Once Upon a Time.... in the West

[Indomitable026]

The three amigo's have just had a weekend of modelling.

 

I'll let the other two describe whats been achieved (as I don't really know.....)

 

In the mean time heres a picture of those nasty yellow and blue diesels. (My progress for the weekend was the spraying of the hand rails - which now look too chunky having recieved a Proto2000 SD60 the other day with very fine hand rails fitted)

 

 

 

[shortliner]

Neither of you mentioned the Reading "Crusader" - streamliner clad in stainless steel (still looked bloody awful). Seriously nothing to compare with a Caledonian loco................BUT we all have our own likes and dislikes and now you know mine.

 

Best, Pete.

 

This'll teach you not to say things like that

 

From TO.com today

GHB has announced it will offer the 1937 Reading Crusader in HO-scale.

 

For more details: http://www.modelrailroadnews.com/single-article-page/classic-reading-crusader-cruises-into-ho-scale-from-ghb/a73a062206.html

[trisonic]

Oh, Lord!

 

http://njrails.tripod.com/20th_Century/Reading/Crusader/crusader.jpg

 

 

It's like I'd really like to model the Central Railroad of New Jersey and there are lots of modellers local to me who do just that BUT:

 

1. I've always hated their choice of both steam locos (ugly camel - backs) and diesels (FM mad, I call it)

2. Each one of their livery options suck (except, mildly, their Tangerine and Blue - gawd help us Tangerine and Blue)!

 

Dear, oh dear.

 

Best, Pete.

[shortliner]

Pete - your link has lost a "g" at the end

[trisonic]

Thanks, Jack. It just adds to the awfulness! The tacky, teutonic lettering, etc, etc.

 

The only US "Streamliner" I remotely liked is the PRR T1http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:T1_color_photo.jpg

I wonder whether the T1 suffered any bearing failures?

 

Best, Pete

[2ManySpams]

It's probably worth reminding regular readers that this layout is being built by three blokes who, just to make group building more difficult, now live miles from each other. I'm around 90mins from each of the other 2 (in opposite directions, and John and Damian are over 2hrs distant. This adds a whole extra dimension to layout building! No just popping round for a quick chat and tinker with the layout! Oh, and once again we've built a layout that's too big for any of our houses.....

 

So the way we normally work is for each of us to have bits of the layout to work on. Damian makes a mess with wood, track and electrics. I make a mess with scenic stuff and plasticard. John tidies up after us and does track, ballast, backscenes and general faffing. Every now and the we meet up, bring the boards together and do a lot of standing around talking rubbish and head scratching. To be fair we also drank lots of tea, fine ales and ate well again (Anne and Jayne did a great bangers, mash and Gooseberry supper - not all on the same plate).

 

So what did we manage to do at the weekend?

 

The scenic boards we put up and we set the height of the backscene as 65" above datum (Damian's garage floor). The front fascia is going to be 6" tall with it's bottom edge set at 62" ADGF.

 

We decided that John's new plan for the wye and canyon didn't suit the current board construction. There we some interesting board joint, track and scenic issues to solve. Therefore Damian deconstructed this board and will be building its replacements in an east west orientation rather than north south.

 

We scanned books and photos and decided on how we wanted the scenery to look / feel. And we mocked up the levels of the canyon.

 

John drew a full size plan for the new canyon boards. This will give Damian something to ignore when building them! The canyon area should look stunning though. 6' deep, 4' wide at its narrowest and over 18" difference in levels.

 

John's mine fetish got struck a blow when Damian and I pointed out that you couldn't fit a massive sprawling industrial complex on a 2'x4' board. And anyway it looked daft.....

 

The site for John's bridge got shifted further west and Damian went polystyrene mining with various blunt objects.

 

I got messy with more polystyrene, glue, plaster and bandage. I upset John by not liking his mine idea and getting agreement that he couldn't have big rocky cliff faces - the sort pictured in Arizona - because, well, Whitewater isn't in Arizona! I upset Damian by putting a foot through his greenhouse staging......

 

So on the whole a few big changes and lots of decissions. Photos later.

