tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57752912707871442052024-03-05T23:37:20.949+01:00Midnight & Still Later Adventures in designing and hopefully modelling the southern part (from
Albia to Oskaloosa) of the 10th district of the Minneapolis & St Louis set in 1950s Iowa in N Scale.Naomihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18073066248810364811noreply@blogger.comBlogger12125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5775291270787144205.post-77613595143150419442017-02-28T22:42:00.001+01:002017-02-28T22:42:40.077+01:0012 Design considerations 5 - chosen prototype and time period<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">In this post I want to talk about design considerations that are influenced by chosen protoype and time period.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><i>How I got interested in the M&StL</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">One of the first items relating to North American trains that I ever bought, besides Model Railroader magazines, was a postcard of a M&StL train passing by the depot and South Yard at Oskaloosa. Soon after I bought a postcard featureing a beautiful white, grey and blue bulldog nosed diesel locomotive. Which, as it turned out, belonged to the Wabash. To my joy both railroad companies had one direct connection to each other, at Albia in Iowa. At Albia the Wabash Des Moines line from Moberly in Missouri (where connections to the east via Hannibal on the Mississippi river and the Wabash hub in Decatur in Illinois, to the south to St Louis and to the west to Kansas City were made) connected to the original south end of the north-south oriented Iowa Central which was merged into the M&StL in 1912. Before that it had build a long line from Oskaloosa in Iowa to Peoria in Illinois to connect with eastern lines. Moreover, the railroad facilities in Albia aren't very large and thus a lifelong interest started and maybe I can now finally build it. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><i>Bookending the time period for my layout</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">The M&StL was merged into the Chicago and Northwestern (CNW) in november 1960. Many colour pictures taken of the M&StL that I have seen are actually from the first 2-3 years after the merger. Not much had immediately changed. </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">The Wabash was leased by the rapidly expanding Norfolk and Western in 1964.</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">So that sets the later end limit on the timescale.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">The earliest end was set at 1950. By 1951 the M&StL was dieselised. I don't know yet when the Wabash dieselised its Des Moines line. Further refining has given me 2 periods to consider: the colourful years 1952 or 1954 (the latter year saw long serving president Lucian Sprague ousted after a stockholder fight and the former saw the introduction of the 2 EMD SD7s which did trial runs on the line I model) and the years 1958-1959 (well into the red and white period under president Albert Schroeder when the GP9m's and regular GP9s came on the property. At this time the first Alco RS1s were sold too.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Just recently Atlas announced the EMD SD7 in the green and yellow M&StL scheme as well as a new run on Alco RS1s, all in the last green and yellow scheme with 1 numbered in the 200 series. A renumbered loco therefore and that places it in the post 1956 timeframe. The others and the SD7 fit the 1954 era.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">For both periods there is some additional information available in the form of train registers or consists. That helps considerably in figuring out what was going on all those many years ago, We'll see what will get the emphasis..</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">As for the Wabash, there are some models out there, I have an EMD E7, a Fairbanks-Morse Trainmaster and shells for EMD GP7s and GP9s. There will be models of socalled torpedo tube diesels (these diesel locoomotives have an enlarged diesel oil tank or a water tank for a steam generator in the usual place between the truck and the air tanks were moved to the roof) by Atlas later this year too.</span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br />I have not yet thought about the CB&Q and Rock Island locomotives but presume that these lines where dieselised by the mid 50s.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><i>And always there is the lure of steam...</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">But there is still the lure of steam. M&StL's steam engines weren't the biggest and most modern so relatively easy to plan for. No UP Big Boys to contend with. It looks like not even the road's stable of 35 2-8-2 Mikado locomotives, largest on the line, made it to Albia due to weight restrictions on the Des Moines river bridge at Eddyville. Oh well, the 2-8-0s should fare just the same on relatively sharp curves... </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">In november 2016 I took part in a 3 day operating session of our Fremo AmericaN group in Bremen in northern Germany (see <a href="https://www.fremo-net.eu/modulsysteme/baugroesse-n/american/american-aktivitaeten/bremen-2016/" target="_blank">here</a> for a report in German). Most of the trains were run with steam engines including a number of Model Power models. Model Rectifier Corp. is reintroducing a number of the smaller steam locomotives, including a 2-8-2 that is a USRA light Mikado if I'm correct, that </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Model Power had made</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">. The M&StL Mikados were actually smaller than the USRA version. There are also a Mogul (2-6-0) and American (4-4-0) in M&StL available. See <a href="http://www.modelrectifier.com/nsteam-s/256.htm?searching=Y&sort=13&cat=256&show=30&page=3" target="_blank">here</a></span><br />
