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SMOKY MT. RAILROAD TRAIN LAYOUT - SEASON 7
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| August 2-4, 2007 |
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We decided to leave the night before we
were supposed to, due to the long drive. It was a projected twelve hours
from Milwaukee to Bryson City, NC. So we hit off by going to Lafayette,
IN the first night. That made for a very fast trip through Chicago.
We are fully loaded with gear. When we drive, we get piggy with the space
offered by our own van. 
We pounded down the miles today,
making good time until we go to Pigeon Forge, home of Dollywood and every
tourist entity in the western world. I thought the Dells was crowded and
full
 of
kitsch. Ha! It's doesn't hold a candle to that place. So
unless you are into every country thing, fast food, go-karts, etc in the
eastern US, stay away. The traffic was horrendous. The ride
through the Smokey Mt. National Park was pretty, but with the twisting road,
I'm glad it was still light out when we did it.
Today we visited Great Smoky
Mountain Trains, which is a retail operation and museum adjacent to the Great
Smoky Mountain
Railroad, in Bryson City, NC. The owner, Tim Cooper and his wife
Susan, had built this to get some of Tim's trains out of boxes and out onto
shelves. Tim had retired some years back, and decided that the retired
life wasn't for him. So he investigated putting up a museum and store
adjacent to an operating tourist line. He had initially settles on
Idaho, but things didn't work out, and he ended up here in the Smoky
Mountains. The collection is primarily modern Lionel, meaning it is from
the early 1970s through the present. There is a fair representation of
pre-war in Lionel and some
 American
Flyer. It is pretty impressive. Additionally, there is a large
operating layout, and a nice little interactive display with buttons for
children to push to make things happen. The main layout was constructed
off site, and then torn down, brought in, and reassembled. We shot some
of the Great Smoky Mt. RR as well, including a nice high angle shot of the
train crossing a river trestle. Thomas the Tank was down at the other
end of the line, but even so, there was
plenty of traffic in the museum. Bryson City proved to be a nice
surprise, with good restaurants, reasonably priced. If you are in the
western North Carolina area, stop in and enjoy. |
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There really isn't much to report
for today. We were out of Bryson City in a mountain mist, and drove
through a very hot day to Norfolk, VA. The highest temperature we saw in
the van was 103 F. Needless today, we were glad to be an air conditioned
environment. Tomorrow we start to shoot again.
Today we visited with Jim McClellan,
who has been called the "Forrest Gump" of railroading. The reason for
this moniker is that he has been present, in an operating capacity for some
 major
changes in American Railroading over the last 50 years. He was a part of
the Pennsylvania New York Central merger, the formation of Amtrak and Conrail,
the breakup of Conrail, the merger of Norfolk & Western and the Southern.
He has seen railing changes like no other single individual. We joked
that it would be great if Jim had all the historic pictures scanned and on DVD
for us, and thus save us the trouble of using the scanner. To our
delight, he did have everything digitized. And as he is a photographer
and world traveler, he had some great, new photos as well. We spent a
delightful day with Jim. He was extremely gracious and accommodating.
And we got to work inside where it was air conditioned for the most part.
We finished early, had crab cakes for lunch, and headed up to the tiny town of
Port Charles, on the Eastern Shore. Tomorrow we have to work outside in
the 94 degree heat and high humidity. Oh joy. But I did get to
cross the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel. I have been out here a number of
times, and can cross off seeing that engineering marvel. |
BAY COAST RAILROAD - SEASON 7
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Today we started shooting the Bay
Coast Railroad, which is a short line on the Eastern Shore of the Chesapeake
Bay. Not only is this a fledgling passenger operation - self powered
rebuilt interurban cars,- but it is still a freight operation, running the
water link across the Bay to interchange with the CSX at the
head of the Del Marva Peninsula. The line was originally started in
1884, to haul agricultural products south, and stone, steel, coal and tourists
in both directions. The town of Cape Charles was dredged to become a
deep water port so that rail barges - the first in the nation - could be run
from to and from Norfolk. Think of the operation as an early, moving Bay
Bridge Tunnel. The railroad carries on that work, hauling up to three
barge loads of freight each day when warranted. Larry LeMond and Alex
Parry were very helpful, and explained the float operation and how the barge
is loaded and unloaded. We are going to get very spoiled by operations
that will run trains at will for us. The operation is now
less than it once was. In the heyday, before the Bridge Tunnel was
built, upwards of 16 barges a day came through here. There were
around 5,000 people in Cape Charles, most of whom worked for the railroad.
