Great Locomotive Chase Reenactment

Chris McChesney sent me these photos from the NCRR Great Locomotive Chase reenactment. He and Gary White went to see the event. The weather was cloudy, and the photo line unruly, but he still managed to get these two great shots. Thanks for sending them. I have not yet visited this wonderful site. I am deep into work on the book. It is coming along great. I hope you all like it.

Equalized Locomotives in HOn30

A sample of Chris' modeling (photo from M2FQ website )

Chris in his layout in progress.

On Saturday after the Great Scale Model Train Show JB Wielepp, JD Drye, Brian Brendel and I visited Chris McCheseny and his HOn2 layout. Chris is well known in Maine narrow gauge modeling as the builder of the WW&F waterfront modular layout and other models. Chris is continuing to work on the WW&F with a home layout that is designed for moving. He and his wife plan to eventually move and take the finished layout with them.

He models in HOn30 and he scratchbuilt or  rebuilt most of the locos.  Along with the Narrow Gauge in the Sheepscot Valley series, in 1997 he wrote a book called the HOn30 Locomotive Handbook that describes most of his techniques. Jeff Bissonnette rebuilt the WW&F #7 and #9 to be equalized.  Chris finished up the rebuild and painted them.  Other locos Chris scratch built.

Amazing work on this loco

The key to modeling in HOn30 is building locomotives that run reliably. Chris seems to have solved that issue with some absolutely amazing models.

 Jeff Bissonette documents some of his work on his blog and it is a must see if you are interested in fine scale engineering.

The WW&F is one of my favorite railroads. I dedicated a chapter to it in my first book on mid sized layouts.

I plan to build a 4-4-0 in the future and I would like to try an equalized chassis. I hope to learn more about this in the future.

McCooks Landing at the MER Regional Convention

Gerry and I displayed the McCook's Landing layout at the NMRA MER 2013 Regional Convention. This year they called it the C&P Junction.

Wayne and his Dad at McCook's Landing

It was a great show. We had lots of folks see the layout and nearly everyone seemed to enjoy it. Our biggest fan was probably Wayne Matthews from Fredrick, MD. He was a second grader who spent a good part of Saturday along with his dad, Herbert "Matt" Matthews, watching the trains run on McCook's Landing. Wayne's favorite prototype railroad is the narrow gauge loop at Busch Gardens. But at the show he liked McCook's Landing the best.

He wasn't the only one that liked the layout. The NMRA Judges awarded the Biscuit Run Section the First Place Module Award (due to the somewhat arcane NMRA contest rules, Gerry was only permitted to enter one section, Biscuit Run, in the contest. We could not submit the whole layout for voting).

Nonetheless, the layout did receive the Blue Lantern Award. Martin Brechbiel, the MER NMRA contest coordinator told me it was the first time the Blue Lantern was awarded to a layout. In case you are like me and never heard of the

Is this the Blue Lantern?

Blue Lantern Award here is the official description, "The Blue Lantern is privately sponsored and chosen by long time MER modeler Terry Nesbit and his Narrow Gauge Car Shop. The Blue Lantern is given to a model best representing branch or private line equipment or facilities, which contain no more than forty (40) percent commercial parts. The prize—a genuine railroad lantern—is presented to the winner by Mr. Nesbit." Gerry took the lantern home to display.

We did not host any formal op sessions at the show. We just ran the trains in display mode. We got about 4 hours service out of the battery on Whiton. The Fury did not take a full charge and only lasted a few minutes. I need to look into why that happened as it ran fine at home.

 I presented two talks at the meet,  "Intro to RRs of the Civil War" and a layout update on the USMRR Aquia Line, McCooks  Landing and a sneak peek at the WWI layout, "Cambrai 1917."

One of the things I really enjoyed at the show was meeting lots of other modelers. I heard a lot of interesting stories from folks. We in the DC area are blessed with an amazing array of talented and smart people that do great work. It was fun to learn some of their stories.

Neil at the throttle

On Sunday we had an informal open house. Gerry Fitzgerald, Doug Gurin, Paul Dolkos, Bernie Halloran, and Neil Besougloff stopped by for a lengthy visit. Both Bernie and Neil were first time visitors. I put Bernie, Gerry and Doug to work. Gerry made duckboards, Bernie glued down grass clumps and Doug made fascines for the tanks. This was all for the WWI layout.

I love seeing other Bernie's, as the name is kind of rare these days.  I rarely get to say, "Hi, Bernie." I hadn't seen Bernie H since Granddad's hobby shop closed about 6 years ago. It was fun to catch up.

Ramon and barb

Neil is the editor of Model Railroader Magazine. He got a chance to run the layout. Neil likes sports cars so we talked cars as well as trains, rapid prototyping and other topics.

Alicia made brownies and everyone got their share, plus some to take home.

Charlie Getz and his wife Margaret

Last weekend Ramon Rhodes and his wife Barbara visited the layout. Ramon lives in DC area, though he and Barb are both from NY. We had a fun visit. They both a chance to run some trains. Ramon specializes in modern prototype railroads, but he is also known to dabble in 1/35th military models. Barb would like to build a garden railroad at some point.

On Monday Charlie Getz and his wife Margaret visited the USMRR Aquia Line. Charlie is the current President of the NMRA. He models in HO. They were in town for the MER Convention and then are heading to an RPM meet.

B&O Museum Trip

Last weekend I lead a tour group to the B&O Museum. The kind folks at the museum opened it early for the group so for two hours we had the place to ourselves.  The museum provided tour guides, so I was able to wander around and soak in the atmosphere. It brought home to me how magical that museum is.

The 4-4-0 Mason was in the shop for a boiler rebuild. In its place was a late 1860s era Winans Camel engine number 305.  See photo above.

Somme Stations

Chuck Macklin recommended the book "Somme Stations" by Andrew Martin. I just finished reading it and found it to be the perfect novel to read while building a model railroad with a WWI trench theme.

The railroading details and life-in-the-military aspects were very interesting and get five stars. The author did a good job of capturing the fear that these men must have felt. The narrow gauge part of the story was great, loaded with realistic grit. His use of a rail fan character was a clever way to load in the railway details for the rail fan readers. The Spurn Head Railway described in the middle of the book would be a great prototype for a small exhibition style layout. Here is a link to more info the Spurn Head.

There were a few rough bits. I would have expected men from a railway outfit that get assigned the task of trench digging to at least garner some complaints, but his characters accept it in silence.

The murder mystery initially was good, but it turns out to be overly complex requiring about 10 pages of exposition with lots of new information to tie it all together. For that it has to lose a star.

Overall I enjoyed it and would highly recommend it for the character development and military railway scenes. It was the perfect book to accompany the WWI Project layout. 4 of 5 stars.