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Naomihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18073066248810364811noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5775291270787144205.post-14840162159405294702016-10-07T21:53:00.000+02:002016-10-07T21:59:26.289+02:0011 Design considerations 4 - benchwork<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">In this post I want to talk about design considerations that are influenced by benchwork.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>Design considerations as influenced by - benchwork</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Due to the fact that the proposed home layout will be located in the second bedroom of my appartment and the fact that there are no build in storage closets as well as the fact that in the past years things got seriously messy as far as storing things go, the room has to do double duty as storage room.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">That means that benchwork has to be build in such a way that it is possible to do so. Various ways are possible here. However, the need for storage coupled to a lack of woodworking skills and no real interest in acquiring them, lead me to choose the </span><a href="http://www.ikea.com/nl/nl/catalog/categories/departments/living_room/11703/?cid=a1:ps%7ca2:nl%7ca3:year_round%7ca4:ikea+ivar%7ca5:%7ca6:google%7ca7:caroline_searchresult%7ca10:IKEA+%5BBR%5D+-+SERIES+%5Bexact%5D%7ca11:IKEA+-+Series+-+IVAR%7cid:43700008330672639%7ccc:915&gclid=CIDFhb3Y3MoCFReZGwod2s8Lyw" style="font-family: verdana, sans-serif;" target="_blank">Ikea Ivar</a> <span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">storage system as the preferred choice for sub benchwork. The 'real' benchwork will be on top of the planks and because of that can be lighter as it has to support less weight.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Long ago German modeller Rolf Knipper came up with the idea of using an Ikea Ivar system and he described it in MIBA Spezial 73 from july 2007.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Building everything in segments and have some of those segments conform to the module standards of my Fremo group americaN </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">makes it relatively easy to transport them. I plan to build at least Albia in such a way that it can be set up, with extra segments having a standard endplate, as an americaN module.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">The Fremo americaN norm can be found here:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">- general <a href="https://www.fremo-net.eu/en/modular-systems/n-scale/american/" target="_blank">introduction</a> </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">introduction page in English (note most pages are in German)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">- <a href="https://www.fremo-net.eu/en/modular-systems/n-scale/american/american-norm/" target="_blank">standard</a> and recommendations as well as documents pertaining to the mode of operation of our modular model railroad</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Lately a group of America-N modellers have caught the lets model modern industrial parks bug and they came up a with a module standard they call Shelf-and-Tabletop or American ST. More info, in German, can be found here:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.american-st.de/" target="_blank">home page</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I particularly like the lower height for the modules. Less height means less weight when I want to bring a module to a meeting. Since I don't have a driver's license I have to drag the modules around on public transport. That's not a big problem as long as you keep things lightweight and relatively small. The lighter I can make the modules, the easier that becomes. The trick is doing it without sacrificing strength while also protecting the vulnerable scenery on top. I think ST managed to come up with a good working system that can also be employed at home. I particularly think about all the stretches of track outside points of interest when I want to apply this system to my home layout.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><a href="http://t-man-n-scale-modules.blogspot.de/" target="_blank">Marc</a> and <a href="http://www.dertick.de/" target="_blank">Claus</a> show on their blogs what is possible with the system. Peter and Elmar are also doing fantastic work but don't have a blog. Michael has traditionally documented our meets and you can see some of Elmar's work <a href="http://www.rm-dp.de/index.php/rmem/an/187-an-lau2016#" target="_blank">here</a> under Florida branch. And more American ST modules <a href="http://www.rm-dp.de/index.php/rmem/an/177-am-st" target="_blank">here</a>.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Additional advantage of modelling in segments that can also be used as modules is that you can do all the dirty work with water, gypsum, glue etcetera in a place that is better equipped for such things. I my case that would generally be the balcony as it is rather big at 4,5 by 5 meters.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">To recapitulate: segments build ST style (but with separate backdrops most likely) that can be, where necessary, extended with extra segments to conform to the Fremo America-N standard and they rest on top / in an Ikea Ivar storage system that will do double duty with general storage below the model railroad.</span></div>
