The Antioch branch

[Guest Jack Benson]

Hi,

 

Thank you Julian and Neil

 

A slippery slope has started, first a blue box Athearn RPO of the NYC RR accompanied by one of the delightful Alco Moguls from Bachmann.

The old layout is currently virgin territory, empty boards waiting for track and a copy of Mixed Train Daily found its way into my life. Just a shelf layout, no more than two steam movers, eight box cars and an RPO for the SLC enough to keep me amused and busy with wooden building craftsman kits.

Here is a link to the blog and rather than waffling on, there is an explanation why on the blog.

 

StayCool


 

Edited September 25, 2022 by Jack Benson
Duff link

[mdvle]

Be interesting to see how you go with this.

 

There is a lot to like with those old steam era branch lines - small locos, short cars, the mixed train to add passenger stuff without needing space for a big train and towns back then really did have multiple customers in a (relatively) small space.

[Guest Jack Benson]

It is just an attempt to do something completely different, not many influences and zero knowledge of the subject apart from repeated business trips. 
 

NYC was simply chosen because an RPO and one of the new Bachmann Moguls were available in NYC colours, moreover early ‘50s upstate New York was dotted with rural lines. 
 

Thanks and StaySafe

[F-UnitMad]

5 hours ago, Jack Benson said:

no more than two steam movers, eight box cars and an RPO

Yeah, yeah, we all say that - "just a loco & a handful of boxcars". 🤣👍

Slippery slope indeed.🥳

[stivesnick]

Hi 

 

I may get shouted down here, as there will often be exceptions, but normally a PRO coach did not contain any seating accommodation as both the railway and postal service would not want passengers getting to close to the mail and become tempted to steal things. 

 

Branch line mixed trains would tend to have a combine rather than a RPO as there would not normally be enough sorting to be done whilst on the move to justify a RPO. 

 

Hope this helps

 

Nick 

 

 

[long island jack]

something like this would work

 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/RIVAROSSI-Scale-Pullman-Combine-Central/dp/B00VYXSM3Y

[Guest Jack Benson]

17 minutes ago, stivesnick said:

Hi 

 

I may get shouted down here, as there will often be exceptions, but normally a PRO coach did not contain any seating accommodation as both the railway and postal service would not want passengers getting to close to the mail and become tempted to steal things. 

 

Branch line mixed trains would tend to have a combine rather than a RPO as there would not normally be enough sorting to be done whilst on the move to justify a RPO. 

 

Hope this helps

 

Nick 

 

 

Nick,

 

I appreciate your optimism but the RPO was the only example of a suitable vehicle for sale at the time.  Moreover it is supposed to be a shortline and the RPO could well be the only passenger car owned by the company…..

 

F-unit mad,

 

Indeed, your words might be prophetic but finances/availability/space are the current drivers moreover I want to own less.
 

StaySafe

 

 

 

 

[F-UnitMad]

For a bit of 'rustic Steam branch' you might like this layout on this Forum:-

 

Not been updated for a while, & some pictures might be missing due to the Great RMweb Crash of 2021, but it's minimal, atmospheric and inspirational. 👍👍

[Guest Jack Benson]

Hi,

 

just woke to a flurry of email responses from the US to my requests for total costs of just five fairly minor craftsman kits for wooden buildings (I like building modern laser cut kits). The messages have really knocked the proverbial wind out of my sails……admittedly the shipping costs almost exceeded the actual cost of the kits but with sales tax it was almost $1000. For those who cannot comprehend this level of expenditure, visit Hattons ‘bargain’ store and look at the prices of US craftsman wooden kits. The NYCHS caboose body kit was $110 alone (sans trucks/wheels, couplers) 
 

A massive rethink is underway and whilst I will continue to downsize the already modest BR(S) collection to suit the minimal nature of the intended BLT, the outcome may be just to retain the items built over the last fourteen years……

 

And I used to think German outline was expensive.

 

StayCool

[Titan]

Will there be a Holy Hand Grenade Cameo?