Now the town is trying to establish itself as a tourist destination, with
resorts and high end golf courses. The passenger operations of the
railroad should play into that thrust. Additionally, there is still
agriculture and light industry to help along the economy. But it was hot
again. We got the interviews, and did some switching. The bulk of
the material should be tomorrow, with the barge operation. The railroad
logo says it all. If you want more information on the former Eastern
Shore Railroad, check out the book "Eastern Shore Railroad" by Chris Dickon,
published by Arcadia Books. Just Google it.
Man it was hot today.
It was 95 indicated, with a heat index of 115. I think the heat index just
makes it worse, but it does give the weather people something to talk about.
While much of the day was spent outside chasing trains, I spent some on the
barge ferrying the freight cars from Little Neck (Norfolk) to Cape
Charles. This used to be a really big thing here, to get to the eastern shore
of MD & VA. But with the Bay Bridge Tunnel and the highways, service has
fallen off to the point where only this little RR can make it work. The trip
on the tug – which pulled the barge – took 4 ½ hours and it was actually
pretty dull. Once you are out of the slip, you turn on the autopilot and put
toothpicks in your eyes to stay awake. And that is the captain. The rest of
the crew is snoozing. I, of course, had way too much caffeine and talked the
poor guy’s ear off. But
 was
interesting to see how the tug hipped or pulled along side the barge to get it
into the slip. The real skill on the part of the captain and crew is in
docking and hipping the barge. They just kissed it into the slip.
And that, with a 17 second lag in boat movement, as a single screw diesel
powered tug takes that long to respond. So they are some talented folks.
The on-board stuff was shot by me with the small camera and I don’t know if
we’ll use any of it. It was so hazy that a large container ship passing
within a mile of us looked like the Mary Celeste drifting out of a fog. We
did some train passing shots, and we headed for the motel. We pretty
much finished the railroad, although we will have to return to cover the
interurban car portion. And we will do it when it is cooler! Maybe in April
or something. Because
this is just beastly. Tomorrow we are out of here – a day early – and off to
Alexandria. I want the rain to hold off through Sunday night, as we have
another outdoor gig in NJ on Sat/Sun. The last time we were in central NJ –
at exactly the same place – we brought flooding and heavy lightning. At least
tomorrow and Friday are indoors. |
ALLBRITTON LAYOUT- SEASON 7
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We were out of Cape
Charles early this morning for our drive up to Alexandria, VA. The weather is
still hot, with 102 the maximum we saw on the drive up. Traffic was dense,
but we made it in about 4 hours. The navigation system had some difficulties with
the DC construction, but eventually, we found the industrial park and the
storage unit which houses the large,
 1/3 scale model of the Gotthard Tunnel
region of the Swiss Alps. This layout is in Z gauge, but even so, it is 25x50
feet. Hence the need for the large (thankfully) climate controlled space.
The trains are run with Railroad Company (a German outfit) software and there
is even a camera car. Robert said that it was a challenge to get this done in
this small gauge, and he is quite proud of the fact that reality was
accomplished. In fact, the layout was designed by looking at survey maps and
photos, and then inputting the information into AutoCAD for the final design.
The result is a 1/3 compression of the area, with seven spiral tunnels, roads,
and scenery that is exact unto the original. In fact a “cab ride” with the
camera car produces an exact view of the area. It is the Alps, but in
miniature.
We finished up with Robert's layout
around 12:30 this morning. After talking with Dick Taylor of Raildreams,
the builder, we
determined that we might have to change our plans for the next two weeks.
While John & Gail finished shooting, I worked the phone trying to rearrange
things. I have a start, but don't know if I can make it happen.
