Cold Weather Windup Projects

With the live steam trackwork done for the year, and the steam locomotives winterized, it is time to get started on some cold weather projects.  Although I'm not posting any pictures of the big project, a lot of my time has been spent rebuilding my workshop so it will be more comfortable and usable this winter.  That project is pretty much complete, so it is time to get to work on some windup train projects, as well as the 1907 International Steam Locomotive.

However, I have done a few fun projects first.  Here is an old Lionel Coal Elevator that I converted to use as a coal tipple in my engine terminal for the Torsion Lines Railroad:

 

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Next up is a clockwork train from the Ives / Lionel transition era.  It was missing the smokebox door, so I added one from an 833 Marx.  The motor needed repair and the cars were missing couplers.  Also, the tender was missing, so I took an old Lionel tender I had and repainted it to go with the locomotive.  Makes a nice looking train, I think:

 

 

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This is a recent addition to the fleet, an American Flyer Hiawatha.  For once, it needed very little attention when it arrived.  It is very fast... too fast:

 

 

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Finally, a Marx Monon diesel.  It need work, but I won't go into the details.  I'm glad to have it in the collection:

 

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I have a couple of in depth clockwork projects that I'll be working on next, along with more work on the 1907 International.  Stay tuned....

Fall Trackwork... and Winterizing the Steamers

After careful consideration, I made the executive decision to keep the wye instead of replacing it with a turntable.  I rebuilt the south wye switch to correct some alignment problems, and relaid the tail track with 12 lb. steel rail:

 

I will re-align the west leg of the wye next year, and do some tie replacement on the east leg.  It should be good for many more years of service.

 

With some of the rail that was salvaged from the abandoned sidetracks, I was able to rebuild the mainline leg of the wye with the heavier, 1-1/2" tall Real Trains aluminum rail.  I replaced every third tie with 4x4 treated lumber, and other ties as needed.  The track was leveled and reballasted, so now the mainline is smooth all the way to the west wye switch:

 

After doing all the trackwork, I took a little time out last Friday night to run the steam engine:

 

 

But, with temperatures expected to drop into the 20's on Friday morning, it is time to put the steam engines up for the winter.  Everything is ready for a freeze... except for me!

 

Working on the Railroad in the Fall...

With the cooler weather, I've been trying to balance my free time between working on the railroad, restoring a steam locomotive and repairing windup trains.  Here are some pictures from the railroad of the downsizing project:

 

The new Turntable for Northview is under construction.

The black part on top is the actual turntable; the gray section under it is part of the framework to hold the ring rail in place.  The track under the gray frame is part of the wye that is slated to be removed... obviously the track will need to be pulled up before the turntable is permanently installed.

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This is a view of the abandoned switchback as taken from the former site of the switch.  The mainline is visible toward the upper left, one of the bridges has been left in place with deck boards added so it is safe to walk across, and the sawmill is visible to the right of the old right-of-way that goes down to the lead mine.

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This is the view from the enginehouse switch looking west at Northview.  The former site of the old, small enginehouse is toward the left of the picture.  The ties for the switch that was removed along with a siding are visible toward the right.  Sitting on the ballast is another switch that was removed from Tombstone - it will be used for the turntable siding when the wye is removed.

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A visit to the Wabash, Frisco & Pacific Railroad

This past weekend, I made the trip to Glencoe, Missouri to visit my friends at the Wabash, Frisco & Pacific Railroad.  They had 3 steam locomotives fired up, plus others to see in the roundhouse:

#400 in the roundhouse.

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#534 after a hard day's work.

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#535 drifting through the yard with a full passenger train in tow.

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#928 on the service track.

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The WF&P operates on Sundays from May to October.  While there are quite a few 12" gauge railroads in the US, this is the best place to see - and ride behind - large 12" gauge steamers!  I highly recommend stopping by to visit if you are in the area.

The Trackplan...

I recently had a request to post a track plan of the railroad so that it is easier to see the extent of the downsizing project.  It hadn't occurred to me to do so - after all, I'm around the railroad all the time, so it's all familiar to me - but it was a great suggestion, so here are a couple of very crude track plans.  I traced these off of a satellite photo of the property, so they aren't the best quality:

BEFORE:

 

 AFTER:

 

Although a couple of minor sidings have been removed at Northview, the majority of the downsizing that has been completed is the switchback that connected the mainline to the old Frisco Valley Carbarn, Brown's Sawmill & The Stansbury Lead Mine.  The carbarn, sawmill and lead mine still exist, they are just no longer connected by track.  As you can tell from the maps, the "Wye" at Northview will eventually be removed and replaced by a turntable.  I am in the process of building (well, rebuilding) the Northview Turntable.  Once it is ready to install, I will start pulling up the 200+ feet of track that make up the Wye.



Rails to Trails on a small Scale...

The downsizing continues.  The entire switchback from the mainline to the lead mine is now history.

 

The view from the Lead Mine trestle up toward the sawmill:

 

As you can see, the rail and all the ties have been removed and the ballast raked smooth.