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Naomihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18073066248810364811noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5775291270787144205.post-85706103289044507052016-04-30T20:19:00.001+02:002016-04-30T20:19:22.190+02:0010 Design considerations 3 - available space<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Health and computer problems kept me away but now that I have a new laptop and some money left it is time to get back to this blog and designing a home layout.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">In this post I want to talk about design considerations that are influenced by available space.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Big dreams need a big space. Mine is only 205 cm by 360 cm ...</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">That seems long enough but the width looks on the narrow side. One way to deal with this is to build a second fully scenicked deck. It isn't possible to build a peninsula down the middle with a big turnback blob by which I could gain height to get from one deck to another and a helix will eat up a lot of floor space too. Not to mention block the movement of people and air as well as narrowing the view in an already narrow room. </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I would really like to keep an aisle width of 1 meter so movement of people and air is not restricted.</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">So how is the model railroad going to gain height?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Going around the room to gain heigth to move to another scenicked deck takes a lot of meters if you want a grade that isn't too steep. There doesn't seem enough length in the room for a corkscrew or nolix (no helix) around the room unless you go twice through the same scene. Not really acceptable. Doing it with a lot of hidden trackage (behind the backdrop) also isn't acceptable as that creates access problems. In Model Railroad Planning 2003 Gary Saxton described his New York, Ontario and Western layout featuring 7 levels in a dining room. For my taste the decks are too close together at 7.5 inches and the second time the train goes around a deck it is 4 inch higher thus closer to the underside of the deck above. As a consequence the sky is then limited. But if you dream big you sometimes are forced to go to extremes. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">One way to gain height is virtually. In this design you do not actually connect the decks with track but either by imagining the connection or manually move locomotives and cars between decks. It is, so to speak, the poor woman's method. Byron Henderson had a proposal in Model Railroad Planning many years ago with the railroads of Hawai as inspiration.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Another big consideration is the room itself. It is finished but comes with restraints. One long wall is a load bearing concrete wall. DENSE concrete as I was warned by the previous owner and the man who installed a new kitchen. As my downstairs neighbour has been finding out as he renovates his appartment one room at a time. The other long wall is made of blocks of sand and quicklime or burned lime pressed together. A common source for building interior walls here in the Netherlands. It is thin however (this is in keeping with the fact that my house is an entry level cheap house) and I have the feeling with these limesandstone blocks that if you point a drill at it that it crumbles spontaneously. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Then there is the door to the room. Of course it swings inward. Do they ever swing outward? It has a steel frame so it is not easy turning the frame around so the door swings outward. Exchanging it with another door in the apartment is difficult too. Multiple decks means operating trains with a closed door and a number of planks or bridges across the door. Or removing the door so in case of danger one can escape quicker. I'm pretty certain the latter will happen eventually. The door is located almost in the middle of the short wall and that leaves enough room for the chosen benchwork on both sides. Phew.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">The window is pretty big, as most windows are in the Netherlands. At least it is east facing so not a lot of heat gets into the room though there is a flat roof above it. Unlike the master bedroom next door which has walls facing east, south and west and the aforementioned flat roof...</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">So the space is not ideal (is it ever when it comes to repurposing a room for a modelrailroad?) but workable. It has to be. Because of its limitations some inventive thinking is needed. What at first seemed simple, an along the walls type of plan, may end up more complex with 2 or more levels, a train elevator and lately I've been thinking about a partially freestanding layout. With helixes no less ... </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">To be continued.</span></div>
Naomihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18073066248810364811noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5775291270787144205.post-25430595936605868982016-02-25T21:35:00.003+01:002016-02-25T21:35:47.971+01:009 Design considerations 2 - skill and energy & willpower<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">In this post I want to talk about design considerations that are influenced by skill as well as energy and willpower.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg06D53ytSbtUtOAyg5jzH_hR-KSlDrYy-WEN5cRz6IVV9QakCAmoHuktWU-UqXfrDL8cLWP5oj2jYKbekKLV5i8eQarviODJkJRPQPZ5E_mFxNylDwJiT01P92-uD2eW9A9e7kNTjf9Tg/s1600/drill.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg06D53ytSbtUtOAyg5jzH_hR-KSlDrYy-WEN5cRz6IVV9QakCAmoHuktWU-UqXfrDL8cLWP5oj2jYKbekKLV5i8eQarviODJkJRPQPZ5E_mFxNylDwJiT01P92-uD2eW9A9e7kNTjf9Tg/s1600/drill.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>Design considerations as influenced by - skills</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Do you have the necessary skills to build a home layout? And maintain it too? I was well on my way to become an avid module builder when my health crashed. I haven't been able to </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">even</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"> repair the problem areas of the modules that had made it to Fremo meetings in a bare state or reconstruct them. Let alone scenic them. But meanwhile I still have what's commonly referred to here in the Netherlands as two left hands. Or to put it bluntly, DIY skills need some serious improvement. The only thing I'm good at is painting walls and windows. I don't like woodwork and after building a couple of modules from scratch myself and now like to buy kits for my modules made from custom lasered lightweight plywood. I'm not very good with a soldering iron either. Which I found out after a particular bumpy ride over sidewalks for my modules when I transported them to a Fremo meeting. The trains don't run when there is no electricity flowing to the rails...</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">This is not insurmountable as it mostly consists of doing it and doing it again but better. It's the getting of my behind that is a big problem right now. Luckily motivation has increased considerably so that helps.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>Design considerations as influenced by - energy and willpower</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">If one thing has been made clear to me in the past few of years it is the fact that I no longer have the raw amount of energy to smash through anything that stands in my way. Nor do I have the willpower to do so (and other things) anymore. Can I sustain enough interest in building a home layout and see it through to a stage that I can run trains? Will my still relatively scarce energy be completely eaten by going back to work and survive a work environment as the person I am? Will my lack of DIY skills mean it takes me longer to get to the point where I can run trains in a bare landscape?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Not biting off more than I can chew is therefore paramount. Designing the modelrailroad I want in phases seems the way to go. First phase has to have a continuous run option for those days when (almost) nothing goes and I just want to watch trains go in circles as a form of therapy.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"></span><br />Naomihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18073066248810364811noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5775291270787144205.post-48685593771213335302016-02-22T23:43:00.003+01:002016-02-22T23:52:51.106+01:008 Design considerations 1 - time and money<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Time, money and space are 3 of the things you have to consider when you start the design of a model railroad. At times all three were lacking but currently it is mainly money that is lacking besides energy. The latter is a long term matter I can only patiently work at. Once it gets better in that department then money will become more freely available again as it means I can work. That, however, is not yet the case. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">In this post I want to talk about design considerations that are influenced by time and money.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSDxPRJWhvg2kseqCG_RhIaGND8cpp2u1poF8CbqDi4Hir6OQRDG4-0sQftZP2npRGiEesPIDYvnA7YgxNaArNV9gKegwIWSKoXpdnJL6c9Sw98eGlVzV7ql6KuC6EibKbGFp330KJOXY/s1600/trainclock.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSDxPRJWhvg2kseqCG_RhIaGND8cpp2u1poF8CbqDi4Hir6OQRDG4-0sQftZP2npRGiEesPIDYvnA7YgxNaArNV9gKegwIWSKoXpdnJL6c9Sw98eGlVzV7ql6KuC6EibKbGFp330KJOXY/s1600/trainclock.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>Design considerations as influenced by - time</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">You can dream about wanting a</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"> big layout all you want but if you don't have time to build it do you have the money to buy it from a professional builder?</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"> Right now I have the time and the space but not the money or the energy. Energy will hopefully improve a lot in the coming year but if it does then I will also get back to work and hopefully full time again. That means a lot less time for activities like model railroading considering that full time means 36-40 hours PLUS travel time. The last time I worked it was 40 hours a week plus 20-30 hours of travel time to wherever my job took me that day. It also took me to a burnout as I had been ignoring a persistent problem. I don't know if I would have ended up in the same place if I hadn't ignored that problem for so long.