Model-Railroad.TV

Installing Ron's Trestle

A new year has begun. I am about 13 months into construction on my yet-to-be-named Z-Scale layout.

Today, we finally installed the Bear Creek trestle, which I have been constructing on Model-Railroad.TV. This was a culmination of about four months work and is the first of many custom bridges to go on the layout.

Currently under constuction I am filling in scenery. I've got about 15 feet finished looping around the north side and about ten feet along the back wall.

Crossing over a steel girder bridge and then into my first tunnel, we'll call this tunnel number one. I am also laying track for the yard facilities area.

Here I am using Micro Trains flex track. I like their tie spacing and North American look for a place where we will store locomotives and maintenance equipment.

In other exciting news, we have recently released our first full-length film shot last summer called "Traincation." We spent a couple days chasing and filming trains along the Mississippi near Ferryville, Wisconsin. Lots of trains and great vistas.

We'll see you soon, down by the tracks...

Ron Galloway

Order your copy of the Traincation DVD at www.hobbyworld.tv. Look for the final installation segment of Ron's trestle project coming soon to www.model-railroad.tv.

Two Worms in Love

Remember the old Penn Central Railroad? Many of us may like to forget that. It was formed by the merger of two of the greatest railroads in US history: the New York Central Railroad and the Pennsylvania Railroad on February 1, 1968. 

Changing times along with government regulation and union contracts that did not change with the times were forcing these two once great railroads to seek drastic solutions to their economic problems. 

The New Haven Railroad (New York, New Haven, and Hartford) was included in the merger at ICC insistence on January 1, 1969. However the merger did not allow for cost saving reductions as had been hoped and in only two short years on June 21, 1970 the Penn Central filed for bankruptcy. 

After operating under bankruptcy reorganization for almost 6 years, Penn Central finally ended on April 1, 1976, when the Railroad Revitalization and Regulatory Reform Act took affect, nationalizing Penn Central and five smaller northeast railroads into the Consolidated Rail Corp (Conrail).

One of the somewhat humorous things that came out of the formation of Penn Central was the insignia of the Penn Central. It actually was a clever emblem, but railroad buffs called it “two worms in love.” I have included a picture of a GG1 electric locomotive with this symbol clearly visible. Enjoy.

--Dale

Golden Spike Tower

Golden Spike Tower at Bailey Yard

North Platte, NE, is the location of the largest railroad yard in the world: Union Pacific’s Bailey Yard. In order to take advantage of railroad fans’ interest in this, Union Pacific has erected the Golden Spike Tower, an eight story observation deck overlooking the yard which, for a fee, allows guests to look over this huge railroad yard and watch the activity going on there. 

Union Pacific also supplies a railroad man who can answer most of your questions regarding Bailey Yard, Union Pacific Railroad, and the people and equipment there. 

The fee that I paid to get in the tower was $7.00. After I paid the fee I took the elevator to the eighth floor viewing deck. 

Bailey Yard north view

Bailey Yard west view

The closest part of the yard is the locomotive servicing facilities to the west of the tower. Scanning on around toward the north one sees the eastbound hump yard at some distance, followed by the west bound hump yard at a closer distance as we scan directly to the north. 

The eighth floor is completely glassed in, but an open deck is provided on the seventh floor for cameras with automatic focus which would be fooled by the glass. There are also displays on the ground floor as well as the eighth floor which would be of interest to railroad buffs. 

The Golden Spike Tower is not on a main thoroughfare. From I-80 or coming from the north, south, or east, take US 83 into North Platte and turn west on the road just south of the railroad bridge. You will need to follow this four or five miles along the southern perimeter of the yard.

You will have no problem identifying the tower when you get out there. Coming from the west on US 30, turn south on a rather obscure country road that takes off between two corn fields about four miles east of Hershey. This is the last road that crosses the tracks going into Bailey Yard from the west. 

Bear left after crossing the tracks along the perimeter of the yard. Again you will have no trouble identifying the Golden Spike Tower as you approach. It is worth the trouble to find it and climb it.  

Your main problem will be finding an opportunity to talk to the UP trainman in the tower as he will be busy with a lot of people. But if you get that opportunity, you will be able to have a most enjoyable conversation with him regarding Bailey Yard in particular and railroad things in general.  

