March 2014 - The Lone Star Region

Transcription

March 2014 - The Lone Star Region
March 1, 2014
Vol 20 No 3
Inside this edition:
Page 2 - Schedule of future events
Page 3 - Bluebonnet Limited
Page 4 - NMRA and LSR update
Page 5 - FREE STUFF on the web
Page 8 - FRED DCC, and UP Big Boy
Page 9 - Earth forms by Niles Bishop
Page 10 - Micro Layouts, part 3
Page 11 - Fire Insurance Maps
The Spring Break shows at the Mahon and
Groves libraries have been put on hold until
sometime in June. Randel Bittick reports that
scheduling conflicts with the libraries prevented us from being able to schedule our
show for Spring Break in March. Instead,
Randel is working to schedule one or both
libraries to participate in the libraries’
“Reading Express” programs. Stay tuned for
specific dates and more information.
SouthWest Trakers, the N-Scale Division of
LMRA, has made arrangements to set up their
N-Scale modules at the end of Spring Break at
the Wolfforth Library. Setup will be on Thursday, March 20th and will run on Friday,
March 21 and Saturday, March 22. Complete
details are on page 2.
Our club President, Ron Pederson, has taken
a job assignment in El Paso for 6-months.
Vice-President Buddy Arnold will take the
reigns as Interim-President while Ron is away.
We are excited to announce another contest
this spring. Almost every layout conceivable,
regardless of your time-period being modelled or the scale of your model or whether
your model is permanent or modular, it has a
space or two or three for a billboard. And
billboards is the topic for the May contest.
To get your creative juices flowing, start with
these two web sites:
 http://www.ehow.com/
how_6407439_build-scale-billboardsigns-scratch.html
 http://model-railroad-hobbyist.com/
magazine/mrh-2011-03-Mar/ssbuild_billboard
Don Payne built a bill-board (at right) for his
HO module, featuring a photo of himself. Be
creative. Have fun.
A simple google search will get you started.
The rules are pretty simple. Build as many or
as few as you like. Build in any scale you like.
Build from a kit or scratch build.
We will bring our billboards to the May
Staying on Track, March 2014, Vol 20 No 3
Lubbock Model Railroad
Association
P.O. Box 53674
Lubbock, TX 79453
meeting, where we will present our entries,
explaining how they were built, what inspired
you to build them and any other information
you would like for us to know. Everyone will
have a chance to judge. Prizes will be given
for first and second place as was done last
year.
Our annual auction was held at the February
meeting. It was another huge success with a
great deal of participation. Auctioneer Dave
Lamberts reports :
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83 items were up for auction
we had about 1/3 as many no-bids as
last year.
$426 was earned by the sellers
$192 was earned for the club treasury
We need people to present clinics for most of
the rest of 2014. Here’s your chance to share
your modeling with the rest of us. We have
April and July covered, but we need clinics or
presentations for the rest of the year.
Some suggested clinic topics are: photography, trip slides or videos, Harvey Girls, scenicing, scratchbuilding, module building, kit
building, painting, weathering, detailing just
to name a few.
If you can help us out, please contact Buddy
Arnold at cliftonarnold856@yahoo.com.
Speaking of clinics, our April presenter will be
Niles Bishop and he has graciously provided
Board Of Directors:
Officers:
Ron Pederson - President
(absent until September)
lubbockrpr@team-psc.com
Buddy Arnold - Vice-President
(interim president until September)
cliftonarnold856@yahoo.com
Randel Bittick - Secretary
rd424y@nts-online.net
Dave Lamberts - Treasurer
DavidWL1944@aol.com
At-Large Directors:
B.J. d’Orsay - Newsletter Editor
bj.dorsay@gmail.com
Jay Morrow - Librarian
jaygroups@jaymorrow.org
Joe Price
wasunka@yahoo.com
Darrell Puckett
epee@suddenlink.net
Meetings
When: 1st Monday of each
month except for holidays
Time: 7:30 - 9:00 P.M. except for
special events
Where: Hope Lutheran Church,
corner of 98th St & Frankford Ave.
(Continued on page 2)
Page 1
2013/2014 Timetable
Lubbock Model Railroad
Association
All Aboard!
