The grass is greener in Ma & Pa country.

Broke out the Heiki Flockstar and I’m trying my hand at static grass. It’s fun and pretty straightforward. 

To left of the road is just ground foam, to the right is static grass.

2017 Garden State Prototype Modelers Meet

Just a quick note that this year's Garden State Railroad Prototype Modelers meet will be happening This weekend coming up: Saturday, November 4th, a day of clinics, model displays, layout design displays, door prizes and and vendors.  Sunday, November 5th is our ever popular self guided layout tour where you can visit some of the best and most popular layouts in the NY metro area.  You can still preregister via the website:

www.gsrpm.org

Or just walk in the day of the meet.  Registration either way you choose to do it is $20.  Check out the website for a list of clinics and layouts at this years RPM.

First Official Op Session in the Books!

Saturday, July 29th, I invited over some of the guys who have helped me in various ways through the years with the layout.  Dave Ramos, Ralph Heiss, Ted Pamperin, Jim Fawcett and Tim Moses came by and ran the Ma & Pa and it's operating scheme through its paces.  We found some small problems that I will address before the next session, but all in all everyone said they had a good time. :)

Dave Ramos consulting with Agent Mulder while Tim Moses is saying "I don't know this guy.."

Ted Pamperin and Ralph Heiss were the yard crew in York.  Here they switch some of the local industries within yard limits.

Tim Moses was the engineer on Train 32.  Here he waits for direction from Conductor Dave Ramos while Agent Mulder looks on.

Cars spotted at York Coke and Coal.

Yard Crew Conductor Ted Pamperin contemplating his next move.

Train 12 arrives in Yoe, PA.

Train 31 is running late and is in the siding waiting on Train 12 to pass.

Trains 12 and 31 make the meet at the passing siding just outside of Yoe, PA.

Train 7, with gas electric number 61 makes its stop in Yoe.

Aside from being nervous prepping for and hosting my first official op session on the layout, I had a blast, and I thank the guys for coming out and making the Ma & Pa come alive again! 

Oh Dollar Tree.. How do I love thee? Let me count the ways..

OK so maybe the title is a little over the top, but I do love Dollar Tree!  Over the years I have found so many useful items there for the layout.  From inexpensive artist brushes, to black sand that I use for coal loads and piles.. I always find something there that I use at some point.

A recent trip there scored some more items of use.

 The latest haul shows spray bottles-$1 each, nail polish holders that paint and glue bottles fit in nicely-$1 each, and bags of course black sand/gravel that can be used in scenery or as larger chunks of coal-$1 each.

 In the past I've found these nail polish holders in the clearance section of Home Goods at around $4 but finding them at Dollar Tree for $1 each is even better!

Besides having bags of fine black sand that I use in my coal loads and some scenery, they also carry black course sand which will come in handy at some point.

You can see the paint holders really help organize my work bench with the glues and colors I use most.  I'm thinking about building some kind of rack to stack these holders so they take up a smaller footprint on the desk.

All in all not bad for an investment of $7.00 total excluding tax. :)

Lists or cards?

Two main trains of thought (please excuse the pun) for train forwarding on layouts exist: using car cards and waybills or switch lists.  I've leaned towards the ladder but have always held out the possibility of using the former. It's safe to say about 90% of the layouts I operate on use the car card system. I've also operated on layouts using switch lists.  My good friend Dave Ramos uses both on his NY Harbor RR.  He uses switch lists generated by the yard clerks on both his pocket yards served by car floats, one at Erie's 28th street yard and also at the Lehigh Valley's 27th street yard.  These two yards can be operated like small independent layouts on their own.  On the NYC Highline and 38th street yard he uses car cards and has made them to look like small versions of real waybills. Both systems work flawlessly on Dave's layout.

So, what should I use on the Ma & Pa?  My original intention was to use switch lists.  I've tested this out by having a few trial run sessions using them.

Being that the layout is small compared to others I've operated on, writing out switch lists before a scheduled session isn't that hard to do. Plus it saves having to setup initially all the car cards for each and every car that will run on the layout.  That being said, I always feel at ease just a little more having car cards with my train. It helps me plan out my moves a little easier.  One of the things I've kept in the back of my mind for this layout as pertains to possibly using the card card system is if could find a cheap and easy way of building car card boxes for the front of the layout I might go that route.

On a recent trip to AC Moore to pick up some mat medium for scenery work I found these project boxes.  They sell them for $1.00 each.  Looking at them I realized that they could maybe be made into car card boxes.  I bought 6 and brought them home to experiment with.

I cut one in half on the table saw.  My measurements reveal I can get 3 card spaces per half.  I will cut the sliding top into separators for the spaces.  

Here's the before and after shot of what the boxes started as end ended up looking like.

A quick placement to see how they would look mounted on the fascia.   If a single half is just used I'll have to modify the short end to match the higher end.  I also figure the boxes can be modified by cutting them into single and double boxes.  This just might work.  Not bad for $1.00 each investment.

Proof of life..

