugging on the coupler as it did so. Under extreme loads, the coupler did occasionally come open on its own. I
PROS and CONS PROS: Simple installation and hook-up; compatible with a variety of manufacturers’ couplers CONS: Available in truck-mounted configuration only
noticed this happening when the trip pin had worked its way backward as a result of vibration on the couplers imposed by the test. I imagine my workbench test to be a little more extreme than real-world conditions, though. Operation of the coupler is simple. You simply energize the solenoid and it opens. How you energize the solenoid is up to you. You could use Phoenix’s remote uncoupler board or a suitable auxiliaryfunction output of whatever control system you’re using. You need only to energize the solenoid momentarily to open the knuckle. I found the coupler’s operation to be quite consistent. The big question with any large-scale coupler is, does it plays well with others? Large scale is not known for widespread coupler compatibility, and stories of issues with brand X coupling to brand Q abound. I have in my collection couplers from Aristo-Craft, Bachmann, Kadee, and Accucraft. Phoenix’s literature says they’re compatible with USA Trains’ couplers; I did not have one on hand to confirm. Of all the couplers I tried, the Phoenix coupler proved most compatible with Kadee’s “G” scale coupler. It routinely coupled and uncoupled without any problems. Only the Aristo-Craft coupler gave me trouble in terms of operation. It doesn’t fit very easily into the opening of the Phoenix coupler, so has trouble coupling and uncoupling. With the other couplers, uncoupling was consistent. When I energized the solenoid, it easily released from all the other manufacturers’ couplers. Recoupling to them was hit-ormiss but no worse than what one experiences coupling other dissimilar couplers. Sometimes a little human intervention was needed to get the trip pins to lock. It’s always been easier to get them apart than to get them together. It’s important to note that these tests were done with the couplers mounted at the same height (11/8" centerline). That’s the de-facto standard for large scale, body-mounted couplers or truck-mounted Kadee couplers. If the couplers on your equipment are not at that height, then all www.GardenRailways.com
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PRODUCT REVIEWS bets are off. It makes no difference how compatible couplers are in operation—if they’re not at the same height, there will be issues. The bottom line is that, an automatic coupler in large scale works best when it works with the widest variety of manufacturers’ couplers. To that end, this coupler works about as well as one could expect, given the variety that exists in large scale. When couplers aren’t 100% the same, you can’t expect 100% compatibility, so one can’t really fault Phoenix’s for not meeting that standard, since there isn’t any standard. “As good as any other combination” is really about the best anyone can ask for. This one meets that expectation. —K. Strong
COMING IN THE
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The Hayworth family’s MANNM Railroad Build a train detection system Joe Crea’s indoor large-scale trolley layout 2015 National Garden Railway Convention preview
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Garden Railways | April 2015
Make your own construction set
E
very once in a while a truly unusual book comes along, and this is one of those times. Make Your Own Building Blocks and Build a City is just what the title suggests. However, it’s more than that. It’s the author’s personal story of his love for construction sets and life-long desire to create his own. As a child, Jim Covell had both American Logs (similar to Lincoln Logs) and American Plastic Bricks, an early product somewhat similar to Lego. These were used in conjunction with his American Flyer trains and they sparked a love of these types of toys and a life-long desire to make his own. This book is the culmination of that desire. The preface and first couple of chapters tell the author’s story and describe the tools he uses. Chapter three gets into the fundamentals—the modular system he devised that is the basis for the design of all of his blocks. Chapters four through nine discuss each type of block and their uses. The blocks are square in section but slot together in the same way as Lincoln Logs. Chapters 10 and 11 offer two different ways of making the blocks, one with large power tools (radial-arm saw and table saw, primarily) and the other with hand-held tools. A smaller, two-chapter section rounds out the book with additional, specialty blocks and a little town.
BOOK REVIEW Make Your Own Building Blocks and Build a City by Jim Covell Published by: Schiffer Publishing Company 2880 Lower Valley Road Atglen PA 19310 8½" x 11", softbound, 98 pages, full-color reproduction throughout Price: $19.99 Website: www.schifferbooks.com
While simple in concept, the author has taken the idea of interlocking blocks far beyond those that are commercially available. An enormous amount of thinking has gone into his blocks and the result is a system that has far more flexibility than store-bought construction sets. The resulting structures are, nominally, halfinch scale and the author uses them with (what else?) large-scale trains. The writing is generally clear but some sections may take two or three readings to understand the point being made. While the concept may be simple—blocks that interlock—the entire modular system is surprisingly complex. If you want to follow his example, it pays to actually read and understand what the author is telling us. His instructions are detailed and complete, down to finally sanding and staining the individual blocks. This book is unique in another way. Jim Covell has virtually invented his own hobby. His book presents this hobby to the world, documenting his journey from its beginning when he was a child to its current state. While the resulting structures may not appeal to all garden railroaders, they would certainly fit into certain situations. This is a fascinating and ingenious book. —M. Horovitz
A historic event captured on video
PROTECT YOUR
INVESTMENT!
