Redwood Empire Division
Bill Williams (The Ancient One)
CALLBOARD Writings from BILL WILLIAMS.
This is the fourth page full of Bill Williams Stories in the Think Small & Tall series.
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Part XXII BIG DREAMS from November 2000 CALLBOARD
We model railroaders have BIG DREAMS usually hindered by small budgets of time or space or money or all three. We need not be trapped by that small budget. THINK SMALL.
You say there is no time for modeling in your busy life. Think again. Those big dreams can be separated into small parts. Researching a project can be cut into small increments if we keep good notes. Often additional bits of information come bubbling to the light as a project matures. Be sure to take note of these little gems of information when they come to you. Remembering which book has a certain picture can be difficult.
Assembling a complex kit might take several months if your time budget is tight. However, the project will progress fine if you plan ahead. A big box or tray on the workbench will keep everything together. Make notes of your progress at each of your work sessions. Those parcels of hobby time might be just five minutes or sometimes half an hour. The important objective is to have frequent sessions. At first you may feel like one person building a moon rocket. Later you will be amazed at the progress you see. (Caution: Protect your work area from small children and pets. They run off with tiny but essential parts.)
Applying the THINK SMALL mantra to your big dreams can also spawn a more workable project. Do you drool when you think of an A-B-A lashup with a string of heavyweight varnish in tow? Several headend cars, a diner, pullmans, coaches and an observation with a drumhead sign will make a beautiful train. Some interesting research will give you the precise consistency of your favorite limited. However, three units of power plus ten or twelve eighty foot cars is one long train. Most home layouts have problems handling these beautiful first class models. The illusion is lost when the front end comes around again before the rear platform fades from sight. A BIG club layout is needed to satisfy our vision of that wonderful name train. But! we can THINK SMALL.
There were SMALL passenger trains. I have memories of thriving branch lines a generation or two back in time. The Nevada County Narrow Gauge comes to mind. A daily mixed train with a combine or coach and baggage-mail car behind a box car or two could keep beans on the table for a passel of short line folks. Modeling such a train will take far less time, less money and certainly require less space. You might get brave and scratch or kit build a car or two. (After all, we say we are modelers.) Certainly a train with one power unit and three to five cars looks better than a faithful model of a name train when we run it on a small layout. If we THINK SMALL, satisfaction can come with less sweat and frustration.
Does your face still look glum? Is your railroad limited to a 12' x 20' G gauge or 4' x 8' HO or 3' x 5' N ? The ready-to-run marketplace has offerings for the very small layouts like yours. If you are in G Gauge, a Galloping Goose and a Railbus are available at prices reasonable for the scale - even cheap by O scale standards. For HO and N layouts of limited size the Spectrum Doodle Bug is a good runner and easy on the budget. Single unit passenger trains are a sensible choice for tiny layouts. When you have just one unit there is time to add little details inside and out. Your passenger train can be unique.
If little Critters make you smile, a Railbus can be fun either scratch built or kit bashed. The narrow gauges ran interesting examples of the Railbus. If you favor standard gauge, books about the Cal Western, Hetch Hetchy and Panama railroads offer plenty of Railbus ideas. You can have BIG dreams about SMALL prototypes. Think like the general manager of a struggling short line.
Dreams are great but this hobby hasmore. Move some of those dreams to the workbench. A small building or a simple car can be very satisfying. Not all projects need to be a challenge. Have fun - a hobby is for relaxing. We often sooth our souls with excess. Just about all of us have kit boxes on the someday shelf. Real neat stuff we hope to build on some unknown day in the future. Remember, today was the future when you went to bed last night. Why not start to work on that neat stuff today? Enjoy some of life's small pleasures.
Brush the cobwebs off your workbench and get a project underway. With enough small bits of time you can get that model on the layout.
Bill Williams The Ancient One
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Part XXIII --A "Whatzit" for HO, TT and N
We are happy with our pollution free diesel locomotives and soot steamers with cold fireboxes. If you model in N, TT or HO let's consider a switchstand that isn't. This device is cheap, simple and also quite useful. Just what you need after the holidays have devastated your budget.
