Appearance on Model Railway Show

Trevor Marshall of the Model Railway Show recently interviewed me about my USMRR model railroad project.  The interview is a fast paced, 10 minute look at the project and it challenges.  Trevor is a Canadian and he brings a fresh perspective on the project and his questions reflect that. Their production values are first rate too.

 You can find the interview at Model Railway Show Episode 023.

The War Came by Train Trailer

Work still continues on getting the basement back in shape. The floor is done, but some chores still remain. With no progress on the railroad to report, I suggest you check out this neat trailer for the B&O RR Museum "The War Came by Train" exhibit for your Civil War Railroading fix.

Flood Repairs

It seems like Herman Haupt should not have been the only one concerned with floods taking out his trestle over Potomac Creek. I had my own flood to contend with and layout work has been stalled while we repair the damage. Though relatively minor it required that the whole basement carpet be removed. That wasn't too bad as a flood repair and mitigation company took care of it. They also brought in 8 powerful fans and a massive dehumidifier that got the basement dry as a bone in a few days. Even the carpet fragments under the sheet rock wall (more on this later) were dry. Since we rapidly drained the flood and quickly dried it out, there is no mold problem. Fortunately I was in the basement when the flood started. If I had gone to bed early that night, it could have been much worse.

The real work for us involves having to move all my camera equipment, Christmas decorations, lights, tools, furniture, electronic components, train stuff, books and magazines around to make room for the new flooring. Did I say books and magazines? Gosh, do I have a lot of them. I am taking this opportunity to cull down the pile. The 20 years of back issues of Model Railroader magazine went out today as my younger brother took them. Alicia promised to buy me the new DVD with 75 years of MR. That will free up prime shelf space which will be used for tool storage, including my new Sherline lathe that I haven't even opened the box yet.

New flooring in TV area

In the meantime, we decided to lay the new floor ourselves as the insurance company and flooring folks were taking their time. We went with a vinyl planking product sold by Home Depot called Allure. It is supposed to be "highly resistant to water" and ideal for basements. We'll see.

It is fairly easy to install, and looks remarkably like real wood. So far so good. Since it is comes in 6 inch wide by 3 feet long planks, you can do the area incrementally. So I will wait until the messy scenery work is complete in the main train room before laying them there. But the home office and crew lounge (AKA TV room) are done thanks to help from Joseph Franke and Alicia. In some places I used my automotive hydraulic floor jack to raise each leg of the layout as I slid the new flooring planks under. That worked pretty well.

Before I could install the floor, I had to partially disassemble a non-bearing sheet rock and stud wall to free a piece of carpet that a previous contractor had trapped. He built a new wall right over the existing carpet, driving the Ramset nails through the sill and carpet into the concrete floor. While a pain in the petunias, this was a great excuse to buy a new reciprocating saw and Estwing pry bar. My existing crow bar was too big to fit in the tight space without removing large chunks of sheet rock. It took about 3 hours to do the job, but I was able to finish it. The saw will come in handy as I cut some access holes to the benchwork under Brooke. Win-win!

Now I just need to replace all the shelf contents and sort through the disorder that comes from helpers moving all your stuff without knowing the organizational system.  Hopefully in about a week the basement and layout will be back to Full Mission Capable.

Civil War Museums in the Atlanta Area

The ACWRRHS Annual meeting included visits to two Civil War Museums with significant railroad content. We visited the Southern Museum of Civil War & Locomotive History in Big Shanty, GA and the Atlanta Cyclorama and Museum on Saturday. On Sunday I visited the Civil War Naval Museum at Port Columbus.  

We also visited the Kennesaw Battlefield Visitors Center Museum, which has a good museum for that battle and the Atlanta campaign.


  The Southern Museum was much bigger than I expected and had a variety of interesting displays, including the locomotive General, which is their main highlight. The engine is not in its civil war appearance, as it was extensively rebuilt over the years. But it was still fun to see. 

The museum also featured a display from the Glover Manufacturing Company showing tools, patterns and products from the turn of the century industry. This was really the best part of the museum as the majority of the civil war display was somewhat derivative, except for the General. 

This lathe dated to 1865

The Texas is on display at the Cyclorama museum.
It is situated in a position that makes
photography difficult.

The  Atlanta Cyclorama was very impressive. It compares favorable to the Gettysburg cyclorama.

The Gettysburg Cyclorama appears fresher, is better lit and has a better light show animation. The Atlanta cyclorama is bigger and the 3D diorama is much more elaborate. To view the Atlanta cyclorama one sits on a rotating set of seats, while at Gettysburg, you are free to move about.

Both cycloramas are worth seeing and I enjoyed seeing this one. The museum had a nice selection of Rick Reeve oil paintings but was otherwise fairly modest.

A view showing 3D figures and how they blend into the painted cyclorama.  The 3D figures are different
scales to create forced-perspective.

Civil War Naval Museum at Port Columbus was the best of the four museums I visited. It had been moved from the location where I last visited several years ago to a bigger location nearer the river. The museum also expanded and included some very impressive full-scale dioramas including the USS Hartford, the USS Monitor and the CSS Albemarle.

The CSS Albemarle at a wharf. This was an impressive diorama.

Interior of the CSS Albemarle diorama

Admiral Farragut in his stateroom in the USS Hartford full size diorama.

Dahlgren gun collection outside the museum.

These models were used in the movie, "Ironclads." In the background is the recovered remains of the
 CSS Chattahoochee. That ironclad was burned in Columbus, GA before being completed. Columbus
was the last point on the Chattahoochee River that was navigable.

ACWRRHS Meeting in Atlanta, GA

I'm back from the ACWRRHS Meeting in the Atlanta, GA area.  It was a fun trip with perfect weather, good friends, museums, battlefields, cool trains and a yellow convertible too.

This is a quick post to upload some of the group pictures, I'll post more info later. Make sure you click on the images to see the full versions.

Allatoona Pass (Click for animation)

On Kennessaw Mountain (click for animation)

Thom looking down on the steep cut at Allatoona pass