Layout Visit: Pat Mitchel, 2009 O Scale National

Posted on July 16, 2009 by George Losse

Pat Mitchell

As I was leaving the National, I went to visit Pat Mitchel’s layout. While only in the beginning bench work stage, it still out-did many layouts I’ve seen and left me questioning things that I had decided against for my own railroad.

Pat designed his layout using a 3D PlanIt (a model railroad based CAD program). He had the sub-roadbed cut by a local business on a CNC machine using the drawing he made with 3D PlanIt. Chris Smith had spoken about this approach the day before as he had his sub-roadbed cut the same way.

The layout is influenced by John Armstrong, but is not nearly as crowded as most of his design followers. Only a small portion of the railroad had track laid. Pat did operate a locomotive through the room for us. Including using his “elevator” to raise an entire length of train from one level to the another.

There are no feeder wires attached to his rails as there is no power going through them. His locomotives carry their own power in battery pack and receive their commands through the air using the Airwire system. I have to admit to reading everything I could find in the weeks after the National about Airwire. I was very impressed, and when the batteries get a little smaller I think it will become the standard for Command Control.

Pat was a great host answering questions and talking about what he had done so far. This was one of the layouts I wanted to see and I was very impressed even in its beginning stages.

Some of the Benchwork

The benchwork that caused me to re-think the number of levels that are possible with O scale.

Pat discussing the layout with Matt

One of Pat’s models equipped with an AirWire system

One of Pat’s models showing the installation of a new motor and sound system.

The electronics in the tender. The white thing is the battery.

One of Pat’s beautiful Proto48 turnouts.

Close up of the points.

Everywhere you looked there were nicely built solutions to common problems.

The elevator

The elevator in the “Up” position.

Layout Visit: Chris Smith, 2009 O Scale National

Posted on July 15, 2009 by George Losse

On the second night of the National, we went to visit Chris Smith’s layout. While only a small portion of the layout had scenery, you could see the passion Chris has for building scenery. The layout is based on a John Armstrong design. It winds and twists it way up through three levels of railroad, moving a lot of open hoppers up and down the railroad.

While we were there we saw a beautiful pair of Kohs Y6b’s pulling a nice open hopper train filled with a bunch of Rich Yoder’s hoppers. Turns out an MTH locomotive had to be put into service later that night when the Kohs engine had some trouble. The MTH locomotive was impressive in it performance. Overall the layout was nicely built and ran very well. Based on the scenery in place and how well the railroad operated, this is going to be a must see layout for the region.

Chris was a great host answering question well past the end time for the open house. This was one of the layouts I wanted to see and I was even more impressed than I thought I might be.

Chris Smith

A Kohs Y6b waiting in front of the tunnel portal

Chris’ rather nice brackets

Using one of two Atlas bridges for a duckunder

The upper yard with Chris in the background

Chris’ art

You can tell what he has a passion for

You have to like a nice string of open hoppers.

Another nice brass piece sitting in the upper yard.

another nice model

The before part of the corner

continuing down the outside wall

The entrance into the upper yard with sceanery started

Looking across at the lower level yard with the two upper levels going over the top.

You can learn a lot by seeing how its built.

All that wiring back to a movable control stand.

Layout Visit: Dave Vaughn, 2009 O Scale National

Posted on July 14, 2009 by George Losse

On the first night of the National, we had an invite to visit Dave Vaughn’s layout before it was open to the public and the crowds. I wish to thank Dave for the invite and the early look at the layout.

The layout is going through some changes. Dave has begun to incorporate parts of John Armstrong’s layout into his layout. And in John’s style, the layout winds and twists up through three levels of railroad. Some of the older portions of the railroad have not changed and reflect what was there in sceanery and structures.

Dave was a great host answering questions and telling stories about the influence of John Armstrong on himself and other local railroaders.

Dave Vaughn

Some very nice scenes in the older section of the layout

Dave had some very nice equipment parked on the sidings

A wartime NKP caboose that Dave brught in as a brass model.

More nice cabooses in Dave’s NKP yard

A veiw looking back towars the NKP yard

A view looking back at the NKP yard which clearly shows the second level.

A couple of gondolas on the second level.

A view of the upper level support through the telephone pole.

another nice NKP model

One of John Armstrong’s locomotives

A view of the “new” expansion

This is the entrance to the lower level reverse loops.

Dave is working parts of John Armstrong’s layout into his.

The curve continues

2009 O Scale National, Towson, MD – News

Posted on June 21, 2009 by George Losse

I just returned from the 2009 BOSS O Scale National. It was by far one of the best Nationals I had ever attended. The Baltimore group did a great job putting on the show.

The vending tables had a wide variety of stuff for all budgets. It was hard not to spend money everywhere. I’ll try to hit on what were a few of my highlights.

Weaver– They were showing a B&O Wagon top boxcar on their table. The examples on the table were older brass models meant to try to size up the interest in the crowd to see if they should produce the model. They mentioned that it would be built overseas and we should expect it to be close in quality and pricing to their B-60’s. I think it will be a winner.

Mullet River Model Works– They had some great new kits on the table and some fantastic details. Their NYC caboose would have gone home with me if I didn’t have a brass version of the same car sitting at home.

Rails Unlimited – Ted had many of his resin cast freight cars with him. Some were selling out and will not be re-run. I passed on the new B&O car, some modelers have complained about the casting quality of this new release, some that I know have returned their kits. I’ll wait for the Weaver version. I did come home with a PRR Gr gondola even though I had kit-bashed a similar car already.

RY Models – Rich had his Baldwin switchers on the table along with his tank cars. I also saw a lot of his trucks going home with people.