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Another way of looking at time is that over time things change including the things that interest you. Back in 2008 I enthousiastically dove into the world of Fremo <a href="https://www.fremo-net.eu/en/modular-systems/n-scale/american/" target="_blank">americaN</a>, modular railroading in N scale following North American prototypes. By 2010 I had build a number of modules but for some reason or another they failed. Including on technical grounds due to problems while transporting them to the 2010 Fremo Autumn meeting in <a href="https://www.fremo-net.eu/de/modulsysteme/baugroesse-n/american/american-aktivitaeten/jubilaeumstreffen-20-jahre-fremo-niederlande/" target="_blank">Zuidbroek</a> here in the Netherlands. My skills were not equal to acorns on a bicycle path and small blocks used as pavement for sidewalks. Maybe if I had been given time I could have repaired it and that could have made a positive contribution to my life which was going down the drain very fast at that point in time as it turned out. Now my interests have changed to the point that I no longer want to build modules whose theme is invented but I do want to build modules that follow a specific prototype. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>Design considerations as influenced by - money</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Do you, or rather I, have the money to chase the dream of building a home layout? It ties up a lot of money, some of it (like my chosen mode of benchwork) up front. Much more so than modules do. And independent of the fact if you build, in the end, only one level or multiple levels. Right now money is still scarce. It will get better in a few months but I must still limit myself. Can I maintain momentum? This has proven to be difficult in the past.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Then again, the more money you have the more things you tend to buy. Even things that don't fit into the choosen theme. More levels do tend to lead to more locomotives and cars and you need to send them someplace which then needs to be bigger too. Which was the reason in the first place to finally get going with modules. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>In the restraint the master is revealed.</b> </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I don't necessarily want a large layout, just one that satisfies my needs and that can be completed in a reasonable amount of time, energy and not too much money. Restrictions with regard to theme can definitely help here yet every time I get a grip on this I also get back to dreaming. Something I'm very good at...</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">And round and round we spin, with feet of lead and wings of tin... </span></div>
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Naomihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18073066248810364811noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5775291270787144205.post-47127709248214732512016-02-11T02:49:00.001+01:002016-02-11T02:50:47.176+01:007 The bridges of Mahaska and Monroe counties<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I'm finding more and more interesting stuff to include on the layout. A couple of weeks ago I surfed to </span><a href="http://bridgehunter.com/category/railroad/minneapolis-st-louis-railway/" style="font-family: verdana, sans-serif;">bridgehunter</a> <span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">and saw some quite interesting information about bridges on the line (Scroll to the bottom of page 1). </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">That led to a slight reevaluation of what to include. </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">There are enough bridges over Muchakinock Creek in Mahaska county and Miller Creek and its tributaries in Monroe county in the 23 miles between Oskaloosa and Albia that at least some must be included. They can serve as mini scenes as well as scene breakers since I plan on having discrete scenes and the scenery will not be continous. This latter as a result of wanting to include the interchanges with the Wabash, CBQ and CRI&P in a functional way with the tracks in the right place versus the M&StL tracks. This means I have to come up with some off scene way to get the other railroads back to the right side of the M&StL tracks. Black boxes might help here and strategically placed scenery will help.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Look at the placement of the trees at <a href="http://bridgehunter.com/ia/mahaska/bh56787/" target="_blank">this</a> Pratt through truss bridge over Muchakinnock Creek (go to photos 5 and 6 or 23 and 31) for instance. The location is north of Givin, south of Beacon in Mahaska county, near Kent Avenue and 290th Street.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.google.nl/maps/place/41%C2%B014'12.0%22N+92%C2%B040'13.0%22W/@41.236588,-92.670198,3a,75y,90t/data=!3m8!1e2!3m6!1s114464596!2e1!3e10!6s%2F%2Flh6.googleusercontent.com%2Fproxy%2FkUj36p5WucQdEoUgHPlBGswhcPi4zjB1e4_Mw7XYMmxoBZMc5LV08gZo5jecu1-n-keDw-d3pWWgt9378hULUmRnW0goVGs%3Dw203-h135!7i1024!8i683!4m2!3m1!1s0x0:0x0?hl=nl" target="_blank">This link</a> take you to google maps and a photo by John Marvig of the bridge looking north in the direction of Beacon / Oskaloosa. Most likely the view of this part of the modelrailroad would be from the east or right of the picture.