But back to Robert. His layout is large, as I said, and to further the Z
gauge hobby, he has started a company called AZL that makes nice, injected Z
gauge engines and cars. It is a gauge that is growing in popularity as
you can put a lot of layout in a small space. After packing, we bid our
good-byes to lovely, hot, Washington, DC, and battled the traffic up to
Flemington, NJ. Truthfully, I think we were just ahead of the Friday
gridlock as we went through Philly. And my EZ-Pass makes tolls so much
faster. So this segment is done. Tomorrow we start the Black River
& Western Railroad, in Ringoes, NJ. Incidentally, it is 64 degrees in
New Jersey. We are freezing. |
BLACK RIVER & WESTERN RR - SEASON 7
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Today we started a two day visit
with the good folks at the Black River & Western Railroad System.
Located in Ringoes, NJ, the operation consists of two separate lines - one
between Ringoes & Flemington, and the second from Phillipsburg, running along
the Delaware River. They are remnants of the old Pennsylvania Railroad
and associated lines, and have been in operations since the late 1800's.
Our interview was with the President of the Railroad, Kean Burenga, who acted
like he had
 been
giving sound bites all his life. It certainly makes our life easier when
we get an on camera person who speaks well
and concisely. We
concentrated on the diesel action on the Flemington Branch today, and got work
on their 2-8-0 steam loco,
which should be up and running again after a boiler retubing. In service
were two diesels, one for freight use and the other for passenger service.
The line runs
 through
a rural area, and offers some very nice scenery. There is also an
Edwards Motor car, the Delaware Turtle, that is awaiting a part for a return
to
operation. There were four trains today, so we had ample time to catch
it, even with the New Jersey traffic, which seems constant.
Of note for the
railroad is their collection of cars. There are many cabooses, some cars
used as private residences, and even an old Pennsy Doodlebug. An
additional surprise was when we shot at one crossing, we found a really nifty
garden layout built right along the tracks.
Today we headed to the town of
Phillipsburg, NJ, to see the other line of the operation. The Belvidere
& Delaware branch runs out of there and runs for several miles up the bank of
the Delaware River. The railroad uses a 2-8-0 SY class Chinese
 steam
locomotive and pulls four enclosed streamlined coach cars which were from the
Susquehanna. The Institute that partners with the railroad has several
of these locos, including an QJ class such as we saw in China on the Jen-ling
Pass trip. The train is stored in a gravel quarry and it took us some
serious work with the GPS system to find the place. Once there we were
treated to a very nice locomotive and passenger car string. The train only pulls out forward one way on the four trips,
so it took some scrambling to get ahead of the train and set up. in
fact, there are only two spots to really see the train unless you ride into
the woods. We were able to follow a small track along the side of the
rails to a spot directly under I-78 to see the train come around an inside
curve with the river in the foreground. Another plus was the whistle.
The engineer was a whistle collector, and changed out some of his collection
for each trip. The day actually wasn't to bad, as we only had to shoot
the train running back and forth. So we finished in the late afternoon,
headed back to the hotel and a night of laundry. Such is life on the
road. Tomorrow we head to New York and ultimately, Long Island.
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We spent a most enjoyable day today
with the owner and publisher of Morning Sun Books. In the 1970's and
80's, Bob Yanosey held several responsible positions with ConRail, Penn
Central, and the New Jersey DOT. But he was happiest shooting pictures
and writing about trains. It came to one of those career
 decisions
and he chose to get into the book authoring and publishing business.
Now, some 300 books later, he is a happy man. His color series are
widely known and respected in the railroad and modeling industry.
Bob specializes in preserving slide collections. Some of these films
have been stored in shoeboxes for 50 years, and if not put into a more stable
state, will simply disappear. He has four series of books:
Trackside, which tells the tale from the author's point of view on a
particular railroad, Color Guides, which are color roster shots and
useful for anyone wishing specific information on color schemes, In Color
which deals with color materials of a specific entity, and the newest,
Facilities books, which reference the railroad infrastructure. I'd
recommend them to anyone who is interested in railroading. You con find
more info at his website.