[F-UnitMad]

'Craftsman' type kits always have been expensive, even in American terms - how else did George Sellios - owner of Fine Scale Miniatures, a major supplier of these kits - fund his massive "Franklin & South Manchester" layout..??!! 🤪

[Guest Jack Benson]

1 hour ago, F-UnitMad said:

'Craftsman' type kits always have been expensive, even in American terms - how else did George Sellios - owner of Fine Scale Miniatures, a major supplier of these kits - fund his massive "Franklin & South Manchester" layout..??!! 🤪

A bag of wood bits, some Grandt Line doors/windows, sheet of shingles and a poor attempt at instructions is not worth $150. Even worse, many kits are NOT laser cut, the builder is expected to cut/make the wooden parts. 
 

End of rant

[mdvle]

5 hours ago, Jack Benson said:

just woke to a flurry of email responses from the US to my requests for total costs of just five fairly minor craftsman kits for wooden buildings (I like building modern laser cut kits). The messages have really knocked the proverbial wind out of my sails……admittedly the shipping costs almost exceeded the actual cost of the kits but with sales tax it was almost $1000. For those who cannot comprehend this level of expenditure, visit Hattons ‘bargain’ store and look at the prices of US craftsman wooden kits. The NYCHS caboose body kit was $110 alone (sans trucks/wheels, couplers)

 

Given the time it often takes to make these kits it may help if you don't have to buy them all at once.

 

But another possible option is to look into playing around with a drawing program and see if you can design your own building(s) and then get a local UK company/person to laser cut it locally - this potentially may be more cost effective.

 

 

[Barclay]

When I first started dabbling with US stuff a few years ago I couldn't believe the prices of some of it, not to mention postage costs, tax, Royal Mail fee for collecting the tax (on one memorable occasion, double the tax itself). 

 

This, together with a love of making/modifying things, is the reason my new US layout is taking the slow lane, with old loco's, repainted and modified, DC control, handbuilt track, and handbuilt structures. As an example, albeit for my UK modelling, I loved the ITLA Scale Models laser cut industrial building kit, but I was looking at the best part of £300 to get one into my hands. In the end, I literally copied it in 60 thou plasticard, with some etched windows. Maybe not quite as detailed, but I'm happy with it. Don't give up on your project, there's always a way round !

 

[nathan70000]

US modelling can be much cheaper than UK modelling if you're savvy. I have a few of the Bachmann sound equipped diesels and all of them were bought for under £100. I notice (albeit not quite appropriate for your NYC prototype!) there's a PRR M1a right now on eBay - with sound- for £149. An equivalent UK loco with sound, i.e. a 9F, would come in at double that.

 

One thing I have noticed about the US market is that whilst items might have a steep RRP they tend to sell for quite a lot less second hand. Proto 2000 diesels are decent and can be picked up for less than fifty quid.

 

Scenery, I'll grant you, is more difficult. Walthers Cornerstone kits are fairly plentiful, Woodland Scenics do plastic buildings in ready-to-plant and kit form that would be perfect for your branch line plan. They're a bit "stylised" but can be toned down with weathering etc. 

 

Also worth mentioning some continental (Kibri/Busch etc) kits can probably be "bashed" in to US prototypes. I agree the craftsman-type wooden kits are far too expensive if you're on a budget, even without the postage fees!

 

EDIT-

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/144681595335?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=lxZgJBf6TDS&sssrc=2349624&ssuid=YeSTyWFYRjq&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

This sort of thing is what I mean. Looks basic, but could make a fantastic scene with a bit of painting, weathering and detailing. It's on US eBay but if you use the Global Shipping Program you don't get the arbitrary Royal Mail postage fees and pay everything upfront.

Edited September 3, 2022 by nathan70000

[JZ]

On 02/09/2022 at 11:48, Barclay said:

 Royal Mail fee for collecting the tax (on one memorable occasion, double the tax itself). 

I got charged the £8 fee for collecting £0.54 tax on one occasion. Recently many of my orders from the US have slipped through without charge.

[Guest Jack Benson]

Hi,

 

I haven’t totally abandoned the idea, just recovering from the shock. Instead, purchases will be restricted to the UK and Eu, currently asking questions about suitable kits for a depot on the NYCHS facebook site, maybe the answer will be a Cornerstone product. 
 

Other options include, eBay.uk and a few surviving retailers. My needs are very modest;

• Depot
• Feed mill
• Merchants store or dry-goods store
• Wooden farm house+barn 

Nothing more, otherwise it will become crowded. 
 

Thankfully, there are still a few reasonably items of rolling stock about, by choosing the early ‘50s I can use AAR cars with older formers of steam motive power and there are some really distinctive small diesels (just need one steam and one diesel) It would be nice to be offered a Bachmann Consolidation, they are really appropriate for shortline work. As I said my needs are modest.

