Stone Rails: ASSORTED PICTURES
On this page area is an assortment of photos that don't fit elsewhere. There are very few pictures of my early model railroading for three reasons; 1. I didn't take many photos then. 2. The cameras I had weren't very good quality. 3. I wasn't doing anything special in those days anyway.
Above are two photos put together of my last HO layout while still living at home. The layout ran 10 feet along each wall in a corner of the basement and the ends were four feet wide. The track plan was a "bent dog bone" and curve radius was 18" on the inside of the curves and 22" on the outside. This included everything I had gathered in HO since the late fifties with a mix of card stock and plastic structures and dozens of toy and scale cars and trucks.
Less than a year after these photos were taken I was married and this layout dismantled.
On this page area is an assortment of photos that don't fit elsewhere. There are very few pictures of my early model railroading for three reasons; 1. I didn't take many photos then. 2. The cameras I had weren't very good quality. 3. I wasn't doing anything special in those days anyway.
Above are two photos put together of my last HO layout while still living at home. The layout ran 10 feet along each wall in a corner of the basement and the ends were four feet wide. The track plan was a "bent dog bone" and curve radius was 18" on the inside of the curves and 22" on the outside. This included everything I had gathered in HO since the late fifties with a mix of card stock and plastic structures and dozens of toy and scale cars and trucks.
Less than a year after these photos were taken I was married and this layout dismantled.
Here are three photos put together depicting my largest HO layout up to that time (1978.)
As you can tell, I had far more locomotives and rolling stock and more buildings that I could ever need! And I wanted to operate it all if I could! This was much like the infamous "spaghetti bowl" layouts popular in the fifties and sixties, where good scenery and a realistic overall look took a back seat to running trains.
As you can tell, I had far more locomotives and rolling stock and more buildings that I could ever need! And I wanted to operate it all if I could! This was much like the infamous "spaghetti bowl" layouts popular in the fifties and sixties, where good scenery and a realistic overall look took a back seat to running trains.
While trains were my first love and cars a close second, I was also a fan of vintage aviation, so I had built the nearly four foot long Hawk Graf Zeppelin model. This was hung over the layout with heavy thread. I had placed looped head screws in the ceiling and had the dirigible on a long enough tether to raise and lower it over the layout.
This was during the late seventies that I started to tire of the "rivet counters" in HO scale so I started trying other scales. I returned to S gauge which had been my first electric train as a child, dabbled in N gauge, O three rail, and did my first tentative steps in HOn30.
I became what is known today as a "rubber gauger" because I modeled in multiple scales at the same time!
This was during the late seventies that I started to tire of the "rivet counters" in HO scale so I started trying other scales. I returned to S gauge which had been my first electric train as a child, dabbled in N gauge, O three rail, and did my first tentative steps in HOn30.
I became what is known today as a "rubber gauger" because I modeled in multiple scales at the same time!
Following in the footsteps of early HOn30 guys I read about in the magazines, I converted a Kato N gauge RS-3 chassis to HOn30 by making a switcher body. The RS-3's long hood was kept, but the rest was all Plastruct. No, it wasn't all that great looking, but it worked down to 9" radius track and hauled my little scratch built freight cars on N gauge floors.
On the left HOn30 and on the right my first On30 diesel on a Model Power Plymouth chassis. I had small layouts for both for a while, but finally went with On30. At this time I was doing G scale outdoors and various other smaller scales indoor in the winter.
In the eighties and into the nineties, HOn30 was slowly crawling out from under being considered a "bastard scale: while On30 was the province of only a very few who did kit bashing and scratch building as there was no Bachmann On30 for some years yet.
In the eighties and into the nineties, HOn30 was slowly crawling out from under being considered a "bastard scale: while On30 was the province of only a very few who did kit bashing and scratch building as there was no Bachmann On30 for some years yet.
My little On30 diesel "Critter" wasn't too bad looking. I used the Model Power hood and truck side frames and built the cab from Plastruct. The headlight and stack with muffler was Plastruct tubing. The repaint and weathering helped catch the look of a tiny narrow gauge industrial loco as well.
It's better that you don't see this loco close up! Being a great fan of steam locomotives, my second attempt at On30 motive power was based on a Mantua 0-4-0. I managed to capture the correct look just "OK" with the loco, but the tender was hideous.
Worse yet, the engine was old and tired and ran unrelaibly no matter what I did to it.
My first On30 freight cars were all flat cars, gondolas, or hoppers, built from balsa and strip wood, with old metal trucks for added weight. The old metal trucks DID add weight, AND a lot of roll resistance! I made my own link and pin couplers and they proved to be a real pain in the butt in operation!
Eventually, I swapped out the trucks for modern plastic trucks, and the couplers for Kadee number 5's and things improved a LOT!
Eventually, I swapped out the trucks for modern plastic trucks, and the couplers for Kadee number 5's and things improved a LOT!
