Saying Hi, and working on the railroad.

[Buck.H]

Hi all, I joined railwire to talk about narrow gauge trains and railroading and I thought I’d say Hello. I’ll probably spam this post for a bit so that I can get to the magic number of comments and upload some photos soon.

I am not a very prolific modeler, in the last decade most of my hobby resources have been spent on collecting and research, with the odd attempt at a layout. A lot of armchair modeling but I’ve had the chance to try some stuff out and learn and I’m getting to the point where I’m working on some stuff.

[Buck.H]

My modeling goals have always been ambitious, and that has been difficult balance against moving around a lot, budget, skills, time etc., especially as I’ve been inspired by many different locations, prototypes and other modelers. I have interest in 1870’s-1920’s time period, areas like the North American pacific coast, the south west, the Rockies and the Great Plains, New Zealand and various othe colonial railroads, United Kingdom, modern railroading and its always been hard to balance all these things because, like lot of us, I want to do it all and for a long time I couldn’t pick one thing that I could realistically achieve and be happy with long term. So that means I got to try a lot of stuff and learned a lot in the process.

[Buck.H]

Tony Koester had really good advice many years ago about picking something specific to model so that your resources can be used efficiently, and I interpreted that in a way that just made it difficult for me to find something that held my interest or what I could actually achieve given my constraints. Now I know stuff about things and through trial and error and research, I’ve narrowed down what I want to accomplish and how I may go about achieving those modeling goals.

Because of my living situation I won’t be working on a permanent layout, but I’ll be chasing all my flights of fancy by building up typical trains for the prototype rairoads that I like, as well as building modules based on prototype locations. These I’ll be able to store away, but it gives the excuse I need to build structures and rolling stock. Modeling the rare and obscure prototypes as accurately as possible is important to me.

Because the modules will be packed away most of the time and model railroading isn’t fun unless trains are moving I plan to exert the more creative side of my brain by building a handful of freelanced mini layouts in HOn3, that will be themed and plenty more fanciful than my prototype efforts. The goal behind these is to have a little fun and practice scenery, weathering and building techniques. They will end up forming a separate but fully operational railway that will work with my other efforts, and should take up a smaller foot print allowing me something I can run.

Another spot I’ll be putting some effort into is representing what a modern North American narrow gauge railroad might look like, something that I didn’t think was reasonably possible until recently.

[Buck.H]

So now me and my girlfriend are working on a Christmas themed mini layout that I am anxious to share pictures of. This year it will be a simple loop of track and a small colorful little mountain town and winter scenery. In the future it will develop more winter and Christmas themes as well as being the mountain subdivision for my freelanced railway. We can probably expect helper and snow fighting operations.

Other things I’m working are an 1880’s era D&RG roster, planning and building 1 or 2 HOn3 Freemo modules, building some rolling stock for the expected delivery of Mike Mays DL535s this spring, some vehicles and structures. I will probably post any progress on layouts in the appropriate sub forum and my other narrow gauge stuff here.

Thanks for letting me ramble, and tell me what you are working on!

[Mike C]

  I've been interested in Narrow gauge since the late 70s' .  I've got a few Blackstone locos , but I doubt I will buy any more considering the outrageous prices people want at this time . So I have taken to Ebay for brass locos . As with anything there are some locos to avoid unless you have experiance working with new motors or gears . As an example there are at least 2 versions of the Westside C-16 . version 1 has the motor hanging out the back of the cab . This one runs OK . version 2 has a cab interior and a can motor mounted in the boiler . This one runs great .  I usually check this page https://web.archive.org/web/20211206231537/http://roundbell.com/hon3conversions.html   before I buy any brass loco , saved me from buying junk a couple times .      Mike

[Dave V]

Glad to have another HOn3 modeler aboard! I do the Rio Grande Southern First District (Ridgway to Rico) in HOn3 myself...although I have a large and growing collection of East Broad Top stuff.

[Buck.H]

Thanks Mike, I agree the Blackstone stuff is out of hand. I kick my self for not getting a class 70 years ago, even if it meant not eating for a month or two. Lucky for me most of the stuff is not in my interest. I do have a west side c-16 with the open frame motor, luckily it runs really good, but I’ll have to upgrade it one of theses days. Do you work on your own brass? I’m figuring I’m going to have to start learning how to work on these, consider the amount of derelict brass I’ve collected.

