Privateers - An inside Look

 

British sailors and marines get slaughtered as they attempt a "cutting out expedition" on the 
American Privateer, General Armstrong

Amanda Foreman's book, "The World on Fire" discusses Britian's balancing act in trying to remain neutral during the American Civil War. One of the reasons she offers, among several others, as to why Britian remained neutral was that they were concerned about the potential devastating impact Union privateers would have had on the British merchant fleet. The British recalled their exasperating experience with American privateers in the Revolution and even more so in the War of 1812. Furthermore, they could see the effect the few Confederate raiders were having on the vast Union merchant fleet. They did not want to risk their merchant fleet to that again,

If you are wondering, like I did, how privateers actually worked than this article by Joshua Smith, "General Armstrong: the Captain, the Ship, the Battle" might help. In it he illuminates how American privateers were financed, built, sailed, and fought in the war of 1812 by following the example of the Baltimore Clipper, General Armstrong.  It became a famous ship due to a tenacious captain and a bloody battle fought in neutral harbor. It is a fascinating read. You can find a copy of the article at the following link General Armstrong: the Captain, the Ship, the Battle

Crazygrams

 

We have all seem the internet meme with a quote attributed to Abraham Lincoln about not believing what you see on the internet. However, there is this little story about Lincoln from the book, "Lincoln in the Telegraph Office; recollections of the United States Military Telegraph Corps during the Civil War," by Homer Bates, that reminds me of internet craziness. It was a portent of the future.  But first, I want to discuss this remarkable book and some other books a bit more. 

The Bates book is fascinating. You get a detailed look at what happened in Washington, DC from the perspective of the clerks that saw every telegram that came in. It makes the shenanigans that go on now look like kids play. I tell people, "the  more I study the Civil War (and Revolution) the more I realize very little has changed in Washington politics."

For example, at times the clerks edited messages that came in from senior officers, or even withheld some to avoid trouble. One time they deleted a paragraph that contained an insubordinate remark that McCellan sent to Lincoln after the Seven-days campaign. The clerk freely admitted he could be shot for doing it, but he thought it was the right thing to do.  

There is another incident described where a Norfolk doctor murdered a Union officer, who was in charge of a colored regiment,  on the streets of Norfolk because the idea of African American soldiers incensed him. The doctor was quickly captured, tried and sentenced to death. First the doctor tried to escape prison by exchanging places with his daughter. That didn't work. Then the defendant appealed to Lincoln, but he did not grant clemency. The allies of the doctor tried to bribe a telegraph agent to write a false message of clemency, but the bribe was not accepted. The doctor was hanged.

The book covers a series of incidents where Democratic supporters were trying to organize military officers to become political opponents to oust Lincoln. Then they would end the war and let the south secede.  The plot failed when General Rosecrans and others did not support them and their plans were upended.  However, later they did get former General McCellan to run against Lincoln, but Lincoln defeated him in the election.

Of interest to my railroad, there is discussion a rebel spy who was tapping the telegraph line on the Aquia Railroad. The union telegraph clerks actually heard him but could not physically find him. The telegraph operators used ciphers so that the spy couldn't understand what they were saying. He eventually did give up and they later found where he had tapped the line.  

The book goes into great detail about ciphers that were used to encode messages. The telegraph lines around the nation were not secure and could be tapped anywhere. At one point, Grant's men intercepted several messages near Vicksburg. The messages where in a crude code used by the rebels. Grant's men sent the messages to Washington. There, the telegraph staff decoded them and sent the clear text back to Grant.    

In addition to eavesdropping, the opposing sides also used to send spoof messages. These were often not effective because the operators could recognize each other by their telegraph key technique (what we would call electronic signature now) and could tell when messages were from others. 

Union telegraph operations were much more sophisticated that the rebels. By 1864 Grant's signal corps was laying telegraph line at a rate of two miles per hour. Not only was Grant in constant communication with Washington, DC and hence the rest of the United States, but he also had lines from Army to Corps HQ for more tactical communication. The rebels had no such capability.

You can download the book for free from the internet archive.  

I also recommend, "The Northern Railroads in the Civil War, 1861-1865, " which I reread this past week. I am in the middle of "Gettysburg: A Testing of Courage by Noah Andre Trudeau." It's a highly readable account of the campaign and battle which combines great prose with a nice assortment of original quotes.  

