Some Progress

Dear friends of the Rose Gulch and Portland Railroad.  It has really been a long time since my last post.  Sorry for the gap, but life does move on.  There have been a few changes.  The yard has been finished, save scenic work.  In the above picture you can see (left to right) the two main lines and the six yard tracks.  All turnouts are controlled by the use of Tortoise Switches activated from the control panel.

 

The track is composed of dual gage HO/HOn3 track around the periphery with a 2% grade up to the back side of the layout.  There is a long siding up here in the middle.  At the far right you can see there is a "Y" which allows turning whole trains around as needed.  There is a narrow gage spur off the upper track which will lead to mining/timber areas.  The far side of the "Y" will connect via a shelf and bridge to the other layouts on the same floor.  Thus it will be possible for us to make very long runs and all will have use of the "Y" to turn around.

As you see in the above picture, the mountain is not finished yet.  On the left see the track leading off to the "Y" and the HOn3 track leading through the mountain and around this side.  On the lower level there is what looks like a tunnel entrance, but is actually just a spur for storage.  The track to the left of the tunnel actually goes through a tunnel and comes out in front of the mountain just at the start of the yard.

This gives you some sense of the length of the yard.  If you look closely at the main lines on the lower level on the left you will see a crossover.  This allows trans on the lower level to turn around without going up to the "Y".  All the track except on short common section in the lower area is standard gage, thus the HOn3 trains cannot access this area.  Only the track you see on the far left (upper area) and the far right is dual gage.

Here you can see the other end of the layout, with the control panel located about mid-way.  The far end will be city when I get around to building it.  The track and a couple of turnouts still need to be installed in what will be streets.  The wall behind the layout will eventually be blue and the fascia at the back (only partially installed until scenic work is finished) that is presently painted blue may get treated with scenic backdrop ... but that is a long way off and a lot of saving-up.



You may have noticed a lot of SP&S equipment.  It seems that the Rose Gulch got bought out, still retaining its distinctive look, but surrounded now with SP&S and the roads that will eventually swollow even it.

Model Railroad Trestle from Western Dominican Friars on Vimeo.

I almost forgot ... did you notice the trestle??  This magnificent structure was created by a friend, removing the Styrofoam  2% incline and replacing it with all those individually made bents.  The above video gives you a feel for it.  Enjoy!

I hope you enjoyed this little visit.  I hope to have more in the future.

And then it grew!

Dear friends,

In my last post I mentioned setting up the modules and getting everything ready.  Well, the administrator of the neighboring rail empire kept insisting that I add more and more.  It has now grown from a simple 8x9 layout to a 6x40+ layout. It will have a huge yard and many sidings and businesses.

The view from the south.

As you can see it stretches off into the distance.  At this end it will have a mountain with some logging and mining along a narrow gage track.  Circling the entire layout will be dual gage rail.You can see some of it in this picture.

The view from the North

With this view you can see the dual gage track, which winds up a 2% grade to the shelf at the back of the layout.  This shelf is very important as it will eventually connect with the layouts that you see on the opposite side of the room.  This requires a bridge across the entrance from the South, complete with flashing RR crossing sign and an alarm that will sound if the door is opened while the bridge is in place.

Another view

This is again from the South and shows the HO layout in the NW corner of the room.  Access from that layout will be possible to my layout through a narrow gage layout, across the doorway and up the wall to my layout.  Three different DCC controllers are involved.  Digitrax and two manifestations of NCE.

Left end of the layout

Right end of the layout

The two ends are almost mirror images.  The major differences being that the left end does not have a WHYE required at the right end for the connection to the other layouts.  Additionally, the left end will not have a mountain as such, but will climb a ridge behind a city scene with a few industries nestled in the basin.  The right end will be mountain with a dry stream-bed running through Rose Gulch (have to keep the name in there someplace - after all, I now have a significant number of rolling stock with that name on them).