(Anything more than one month in the future
should be considered tentative, and subject to change)
March 2014
 Club meeting, Monday, March 3rd, 7:30. Hope
Lutheran Church, 98th & Frankford Ave.
 SouthWest Trakers set up at Wolfforth Library,
Marth 20 - 22.
April 2014
 Club meeting, Monday, April 7, 7:30, Hope Lutheran Church, 98th & Frankford Ave.
 Clinic will be presentation by Niles Bishop of a
method of building up scenery.
May 2014
 Club Meeting, special time 7:00 on Monday,
May 5
 Billboard contest. Bring your models and cameras!
(Continued from page 1)
some preview photos of the work he is doing to create his
earth forms on his permanent home layout. Find these photos and a brief description of his technique on page 9.
It is amazing what you can find on the internet now-a-days.
When I first began modeling, you had to depend on books,
magazines or other modelers to learn how to be a modeler
yourself. That is no longer true. Beginning on page 5, I have
listed the many resources available to us all, and it’s all free!
Many thanks to those who sent me the web sites.
At least two of us, bj d’Orsay and Dave Lamberts will be
attending the Lone Star Region’s annual convention, this year
being held in Roundrock during the first week of June. Dave
Lamberts is our district’s representative to the LSR, and he
brings us a complete lineup of why you should consider
attending this year’s convention, besides the fact that you will
be able to see both of us present clinics. See page 3 for much
more information.
NMRA, the national organization is creating a new program
called NMRA EduTRAIN. It will be a prepared curriculum to
provide education and training about every aspect of model
railroading. Check out page 4 for more details.
Join us on Yahoo!
http://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/LMRA/
Dues are STILL due NOW
$12 for an individual
$18 for a family
Bring to the meeting or mail them to:
LMRA
PO BOX 53674
Lubbock, TX 79453
Get involved
Contact Buddy Arnold at
cliftonarnold856@yahoo.com
or 788-1898
if you are interested in presenting a clinic or
informational program at one of our club
meetings.
Bob Batson moved back to his home town of Hearne, TX last
summer and will be installing portions of his home layout in
the old Hearne Depot, now a museum. Bob is also coordinating the clinics at the LSR Annual Convention in Roundrock
next summer. He already has an exciting list of clinics, something to appeal to everyone.
N-Scalers must love bridges. This is an arch bridge being built by Joe
Price. It will connect TTrak modules, and be nearly 5-1/2 feet long!
This will match up with B.J. d’Orsay’s 4-foot steel truss bridge which
made it’s debut at the TTU Museum show. Both bridges will be featured
in April’s newsletter, describing building techniques and more photos.
Staying on Track, March 2014, Vol 20 No 3
Page 2
THE BLUEBONNET LIMITED
Division 4 - the Cen-Tex Division - is excited to be hosting the 2014 NMRA Lone Star
Region Convention June 4-8, 2014 at the Wingate by Wyndham & Williamson Conference Center in Round Rock, Texas, just outside of Austin.
Registration is $85 per person ($95 after April 15).
Herein some information taken from the LSR’s convention web site.
Come visit the WB & S The Wimberley, Blanco & Southern is a live steam railroad located southwest of Austin. This railroad has a main line of 6,200 feet with
14,000 feet of total track. We will have live steam locomotives and diesel locomotives
pulling passenger cars for us to ride. We also will tour their extensive facilities including shops, turntable, train station and yards.
We will visit the railroad in two groups – one group on Thursday and one group on Friday. We will provide buses to transport you between
our convention site and the railroad and we will also provide a box lunch for the day.
Prototype Tours
Two prototype tours have been lined up. On Thursday, we will have a bus take us to the LCRA car repair facility in Smithville which maintains over 1,100 gondolas used for the transportation of coal from Wyoming to the Fayette Power Project. We will have the opportunity to
tour the facility, observe repair operations and ask questions of LCRA employees.
On Friday, we will have a bus to take us to the Georgetown Railroad which hauls crushed limestone from the facilities of Texas Crushed
Stone to points in Texas and Louisiana. The stone moves in unit trains of 40 to 120 railcars via connection with UP and BNSF. We will get to
observe the mining and rail operations involved in the loading of the railcars and ask questions about the process from mining to interchange
with the Class I carriers.