Another book that I just finished and recommend for anyone interested in the Aquia Line is "Seizing Destiny: The Army of the Potomac's "Valley Forge" and the Civil War Winter that Saved the Union," by Albert Conner Jr.,  Chris Mackowski. The book goes into great detail on the reforms that General Hooker introduced to re-build the Army of the Potomac into a war-winning force. Some of Hooker's reforms still persist, such as the wearing of unit patches on uniforms, and a centralized military intelligence staff. 

Now, back to original story I cited at the start. Here is some background. Maxwell, an ordinary citizen from Philadelphia, would constantly telegraph President Lincoln with criticism and complaints about various political issues. Lincoln would often respond to them out of courtesy. This message came in after the Battle of Chickamauga, where General Thomas earned the nickname, "Rock of Chickamauga." The following is an extract from the book. 

"...The next Maxwell telegram of record was as,
New York City, 1:30 p.m., September 23, 1863.His Excellency A. Lincoln, President: Will Buell'stestamentary executor George Thomas ever let Rosecranssucceed? Is Bragg dumb enough to punish Thomas severelyand disgracingly ? Robert A. Maxwell. 

The President held this impertinent telegram until his evening visit to the War Department. Meantime, no doubt thinking that some defense of General Thomas by the Administration might serve to allay the already evidently wide-spread distrust and anxiety, he wrote the following despatch at the White House and brought it to the telegraph office and handed it to Tinker for transmission: 

"Cypher"Executive Mansion, Washington, Sep., 23, 1863.Robert A. Maxwell, New York: I hasten to say that inthe state of information we have here, nothing could bemore ungracious than to indulge any suspicion towards Gen.Thomas. It is doubtful whether his heroism and skill exhibitedlast Sunday afternoon has ever been surpassed inthe world. A. Lincoln. 

But the message had been in Tinker's hands only a few minutes, when Lincoln came over to the cipher-desk and said, "I guess I will not send this; I can't afford to answer every crazy question asked me." 

Thereafter, adopting Lincoln's description, we always referred to these officious despatches as "crazygrams." 

Tinker, of course, did not send the message which Lincoln had written, and deeming it of curious interest as a memento, preserved it carefully with a copy of the message from Maxwell. Several years afterward, he met General Thomas in Washington, and thinking he would be especially gratified to see and possess the documents, he had the pleasure of delivering them into Thomas's hands at Willard's Hotel, Washington, with a letter, of which the following is a copy.  

May 27, 1867.Major-General George H. Thomas,General : I have had in my possession since the day it was written, a telegram penned by our late beloved President. Its history is this. Robert Maxwell, a quixotic individual, residing in Philadelphia, has during the war, and since, humored a propensity for addressing dictatorial and sensational despatches to the President, his cabinet and prominent officials of the Government. By those who were familiar with his character, no consideration was accorded them. On receipt of one of these, a copy of which I enclose, the President wrote a reply, which he handed to me for transmission, but afterwards concluded not to send.I have preserved this precious autographic document, hoping some time to be honored with an opportunity to present it to you in person, to whom it justly belongs—a priceless tribute to a noble hero, whose dauntless courage on that fateful day saved the Army of the Cumberland.Very Respectfully Yours,Charles A. Tinker, Cipher Operator,War Dept. Telegraph Office.

Nation's Fortress

I'm getting ready for a two week road trip to attend Prorail 2019 in Tulsa, OK. I was in Tulsa a couple years ago  for a model railroad event and had a great time. This year I hope to operate some layouts that I didn't get to see then. Tulsa is a nice city with a hot bed of model railroad activity.

Along the way I'll stop at civil war battlefields, museums, visit my children, and  see some layouts too. I'll be driving solo, so I am taking the trip in smaller segments than our normal blitzkrieg road trip.

Meanwhile, I recommend you check out this book that my brother wrote with some help from me.
To quote from the Amazon web site, (Click the image to go to the Amazon web site).

A riveting path through 210 years of the American experience as traveled by two distinct but united families. From the whistling artillery at the Battle of Yorktown to the frozen mountains of Korea, the Kempinskis and Maxeys served and fought for their country. The rich and diverse stories of these citizen soldiers as they marched, flew, and battled through every major conflict in our nation’s history is revealed in this gripping book. Each contributed, some dearly, to America’s success and in their own way built the Nation’s Fortress.

 









One of the neat things about the book is that each story has a different format, including an original poem, letters home, first person memoir of a soldier suffering PTSD, and a graphic novel.  I did the artwork for the graphic novel. It tells a short story about my namesake grandfather in WWI. He lied about his age and enlisted at age 15 in the US Army.

Track plans for frigid weather

We are back in Virginia after a Christmas trip to Rochester, Minnesota to visit relatives.  It was very cold there, but we had a good time and had a chance to do a little bit of rail-fanning.

I received a couple interesting books for Christmas as gifts. The first was "Grant," by Ron Chernow.  It is getting good reviews. The second is, "Clad in Iron - The American Civil War and the Challenge of British Naval Power," by Howard Fuller. A quick skim of the chapters definitely caught my interest. I will read that next after I finish George Swede's,  "The Steam Tug." So far that book has been a fascinating review of the history of the steam ships and tugs.

This evening we were visited by Nick Pautler and his parents from Delaware. They are all rail fans and are planning on building a new layout. Nick is an engineering college student so doesn't have much time for model trains now. But his dad is building a new house with lots of room for a new layout. They are interested in coming back for an op session, so we will add them to the call board.

While in Minnesota I tweaked the Aquia Line v18 design a bit.

The main change to the plan was that I moved the turntable to the back of the Falmouth section, thereby making the benchwork in that area narrower. That will allow me to keep the couch in that part of the layout for use as a crew lounge and TV viewing area. The couch can slide under the Falmouth benchwork during an op session.

A by product of that change is that the continuous run (CR) is eliminated because there was no way to fit it behind the turntable in a convincing manner. As I have said in the past, a CR is not a priority for me, so it's no big loss. However, I am keeping the siding to the warehouse at Burnside wharf for the extra switching opportunities.

I haven't decided on whether to do a swing section or removable piece for access to my office. I am leaning to a swing section, while Alicia thinks a removable piece is better.   I did a bit of surveying tonight and may have to put a slight grade on the line to provide sufficient clearance under the stairs, but there is room for that, so it shouldn't be a problem.

The more I look at this plan the more I like it. However, there are few other ideas I want to explore, so this is not a final plan yet (it never is). I prefer to keep tracks out of the office because I want to build some nice book shelves in there and I like how the sky board came out in the far corner. But there some variants of v19  that I want to consider even  though they do invade the home office.

Back in Ole Virginny

Having spent the past week zipping around the country, it is good to be back in Ole Virginny. While I didn't get to work on the layout over the Christmas break, several interesting other things happened.

The first happened in Rochester, Minnesota. My wife and I where wandering through the underground walkways that connect most of the downtown buildings in Rochester. Strangely enough, they call these underground walkways the "skyway." (OK, there are some elevated parts, but it seems to mostly be underground.)  I wandered into an art shop while AW was looking at a woman's clothes shop. I noticed a book on the counter that was about the 1st Minnesota Regiment, a unit that needs no introduction to students of the civil war.

The woman who ran the shop, Ms Sharon Krom, told me that she and her husband, Richard, wrote the book based on 218 letters Edward H. Bassett sent home during his three year enlistment. This got my attention. Lately I have been reading as much original civil war material and memoirs as I can find. Having read a good number of summaries and strategic analyses, I am finding the original material much more interesting and rewarding to read.

So I opened the 719 page book to a random place and started reading. The first letter I saw was written from Falmouth, April 1863. Just the time that I am modeling. A quick flick through the pages showed dozens of letters from this period. I knew I had to get the book, despite not knowing if it would fit in my luggage.

As I headed to the cash register, Richard Krom, Mrs. Krom's husband arrived. We had a very pleasant chat about the book and their efforts to collect the letters. It seems that the letters were scattered across the country and the couple had to spend considerable effort to gather them. The letters have been transcribed to printed text for ease in reading. There is a small amount of text written by the Kroms placed between the letters to put the letters in context. As I purchased the book, Richard, Sharon and their son James, signed my copy.


I am not quite finished reading the book, but I am really enjoying reading it.  It reminds me a lot of Leander Stillwell's memoirs and Wilbur Fisk's Letters from "Hard Marching Every Day." I will do a full review when I finish the book, but based on what I read so far, I highly recommend it.