--Dale

 

Code 100, Code 83, or Code 70

Maybe you’ve been asking, “What size rail should I use for the track on my HO gauge layout?” Code 100 and code 83 are the sizes most readily available in HO gauge. Code 70 is a smaller size which is also readily available but not so common. In N gauge, code 55 would correspond to code 100 in HO gauge. 

First let me give a little background information: The code number gives the actual height of the rail in thousandths of an inch. Code 100 is correspondingly 0.100 of an inch high, code 83 is 0.083 inch high, code 70 is 0.070 inch high, and code 55 is 0.055 inch high. This is actual inches, not scale inches. 

How then does this correspond with prototypical rail? Code 100 would correspond to rail that weighs 156 lbs. per yard. That is very heavy rail, and prototypically was used only by the Pennsylvania Railroad and then only for a short period of time in western Pennsylvania where they ran heavy coal trains. Model railroaders complain about code 100 rail looking too large to look real with some justification. 

Code 83 rail corresponds to prototypical rail weighing 132 lbs. per yard. That is very common on mainline and even on branch lines today. In the last two years they put down 136 lb. welded rail on the Dakota, Minnesota, and Eastern Railroad (aka Canadian Pacific now) through my home town of Dodge Center, MN, and 132 lb. welded rail in Claremont, MN, the next town to the west. It replaced very old (1920’s) jointed rail that was only 90 lbs. in weight. In contrast to today, 132 lb. rail was used only on the busiest mainlines in the 1950s. What size model rail you choose may depend somewhat on the era you want to model. 

Code 70 rail would correspond to 100 lb. prototypical rail, and code 55 in HO gauge to 75 lb. prototypical rail. 100 lb. rail was commonly used on mainlines around World War I, while 75 lb. rail was used in the 1800s.

There are other factors besides realism that may affect you choice of track rail. Will the flanges of your rolling stock run on the smaller rail without derailing? Particularly if you have plastic wheels, this will be an issue. Model railroaders I know would encourage the use of metal wheels for this reason and for other reasons, such as greater ease in keeping the track clean. 

Other factors may include cost. Code 100 generally is the least expensive with the most product options, though code 83 is close behind. Code 100 is also more rugged. The model railroad club I belong chose code 100 for their layout because it would hold up better when it became necessary to climb onto the layout for construction purposes or for operational problems that may occur in the “back 40.” I use code 100 on my layout simply because I had a heavy investment in that size track when I began. I am also finding out that spikes, ballast, and debris along the track is less of a problem due to the greater height on the larger size rail. My model railroading friend in town uses code 83. The cost to him was only slightly higher and the track he obtained had more realistically sized and colored ties in addition to the more realistically sized rails.  

 

A Hard Summer For Cross Country Amtrak Trains

I have mentioned in another blog about how I spent a day in Chicago courtesy of Amtrak due to a late arrival and missed connection. The main reason was a very wet thunderstorm resulting in a flash flood warning restricting all trains in the area of the warning to 20 mph or less. 

That was an isolated incident on top of chronic problems caused by weather this summer. As a matter of fact every Amtrak east-west cross country route west of the Mississippi was affected in a major way this summer. 

First, the Empire Builder running from Chicago to the Pacific northwest was affected by the major floods in Minot, ND, this spring and early summer. For a couple of months in late spring the train only ran from Chicago to St. Paul and from Havre , MT, to Seattle, with nothing running between St. Paul and Havre. 

Second in this same time period, with the Missouri River downstream from North Dakota in flood due to the same rains that flooded Minot, the California Zephyr did not run from Chicago to Denver, running only from Denver west to San Francisco. 

Tracks were flooded in the Omaha, NE, area, affecting not only railroads but major highways such as I-29 north-south through Council Bluffs, IA. 

In driving west through Blair, NE, in August, my wife and I went through about two miles of US Highway 30 that was sandbagged due to this flood. Though the flood was going down by then, high water was still evident everywhere. 

Third, the Southwest Chief running between Chicago and Los Angeles had to be rerouted around Raton Pass this spring due to the fires in New Mexico.

Finally, my brother who works for Union Pacific told me that UP had put a speed restriction on the route the Sunset Limited follows between New Orleans and Los Angeles due to the drought in Texas and New Mexico. 

The ground is so dry that massive cracks are opening up. Where these cracks are in rail roadbed, the ballast is falling down into them creating instability in the track and its roadbed necessitating the speed restrictions.