It's one thing to say the blog isn't dead, but that needs to be backed up with "Proof of life",  So after some prodding from others I decided it's time to get off my ass and write something.  I know I mentioned in the last couple of posts about other interests model railroad wise, and that I was exploring pursuing them, but they were never more than possible side projects.  One side project gaining momentum is some modern themed Freemo modules based loosely on the B&M in the Guilford era.  But, again, that's a side project.  The Ma & Pa is still alive and well.

I've been working on building up my scenery skills, and when I have some more scenes finished that I'm happy with I'll post some pics to the blog.

Two items that have been causing delays in getting operations started have been addressed: the two potable staging modules have been fitted and are ready to go, and two trouble spots that had been plaguing train operations have been fixed after much time looking for solutions.

This section going into B Yard had a hump in it that would cause cars to uncouple.  I found the solution to be shimming the blue board from underneath one of the cross braces.

I also pulled up some of the track and switches to shave down the cork at the joint between the two modules.

Number 42 and this curved turnout did not get along.  After much testing I finally figured out the gaps at the frog were too big and that's where 42 was derailing.  I filled them with styrene strip and now 42 passes through with no problems.

The staging modules at Red Lion.  Note the manual turntable to turn engines for the return run.

Long time readers will be happy to see El Sombrero is still hanging around. ;)

This shot shows both York and Red Lion staging modules installed.

So, things are still moving along on the Ma & Pa and I'm hoping to schedule another shakedown op session within the next month.

RPM time again

Just a quick plug for my buddy Dave Owens and his NERPM which is coming up this weekend. It's in a new location this year in Enfield Ct. I'll be giving my Tails From the Helix clinic on Saturday night. 

Check out the website for more info at:

http://nerpm.org/index.html

A crisis of faith and deadlines..

I have to be blunt and honest: Updates have been slow in coming here because I've been searching my heart whether to continue on with this layout or move onto something else.  There are a few problems I'm having trouble fixing, some personal issues that need resolving, and a growing interest in other areas of the hobby that have been effecting my desire to keep moving forward with the Ma & Pa layout.  Long time readers of this blog know I have an affinity for getting sidetracked.  Lately my interest in traction has been blossoming up, and I actual have picked up a few traction models.  I might try my hand in building a small test module to see if I can handle the trolley wire and special track work.  Proto 87 Stores has a bunch of neat products that promises to make it easier to model traction.  All this has played a big roll in sidetracking me from the layout which in turn has me wondering if I should continue with it.

So I've taken the last few weeks off from doing anything on, or thinking about the layout, and also the planning of the test section traction layout.  In the interim I had a chance to run again after a few month's absence on my friend Ted Pamperin's steam era C&O and I took the hostler's job.  I enjoyed doing that as a change from my usual assignment of running the west end of Hinton Yard. I marveled at the steam power big and small and that in turn re-lit a small fire in me to work on the layout as it exists now.  So with the small kick in the ass of inspiration Ted's layout gave me along with the deadline of the joint GSD/NJ Division meet coming up this Saturday in Wall NJ (The Ma & Pa will be open from 1-5pm for the layout tour) I actually cleaned up and organized the layout space, and did some scenery work in Yoe.  

 
As you can see I finished the basic ground cover on the helix and hopefully I'll be testing out the static grass gun soon.

If you are free this weekend I suggest heading to Wall and participating in the joint meet.  It's usually one of the best meets of the year for both divisions.

GSD Spring Meet May 14th, 2016 We're having another dual meet with the NJD and will take place at InfoAge in Camp Evans 2201 Marconi Rd, Wall Township NJ 07719 This is the location of the Garden State Central Model RR Club. Clinics & Meeting: 9am to 12 noon Layouts 1-5pm.

"The coldest winter I ever saw was the summer I spent in San Francisco." Mark Twain

We just returned from our West Coast trip which took us on a Pacific voyage from San Francisco, down the coast of California to Ensenada Mexico, and back to San Francisco.  It was a nice relaxing itinerary, though the weather was chilly for California and Mexico, consistently in the low 60's with temps in the low 50's at night even in Mexico.

Despite it's short comings in it's political state, California is beautiful and it's real hard to justify why I live in NJ when there is such a beautiful place to live like CA.  Santa Barbara was stunning, peaceful and relaxing, and I loved San Diego too.  I was able to visit the La Mesa Club at the San Diego MR Museum and pictures do not do justice to what they have accomplished there. One of the members invited me into the layout and I was able to take a lot of great pictures.  If there is interest I'll share some here in the near future.

San Francisco was the crown jewel of the trip.  Cable cars were fun to ride but the thing RR wise that got me excited was the vintage PCC trolley cars of the F Line.  Being a closet traction and trolley fan I was having a blast photographing the various cars painted for the lines they came from.  One of my favorites was a Red Arrow car from Philly and of course the Newark City Subway car painted in original Public Service paint scheme.  Again, I know this is a blog about my Ma & Pa RR layout and you're expecting an update, so I hesitate to post the pics here but if there is interest, I will do so.

