Talbotjohn

Thanks to Ian (Olddudders) for sorting out the photos for me. The track is on a continuous 36" radius curve so the layout is about 7' diameter if that helps put the overall size into perspective. I forgot to mention that 2760, the C&O 2-8-4, now has a bell. By luck I found a bell I had cut off a 009 Minitrains Baldwin NG 0-4-0 many years ago ( I replaced it with a British whistle). It does the job and saved me a lot of time and effort obtaining a Cal Scale one. I have noticed that Kadee wheels seem to have increased quite a lot in price during this year. The 33" wheels are now about £1.50 an axle, still comparable in price with say an Alan Gibson 4mm scale wagon wheel, but of course you need 4 axles for a typical US bogie vehicle. Hence you are looking at £6 or so to change the wheels from plastic to metal. Bachmann metal wheels are even more expensive than Kadee at this time. Similarly adding Kadee or Kadee type couplings adds another £2.75+ to the cost. Consequently if you are buying an item of rolling stock with plastic wheels and say missing, dummy or broken couplings, you are looking to spend another £9 or so to upgrade it. Could be that bargain item you see won't be quite such a bargain after all and the similar but more expensive higher spec item next to it is a better deal! Your choice of course....

I had a free weekend by myself recently so I thought I would put the layout up for its first real test of all four boards on their trestles and give the C&O 2-8-4 a run having recently fitted a Soundtraxx Tsunami 2 steam decoder and speaker in the tender. Thanks to Ted Smale at DCC Concepts for helping me install this unit. This loco, with its long 8 coupled wheelbase is a good test of how level the trackwork and board to board joints are. I found the joint between the bridge board and the Depot needed attention as the loco was seesawing over that joint! I do have some black drapes to cover the trestles but I didn't bother to hang them on this occasion. Some of the landscape is looking a bit bare at the moment but I have since covered all the ground with Woodlands Scenics T44 fine turf. This colour looks about right to me. I plan to install a lot more trees and have a "Forest in a Box" pack ready to try out. The bridge is an Atlas model weathered with acrylics as a try-out. Enamels are still my favourite but I need to try to move with the times! The bridge parapets still need the stonework adding - Wills Coarse Stone sheets will be used. The hoppers in the photo were purchased from Anouraks Anonymous at the recent Seaboard Southern show at Crawley. Somebody di an excellent job of weathering them. I retro-fitted fitted metal wheels and Kadee type couplings. Apologies for the upside down photos posted initially. I forgot to hold my iphone upside down when these were taken. Fortunately OD has sorted these out for me and re posted them the right way up.

I recently picked up a used Bachmann HO C&O K4 Kanawha (Berkshire) 2-8-4 to add to my small C&O steam loco fleet. It is DCC fitted but not sound. It needed some minor cosmetic repairs, but all done now apart from the bell on the front. I looked at the Bachmann US website but the bell is not listed as an available spare part. Cal Scale do a cast brass part that would fit the bill so I am exploring the cheapest way to obtain one. The most likely source, suggested by a contributor to this site, is a Canadian dealer who apparently operates out of his basement by mail order or by going to shows rather than running a shop. Here are some photos posed on the grade crossing on my layout "Hope Springs". With magnification it is possible to read the Lima builders plate. The real 2760 was not scrapped but is rotting away as a static exhibit in I believe a country park. The loco crew are old Walthers figures I have had for about 20 years - just like the ones you see in the photos of the Virginian and Ohio layout diesels! I also painted over the white wheel rims as this is meant to be a work-a-day loco not one that has been prepared for a special occasion. Once I can find some period colour photos of these locos, I think I will get it weathered by a friend who prefers to work from photos. .

Thanks John, this Canadian outfit looks very interesting.

Hi, I was wondering if there is a UK dealer selling HO Cal Scale parts for US steam engines. I want item 190-299 steam engine bell and bracket front mount set. I see them on eBay but the shipping cost from the US is prohibitive for such a small part. I need the bell to replace the missing bell on an HO Bachmann 2-8-4 Berkshire I bought second hand. I did wonder about contacting the Bachmann US spares service as an option (I have the part number from the exploded component part diagrams on their website). The UK service department have been very helpful with UK outline models but I have never tried the US arm.

