Here we go again

I started the benchwork for my next project. This will be a 00/009 scale layout set in WWI. I will not be doing regular blog posts on this layout as it is intended as a project layout for the book I am working on. This photo shows the overall design of the benchwork  and the coved sky boards.  I hope to get back working on the Aquia line in December.

Upcoming Events

The next showing of McCook's Landing in scheduled for 11 August in Charlottesville, VA. The layout will be set up in an open house as an NMRA James River Division monthly event.  For more information see http://jrdnmra.blogspot.com/

On September 13 at 8:00PM, I will be presenting at talk at the Mid-Atlantic Railroad Prototype Meet on Modeling the USMRR Aquia Line. This will be an in-depth look at the history,  design, evolution, and  construction of my home model railroad. The talk will take place about 2 miles from the actual prototype location, so it will be easy for attendees to visit the nearby state park to see where the Landing used to be located if they wish. For more information see http://www.marpm.org/   If the weather cooperates, maybe General Haupt will show up.  For folks heading north on Sunday from the MARPM , I will have the layout open for visit. Please reserve a spot with me ahead of time if you want to visit.

The next day, September 14 at 11:00AM  I will be presenting the same talk at the B&O Museum in Baltimore, Maryland. This talk is open to the public, though admission to the museum is required. While there you can check out the rail gun models I built for the museum. Of course, they are overshadowed by the best collection of actual Civil War era rolling stock and locos in the world.






In October 11 and 12, Mc Cook's Landing will be on display at the MER Convention in Rockville, MD. I will also be doing two talks at this convention.  For more info see https://home.comcast.net/~candp2013/

ACWRRHS SIG on MR Video Plus

Model Railroader Magazine included a brief video look at the ACWRRHS SIG room at the 2013 NMRA Convention. Here is a link, BUT,---- You have to be a MR Video Plus Subscriber to view it.  They have now also made the video available to MR Extra Subscribers at this link. Here are some screen caps from the video.

NMRA After Action Report and Lessons Learned

I have had some time to digest the events of the past week and offer the following thoughts.

Although we were a small group with  just 11 men (DC Cebula, Thom Radice, LeBron Matthews, Al Meuller, Dave Hoffman, Paul Dobbs, Joel Salmons, John Bazaitas, John Bopp, Gerry Fitzgerald, and I)  plus 4 wives/SOs, we had a great display.  (Matt Coleman spent a lot of time with us but he is not an ACW modeler. He is a great guy in spite of that. We have been acquainted for many years but this was the first time I met him.)

I really enjoyed participating with the ACWRRHS, as we have known each other for 5 years now and are becoming good friends. I spent most of the show in our SIG room. This was our first event where we participated as part of a larger NMRA event. I think we were successful in showing that the Civil War era is a viable subject to model in N, HO and O scale.  In some ways it was a perfect storm as we were in Atlanta with our ACW display during the 150th Anniversary of some of the biggest events in the war, and the NMRA offered a separate Civil War track of clinics and tours.

However, I am not sure we had too many converts. The NMRA as represented in these meets is an older crowd. Most have a significant investment in their current layouts or projects so it is not
unexpected that they would not be interested in converting. I saw only one person I would say was under twenty visit the room, and he was really enjoying the layout. I gave him a throttle so he could try some operation. Time will tell if we have any new interest in our subject based on this show.

Even if we did not recruit new members, it was nice being part of the NMRA convention. It presented the opportunity to distract us with clinics, contest room and layout tours. I didn't see too many clinics that appealed to me, but it was nice to have the option to sit in on one if desired. For example Jim Elster's marathon scenery clinic had some good tips. It was good to again see John Wilkes talk about his layout as his layout is built with aluminum channel and it as close to the Hadron Collider as a model railroad can come.  John Bopp and Dave Hoffman presented some excellent  talks to just the ACWRRHS. They were good enough that they could have been presented to the whole convention.

Dave Hoffman talked about some hand-built brass models he plans to offer for sale. He is looking for reservations and deposits. I made a brief video showing some of his pilot models running on a test track.  Dave lives in a rural area of Mississippi and does not have reliable internet access. So please contact Al Mueller at the ACWRRHS Yahoo Group if you are interested.

A Cabin in S Scale on Gerry Holmes Layout

I went to three layouts on the way home on Saturday and all were impressive. Phillip Stead has a large On3 model of the DRGW from Chama to Alamosa. Steve Austin has a finely crafted On30 freelanced railroad set in Appalachia. Finally I visited Gerry Holmes in Chattanooga to see his layout. Gerry is a client of mine and I have built several custom buildings for him.




