Roger, Bill and All
Yes a very neat building, Roger. It definitely brings across he "basic
and boring" buildings that keep the railroads alive with traffic. Last
summer I had the assignment to photograph a similar building but instead
of gray it was a light brown sand color. Additionally it handled most
plate steel brought in on bulk head flats.
I was not open last year for our local Fall Tour that lasts 4-5
weekends, but this year I'm planning to be open, so I have started to
work on that. Since the Houston area being so large, we divided the
city so that a different geographic area is open each weekend
After I finish a few PRS freight cars, I will be finished up on a grain
elevator and a long forgotten little kit--some kind of magic shop that
I'll likely re-purpose for something else. I've added some fairly tall
prairie grass and I've got some more to 'plant'. I've been using the
Static Master grass machine and have been fairly well pleased. I've
also been working as time permits in totally rebuilding a mistake I made
a few years ago.
I had added a six track terminal stub ended yard. I had put a few
photos some time ago in the PhotoTraxx photo section, but I don't know
if they're still there. The whole yard was built on a hanging type
shelf unit. In this system a fairly heavy bar is fastened to the top
plate of the wall to insure a sturdy anchor. Then vertical hangers
interlock, that then in turn support the shelves. This makes a very
sturdy and adjustable system. The whole yard was then built on a 20"
plywood shelf abut 6' long. The mistake I made was using common office
ceiling tile in place of Homesote or Celatex material. The ceiling tile
actually worked fairly well, but the railroad authorized an expansion
that will require a turnout to be laid, that will lead to a newly
purchased turntable kit. This required a better product to hold the
track, nails, spikes and ties. So I removed and saved all the flex
track I could. I took the shelf outside and used a garden hose to soak
the ceiling tile. After being soaked it turned into an Oat Meal type
mush and could be easily scraped off. I have now replaced most of the
track and ballasted much of it where I could. I found a LH #6 turnout
that I will re-purpose in that area.
The turntable is a kit made from clear acrylic and was designed for HO.
I bought it from a friend who 'thought' it had a place for it. I
haven't investigated what I need to modify it yet but it should be an
adventure for me a bit later!
Another little issue is the removable bridge that spans an open doorway,
between the layout room and a storage room that houses this terminal
yard. The bridge starts with a single track and expands to six tracks
in about a 5 foot distance--the whole bridge section is curved and runs
roughly mid distance between the 32" doorway. The problem is that as my
railroad has expanded so have I. I can barely squeeze in the area where
the bridge starts and it's track needs some modification. So in two
weeks I'm going to put the call out to find somebody who can lay a few
inches of removable track and also has a waistline of 36" or less! I
hope I can find a HO or narrow gauge modeler who will volunteer to help.
When Bill talks about his visitors--it remind me of my first mentor
Leonard Giovannoli. His home was right next to the old Southern RR's,
Rat Hole Division in Kentucky. A long siding was just outside his front
door. Crews that were 'in the hole' would stop in and see his trains, I
understand this went on for several years. When I visited him in his
final days, a train stopped so we went down to the tracks. The crew
came down and greeted us and mentioned that they had been visiting his
layout for years until that got nixed by management.
Bob Werre
PhotoTraxx
Hi Roger ---
Another neat photo!
We have had several house maintenance people come through over the
last year (painters, plumbers, air conditioner techs) and when they
see the railroad their eyes light up. Without exception, I have had
to run the trains for them, no matter how tight their schedule!
Guys still like the idea of model trains. We just have to figure out
how to make it possible for them to play. These days, space and
money are even more of a problem than the loss of the local hobby
shop, though that plays large, too. With both parents working, it is
much harder for anyone in the family to take up any kind of hobby that
requires more space and skill than playing on some piece of electronic
tablet, big or small. Finding space for a club layout is nearly
impossible, but that is probably the best way to involve new people.
From the standpoint of scale S, there is another factor – most of us
are very securely stuck with our own vision of what we want. I know
of practically no_scale_ S clubs (there are two in the LA area, though
neither are purist [meaning that there are compromises in
track/equipment]), probably because no two of us could agree on what
the club should build. We also tend to be very particular with how
things should be made. Wonderful as Roger’s layout and models are, I
don’t see him letting too many others actually get in and work with
him on it, probably for fear it wouldn’t turn out just exactly as he
had envisioned it. (Roger can contradict me on this, if I am
incorrect!) And, I think, the same goes for the rest of us.
This week and last have seen virtually no progress on the SLE&P. I
have taken out a few car kits to build, but that is all. I have also
thoroughly tested and tweaked all the track that was made operational
a couple of weeks ago, which is now just fun running the trains, of
course.
Have a good holiday weekend, but remember what it is about!
Bill Winans
-----------------------------------
Steve (and all the “brothers”),
Good job on exposing our scale! Next to those who do all the hard
work of carting S portable layouts to train shows, I think that having
our S layouts open at NMRA conventions is the best way to show the
model railroading public the size benefits that we enjoy, and to
overcome the myth that everything must be scratchbuilt in S.
While I can’t come close to matching your numbers, this last weekend I
had 15 visitors from our NMRA 4th Division. I also gave a clinic on
modeling the prototype that featured many of my RTR models and kits to
show what’s available in S if you look for it. The clinic was
attended by about 35 non-S modelers.
Another advantage of having the layout open (maybe!) is to get
inspired to complete things. I have posted a photo of my new
warehouse at Ames Junction that got “planted” quickly to be
presentable for the open house. It can be viewed in my “Monon Route”
photo album:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/S-Scale/photos/album/135944245/pic/647239785/view?picmode=large&mode=tn&order=ordinal&start=1&dir=asc
<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/S-Scale/photos/album/135944245/pic/647239785/view?picmode=large&mode=tn&order=ordinal&start=1&dir=asc>
Mid-States Steel + Wire Co. was serviced by the Monon, the NYC and the
PRR back in the late ‘40’s.
Roger Nulton