Hello. Thanks for your interest. I am glad my photos brought back some memories for you. Yes it is a Bachmann Spectrum model with a SoundTrax Tsunami sound chip rather than the value version. As you say it is a great runner and the sound effects really do it for me. I found a review of the model in Model Railroader. They say this model loco is actually based on an Illinois Central loco built in the 1920's with some generic boiler fittings. I am not too bothered about that. As far as I am concerned it runs well and looks the part even if the more fastidious modellers say it is not a totally accurate model of a C&O loco. I also have a Bachmann Spectrum H5 2-6-6-2 loco, essential to create the atmosphere of steam days on the C&O coal branches. I do have a selection of Chessie diesels too but I am concentrating on steam days just now.

Here is a photo of my C&O caboose as used on the coal branches towards the end of steam. It is a Walthers HO Platinum Line model so it is RTR with all the handrails fitted! I fitted Kadee No 5 couplers otherwise it is straight out of the box. It needs sympathetic weathering!

Thanks Nathan. C&O cabooses were red during the steam era. The C&O for Progress logo was introduced in 1948 and steam ended on the C&O in 1956. My Walthers model (#90753) is a red, wood sheathed version with the Chesapeake and Ohio lettering and the C&O for Progress Logo. All the handrails around the verandah ends were painted yellow as a safety measure. Not sure when this particular feature was introduced. The yellow livery was introduced in 1957 so is appropriate for first generation diesels onwards on the C&O. If it is any consolation I have two in yellow livery which you could still see in Chessie System days. If you are going to buy the Walthers model pay the extra to get the version with all the handrails already attached. I speak from the bad experience of trying to drill lots of tiny holes!

First run of a Chesapeake and Ohio coal train on Hope Springs using my new NCE Powercab set up. Loco is a Bachmann 2-8-0 (pretending to be a C&O G class loco) with a mix of War Emergency and USRA 2 bay hoppers with a gondola thrown in. The caboose (out of view) is a Walthers wood sheathed C&O vehicle.

Close up of Hope Springs Depot with more trees and lights turned on.

I have added some more of the Woodlands Scenics canopy trees to the depot area. The depot is an old AHM kit for a "Rural Freight and Passenger Station". It was part of their Snapeze range but I stuck it together with solvent adhesive. I replaced the chimney with one built from that shown in the drawing of the Pence Springs depot in Model Railroader July 1977. The name board is adapted from a Coopercraft GWR signalbox nameplate. The building is lit using a string of LED lights rescued from one of those cute "fairy lights in a wine bottle". The water tower is an Atlas model. The USRA 55T C&O hoppers are Accurail models. It seems that 2 of my LBSCR wagons on another layout have crept into shot in the background!

I have added some ground foam grass (Woodlands Scenics fine burnt turf) to the right of the grade crossing and some Woodlands Scenics Canopy Trees on the bank behind the track. The trees come in kit form comprising a selection of dried twig/seed heads to form the trunk and branches, some medium green ground foam foliage and a bottle of "scenic cement" (dilute PVA?). I added in some lighter green foliage material to give some light and shade in the canopy. Very easy to use - just dip the seed head end in the scenic cement, shake off any excess then sprinkle on the foliage or dip in a bag of foliage, once happy stick the bottom of the tree in some expanded polystyrene to hold it whilst it dries. Ideally I need some forest edge trees to complement these canopy trees but I will make up some shrubs or bushes to create a front of woods effect. These tree kits are quick and easy and great if, as Tony Koester famously said, you model forests rather than individual trees! The boxcars are Accurail USRA single sheath 40' cars, one has a wooden door and the other a steel door. Also one has code 88 Kadee wheels and the other code 110 wheels so I can compare their performance. I have found Halfords red primer car aerosol spray is a good match to the Accurail paint on these vehicles and have used it to spray the sides of the trucks (bogies).

