model railroading?

[fishdog4449]

Is anyone else on here into model railroading? I have a pretty large collection of HO scale model trains, well at least a good collection for a 17 year old. I've been into it since I was little. My favorite is probably my Southern Pacific GS-4 "Daylight" 4449 steam engine. I custom build a set of 16 passenger cars to create a historically accurate "Coast Daylight" as run by the Southern Pacific in the 50s. Although I don't have the space to run the entire 16 car train, she does pull them with ease!
One of my other favorites is my Norfolk and Western J611 4-8-4 steamer, modified with brushless motor to pull a 12 car train at scale 110MPH, just like the real thing.
So, anyone else here into this stuff?

 

[Bob_VT]

Re: model railroading?

Huge model RR club in this area and when they meet they all have a section of track that connects to another in the club. The shows are fun to attend.

The RR club in this area has tons of links to other clubs.

http://www.rutlandrailway.org/

I have some old friends that were in this very deep.

 

[Bigprairie1]

Re: model railroading?

A buddy of mine is really into it. He has built a pretty substantial G scale rail line in his backyard. It is designed it to mimick a specific turn of the century Pacific Northwest railway line here on Vancouver Island. He has the coal chute stuff, the ocean side log/load dumps, specific terminals/stations, etc all built to old pictures, etc. He built all of the bridges, tunnels, buildings, etc himself and landscaped it...the whole nine yards. Speaking of which, it takes up most of their backyard, albeit on a newer city lot which is not that big, lucky for his wife. I think he has several hundred feet of line in at this point.
Really very impressive, I will see if I can find/post some pics of it. He has some posted on a model railroaders blog somewhere.
BP

 

[projecthog]

Re: model railroading?

A buddy of mine is really into it. He has built a pretty substantial G scale rail line in his backyard. It is designed it to mimick a specific turn of the century Pacific Northwest railway line here on Vancouver Island. He has the coal chute stuff, the ocean side log/load dumps, specific terminals/stations, etc all built to old pictures, etc. He built all of the bridges, tunnels, buildings, etc himself and landscaped it...the whole nine yards. Speaking of which, it takes up most of their backyard, albeit on a newer city lot which is not that big, lucky for his wife. I think he has several hundred feet of line in at this point.
Really very impressive, I will see if I can find/post some pics of it. He has some posted on a model railroaders blog somewhere.
BP

Aww jeez BP,

Yes I did a lot of HO and N gauge stuff in the 60's and scratch built a few engines and boxcars.

I took lots of pictures of the "A" frame engine shop at Camp Vernon and some of the rail ops along Bonanza and Nimpkish lakes, most of the tressle bridges out there between Gold River, Woss, Nimpkish and Beaver Cove and pics of steam donkey engines and the whole shebang!
I even know where an old 30's tugboat is located in a lake up in the mountains Northwest of Port Mc Neil and South of Alice and Victoria lakes.
It was hauled up there in pieces and welded together on site and never left there but was scuttled when the place shut down in the '40's.

I knew where some of the old writen off train stuff and steam logging leftovers were dumped so I took lots of pictures in the late 60's and 70's.

That was long before the Carrot Highway was put in, and the road stopped just past Gold River when old logging mains, branches and spurs were still used for travel. There was a gold mine of cars trucks and other equipment stashed in the bush out there. Never had to worry about spares for the cars and trucks.

Drove logging trucks, built roads and was a faller and rig and slinger for a while too, here's one pic that survived, my truck in front of the office for lunchtime at Rumble Beach (Port Alice).



What a memory. The pics are long gone although not all of them, but the memory of those places and scenes are vivid and will never fade.
PH.

 

[Bigprairie1]

Re: model railroading?

Aww jeez BP,

Yes I did a lot of HO and N gauge stuff in the 60's and scratch built a few engines and boxcars.

I took lots of pictures of the "A" frame engine shop at Camp Vernon and some of the rail ops along Bonanza and Nimpkish lakes, most of the tressle bridges out there between Gold River, Woss, Nimpkish and Beaver Cove and pics of steam donkey engines and the whole shebang!
I even know where an old 30's tugboat is located in a lake up in the mountains Northwest of Port Mc Neil and South of Alice and Victoria lakes.
It was hauled up there in pieces and welded together on site and never left there but was scuttled when the place shut down in the '40's.

I knew where some of the old writen off train stuff and steam logging leftovers were dumped so I took lots of pictures in the late 60's and 70's.

That was long before the Carrot Highway was put in, and the road stopped just past Gold River when old logging mains, branches and spurs were still used for travel. There was a gold mine of cars trucks and other equipment stashed in the bush out there. Never had to worry about spares for the cars and trucks.

Drove logging trucks, built roads and was a faller and rig and slinger for a while too, here's one pic that survived, my truck in front of the office for lunchtime at Rumble Beach (Port Alice).



What a memory. The pics are long gone although not all of them, but the memory of those places and scenes are vivid and will never fade.
PH.

...Projecthog, you would offer a wealth of information to my buddy. I just see what he is up to on this from time to time however I know half of his model railroading effort seems to be research and archival stuff which he enjoys a great deal and on occasion writes about it in local enthusiast magazines, etc.
I see in the pic of your truck you have a few of those little west coast 'starter' logs on the back. Not many places in the world where logs that big can/could be found....impressive stuff.
Port Alice is struggling these days for sure like most local towns that are or were tied to the forest industry. Lots of mills, if not nearly all the major mills are largely shut down now...some permanently. They will reappear in a few years but they will have to re-establish themselves to be competitive.
I think the reason my buddy likes the railroading hobby is that it combines a bit of everything. He is an (Mech.) Engineer by education so has a lot of interest generally in related things. However, he says the hobby allows him to read, research, build or embellish the trains, cars, the tracks, do the woodworking on the trestles, bridges, buildings, do some yard/landscape work, pond work, interior shop stuff in the winter, wire/electronics/circuits to run the trains and equipment, etc. A bit of everything which is pretty neat.
BP

 

[OldePharte]

Re: model railroading?

Yep. Just had to tear everything out as we are trying to move the the lake. HO & HOn3. I model Mid-Missouri. I got into it deep enough that I became a national officer in the NMRA. It fits well with boating as it gives me something to do during the winter or when it rains.

 

[Jeff-in-PA]

Re: model railroading?

I purchased quite a few HO train engines, cars and a few buildings from a friend with the intent of making a layout. He had some of the stuff displayed and some is never assembled.

Too many hobbies and not enough time. Make a reasonable offer and it could be yours.



http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v78/JRD77VET/H O Trains/?start=all

Jeff