WM Western Lines Engineering Report

[dnhouston]

A sad day indeed.  May she live on in photos forever.

[mcjaco]

Lee, thanks for sharing that album.  Sadly some of those shots I have not seen, but finally gave me a better understanding of the layout as a whole.

I helped a friend tear out a layout (his dream layout), after three years of hectic building.  His wife was sick, and he knew he had to build it fast before they moved to a retirement community where he would not have space.  It was a sad day indeed then, as is knowing this yours is coming down too.

[RockGp40]

Yesterday was a surreal day for me. Back in 2006, I was following along on the progress here on the 'wire (still the only forum I read). I invited myself over to a guy named Lee's house after a fishing trip off of Tilghman Island. I wasn't sure how I was going to be received in that I had no operating layout of my own. I was a collector of n scale equipment, and to this day, I still am mostly. Lee invited me in to his humble abode and off to the attic we went. He didn't even cringe when I whipped out some Rock Island stuff (I wasn't sure if that was proper or not). From there, a friendship began and I consider myself part of the original operating crew (more so when I moved to the eastern shore).


Seeing the layout come down was devastating. I felt like somebody died and we were cleaning up the mess. Lee is alive and well, obviously, but knowing the WM is officially dead in the water hurts. Everybody that came in person to Lee's feels like it was theirs, and Lee is to thank for that.

A big thanks to Eric for housing the peninsula and to unknown others that may recreate the WM. Godspeed old friend.

[seusscaboose]

knowing the WM is officially dead in the water hurts.

Not dead.  Salvaged as best as possible considering the circumstances. 

You will run your Rock over it again (partially).

[davefoxx]

Not dead.  Salvaged as best as possible considering the circumstances. 

You will run your Rock over it again (partially).

... and Philip will run his coffee grinder over it again, too (partially).   

[Philip H]

HE he!

And Elkridge is slated to be reborn in Mount Rainier once I get back (and scratch build a KCS sanding tower).

[conrail98]

Thanks for the photos Lee. Sad day indeed but I hope the pieces that live on elsewhere do so for a long time,

Phil

[davefoxx]

HE he!

And Elkridge is slated to be reborn in Mount Rainier once I get back (and scratch build a KCS sanding tower).

Do you mean Elkins?  If so, you should know the history of the HCD upon which Elkins was built.  It was one-half of a two-piece 24" bi-fold door (two 12" doors) that I bought several years ago.  One piece was donated to Lee for Elkins.  The other 12" HCD was the Yard-on-a-Shelf (staging yard) connected to the Virginia Central, and that layout (with the staging yard) resides at RockGp40's house.

DFF

[Bob Bufkin]

Sad day indeed.  Can't believe it's been almost 3 years since I ran on it.  Good to see parts are going to live on.  Can't wait to see "WM Western Lines The Sequal"  someday.

[Philip H]

Do you mean Elkins?  If so, you should know the history of the HCD upon which Elkins was built.  It was one-half of a two-piece 24" bi-fold door (two 12" doors) that I bought several years ago.  One piece was donated to Lee for Elkins.  The other 12" HCD was the Yard-on-a-Shelf (staging yard) connected to the Virginia Central, and that layout (with the staging yard) resides at RockGp40's house.

DFF

yes, Elkins . . . need more coffee . . . .

[wm3798]

Thanks for those kind words, Brian...  I remember our first meeting well, and still have that shot of the Rock we took that day:


Here's how it went down...  We got started around 10:30 a.m.  We dismantled North Junction to make room in the doorway, then the cutting began...



While I was hacking away at foam and sculptamold, Ed and Tim worked on boxing up the remaining rolling stock on the layout.  The last car to officially turn a wheel on the railroad was a B&O bay window caboose of no fixed prototype.

Work on detaching the several layers of track and wiring went on for about an hour.


Brian (Rock GP40) showed up around 11, then we went to lunch to power up before attempting to move the behemoth down the steps.  Plaza Tapatia was the weapon of choice, with ammunition provided by a couple of 32 oz Dos Equis Grandes.