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">In the same vein, Eddyville has moved up in the list of priorities. Originally I didn't want to include it despite having a long passing siding and a double ended freight spur. It also was the only passing place in later years, after online coal traffic had almost completely dried up. But the discovery of the sand and gravel operations and its scale have led to a reevalution. The interchange with the CRI&P was also a bonus though it might be more difficult to include. But originally I only wanted the bridge over the Des Moines river, more specifically the first half of a through truss span from each end, as a prop to change levels.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><a href="http://bridgehunter.com/ia/monroe/industrial-park-rr/" target="_blank">This</a> is a small bridge on the south end (Bridgeport side) of the Des Moines River crossing. The crossing consists of this bridge, a plate girder bridge, a long dam (I believe it was originally a </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">pile trestle</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">) and the long bridge consisting of 7 Pratt through trusses spanning both the Des Moines river and Muchakinnock creek. Pictures taken from Bing maps.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJHO6SiiRaMCpggd-g5fhQSWROHKRkztUhqBYXjyRnkBqvhCxdOS4enyeIbkpNlg4lfWl1b6FoGEUFP0_1RwACUjtNnGR_ZKgn-HDbkut4ZUr2daX_4hSJDiDnHMJiZSpMNx7zzxshhlI/s1600/Des+Moines+River+bridge+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJHO6SiiRaMCpggd-g5fhQSWROHKRkztUhqBYXjyRnkBqvhCxdOS4enyeIbkpNlg4lfWl1b6FoGEUFP0_1RwACUjtNnGR_ZKgn-HDbkut4ZUr2daX_4hSJDiDnHMJiZSpMNx7zzxshhlI/s320/Des+Moines+River+bridge+1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgF3BuNSz-XYJlXM7qTbykxOAQ12BaJIuC-aVosGnAEhskR_huT6MYcpyKd4zOlqK_zbEV3eC_tVPn6gjUYdQRGasYbkHKD0PVK6EyiQr7MVWkJLsqbS87qZTq1cTvCJEZRJS8tCMUNVm0/s1600/Des+Moines+River+Bridgeport+side+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgF3BuNSz-XYJlXM7qTbykxOAQ12BaJIuC-aVosGnAEhskR_huT6MYcpyKd4zOlqK_zbEV3eC_tVPn6gjUYdQRGasYbkHKD0PVK6EyiQr7MVWkJLsqbS87qZTq1cTvCJEZRJS8tCMUNVm0/s320/Des+Moines+River+Bridgeport+side+1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">And finally just <a href="http://bridgehunter.com/ia/monroe/bh55922/" target="_blank">one</a> reference to one of many crossings of Miller Creek.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Note the relative light construction of all the truss bridges. I believe the M&StL's Mikado 2-8-2 steam engines were not allowed on this line. I'm not aware of restrictions on the diesel locomotives though.</span><br />
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Naomihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18073066248810364811noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5775291270787144205.post-9360645109904294302016-02-04T01:43:00.001+01:002016-02-04T01:44:01.355+01:006 Resources<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Here is a list of resources for modelling the M&StL. I will periodically update this. Particularly with articles and blogs.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Books:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">- Gene Green, <a href="http://morningsunbooks.com/products/minneapolis-st-louis-in" target="_blank">Minneapolis & St Louis in color</a></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">, Morning Sun Books</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">- </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Don L Hofsommer,</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"> The Hook & Eye, A history of the </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Iowa Central</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">- Don L Hofsommer, The Tootin' Louie</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">- </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Don L Hofsommer,</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"> The </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Minneapolis & Saint Louis, a photographic history</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">- </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Don L Hofsommer,</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"> Minneapolis and the age of railways</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">- Dennis Holmes, <a href="http://cnwhs.org/shopping/product_info.php?products_id=404&osCsid=aa11173970c2916c0afbaeef64557de3" target="_blank">Depots</a> </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">on the Minneapolis & St. Louis Railway, CNWHS</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Online:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">- <a href="https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/mstl/conversations/messages" target="_blank">M&StL Yahoo group</a> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">The group has quite a bit of information available. In the past a number of CD-ROMs were produced with much information from the collections of members as well as hard to get information from resources such as defunct magazines etc.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">- <a href="http://www.cnwhs.org/" target="_blank">CNW Historical Society</a> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">This organisation puts out a quarterly magazine and also produces a free online magazine for modelling the CNW and predecessors. It has a good amount of M&StL coverage. The society is also the custodian of a lot of archival material, specifically socalled AFE's or Authority For Expenditure. It encompasses the period 1-1-1912 to 31-12-1956. For much of this period the M&StL was in recievership and needed approval from the bankruptcy judge for every capital expenditure. Basically the whole decisionmaking proces is preserved. Contains lots of drawings, including that of stations and yards.