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MarkF
Engineer
USA
9278 Posts |
 Posted - 04/20/2010 : 12:00:43 AM
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| Vagel, I'm just catching up on your thread and you guys have made some great progress. What a difference! The bridge scene looks great. Hope you had a good crowd for the open house. |
Mark
See my homepage at http://home.comcast.net/~prrndiv/
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AVRR-PA
Fireman
USA
4610 Posts |
Posted - 04/20/2010 : 07:35:55 AM
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Hi, Mark -
I had to rush out the door at the end of the open house to get to another activity, but I thought I heard Vagel say, ere I rode out of sight, that we had 36 people sign the guest book. For a Division-level activity like the Jamboree, which had a registration of about 140 total, attracting 36 or so people to any one layout is quite satisfying.
BTW, Vagel and Larry Kline were in charge of the layout tours and produced a very nice handout booklet with maps and descriptions.
Don
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Vagel Keller
Crew Chief
USA
722 Posts |
Posted - 04/20/2010 : 3:58:10 PM
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Thanks, Mark. We had a pretty good turnout; not counting crew members John Polyak and Don Reed, 10 neighbors and 19 Jamboree attendees signed the register. After being open for 6 hours last year and only seeing 12 visitors, we decided to shorten it to 4 this time. It worked out well, because we were busy the whole time yet never crowded.
John started the day keeping an eye on things around Tascott and took this picture of Neal Schorr's son Steven bringing the Buchanan Mixed over the trestle on the Buchanan Branch. Next door neighbors Chris and Kira are just arriving in the background.
Both Neal's former HO South Penn model railroad and current O-scale PRR Middle Division have been featured in the hobby press. Steven has become one of the regular (and one of the more conscientious) operators on the Div. 2 FreeMO layout.
Earlier, John photographed the ND cabin bringing up the markers on a mixed freight pulled by one of the I1sa "hippo's" as it waited under Don's overpass ...
... for a meet with the express train pulled by a K4s.
As I said, we had a nice mix of invited neighbors, Jamboree attendees, and spouses. I showed Mark Neitznick's wife Joan how the Walthers turntable worked and explained why it was well worth the extra cost for RTR. Mark, you can thank me later.
On the Phase II benchwork I had laid out sheets of rosin paper and started to sketch in the track plan. While Don answered questions at Tascott, old neighbors Theresa and daughter Sophia and new neighbors John and Heather and their two small ones joined one of the Jamboree visitors for my pantomime explanation of what will (or, rather, might) take shape here.
Debbie (way back in the far corner) hasn't seen this place in about a month, so she was having a good time, too.
Thanks to John for the pictures and to Don for flawlessly executing meet'n'greet duties and for the spiffy digital picture frame slide show that greeted visitors at the door with a compilation of images from this thread from beginning to date.
Vagel |
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MarkF
Engineer
USA
9278 Posts |
Posted - 04/20/2010 : 7:07:23 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by Vagel Keller
On the Phase II benchwork I had laid out sheets of rosin paper and started to sketch in the track plan. While Don answered questions at Tascott, old neighbors Theresa and daughter Sophia and new neighbors John and Heather and their two small ones joined one of the Jamboree visitors for my pantomime explanation of what will (or, rather, might) take shape here.
What's this 'might' stuff all about?   Quite honestly, I had forgotten you still had yet another section to start. Having second thoughts? |
Mark
See my homepage at http://home.comcast.net/~prrndiv/
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Vagel Keller
Crew Chief
USA
722 Posts |
Posted - 04/20/2010 : 11:04:33 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by MarkF
What's this 'might' stuff all about? Quite honestly, I had forgotten you still had yet another section to start. Having second thoughts?