This gadget indicates the position of the switchpoints while looking a lot like a switchstand. We can buy delicate scale withstands that work like the prototype. However, in the small scales they are quite frail and not cheap. If we operate turnouts with ordinary roding or any of the common motor drives, we often need to know the alignment of-the points just ahead of our train. This accessory has a simple target that leans in the direction cars will take through the turnout. It is merely an indicator but it has the look of a switchstand.
Why did the Bodega Western beget this "Whatzit"? My railroad is multigauge. This makes life interesting but there can be problems lEyeballing the rail is often difficult. Bifocal-set engineers need a bit of help to keep the wheels on the rails and off the ties. We wanted an easily recognized indication of the state of each turnout right at the points. There is no time to look at some distant panel or even the fascia as your engine wanders through the yard. The NEED: a turnout position indicator. The DESIRE: a railroady look.
"Look to the prototype for answers" is time honored advice. I
reached for my well worn copy of "Fiddletown and Copperoplis". The same
design of switchstand is pictured five times. Could the design be simplified for
easy construction, provide the needed indication of turnout status and still be
visibly acceptable? I said yes.
The simplification is drastic. I believe in the K.I.S.S. mantra. Why
challenge our meager skills if the indicators could be simple, easy to build
devices, and still assist the optically challenged engineers. The darn things do
the job. As a plus, visitors often speak favorably about the
"switchstands".
You hung in this far. Why not build a sample for your layout? The base is just a folded bit of sheet metal with a small slot. Tin can stock (about .008" steel) works for me. You can be stylish and use .010" (.006" for N) brass or nickel silver if you like. Dimensions are in SCALE feet and inches but not critical. Make changes to fit your needs. The center section of the base may measure much less depending on the space between your long turnout ties.
Solder or ACC a bit of tube to the turnout throwbar where you plan to place
the base. This makes a cup to hold the bottom of the staff.
Cut a strip of metal about four inches wide (Scale INCHES !) for the staff. Remember the ninety degree twist. Solder your target to the staff and you are ready for the trial fit. Place the base astride the long turnout ties and over the cup.
Drop the staff through the slot and into the cup, then adjust the stand on the long ties to get the motion you want as the turnout is thrown. Use your NMRA gauge to be certain that the target will not be whacked by a passing train. You may need to move the cup to get the result you want. When you are happy, attach the stand to the long ties. Depending on materials, use solder, spikes or ACC.
A bit of paint will finish the project. If you wish you can cut the staff a foot or so shorter to reduce the throw of the target. This lowering of the target makes the whole assembly more stable and less likely to be bumped by your big paws.
lAt Canyon on my railroad we have dual gauge. Dual gauge turnouts are easy to understand. But, we also have standard gauge turnouts off the dual gauge. Then there are narrow gauge turnouts off the dual gauge. To fill out the menu there are ordinary turnouts of both gauges.
My targets are a tad large. They have a job to do. I coded the targets. Solid red designates an ordinary standard gauge turnout. Solid yellow is narrow gauge. Red with a yellow stripe warns the narrow gauge engineer that the standard gauge turnout off the dual gauge might derail his train. Likewise, the narrow gauge turnout off the dual gauge has a yellow target with a red stripe. The true dual gauge turnout has a red target with TWO yellow stripes. Turnout numbers on each target add a bit of scenic interest and help visiting engineers find the right handle to pull.
THINK SMALL. Try a sample of the Ancient One's model railroading. With a tiny bit of metal, a small amount of effort, a touch of paint and perhaps two rub-on numbers, you will have a neat little switchstand that ain't..
Bill Williams "The ancient one"
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From the March 2001 CALLBOARD
Do you THINK SMALL when you are rail fanning? San Francisco's cable cars are a fun ride. The gauge is narrow (42") and the cars historic. The little tourist attractions have all the attributes to grab one's attention. Visit Powell and Market. Hundreds of passengers arrive and depart every hour but we can THINK SMALL.
Past Callboard offerings have touted single unit passenger trains -- gas electrics and doodle bugs. The cable car is a single unit train with a two man crew; gripman and conductor. Skunk trains on the Cal Western ran with a crew only half that size.