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The mainline at Tombstone:

 

The switch on the mainline for the switchback was removed intact... you can see the underside of its ties to the right of the picture (it's leaned up against a couple of trees).  The steel rail from the siding (actually part of the original mainline!) is to the left of the track.  The portion of track with the new ballast replaced the switch.  The new track has a slightly different alignment to provide a smoother transition through the old switch site.  It has also been lifted a few inches to help minimize a dip that was necessary with the old switch.  Trains will be able to stop at Tombstone for passengers to take a walk down to the Lead Mine on the old Right-of-Way.

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Finally, hauling a long, heavy switch to another location:

 

The switch was suspended between two cars, and pulled upgrade to Northview.

It will be reused on the mainline by the enginehouse and will lead to a new turntable that will replace the existing wye.

 

Downsizing a Railroad

Now that some of the rolling stock has been delivered to their new homes, I am slowly beginning the process of taking up some railroad track.  As of today, I have disassembled 180 feet of railroad track (including a 55' long trestle) and two switches.  This first stage of downsizing will result in the removal of 752' of track in total, so I have a pretty good start on the project.  Disassembling track goes a lot quicker than laying it.

 

The old enginehouse was located where I am standing to take the picture.  The lead went from a switch that was in the track on the right up the ballast to the lower right of the picture.

 

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The depot siding started at the bottom of the picture and continued toward the top of the picture to the right of the mainline.  The pile of old ties are sitting on the ballast of the former siding.

 

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This is a flatcar load of rotten ties being hauled off for disposal.

 

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By reducing the total amount of track, the railroad should require less maintenance, leaving more time to work on steam locomotives.  I will keep enough track to exercise the trains, but I am trying to reduce the size of the railroad quite a bit.

Caboose #56 at the Railroad Historical Museum

Today Caboose #56 was delivered to its new home at the Railroad Historical Museum in Springfield, Missouri.  The shed was unloaded, track laid, and the caboose rolled into position.  The track will be ballasted soon and the everything will be ready for display.

The museum is located at Grant Beach park, and is home to Frisco 4-8-4 steam locomotive #4524 as well as many other railroad artifacts.  It is open on Saturday afternoons from 2 - 4 PM from May through October.  The museum is ran and maintained by a dedicated group of volunteers... stop in, see the little caboose and the big steam locomotive and say "Hi"!

A Visit to the C&H RR

A couple of weeks back, Rick and I headed west to visit our friends at the C&H Railroad.  We had great weather, got to see a couple of Ottaways run, took some rides, and I even had some time at the throttle.  As always, we had a great time visiting the railroad and all the great folks that keep it running!  Here is a picture of a passenger train running with Rick along for the ride:

Ready for Interchange

In a couple of weeks, the cars in the picture above will be making their way to a new home.  I am in the process of downsizing the live steam railroad, and these cars won't be needed on the smaller line.  The two heavy flats were stacked together so I can fit everything on my truck and trailer. 

In addition to these four cars, the large caboose will be going to a local museum.  Once all the rolling stock has been delivered to their new homes, it will be time to start reducing the size of the railroad.  Less track should mean that I have more time to work on steam locomotives.  There are some other projects that have to take place in order to get the railroad rebuilt to its new configuration, so check back every so often.

Moving an Enginehouse

The railroad is going through some changes, and first on the list is moving the old enginehouse.  How is that done? With a lot of rigging, jacks, bars, and one heavy duty flatcar...



Before: This is where the old enginehouse has lived for the past couple of years.

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Jack up the building, set I-Beams under it up to the flatcar.

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Slide the building up on the flatcar.

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After rolling it down the track, slide it off on the new site.

 

There you have it - how to move an enginehouse.

There are still a few details to finish, but the hard part is done.

Vaughan, Mississippi

What would make me stop and take a look at this unremarkable section of railroad track... a track that obviously hasn't seen any use in a while, with the wilderness of Mississippi slowly reclaiming the right-of-way?

Down this particular section of track - probably about where the right hand rail disappears into the brush - is the site of a historic wreck.  On April 30th, 1900, John Luther Jones - better known as Casey Jones - rode steam locomotive #382 to his death.  Casey's train would have been approaching us, with his view of the track somewhat obscured by the locomotive's boiler as it rounded the curve.  Accounts vary, but we know that Casey saw the other train too late to stop his own passenger train.  However, Casey was able to slow his train down to about 35 MPH (coming down from a reported 75 MPH) before the collision.  Casey was the only casualty, thanks to his efforts to stop the train.

The site of the wreck is just north of Vaughan, Mississippi.  It is not too far from I-55, although neither the town (which virtually doesn't exist anymore) or the site of the wreck are marked.  It took us a couple of trips over the road and a stop to ask a local man for information before we found it.  The historical marker of the site has been stolen, although we did find the sign post in amongst the weeds.  I pulled up to a driveway crossing the track and walked over it in order to snap this picture.