Clinics
There are over 60 clinic slots available. Some clinicians already lined up include David Lamberts, B. J. D’Orsay, Mike Barrett, George Bohn,
Bob Brindle, B.J. d’Orsay, Kennedy Gauger, Frank Houzvicka, Chuck Lind, Terry Nathan, Loren Neufeld, Tom Pearson, and Clarence Zink
– with more to come. Topics include module construction, Decoder Pro, reducing derailments, T-trak, mining, turnout construction, trestle
construction, European railroads and more. We would love to have even more presenters. If you would like to present a clinic, please contact
Bob Batson.
Operating Sessions and Layout Tour
There are ten operating sessions planned with a total of up to 94 operating slots available. The railroads range from long runs in full scenery
to no scenery but a lot of switching. All are HO Scale except Kim Saign’s which is N Scale. In addition, we will have a switching layout to
operate at the convention. See the schedule for more details.
We will also have an extensive layout tour program which includes tour opportunities on Thursday evening, Saturday afternoon and a going
home option on Sunday. We will provide directions for driving yourself to these layouts. Over 20 layouts will be open on this tour program.
Finally, the local AustNtrak group will assemble and operate Ntrak and T-trak layouts at the convention center Wednesday through Saturday.
Non-Rail Program
Several activities are also planned for the non-rail program. We hope to have a lot of entries in our contest this year: The theme is bluebonnets. We will have several clinics, a shopping option at both the nearby Outlet Mall and also at the Salado shops, and a quilting demonstration
on Thursday evening. On Saturday, we will have a bus to take us to the Umlauf Sculpture Gardens and Museum where we can view the largest collection of touchable bronze sculptures in Texas.
And More!
We will also have a number of other activities to enjoy, including:
Contest Room - We are looking forward to seeing many award winning cars, locomotives, structures, photographs, and more.
Silent Auction - Bring all the items you would like to sell. Come to the silent auction room and bid on all the must-have items for your collection. We have a large room available for this .
Door Prizes and Raffle - Great opportunities to pick up some great items, thanks to our sponsors!
So – as you can see – if you are awake you will be having fun.
Hope to see you there.
Dave Lamberts
Staying on Track, March 2014, Vol 20 No 3
Page 3
The National Model Railroad Association is creating a new curriculum program called
NMRA EduTRAIN®. “It will become the first complete curriculum of re-usable turnkey
clinics covering all aspects of model railroading from kit building to scenery, electricity
and electronics, layout construction, scenery, and operations. NMRA EduTRAIN® clinics
will include traditional presentations as well as demonstration labs and hands-on
(Make and Take) workshops where the primary objective is to teach. When fully implemented NMRA-EduTRAIN® will allow a model railroader to progress through all phases
of model railroading, according to their interests, from novice to Master Model Railroader. It will include clinics to train model railroaders to become more comfortable
and proficient at delivering presentations (Train the Trainers).”
- NMRA Magazine, March 2014, page 10.
For the most up-to-date information of the region,
go to the Lone Star Region at
http://www.lonestarregion.com/. Their webmaster, Jeff Palmer, has been hard at work creating a
new web site for the region, and he now has posted a link to the new website, still under development. You should also be proud to know that this
LMRA newsletter is featured on the front page of
the LSR web site. It’s the only club or district
newsletter to be featured on the front page. Of
course, the news this spring is the upcoming convention in Roundrock the first week of June. Go back to page 3 for
details if you skipped it first time through. But also look at their new website, still under development, but looking
A note from Ken Matticks, one of our friends in Midland:
1.
2.
I will be making a presentation at the Garden Railway Show and Annual General Meeting of the Association of 16mm N.G. Modellers
on Saturday, April 12 in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, England. My talk is on American Garden Railways (with emphasis on building
one on a desert).
Let me suggest that after you have collected and published these Internet sites, you collect and publish members’ favourite YouTube
videos on railways. I have almost 400 different videos in my “Favourites” on YouTube. And I look for more almost every night.
Kenneth R. Matticks
Midland, Texas 79701
Join the NMRA
www.NMRA.org
Lubbock Model Railroad
Association
P.O. Box 53674
Lubbock, TX 79453
Monthly Club Meetings:
Usually First Monday, 7:30 PM
Hope Lutheran Church
5700 98th St.