Before the move, Ed inspects the cuts, and verifies that all of the electrical connections were severed.


There were no photos taken of the actual move.  It was all hands on deck.  We got it out of the room easily enough, and then turned it over to slide it down the steps, but the 64" wide bulbous end (Andy calls this the "Scrotum") simply wouldn't make it through the opening.  We had to heft it back up the steps twice to trim portions off.  Finally we removed the high bridge and the entire subroadbed that had supported the Shaw siding, and this allowed us to get Elvis out of the building.



We loaded the main section into my girlfriend's pick up, and all the remaining bits and pieces from the surgery into the cab, and headed across the great waters of the Chesapeake toward Eric's house near the airport.

Once at Eric's, we found the path to the basement to be relatively straight, but not without challenges.  We had to move the picnic table over to the steps from the car port so we could gain enough height to heft it over the railing and into the house.  We had to remove both the exterior door and basement door from their hinges to provide enough clearance.  Again, there wasn't a stray set of hands to work the camera, so you'll have to take the word of the witnesses.

With only inches to spare, it fit over the railing, under the carport ceiling, through the two doors, and down the steps.  Due to bad planning, Eric ended up at the bottom of the steps by himself as the full brunt of the peninsula went down the stairway.  Imagine standing out in center field by yourself trying to field a fly ball that happens to be as big as a submarine.

Anyway, we recovered, got it down the narrow aisle next to Sunnyside, and spun into position at rest on a temporary table.


The next challenge for Eric and the crew is to work out the elevation changes of the peninsula and marry them to the existing shelf layout along the wall in the background.

I appreciate the hard work and ingenuity that went into this move, and I'm now anxious to get the rest of the layout moved along to be stored or incorporated into another layout or three.  I also appreciate Eric generously offering to make a home for this favorite piece of work.  I'm looking forward to helping to tie in the scenery, and to running some Laurel Valley power up the Yough Valley once again.



Lee

[wm3798]

The final chunks of the Western Maryland Western Lines have been removed from the attic. There is quite a bit of it that has survived as portable, storable chunks, but these bits will be stripped of anything of value, cleaned of any foam and plastic, and tossed on the burn pile. The 24" x 30" helix is intact. It's 3.5 turns and rises 9" (or something like that... I can't remember). It's a single track twist good for raising a low traffic branchline up onto a shelf. If you're interested, give me a shout.



I also have the west staging yard fully intact on its frame.  Measures about 42" x 8', with four through balloon tracks, each capable of holding 30 to 40 car trains.

If you're east of the Mississippi, I'll deliver it for gas money and beer.

Lee

[wm3798]

Another chunk of the layout is now slated for preservation.  The big yard at Ridgeley was the last big piece of the Western Maryland Western Lines that I built, and it was a little tricky to dismantle and remove, but it came out cleanly in two sections, and is presently stored.

Ed K and I started talking about how it might live on as part of his Northern Central, we did a little measuring, and dang if it won't fit perfectly in his basement, exactly where he wants it. 






Hopefully the transition will be a smooth one, and I can say that I'm a Conrail modeler again!

Lee

[Dave V]

I kinda feel at this point the right thing for Ed to do is get his industrial jollies not with Baltimore but York, and tie in the negative space of the "shelf" with the yard for one cohesive layout.  Make the lower stanging under the yard Baltimore, make the visible yard York, add some industrial trackage just beyond York, and then a nice peninsula representing the line between.  Use the I-81 overpass to disguise the turnback on the center-of-the-room peninsula.

[davefoxx]

Hopefully the transition will be a smooth one, and I can say that I'm a Conrail modeler again!

"We are Conrail modelers.  Resistance is futile.  Your life, as it has been, is over.  From this time forward, you will service us.  We will add your biological and technological distinctiveness to our own."

Sincerely,
The Conrail Queens