Some sunny Saturday afternoon take a ride to San Francisco. Then spend fifteen minutes standing on Powell where it meets Market St. Count the trains arriving and departing. You are railfanning one very busy terminal operation set right downtown in a major city. No fancy building, no complex trackage. However, passengers are off loaded, the cars are turned and loaded with outbound people in just minutes. The efficiency of the operation is surprising. The key (heck, the whole essence) to the function of this terminal is the TURNTABLE. Tourists from Holland, Japan and states east of the Sierras snap pictures or shoot video footage featuring the cable car on the turntable. These people are not railfans. We "choo-choo nuts" must understand that a picture of the little car is a major take home item for the tourist. Our motive is different. We think in terms of dioramas, modules and layouts.
A working model of the Powell terminal would be a great project if you hope to be published in the magazines or to stun the crowds at a train show. As a module or part of a home layout, the minimal terminal would be boring. However, there is useful prototype information here. Exercise your imagination. We want a variety of operating possibilities in minimum space. I'm thinking of a shelf in the family room or the hall that shares a wall with the garage where your Plywood Central has grown. Another possibility is a peninsula sprouting off from a module.
This terminal, with operation promise, fits on six feet of shelf just eleven inches wide if you model in HO. For narrow gaugers or folks enjoying N or TT, even less shelf will do the job.
The era is anytime when steam was the prime mover. The front track is for arrival and departure. We model a platform but the station is theoretical. It is behind you, the railfan. Trains enter and leave via the curve at the right. (Remember, I'm thinking of rails coming through the wall from a layout in the garage.) The three-way turnout saves a few inches of shelf. Until 1948 the Carson and Colorado -SPNG- had a three way stub where the rails entered the yard at Keeler. If a three way stub terrifies you, try blending a couple of point turnouts or buy the commercial product. You will save nearly as much space.
A water standpipe is at the left end of the arrival track. Those steamers were thirsty critters. A pause at the water plug to fill the tender cistern will provide another bit of interest as trains are turned at the terminal.
The TURNTABLE provides a way to move the engine from track one to track two. Notice that the length of shelf required is much less than would be needed for a turnout to do the same job. Also the engine and tender can be turned end for end if you wish. This is a major plus when you run steam. Some of us frown upon main line operation tender first. Others lack working couplers on the nose of their engines that have cylinders out where you can see them. The TURNTABLE serves the dual function of pointing your engine in the opposite direction and making a connection to the other track. A nice plus is that you have a choice. You can choose either of these functions or both any time your engine rolls onto the table.
When we THINK SMALL the question is often "How Small?". How much turntable do we need? We are thinking branch line terminal. Fifty car trains will not fit. Cab forwards or Big-Boys would look silly pulling a local passenger, mixed or freight into this SMALL branch line terminal. Suitable motive power would be a ten wheeler or less for passenger and a light consolidation or mogul for freight. The 12 inch to the foot railroads often used 55 foot turntables on branches and picked motive power that would fit. A 4-4-0 was common on the NWP's Gurneville branch. In HO scale a 9 inch table scales out to about 65 feet. A small 2-8-0 will fit but stay away from long tenders. I should not tell you this but most four axle diesels will fit - even M.U.ed 44 tonners. I stretched from 55 to 65 because our old friend Atlas has marketed-a nine inch HO turntable since the days of brass rail.
The middle track provides a path for the engine to get around the train. In addition, we have a siding for interesting operations provided by the back spur's facilities. The false fronts between rail and backdrop give life to the scene and excuses for interesting switching. I suggest three locations along the spur. First, Smiling Sam's Supply can receive cars loaded with lots of different stuff. Like what ? Try butter churns, roll roofing, barbed wire, sheep dip, salt blocks, chicken feed, sacked cement; the list is endless. Next along that back track is the freight station.
Your structure should have a prominent sign to identify the terminal. (The passenger station is behind the spectator looking across the shelf.) A LCL car on every local freight will have business for the freight station. Sears Roebuck shipped sewing machines, wind mills and chick brooders by freight. If Uncle Sam said it was too heavy or bulky for R.F.D it went by LCL on the railroad. For really heavy stuff that arrives on a flat car or gondola, place a pillar crane on the platform next to the team track.
The team track is at the end of the spur because we want the option of off loading from the end of the car via a ramp. Murphy's Livery might receive an end door box car loaded with Studebaker Wagons.
In a later era the load might be Essex sedans. Flat cars can load or unload a wide variety of freight at the team track. Machinery, a new fire engine for the town, stone blocks from a local quarry, lumber either in or out are some possibilities. Do you have cattle cars but no room for a stockyard? Cattle cars on a team track often received boxes of local fruit. Many lug boxes of Sonoma County grapes were sold out of cattle cars in San Francisco. Families pressed the grapes at home to make their own wine.
A short and narrow shelf can accommodate a varied and interesting branch line terminal operation. For rails, you need just a turntable, a turnout and three parallel tracks. A backdrop and two building fronts are the major scenery items. The area is small enough for you to try superdetailing down to buckets and hose bibs.
THINK SMALL AND HAVE FUN !!
Bill Williams - The Ancient One
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Part XXV--TURNTABLE II
From May 2001 CALLBOARD
Any device as lsimple and useful as the TURNTABLE should not be forgotten after only one article in the Callboard. This handy gadget may be just the needed item for that layout revision you are contemplating.
We live in structures that are mostly collections of rectangles. That means lots of corners. Trains want rails with gentle RADII. As we sketch possible paths for our rails, corners are often headscratchers. You know the maxim about lemons and lemonade. Well, a corner can provide useful real estate when you think TURNTABLE. For example: my train room has a dead end terminal on a shelf two feet wide that meets another two foot shelf in a corner. HO, HOn3 and HOn2½ ltracks curve around the corner. Outside of the curves, the corner supports a busy engine terminal.
Separate HO and HOn3 tracks lead to an 85 foot dual gauge TURNTABLE. There is a five stall roundhouse, five field tracks, a fuel track and a shop track all served by the turntable. In HO scale, a simple rotating device using less than a square foot of space provides connections between fourteen different tracks. I counted seventeen separate parking spots for motive power. Wow ! Think SMALL for big results.
The three of you who read my last offering may have a question. "Didn't I tout a 9 inch Atlas turntable for The Small End ?" True, but that was for a small terminal at the end of a branch. The Bodega round house had to accommodate a dream. Like most steam nuts, I wanted an articulated steam engine and they tend to be a might long. Also, a longer turntable can turn single ended passenger cars like the combine for the daily mixed train.
The corner provided ample real estate. The temptation was strong. Bodega's 85 foot turntable is witness to my weakness.
You need not be a master model railroader to build a turntable for your railroad. A solid deck was common, as were plate girder bridges, so construction can be simple. Feeding the electricity to the bridge is a piece of cake if you follow the examples in hobby magazines of sixty or more years ago. Like most of the full size turntables, a circular rail near the outer limits of the pit supports the weight of the bridge. We simple minded modelers provide metal shoes as bridge supports. They slide along the support rails as the turntable rotates. Since those shoes carry the full weight of the bridge we have reliable wiping contacts. Also, we achieve a reversal of the electrical feed to the rails as the turntable rotates through 180 degrees. Insulated sections of the circular support rails and correct connections do the job of sorting out the polarity of the rails as the turntable rotates.
A common worry when homebuilt turnouts are discussed is the critical alignment of the track center line with the center line of the turntable bridge. When the turntable acts as a true bridge then accurate track alignment is required at both ends. An error of less than a millimeter can put the wheels on the ties. If you handlay your track, P.C.board ties do permit repeated fussy adjustments. HOWEVER, the turntable need not serve as a bridge. The problem is avoidable. Why be up-tight when you can relax?
( For a "no problem" turntable in a current magazine, see page 84
of the April R.M.C. )
If the turntable must rotate a few degrees or more between engine on and engine off, the track crew can work relaxed. Just the normal alignment of the rails by eye before moving your engine on to the table, then again when moving off, works every time. Powered turntable drives and fancy alignment devices are attractive embellishments, but they are not essential.
The TURNTABLE is a very useful device. If you are planning a new layout or a track modification, keep the SMALL rotating platform in your bag of tricks. Just a SMALL area can provide lots of action when you exercise all your options.
Think SMALL and have fun !
Bill Williams The Ancient One
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