One thing leads to another

This is the area of Plainwell on the GRT. The upper line is the C&O/NYC heading for Lansing/Jackson, and the lower lins is the PRR heading to Kalamazoo. Actually, they're just going into the garage staging area, which is what this post is about.

I've been working on installing a new staging yard in the garage for the GRT. This has been going on since summer, and it is a slow process. One of the things that slows me down is that I feel the need to do a complete job at each step. Thus, the backdrop is installed, and now the wiring is going into place. With the GRT, I don't just run a couple wires anymore and call it good. That's what I used to do. No, first there is the power bus (12 gauge wire, red and black), there are terminal strips every 6 feet for the wiring to the track, there is the Easy DCC throttle bus, (I have been using RG59, but have decided to change to RG6), there is wiring for the telephone. And because all this has to go through the wall between the basement and the garage, through about 6 inches of wall and insulation. I've gotten good at running wire through the little holes, but I only want to have to do this once, seeing as the staging yard covers the area where the wires go through.

So, while I thought I would be laying track Thanksgiving weekend, I wound up running wires. Here are a couple pictures of the process. I will try to make more progress this weekend, as I finally have a tool and the F connectors to connect the RG6 to the existing throttle bus, which no longer is functional due to the modifications in process.

If anyone is wondering why no ops sessions yet this season, this is why, and it will be a while...

GRT Ops sessions

GRT operated on 3/31 from 2 pm til about 4:30.
Crew: Ken -- Hughart operator
Alan -- NYC freights
Jay -- C&O freights
Peter -- PRR freights

Next sessions are scheduled for the last Sunday of April and May, at 2 pm. That would be April 27 and May 25. We will pick up where we left off last time, which means it will be about 2 or 3 o'clock in the afternoon, on some day in the summer of '58.

Fast clock. I'm considering setting up a fast clock for the layout (despite Byron Henderson's warnings against them) and will try to set the fast clock speed so nobody will be in a hurry. For now I'm considering 3 to 1. The point of a fast clock is to coordinate movements, not to make them more stressful.

Have another list of improvements to the layout that I'll try to complete before the next ops session, including better marking of the Hughart Yard tracks and clearer marking of the "hidden" magnets. They won't be hidden no more! As usual, these improvements relate to the useability of the layout. Ken had a number of suggestions after operating the Hughart Yard.

The layout is located in Portland Oregon. Please contact me if you would like to join one of our sessions. Email conford4_at_yahoo_dot_com!

Real Model Railroaders do not use MyFace

Real Model Railroaders do not use MyFace

In my worklife, I am a librarian. We all have to do something to support the basements in which we dwell. And one of our current projects at MCL is called "Learning 2.0". In this project we are learning how to use the Web 2.0 tools, things like flickr, rss feeds, wikis, etc. And the more we do this, the more I am enjoying it, at least this week. One of the questions we had to answer as part of the learning exercise is #3 below, and I blogged about model railroaders and social networks. I have edited it a bit -- replaced train nuts with train fans for instance -- but this is pretty much as written.

3. Explore a social network site for a topic you're interested in and blog about your reactions. Can you see ways the library could connect to users of the site?

My topic: Model railroading. Model railroaders are still in the dark ages when it comes to social networking. The dark ages were back when people posted questions or comments to various bulletin boards and people responded. These phenomena are prone to exaggeration and bullying, so I nave the impression that a relative few model railroaders are active on the lists, but there is good stuff to be found. Some of them turn out to be real experts or real authors, and you get good ideas from them.
Is this really social? It seems to be interest driven, and some of the social interaction is less than positive. Once I see a thread has gone on for a long time, it has usually degraded into name calling and dead horse kicking.

Then there are the good guys (this is mostly a male hobby). Some of them have their onw websites or blogs. It is useful to check them out, because some of these people get tired of answering the same questions carefully, only to have their comments disregarded or disrespected. Here is one of my favorites: Byron Henderson: http://mrsvc.blogspot.com/, and when you get there check out his entry on Death of Discourse.

Find a Friend (MySpace): We weren't able to find a " model railroader " on MySpace.com

A Social Networking and Model Railroader search on Google turns up little of real significance. Some guy is promoting his “secrets of model railroading” book; a number of bloggers admire the model railroad slums website at http://dinowalrus.com/gallery/model-rr/
Isn't this cool? But this guy is an artist!