Some things are worth taking the time to see in person... even if the picture isn't very impressive.

Not a train in sight...

Bonneville Salt Flats - "The Fastest Place on Earth"

 

Yes, we stopped by the Bonneville Salt Flats on our most recent trip.  I didn't know we would be able to actually drive down the same speedway where so many land speed records have been set, or I would have been tempted to take something "sportier".  At any rate, as this picture shows, we took my wife's little Toyota all the way to the shutdown area.  Yes, I took advantage of the opportunity and found out exactly how fast a Toyota Yaris will run.

 

One Hundred and Eleven Miles Per Hour with a slight tailwind.

 

 

There were a couple of other tourists out there such as myself, but only one serious contender for a land speed record... The Castrol Rocket.  I stumbled upon the crew as I was looking for some information about the speedway.  They were friendly and helpful, answering my questions, and then casually asked if I would like to see their motorcycle.  Motorcycle?  Yes, I want to see it!  I stepped into their cargo trailer and was blown away by what I saw.  My pictures don't do it justice, so take a look at their website:

 

http://castrolrocket.com/

 

Two Triumph engines, 3000cc, Turbocharged, 1000 Horsepower.

 

Absolutely Amazing.

 

They were out there doing some test runs.  I got there too late in the day to see it in action, but it is obviously a first class, serious machine.  I look forward to seeing the results of their official land speed record attempt.  God's Speed and be safe, gentlemen.

Water Tank & Windup Trains...

Slow progress on the trains for the past month, but the water tank mentioned in a previous post is now operational, although not finished.  I still have to add the RO filter, but the tank does function as  - well, you know - a water tank.

 

Beyond that, there are some little windup projects to do.  Aside from some upcoming work, I have a little American Flyer Hummer I am repairing for someone else that is getting a new mainspring:

**George's American Flyer Hummer**

Also, I got another little Hafner 109 that needs a new mainspring, too.  It is in good condition otherwise... many times these little cast iron locomotives have some of the parts broken off the body:

**James' Hafner 109**

 

I'm not well versed on the details of Hafner history, but this particular locomotive came with a tag attached from a previous owner stating it dates from the 1914-1920 timeframe.  No doubt about it, it is an old train!

 

 

Steam Engine Parts...

Working on a 100+ year old steam locomotive presents some challenges.  Other than hardware and plumbing, parts have to be machined or fabricated.  Case in point - bushings for the crosshead.  On this locomotive, two of the four bushings were worn out, the other two were missing.  Since these are unique parts to a steam locomotive, new ones had to be machined out of aluminum-bronze barstock.  They are custom fitted to each position in their respective crossheads, so I marked them with a magic marker to keep them in the correct place during reassembly.  Just another step on the way to getting another old steamer running...

2014 Spring Steam

We ran #103 on Sunday and #205 today (Monday).  Had a few railroad friends come by to see the coal burner run, also had some rain showers move through.  We weren't able to run a long freight with #205 as planned due to weather, but we did get a little video both days.

Here is #205 when we were putting everything up as a thunderstorm was rolling in:

Getting Ready to Run...

My spare time today - and for the next couple of days - will be devoted to Right-of-Way and track maintenance.  Today, I worked on the west leg of the Northview Wye.  I replaced the rail on the inside of the curve in an effort to smooth out some kinks that have developed over the years.  There is a lot of mowing and trimming needed, as the woods out here currently resemble a rain forest.  The reason for all the work?  Monday will be spent running #205, enjoying come coal smoke and riding trains.  It looks like nice weather, so it should be a good day to enjoy the big steamer.

In other news... sometimes old toy trains look... you know... old.  While many collectors search out pristine examples of vintage toy trains, I tend to appreciate some of the well-worn clockwork trains that I find.  I've had this Marx locomotive for some time, and have been searching for a comparable tender.  Now, red Marx tenders aren't what I would call rare, but they are uncommon and tend to command better prices than the typical black versions.  However, I was fortunate to find this poor, rusty tender for a cheap price recently... the damaged lithography compliments the scratched paint on the locomotive nicely; it looks like the two items have spent their entire lives together:

Water Tank Construction...

The supporting framework for the new water tank was finished today and set on the concrete pad.  It still needs to be bolted down, but at least it is on site.  The tank itself needs work before it can be set in place, but hopefully it will be done soon.  For now, here is a picture of the current progress:

Happy National Train Day!

Yes, May 10th isn't just the anniversary of the driving of the Golden Spike on the Transcontinental Railroad, it is also National Train Day.  I celebrated by working on a water tank project for the Northview end of the railroad.  I also worked on the new website for the windup trains... it is a work in progress, but you can take a look at it by clicking HERE.  I hope everyone enjoyed National Train Day...

Welcome to The Northview Railroader's Blog!

This is the first entry of The Northview Railroader's blog... a spot to talk about all kinds of things, mainly 12" gauge live steam trains, O gauge clockwork trains, and anything else that crosses my mind.  This is just an introduction, so no major news at this time...