Not the Seaboard 2.0

[tappertrainman]

Just a random comment, your stand-in monument seems a bit...monumental.  Comparing to the size of the station it feels 20 feet tall?  I dunno, just seems a little overpowering for such a small space where it resides on the layout.  I think you're doing excellent work though and continuing this layout's fine legacy.

James

[narrowminded]

Just a random comment, your stand-in monument seems a bit...monumental.  Comparing to the size of the station it feels 20 feet tall?  I dunno, just seems a little overpowering for such a small space where it resides on the layout.  I think you're doing excellent work though and continuing this layout's fine legacy.

James

Thanks, James. We're trying!  

As far as the MONUMENTAL monument...    Quite right.   That will definitely be smaller and as was mentioned in the text of a few posts.  It was a piece that was freehand carved from a foam scrap and marked with a Sharpie just for the concept.  The actual one will probably be machined to keep some precision and opportunity for finer detail to be maintained.  Maybe next time I have the mill set up.   That one IS pretty bleak, isn't it?

[casmmr]

Many small towns would put the cannon barrels on a concrete support, since carriages would rot out in the weather and need constant painting and repair.  With your space available, maybe, one cannon barrel on a concrete base?

[John]

http://www.maine.gov/civilwar/monuments/freeport.html

[narrowminded]

Many small towns would put the cannon barrels on a concrete support, since carriages would rot out in the weather and need constant painting and repair.  With your space available, maybe, one cannon barrel on a concrete base?

That sounds appropriate and doable.   Maybe constructed with some bearing balls.  .05" or so.  Then a simple stone placard or two or three.  That will be considered as I progress.  That could even be incorporated into the original stone monument concept if space allows. Hmmm.  Although for my skills and equipment with ball end mills as small as .015", the pillar type might actually be easier to execute well.

[narrowminded]

Well, with the MONUMENTAL monument  causing such a stir I took a moment to cut up a stand in that's a little less obtrusive and a little closer to the size I had in mind.   I kid but I needed it too to get a real sense of the scene. 

Does that size seem more appropriate?    It's still a freehand piece of foam but I actually used a scale to cut the blank height somewhat closer to a plan.  I even sanded it before to paint it with concrete color.   That one's about 13.5'.  I suspect another foot would be OK too.  Thoughts?

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[svedblen]

Looks perfectly OK in my eyes. I say, having never seen an American small town monument in real life 

About the fencing: I don't think you should fence it all in. Lengthen the short standalone piece only so that it connects with the other part. Anything else would start looking too cramped, even if it would be more prototypical. It is enough if the onlooker registers a monument and a fence. His/hers imagination will mentally fill in the missing pieces.

[Chris333]

lol I like the fence...

[narrowminded]

lol I like the fence...

Thanks, Svedblen and Chris.  That's the kind of feedback I'd like to get.   I'm generally OK doing pretty precise work with tools but I think my artistic eye is buried somewhere in my pants.  Once done I have a chance to pass judgement but envisioning something going in, sight unseen, not so good.   For now, because it's already there, I'm going to leave it until I get more done.  I do like it as a stand alone but also have the reservations about clutter and in fact, I brought up the concern.  It wasn't singled out. 

But that goes back to the question I posed a few posts ago about the additional details that can and maybe should be added.  Especially is the semaphore.  It's a busy little piece and I'm not sure of their use at a station in later eras.  A search suggested that some existed as late as the eighties but a station search also showed quite a few with them but possibly in earlier times.  I didn't find anything that left me confident which way is more likely correct.  What I got to wondering was if the better communication might have foregone the need.  I've only narrowed down the era I'm fooling with to the mid fifties or so.  Should a semaphore be at an eastern/ Appalchian, maybe rural station?  And then the clock and schedule board, both on independent stands.  Any help or opinions there?

[Kentuckian]

Semaphore would still probably have been there, but not used. I don’t know how this particular one scales out, is it too thick?

C&O practice was to mount the schedule board on an outside wall, so I would consider that over a stand. I do not recommend the clock, just my opinion, you asked.

The attached picture shows the board located at the station in Catlettsburg, KY taken a couple of months ago.

[narrowminded]

Semaphore would still probably have been there, but not used. I don’t know how this particular one scales out, is it too thick?

C&O practice was to mount the schedule board on an outside wall, so I would consider that over a stand. I do not recommend the clock, just my opinion, you asked.

The attached picture shows the board located at the station in Catlettsburg, KY taken a couple of months ago.

Thanks.   From my searches I couldn't find anything definitive but by reading between the lines, so far it seems that the semaphore would be outdated on eastern roads by the 1950's .  It seems that light signals had effectively replaced most moving semaphore arms by then.  And the wall mount schedule board struck me as enough, too.  Thanks again.    

[Cajonpassfan]

Well, are you asking about a semaphore, or a train order signal (that looks kind of like a bi-directional semaphore)? They were two entirely different things, and in my opinion, "semaphores" don't belong in front of the depot, but train order signals definitely do. If the telegraph (or telephone) operator based in the depot had orders for an approaching train, he would lower the blade to let the engine crew know. A horizontal position meant stop for your orders, diagonal meant slow down and pick them up on the fly, vertical, no orders, proceed. It's very railroady, for the era, and I would use one on a TT&TO railroad (the vast majority of lines in the 50's).
Otto K.

[narrowminded]

Well, are you asking about a semaphore, or a train order signal (that looks kind of like a bi-directional semaphore)? They were two entirely different things, and in my opinion, "semaphores" don't belong in front of the depot, but train order signals definitely do. If the telegraph (or telephone) operator based in the depot had orders for an approaching train, he would lower the blade to let the engine crew know. A horizontal position meant stop for your orders, diagonal meant slow down and pick them up on the fly, vertical, no orders, proceed. It's very railroady, for the era, and I would use one on a TT&TO railroad (the vast majority of lines in the 50's).
Otto K.

Thanks, Otto. 

So it sounds like I've got a nomenclature problem and that the "semaphore" as I've been calling it might in fact be a train order signal.  And as such, it should be included.  With that term to search it looks like that's what is included in the kit and would make sense.  I'm learning new things every step of the way.

Edit add: Further searching confirms that it is a train order signal.  So it seems that since I have it, it should be included.  Thanks.

[narrowminded]

Well, I painted everything that came with the kit for practice so a dab of glue later and there it is.  I now think I understand that this is a train order signal and it should be included.   It can be undone with no effort.   

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[Ed Kapuscinski]

So, that Semaphore is actually a train order signal. It indicates that the operator at the station has orders (from the dispatcher) for an approaching train crew.