The Yard and connecting rail

of the adjoining Empire

Looking through the opening in the wall on can see the narrow gage yard with the dual-gage track running through.  In the middle picture on can see the rolling stock of the narrow gage railroad.  This road is set in the late 1800's.  At the right the dual gage rail passes through the wall of the room to travel behind the wall toward the other end of the narrow gage railroad and the beginning of the other standard gage railway.

The Great WHYE

This is more of a picture of the track going behind the wall, but it is also the Whye that allowed trains to turn around on the narrow gage railway and for engines to turn around for the standard gage railway.  When my layout is complete they will be able to turn around the longest trains they can muster as I will have both a WHYE and a reversing loop.

Golden State

Today was to be a day filled with pounding and drilling, nailing and screwing as I tied all the modules together and leveled them in preparation for the first laying of new track for the revived Rose Gulch and Portland RR.  I'm not even sure it will retain that name.  Well, no work was done because Fr. Leo and I went on a journey.

The first part of the journey involved "Just Trains" in Concord, CA.  I was thinking about going out there some day to pick up another grade set so that I could have two smooth inclines, one up and the other down.  Fr. Leo was working on the curved trestle that keeps demanding so much attention, bending model timber into the perfect curve in preparation for attaching ties and then rails.  He had proceeded as far as he could when he said it would be good to go to "Just Trains".  I was all for it.  I ended up buying more than the incline kit: An HON3 car for the other railroad, some DPDT mini switches, and some terminal blocks.

We then decided it was time for lunch and the guy at the store suggested we visit the Polish Street Festival in Martinez, CA. It was "on the way" so we decided that a real polish sausage would be just the thing. It was a good choice. The sausage was delicious as was the potato pancake. I also had a brew which was also delicious. We also enjoyed some polish dancing and music - no, neither of us danced, there were young dancers doing traditional folk dancing.  Leaving Martinez, Fr. Leo suggested we should visit his old railroad club, a place he had not frequented for four or five years.

The club is actually called the Golden State Model Railroad Museum.  They are open to the public and have operating sessions open to the public on Sunday from noon to five in the evening, from April to December.  I suppose the winter months are difficult to heat because the layouts are very expansive.  If you just wanted to look, without much in the way of action, they allow viewing Wednesday from 11am - 3pm, Friday from 7pm until 10pm, Saturday from noon until 5pm, and Memorial Day, Independence Day and Labor Day from Noon until 5pm.

There are several different scales represented: N-Scale of the Tehachapi Loop and Donner Pass.  There is also an Nn3 layout representing the line from Lake Tahoe to Truckee.  Accross the aisle is a huge O-Scale Santa Fe Western layout covering an area in and around Point Richmond.  Also represented in O-Scale is the Oakland, Antioch & Eastern interurban electric railroad.  In On3 is represented the Eureka & Empire railroad, winding up from the Eureka interchange yard to the lumber town of Empire.  In HO-Scale the first thing one sees is the local and inter-urban trolley system.  Also represented are the Southern Pacific, The Western Pacific and the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe.  Both passenger and freight services are represented.  In HOn3 is represented the California and Nevada narrow gage railroad.

This group has been in more-or-less continual operation for over 75 years!  The whole display is amazing on many different levels: size, complexity, variety, detail, history and the folks who greet you upon visiting.  A Highly recommended visit!

Moving has it's drawbacks

Dear world,
   It has been a while since I last wrote, but do not think I have forgotten you.  In the last several months many changes have happened.  The all began when I was privileged to be elected to our Provincial Chapter, the gathering of brethren throughout our Western Dominican Province to elect a new Provincial (major superior), enact legislation as needed, and make appointments to various offices in the province.
  It would be good to check out the opwest.org website for the results of many of these appointments, but the one that had the greatest effect on me and the RG&PRR was my appointment to the directorship of the Province website.  With that appointment I became responsible for a great deal of internet activity, beyond the website itself.  It thus seemed wise to move me to a more central location in the province.  I am now living at our house of studies (home of friars beginning their process of formation and education as Dominicans), St. Albert Priory in Oakland, California.  The railroad had to depart with me.
  Fortunately it was in sections, and not completed in any sense of that word.  Here are the "modules" as they were reconstituted in the attic of St. Albert.

