Hi Bob, Thanks for the nice remarks. I’m struggling to come up with ideas for what I can put on the warehouse loading dock to liven up the scene a bit. I don’t have a prototype photo of that area so I have to freelance. My imagination is limited, that’s why I copy the real thing <g>.
Sounds like you’ve been busy on your layout. I can’t find the stub yard in your photo album, though. You do it all for S: shows, layout tours, clinics and articles! Take care, Roger From: Bob Werre Sent: Tuesday, May 28, 2013 9:50 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: {S-Scale List} Weekend Fun 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 Mid-States Steel + Wire Co. was serviced by the Monon, the NYC and the PRR back in the late ‘40’s. Roger Nulton