T
VIDEO REVIEW Work Extra 315 James Parfrey PO Box 2562 Blaine WA 98231 Running time: 111 minutes Price: DVD, $20; Blu-ray, $25 + s&h Website: www.steamtrainvideos.com
watered and coaled and some switching being done. However, most of the program is just historic trains running through the spectacular scenery of northern New Mexico and southern Colorado. The program is blissfully free of music— all of the sounds in the video are provided by the locomotives. This video, in its entirety, was beautifully shot and edited. The audio is excellent and the narration kept to the bare basics. In short, it was a pleasure to watch. The subject matter included trains that would have been commonplace a hundred or so years ago but are rarely seen by people living today. If you enjoy watching unusual, vintage narrow-gauge trains rolling through their natural habitat, this is a must-see video. —M. Horovitz
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his video chronicles a remarkable three-day charter in the spring of 2014 on the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad in Colorado/ New Mexico. Both the charter and the video feature locomotive Nº 315, a C-18 2-8-0 owned by the Durango Railroad Historical Society. The engine was trucked from Silverton, Colorado, to the Cumbres & Toltec for the event. The program shows Nº 315 with a work train that included the newly restored D&RGW pile driver, OB. At one point, the pile driver was actually put to work using its own small steam engine. However, since it has no boiler of its own, it must tap into the locomotive’s boiler, which it does through a fitting on the steam dome. All of this is covered in the video, as are some interior shots of the pile driver’s machinery, as well as footage of the machine being set up and actually driving a piling under steam. If I had any complaint about this video it would be that I would like to have seen more of the pile driver in action. Nº 315 is also seen pulling a mixed freight train. Freight trains pulled by some of the C&T’s own locomotives are also seen, including double-headed trains. The program ends with footage of the first scheduled passenger train of the season, departing from Antonito, doubleheaded with Nº 315 and C&T Nº 463. There is brief, informative narration at various points in the video, describing what is transpiring. In addition to the pile driver at work, we see locomotives being
R2003
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Creating an attractive, realistic garden railway involves much more than modeling the track and trains themselves. Selecting and building structures that are appropriate to the theme of the railroad is the key to for beautiful rock gardens • container plantings • bonsai • garden railways placing your garden layout in a specific region and era. In Building Structures for Your Garden Railway, veteran garden railroader Jack Verducci explains how to: · Choose appropriate structures for your railway · Change the appearance of commercial kits · Plan and scratchbuild simple and complex buildings
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Plan, build, and maintain your own garden railway
STRUCTURES for Your Garden Railway Before beginning a major project such as building a garden railway, it is always good to know the basics. Popular Garden Railways columnist Kevin Strong draws on a lifetime of experience to present a foundation for building a backyard empire. In this book, you’ll learn these basic concepts of the hobby:
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Verducci
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The author’s Garden Railway Basics column has appeared in Garden Railways magazine for more than 10 years. He has revised and updated materials from his column for this book.
#12444 • $21.95
9
780890 248355
0
64465 12468
8
www.KalmbachBooks.com
Jack Verducci
Kevin Strong
#12457 • $21.95
#12468 • $19.95
Marc Horovitz
and
Pat H ay wa r d
#62326 • $24.95
Buy now from your local hobby shops! P24860
Shop at KalmbachHobbyStore.com or call 800-533-6644
78
Monday – Friday, 8:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. CT. Outside the U.S. and Canada, call 262-796-8776 ext. 661
Garden Railways April 2015
2BKGR
MINI FOREST BY SKY
SINCE 1994
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DWARF & MINIATURE PLANTS
• Traditional & Rare Herbs • Decorative Perennials & Trees • Scented Geraniums & Natives
SERVING AMERICA’S FINEST GARDEN RR
Order online at
www.miniforest.com CEDARLEAF CUSTOM DECALS CATALOG $5 POB 1156 Mulino OR 97042 GRW • 02/01/2013 • BW • 1 IN
CEDARLEAF
CUSTOM DECALS
www. GardenLines.net
1625 varieties including:
www.sandymushherbs.com
Send $5 for Handbook/Catalog to: Dept. GR15, 316 Surrett Cove Rd. Leicester, NC 28748-5517
SHADY GLEN MODELS GRW • 02/01/2015 • 2C • 1.5 IN
Pacific Coast Garden Railway Supply www.pcgrs.com Quality and craftsmanship. Supplier of hand built structures & accessories since 1993. Helping you distinguish your garden railroad from all others! TRAINS AND TREES 12081 Pradera Road, Camarillo CA 93012
www.ralphwilliamslandscapedesign.com
508-962-0499 Building garden railways for over 25 years Check us out on Facebook
RCS OF NEW ENGLAND GRW • 04/01/2014 • 2C • 2IN
Battery Power Your
RailLinx!