 

Can't say what happened on Sunday as I had to leave early to go and stand in a field, in a big rainstorm, taking down Scout tents. Joy. Perhaps John will post a few words.....

[The Stationmaster]

The only US "Streamliner" I remotely liked is the PRR T1http://en.wikipedia....color_photo.jpg

I wonder whether the T1 suffered any bearing failures?

Best, Pete

 

Apologies for continuing this divergence - the T1s were technologically very advanced and possibly suffered accordingly. Their best known failing was their tendency to slip particularly at high speed (Wiki refers to them slipping at starting but I haven't seen much mention of this in past US sources although it seems more than likely that they did). However the high speed slipping was the real problem as it could, and sometimes did, lead to damage to the poppet valves which caused real problems. I've never seen a reference to them suffering bearing failures but it is possible that the high rotational speed of the axles during a high speed slip could well cause such troubles. Fabulous looking machines for all that and with a reputation for speed. And there's one in the Blueline range

[Guest jonte]

It's probably worth reminding regular readers that this layout is being built by three blokes who, just to make group building more difficult, now live miles from each other. I'm around 90mins from each of the other 2 (in opposite directions, and John and Damian are over 2hrs distant. This adds a whole extra dimension to layout building! No just popping round for a quick chat and tinker with the layout! Oh, and once again we've built a layout that's too big for any of our houses.....

 

So the way we normally work is for each of us to have bits of the layout to work on. Damian makes a mess with wood, track and electrics. I make a mess with scenic stuff and plasticard. John tidies up after us and does track, ballast, backscenes and general faffing. Every now and the we meet up, bring the boards together and do a lot of standing around talking rubbish and head scratching. To be fair we also drank lots of tea, fine ales and ate well again (Anne and Jayne did a great bangers, mash and Gooseberry supper - not all on the same plate).

 

So what did we manage to do at the weekend?

 

The scenic boards we put up and we set the height of the backscene as 65" above datum (Damian's garage floor). The front fascia is going to be 6" tall with it's bottom edge set at 62" ADGF.

 

We decided that John's new plan for the wye and canyon didn't suit the current board construction. There we some interesting board joint, track and scenic issues to solve. Therefore Damian deconstructed this board and will be building its replacements in an east west orientation rather than north south.

 

We scanned books and photos and decided on how we wanted the scenery to look / feel. And we mocked up the levels of the canyon.

 

John drew a full size plan for the new canyon boards. This will give Damian something to ignore when building them! The canyon area should look stunning though. 6' deep, 4' wide at its narrowest and over 18" difference in levels.

 

John's mine fetish got struck a blow when Damian and I pointed out that you couldn't fit a massive sprawling industrial complex on a 2'x4' board. And anyway it looked daft.....

 

The site for John's bridge got shifted further west and Damian went polystyrene mining with various blunt objects.

 

I got messy with more polystyrene, glue, plaster and bandage. I upset John by not liking his mine idea and getting agreement that he couldn't have big rocky cliff faces - the sort pictured in Arizona - because, well, Whitewater isn't in Arizona! I upset Damian by putting a foot through his greenhouse staging......

 

So on the whole a few big changes and lots of decissions. Photos later.

 

Can't say what happened on Sunday as I had to leave early to go and stand in a field, in a big rainstorm, taking down Scout tents. Joy. Perhaps John will post a few words.....

 

Awaiting photos with eager anticipation!

 

Best wishes,

Jonte

[2ManySpams]

And some progress photos - looking back I didn't take anywhere as many as I thought - and none of how it looked when we'd finished on Saturday night.....

 

Damian working hard on yet more wiring:

John in deep thought - probably about biscuits:

Some action from John - well use of a tape measure at least:

Polystyrene during plastering - hardly a track in sight:

Obviously the final touches to the canyon area (possibly a little more to do here):

 

I now have 12'x2' of scenic boards at my house (wot no track?) so at some point will post some 'action' shots of these being worked on. I'm guessing that means i'll have to do something now as the modelling fairies (you know, the ones that visit houses over night and magically finish layouts) don't appear to be visiting at the moment.....