www.morningsunbooks.com . So the segment
completed, we battled traffic through lower New York City to end up in
Centereach, on Long Island. |
SIMULATOR LAYOUT - SEASON 7
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This morning we were delivered to a
house on Long Island sound and escorted to the basement where Raildreams has
been building a layout for the last four years. The house itself has
been under construction for about the same time, and everything is scheduled
for completion by the end of 2007. The house is massive, and I've seen
some pretty large homes by Chicago standards. The layout is about 80%
completed and still needs
 signals,
structures, and more electronic finishing. There are nice areas, with
autumnal scenes, a drive-in theater, and every electro-luminescent sign on the
market. The period is the 1950's and represents a fictional railroad
along the Hudson River. So steam and diesel can intermix. The
unique feature of this operations is - the operation. Rather than
install a traditional control
panel and DCC modules, everything is wired to interfaces with two, 1 to 1
locomotive cabs. There is a steam engine cab, and a diesel cab, with all
he controls interfaced to the railroad operation. Additionally, where
 the
engineer would look out the window, he looks at a flat panel monitor, which
takes a feed from a camera in the nose of each locomotive. Add surround
sound, butt shakers in the seas, and you have the experience of running a real
locomotive. The operator has to watch the water levels, air pressure,
and all the things that a real engineer would do. However, since this
was not yet completed, it will require another trip in Spring, 2008. So
we only could do a couple of sound bites, some work in progress, and then we
were on our way. Rather than fight the traffic through New York, we
opted to take the ferry from Port Jefferson to Bridgeport, CT. It saved
time, stress and money. And for the first time, our GPS failed us,
getting us to a non-existent location for the motel. It was off by .1
miles on an uncompleted road. Oh well, it is forgiven. |
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We spent a very interesting day
today with Ray Cox, and his friend Joe Fanara. Ray collects Marx trains,
and has a private display and operating layout on the East Coast. I
learned a lot today. There is a huge depth to the possibilities of items
for his
 specialty.
Louis Marx was not interested in making just trains. He wanted to make
money. And to do so, he made tons of trains, play sets, and other toys.
He started with stamped steel, which was lithographed, and then moved into
plastic when tooling prices dropped and it became less expensive to
manufacture than steel. The steel trains, and there were four wheel and
eight wheel versions, were very colorful, and I don't
think the workers cleaned the paint guns between jobs, as there are many, many
variations on each piece. Designed primarily as toys and cheaply made
play items, the detail was all painted (or lithoed) on. But they were
rugged, and there isn't a child of the late 20th century that didn't have some
Marx toy around
the house. Ray had a very nice presentation of items, and some great
running things as well. One thing about Marx trains - they ran fast!
You just couldn't seem to slow them down. Ray's layout is all Marx, with
the flashing lights, sounds, and working accessories that made for a lot of
kinetic activity. It was treat to see all this. |
MAINE NARROW GAUGE - SEASON 7
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Today we started with an uneventful
run from Warwick to Portland, Maine. You have to love that EZ-Pass
system. It just let's us blow through the toll booths with hardly any
wait. We
 arrived
in Portland around Noon, and found our way to the Maine Narrow Gauge Railroad
& Museum. Located down by Portland Harbor, it is actually in some of the
building of the Portland Works, which built marine engines, and then steam
locomotive engines. They built engines and cars for all gauges of Maine
railroading but in the later years the primary customer was the Canadian Grand
Trunk Railroad. Additionally they built cars, which leads me to mention
that the executive director of the museum knows a fellow that lived a short
distance from me in my home town. Both are Stanley Steamer enthusiasts.
In fact, the director is the only woman Stanley mechanic. She has driven
a Stanley Steamer up Mt. Washington three times. It is a small world.
We will be returning to the museum to see one of their four two foot gauge
steamers in action on Saturday, but for now, we had to settle for a view of
the harbor, and later, a look at the flagship store of LL Bean.