Free 14.8v lithium battery with RailLinx System ($49 value) RCS of New England
Sales ■ Installation ■ Service 603-321-1347 ■ www.remotecontrolthrottles.com email:
[email protected]
ABOVE ALL RAILWAYS GRW • 08/01/2014 • BW • 2 IN
www.aboveallrailways.us
Open track support offers better visibility. Solid oak construction. Specialized in G and O gauge kits for self installs.
GRW • 10/01/2013 • 2C • 1 IN
Bring your layout to life with sound
Over 150 sound modules to choose from Trains-Bells-Animals-Nature-City-Industrial
www.ittproducts.com SHAWMUT CAR SHOPS
Figures not included
818-926-1143 GRW • 04/01/2015
BUILD A WESTERN TOWN All kits are • Modular construction • Easy to build with templates
Dealers Welcome • BW • 1 IN
Custom Built & Painted Large Scale Trains
• Red cedar • 1:24 scale
Custom Decals made to order in all scales Catalog $7.00
Order online @ www.sgmodelswoodenkits.com
Refundable on orders of $50.00 or more.
SHAWMUT CAR SHOPS 307 North Michael St., St. Marys, PA 15857 G SCALE GRAPHICS www.shawmutcarshops.com • 814-834-9455
GRW • 06/01/2014 • BW • 2” MKT
Let Ralph & Eric build your dream garden railway!
925.408.9402
[email protected] Lic.# 870086
Digital Sound Modules
Custom decals and logos for your railroad!
www.cedarleafcustomdecals.com COAST GARDEN or (520) 831-3390 778-3732 RAILWAY m • (928)
[email protected] scedaPACIFIC GRW • 02/01/2013 • BW • 1 IN
Nancy Norris creates gardens model trains! INNOVATIVE TRAINforTECHNOLOGY
Email at
[email protected] or
[email protected] GRW • 08/01/2014 • 2C • 2 IN
Layout Management and Control Accessories Compatible with all NMRA, DCC or LGB MTS Layouts Signals w/wo Auto-Brake - Traffic Separation Automatic Timed Station Stops Eliminate X-ing Collisions & more You’re the Engineer and/or Automated Display Operation
WWW.DCCBitSwitch.com 303-674-3114 RAYMOND GARY GRW • 10/01/13 • 2C • 2 IN MKT
VES ENT
GRW • 08/01/2013 • BW • 2 IN
NOT ALL METAL WHEELS ARE CREATED EQUAL
SIMPLE … ATTRACTIVE … AFFORDABLE
SM
G-Buildings & Façades
CONTEMPORARY & WESTERN DESIGNS
A34BL for upgrading Aristo-Craft and USA cars
Upgrade to higher quality wheels!
Easy Installation – Reliable on all large scale track Ask your local dealer, or call us direct PO Box 1722 • 1000 Oaks, CA 91358 • 805-492-5858 • M-F 9-5 P.S.T.
www.trainwheels.com or
[email protected] GARY RAYMOND Quality Large Scale Metal Wheelsets
SWITCHCRAFTERS GRW • 02/01/2014 • 2C • 2 IN
TM
Over 100 Designs for Indoor or Outdoor Use VES Enterprises
RR 772-485-7005 STONEWORKS LLC GRWWWW.GTRAINBUILDINGS.COM • 04/01/2015 • 2C • 2 IN
Windows, Doors & Railings! NEW
New styrene Porch railings, waterwheels, mill, sluices, raceways,firehouse doors that open, masonry doors, K36 enginehouse doors, stationmaster windows, depot windows, storefronts, chimneys, How Tos and Plans. . . and more in G-scale.
NEW
#7051 How to Model in Stone & Cement Create detailed models that stay outside. 400 photos . . .$19.95 +S&H #7051.13 "2013-Update DVD" . . $14.95+S&H
Pdf Catalog on Web or Free "Snail-Mail" Catalog
(818) 996-5553
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www.RRStoneworks.com
PO Box 190, Shell Knob MO 65747 Toll Free: 1-877-473-4119
www.GardenRailways.com
.
