Friends,
Back in the early 60's. MR featured the multi scale club layout that
Henry Sprague was part of As I recall he had some kind of continuous
loader and of course, his live steam S scale engines. Jess Bennett has
built a beautiful roundhouse with operating doors. I also have a very
crude video done by a Canadian, (Reggie somebody) that featured all
kinds of automation-- I recall a belt driven saw mill, saloon with piano
player plus the movie itself was a work of art for it's time. Fast
forward, PBL in Sn3 has built an operating Chama coaling tower in
brass. I don't know if it actually dumps coal or just lowers the chute
but I'm sure it's very accurate in the 'scale-ness' department. Brook's
Stover's past layout had some AF coal loaders, although I didn't see
them actually work. His latest layout still has one in place.
Although fairly rare, automation is a neat thing but probably not for
everybody. I purchased a little video camera setup so I can monitor a
yard behind a view block. I also purchased a miniature battery powered
camera that we once put into a gondola and pushed it around the layout
(not unlike what Lionel did several years ago in B & W). At one of our
local club's meetings we ran the thing--all our guys, rivet counters and
all were amazed the the different view one gets from the engineers cab.
Skip Romig from the Dallas area is building a beautiful layout that will
utilise such a camera to actually run some of his trains--from the
engine--so you've got to watch your trackside signals!
Bob Werre
raleigh wrote:
> and he notes -
>
> John Degnan wrote:
>
>
>
> If I'm not mistaken AF fans have a different motivation for building
> or operating a layout - it's called 'play time' something many model
> railroaders don't do.
>
>
>
> What is interesting is that in all my sixty or so years of AF, 0 and
> S Gauge modeling, I have seen only one scale layout that did anything
> more than shuffle cars and that was Frank Titman's old D&W
> located on Arch Street (I believe). He built an operating coal mine
> that had a tumbler mechanism that contained exactly one hopper load
> of coal (real coal, not the plastic stuff). The filled cars were then
> run down to the river where they were dumped into a barge (actually a
> concealed funnel that channeled the coal down to a bucket under the
> layout for reloading into the mine building. A No. 752 "Seaboard Coal
> Loader" in disguise I'd say!
>
> But to come to the point; most adherents to the 'scale' portion of S
> Gauge have no interest in the play value in operating cars and
> accessories. Some are obsessed with punctilious accuracy to the last
> rivet, others are not so fussy, but in either case their rolling
> stock does nothing but roll. A Hi-Railer at least has the option of
> running an operating car in his SHS or AM consist. Most 'Scalers'
> blanch at the thought of an AF operating mail car running with an AM
> Pacific and a string of coaches but it does DO something. When one
> thinks of it, a train loaded with simulated coal leaves the yard
> ostensibly for a port or power plant and then comes back still
> loaded. How accurate is that?
>
> If Frank Titman could make an accurate looking coal loading and
> unloading system without compromising scale (even though he used
> converted AF hoppers) why isn't there something like this available
> in S today? With all this container stuff on the market, no one to my
> knowledge has come up with a loading or unloading facility that
> works. And why not a scale version of an operating mail car?
>
> Too complicated? Too expensive? Too toy like? Well maybe not -
> talking, bell ringing, whistling and smoking locomotives have already
> found their way from the toy train to the scale model thanks to the
> marvels of electronics. Automatons have been around for a few hundred
> years. If an eighteenth century craftsman could make an automated
> clockwork mechanism for an animated toy, then today's model
> railroading 'rocket scientists' (aka Chinese) should be able to come
> up with a mechanism to load or unload a scale trailer on a flat car
> and keep it down to a reasonable cost!
>
> I would bet a dollar that if something like this (or some other
> operating 'scale' accessory) was available, the Hi-Railers would
> support it and Scale modelers would benefit from the volume of sales.
> Until that happens, it's back to the ol' operating No. 719 "Unloading
> Car" with its Manoil Coupe and accuracy be damned!
>
> Just a few thoughts on a chilly evening in Maine,
>
> Raleigh (with tongue in cheek!)
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
>
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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