Progress Shots

[jwb]

My immediate aim is just to finish the kit, and there's quite a bit left to do:     However, I'm noticing things like grain legs on the prototype photos that could easily be added to the kit down the road.

[Steamtrains]

That building is GORGEOUS...!!! You did a fine job on it...

BTW...What's its "footprint"..??

[Puddlejumper]

Love that tower! I have been wanting to buy one myself, it has a look very similar to VIRGINIA and ANACOSTIA towers on the south end of the NEC.

Dave

[bdw9535]

jwb,

Here's several shots of the tower at Winslow, NJ. Just several differences from the Walters model.

Bruce

[jwb]

Bruce, thanks very much for the WINSLOW photos. WINSLOW is one of the tower names provided in the kit, and I have a soft spot for the P-RSL, since I rode one of the trains from Atlantic City to Philadelphia and back with Baldwin AS-16s and P70R coaches about 1965. But as you can see, the colors by then had diverged, and I actually wonder if any two of these towers were exactly alike. Standard Railroad of the World indeed.

[jwb]

Gus, the actual footprint is about 7-1/2 x 14 inches, a little larger than Campbell gives in its specs. Unfortunately, I cut the piece of plywood for the base from the specs, not the actual kit, so it's a little small. Here's a shot with the roof louvered vents mostly in place:     As I said above, the Campbell instructions say the prototype was on Slauson Avenue in LA. One of the signs included with the kit is for a Western Talc Co., and according to Google, there was in fact a Western Talc Co. at 1901 E. Slauson Ave in LA -- they had a mine in the Mojave Desert as well. Slauson would have put it on the Santa Fe Harbor Sub. Google Earth shows nothing like that there now.

[jwb]

Here is the site prep for the talc plant:     Next step will be bringing up the scenery around the base, leveling the base, and ballasting the spur.

[jwb]

Here's an area I haven't covered yet. When I designed this layout in 1993, I realized that i'd lived in so many places, traveled so much, and had so many interests that it would be folly to say "I'm going to model a Santa Fe branch line in Texas on September 23, 1948, just before they withdrew the xxx class". My job was going to be to evaluate the range of interests I had and find a way to accommodate predictable changes in focus. This section of the layout was designed to let me do things with one set of interests, on one hand PRR-Amtrak Northeast Corridor, and on the other European main line electrification.     The trackwork here isn't even finished, and most of it isn't wired. I have the materials eventually to install Sommerfeldt German style catenary, but I expect to run Amtrak and PRR electrics as well. In fact, the track plan is designed to let me detour main line US type freights onto this loop, change engines, and run with electrics until I decide to go back to diesel operation. Chris-GEC's posts have been prodding me to get interested in this part of the layout again.

I bring this up because I was going through some past swap meet treasures and came up with this:    
It's a dummy Walthers version of the American GK E60. I've run into several of these at swaps over the years. I'm now thinking this could become a scenery item. I've never fully decided what I'm going to put in the upper left area of the scene above, but now I'm thinking I may add a scenery-only motor storage track there and put a couple of dummy or non-runnable locos on display.

[Tyson Rayles]

You are doing a great job with the talc plant, looks like it will be a big time customer of the RR.

[jwb]

Thanks -- I'll have some talc plant update photos here, too.

I put a couple of motors in the tentative motor storage area to scope things out. I think it can be done. The AEM7 is placed where there would be an additional active track, while the track the E60 is on would be scenery-only.     A retaining wall would go behind the E60 track. I would do it up to remind me generally of motor storage in Penn Station or New Haven. I guess that dates me, huh?

I picked up a number of Walthers Amfleets on sale as old stock in a hobby shop in the 1990s and have gradually been updating them. Here's an overall view, with the lettering upgraded with MicoScale decals:    

I added Train Station Amfleet diaphrams to the ends, with some paint improvements, including extending the Amtrak 3-stripes to the corner beyond the door.     I think these are acceptable as layout models and probably won't be paying $70 a pop for the new Walthers tooling.

[faraway]

Those Amtrac engines and the coaches look beautiful. It would be great if you could use them to run a passenger train.

[jwb]

This is something more of the effect I eventually want to get in this area:    

[faraway]

This is something more of the effect I eventually want to get in this area:[ATTACHMENT NOT FOUND]

That is the way all German stations look. It is a lot of work but a well done catenary over a bunch of switches is an outstanding detail. Is Sommerfeldt catenary useful for an US based layout?

[IndyCity]

Unfortunately only a few parts, Reinhard.

Look here - this is a good adress for american catenary systems: http://www.modelmemories.com/

[jwb]

As I say, I'm not trying to tie myself to a single prototype, era, region, or even country. (Maybe I should pull out some German stuff to show you!) The lattice style Sommerfeldt posts that span multiple tracks are very similar to ones on both the New Haven and PRR, though, and that's what I'll be using in this area. What's good about Sommerfeldt is that it's modular, too, complete with templates and forumulas to calculate what you need to do for a particular track spacing, curve radius, etc. Model Memories is much more trial and error (and trial and error with some pretty expensive stuff). There are guys who've actually modeled operating New Haven catenary with it, though, and my hat is off to them.

But also, US electrification projects since the 1970s, including light rail and the Northeast Corridor extension to Boston, have used European principles, and much more Sommerfeldt items are useful for that. Zum Beispiel: