BAD DAY / GOOD WEEK

Destroying my old layout in preparation for our move was sad but not as bad as I expected. I saved the original 4’x8’ section, but the only remnants salvaged from the 5’x19’ addition were the hidden storage yards and the main Schuylkill Island Yard.

Well I am at the point where I need more switches for the new layout and the other 2 sections were taking up too much precious storage space in the house. So I decided to scrap them for the turnouts. The hidden Mystic Storage Yard was un-ballasted and yielded 8 switches and 14 pieces of reusable straight flex track.

Now for the sad part, it came time to deconstruct the Schuylkill Island yard. This was the signature portion of the old layout. It was 10’ long, 4+' wide, double ended, held more than 100 cars and was the focal point of the layout. (see http://www.allscalelayouts.com/R/Aspfiles/DetailPage.asp?Xfer_Code=20001280 ).

Taking this apart was heartbreaking, but I had no room for it in the new loft layout or storage space to keep it. I removed the river portions, scenery, and triple track mainline. In the end I decided to keep a 6’ (x3') single ended portion of it, to possibly be squeezed in as the yard on the new layout. It was still emotionally draining to chop up this portion.

On a higher note, this week’s activities also included a trip to the Camden County Courthouse for adoption proceedings. God had placed in my eldest son and his wife’s heart a yearning to show His love for other children (James 1:27) and they sought to possibly adopt 2 children with ages similar to those of their own 2 children. Consequently he and his wife became foster parents and showed patience and love for several groups of kids who had faced unbearable terror and hard times during their early childhood. Then one Christmas Child Services asked them to take in 3 kids just days before Christmas on an emergency basis. This they gladly did. The children became so engrained within their (and our) family and that they requested to adopt them (a 2 year process). The children also had an older sibling living in another foster home and not wanting to split the family apart they requested that he also join them. This week, they and 30-40 family and friends had the joy of traveling to the courthouse to finalize the adoption process. So the “B” Bunch family now includes our 4 kids, their spouses, and 12 grandchildren.

So my 1 sad day is swallowed up and overwhelmed into a great week!

Praise God for His love and continual blessings!

LAYOUT PLAN

Track Planning

The good news is that if you choose a prototypical source, you know that the operation will flow well.

That’s why the real railroad laid it out that way in the first place,

Here’s the design for the first 3 modules ((2) 16”x6’ & (1) 2’x4’):

LET THE WORK BEGIN - North Westville

ONWARD & UPWARD
Taking the first 6’ section for Westville, I painted the plywood my fascia color so bare plywood would not show through once the grasses were applied. I used a circular saw to cut the edges along where the tracks would rise to go over Timber creek. I also cut out where the Barry Brothers fuel supply would have the raised trestle since I will have to drop the table level somewhat to accommodate the plastic coal trestle I have. This was all done in the garage and driveway to keep the construction mess out of the loft. (I am sure the new neighbors think they have a resident nut on their hands.)

I laid out the tracks putting them on an angle to the front edge. (Laying tracks parallel to the platform edge seems to make the trains look more toy-like.) I used cork roadbed and Atlas code 80 flex track. For cost avoidance purposes, I soldered leads to the rail joiners myself to provide power. Since I use old DC wiring, I put in appropriate rail gaps to prevent shorts (Peco Electrofrog turnouts) and sectionalize the wiring. I then took the construction to the back yard, covered most areas with newspapers and sprayed the tracks roof brown (wiping off the rail tops).

Back to the garage to drill holes for the track leads and put in the highway overpass. I used corrugated cardboard web strips glue-gunned together to create forms for the highway overpass and hill (to separate from the blue backdrop). Not having any grocery store paper shopping bags (they use those dumb plastic bags now), I grabbed some of the heavier envelops salvaged from the paper trash to cover the cardboard web (yet another mistake!). Traditionally I have used hydrocal dipped paper towels for my scenery base. They are messy and difficult to color with tints. So I tried Sculptamold for the first time. It doesn’t seem to have the strength that hydrocal gives but is much easier to color. I poured in a ¼ cup of earth colored latex paint, ¾ cup of water and a cup of sculptamold. It seems to have worked well.

Working in the garage on a pair of sawhorses I managed to yank off 2 wire leads which then had to be re-soldered.

Next I used the old Woodland Scenics road system learning kit. I liked the foam road forms but had difficulty getting the roads leveled and unpitted.

I then put the WS blended grass down using their scenic cement and then painted the roads with a concrete color. I started putting concrete separators in using a small black Sharpie but it was too thick so I shifted to a black pen. I need to get a white paint pen to do the lane separating lines.

Then the 6’ section was lifted and unfastened grass knocked to the floor to prepare for the journey through the living room and upstairs to the loft. The section was then screwed down to the bench work. When the bench work was constructed, I hammered in large staples to channel the wiring. The next step will be install terminal strips and attach the track leads to them. Then I can work out any problems with the track before the ballasting begins.