 

Thanks and StaySafe

 

 

[EmporiaSub]

A few items that are available from Walthers, though they’re not exactly cheap.

A NYC style depot might be more of an issue.

Brian

[Guest Jack Benson]

 

This is Woodard station from Branchline Trains a genuine NYC small structure, it is laser cut kit and retails at around $70, maybe just one kit won’t break the bank……..? 
 

Seth Lakin from the NYC modellers FB community provided the info, whilst the NYC historical society offers an online data base of helpful images.

 

Thanks, btw, Golden Valley, the cheapest depot from Walthers, could be ‘bodged’ into something resembling a suitable depot,  the NYC RR was an amalgam of disparate companies there was no a ‘standard’ company style. Maybe just copy the colour scheme from the above image for the Golden Valley depot……
 

Thanks guys

Edited September 5, 2022 by Jack Benson

[Guest Jack Benson]

Hi,

 

In case anyone is wondering, the previous layout was built on ten boards, four of which have been already recycled ready to be reused for Beaminster Road whilst four of the remaining six boards will be stripped, cleaned and used for the Antioch branch.

 

StaySafe

 

 

 

[Guest Jack Benson]

 

This image pitched up in the email with a note to the effect that this is the ‘type of thing’ that I should build, it was in response to a plea about my one and only loco, a Baldwin VO660 in NYCRR colours from Stewart Hobbies. And the sender was spot-on, although the autos are a bit too late ‘50s but the small town scene is really perfect, the location is Easley, South Carolina, only a few years previously it would been an old Alco or Baldwin steamer trundling through the streets.

 

BTW, Antioch has no personal connection, just the name of a farm near our home, many of the early settlers in upstate New York were farm workers from Dorset displaced in the 19th century. 
 

StaySafe
 

 

[Guest Jack Benson]

Not willing to let the grass grow, an internet search revealed that Maerklin/Trix offered a NYCRR caboose in 2005, although not strictly accurate it is better than the generic Athearn steel car.

This link is exceptionally useful NYCRR Caboose roster and the Maerklin model seems to feature rather often.

To cut a long short, a German dealer offered a stunning price and I bit his hand off down to the ankle.

 

Hopefully he will swap out the shirt buttons.

That really is the end of my stock purchasing, the RPO is here and a very kind soul has donated some boxcars which are too modern for his '30s layout, finally the Baldwin VO660 should be on its way.

 

Finally, a simple blog has begun with the rather unimaginative title of Antioch NY

 

StaySafe

 

[long island jack]

if you can live with the inaccuracies, they don't scrub up to bad

 

[Guest Jack Benson]

3 hours ago, long island jack said:

if you can live with the inaccuracies, they don't scrub up to bad

 

 

Hi, the Railroad.net review goes a long way to reveal the inadequacies of the Matrix model which helps with redressing them. The cost of the model is a bit steep however the £35 paid compares favourably with UK rtr and it is less than half the cost of the limited edition craftsman kit. The first task is  to source some suitable RP25 wheelsets, any suggestions, gratefully accepted.

 

As to a simple trackplan, the redoubtable Mr Nevard allowed me to plagiarise his Fountain Colliery trackplan. It started life on a 48”x12” board but the recycled boards are 30” wide which will benefit the plan as American locations tend to be a little ‘bigger’, more room for whatever industries find their way to Antioch.

 

Courtesy of Chris Nevard

 

And a kit for the depot has been acquired, the cheapest and smallest from Walthers. It will finished in the NYCRR house colours of dk.green and lt. green (in reality whatever Humbrol rattlecans can offer) 

 

The remaining diorama structures will be finished in the now customary Decor Art Amish Grey, it may seem odd but lasting memories of rural america are of wooden buildings in various shades of grey with rusting corrugated roofs. 
 

And this location is worth visiting the Arcade and Attica Railroad, it is perfect
 

StaySafe

Edited September 7, 2022 by Jack Benson

[mdvle]

The ultimate goal of any hobby is to have fun, something that many of us in model railroading with the trend to absolute accuracy seem to have forgotten.

 

It is good to see examples like this thread of people who haven't forgotten that and appear to be having fun by recreating a representation of what interests them using what is readily available.