I also read another interesting book over the break called the "Tugboats of New York," by George Matteson.  This book is a richly illustrated history of New York tugboat activity. Although the book has dozens of fine art quality black and white prints, the text is quite good and very informative.  There is a fascinating chapter on tugs in the civil war.  I borrowed this copy from the library, but I plan to get a copy for my personal library.

When I got back to Virginia, the test samples of my photo etched stainless steel HO scale chain link fences with barbed wire and gates were waiting for me. The test etches look great and I will be offering these for sale in January via Alkem Scale Models.




Finally, I noticed tonight that Minitrains (in Germany) has announced a Baldwin 2-6-2 HOn2 (they call it HOe and OO9). I have not seen the loco for sale anywhere. I wonder what its status is? They are also offering American box cars, flat cars, and gondolas, all with Pershing trucks. With this loco and freight cars. and the forthcoming 4-6-0 from Bachmann, a WWI narrow gauge RR is more easily modeled. I may have to reconsider my next project. Hmmmm......

Discussing my Books on This Blog

Several people have suggested that I start a blog to discuss my books, especially the track plan book that just came out.  While I have tried maintaining multiple blogs in the past, I now prefer to just have one. So if you will bear with me, I am opening this blog to discussions about my books.

To begin, Trevor Marshall has written a nice review of my latest book, "45 Original Track Plans."  See here. In my view, Trevor clearly "gets it." The purpose of this book is to inspire and entertain all model railroaders, from folks in the armchair to those that have already built  their layouts.  I hope this book does that.

My intent was not to provide detailed blueprints on how to build an exact layout. Very few people will have the exact space that I show in the plans.

I intended these plans as design studies to indicate the possible. As such I use CAD tools to draw the track and structures to make sure that what I draw could be built. I also use artistic software to present the plans in a pleasing way.  Hopefully the reader will enjoy looking at the plans, learning about the prototypes (that is why I included some off-beat subjects) and perhaps find ideas that they can use.  I suspect that most modelers will want to adapt any particular plan to the era and railroad to match their space and interests.

Trevor's comment about building a plan in the next smaller scale is right on the money. I like the example he used. In my next book I need to explicitly discuss this point, as I agree whole heartedly with the concept.

In my first track planning book,  "Mid-Size Track Plans for Realistic Layouts" I had a examples that showed how one could model a given subject in different scales. Thus each chapter took an in depth look at one subject. I used a different approach in the latest book, where I covered more subjects, but with only one plan and not in as much depth. Both approaches have their merits. I think I prefer this latest approach, as I can cover more ground.


Don't forget you can order signed copies of my books from my website at Alkem Scale Models
The books are also available at Amazon,  and the Kalmbach On-line Bookstore.

Kalmbach accepting orders for my next book

Here is an ad Model Railroader is running in the October Issue. A preview of the book is available on the Kalmbach Books web page at this link.

 These are 45 new, never before published, track plans.


 The timing might not work out, but I hope to have copies of my next book at the the MARPM next month. The book is due on 30 September 2015.

Sneak Peek Next Book Cover

I received a sneak peak at the cover of my next book. Here it is.

As the title says, the book includes 45 new track plans from small shelf layouts, though 2500 square foot basement filling layouts.

The book is currently at the printers and should be coming out in a few months.


In other book news, Model Railroad News ran a two page review of my book, "Model Railroads Go to War." See their July 2015 issue for the full review.

Diary of Edwin B. Weist of Company A of the 20th Indiana Regiment

Gordon Bradshaw has posted a transcribed version of the diary of Edwin B. Weist, Company A of the 20th Indiana Regiment. The transcribed diary starts with the the regiment's camp at Falmouth and extends through several of the campaigns in which the Army of the Potomac participated including Chancellorsville, Gettysburg and Mine Run.  Like most civil war diaries, the bulk of the entries describe  routine duties. As I read more of these diaries, I find the typical soldier focuses on his own comfort, health and duties and knows little of the actual events. There are several entries based on rumors, such as a report that Vicksburg fell in the early winter of 1863,  that would prove to be incorrect. Although he participated in several major battles, they get scant mention.

The Aquia railroad gets mentioned several times in the diary. He also gives a good record of the weather they experienced, including some heavy snow.  Here is a typical entry from his time at Falmouth and Belle Plain.