Corner 98th and Frankford
Staying on Track, March 2014, Vol 20 No 3
Logon to our Yahoo! Group page at
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LMRA/
Hundreds of photos and documents
A perfect place to post
your railroad-related
activities and photos to
share with the group.
http://www.facebook.com/
groups/88889679658/
Page 4
My request was simple: send me links to the free stuff on the internet that helps you enjoy or improve at your hobby of Model Railroading.
The response was immediate and huge from LMRA members and friends of LMRA around Texas who receive our newsletter. Here are their
contributions, somewhat organized be broad category (some links may be listed under multiple categories), with credit given to the contributors. You’ll also soon see that it was difficult for me to categorize many of the links I received. So look through each and every category.
For each contribution I have tried to include the name of the contributor. If I missed anyone, please forgive me for the oversight.
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Historical / Museums
http://www.utahrails.net/ - great photos and history of
railroading in Utah (sent by Patrick Pritchett)
http://www.up.com/aboutup/special_trains/steam/
locomotives/4014.shtml Union Pacific Railroad is undertaking the movement and restoration of one of the
world’s largest steam locomotives – the Big Boy No.
4014. (Patrick Pritchett)
http://www.steamlocomotive.com/bigboy/
(Ron Warner)
http://www.borail.org/ (Ron Warner)
http://calzephyr.railfan.net/ (Ron Warner)
Modeling Associations/Societies/Clubs
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http://www.mopac.org/ - "Dedicated to preserving the
rich history of the Missouri Pacific Railroad, the Texas
& Pacific, the Chicago & Eastern Illinois, and all Predecessors" (Patrick Pritchett)
Association of 16mm Narrow Gauge Modellers,
http://www.16mm.org.uk (Ken Matticks)
http://www.centramod.com/Home.htm (Bob Batson)
http://www.lonestarregion.com/ (Bob Batson)
http://www.nmra.org/ (Bob Batson)
http://www.geekwithtrains.com/ (Bob Batson)
http://www.ttos.org/index.cfm?
id=82328&fuseaction=browse&pageid=1
(Ron Warner)
http://www.drgw.org/ (Ron Warner)
http://www.railfan.net/links/ (Ron Warner)
http://www.southernappalachia.railway.museum/
(Ron Warner)
http://www.nwhs.org/index.php (Ron Warner)
http://www.nasg.org/ (Ron Warner)
Prototype
http://www.texaseagle.com/ (Bob Batson)
http://www.montanarail.com/ (Ron Warner)
Staying on Track, March 2014, Vol 20 No 3
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Photos / Web Cams
http://www.utahrails.net/ - great photos and history of
railroading in Utah (Patrick Pritchett)
rrpicturearchives.net (Clyde Shannon, Jim Brown)
http://trn.trains.com/Interactive/Web%20Cams/
Details.aspx (Ron Warner)
http://www.locophotos.com/
Techniques
LightLine homepage for lining and paneling of 16mm
scale locomotives: http://www.lightline16mm.com (Ken
Matticks)
A good locomotive reference:
http://www.thedieselshop.us (Jim Brown)
Model Railroads
Timpdon Lake Railway (16mm scale)
http://www.timpdon.co.uk/timpdon/tlr/index.htm
(Ken Matticks)
A very nice HO layout in Colorado: http://
www.gfsm.org/pcindex.html (Jim Brown)
Excursion Trains
http://www.flyingunderradar.com/ (Ron Warner)
Online Groups / Communities
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/n_scale/messages
(Bob Batson)
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/
NScaleVehicleAssociation/ (Bob Batson)
Magazines / Publications
http://www.geekwithtrains.com/content/fall-markerlamp (Bob Batson)
http://model-railroad-hobbyist.com/ (Bob Batson, B.J.
d’Orsay)
http://www.cowcatchermagazine.com/ (Bob Batson)
Page 5
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Suppliers / Manufacturers
Events
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http://bluebonnetlimited.com/ (Bob Batson)
http://www.lonestarexpress2013.com/ (Bob Batson)
http://www.blwnscale.com/ (Bob Batson, Jim Brown, B.J.