When Bachmann came along with nice looking , good running, and very well priced On30 trains, switching to them was a no brainer! Since my first attempts in On30, home computers became more common and the Internet was exploding with model railroad sites, and then came the Yahoo Groups.
I discovered Peco track and their excellent ElectroFrog switches, but also learned that others were using Atlas or other HO track with every other tie removed to get the narrow gauge look.
Detractors were many, and while HOn30 had been grudgingly accepted, On30 was the new "Bastard Scale!" Even today Model Railroader magazine referred to it as "On2 1/2."
I had long since burned out on "prototype modeling" and all the "rivet counters" that made it a pain. On30 was fun!
I discovered Peco track and their excellent ElectroFrog switches, but also learned that others were using Atlas or other HO track with every other tie removed to get the narrow gauge look.
Detractors were many, and while HOn30 had been grudgingly accepted, On30 was the new "Bastard Scale!" Even today Model Railroader magazine referred to it as "On2 1/2."
I had long since burned out on "prototype modeling" and all the "rivet counters" that made it a pain. On30 was fun!
While running regular Bachmamm On30 was fine for most, I just couldn't leave it alone and did a lot of kit bashing, or at least repainting and weathering. This On30 Rail truck was one of the more unusual projects.
This project started with a Yat-Ming '32 Ford pick up 1/43 scale die cast vehicle. I used only the part from the back of the cab, forward. The rest of the truck was scratch built from balsa sheet and strip wood. The worn canvas cover over the bed was made of used clothes dryer sheets smeared with Elmer's glue and stretched over strip wood "roof ribs." This covered the motor.
The power was from an old Bachmman HO trolley car and was the "ferris wheel" style motor. The front truck was regular Model Die Casting freight car truck.
Weathering the paint job and putting a driver in the cab completed the project.
This project started with a Yat-Ming '32 Ford pick up 1/43 scale die cast vehicle. I used only the part from the back of the cab, forward. The rest of the truck was scratch built from balsa sheet and strip wood. The worn canvas cover over the bed was made of used clothes dryer sheets smeared with Elmer's glue and stretched over strip wood "roof ribs." This covered the motor.
The power was from an old Bachmman HO trolley car and was the "ferris wheel" style motor. The front truck was regular Model Die Casting freight car truck.
Weathering the paint job and putting a driver in the cab completed the project.
We were involved with "ride on" size trains for several years and were members of a club near Akron, Ohio. Here I am waiting to get track clearance with my 3 1/2" scale Critter. This scale made the 7 1/2" gauge track Two Foot narrow gauge.
The chassis was built using parts from a garden Tractor ( Geren Johnston did most of that in his shop) and the body was a combination of sheet metal, plywood, and various other small parts.
Later this loco was sold and replaced with a nice kit built Mack "double ender" switcher that used two 24 volt light aircraft landing gear motors and a gel cell deep cycle battery. We sold that one not long before the club lost it's lease.
The chassis was built using parts from a garden Tractor ( Geren Johnston did most of that in his shop) and the body was a combination of sheet metal, plywood, and various other small parts.
Later this loco was sold and replaced with a nice kit built Mack "double ender" switcher that used two 24 volt light aircraft landing gear motors and a gel cell deep cycle battery. We sold that one not long before the club lost it's lease.
I have ridden in the cabs of several locomotives, both steam and diesel. Here I am about to embark on a ride on East Broad Top's number 15 in 1994. Actually, this quickly turned into a "tender deck ride" as the EBT Mikados are all "deckless cab" style engines where the firebox takes up most of the cab. The narrow seat was not really big enough for me to sit comfortably, and a leaky air pump blew hot water back into the cab as the engine ran.
I decided to join the fireman on the tender deck. He asked if I wanted fire a bit, so I threw a few shovels full of coal into the roaring firebox. The worn out track made hitting the firedoor opening tough, provided a Hell of a rough ride, and there were moments I figured we'd soon be on the ground!
I sure didn't look this clean when we got back to Orbisonia!
I decided to join the fireman on the tender deck. He asked if I wanted fire a bit, so I threw a few shovels full of coal into the roaring firebox. The worn out track made hitting the firedoor opening tough, provided a Hell of a rough ride, and there were moments I figured we'd soon be on the ground!
I sure didn't look this clean when we got back to Orbisonia!
A MUCH cleaner ride was learning to operate a PCC trolley car at the Pennsylvania Trolley Museum in Wasington, PA. Despite a better suspension, the trolley rode almost as rough as EBT #15! Still, it was worth the price to learn to be a Motorman.
In September of the same year while at a small scale Steam Up in Nobelsville, Indiana, I managed to get a cab ride in the Indiana Transportation Museum's F-7 diesels. The two Electro Motive units had plenty of power to spare on this flat line, and the ride was amazingly soft.
In September of the same year while at a small scale Steam Up in Nobelsville, Indiana, I managed to get a cab ride in the Indiana Transportation Museum's F-7 diesels. The two Electro Motive units had plenty of power to spare on this flat line, and the ride was amazingly soft.