Sunday March 8. Got a good comfortable bunk up composed of small poles covered with cedar boughs. It resembles a bed more than that we generaly have. Our camp is said to be about three mile from Bell plains landing, and about five from the old camp. The railroad is within sight, so allso is the Potomac river. We are not as much in the woods as we expected to be.

        Monday March 9. The weather to day has been beautifull indeed, resembling a May day. The view from the top of the hills wich surround our camp is grand indeed. The sparkling surface of the Potomac river in the distanced; the neighboring hills covered with camps; a train of cars just crossing the bridge, 75 feet high, and a regiment of cavalry on drill in the valley beneath, is a subject for a painter.

        Tuesday March 10. Was very disagreeable raining nearly all day, wich turned to snow in the evening. Weesner and Marsh were on detail, Mr. Thorn was sick so I have to cary all the wood we used during the day no inconsiderable job.

This regiment was one of the group that got sent to New York to stop the draft riots. Along the way, the rode a number of trains. That section is worth reading if you are interested in railroad operations behind the front line.

Number 1 Best Seller!

"Model Railroads Go to War" is the number 1 best seller in Model Trains Books on Amazon. 

"Model Railroads Go to War" is Now Shipping

My latest book, "Model Railroads Go to War" is now shipping from Kalmbach Publishing.

Amazon has the lowest price that I am aware of, but they may not have it yet.Model Railroads Go to War (Layout Design and Planning)

 Kalmbach has them in the warehouse now.

If you want it signed, you can order from www.alkemscalemodels.com as I have copies in stock.

I remember that, sort of...

I was searching through the MR and Train DVD collections doing research for a book project. As I flipped though an issue looking for something else, this photo filled my screen. "Hey, I recognize that!", though in truth I forgot about it. This was a photo submission for a MR Photo Contest that did not win. But it did appear in Trackside Photos. Michael Bencs owned the locos. I borrowed them for the photo shoot.  The bushes were Supertree sprigs, a new product at the time.

A different photo from that diorama did get third place in the photo contest.

I have the MR and Trains DVDs. They are well worth the purchase price. The search engine that comes with the DVDs is not very good, but you can use the Model Train Index on the Kalmbach site to help with searches. It is a lotos fun to read MR from the 1930s and 40s. Stories about guys scratch building locos with a almost no tools in war zones, and some sophisticated layout designs. Very cool.

Trains Magazine's early issues are pretty crude compared to today, but the info is there. Here is a neat story that popped up in my searches. I and heard about this bridge, but never saw any pictures.

There was another article that discussed the railroad that served the Washington Navy Yard. It is all gone now, but at one time there was a pretty incredible railroad operation there.

Up coming talks.

I will be giving this talk Friday night at the MidAtlantic RPM in Fredericksburg. See www.marpm.org for more info. I will do it again the next weekend at the NMRA James River Subdivision in Richmond. More info here. If you can't make either of those dates, I will present it again at the MER Convention in October at Hagerstown. More info here.

If you can't make any of these dates, the book will be available for sale on 1 Jaunary. One can pre-order it now via Kalmbach or Amazon.





From the primitive 19th century iron horse to the thundering diesels of today, railroads have played an important part in enabling, changing, and sometimes inciting warfare. This talk is an overview of how railroads served in wars, and how to apply this information to design and build operating model railroads. Starting with the Crimean War in 1855 and extending to current times, the talk features protoype photos, maps and plenty of examples of world class modeling. It puts special emphasis on the US military in the American Civil War, WWI, WWII and Gulf Wars. Hopefully it gives you a better understanding of the role of railroads in warfare and acts as a tribute to the men and women that served.

WWI layout

As part of the book I recently finished for Kalmbach Publishing, I built a small (3 by 6 feet) layout in 00/009 scale depicting the railroad activity leading up to the Battle of Cambrai.

Despite the horrific fighting, the European theater of WWI makes a compelling subject for a model railroad. An intense level of standard and narrow gauge railroad activity supporting the field armies presents many operational challenges, while the ruined villages and battle scarred trenches require a different kind of scenic treatment. This model railroad features the railroads of WWI before the Battle of Cambria in the fall of 1917. The first mass use of tanks and aircraft get most of the attention in historic accounts of the Battle of Cambrai, but the innovative offensive depended on extensive and carefully planned American railroad support.  The layout focuses on the 11th and 12th United States Engineers near the town Fins during the build up to the Battle of Cambrai.