MALVERN VALLEY FORGE RPM:

I gave a clinic at the Valley Forge RPM in Malvern PA two weekends ago.  In a break from my usual update on the layout clinic I did one on building helixes, and specifically my backbone helix.  There was Ma & Pa content in the clinic as I covered how I model the town of Yoe on the outer loops of the helix.  I had pictures of how I've done the scenery there.  It was a great weekend catching up with many friends and especially nice to see Dick Bradley and Art Kuperstein again!  

There is a open house coming up in May during the next NJ Division NMRA meet so I need to kick things into gear and get the layout cleaned up and more progress done before then.

Gong Hey Fat Choy! Congratulations and be prosperous!

Gong Hey Fat Choy!  Congratulations and be prosperous! 

Another year has come and gone.  As my family gathers and reflects on our blessings from the past year I wish you and your family Happy Chinese New Year!  

We had our New Years Eve dinner and celebration last night a day early because most everyone had Super Bowl plans for today, which is the actual eve.  We had 20 people at dinner at one of favorite local restaurant, and later everyone came to our house for a round of mahjong and coffee, tea and desert.  My sister in law and her kids went down to the basement to check out the layout.  My nephew Quintin was fascinated and he and his sister Claudia got to run some trains.  I may have planted the model railroad bug in him. ;)

Gong Hey Fat Choy!  Congratulations and be prosperous! Happy New Year everyone!

A lot of people like snow. I find it to be an unnecessary freezing of water. Carl Reiner

2+ feet of snow here in NJ.  Where's Heat Miser when you need him.  Well when you are snowed in what do you do?  Write a long overdue blog post that's what you do!  So here is a few shots of various projects happening on the Ma & Pa:

Progress on my kitbash of Mitzel Bros. Coal in York.  Some detail work, weathering, plus another small building (warehouse on the siding) needs completing.

Work is progressing slowly on number 61.  Finally found some brass mesh material to represent the radiator screen.  

Inspired by my friend Dick Bradley's work appearing in RMC I'm working on my versions of 2003, 2005, and 2006.  2006 is a brass PRR ND cabin and will be painted to represent the Ma & Pa version.

Now this winter public service announcement from Fran Zappa:

Looks like Heat Miser is at it again! Merry Christmas Everyone!

Looks like Heat Miser is at it again!  The forecast here is 72 degrees for Christmas Eve with thunderstorms, and 63 on Christmas Day! 

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Yoe, it's been a long time..

It's been a hectic couple of months.  We held the 3rd annual Garden State Railroad Prototype Modelers Meet (Formally known as the NJ LD/OP Sig and RPM) and though it was another huge success, constant friction and problems with one of the staff members took it's toll.  It took a while for me to recover from the aggravation and anxiety caused by this.  Ultimately the person quit, the show went on, people were happy, and the students of UCTECH once again benefited with the meet being able to donate $1000 towards scholarships and SKILLS USA competition costs.  A big shout out to my friend Jim Fawcett who came through at the end and brought along a friend to help set things up the day before the meet.  He also was a big help during the meet. Another shout out goes to the UCTECH custodians who are second to none.  They chipped in getting things set up and broke down for the meet. We were also able to put a lot more money away for future meets this year, so hopefully things can only go up from here.

The meet took up a lot of my time but now that it's past, I have time to work on the Ma & Pa.  I have started some scenery, specifically the helix, with the top passing siding scene, and the lower  loop with the town of Yoe.  

Both upper and lower loops have been getting the scenic treatment

.

I used street view from Google maps to capture front images of houses in Yoe and manipulated them in photo shop.  The Hotel is a paper model I drew using Clever Models textures.  Yoe station is a beat up plastic model that is standing in till I build the model from plans.  The streets are paved with sanded grout.

Here's another view of the hotel in Yoe and another house flat.  All the buildings have to be flats because there is only about 1 1/2 inches from the roadbed to the backdrop.  The background on both the upper and lower loops are backdrop photos produced by Railroad Graphics and is in their Vol. 5 set.

The upper loop has the Railroad Graphics backdrop.  Ballasting was done using Highball Products limestone ballast.  The rail fence was a bargain $2 find at a local train show.  It was a bunch of the Atlas fence kits that were thrown in a bag and found under the table.  I painted and weathered the fence and installed it.  Both loops received basic ground cover with more to go and I will be going back planting static grass and some trees and shrubbery.

 I've been waiting awhile to try out some scenery work and it's been fun.  I hope I get better as I practice more.

Nothin' shakin' on shakedown street... Grateful Dead

My buddies, Dave Ramos and Ralph Heiss, stopped by to help me give the layout a good shakedown run to help find some more of the problem spots.  I now have all my brass equipment except for one ready to ply the rails and I knew brass being finicky, would find spots that were trouble where the plastic engines wouldn't have a problem.  And problems they found.  But that's OK.  That's the reason of holding shakedown sessions. 

Dave and Ralph building their trains.

Looks like Ralph found a trouble spot.

Payback is a bitch.  Many a night we amused ourselves by seeing how far we can throw skewers and make them stick while operating on Ralph's layout, which also uses foam on his layout.

The guys seemed to enjoy themselves, and in all, most of the problems found can be fixed without to much effort. 

Glue..

Don't ask...