For the railroad folks, like me....

[Rigby Reardon]

Wow! Thanks for the link, Michaelson, SIR! You're right...it just stays in the blood. I've got railroadmen on both sides of the family before me, multiple generations, and my own memories of standing just off the tracks as the monsters would go by. And taking home 'thrown' railroad spikes ...and every house had a piece of anthracite w/ a little name plaque on it - most of the family come from Carbondale, outside Scranton - literally translated to 'coal valley'. Have to dig out my grandfathers 'Brotherhood Of Railroad Trainmen' medals again...

That was all D&H, though, back there, but I think there was some Erie as well. This one caboose, though, looks pretty close to the one he and my Dad assured me he road for years as a lanternman (signalman?) and coupler: http://www.sessions-station.com/N&W/562700.html

Thanks for the memory trip!

J

 

[Michaelson]

This is indeed an ex-Erie cab forward caboose, as the N&W absorbed the Erie in some of it's huge mergers during the 60's...D&H and Erie were two, and they also took on their equipment and repainted them in NW colors and decals. The N&W built their own equipment....cars, cabooses and locomotives alike, and never built a cab forward caboose like this one. Good eye!

High regards! Michaelson

 

[Rigby Reardon]

This is indeed an ex-Erie cab forward caboose, as the N&W absorbed the Erie in some of it's huge mergers during the 60's...D&H and Erie were two, and they also took on their equipment and repainted them in NW colors and decals. The N&W built their own equipment....cars, cabooses and locomotives alike, and never built a cab forward caboose like this one. Good eye!

High regards! Michaelson

Hey! I got one right! Thanks for the history, sir...now I'll just pretend that one WAS his.

 

[Section10]

Locomotive tales

Not long out of high school, I worked at a sawmill for a few years and my boss told a story of when he was deer hunting one fall he followed an old railroad grade into a thick alder swamp and in the swamp was an old logging locomotive still sitting there pretty much intact.

Another time, a friend of mine was beaver trapping one spring along the RR tracks and he followed an old logging spur as a short cut home. In the midst of a swamp he found an old diamond smokestack about 5' high sticking out of the ground right in the middle of the grade.

About 10 years ago a logger dragged an old steam traction engine out of the woods near here. A Nichols Sheppard. It was used to skid logs out of the woods and still has skiis on the front instead of wheels.
Never can tell what's still out there.

 

[Dalexs]

...Hey yeah, that's the SP 4449. I've been in love with that train ever since I was 9 years old! So, they're restoring it? Any time soon they'll take her out on a tour? Hmmmmmm, I wonder.

=WR=

Well, the 4449 was one of the trains the organization helped restore.
The SP700 is now there big project.
Bot hare owned by the city, and maintained by a group of volkunteers.
Both trains do make special runs every so often.

This is the groups page that maintains it.
http://www.sp4449.com/


This is a nice little background sotry of it...
http://www.brian894x4.com/SouthernPacific4449.html

And of course the organization that runs runs the show
http://www.orhf.org/

And the group my former coworker belongs to
http://www.sps700.org/

Poke around the second site and there is a nice little video.
The first site has a bunch of nice pics.

Dalexs

 

[Twitch]

I'd bet there's some people around here that have model railroads too...

 

[Michaelson]

Several boxes of HO equipment in the garage doing a FINE job.

Regards! Michaelson

 

[Dalexs]

Do several boxes in thebasement count? Guilty as charged.

I'm house hunting as we speak and one of the prerequisites is a good spread out space where I can reassemble my layout.

 

[Rigby Reardon]

Actually, I'm wondering if my old Spirit Of 76 (Tyco, I think) looks anything like the Freedom Train Michaelson mentioned...I'll have to look it up.

Got an HO scale repro of a D&H caboose just like the one my grandfather rode, too. That's my favorite piece. Really have to get that stuff shipped out here from NY for my girls to see...

J

 

[Absinthe_1900]

Lionel's version of the The Zephyr, AKA "The Flying Yankee".

A mixture of original Pre-War Lionel, Post-War, & Repro Tinplate.

This was the last year that I could run a floor layout as I had a Boxer puppy arriving shortly after this photo was taken. (it was either the puppy or the trains, so the Boxer pup won.)

I have a small table to set up now that is "Boxer proof".

The last one is a table shot.

 

[jamespowers]

Actually, I'm wondering if my old Spirit Of 76 (Tyco, I think) looks anything like the Freedom Train Michaelson mentioned...I'll have to look it up.

Got an HO scale repro of a D&H caboose just like the one my grandfather rode, too. That's my favorite piece. Really have to get that stuff shipped out here from NY for my girls to see...

J

My gosh I have the same train set. You can't run it full bore around the turns though---don't ask me how I know.