Heh, heh. Oh, we will definitely start the second half -- maybe as early as June. The "might stuff" is a question of how it will actually turn out! For the record, I dug into my "stack of stuff" still stored in the attic study and retrieved a scratchbuilt model of the EBT turntable at Rockhill with pit and frame already to install. It is now sitting right in front of where John snapped me with arms spread during the open house. The refinement of the plan has begun. |
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AVRR-PA
Fireman
USA
4610 Posts |
Posted - 05/06/2010 : 1:55:55 PM
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Vagel beat the "maybe as early as June" deadline. Phase II has officially begun! Last Wednesday, we removed all the temporary plywood on top of the benchwork. As Vagel put it, as I was trying to find a place to set my coffee cup, "Our workbench has become benchwork."
We framed up most of the divider that will run down the middle of Phase II (before we ran out of 2x3's) including the curved section. Unfortunately, installing the curved section of backdrop will mean removing the temporary loops - at least temporarily.
Once we had to straight section of divider tack-screwed in place, we put some of the plywood back down - at least enough so I could set down a bagel and my coffee.
Nothing very photogenic. I believe Vagel is cutting up a lot of cardboard and mocking up future trackwork, so perhaps he'll post a picture or two when he's farther along with that.
Don |
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MarkF
Engineer
USA
9278 Posts |
Posted - 05/06/2010 : 10:22:25 PM
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Nothing very photogenic? Remember, some of us like the construction photos! If you want to see something that's not very photogenic, check out my thread!  (at least for the time being) |
Mark
See my homepage at http://home.comcast.net/~prrndiv/
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AVRR-PA
Fireman
USA
4610 Posts |
Posted - 05/07/2010 : 1:16:05 PM
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Hi, Mark --
Well, while we're waiting for Vagel to post some pictures of the layout, here are a couple of pictures of what we did the second half of the day last Wedensday.
These boxes are intended to hold one locomotive card in each slot and will be mounted near the roundhouse or the diesel tracks. The big one is for steam; the smaller one is for diseasels.
They've been sanded and sprayed with sandable primer and are about to be handed off to Vagel, who will spray them gloss black.
And here's a test drive of a box for car cards/waybills or whatever you operating geeks call those things:
Vagel can tinker with the dimensions and then I'll crank out a bunch of them to be Velcro-ed onto the fascia at various spots around the layout.
Garth made up some really nice cup holders for his boat (Goldberry) - they hang on the gunwhales as I recall. I think I should make something similar for the layout.
Don |
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MarkF
Engineer
USA
9278 Posts |
Posted - 05/07/2010 : 5:12:07 PM
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| The boxes look great Don! It looks like you guys are getting ready for some operation? That's when it all comes together! |
Mark
See my homepage at http://home.comcast.net/~prrndiv/
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Vagel Keller
Crew Chief
USA
722 Posts |
Posted - 05/07/2010 : 5:13:46 PM
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Mark's post tweaked me to go over and take some pictures for reference as we go forward. This one shows the 8-ft frame for the backdrop tack screwed in place with hash marks showing the gap to be filled by a quarter-circle framework (background) and about 3' more of straight section in left foreground:
Here's a view from the other side looking toward the end of the modeled portion of the B&SGE, with planned place names added for orientation. You can see the remaining quarter circle framework that Don fabricated tucked in against the straight framework.
This bird's eye view of the same area has the standard gauge sketched in as it passes behind the backdrop and loops back out underneath the n.g. yard near the blast furnace. All of this trackage will be hidden. The stub end staging will be about 8" below the narrow gauge sub-roadbed, while the looping track will remain at about 4" below the n.g. We'll design the fascia along the outer aisle with cut-outs to access the staging tracks. (Don, here's where low-profile mini-shop lights will be needed.)
Coming at the far end of the aisle from the other room, I sketched in the n.g. Wye and an arrow showing the general direction of the std. gauge as it will emerge into view at yard limits of the museum terminal.
From this perspective, you can see why we'll have to remove the temporary loops while we work through this early part of Phase II. Our plan is to get the standard gauge in place fairly quickly, as it is just a single track, then re-install the n.g. loop until I can develop the plan around the blast furnace.