The layout tours were inspirational. Being at the starting blocks of my railroad, it made me re-think some of the decisions I made about what could be done. I’ll write about each of the layouts I visited in the coming weeks.

Layout Visit: Steve Staffieri, 2009, Elmira Branch in HO

Posted on May 26, 2009 by George Losse

Buzz Burnley, John Dunn and Steve Staffieri

Last Thursday night, I had the pleasure of visiting Steve Staffieri’s HO scale Elmira Branch layout. John Dunn and Buzz Burnley had been invited to see the layout and they were kind enough to extend me an invitation.

It’s a nicely done railroad in a wonderful environment. The basement is nice and comfortable. The railroad has a finished feel to it even in areas that are still a work-in-progress.

The layout is based on the branch from Williamsport to Sodus Point, although it focuses on the run from Williamsport to Southport Yard in Elmira, NY.

An I1sa working in Williamsport Yard.

The Wye at Ralston.

Southport Yard

Engine Facility at Southport Yard

Sodus Point

Closeup of the I1sa working Sodus Point.

RMC 06-2009 – PRR H49 and H50 Covered Hoppers

Posted on May 22, 2009 by George Losse

My brother Bobb has an article and scale drawings of the PRR class H49 and H50 covered hoppers published in the June 2009 issue of Railroad Model Craftsman. Congrats to him.

I was just looking at the site and saw it listed in the table of contents. I hope the article looks good in print, I scanned the photos that went with the article.

This is the second set of drawings that he has published with RMC. He also had some LV passenger car drawings published to go with another author’s modeling article last winter.

Since the publication some SPF”s have writen some harsh comments about the drawings. I know exactly how that feels seeing that in print. That is one of the big reasons I stopped drawing for RMC back in the late 80’s. Too many experts sitting in their chairs doing nothing, but very quick to put down someone elses work.

This is very common for “PRR Modelers” Which also happens to be one of the best reasons to model the Reading Company!

Lets Talk About Freight Cars

Posted on February 5, 2009 by George Losse

The area that I have chosen to model is rich with open hopper cars. But it also has a few scheduled symbol freights moving through also.

So what does that mean really to my layout? It means I need a lot of open hopper cars. They will make up at least 60% of the traffic on the line.

Next question, how many cars are going to be home road cars? Looking at the photos and reading different accounts of the traffic on the line, you begin to understand that not all the cars are going to be Reading. What percentage are the off-road cars and what roads should be modeled is a topic in and of itself. But let hold that off until another time. Lets talk about what RDG open hoppers were on the roster in 1952.

Going back to the bible (January 1952 ORER) I was able to compile the following list of Reading open hoppers classes and their totals.

Class	No. of Cars	% of Total	Model Roster based on 50 cars
HTf	334	2%	1
HTh	4214	24%	12
HTj	1831	10%	5
HTl/HTn	3504	20%	10
HTo	995	6%	3
HTp	339	2%	1
HTr	996	6%	3
HTs	1654	10%	5
HTs (steel)	2	0%	0
HTt	1000	6%	3
HTu	749	4%	2
HTv	2000	11%	5
Totals	17618	100.0%	50

Look closely at the total number, 17618 open hoppers. Of the 17618 hoppers, only 2 HTs steel rebuilds have been built so far. What do you really think the chances of ever seeing one in a typical train? Not very high.

If you look at the percentage number that will give you an idea of how many cars of that class you might see on average for every 100 RDG hopper cars that run past you.

This is one of the best arguments I know of to NOT model one of a kind cars, unless you know they served s specific customer on your line. An example of modeling a one-of-a-kind car that ran on your line was the PRR X30 which ran out of Elmira, NY where it serviced the LaFrance Fire Engine Company. So when I was going to model the Elmira branch of the PRR I planned to build one.

References:
January 1952 Official Railway Equipment Register
October 1953 Official Railway Equipment Register
April 1956 Official Railway Equipment Register

Why and What?

Posted on January 13, 2009 by George Losse

Why do I model?

I’m a Rail-fan
I know that seems obvious but it’s also the driving force in a lot of the questions that follow. I enjoy seeing trains run in real-life and I enjoy recreating that in the models.

Details Are Important to Me
I am not easily satisfied with good-enough modeling or research. I have drawn prototype locomotives and freight cars for Railroad Model Craftsman in the past. I have crawled all over a piece of equipment to take the notes needed for the drawings. I have also done the research at the museums and with private collections to find the answers needed for projects, that to me is a big part of the fun of this hobby.

What do I want to model?

Model Availability
O scale does not have the same wide-selection of models that HO enjoys. That selection is made even smaller by not choosing to model either the PRR, SP, UP or NYC. Very few of the unique Reading Company prototypes have been produced over the years. I do not want to “have to” scratch build my whole locomotive fleet in order to realistically enjoy a modeled location. I’d like to build a layout and the models I want in this lifetime, not the next three lifetimes.

Small Town Switching
I have a lot of early memories of watching a switcher working in the small town I grew up in. I would ride my bicycle into town to watch and photograph the local freight switch the town.

Open Hopper Cars
My favorite type of freight car. I want to model an area that would have a lots of open hopper car traffic. Turns out that is a large part of the Reading, not just the mine runs themselves.

Sincere Track Design
One where a train only goes through a scene or town once on its trip through the layout. This is a more modern approach to layout design instead of the “spaghetti bowl” layouts of the past that still dominate the O scale community.

Modeling the Reading in Proto48

Modeling the Reading in the Summer of '52

Author Archives: George Losse