Today we spent a fund ay at the
Boothbay Railway Village, which is close to Boothbay Harbor. The Village
is an interpretive
 museum,
that has period houses, vintage automobiles, and of course, an operating,
steam, Maine two foot gauge railroad. Maine was the only place in the
country that had an extensive two foot gauge railroad system. At it's
peak in the early 20th century, there was around 250 miles of rail. The
trains seem almost Lilliputian, and pictures of passengers in the coaches seem
like people are riding in a child's toy. The railroad could be
constructed an operated for about one fifth the cost of standard gauge, and
that was perfect for the sparsely populated area. The Village has two
operating (out of four) Henschel 0-4-0 locos, and some beautifully restored
cars. Of particular note is that their restoration shop is a certified "code"
shop, which means that they can build and repair steam boilers. As such,
their services are in great
 demand
around the Eastern seaboard for other steam railroad. There are a number
of rescued railway buildings (including an octagonal crossing shed) in
addition to period hardware stores, gas stations, toy stores, and the similar
businesses. The staff and executive director were extremely helpful, and
really helped us throughout the day. The run is slightly less than a
mile, so shooting was easy. But it was impressive to see these little
trains perfectly chuff up grades, though a covered bridge, and
through the forest. It was a fun day, capped off by a visit to the most
photographed lighthouse in Maine - the Pemaquid Point lighthouse. The
journey back to Freeport was amazing. The amount of northbound traffic
was staggering, with 5-10 mile backups along US 1. I think I'll reserve
my Maine trips for a) after September 1, and b) for during the week. If
you come up here, check out the trains. You won't find them anywhere
else but Maine.
We finished up the segment on the
Maine two foot gauge trains by returning to the Maine Narrow Gauge Railroad
and Museum in Portland. We grabbed a couple of sound bites, one with the
author of a book on the railroads and another with one of the
 engine
crew. Because of city restrictions on smoke generation, the crew has to
tow the steamer out to the end of the line to fire it up. Then the cars
are delivered,
the little diesel ducks into the yard, and the train is in
business. The Vulcan was polished and bright, as the crew worked her over
on this grey
morning. We had a large audience, as there was a benefit run along the
waterfront, that we initially thought would really hamper our work. But
fortunately, we were well clear of it. The railroad has several restored
coaches and some very nice boxcars, as well as one of only two remaining two
foot gauge tank cars. The
 museum
superintendent helped immensely, and we are certainly spoiled on this trip by
crews that are willing to back up
trains and move them on our command. We would not have been able to get
out of town so early if it hadn't been for the assistance of everyone
involved. On the way out, traffic was brutal. There were backups
for now apparent reason, and backups at the toll booths. Maine and New
Hampshire should certainly institute open road tolling. It would really
clear up I-95. We are all tired. We have two days of laundry and
rest. |
ROD JOHNSTON LAYOUT - SEASON 7
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 It
was a beautiful morning, surrounded by woods, brilliant lakes, and the
solitude of the north. As you may have guessed, today found us in
northern Ontario, where we spent a delightful day with Rod Johnston, whom many
know as the model railroad fan featured in the comic strip, "For Better or for
Worse." Rod has an interest in
one inch gauge trains, meaning one inch equals one foot. That means that
these trains are the same size as dollhouses, and can be ridden. Rod got
interested in these after he met Ollie Johnson, one of Walt Disney's original
animators. Ollie was into this gauge, and turned Walt onto them.
Walt go so interested that he had his famous yard layout, which in turn, lead
to Disneyland. Rod thought that this was
 just
great, and with his friend, Paul, started about a 3/4 mile of track on his
property. The track winds through the woods and over trestles, passing a
bear (fake) and many moose (downsized). But there are plenty of real
live squirrels, beavers, and other forest creatures to make things interesting
on the railroad. The scale is dollhouse sized, and so is lots of fun to
model. Rod is so passionate about this gauge, that he has a company
called
Riding Railkits. You can purchase a starter set of a gondola, switcher,
and about 40 feet of track for a pretty reasonable price. (See
www.ridingrailkits.com) The diesels
all run off car or motorcycle batteries, and will run for about 8-12 hours.
They have horns, bells, and integrated sound systems. The steam engines,
of course, run live steam. We had a fun time, running and riding these
trains. Rod and Paul were very helpful, and it was a real pleasure to
meet the man behind the comic strip. He is more than two dimensional!
So we have nothing to do now, but drive
home. It has been a long trip, but exciting. |
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