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11/25/2013
CONDUCTIVE PRODUCTS
Drafts for advertisement in Garden Railway Magazine. 2014
FOR TRAINS & RAILWAYS
Lynell Model Supply
• Conductive Epoxy & Paints with Real Silver Particles • “Solderless” Adhesives for LEDs and Switches • Carbon Paint for Wheels and Tracks solder!
www.semicro.org/trains.aspx
Brett Brandenburg
RR CONCEPTS GRW • 6/1/2012 • 2C • 1.5 IN Ph: (301) 975-9798
LYNELL MODEL SUPPLY GRW • 04/01/2014 • BW • 1 IN
262-694-2883 IRON HORSE ENGRAVING GRW • 02/01/2014 • BW • 1.5 IN
Lynell Model Supply
Lynell Model Iron Horse Engraving Supply Made in USA
G Scale Railroad Bridge Kits www.lynellmodelsupply.com
* 1:20.3 EBT Caboose Kits (Other kits coming soon) (Wooden Kits)
* Decorative Full Size Wooden Builder / Boiler Plates (Alco, Baldwin, Juniata, Lima, Others)
G Scale (Authorized by Union Pacific, Licensed by CSX) Railroad Bridge Kits * Laser Engraved Pictures * Custom Work Welcome www.lynellmodelsupply.com * Wood Inlay Railroad Heralds
QUALITY ADJUSTMENTS INC GRW • 12/01/2014 • BW • 2 IN
Lynell Model VILAS COUNTY LUMBER Supply GRW • 12/01/2014 • 2C • 2 IN
(814) 777-0279
[email protected]
www.IronHorseEngraving.com
G Scale VilasBridge CountyKits Lumber Company Railroad 12306 Lakeview Trail, Homer Glen, Illinois, 60491 www.lynellmodelsupply.com Unique model railway structure plan Lynell Model sets designed in CAD. Bridges Grain Elevators Wagons Supply Depots Sawmill Buildings Warehouses Factories Trestles And more
and Sawmill books. G Construction Scale Railroad
[email protected] Bridge Kits www.VCLCo.com • 708-301-1795 www.lynellmodelsupply.com
American Made STEEL BRIDGES The De-burred SS bridge
REDEKER MANAGEMENT CONSULTING GRW • 08/01/2013 • 2C • 2 IN
LIVE STEAM CAB FORWARDS FLAT FACE AC-6 or AC-12
SS $108 Deburred and Polished $133 (863) 207-2638 | F (863) 324-1276 274 Hernando Rd., Winter Haven, FL 33884 Email:
[email protected] www.americanmadesteelbridges.com
CAB FORWARDS by RMC
SAFE TRAIN CASE GRW • 10/01/2014 • 2C • 2 IN
518-798-0080 or 518-791-0220 (cell)
[email protected] ALAN REDEKER Accucraft Cab Forward Conversions & Sales
STC
Vanco’s Model Railroad Structures
VANCO LOG DOLLHOUSES AND BARNS GRW • 04/01/2015 • BW • 2 IN
G-Scale Model Rail Road Structures Es
For more information please write or call us! 3485 Vicki Ct,SILVER Simi Valley, CA 93063 STATE TRAINS (805) 522-2979 email:
[email protected]
GRW • 08/01/2013 • 2C • 2 IN
Silver State Trains 702-595-5318
702-361-2295
www.silverstatetrains.com Check with us! You’ll find us very competitive! Looking for someone to buy your trains? We are always looking for great trains for our large base of customers.
80
Garden Railways April 2015
A
S
Tired of the same old low-voltage lighting? Try SOMETHIN’ DIFFERENT!™ Authentic hurricane lanterns made for low voltage electric • Accented specialty lighting for that rustic look. • A must for the outdoor train garden just to add a touch more to that railroad atmosphere. • Colors available are railroad red, rust brown & black. www.somethindifferent.com
FE
ta bl 19 ishe 92 d
SE T R AI N C A
DRIVE OUT TRAIN CASES 28” - 40”
SAFETRAINCASE.COM
[email protected]
See you at York! 369 Goetting Road, Bidwell, OH 45614 Tom’s cell: 740-794-1159 • Becky’s cell: 740-853-3458,
Email:
[email protected] LOCOMOTION WORKS
GRW • 04/01/2013 • 2C • 2 IN Expert sales, service and installation for ALL brands! New online store NOW OPEN! Specialize in remote control, battery and sound sales and installation.
NEW!
Prototypical ballast system
sold exclusively by LOCOmotion Works!