[Buck.H]

Dave, I see you on the face page, I’ve enjoyed your work for a long time (I’m a lurker from way back) and I look forward to seeing how your HOn30 venture goes. I never modeled HOn30 seriously other than building a couple pieces of rolling stock and planning some small layouts to try it out. I enjoyed the themes I came up with but never did go down that route. What I did do though, was make an attempt at modeling in TTn3.5, 10’ to an inch and N gauge track is 42”. I think that scale and gauge combo has a lot of potential for narrow gauge modelers. I backed away from it because of my interest in modeling cars and trucks, which HO has most of what you would want and need, and it’s very tough to find TT scale accessories in the US. I was severely hampered by trying to find thing like windows, figures or barrels etc. but considering what could be resin 3D printed now it could be awesome. In fact if I wanted to model the East Broad Top, I would do it in TTn3, because it would be a matter of getting some N scale 2-8-2s and a bunch of micro trains trucks and a buddy with a 3d printer and you could probably have the whole works in a 10x12 room for a fraction of the cost of HO and it wouldn’t be as irritating as Nn3.it wouldn’t be perfect but it would close I think. That all said I do think 9mm track and mechanisms are great to represent narrow gauge. If you don’t mind me asking, what’s the plan for your East Broad Too collection?

[Dave V]

My EBT stuff would just run on the RGS.

My father—to whom I owe my love of the hobby—had tinkered with the EBT and I recently inherited his collection of rolling stock and structures, most of which he scratchbuilt. I may end up just displaying the structures on a shelf in the adjacent room, but anything on 3-foot gauge wheels is welcome to roll on my RGS. Next project is sending out his Hallmark EBT 12 for some mechanical repairs and DCC, sound, and paint.

Being an East Coast OG with 200 years of family roots in eastern Pennsylvania, the East Broad Top was my first exposure to narrow gauge when I was barely taller than the snow at the 1978 Winter Spectacular. But a family trip to Colorado and the D&SNG in 1988 completely hooked me on Colorado narrow gauge. When at last I moved to Colorado in 2013, my modeling the RGS was an inescapable inevitability.

[Buck.H]

Well Dave, I’m a dyed  in the wool westerner, and the railways I am mostly interested in are usually pretty close to the sage brush so of course I think the west is the best , but the EBT is probably one of my favorite things in the world and I’ve never even been to the keystone state! I kind of hope we see some of your dads stuff sometime. If memory serves, we’re you working on some hon3 modules? Could that be an option for your EBT collection?

[Ed Kapuscinski]

When at last I moved to Colorado in 2013, my modeling the RGS was an inescapable inevitability.

STFU that you've been out there ten years already.

[Dave V]

STFU that you've been out there ten years already.

I know, right?

Well Dave, I’m a dyed  in the wool westerner, and the railways I am mostly interested in are usually pretty close to the sage brush so of course I think the west is the best , but the EBT is probably one of my favorite things in the world and I’ve never even been to the keystone state! I kind of hope we see some of your dads stuff sometime. If memory serves, we’re you working on some hon3 modules? Could that be an option for your EBT collection?

I've largely stopped any work on modules, since while I belong to a modular club, the local shows generally ask me to bring the N scale Colorado Midland layout instead.

Our modular club specifically calls itself a "modular Colorado narrow gauge club," but more than one of us would like to see an EBT Augwick Creek bridge module in the mix. It may yet happen!

[Buck.H]

Dave, I’d be interested to hear any insight you have on modular railroad especially in HOn3 and does that club have an online presence?

[Mike C]

  @Buck.H    Yes I usually do my own work . Once you have taken a few apart for general maint. putting them back together gets pretty easy . Remotoring is the next step and don't be afraid to try . If you do a remotor post pics of the frame and how the motor sits in it . A few of us have done it and we'll be happy to look and possibaly give a bit of advice .    Mike

[Buck.H]

@Mike C great, I haven’t had the chance to talk to many people about that. I’d actually like to get into scratch build my own so I’ll have some questions for you soon. I have the confidence to take them apart. What to do after that is my issue, most of that even is finding and knowing what supplies to get. For example, what kind of motor speed should I look for as well as understanding the gear ratios.