d’Orsay)
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http://www.periodminiatures.biz/21.html (Bob Batson)
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http://www.decapodsystems.com/contact.html
(Bob Batson)
http://www.modeltrainsoftware.com/ (Ron Warner)
http://www.barmillsmodels.com/ (Bob Batson)
http://www.blairline.com/nhome/ (Bob Batson)
http://www.branchline-trains.com/index.html
(Bob Batson)
http://www.fiferhobby.com/ (Bob Batson, B.J. d’Orsay)
http://www.finescaleminiatures.com/images.html
(Bob Batson)
Software
16MM modeling
http://www.gclaser.com/ (Bob Batson)
http://www.kingmill.com/ (Bob Batson)
http://www.modeltrainstuff.com/ (Bob Batson, B.J. d’Orsay,
Shawn Best, Jim Brown)
Hi BJ,
http://micro-scale.com/ (Bob Batson)
As some will know, I model using a scale of
16mm=1’0” (1:19.05) running on 32mm (O scale) track. This
means that our prototypes are 24” gauge railways of Wales,
England, Zimbabwe , and the state of Maine. When I first
switched to 16mm modelling, there was one site on the Internet
with anything about two-foot narrow gauge railways and that
was a library reference at the University of West London. Now
there are hundreds of sites and YouTube posts.
http://www.microstru.com/index.html (Bob Batson)
http://modeltechstudios.com/ (Bob Batson)
http://monstermodelworks.com/ (Bob Batson)
http://www.pufferbellys.com/ (Bob Batson)
http://www.richmondcontrols.com/ (Bob Batson)
http://www.showcaseminiatures.com/ (Bob Batson)
http://www.trainweb.org/tylick/signintro.htm
(Bob Batson)
http://www.t-kits.com/ (Bob Batson)
http://www.bigindoortrains.com/primer/buildings/
store_fronts/store_fronts.htm (Ron Warner)
http://www.greatdecals.com/Griffin.htm (Ron Warner)
http://www.bachmanntrains.com/home-usa/index.php
(Darrell Puckett)
MicroMark has every type of tool one could imagine. You
can order a free catalogue. They also have excellent mail
order service. www.micromark.com (Dave Lamberts, B.J.
d’Orsay)
Caboose Hobbies must be the largest model railroad store in
the country. They have great mail order service and a huge
web page inventory. www.caboosehobbies.com (Dave Lamberts)
This is used N-scale; he is very nice to work with. http://
yardsaletrains.com/ (Jim Brown)
These guys have some unusual kits in HO and N, such as
boats, planes, and a hangar. The quality is good. You can
order directly, or through Model Train Stuff. http://
www.osbornmodelkits.com/index.htm (Jim Brown)
He does not have a web site, but he does have some nice Nscale special runs:
Prototype N Scale Models (TM)
by George Hollwedel
2108 Buffalo Tundra Dr
Austin, TX 78754-5960
512-579-0539 (Jim Brown)
My favourite site is for the Association of 16mm Narrow
Gauge Modellers at http://www.16mm.org.uk. To see many of
the locomotives that have been built in this scale, go to http://
www.lightline16mm.com. My friend Geoff Munday runs
LightLine, a company that puts lining and panelling on 16mm
scale locomotives and his work is on display at this web address.
To see some of the prototype railways, go to http://
www.festrail.co.uk for the Ffestiniog and Welsh Highland railways. Also, the favourite locomotives of those of us who study
quarry railways are the Quarry Hunslets, built by the Hunslet
Locomotive Company of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. I
was pleased to be a part of the team that repatriated EDWARD
SHOLTO, a Quarry Hunslet, from the USA back to England
where she was restored to ex works condition and is now working in steam around England. Here is a site to see Hunslets: http://www.quarryhunslet.mste.co.uk, including my godchildlocomotive, EDWARD SHOLTO.
This April 12th is the Annual General Meeting of the Association of 16mm N.G. Modellers. I have asked to make a presentation there on “Garden Railways in America” with emphasis on
a garden railway in west Texas.
If you need more information on my scale/gauge combination, please let me know.
Best wishes to all.
Ken Matticks, Midland
http://www.railroad-line.com/forum/topic.asp?