205 Mountainside Drive / I-26 • Columbus, NC 28722 828-712-3429 •
[email protected]
www.locomotionworks.com
Directory of large-scale train retailers Say you saw their Directory ad in Garden Railways Spaces are sold on a year’s basis (six issues) at $177 per year (payable in advance) or at $36 per month (billed to established accounts for one year minimum). Ads will be set in standard listing typography. All insertions must be consecutive and may be invoiced if you have credit established with us. No mention of wholesale or mail order business permitted. Send your ads to: Garden Railways Directory, 21027 Crossroads Circle, PO Box 1612, Waukesha, WI 53187-1612. For additional information 1-888-558-1544 ext. 815. April closes Jan. 16, June closes Mar. 20, Aug. closes May 14, Oct. closes July 17, Dec. closes Sept. 18.
CALIFORNIA • Concord
Largest selection of trains in the East Bay. Scratchbuilding supplies for all scales. Discount prices and friendly help. Open Tuesday - Sunday. Website: www.just-trains.com
JUST TRAINS
5650-H Imhoff Dr.
925-685-6566
CALIFORNIA • La Mirada
R HOBBIES
562-777-9492
CALIFORNIA • Roseville (Sacramento)
Exclusively model trains since 1989. Athearn, Kato, MDC, Lionel, Atlas, LGB, Märklin, Brass Imports, books, detail parts. Everyday low prices. Open 7 days. www.rrhobbies.com
RAILROAD HOBBIES
119 Vernon St.
916-782-6067
CALIFORNIA • Sacramento Specializing in 'G' scale LGB, Accucraft, USA Trains, Piko, Aristo-Craft. Working layout. Mon. thru Fri. 10:30-7:00; Sat. 10:00-5:00.
R/C COUNTRY HOBBIES
6011 Folsom Blvd.
916-731-5868
CALIFORNIA • San Diego (La Mesa)
Exclusively trains. Craft kits, detail parts, scratch supplies, books. Ride the trolley to Reed's. Open Mon through Sat 10:00-6:00; Sun 12-4. www.reeds-hobbies.com
REED’S HOBBY SHOP
8039 La Mesa Blvd.
619-464-1672
CALIFORNIA • Santa Clara
LGB, USA, Accucraft, Live Steam Great Prices Huge book selection Mon 9:30am-3:30pm Tues - Sat 9:30am- 6:00pm, Closed Sun Dennis Cole E-mail:
[email protected]
THE TRAIN SHOP, LLC
1829 Pruneridge Ave.
Largest Selection of O/G in So. Cal! Discount Prices, Open 7 Days a Week! Authorized Lionel, MTH, LGB, PIKO Dealer! www.milepost38.com
MILEPOST 38 TOY TRAINS
6462 Industry Way
714-892-9471
COLORADO • Denver
We now carry Z, N, HO, S, O and G. Lionel, LGB, S-Helper and MTH. Mon-Sat 10-6. Closed Sun. 14269 Imperial Hwy.
CALIFORNIA • Westminster (Orange Co.)
408-296-1050
CABOOSE HOBBIES, INC.
303-777-6766
FLORIDA • Orlando
One of Florida's largest model train & hobby shops. All scales. Authorized Lionel & MTH service station. Mon-Thu 9-7:30, Fri 9-9, Sat 9-6. 20 min. from Disney.
COLONIAL PHOTO & HOBBY
634 North Mills
800-841-1485
GEORGIA • Alpharetta
ROLLING STOCK TRAINS
770-714-5545
GEORGIA • Atlanta
Lionel Train Top 10 Dealer MTH Train Mega Dealer 400 s.f. layout, HUGE selection, service, repair www.legacystation.com 800-964-8724 LEGACY STATION TRAINS TOYS HOBBIES 4153 Lawrenceville Hwy., #12 770-339-7780
IOWA • Polk City (Des Moines)
Accucraft-Airwire-AML-Aristo-Bachmann Cordless Renov.-Digitrax-HLW-Kadee-JPF LGB-Massoth-Ozark-Phoenix PIKO-QSI Split Jaw-Sunset Valley-TrainLi USA Trains Min. from I-80/35 www.ReindeerPass.com REINDEER PASS AT KIDMAN TREE FARM 3665 NW 98th Avenue 515-984-6946
ADVERTISER INDEX
GARDEN RAILWAY GIZMOS
1425 N. Broadway
316-262-4300
MARYLAND • Annapolis
If we don't have it, we'll get it! LGB, Woodland Scenics, Walthers Dealer, Aristo, Accucraft, Delton, Pola, Lionel, Bachmann, Hartland, Spectrum, Proto 2000. Mon - Sat 10-6. Full line Kalmbach!