As you can see, the track is still in place, but the "modules" are not put together.

The area in the attic is substantial.  I have access to about 28 linear feet of space.

If you look, you will see extra wood and other material on the floor.  They are the pieces that either were not needed or I could not figure out right away where they belonged.  Fortunately the wonderful crew that dismantled the layout marked the pieces very well.  They went back together very quickly.  In the next post I will show you what became of the modules and the plans for the future.  Right now I need to get ready for evening prayer and dinner.

Blessings to all!

The little things count

There are many things that seem important in building a layout. For me it seems the complexity of the rail arrangement helps keep it interesting. This included the way the track is placed on the layout, but also what kind of track ... recently I have been toying with the idea of ripping out some of the code 100 track and replacing it with code 83 or even code 70 rail.
This would give a nice visual distinction between main line, siding and yard tracks. As I am just in the beginnings of putting stuff together this is still a relatively easy option to consider. I must admit that if I had not received a wonderful gift in a Dremel tool I would be less likely to think of such things. With the cutting wheel of that tool I can easily fit in replacement rail that leaves little or no gaps.
Some have asked when I might be getting to this project. As things have started to take an upturn in my life, I can imagine being ready to tackle it withing a few weeks. Now if I could just get all this pesky ordinary life to open great gaps of time, I think I would be even more eager to begin. Life goes on.
I should be getting new pictures in about a month ... that will be when anything I do might actually begin to show. Meanwhile, happy Advent! May all your rails be smooth and your engineer lead you down the right track.

A mountain starts to grow

Dear Readers,

I have not been very busy on my layout for some time, but over the last two days I began the process of building the mountain I had evisioned when I first began to build. It is a simple mountain. It is made of plaster cloth that was laid over crumples newspaper, then the newspaper was removed so that the tracks would be clear again. It seems quite sturdy. I will be adding foliage and "rock outcropping" as time and energy permit. I thank Deacon Len for the awesome rocks that will be a part of this mountain.

You may also notice, in this short video, that I have two engines running in opposite directions. This is not by accident. As I have been playing with DCC, these two engines are very simple versions of DCC equiped engines and they serve my purpose for now.

I had hoped to do more with DCC, but find that some of the equipment is a bit pricier than I want to spend on what should be a simple fun hobby. Meanwhile, the mountain needs a lot of detailing ... that should keep me busy for a while.

Until the next time .... Blessings on this feast of St. Benedict ...

Resurrection Construction

Greetings of The New Year.  I have not posted anything since before Christmas.  We had so much snow that we not only missed two Sundays, but most of Christmas as well.  I will never wax longingly for a white Christmas again!

In the realm of the Rose Gulch and Portland, I have put the wiring together, adjusted the legs and set everything upright again.  In the process of re-doing the wiring I made it possible to run in either DC or DCC with the flip of a switch.  To install the switch I added a valance of fibreboard around the entire layout.  This also allowed me to eliminate the blocks of wood holding things together.  I plan on shortening the valance a bit, mostly to even it out.  I also plan on adding a skirt around the whole thing to hide the legs and the wires that hand down.

There have been no new additions that I can think of ... a house and a water tank might be new.  I have to wait for allowances to catch up for a while.  But there is plenty to do.  I can begin affixing scenery elements, such as ground cover and trees, begin building the "mountain" that feeds "Rose Gulch", and deciding where and what kind of roads will feed the "town" of Rose Gulch.  Lots to do and all the materials already handy.  All I need is time!

I also had my first visitors to the construction site.  Two students from Ecce Veritas and their mother.  They have a layout in process, had seen this blog,  and wanted to see what mine was like up close.  I gave them a short history of the layout and expressed my desire, if I did it over again, that I use different material and find some way to have it against a wall instead of free-standing, or at least make it a dog-bone.

A Dios for now....