For the rest of this fascinating story you will have to wait until January 2015, when the book is released. In the meantime check out this short video featuring the layout.

ProRail 2014 and Dan Toomey Visits

Mike's layout combines great scenery, elegant design, prototype signals and operation

I operated the west end of Clifton Forge yard. My main duties
were weighing coal hoppers as they came in at this
work station. A seated job that was fun.

Last weekend I attended ProRail 2014. I had the chance to operate on three  HO scale layouts. The first was Mike Burgett's C&O James River Division depicting the 1960s in Virginia. It is an amazing layout with beautiful scenery and über-prototypical signal system.  Mike is a professional signal engineer for CN railway, but he has been working on RR signals since he was 19. Mike's layout has to rank in ten top 10 of all layouts I have visited. It is world class in every category, and beyond world class in some others.

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Main yard on Buck's layout

A view down one of the aisles

Next I operated on Phil Buck's modern era UP layout set in Kansas City. The layout is just two years old, but is already fully operational. He and his helper Kevin (sorry, I forgot his last name)  plan to add a full signal system and then add a complete scenic treatment. It is a fun railroad to operate with a variety of jobs from unit sulphur and coal trains that I ran in the morning  to the Kansas City Terminal Switcher job, which I ran in the afternoon.

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Part of Toledo harbor

Massive Jeep Plant

On the last day I operated on Doug Tagsold's latest layout, the Toledo Terminal. It is a very large depiction of the myriad railroads that operate in the Toledo area. I never realized that Toledo was such an important industrial city with a very busy port. It was the biggest coal destination on the C&O. Doug's layout includes ships, grain elevators, a steel mill, massive Jeep plant and lots of smaller industries. He built it in 4 years, but plans to tear it down and build a new narrow gauge layout. Amazing.

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Monday, Dan Toomey, author of "The War Came by Train," and guest curator of the B&O Museum Civil War exhibit, visited the layout. He returned the models that were on loan, got a chance to inspect my various layouts and to discuss future projects for the museum. It was a fun visit.


I did a book review of Dan's book a few months ago. I really recommend it. It is a very good read.

Dan's great great grandfather was an engineer on the B&O during the war. So we agreed we would name one of the loco engineers on the layout Toomey.

Mid 19th Century Track Scale

Fellow ACWRR modeler Marshall Stull alerted me to the following document that contains several interesting items for 19th century railroads. Fourth Annual Catalog of Locomotives and Car Builders Supplies. It has a bunch of interesting drawings in it, especially of tools and surveying equipment.

One item in particular caught my eye, this railroad track scale. It  looks like an interesting item to add to a layout.

Note the operator using a switch stand to move the rails from through route to the weighing tracks.

It is unlikely that the USMRR had one on the Aquia line, but any commercial railroad would need these at several locations.

Note the floor depot scale at the bottom, another useful detail one could add.

Book Review - The War Came by Train

Every wonder why the West Virginia state outline has the twin panhandle shape? You can find the answer as well as many other fascinating stories in Dan Toomey's book, "The War Came by Train, The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad in the Civil War." It is a highly readable and interesting account of the role the B&O had in the civil war. It is not a dry business history, but a living tale full of the characters and actions from the civil war.

To say that the B&O was central to the civil war would be an understatement. As the only railroad linking Washington, DC to the north through sometimes hostile territory, the B&O was vital to the Union. But it was also a trunk line linking the eastern seaboard with the Ohio River valley while passing through the coal mining region of Western Virginia.  One of its main commodities was coal, and the B&O's fleet of iron coal pot hoppers figure prominently in the book.

Of all the northern railroads, the B&O had the highest percentage of military traffic. It also suffered the most damage of any northern road. Robert E. Lee once said of destroying the bridges on the B&O in the Cheat River valley it would be, "worth to me an army." If you are a fan of the B&O, as I am, you will cringe as you read Dan's well researched telling of the damage and depredations the Southern armies and bandits inflicted on the railroad.    The damage that Jackson and the rebels inflicted on the B&O,  including plain old train robbery, went a long way to ensuring that the state of Maryland remained staunchly in the Union. In spite of constant raids and damage, the railroad was able to quickly repair itself and continue to conduct business, albeit with some prolonged gaps in service due to rebel occupation. Dan does a good job of chronicling these raids and keeping them in the overall context.