STAR HOBBY
1564 Whitehall Rd.
410-349-4290/4291
MICHIGAN • Bridgeport
Scales Z to G. All at discount prices. Am. Models, Aristo, Athearn, Atlas, Bachmann, Con-Cor, IHC, USA, Kadee, Kato, K-Line, Lionel, MTH, Walthers, LGB, HLW. www.jvrailroad.com JUNCTION VALLEY RR HOBBY SHOP 7065 Dixie Hwy. 989-777-3480 FORMERLY MERRI-SEVEN • NEW LOCATION All scales Z thru G, new and used Complete selection of RR equipment/supplies BUY • SELL • REPAIR • PARTS Tues - Fri 11-7, Sat. 11-6
EMPIRE TRAINS & HOBBIES
3278 Rochester Rd.
248-680-6500
MINNESOTA • Buffalo (Twin Cities Area) G-Scale only featuring large selection of LGB, USA, Massoth, Piko, Pola & Preiser. Mon - Fri 9-5. 1-800-789-5738 www.onlytrains.com
ONLY TRAINS
308-B Brighton Ave.
763-684-4131
NEBRASKA • Omaha
Large selection of G-scale trains and accessories: LGB, MTH, USA, AristoCraft, Bachmann, PIKO and Marklin www.rollingstocktrains.com 375 Winkler Dr., Suite D
NORTH CAROLINA • Columbus
Aristo, Bridgewerks, Hartland, Phoenix, Piko, Woodland Scenics & others. Books puzzles, children’s items. Service & repair. Thur., Fri. 12-7; Sat. 10-7; Sun. 12-5
MICHIGAN • Troy
Since 1938! All scales & gauges. Open daily! See all this & more in our on-line catalog. http://www.caboosehobbies.com 500 S. Broadway
KANSAS • Wichita
Trains & supplies for all scales Z-G. We are DCC ready & installation service available. Service work, repairs, technical support. Family owned since 1938. Mon-Fri 8:00-5:30; and Sat 10:00-5:00 www.houseoftrains.com
HOUSE OF TRAINS
8106 Maple
402-934-RAIL (7245)
NEW JERSEY • Somerville
THE BIG LITTLE RAILROAD SHOP
908-685-8892
NEW YORK • Horseheads
828-712-3429
PENNSYLVANIA • Philadelphia (Feasterville) Lionel, American Flyer, LGB, MTH, Marklin, Bachmann, Williams. HO, N & Z. We buy, sell & repair. Mon-Fri 12-8; Sat 10-5 (Closed Sat. July & Aug.) Sun. in Dec.10-5 www.JoesTrainStation.com
JOE’S TRAIN STATION
21 East Street Rd.
215-322-5182
TEXAS • Dallas (Addison) Great discounts on thousands of G to Z scale items. NCE & Digitrax dealer. Monday - Saturday 10-6.
DISCOUNT MODEL TRAINS
4641 Ratliff Lane
972-931-8135
CANADA–AB • Nanton
Specializing in G gauge & Thomas wooden, Aristo-Craft, LGB, USATrains, Massoth, Phoenix Sound, Piko, Pola. Mail order welcome. Open all year. No. Amer.’s busiest garden RR. 5/1-10/1. www.ultimatetrains.com
ULTIMATE TRAINS, LTD.
2121 18th Street
403-646-1190
CANADA–ON • Alliston
HO, N , G, On30, Steam and Diesel. Limited Edition Art, Books and Videos. Live steam. 5 days a week (closed Mon & Tues). www.hvrr.ca
HOCKLEY VALLEY RAILROAD
4492 Adjala-Tecumseth Townline
705-435-7024
CANADA–ON • Castleton
Aristo-craft, U.S.A. Trains, Bachmann, Accucraft, Kadee, Phoenix Sound, Revolution System and more. www.kingshollowgardentrains.com Contact: Doug Kingsmill & Jean Jones
KINGS HOLLOW GARDEN TRAINS
111 Dingwall Road
905-344-8363
Large scale trains only. Accucraft, Bachmann, USA Trains, Phoenix Sound, and much more. R/C & battery conversions. See our web site for monthly sales. Open 6 days, closed Sun. www.wgrr.ca
WINONA GARDEN RAILWAY
7457 Boyce Drive
519-763-9477
CANADA–ON • Toronto (Markham)
N, HO, O, & G scales. Authorized Lionel dealer. www.wholesaletrains.com
LANTZ TRAIN SHOP
3312 S. Main St.
LOCOMOTION WORKS
205 Mountainside Drive/ I-26
CANADA–ON • Guelph/Puslinch
Specializing in service. Tues to Fri 11 am - 7 pm, Sat 11 am - 5 pm, Sun 12 pm - 4 pm. www.biglittle.com Fax # 908-685-8894
63 W. Main St.
The Carolina’s newest G SCALE headquarters. Remote control, battery conversions & sound systems. Exclusive track ballast system. E-mail:
[email protected] www.locomotionworks.com
607-215-0019
Model Railroad Specialists since 1962 Lionel Authorized Distributor & Repair Center All Scales - Special Orders Closed Mondays www.georgestrains.com
GEORGE’S TRAINS LTD.