I've never shown any details of the blast furnace module, so here are a few, starting with an overview where I labeled the key components:
This is the basic Walthers kit backdated to represent a rural merchant furnace that would've been new ca. 1910. The top hamper and gas cleaning plant is much simpler than the big furnaces in the integrated iron and steel mills.
Here's a detail of the top hamper, a combination of kit components and Plastruct and Evergreen tubes and structural shapes:
Finally, in the "you can't make this stuff up" category, the South Penn Furnace Co's lone caboose:
To reflect the co's close relationship with the PRR it's painted Freight Car Color. I swear on my PRRT&HS membership card that I didn't notice the alternative meaning of those initials until I had finished weathering the car and sat back to admire my handy work. [:-paperbag] That's my story, and I'm stickin' to it!
That's all for now. Write if the slobb ... I mean mood, strikes. |
Edited by - Vagel Keller on 05/07/2010 5:18:17 PM |
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AVRR-PA
Fireman
USA
4610 Posts |
Posted - 05/07/2010 : 8:24:52 PM
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I think that SPF Caboose is a hoot! I didn't know the Slobbering Pennsy Freaks had their own railroad.
I saw Vagel for a few minutes today when I dropped off the card holders and he's about to start packing up all the vehicles and other models that have been sitting on the two temporary loops so we can remove them next Wednesday (if he hasn't already done it before then). They've served their purpose - a lot of equipment got a lot of running-in and debugging because continuous running was possible.
It will be exciting to start moving ahead with the sub-roadbed, etc., on Phase II.
Don
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Harsco
Fireman
USA
1101 Posts |
Posted - 05/09/2010 : 06:43:38 AM
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| Great looking blast furnace, Vagel....love the backdating detail! |
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elwoodblues
Fireman
Canada
4876 Posts |
Posted - 05/09/2010 : 09:20:45 AM
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Vagel,
Thanks for the updated construction photos for phase 2 of the construction. Like MArk, I too like to see construction protos as you always seem to get ideas from them.
The blast furnace looks great, it's nice to see a smaller operation and it looks like it will fit in your layout without looking out of place.
Looking forward to the next batch of pictures.
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Ron Newby
General Manager
Clearwater Valley Railway Co.
http://www.cvry.ca |
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MarkF
Engineer
USA
9278 Posts |
Posted - 05/09/2010 : 1:03:18 PM
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| Wow! That's a serious chunk of real estate to develope! The plan looks solid. It will be fun to watch you guys tackle this one. And by the way, I do love the "SPF" caboose! Perfect! |
Mark
See my homepage at http://home.comcast.net/~prrndiv/
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Vagel Keller
Crew Chief
USA
722 Posts |
Posted - 05/10/2010 : 7:34:43 PM
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Thanks, guys. That blast furnace has been a work in progress for years, dating back to 1995 when the kit first came out. People immediately criticized it for being too small (at a scale 65' tall, the basic stack is about 2/3 the size of the ones that we always see in photos of big integrated steel conglomerates). But beside the fact that it's a good compromise via selective compression, it's perfect for back-dating to the small, rural merchant furnaces such as those that existed as late as the early 1930s throughout Appalachia and the Great Lakes states and were between 65 and 75 ft high.
Here are a couple shots I promised of the loco card holders:
I've ordered commercial loco cards, car cards, and waybills from MegaloMark, so the temporary cards pictured, printed on card stock, will be replaced.
I decided to hold off on demolishing the temporary loops until a supply of track, roadbed, and electronic components for creating power districts as the layout expands can be purchased. On Wednesday Don and I are going to finish the backbone of the straight part of the backdrop and fabricate a stockpile of risers for the standard and narrow gauge extensions.
Vagel |
Edited by - Vagel Keller on 05/10/2010 7:44:10 PM |
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New Home for the Blacklog & Shade Gap Eastern