TOPIC_ID=9280&whichpage=1 and you'll find many signs of
all sorts and links to several other sites. (Mike Moore)
Staying on Track, March 2014, Vol 20 No 3
Page 6
Signage
By Mike Moore, North Texas TTrak
Want to add some traffic signs to your layout for added realism? Try copying some from here http://www.signsdirect.com/
or from here http://www.safetysign.com/
then you can scale them up or down, print and apply.
What else can subtly set a time or place for your layout than
billboards. Look for some here www.billboardsofthepast.com/
Then build a frame to put it near the road or apply it to a building side. I've also included two sheets of good ones I've collected over the years. These are already scaled to N. Feel free
to print these out an make up few.
You could also cruise through eBay looking for metal signs, etc.
for sale. Just cut and past the picture in the add to another
page.
Here's some example of the 1000s I've got in my library. If you
use them, I'd appreciate some sort of credit for the idea.
I do have a full-blown set of clinic notes about billboards, but
I'd just as soon not sent that at this point. It's mostly about
making the billboard framework, but that's pretty intuitive.
The hard part is collecting all the signs.
A few are presented here to give you an idea...
American Wind Power Center Layout Update
Coy Harris reports that in preparation for their layout, they have purchased their DigiTrax equipment
and the German software to automate the control of everything, and have a computer to load it up to.
The software selected is that used by the massive Hamburg, Germany layout. Their website is
http://www.freiwald.com/pages/index.html and offers many products to automate museum and ublic
layouts.
It will be very exciting to see this in action someday.
Staying on Track, March 2014, Vol 20 No 3
Page 7
Here is an easy electronics project from
http://home.cogeco.ca/~rpaisley4/
CircuitIndex.html
Submitted by Darrell Puckett.
Please Read Before Using These Circuit Ideas
The explanations for the circuits on these
pages cannot hope to cover every situation
on every layout. For this reason be prepared to do some experimenting to get the
results you want. This is especially true of
circuits such as the "Across Track Infrared
Detection" circuits and any other circuit
that relies on other than direct electronic
inputs, such as switches.
If you use any of these circuit ideas, ask
your parts supplier for a copy of the manufacturers data sheets for any components
that you have not used before. These
sheets contain a wealth of data and circuit
design information that no electronic or
print article could approach and will save
time and perhaps damage to the components themselves. These data sheets can
often be found on the web site of the device manufacturers.
Although the circuits are functional the
pages are not meant to be full descriptions
of each circuit but rather as guides for
adapting them for use by others. If you
have any questions or comments please
send them to the email address on the Circuit Index page.
UNION PACIFIC’s 4014 Big Boy
As most of you know, the Union Pacific
has taken possession of Big Boy (4-8-8-4)
#4014, and is in the process of moving it
from California to Cheyenne, where they
will spend 3 - 5 years renovating it into a
fully functioning locomotive. They will
be using it for promotional trips across the
country as they do with their other large
steamers, the
There are MANY YouTube videos of the
move so far. You can get started with this
link
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=DsZGWn_bPPE
and then keep watching for hours if you
want.
Staying on Track, March 2014, Vol 20 No 3
Page 8
Our April clinic will be presented by Niles Bishop and he will show us how he is contouring his landscaping. It is
a method I’ve never seen before ; in fact, I had never even heard of it before I got these teaser photos from Niles.
He uses plain corrugated cardboard and cuts our each contour layer and stacks them up, gluing each layer with
common white glue.
I am intrigued at how precise his earth forms turn out. And then he covers them with plaster. He did confess that
he is now a major stock holder for elmer’s and that it does take time, butjudging by these preliminary results, I
think it may be completely worth the effort.
Join us for our April meeting to find out more from Niles.
Staying on Track, March 2014, Vol 20 No 3
Page 9
Top 10 Mistakes with Micro Layouts
By Joe Price
Part three of his Micro layouts series
While micro layouts are small and easy to transport for shows, they do have some pitfalls that it would be good to
acknowledge and avoid, or at least minimize. Being aware of these, as they apply to your micro, should make
showing it a happier experience.
1. Avoid running with the train. If your layout needs a access from the front, back, and sides to operate, it could
be a pain to operate. It is much better to be able to sit in one place and operate the layout comfortably. It's
easier on the operator and the audience.