It seems to me that model railroaders and train fans in general are more attuned to the boards, with all their deficiencies, because of their topic driven content. The trolls and flamers who dwell there are more content to snipe at participants, knowing that nobody would ever seek out their myspace facebook.

However, model railroaders and train fans do seem to enjoy posting videos, as you’ll see if you look up trains at youtube or one of the video sharing sites.

Model railroaders are not particularly social. Should I say “anti-social”? No, because some of my friends are model railroaders. Call me codger!

New Waybills for the GR Terminal

GRT Waybills
Originally uploaded by conford4

Here are the revised waybills on the Grand Rapids
Terminal. After I read an article in the Opsig
Journal, I got to thinking about the model railroad as
an information system. Most users (operators) really
don't know much about your particular railroad, so one
of your jobs as owner is to make sure the information
that is needed to run the railroad is clear and easy
to understand. This is especially true if somebody is
going to be sorting and spotting cars.

Rubber stamps for train destinations. It seemed to me
that the routing instructions on the Old Lige Graphics
waybills were a good idea, but that there was not
enough room for them, and it would have to be in some
sort of code. Then I remembered the tickets we used to
buy when we took the train and the little rubbers
stamps the tickts sellers had for just about every
common destination. Rubber stamps!

I figured color coded rubber stamps could be used to
identify the train that would carry each load to its
destination, and I got a bunch of rubber stamps made
up at the Stamp Connection in Gresham.

Here are the color codes:
Red -- PRR
Blue -- C&O
Green -- NYC

Now each "train" has a rubber stamp that marks the
waybills it will handle. For instance "PRR Fort Wayne"
is for southbound traffic on the PRR; "C&O Local
South" is for C&O local traffic for South of the West
Side Yard. There are about 12 stamps in all, 6 for
PRR, 4 for C&O and 2 for NYC. We'll see how this
works, but it looks good. I only wish I'd gone for a
12 point font rather than 10 point.

Reformatted car cards: I'm on the car cards list, and
somebody posted a modified version of the Excel
spreadsheet used by Wolfgang Dudler, on his Westport
Terminal RR. This was posted by Gerry Hopkins on the
Car Cards Yahoo List. I took a look at the output from
this and recognized that here were car cards that were
easy to read and looked good. I copied these and
revised them for the GRT, removing the colors, and
using a more industrial looking typeface.

You can see from the picture what the revised cards
and waybills look like.

Improved Waybill Box on the GRT

GRT Waybill Box
Originally uploaded by conford4

Here are the revised waybill boxes for the Grand
Rapids Terminal. Each section of the box is marked
with the railroad that switches each siding. Most
sidings are served by only one railroad, except
interchange tracks and a few sidings that are jointly
switched. This particular box, located near downtown
Grand Rapids, holds the cards for three different
sidings.

From left they are:
1. the PRR team track and Elston Richards storage, a
long sidings that runs alongside the curving mainline
approach to the bridge.
2. The Consumers Power siding. This sidings is jointly
servied by the PRR and the C&O, thus both railroads'
herald is displayed for this siding. Each railroad
only sets out and picks up its own cars (or the cars
of connecting railroads) from this siding.
3. The C&O freight house siding. The freight house is
still invisible, but it will be located near the Union
Station platforms. It is only switched by the C&O.

I have also increased the font size on the boxes to
make things more legible. I wish there was more
contrast between the heralds and the boxes, but for
now that's what we have with a dark green fascia.

Staver's Locomotive

P1010105
Originally uploaded by conford4

Here is a photo of Larry Staver's new locomotive, a Lima Berkshire. We were at Staver Locomotive last Friday night, and it was cold, but the trains were running. And of course live steam looks better in cold weather. So the Berk was puffing away, pulling the heavyweight passenger train. It looked great. You can see in this photo (from December 2007) what a fine looking locomotive it is. Staver Locomotive is worth a visit if you are in Portland Oregon the first Friday of the month. Chek www.staverlocomotive.com for details.

Staver's Steam Up!

Last week I mentioned one of our favorite train attractions, Staver Locomotive, at www.staverlocomotive.com. They have a First Friday steam up which we recommend to all steam enthusiasts. It's in a wearhouse in NW Portland, near Montgomery Park. The benchwork is set up at eye level for a 5 year old, and there is usually a group of little boys chasing the trains around, especially the big steamers. January's steamup is on January 4th, 5:30 p.m. - 8 p.m.