Winter Wonderland

The weather outside is frightful ... it just keep snowing and snowing and and snowing.  Last week less than half the people were able to get to church ... this week is far worse.  Last week the local streets just had a powdering of snow.  This week it's a bit different with snow plows periodically running down the streets.  Even so, the snow is winning.

In the lower regions of my rail empire, I have decided that I need to prepare for DCC and easier working conditions.  While at it I thought it best to install the levelers I left out in the beginning.  Now my modules are all capable of being 40" to the top of the rails.

As for the DCC preparations ... I am re-running the wire bus, putting in block switches, and a special switch flipping the whole table from DC to DCC.  I will not put in powered turnout control ... I am not sure I would do it right and all my track is laid, making it hard to add in such things.  Besides, the body refuses to bend over the work like it should ....

Until later .... many blessings of the season and may you have a most Holy Christmas!

Slow Progress and ... oops! No pictures!

It seems that I need more than a small yard to keep all the rolling stock in one place. It is time to cull the herd and make certain that everything will fit. Or not. Maybe after I finish the yard I will be happier with the collection. I do know that some of the monster cars are going to hit the road. They do not like my curves and I do not like them.

The white refer and the two BN green box cars on the track to the right are on the list for removal. The yard itself is not much to write home about. Take note of how little room I actually have to move cars around. Using the steam engine in the background it took some time just to get these cars in place with a couple of assists from the giant yard crane.

The consist attached to the 0-6-0 is almost more than the engine can handle, partially due to lack of attention to rolling stock to make certain it rolls freely. Problems with derailment have almost disappeared with the installation of Peco turnouts replacing Atlas turnouts. I am just happy I do not have to build the turnouts from scratch ... older eyes and fingers just are not up to the task.

As time permits I will finish the yard, clean up the layout, and begin throwing "stuff" on the layout to give it character. I will miss using it as a work bench, but I need to get organized anyway.

Until next time, Happy All Saints and All Souls.

When Narrow meets Standard

This small HOn3 engine has come to visit the RG&P. It will probably not be integrated into the layout, but until its owner comes for it, it will be cared for and helped to run the best it can. HOn3 is an interesting gage in that I had a great deal of trouble even finding sources for dual gage track (in case it did hang around too long). Then, of course, what about the difficulty in moving from the dual gage to single gage. Such turnouts are even harder to fine. I am happy I am not comitted to a dual layout. It must be a real pain, even as it would add a great deal of "color" to the operation.

The Changing Seasons

I have not experiences such variety in weather in ages. Snow, hail and rain with blustery cold winds followed by some of the hottest weather one could expect in mid-August, followed by a return to cold, windy and rainy. I am sure that tomorrow when I head out on a MAX excursion it will be damp and miserable. Fortunately my goal is inside and will not require more than a few blocks of walking in the rain.

I went and purchased some stock cars the other day and may have made a mistake. Although I do not claim to be the best builder in the world, these cars have a problem with one of my curves; wheels popping off the track. It could be that the curve is a little tight, but if an 0-8-0 can do it, these little stock cars should be able to also.

In this picture you can see the two stock cars in front of the ore cars and behind the grey box cars. The little caboose has worked wonderfully, even if it is a bit small. The two tracks in the foreground end a bit to the left at the edge of the layout. The closest is the main line of the mother line, while the other is part of the Rose Gulch and Portland.

I also bought a little diesel switcher with sound. I know I should be more careful with my funds, but it seemed like a great deal at the time and it is pretty cool to hear it idle, speed up, ring its bell and sound its horn. I have no idea how they do it, but it does seem to have an effect on its pulling power. Put too much on it and it shuts down.

Immediately behind this little beastie is a civil war era boxcar which seems to be somewhat larger than the ones built by the Yard Crew. It needs a bit of re-work, but looks good behind any of the engines.

Both the stock cars and the diesel need to be re-painted .. just a little .. to fit in well. Maybe after they have had a makeover I will show before and after.

The Spokane, Portland and Seattle Railway did not last long, but left behind these two cars. They track beautifully and their wood construction is a real blessing to this layout. I am thinking of leaving them alone and letting the SP&S loan the cars to the RG&P.