550 Alden Rd., Unit 101
905-470-6200
The Advertiser Index is provided as a service to Garden Railways magazine readers. The magazine is not responsible for omissions or for typographical errors in names or page numbers.
31st Nat’l Garden Railway Conv.............70
Garden Railways Books.........................78
Model Decal Depot................................80
Shady Glen Models................................79
32nd Annual Garden Railway Conv.........24
Garden Railways magazine....................35
Shawmut Car Shops..............................79
Above All Railways.................................79
Gardenlines.net.....................................79
MTH Electric Trains, Inc..........................16 MyLocoSound........................................11
Accucraft Company...............................65
GardenRailways.com.............................78
Narrow Gauge Paradise- LGB Tours.......61
SLM.........................................................7
American Made Steel Bridges................80
Gary Raymond Wheels...........................79
Ozark Miniatures...................................22
Art Knapp Plantland, Ltd.........................24
Graham Industries.................................12
Smith Pond Junction................................7
Pacific Coast Garden Railway.................79
Bridgemasters.......................................35
Hartland Locomotive Works...................17
Phoenix Unlimited, Ltd...........................22
Bridgewerks....................................16, 61
Hockley Valley Railroad..........................67
PIKO America.........................................84
Cab Forwards By RMC...........................80
Innovative Train Technology...................79
Polk’s Generationext, LLC.........................4
Caboose Hobbies...................................61
Iron Horse Engraving.............................80
Cedarleaf Custom Decals.......................79
JS Woodcraft.........................................24
Charles Ro Supply Co.............................23
Kadee Quality Products Co...............12, 69
Creative Zest, LLC..................................16
Kalmbach Publishing Co........................49
Crest Electronics....................................11
Keithco, Inc..............................................7
CVP Products.........................................68
Larry G Scale...........................................3
Dallee Electronics, Inc............................24
LGB.......................................................83
DCC-Bitswitch.......................................79
LGB Train Shop......................................16
Eaglewings Iron Craft.................12, 22, 67
Loco-Boose Hobbies..............................22
East Coast Large Scale Train Show..........9
R & G Railroad Co..................................16 R & S Enterprises.....................................3 Railbed Systems....................................12 Rainbow Ridge......................................80 Ralph Williams Landscape Design..........79 Ram Track.............................................12 RCS of New England..............................79
Silver State Trains..................................80
Something Different...............................80 South Bend Signal Company..................69 Split Jaw Products.................................11 Steve’s Depot........................................12 Stoneworks...........................................79 Sunset Valley Railroad............................49 SwitchCrafters.......................................79 Train-li-USA...........................................25 TrainWorld.............................................31 Trainz.com...............................................3
Reindeer Pass Railroad..........................67
Upland Trains...........................................7
Locomotion Works.................................80
RGSRR Hobbies.......................................7
USA Trains...............................................2
East Gary Car Co......................................3
Lynell Model Supply...............................80
RLD Hobbies..........................................34
Valley Train Station................................16
Entertrainment, Inc................................22
M & M Nursery........................................3
Roundhouse Engineering.......................49
Vanco Log Dollhouses and Barns...........80
Fall Creek Railroad Structures................67
Massoth Elektronik GmbH, Germany......22
Charles Ro Supply Co.............................23
VES Enterprises.....................................79
Flexxbed Roadbed.................................80
Me Taylor Engineering, Inc.....................80
RR Concepts..........................................80
Vilas County Lumber Company..............80
G Scale Graphics...................................79
Micro Fasteners.......................................7
Safe Train Case......................................80
Z-Stuff for Trains....................................12
G Scale Junction....................................34
Mini Forests By Sky...............................79
Sandy Mush Herb Nursery.....................79
Zionsville Train Depot, LLC.......................7 www.GardenRailways.com
81
BEGINNER PROJECT
ONE-PAGE PROJECT
Modifying an out-of-scale coal load by Marty Cozad | Nebraska City, Nebraska |
I
had been looking forward to AML’s 1:29scale BethGon high-capacity gondola car for a long time. Based on past experience, I expected a well-done product. However, when I first saw this car, I was disappointed at the size of coal used for the load. It looked like a 1:20.3-scale load. I measured the coal on my car and found it to be 9" to 14" chunks. Since it appeared to be real coal, I thought I could simply scrape it off, crush it, and glue it back on. It looked like hot glue or contact cement had been used to hold the coal on. I got out my heat gun and, with it set on a low setting, I warmed the glue, then tried to use a 1" knife to scrape it off. I worked at it for about 20 minutes and got some of it off. However, the coal had so much glue in it that removing it all wasn’t possible, so I left a lot in place. I also removed the wires for the lift-out load. Instead, I got some river sand, which is coarser than mortar sand. I spread the cement over the remaining large coal, then sprinkled the sand onto the glue and let it set overnight. I ran a sandpaper block along the edges to keep them smooth, so the load would easily fit back into the car. I also replaced the lift-out wires. I then painted the finished load with plastic compatible, gloss-black spray paint. I sprayed on two light coats from all sides. I was happy with the results. The coal now looked like it was in scale. This is one of those projects that is good for a cold or rainy evening when you can’t play with your trains outdoors. Have you done a garden-railwayrelated project that can be described in a single page? Send us 300-600 words with up to three photos and/or illustrations. E-mail mhorovitz@ gardenrailways.com with “One-page project” in the subject line.