In the meantime I have loosely placed some buildings and cars on the layout to get a feel for what I must do with the scenery

SPECS & CONSTRUCTION (Blunders)

Name: PRSL
Scale: N 1:160
Dimensions: 12' x 17' loft
Prototype: Pennsylvania-Reading Seashore Lines in Westville, & Woodbury, NJ
Era: 1950s
Style: Shelf around the wall
Min Radius: 19" mainline
Control: DC
Track: Atlas Code 80

Construction (i.e. Construction Blunders)

My wife had major back surgery which meant we had to leave our large Colonial 2 story to go to a home with a single floor living area. Few houses we looked at had basements but we found one with a loft that I could annex for modeling purposes. It is in a 55 and older community in which we are the “new kids” in town. Unfortunately the community seems to have no model railroaders that I can locate. (There was one up the street but he has since been moved to a nursing home. J)

My “new” loft presents some different challenges from my old basement (how I miss it!).

To get a sky background, the old basement walls were painted with a standard light blue waterproofing paint. I figured I’d try to get a better color match for the loft walls. I had a picture of our new house that I had taken on an absolutely stunningly beautiful day. I was using it for my computer background picture. So I figured I would try to match it. Now this is an adventure since I am partially color blind. In my world, light greens look white and I can’t distinguish between certain shades of green/brown and blue/purple. Naturally my favorite color is dark green (which I can’t always distinguish from black under certain light). So this was an adventure waiting to happen. Being somewhat sensible I recruited my wife (that is why we get married, isn’t it). Off to Home Depot for color cards. Ever try to match color cards to a picture on the computer screen? They just do not match! So we picked the closest paint we could get.

Speaking of colors, I figured the fascia on my old layout should be a dark green. I picked a ping-pong table top green (remember the color-blindness) and everyone in the family hated it. So my analytical noggin decided to blend it in with the Woodland Scenics colors on the layout. I picked their standard dark green. I coated a 3x5 index card with scenic cement and covered it with WS dark green grass and went off to Home Depot again. I ordered a can of their cheapest flat paint to match the green. Ha! They couldn’t match it with their cheapest paint and had to take a step up to the Behr paint line and even then they said they had to max out the paint pigments to get a match. Nothing is ever simple in life.

Having only a 12’x17’ space and needing room for other things, I decided that to maximize the space, I would line the room with my 3’ wide by 3’ high metal (simulated wood grain) shelving units. I could thereby store my books, DVDs and train stuff (40 years of collecting) under the layout and go around the room with a shelf layout. Phil Duba had told me his proposed layout would use shelving brackets and that seemed like a great idea. Until I investigated and saw how much they cost. Back to the drawing board.

I figured I could create wood benchwork that would straddle the bookshelves so I again went off to home depot and purchased 2x4s for legs, 1x3s for longitudinal support and a 4’x8’ sheet of plywood. I had them cut the plywood into (3) 16”x6’ sections with a 2’x4’ leftover piece. That began a series of design blunders.

I purchased ¾” plywood. (Way to heavy and inflexible.) The tracks going over timber creek have to rise to the bridge and the coal trestle has a sharp incline. To get the wood to be more flexible I used a router on the underside to cut groves in those sections so the plywood would bend. Keep in mind that I had already installed track and used Sculptamold for the highway overpass! Dumb! Dumb!

The wood benchwork design also showed lack of foresight. The bookshelves to be covered were 12” deep so a 16” shelf railroad should easily straddle it, right? Wrong! The legs (2x4) go inside the 1x3 frame (16” – ((3/4” + 1½”) x 2) = 12½”. Press fit!!! (And the book case corners stick out even further.) To get the bookcases out, I will have to disconnect the 6’ layout pieces and tilt everything to the floor and pull the bookcase from between the legs. (I have a Bachelor of Science degree in Commerce & Engineering, a Masters of Divinity degree and a PhD in stupidity!) Oh well, it is what it is. If it ever becomes necessary to get the bookshelves out I can at least reach the screws for the front legs and the cross-bar supports and free the bookcases (carefully) that way.

WESTVILLE

WESTVILLE

Westville’s nickname was the “Gateway to South Jersey” because a lot of highway bridges (and the PRSL) came together there to get over Timber Creek. From there the roads (and trains) fanned out in multiple directions to serve southern N.J. The other side of Timber Creek led to Camden and the Delaware River ferries (before construction of the Walt Whitman Bridge to Philadelphia).

When the PRSL downsized from 3 tracks to 2, they removed the center track but put an extended crossover between them around the Texaco refinery. All the sidings in town were trailing point so there was no need for a local cross-over. Most southbound pickup could be dropped up the road in the Woodbury yard for pickup by a northbound train. In the 1950s the Texaco refinery was very busy (talk of it closing down now after being sold several times). I assume the lengthened crossover would allow the northbound loaded tankers to be on their way to Philly much quicker without being transferred in Woodbury. I often saw strings of tank cars on it while driving up Gateway Blvd.