[Guest jonte]

Mulling, mess and..........more mulling

 

Even with three heads it seems, the burden of railway modelling at times gets no lighter.

 

Thanks for the insight into how the professionals do it!!

 

Best wishes,

 

Jonte.

[2ManySpams]

Thanks Jonte - I'd be careful who you're calling professional! What did strike us at the weekend was the size of some parts of the layout - I think it's going to be a much bigger project than John imagined!

[Mike Boucher]

It's like I'd really like to model the Central Railroad of New Jersey and there are lots of modellers local to me who do just that BUT:

 

1. I've always hated their choice of both steam locos (ugly camel - backs) and diesels (FM mad, I call it)

2. Each one of their livery options suck (except, mildly, their Tangerine and Blue - gawd help us Tangerine and Blue)!

 

Sorry Pete, but I gotta somewhat disagree on #1. There's a certain "raw power" appeal to those camelback 4-6-0s, imho. (for those of you who don't know what they look like, I give you exhibit A: http://abpr.railfan.net/abprphoto.cgi?//july98/07-08-98/cnj756.jpg) I can live with the 0-6-0 switchers as well, but the Atlantics look somewhat ungainly, the big drivers make the cab look too high.

 

Gotta agree completely with #2

 

Mike

[Indomitable026]

Thanks Jonte - I'd be careful who you're calling professional! What did strike us at the weekend was the size of some parts of the layout - I think it's going to be a much bigger project than John imagined!

 

 

Having looked up 'Professional' in the dictionary, I can confirm we definitely not, more like part time bodgers......

 

I'll post a copy of the current plan if I remember later.

 

Old Gringo - are you out there?

[Guest jonte]

Having looked up 'Professional' in the dictionary, I can confirm we definitely not, more like part time bodgers......

 

I'll post a copy of the current plan if I remember later.

 

Old Gringo - are you out there?

 

Having admired Treneglos in person a couple of years back, I can safely say that the layout and overall presentation was 'text book',a standard or reference for other exhibits, and if there was a qualification for this sort of thing, you'd have passed with flying colours!!

 

Although I might only be a newbie, I've lost count of the number of exhibitions I've attended over the years, so believe this gives my opinion 'some' credibility. I travelled to Preston in mid winter of that year with the sole intention of seeing Treneglos, a point I made to 'Old Gringo' during his ad hoc tour of the layout. I wasn't disappointed and it was worth all the effort; I couldn't take my eyes off it. In fact, if I'd loitered any longer I'm sure I'd have been committing an offence!!

 

Part time bodgers you certainly ain't.

 

Talk about things turning out bigger than intended, mine was only meant to be a 'diorama' to test the viability of HO and cut my teeth on. Have you seen the size of it? How on earth am I going to fill it all? Whilst I can't wait to see the product of your labours, you have my sincerest sympathies.

 

Jonte

 

PS......hope I didn't offend when I used the word 'mess' in my earlier post. I much rather preferred 'clutter' but it sorta killed the alliteration

 

Jonte

[Indomitable026]

Having admired Treneglos in person a couple of years back, I can safely say that the layout and overall presentation was 'text book',a standard or reference for other exhibits, and if there was a qualification for this sort of thing, you'd have passed with flying colours!!

 

Although I might only be a newbie, I've lost count of the number of exhibitions I've attended over the years, so believe this gives my opinion 'some' credibility. I travelled to Preston in mid winter of that year with the sole intention of seeing Treneglos, a point I made to 'Old Gringo' during his ad hoc tour of the layout. I wasn't disappointed and it was worth all the effort; I couldn't take my eyes off it. In fact, if I'd loitered any longer I'm sure I'd have been committing an offence!!

 

Part time bodgers you certainly ain't.

 

Talk about things turning out bigger than intended, mine was only meant to be a 'diorama' to test the viability of HO and cut my teeth on. Have you seen the size of it? How on earth am I going to fill it all? Whilst I can't wait to see the product of your labours, you have my sincerest sympathies.

 

Jonte

 

PS......hope I didn't offend when I used the word 'mess' in my earlier post. I much rather preferred 'clutter' but it sorta killed the alliteration

 

Jonte

 

 

Kind words indeed.