I have done some work on the "Chuck's Trucks" board since the above photos were taken. The backscene is in place and the track has been ballasted. The grade crossing is down and the signs are up. Basic scenery forms have been laid, just need to add grass (Woodlands Scenics fine burnt turf) to the area to the right of the crossing. It is a bit tricky to get the ground foam on before the PVA glue starts to dry in this hot weather. I will need to enlist help - someone to apply glue as I follow up with sprinkling the ground foam. Chuck has acquired a Kenworth tractor unit to go with the Chevy and White flatbeds. I really need to finish painting that company house overlooking the crossing. I still need to ballast the track on the rock cutting board when I am feeling patient and it is not too hot. I also need to set all four boards up and give my Bachmann USRA 2-6-6-2 a run after a friend did some programming adjustments to the DCC sound chip for me using Decoder pro.

Here are photos showing two of the other boards. The rock cutting board joins at the water tower end and what will be the grade crossing and Chuck's Trucks (a catchy but corny name) joins at the houses end. I am bending the plywood sheet for the missing backscene at the moment. It is part of the baseboard structure providing longitudinal rigidity (well at least that is the idea!)

Here are two photos of Hope Springs, my circular HO layout inspired by Pence Springs on the C&O in West Virginia. The boards were originally intended for an oval layout based on Chessie System operations I started in the 1980's but it just got too big for me to handle. The current layout is a 3' radius circle made up of 4 boards with scenic features designed to use some structures I already had and provide opportunities to watch trains run by and use the various DCC steam sound effects. Train lengths are limited to about 16 hoppers as otherwise the loco reappears before the caboose has completely passed! As you can see the scenery is still a bit raw and in desperate need of lots of trees.

OK thanks for taking the time to reply. I will follow up on this information.

I would like to post photos into various topics but when I attach them they appear upside down! I take the photos with my iPhone and transfer them to a laptop from where I attach them to my potential postings. Please tell me how to fix this. It is so frustrating!

I recently picked up two Tichy Train Group HO kits from Hattons. One is a USRA 50t hopper and the other a USRA single sheath boxcar, kits 4027 and 4026. I would like to decorate them for a late steam age C&O layout. Tantalisingly, the kit instructions and website show the hopper in exactly the C&O livery I want to do. Decals are not included but reference is made to Champion decals for the hopper and to contact Walthers for the boxcar (bit vague). Not sure whether suitable decals are available in UK. One option I have for the hopper are the 50t offset side hopper decals produced by K4-Pacific (eBay from US) but I would need to cut them into sections to fit around the exterior ribs on the USRA hopper. Not insurmountable. However, I have drawn a blank on the boxcar just now. K4-Pacific said they didn't have anything I could use. I have contacted Tichy Train Group to ask for suggestions for decals but no reply yet. Any thoughts please?

Sorry should be Maysville (C&O) not Maysfield.

For the record I found this information when researching in the 1980’s. typical rail length 39’, welded rail came in 1950’s. sleepers 7”x9”x8’6” or 6”x8”x 8’ 0”. oak, pine or gum wood or Cypress or what was available locally! sleeper spacing typically 3200 per mile but Great Northern used 2000 per mile. 3200 per mile works out at about 23 -24 per 39’ section. I wonder how Peco 83 or 70 Line track compares in HO scale? The TTI System, a short line linking Paris (L&N) with Maysfield (C&O) used a mix of 150 and 105lb rail (Code 83 and 70 in HO scale). When they took over the line rather than replace all the sleepers they replaced every third one in the first instance and started running trains - 2 boxcars loaded with fertiliser or 16 loaded coal hoppers twice daily.

Looks mighty impressive! It must have taken a lot of coordination to get all those boards set up and running properly and sequentially. Which DCC system are you all using please? (I can't really tell from examining the pictures closely.) I need to replace my old Lenz Compact with something that handles Bachmann steam loco sounds.

What and where is Freemo South please? Is it attendance by membership or invitation or can anyone interested attend?

Yes I saw this layout at the NMRA Convention at Derby and at Stokenchurch recently. It is a highly detailed layout so even if I will be seeing it for third time at Ally Pally there are always some details I haven't spotted before and the guys operating it are really friendly. It is a great advert for modelling US railroads..

I was wondering if there will be any US outline layouts at Ally Pally show in March 2022? I understand Anoraks Anonymous will be there as a trader. I looked on the show website but there is no listing of layouts attending just now.

Great layout. Enjoyed the tour. Really interesting commentary too.