Beginnings-Where we started

[doctorwayne]

I started in model railroading in the mid-'50s, although most of what I did was build kits and run trains. My Dad built a 4'x8' layout for me, and if I can find a picture of it, I'll post it later. After the usual break for "other activities", I got back into modelling in the early '70s, starting with a scratchbuilt HO scale blast furnace. Working at a steel plant, I was able to obtain about 30 sheets of full-size blueprints for the prototype, with an offer of "more if you need 'em". (I wish that I'd kept them.)
Construction was mostly basswood structural shapes and sheets, with some sheet styrene used for the furnace shell. Brickwork was both Holgate&Reynolds (for exterior walls) and commercial brick paper (for interior walls and floors). Living in a small apartment at the time, and with a baby on the way, I ran out of space (the completed model would have been about 6'x8') and money, and eventually broke-up the unfinished model. Much of it was scrapped, but some given away and one of the modified overhead cranes kept for many years in a shoe box.
Here's a photo of part of the prototype:


And the same area on the unfinished model:


The furnace pad and slag pit wall were cast in-place, using dental plaster.
Here are a couple more views:




And the rescued crane, now in use on my layout. Other than a couple of broken handrails replaced with plastic ones, the model is sheet styrene with structural shapes (handrails, bracing, etc.) in milled basswood. The only commercial parts are the wheels, hook sheaves (ship model parts) and some bearing caps from a 1/32" model of a Russian T-33 tank:


After a move to a more spacious location, I decided to build a photo diorama. It was about 6' long and intended to have two levels, the one shown and another open field scene on the top. The latter was never completed. Construction was dental plaster over window screen, which had been stapled to the 1"x2" framework. Telegraph poles were from Atlas, while the hydro poles, crossarms, and insulators were scratchbuilt. Trees were natural twig armatures with either foam or dyed sawdust sprinkled on foliage made from steel wool.


While I still had my original trains from the '50s, like this A-B-B-A set of Globe diesels (ex-Santa Fe):


...and this John English Pacific (modified several times in the interval);


I was also amassing a roster of newer locos, including Athearn geeps:


...and Atlas SD models:




...along with more rolling stock and structures:


...and even scratchbuilding some rolling stock, like the express reefer shown here:


I even got brave enough to hack-up a number of Atlas diesels, giving them scratchbuilt safety cabs:


The loco featured in a couple of previous photos was also an early kitbash. Originally a Bachmann model of a Santa Fe Northern, I modified the front end with Cal-Scale parts, then scratchbuilt an all-weather cab over the existing one. The tender is the original long one, shortened, and with its oil bunker opened-up and converted to coal. Always a fan of centipede tenders, I removed most of the bottom of the tender, replacing it with the upsidedown top section from a Tyco 54' ACF reefer (free from a LHS because it had been partial melted by the sun while displayed in the store's window ). The front truck is from an Athearn or MDC passenger car, while the tender's original eight-wheel trucks were cut up and joined together to create the centipede frame. Using a photo from an ad for a brass NP loco with a centipede tender as a pattern, I cut the sideframes from sheet styrene, then, after removing the unneeded detail from the original trucks, cemented the new sides in place. Springs, spring hangers, and other details were built-up using Kadee draught gear box covers and brass wire:


It lasted into the current era (seen here on the Maitland River bridge), and now resides in Wisconsin at a well-known railroad museum.


Somewhere during this activity, we finally moved to our own house, and a small but extensive layout was started in the basement. Only a couple of photos survive:




I was also continuing to experiment with modifying steam locos, like this MDC 2-8-0:


MDC 4-6-0:


and Tyco/Mantua 2-8-2:


In 1979, I finally tried modelling a prototype, taking over three dozen photos of a pair of TH&B diesels. The models are from Athearn, the only geeps available at the time. I've since remotored the 403 and added a motor to former dummy 76, and changed the trucks on both units. While they're seldom run, they're among the very few diesels which I still have:




The photos above appeared in Model Railroader magazine's Paint Shop in Feb. of 1980, a much appreciated occurrence, as I had been modelling pretty-much in isolation up to that time, not sure that my work would pass scrutiny. Prior to the appearance of the article, I had been asked to display the models at a LHS, and was surprised, when I returned to the shop a week later, to be asked to paint some for others. Ultimately, that's what lead to the magazine article, as I was getting tired of doing the paint jobs (brush painted for many, including mine, with some hand lettering and, of course, the major body modifications , too). It didn't seem to encourage many to try painting their own, though, as I eventually ended-up doing about 70 of them.
This also led to more painting jobs for others, including a lot of these, when their prototypes were new (models are Bachmann, all that was available at the time):


...and quite a few "one-offs", like this brass 44 tonner, hand lettered for local car builder National Steel Car:


I also tried more prototype modelling, including this tank car, built from an Athearn 62' tank car, and using on-site sketches which I made of the prototype car:


Free-lancing continued to be of interest, too, with two of these weed-sprayer cars built:


...and this generator car (for work and wreck trains) kitbashed from a Varney stockcar, with some parts from an Athearn geep, and some Silver Streak castings:




Of the models show, few remain in my possession. These include the John English Pacific (one of my first steamers, acquired "used" in the '50s), the structures shown in the colour shot of SD24 81, two of the express cars shown behind that Pacific (saved only for their Central Valley trucks and brake gear - they'll be scrapped when the trucks are needed), the two TH&B geeps, and one of the two weed sprayer cars.

For some strange reason, I am unable to post all of this because "Your message contains 10369 characters. The maximum number of allowed characters is 10000.", so it's concluded in the following post.