2. Manual turnouts are bad at a show. While okay at home, manually operated turnouts ruin the effect of the
train layout because you have to stick your hand into the display to flip the turnout.
3. Keep it Simple. The KISS principal is perhaps the advice a modeler could use. A micro layout does not have to
be complicated to be fascinating. A few turnouts and one or two key industries that need to have certain cars
in certain places is not only easier to operate, but surprisingly fun and simple.
4. Leave some elbow room. A train layout not only should be easy and simple, but also very believable. A lot of
track and turnouts leaves little room for buildings and scenery. A train will look great if it is surrounded by
landscape and buildings. Many people at a show will gaze in awe at the buildings and the natural flow of the
modeled landscape. A well-modeled scene will attract viewers more than weathered rolling stock.
5. Details, details, details. What is needed are details. In town: cars, people, trash, litter and pets should be
seen. Rural scenes: animals, dead trees and the occasional person will complete the scene. On a farm, people
expect to see a host of livestock right down to the ducks on the pond.
6. Lights are great. Most well lit rooms aren't good enough for great modeling. Perhaps, consider some system
of lighting which gives the models a natural look complete with shadows that are noticeable, but not too dark.
7. Add sound, smoke and lights. A layout that has puffing, steaming, hissing locomotives draws attention. Not
every micro needs all these, but judicious use can be helpful.
8. Good enough to operate in the dark. Make sure the layout is reliable during low-light situations when it's difficult to see. Then, it will run anytime.
9. Animation domination. This means more than just having a train go through a scene. Carnival rides, buses,
trams, and sometimes even boats and planes that move make for a very fun layout both for the public and for
the modeler. This is especially important on micro layouts as they are more prone to being past by, so attention is needed. This also applies to #7 and #10.
10. Advertise. A sign that declares the name of the scene, builder, layout, town or whatever will be noticed at a
show and will give the layout a sense of completeness and professionalism. Darrell Puckett has started doing
this on his Americana module set, and on others as well.
This was condensed from an article at <http://
jjwtrains.blogspot.com/2014/01/top-10-micro-layoutmistakes.html> dated January 16, 2014.
Staying on Track, March 2014, Vol 20 No 3
Page 10
Yahoo group post submitted by Joe Price
Fire Insurance Maps and City Atlases
Sun Feb 9, 2014 11:12 am (PST) .
Posted by: redwood_chopper
Regarding the recent query about digging for any sort of plans for historic sites
and structures, Sanborn Fire Insurance maps was mentioned in a reply as a useful
reference. These are - when they can be found online - extremely useful tools. More
often than not, a public library (if they are linked with ProQuest) can make these
available online to registered library patrons although access and availability varies from state to state, county to county.
Aside from library collections, there are some alternate online resources, some free
and others requiring payment.
One of the free sites for a variety of Sanborn and other historic maps and extremely
rare city atlases is the David Rumsey Map Collection owned and run by Cartography
Associates. It's more a dedicated hodgepodge of rare maps and atlases but can be
very useful if you manage to find a place relevant to your need.
http://www.davidrumsey.com/luna/servlet/view/search?
q=Insurance+Fire&sort=Pub_Date,Pub_List_ No,Series_No
As for the Sanborn Maps, this mention by Old House Journal Magazine' s website is
worth perusal.
http://www.oldhouseonline.com/where-to-find-sanborn-maps/
Californians today can freely access Sanborn maps for their state through several
public libraries. Los Angeles Public Library offers the general public living instate wide access. San Francisco offers anyone living in the Bay Area and holding a
current SF Public Library card (extended as a courtesy to area residents) access to
their scanned Sanborns for Sanborn California-only maps. I use these often.
http://sfpl.org/index.php?pg=2000305601
Finally, some states have excellent maps collections either housed in that state's
State Library or the State Archives at the capital. For instance, California State
Archives maintains an extensive historic railroads plat maps collection (originals
as well as microfiche versions) that can be used *in person* ~ but you have to go to
CSA to access them. These cover only large railroads like Southern Pacific, Santa Fe
and so on, but they're quite handy documents. Plat maps typically show a railroad
right of way and spurs, sidings and extremely basic ground plans for commercial
freight customers' buildings if they were equipped with active access spur tracks.
Do a little sleuthing on your own and see what you can turn up. Happy hunting!
~Kevin Bunker, Oakland, CA
Staying on Track, March 2014, Vol 20 No 3
Page 11
It really is a small world.
In 2009, I came home to a phone message that
went something like, "B.J., this is Darrell Puckett in
Shallowater and we NEED to talk. Call me, my
number is xxx-xxxx!" My immediate thought was,
"Oh shoot, what did I do now?"
And thus began a friendship that gets stronger every week.
You see, Darrell lives in a small town just 10 miles North West of
Lubbock, where I live, and it turns out Darrell attended AMA in 1960,
ten years before I graduated.
And it gets better. I did call Darrell that evening, he told me who he
was and why he had called. And we talked about our days at AMA,
our common experiences, our memories of the school and the
teachers. Then we turned the conversation to our current lives.
Turns out we were both seriously into N-Scale model railroading.
Darrell likes to scratch-build historical buildings for his railroad, and
he had been researching the web with
the thought to possibly model the big
barracks. He finally decided that it
would be too big and complex for him
to build. But while on the web site, he
noticed my name and address. I met
him in person about a week later at a
railroad show. Because of family commitments, I had been an inactive modeler for about 15 years. That all
changed when I got connected to Darrell.
Since then we have become seriously
good friends. I am continually amazed
at the invisible bond that exists between us, and we occasionally talk
about it. We both came to the conclusion that the few years we each spent
at AMA had a common transformative
affect on both of us.
B.J. d'Orsay, '70
Data Analyst
Graduate School of Texas Tech University
AMA Webmaster
BJ has related his side of our story that is right
on the money. While researching the design of
the big barracks for a model railroad module I
noticed that the web master for the AMA site
had a Lubbock address. Having not met another
AMA alumnus in all these many years, I immediately picked up the telephone and called BJ. He was not in so I left a
message (that he mentioned). When he returned my call we had an
almost instant bond.
This is where it gets really weird. In the course of our conversation
model trains were mentioned. That was when BJ told me that he too
was a modeler and in N scale, as well.
We met at the next Lubbock Model Railroad Association meeting. BJ
and I had an instant connection. It seemed as if we just knew what
the other had in mind.
Our mutual friendship just seems to increase as we grow older. We seem to
have an innate understanding of each
other. Is it from AMA, or is it just one of
those freak things that happen in life? We
may never know. BJ and I have our suspicions.
Darrell Puckett, '60 and B.J. d'Orsay, '70 sit in front of their
model railroad modules during a 2013 show. Darrell's model of
the Alamo at the time of the 1836 battle won First Place during
the 2012 Lonestar Regional Convention of the National Model
Rilroad Association. B.J.'s module is of a mid-20th century
imaginary country train stop called "Whistlestop". This module
earned second-place at the 2013 Rocky Mountain Regional
convention of the National Model Railroad Association.
Darrell has a home layout, while I do not. But we both build interconnecting modules according to an international standard known as
T-Trak. Several times a year our local group of modelers get together and set up out modules to form a large layout. These layouts
usually cover about 1,000 sq feet, and allow us to run up to 6 or 8
trains simultaneously. We recently set up at the Texas Tech Museum and drew almost 2000 visitors in just 2-1/2 days.
So you see, it really is a small world.
What are the odds??
Last year, BJ and I were president and vice
-president, respectively. Our year as the
senior officers of the club brought major
changes, including rewriting the by-laws.
BJ and I seem to know what the other
wanted to do without any communication
and we managed to update many of the
antiquated rules and laws.
Unfortunately BJ did not know General
Roller and have the privilege of his wisdom and knowledge, but I believe that the
General’s spirit lived on after his passing.
Many of the things that General Roller
stood for were still being permeated in cadets years later.
The odds of winning the lottery are probably much less than the
unique experience that BJ and I have had.
Ten years apart, from different parts of the country, and totally
different backgrounds. Forty-eight years later we wind up living ten
miles apart and both N scale modelers and best of friends. What are
the odds?
"Ad Astra Per Aspera"
Darrell G. Puckett, SMSgt, USAF (Ret.)