Regards to all,

J

 

[Brad Bowers]

You can't run it full bore around the turns though---don't ask me how I know.

This was always a troublesome issue with the basic trainsets I sold when I worked in a hobby shop some years ago. The parents would want to return the sets, complaining, "It doesn't stay on the track." Neither would a real train, if you ran it at 1200 mph, which is what those trainset locomotives probably scale out to mph-wise.

I've got one of those Spirit of '76 sets, too, my first HO set when I was a kid. Had a O scale Marx set prior to that. Still have them, but only the Marx runs anymore. I've been collecting HO stuff for years, thanks to my job in the hobby shop, but I'm switching to HOn3, with these new, relatively inexpensive steam locomotives coming out soon.

Brad

 

[jamespowers]

This was always a troublesome issue with the basic trainsets I sold when I worked in a hobby shop some years ago. The parents would want to return the sets, complaining, "It doesn't stay on the track." Neither would a real train, if you ran it at 1200 mph, which is what those trainset locomotives probably scale out to mph-wise.

Now I know what was wrong. 1,200mph! Geez, I am surprised I didn't melt the tracks down. I actually still have the track set up in the garage. Maybe I will go out there with the train set and "play" errr...I mean re-enact a train setting with it if the weather stinks this weekend. WooooWoooooo. All aboard!

Regards to all,

J

 

[Wild Root]

Real rail VS model rail.

Well, I have had trains jump the track (HO scale) when I had an oval lay out in my garage when growing up. I now attend (when I have time) an Sn3, HOn 3 and HO club in Pasadena known as the “Slim Gage Gild�. They have an HO scale lay out that I run on. Now, there is a few turns and they have made them curve into the curve so the trains lean into it. You can run rather fast into the turn and stay on the tracks. It’s all about physics really. But, I had to ask why my trains looked so much more real when coming up thorough the “Royal Gorge� then when I remember playing with them on my small home made lay-outs. A member told me about what they did and it really made a difference!

Brad, most guys I know that go into Hon3, they upgrade to Sn3 rather fast because of the greater detail that can be achieved. Just wanted to mention that but, you probably already considered that since you’re a model rail man too.

I’d sure love to see more photos of others lay outs! Any scale! Any one into garden railroading?

=WR=

 

[Brad Bowers]

Root, I've heard of your club! That's great that you participate. There's nothing like operating sessions on a large layout.

I've always wanted to do narrow gauge, but it was cost-prohibitive until very recently. Sn3 is still quite a bit more than the HOn3 stuff coming out soon, and the detail is right up there with the top-of-the-line HO scale steamers, and they have sound to boot! Plus, when I get to finally build my dream layout, I'll build both HO and HOn3 trackage to use the equipment that I've collected over the years. In the meantime, I'm just a collector.

Brad

 

[Wild Root]

Sounds good Brad! You know, you should come on out to one of the few Open houses held at the club! They're great and I could get you some info on it if you'd like. There is a lot of cool stuff they have done down there and I have pinched in a little. Haven't been down there in a wile but, I just need to focus on a few things right now before I bring out my H0 steam queens again.

Got to love rail road stuff!

=WR=

 

[Michaelson]

Interesting when railroads come up, the modeling aspect seems to go seamlessly into the same discussion. See there...you guys have it in your blood too, just on a smaller scale. To keep this 'period', electric model railroading started back in the 1890's, so the heyday of the modeling craze was going strong in the 20's and 30's.

This sessions-station main page that has the N&W photos also has a neat set of photos of some killer model railroads, if you want to take a gander. Impressive work. I've had some nice layouts in my time, but these are mind boggling in scale and accuracy!!

Regards! Michaelson

 

[Twitch]

I let my HO layout go due partly to the neverending need to clean the rails for electrical contact......

 

[Wild Root]

I let my HO layout go due partly to the neverending need to clean the rails for electrical contact......

Yeah, that's a big time drag! It does help if you fix up a heavy car with sand paper under it and push it with a nice 4-8-4 or maybe a 4-8-8-4. Yeah, a Big Boy could push a few track boys around real well! Let the rail road work for you!

=WR=

 

[cneil]

“I model in “R� Gauge�

I have a lot of nice HO, but now it sets in boxes, I display a locomotive or two at a time on the mantle.
Then I discovered 7-1/2� Live steam, much nicer, but before I could get much in to that other than as a fan, I ran in to people doing 15� Live Steam.( 5"=1'-0") Now that real fun.

Like a friend of mine signs his e- Mail “I model in “R� Gauge�
12� =1’-0".
(He is the curator of the Feather River Railroad Museum in Portola.

Money and space, the only lamentations. I plan on getting active with the local 7 1/5� Live Steam club.
But is was real fun up in Northern California on the O.N.&P 15� Line. We ran it just like it where 1880.