The BN engine is "OK" and runs well. I think those are actually the stock cars that do not take the tight curve well. I'll have to look at my pictures more closely in the future before posting.






Jupiter wanted to say hello. This is not the brass Jupiter but a very much cheaper imitation. Like all less costly things, it runs like a less costly thing. It does pull a twelve car train very well though, especially those grey civil war box cars.



For those in the know, happy feast of the one who re-established the Province.

Cotton Belt E-1 4-4-2 Atlantic

Re-Play of earlier post:

The Yard crew has been busy! In the near future this lovely 4-4-2 will be hauling consists on the RG&P. It will have to be run through a thorough check-up and will probably get a bit of RG&P paint thrown on it, but from the looks of it, its a mighty fine little engine. It's just the right sort of motive power for the limits of the RG&P. Kudu's to the Yard Crew on this one.

The engine arrived from Kentucky via Priority Mail today. Inside the priority box was a generic Athearn box with the engine and tender snuggled inside, wrapped in plastic and cusuioned in foam. It looks like one of the brake pads has come loose and there are four brass stirup steps laying in the box looking like they had broken off. There is also a small bag with some screws, looking very much like the screws that may have held a coupler to the tender. It looks like someone in the past attempted a few repairs with liquid solder, not such a good thing on such small areas.

It is beautiful to look at and will be sent to the roundhouse shops for a general look-see. More when I get information from them

Blessings and peace this day.

A little something for the passenger cars

Hello again,

You can play with this picture all you want. The 4-6-4 has a bit of work yet to do on her before she is ready to pull any rolling stock. With a few details still in the box it came in, plus a bit of electrical work I have a bit more to do. It's a very smooth running beast and seems to be able to handle even some of my bad track work. I'll still work on it in the next month or so as some of the rollong stock has issues with a couple of turnouts and at least two "kinks" in the end of curves. Some day I'll be able to start on landscape and buildings, but no time right now. Carry on!

May all your days be filled with joy!

Baldwin 4-6-2

Another soon-to-be-added motive powerhouse is this Baltimore and Ohio P-7 "President" 4-6-2 Pacific. It is a prototype class of 20 built 1927-1928 by Baldwin. As you might guess it was named for our American Presidents. It presently has no identifying features, but with a little help should soon have either RG&P or SP&S colors ... I am fairly certain of the first as the second would probably be out of character. The overhaul crew might want to look at it before puting it in service. A well running engine is a happy engine!

0-8-0 Powerhouse

This wonderful 0-8-0 runs smooth and has the looks of a powerful participant in the history of railroading. I had no idea it would be so smooth running. It looks good pulling this mixed bag of boxcars and I imagine it would look just as good pulling passenger cars. Unfortunately the track crew (me) did a lousy job on some corners and the thing gets derailed once in a while. Still, I like it and will get the track crew to upgrade enough to have it function properly.

Passenger Service on the "RG&P"

The Rose Gulch and Portland Railroad has had a bit of difficulty getting its rolling stock out of the yard. Initially there were four cars for the passenger service, including a baggage car. Now there are six. For some reason they caused problems every time they were set free behind an engine, possibly due to shorts through the trucks. This particular passenger car, number 13, seems to be OK, but you can tell it has very new trucks. Thay have not weathered and certainly do not blend into the very nicely done craftsmanship of the passenger car. This all-wood car has a detailed interior, including seats, overhead bins, a wash room and a wood stove. You can just see the stack for the stove at the far end of the car. The small windows above the aisle have green "glass", giving them a rather nice look. After a great deal of work is done on the roadbed, time will be given to other things, like completing the work on the passenger fleet.

Happy railroading and many blessings.

RG&P Picture with rolling stock

It is not easy to picture how the final layout will look. Even I have some problems as I change my mind on how things will be done.

Presently the layout consists of a main line with local traffic allowed and inner tracks that, if traveled in one direction, would eventually lead to the inner loop. A train can start at the intersection with the S.P.&S. and without changing tracks, travel three times around the layout to the inner loop. With strategically thrown turnouts one could keep a train on the outer loop, but that would be useful only for "runing in" a new engine or similar task.