Dan's story starts with the John Brown raid. Did you know Robert E. Lee and Jeb Staurt rode the B&O on a light engine from Washington to Harper's Ferry to take command of the federal response to Brown's raid. He progresses through the war to the funeral train that took assassinated President Lincoln home to Springfield through Baltimore. The final chapters on the post-war B&O's efforts to recover propety stolen during the war and the B&O's role in the veteran reunions that took place up until 1938.   Dan also also has fascinating chapters on the role the B&O had in West Virginia's statehood, and in the troop transfer for the Chattanooga Campaign.

All in all a great book. If you are a B&O fan, this is a must read. Others will find the book useful as the B&O was at the center of most of the war's critical campaigns including Antietam, and Gettysburg. But be careful, after you read this book, you might find yourself wanting to build a railroad depicting the B&O. I know I am.

Some book reviews

As I wrapped up "The Model Railroad Goes to War," I thought I mention and briefly review some books I found interesting and worth reading during my research.

 I mentioned  "Engines of War" by Christian Wolmar in an earlier review. Then I just discussed the chapters on the American Civil War. But Wolmar's book goes well beyond that with a special emphasis on the railroads of the English colonial wars such as the Sudan and Boer war. Overall I enjoyed the book very much. His discussion of the German railroads in WWII was particularly interesting to me.  I heartily recommend this book.

Speaking of WWII, Alfred Mierzejewski's "Collapse of the German War Economy, 1944-1945" is a very interesting book in spite of its dry sounding title. It is  a rare combination of economic analysis and military history that provides new perspectives on the German war economy and Allied air intelligence.  He describes how the German economy collapsed under Allied bombing in the last year of World War II.

He discusses how Allied strategic bombing campaign evolved and how it affected German industry. He discusses the German reactions as well as the Allied decision making. There is no detailed discussion of air bombardment tactics or missions. Nonetheless, he covers many topics of interest including railroads, coal hauling, intelligence collection, Ultra secrets, photo reconnaissance, and bureaucratic infighting (both Allied and German.)  He comes to the conclusion that the railroad marshaling yards (a term he uses, we model railroaders would more likely call them classification yards), particularly for coal hauling, were the most critical part of German industrial infrastructure. Once the Allies began targeting them systematically, German industry ground to a halt.

In reading the book I couldn't help but think about modern air campaigns and their effectiveness. But I also thought back to how railroads behaved in  the Civil War, especially the descriptions in Agnus Johnson's book on "Virginia Railroads in the Civil War" of how railroad profiteering hurt the confederate war effort, and Cameron's corrupt behavior while Secretary of War as described in the first couple chapters of Taylor's "Victory Rode the Rails."

One last book I'd like to mention is "The Railway Gazette – Special War
Transportation Number,"  a book I found very helpful in researching the WWI chapters of my book.
In 1920, The British  Railway  Gazette published a special edition to record transport used in the war. This would have been the first time that most readers would have become aware of the machines and techniques used to achieve the recent victory – much of it had been secret until then.
Since 1920, copies of this special edition have been highly prized  collectors’ items.  As part of the events to mark the centenary of the conflict, the  Moseley Railway Trust has worked with Railway Gazette International to re-print the 1920 special edition. This book is chocked full of historical information and operational data on British railways in WWI. You can find more information about it here.
    

Book Update

I mailed the manuscript to the publishers two weeks ago and they now have it.  I do not have an estimate on the publishing date, but I suspect it will be sometime in 2014. 

At the left is a mock-up of the cover. This is not final. The designers and marketing people will come up with a cover design that they feel is best. I will use this cover as a marketing tool until we have a final cover.

The book has 2 chapters out of 9 devoted to Civil War railroads.

Thanks again to all of you that helped with this project. The  bottom image on the cover mock-up shows a train on a bridge on Charlie Taylor's O scale layout.

Lincoln -- A Movie Review

After a fine Thanksgiving dinner, AW, my brother, Marco, and I went to see Spielberg's new movie, Lincoln.  We all enjoyed it very much. I knew I would enjoy it, but I was glad my wife and brother did too.