With regard to the McCook's landing it operated very well with just a few problems.  We had six crews operate it. They took between 45 to 120 minutes to complete the switching tasks. I had put a prohibition on using the front coupler and that complicated their tasks somewhat.  It was gratifying to see that the link and pin couplers were accepted without complaint. They operators seemed to get into the challenge and actually enjoyed it.

I had a little glitch with the cassette tracks interface with Biscuit Run. I forgot to account for the 1/8th inch thickness of the sky board that created a gap in the rails.  I need to fix that before the next show. But it was amazing to watch the trains traverse a 1/8th inch gap in the rails. Ah, the advantages of O scale. Other than that the cassettes worked well. It was handy having a shelf to place stuff too. I also liked how the fiddle yard breaks down to a flat box and fits snugly in the transport truck.

The batteries on the locos held up pretty well. We learned that they could sustain about 3.5 hours of operation before conking out. That is entirely acceptable. The slow speed performance was excellent.

The layout suffered only minor damage. As one who has built many N Scale modules over the years, I know you have to expect some damage when you take portable layouts to shows. But in this case, the integral valance and lights helped protect the layout. Only a few figures vibrated loose during shipment. One figure lost its head, that was a surprising but minor issue.

I was personally gratified by the positive response of nearly everyone that visited the layout. Most were extremely complimentary. Several African American visitors expressed appreciation for our depiction of the USCT on the layout. I was able to connect with Robert West, a railroad artist. He is launching a series of Civil War related paintings and asked if he could consult with me on ideas.  That should be fun. Steve Benezra wants to do an article on ACW operation of the OPSIG journal.

The MRH folks had a chance to operate the layout. They posted detailed coverage on their blog. They even posted a picture of me, a rare thing as I am usually behind the camera. (When you see my picture you will know why).

McCook's Landing was also the subject of a video interview with the MRH Trainmasters-TV program. This video production looks like it has all the right ingredients to be a winner. I will be looking forward to it.

I attended the train show on Friday morning. It had the usual assortment of vendors and manufacturers. I didn't spend a lot of time there and didn't see anything so extraordinary that bears reporting. Just one observation, manufacturers are making some incredibly detailed models these days.

I usually come back from these shows charged up to build more layout. But I need to temper (curb?) my enthusiasm as I have some other projects I must complete first. I will focusing the next few months on my next book entitled "The Model Railroad Goes to War."  That will cover the ACW, WWI, WWII and modern eras.

As I was unloading the layout I noticed that the sun shine made for some interesting lighting. So I took a few shots. Here is an example.

I hope to start back on my home layout in December by finishing Aquia Landing. I eagerly anticipate that as I think it is going to be a lot of fun to build.  In the meantime, I'll be posting less frequently on this blog as construction on my ACW layouts will be slow. But I will come back big guns in December.

I'm baaack!

I'm back from the NMRA Convention safe and sound. I had a great time and will be posting a more detailed report later. We ran six "official" Op sessions. They went really well. My thanks to all that participated. All were very gracious. I didn't hear one complaint and I saw a lot of smiles.

Thanks also to my fellow ACWRRHS SIG members for their help in unloading, setting up and taking it down. Also, Paul Dobbs was very gracious as he provided security for the ACWRRHS Room for almost the whole convention.

I think the ACWRRHS SIG had the best display at the con. We were practically the only group to bring any trains.  Members of our group also gave a number of talks on the ACWRRing.  Of these, the talks I went to were well attended. I didn't get to too many clinics as I was tending to the road show.

(L to R) John Bopp, Rob Hinkle (Conductor) and John Bazzaitas ran the first op session.

(L to R) Stephen Brooks (Conductor), Andy Keeney and Sam Shepherd were the second crew.

(L to R), Seth Neumann (Conductor), Chuck Place and Ken O'Brien took the third session. They were very efficient and finished in 45 minutes.

OPSIG Journal Editor Steve Benezra stopped by for a visit.

(L to R) Dave Foster (Conductor), Bruce Faulkner and Mike Tylik ran the afternoon session on Thursday.

The staff from Model Railroader Magazine and Kalmbach stopped in for a lengthy visit. (L to R) David Popp, Neil Besougloff, and Kevin Keefe.

Dave Hoffman did a clinic on his upcoming HO locomotive products 

(L to R)  JF, Les Halmos, Joe Fugate (Conductor) and Patty Fugate ran the Thursday evening session. Patty was our only female operator.

Joel Salmons poses by his N Scale civil war display layout.

DC Cebula set up an impressive collection of prototype hardware and paper work.

Paul Dobbs manned the slide show and information desk.

The HO engine gurus ran a nearly continuous clinic on Mantua General 4-4-0 rebuilding