 

You may also be interested to know that we built another layout Diesels in the Duchy in between Treneglos and our current 'Rails in the Sand' project. Its next outings are Truro and Warley this year.

 

Thanks for your interest and comments.

[trisonic]

Yes, you guys certainly produce ace layouts - why I always look forward to seeing progress on your "West"! The other two are amongst my all time favourites too.

 

Brilliant work but you make it reachable for everyone.

 

Best, Pete.

[Guest jonte]

Yes, you guys certainly produce ace layouts - why I always look forward to seeing progress on your "West"! The other two are amongst my all time favourites too.

 

Brilliant work but you make it reachable for everyone.

 

Best, Pete.

 

Hear, hear !!!!!

[2ManySpams]

Thanks for the comments folks

 

I think it helps that we obviously don't take ourselves too seriously, we're always open to new / different ideas and we want each new layout to be better than the last.

 

Oh and we enjoy what we build!

[Old Gringo]

Thanks very much Pete and Jon, for all your complimentary comments regarding our layouts.

As Chris says, we enjoy what we do (although the photographs of me might not imply this!) and as "Prof. K" emphasises with his sign off to every post, we also aim to improve with each project. Although Damian and Chris are always introducing new ideas and technologies and generally pushing the standards, like Pete says (post 316) we like to make our layouts "reachable by everyone" who has the enthusiasm to have a go.

As for the "Professionals" ? Ha, ha, ha, Well it's a great film, with three 1966 Academy Award nominations. A rip-roaring action adventure shot in New Mexico, set against the backdrop of Mexican revolution. Lee Marvin, Burt Lancaster, Woody Strode and Robert Ryan, are sent by greedy "oil baron" Ralph Bellamy, to rescue Claudia Cardinale from nasty Jack Palance. The film begins with Ralph's private train collecting the "professionals" en route to the border, in the middle there's a train "hi-jack" and towards the end of the film they use a big 2-8-0 to begin their return to the U.S.A. with the beautiful kidnappee in tow. A must for all western and railroad fans!

I also think it's great to come back to this thread after a couple of days, to find out how the latest "hi-jack" or parallel universe discussion is going on. Sometimes it's about iced tumbleweeds with Jack and Chris, or maybe the ladies with Ian, Big engines and Dunny's with Alistair, or just a few posts ago streamlined steam engines and diesel liveries with Pete and a host of others. Super topics - never a dull moment here!

My favourite U.S. steam streamliners are the C,M,St.P & P. Hiawathas (both the Atlantics and Hudsons) and The New York Central's "Art Deco" J3A's. But then there's the Santa Fe's Blue Goose - that was quite a pretty Hudson too. There's just so many to choose from and what about the Canadian Pacific's Royal Hudsons ? Perhaps, we should have another discussion in the U.S. Group with pictures !???

More crazy stuff next time I hope.

All the best, John

[Ozexpatriate]

Perhaps, we should have another discussion in the U.S. Group with pictures !???

As you wish, Señor Gringo Viejo!

 

By your command.

[Old Gringo]

Cheers Oz,

Senor Gringo Vieja - He say - "Si y muchas gracias"!

I suppose now I'll have to make up my mind which I like the most - which as my modeling amigos will tell you could take some considerable time!

Mind you the fact that I've got a thirty year old Rivarossi NYC Hudson might influence which way my first vote goes . . . but I'd forgotten how good the Norfolk and Western J's and the Espee's GS series 4-8-4s looked. So many beautiful big kettles to choose from !!!

[Indomitable026]

I'm not mean't to disclose the latest plans, but that's the good thing about being a black sheep modeller - you don't have to conform.......

 

 

 

 

 

Ooops.

[2ManySpams]

Well you see what happens if people go leaving plans and bits of their layouts in other people's garages ;-p

[Guest jonte]

I'm not mean't to disclose the latest plans, but that's the good thing about being a black sheep modeller - you don't have to conform.......

 

 

 

 

 

Ooops.

 

Immense!!

[F-UnitMad]

A Wye will certainly be something a bit different to most layouts - it'll make it stand out, for sure!. B)