I have been doing a lot of research on the Civil War lately, so I felt like I was watching old friends on the screen. This was especially true since the actors look uncannily like their real-life counterparts. The make-up and costumes were absolutely stunning.  Daniel Day-Lewis really looked like Lincoln. Even the other actors playing cabinet members were clearly identifiable, especially Seward, Stanton and Wells. Of course the latter two had very distinctive beards so they were easier to get right.

This is an important movie in several aspects. First, it will serve as an excellent history and civics lesson for all that see it. It shows how slavery was the key issue in the war. While not everyone in the north supported abolition of slavery, the balance of power between slave states and non-slave states was the issue that led to the war. The scene where Alexander Stevens, the Confederate vice president, asks Lincoln if the rebelling states could surrender and be admitted back to the Union in time so they could have the chance to oppose ratification of the 13th amendment was a key point to me in the movie.  To drive the point home, the script has Stevens go on to explain how the South will be economically devastated by the end of slavery. I doubt that he actually said that to Lincoln. I suspect that was there for the modern viewer's benefit in case they forgot.

(In this same scene I was disappointed that the movie omitted the exchange between Hunter and Lincoln, where Hunter said, "even Charles I entered into agreements with rebels in arms against his government during the English Civil War.  "I do not profess to be posted in History," replied Lincoln. "All I distinctly recollect about the case of Charles I, is, that he lost his head." )

Secondly, it demonstrates how even a greatly revered President has to sometimes gets his hands dirty in  leading the country. The exchange between Pennsylvanian Thaddeus Stevens, the Chairman of the  House Ways and Means Committee,  and the president illustrates the point.  T. Stevens argues for unswerving dedication to the moral compass that points toward “True North.” Lincoln counters that this is all well and good, except when your moral compass takes you into a swamp. Your True North doesn’t matter much then. You’re stuck in the swamp." I don't know if this is an actual Lincoln quote, but it is very apropos.

One of the reasons I find the Civil War fascinating is that it shows to me that little has changed in Washington and how this country gets things done over the past 150 years. People sometimes say that the nation is divided now as political passions heat up. But it is hard to envision the country more divided than during the 1860s. Movies like this can help calibrate the significance of issues that divide our political scene now.

As you can tell, I really enjoyed this movie. But, there were a few disappointments.

First,  as this is a model railroad blog, I am sad to report that there was no scene in the movie showing period railroads. The only train I could detect in the movie was a panning shot of one of Tad's toys, a wooden locomotive.

However, the steamship River Queen gets several key scenes. They appear to have built a full sized prop depicting the ship, so they might as well have used it. Some of the street scenes in Washington were well done. The scenes depicting the burning of Richmond were brief and not explained.Perhaps it was an allegory for the overall end of the Confederacy. But, I think the film missed a great opportunity when it failed to include a scene showing Lincoln visiting the burned city after the Union Army occupied it and the freed slaves' response as he moved about.

Instead there is a scene where Lincoln rides through the trenches of Petersburg. It was way over the top and unrealistic, as was the initial battle scene allegedly depicting the Battle of Jenkins Ferry.  As historically accurate battle scenes both get a D-. The real story of Jenkins Ferry is even more tragic.

I think the early scene where Lincoln talks with some soldiers far fetched, almost dream-like. It was a clumsy way to set the stage even though it included the Gettysburg Address.

I also found Sally Field as Mary Lincoln a poor choice. She did a good job acting the part, but she is literally too old for the role. Mary Lincoln was nearly 20 years younger than Sally. Even Hollywood make-up couldn't bridge that gap. I think her mental anguish would have been even more compelling if they had cast a younger actress.

Although he appears very briefly, I thought the actor they picked for Robert E. Lee was too heavy even though his face looked very much like Lee. Jared Harris on the other hand was a dead ringer for Grant. I liked how the movie showed the close and trusting relationship between Grant and Lincoln, and Seward and Lincoln.

Overall, I believe it is a must-see movie for all Americans and any others that wish to understand the civil war and our government better.

Mom turns the dining room into a sewing factory

My mom wanted to see the movie, but like me, she can get obsessed with projects. So she stayed home to  finish the drapes and bunting for the road show.  They are almost ready. We'll post more about them later.