82
Garden Railways | April 2015
PHOTOS BY THE AUTHOR
This modified coal load on the AML car is much more to scale than the original large-chunk load.
Each piece of coal in the original load scaled out to 9"-14" in 1:29 scale—much too large.
A heat gun was used to soften the glue so that some of the coal could be scraped off.
Contact cement was applied and more-in-scale river sand was spread over the existing coal, then spray painted.
LGB - The Track System for Garden Railroads LGB track and track accessories work together offering a complete track system for easy and creative track planning. The high-quality, solid brass rail provides reliable operation and is very easy to keep clean.
Solid Brass Rail UV-Resistant Ties
Layout planning is exciting with more than 35 track sections and four different radii. LGB is the track system with every geometry for the large scale enthusiast.
As you plan your new LGB track layout or expand your existing layout, it is inspiring to learn from LGB experts and fellow enthusiasts who share your passion for LGB. The LGB Club makes this possible!
NE
W
€ 7.50 (D), € 7.50 (A), CHF 13.50 (CH), $ 15.00 (US)
Depesche
WWW.LGB.DE
THE MAGAZINE FOR LGB ENTHUSIASTS
ISSUE 1/2015
JOIN THE LGB CLUB TO GET THESE EXCLUSIVE BENEFITS: LGB Depesche Magazine 4 issues per year filled with comprehensive articles and beautiful photographs featuring the prototypes, practical tips, layout planning and the latest LGB news. LGB DVD Watch the highlights of LGB model railroading – 2 per year. LGB Catalog & New Items Brochures
The digital starter set
Perfect start into a new garden railroad dimension
Opportunity to purchase the annual LGB Club Model E 254267
Personalized Club Card & Special Club Gift
DREAM LAYOUT
138 meters of track and 600 bonsai plants
“HARZ BULL”
The Top Model for the 60th anniversary of the new locos
To join the LGB Club visit www.lgb.com or call 800-321-8811 Monday-Friday 9am – 4pm CST.
VISIT YOUR LGB RETAILER AND START BUILDING YOUR DREAM GARDEN RAILROAD.
lgb.com
©2015 Märklin, Inc.
Cold outside? Dreaming of Spring? Here are some great indoor activities... Annoy the pets while running your new PIKO G-Scale Loco with Lights, Smoke and Spectacular Digital Sound! The new 38243 SF Camelback – coming soon!
ha Curl up wit..the good book. talog. a new 2015 C Now! Reser ve
© 2015 PIKO America. Items bearing the D&RGW trademarks produced under license from Union Pacific Railroad Company
Spend some fun hours assembling a few weatherproof PIKO G-Scale Building Kits – Nearly 200 Available. Plan your new garden railway! It’s easy to begin with a PIKO Starter Set, like the brand-new 38111 D&RGW Passenger Set with Sound & Smoke.
See nearly 600 items in the 196-page full-color 2015 PIKO G-Scale Catalog! At your retailer or $9 post-paid direct. Or get the 346-page full-color 2015 PIKO HO-Scale Catalog. $9 post-paid direct or $15 for both HO & G.
PIKO America, Dept G • 4610 Alvarado Canyon Rd., Suite 5 • San Diego CA 92120 Phone 877-678-4449 or 619-280-2800 • www.piko-america.com
n Made i ny Germa
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