In the picture above one can just see the outer track. The next track in can be reached by following the outer track around one turn of the layout in a clockwise direction. The next rack in accesses a possible future rail yard. It crosses over the track on the far right and ends right now. Work is yet to be done. The track on the right is part of the inner loop that would be reached if one continued in a clockwise direction around the layout. The Turnout just beyond the diesel leads to a "Y" required to turn engines around on this layout ... there will probably never be a turntable.

The present layout is all DC. It is not completely wired in a useable fashion but a single engine and its cars can navigate the entire layout. If you noticed, the civil war box cars are indeed smaller than the "modern" boxcars on the outer track. Most of the modern rolling stock has been obtained at model railroad meets and a few select local hobby stores. I am particularly fond of Vic's Hobby Supply on NE Broadway in Portland, OR. They are very helpful in the area of maintenance and scratch built items. A friendly staff, easy parking and best of all, no need to drive from where I live. See http://vicshobby.com for a view of the store. It's not much as a web site, but does have a couple links to N scale cars....

It's time to get back to the real work around here. God bless and happy training!

Civil War Boxcars

The Rose Gulch and Portland Railway gained these wonderful wooden box cars through the generous labors of the "yard crew". As you can see, they are very detailed, including brake wheel, and undercarriage. These fine crafted models even have doors that open! One of these days I will have a layout worthy of such craftsmanship. They do look good behind either of the 4-4-0's or the 0-4-0. They look a bit tiny behind a modern diesel.

RG&PR Revisited

The railroad includes some remarkable steam engines, some requiring a bit of work to get them ship-shape. This 0-4-0, for instance, had been run heavily during its sojourn with its previous owner and the "bearings" were so worn that it could not be "quartered" properly. A few weeks in the train hospital and it now runs remarkably well for an old coot. It still nees a new coat of paint, but the yard crew is off working on other things at present and will not get to this for some time.

These two little gems were manuafactuired for the centenary celebration of the driving of the Golden Spike joining East and West. Made in Japan, they run well for their age. A little hospital time for them was required as well, both to "quarter" them and to fix missing and broken trucks on the engine on the right. That engine also got a new front to its boiler. Because they are historical artifacts I am not certain if they will ever be painted in the Rose Gulch colors. They do look good pulling those civil war box cars....

More pictures will be forthcoming as time and camera allow. Maybe a picture of the layout as it progresses.

Rose Gulch and Portland Railroad

Some of you may be aware that I also dabble in HO model railroading. I began some time ago while a student at St. Albert Priory in Oakland, California. There was not much to it as I was a student with very limited resources. Fortunately a priest-teacher at Daniel Murphy High School donated a great deal of mounted straight track after Dominicans departed the school and the Railroad Club there was disbanded. The two major layouts were given into the care of students.
Meanwhile, I built a single module with hand made turnouts and inserted it into the great loop around an attic room at St. Albert Priory. Another module was added later. Some rolling stock and a very nice kit-built steam engine allowed for some activity. Then classes and graduation and first assignments left the layout abandoned to the forces of others ... it disappeared.
Years later I was assigned to a house where there was actually room to do some building and it took off again. I must admit that a certain generous classmate had always been a part of this. Presently a distinguished profesor of history, he is also a gifted model builder. He built that first steam engine and in this present incarnation has built some very remarkable wooden box cars of the civil war era, passenger cars from an era shortly after that, and has contributed two 4-4-0 engines and an 0-4-0 engine to a great collection building up here.
The layout started out as a bedroom project, but early on I realized it would not be possible to move it if I were ever re-assigned. Thus I tore it apart and began building in modular form. The six modules I built are all bound together to form and area covering 9'x8'. No, it is not in my bedroom .. it would mean I would have had to move out. It is located in the basement on concrete floor with a finished ceiling. It might even have heat and AC, but I have not tested that .
I will add comments later as time allows.