Westville also had a cement plant called Buzby Brothers. I have seen photos of about 6 covered hoppers being set-out there. A brakeman would stop traffic on the heavily trafficed road. Always an annoyance!  The power plant had been closed as long as I can remember, but its remaining siding seemed to function as a team track for the town’s other business customers. Another spur went to Barry Brothers Fuel Company. (The “Reading Modeler’s” website contains the 1954 PRSL freight shippers list.) I was always fascinated by hoppers being unloaded on its elevated trestle. When the mass conversion from coal to oil for home heating took place the business dwindled. Apartments now stand at that location.

Just past Olive Street in South Westville there were 3 sidings (the last one was probably considered North Woodbury). The first 2 were lumber companies and the last was another coal & oil supplier. The first spur changed hands later to a food distributer with Del Monte logos on the building. I will replace the lumber companies with that industry (since I will model a lumber company in North Woodbury). The second fuel dealership will be replaced by the same steel fabricator that eventually succeeded it.

Here’s the early construction photos of the Westville portion:

For roads I used a Woodland Scenics road system. I was unhappy with the results since I couldn’t get the roads leveled and unpitted. This may be because the “kit” was sitting in my basement unused for a decade. The Asphalt paint was totally solidified. I will use a concrete color since that is what the roads in town were constructed from. The elevated coal trestle will be modeled in the cutout portion of the plywood. The 2 tracks past the power house will elevate so that the timber creek bridge can clear small boat traffic.

The elevated road portion is where the northbound road rose and passed over the southbound lanes. A Rix 1950 overpass should closely resembles the existing highway bridge.

FALLEN FLAGS & A NEW BEGINNING

At the suggestion of a friend to begin blogging my new model railroading efforts, I’ll give this a whirl and see how long I last. The plan is to attempt a ~monthly update after I get it rolling.

FALLEN FLAG

My old layout is gone, may it rest in peace (pieces?):
http://www.allscalelayouts.com/R/Aspfiles/DetailPage.asp?Xfer_Code=20001280&Scale=N

Following our move from Deptford to Sewell (Washington Twp), the new layout has progressed from the dreaming/planning stage to actually beginning construction. It is to be a model of the Pennsylvania-Reading Seashore Lines circa 1950s, primarily in Westville and Woodbury, NJ. This is the area in which I grew up, less than a block from their Camden to Millville (and beyond) line. I lived in Westville until the 3^rd grade when we moved to Woodbury Heights and I then attended Woodbury High School. I have only 1 vague memory of a steam locomotive chugging by my Kindergarten class window with the teacher stating that it was probably going off to the scrap yard.

The PRSL was once triple tracked through town with an electrified portion for commuter service (and the power plant was in Westville). It was down to 2 tracks by my childhood with the commuter service rapidly dwindling. Following our move to Woodbury Heights, the passenger service vanished into non-existence. Initially the ugly Baldwin road units(AS-16s) would carry 2 to3 Pennsy or PRSL standard coaches. They were later replaced by shiny new Budd RDCs (1 or 2). Soon they too were gone, the local station torn down, and 1 of the remaining 2 tracks removed.

When in High School a friend and I once walked the tracks taking pictures and notes:

CONSTRUCTION PHILOSOPHY

It is not my intent to model a super detailed layout so the nit-pickers should have a field day. I will model to a “good enough” level and enjoy the return to my childhood memories. The era will be the 1950s when the PRSL had an abundance of traffic. Westville once had about 10 spurs. In the period I will model, it will have the 6 that existed during my time there, including one to the Texaco refinery on the edge of town. I will, however, substitute some of their 1960s track side industries for a few of those that existed in the 1950s (when the vast majority were either coal fuel suppliers or lumber yards). The more recent food distributor and steel fabrication industries will add a little variety.

Engine usage will also be violated. There are no affordable (or otherwise) Baldwin road switchers available for the PRSL. (I do own all 3 Atlas PRSL GP38 models and some early Baldwin switchers.) I have an abundance of Sharks available from my previous layout! The RDCs will also invade the 1950s, as will some GP30s (both Reading and Pennsy).

Readers will be free to comment but as CEO I will reserve the right to pick and choose suggestions. I have yet to locate any other N scale modelers in the area, so progress will be slow and limited by my weak point areas.

My 20’x30’ basement is a thing of the past but I have negotiated the 12’x17’ (21’) loft into a man-cave with railroad rights. I also have eyes on the adjoining 12’x12’ storage area (yet un-negotiated). (Can I please remove the gas heater?  J).

Having been laid off from work since January (I just love us sending all those computer jobs off-shore!), construction finances will be extremely limited.

WOODBURY

Woodbury was an absolutely fascinating junction where mainlines diverged to 3 different areas (Millville, Deepwater (DuPont), and Swedesboro). I can remember 100+ car trains used to roll through town. Some had 3 Baldwin road switchers on the head-end and either mid-train and end of train cabins (cabooses), or 2 rear end cabins. I assume they were split into 2 trains heading in 2 diverging directions at Woodbury. A small yard was also there, I assume for sorting cars coming in from all 3 lines for train inclusion in Woodbury.

Early Eddie Fell track diagrams also list an icing track in Woodbury. It was long gone by my youth but still may find its way into my layout.