This indeed was a summer of record flood and record drought. Not only in North Dakota but also in the Northeast US were there record floods. I have no report of how the railroads were affected in the Northeast, particularly in Vermont, but I would imagine there were some major problems. Which goes to show that even the railroads can be affected by the weather.

--Dale

Ron Galloway's Traincation

Here are a few shots from Ron Galloway's "traincation" along the upper Mississippi River valley in August 2011. Our camera crew followed him for three whole days, chasing trains and having fun.

Order your copy of the Traincation DVD at www.hobbyworld.tv!

Coming Soon to DVD: Traincation!

 

COMING SOON! Join Ron Galloway in the new TRAINCATION DVD for a train chasing trip along the Upper Mississippi River. 

Ron guides you in non-stop train watching from a variety of exciting lookouts. Highlights include stops along the BNSF main lines, the La Crosse, WI, Grand Crossing, the Genoa, WI, lock and dam, river and rail views from Tower Island, and an entertaining overview of the railroad's history along the Mississippi. 

This feature-length DVD is coming soon to www.hobbyworld.tv and will arrive just in time for Christmas!

Merry Christmas from Model-Railroad.TV

Christmas is a special season for railroaders as well as almost everybody else.

A year ago, the Model-Railroad.TV crew filmed the Canadian Pacific Holiday Train when it came through La Crescent, MN. 

It was a very cold night and we were huddling inside the SUV. Suddenly Eric’s wife who was along said, “Is that it?”

We looked southward and we could see in the distance a train festooned with lights slowly approaching. 

I said, “That’s it!” and we rushed to our stations for the filming. You can see the our Holiday Train video that is now on www.model-railroad.tv in the "One to One Scale" channel.

One of the special features of the Holiday Train is its focus on raising funds to support local organizations who help make Christmas merry for those less fortunate.

In addition at this season of the year are those trains such as the Polar Express, usually associated with railroad museums, which are oriented toward delighting children. These represent more of the spirit of Christmas which interests us at Model-Railroad.TV than the madness of shopping and getting more stuff.

For me personally, Christmas is something that is best reflected in faith. Christmas has come in the process of history to be a time for celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ. As such Christians believe, it points to God entering human history in the person of Jesus Christ, an event which points to hope in overcoming the sadness and confusion of the human condition.

So we wish you a joyous Christmas characterized by sharing with those less fortunate, by delighting in and delighting children, and by deepening of faith. And while you’re at it, be sure and have some fun with your trains.

Warm holiday wishes,

Dale Rood of Model-Railroad.TV 

 

Photos from Denver Garden Railway Society

Here are a few photos from Dale's visit to the Denver Garden Railway Society back in August. He and his son, Jeff Rood, worked as a team to film the visit for Model-Railroad.TV. Click here to watch.

Kevin Strong

Dale behind the scenes

Jeff and Dale Rood, father and son team

Jeff behind the camera

G-Gauge, Not G-Scale

When we filmed at the Denver Garden Railway Society’s trackage at the Colorado Railroad Museum in August, I learned that that “G-scale” is an incorrect term. Why? G-gauge is the large scale gauge track used by most garden railroaders, consisting of track that is 1.75” wide. 

The problem is there are a number of scales that use that same width track. The day we were there, there were three different scales operating there: 1:22.5, 1:29, and 1:32. 

Kevin Strong’s live steam mikado is 1:22.5 and is a model of a narrow gauge East Broad Top locomotive. With the G-gauge being narrow gauge for this loco, it meant the size of the model is actually larger than a model of a standard gauge similar piece of equipment. The live steam equipment there was in all three scales.

Most of the electrically operated equipment is 1:32 scale. I understand from what they said that the 1:29 scale is actually a more accurate scale with G-gauge than 1:32. They said that 1:29 and 1:32 scale equipment is somewhat interchangeable and they do occasionally run the two scales together.

HO scale and OO scale have a similar compatibility. They both run on HO gauge track. OO scale is much more common in Europe than it is in the United States. 

Also like 1:29 and 1:32 G-gauge, I understand that OO scale is actually truer to standard gauge prototype equipment than is HO scale.  

--Dale

Click here to view the film on our visit to the Denver Garden Railway Society. Special thanks to Jeff Rood, Dale's son, for filming this footage.