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9NMz6Ktyo6THD8bLrbOIbVPifD2c3AlYYZ7AMlRBqOwW4ONoIhuOW2ovm55nN_ta1iGSivuskQUJO97NyKYN9aAjvYPQdq9PymCfjGwMEvA9ZOnuMPeUDShfsH4W5q0d0pffVe1ZEJHs/s1600/MStL+Depots.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9NMz6Ktyo6THD8bLrbOIbVPifD2c3AlYYZ7AMlRBqOwW4ONoIhuOW2ovm55nN_ta1iGSivuskQUJO97NyKYN9aAjvYPQdq9PymCfjGwMEvA9ZOnuMPeUDShfsH4W5q0d0pffVe1ZEJHs/s1600/MStL+Depots.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">- <a href="http://rrpicturearchives.net/" target="_blank">Railroad pictures archives</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">- <a href="http://railpictures.net/" target="_blank">Railpictures</a> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">- <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/barrigerlibrary/sets/72157640596508173/" target="_blank">John Barriger</a></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"> John W Barriger III from 1944-1941 worked in federal service as the railroad chief of the Reconstruction Finance Corporation. The RFC </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">was a government organisation tasked with financial support to state and local goverments and made loans to bank, railroads, mortgage associations and other businesses. In this capacity h</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">e made 2 trips over the M&StL and either he or an assistant took photos during the trip. His archive is in the St Louis Mercantile Library.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">- <a href="http://digital.lib.uiowa.edu/cdm/search/collection/railroadiana" target="_blank">John P. Vander Maas</a> </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">railroadiana collection contains photos of M&StL depots. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">- <a href="http://sjcook.com/trains/msl/" target="_blank">Sam Cook</a> </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">has a number of photos online</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5zfnnWzFdlz_bjVa3iwpIVf5qAwLmO9U1xVz3Gu-aP9MnapoFLvvpsPWo5tKWzrYn6NdvrhT5sDIRZLsKNBW1p3PZ32zDPPE_ewC98TE6FRR35MuwD_l7bx3Y14yGAWUhVaNykXfLoNk/s1600/photography.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5zfnnWzFdlz_bjVa3iwpIVf5qAwLmO9U1xVz3Gu-aP9MnapoFLvvpsPWo5tKWzrYn6NdvrhT5sDIRZLsKNBW1p3PZ32zDPPE_ewC98TE6FRR35MuwD_l7bx3Y14yGAWUhVaNykXfLoNk/s1600/photography.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Other resources:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">- county plat maps showing who owns what land. Often the old ones have a mention of land owned by coal companies. <a href="http://digital.lib.uiowa.edu/cdm/ref/collection/hixson/id/1252" target="_blank">1930 plat book Monroe county Iowa</a></span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Troy township Monroe county. Note railways not always accurately labelled.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">- <a href="http://www.archives.gov/research/guide-fed-records/groups/134.html" target="_blank">Interstate Commerce Commission</a> </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">archives at the National Archives and Records Administration in Washington DC. The ICC held a survey of the railroads </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">in the years after the temporary takeover during and immediately after Worls War 1 </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">in preparation of a permanent takeover of the railroads by the US government. Many maps, drawings and sketches were prepared and they contain a wealth of data.</span></div>
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Naomihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18073066248810364811noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5775291270787144205.post-55952206145980928192016-02-02T21:29:00.002+01:002016-02-04T01:43:01.268+01:005 Switching in a small yard - America-N module Yard Extension - MP 324.6 Albia<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Bernd from Fremo AmericaN uploaded a video of switching on a small modulae layout. It has the feeling of what I want to accomplish with a model of Albia as Albia has about the same number of tracks.</span><br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/o6FSjacGsvM/0.jpg" frameborder="0" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/o6FSjacGsvM?feature=player_embedded" width="320"></iframe></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Abia had 2 mainlines, one on each side of the depot. On one side there was a double ended track serving a freight house. A team track was nearby. On the other side were a siding and 3 yard tracks. As well as some freight customers and tracks and turntable used for servicing and turning the locomotives ad gas electric motorcars.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9pMsTq3UuJhvF5ObzHAtG7SCeTfkIpUqH7tzGSQF4_zqHvKNRZfX4LlLfTNlu-dmny01VRHSCuW1eSeh-cbEFvES59HHbmlkLcJEMTvESyQ6eC8EIpEXTQfDthfw7Iq9wdad2fdEXYfA/s1600/Albia%252B21-99.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="112" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9pMsTq3UuJhvF5ObzHAtG7SCeTfkIpUqH7tzGSQF4_zqHvKNRZfX4LlLfTNlu-dmny01VRHSCuW1eSeh-cbEFvES59HHbmlkLcJEMTvESyQ6eC8EIpEXTQfDthfw7Iq9wdad2fdEXYfA/s400/Albia%252B21-99.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">M&StL AFE 21-99 CNWHS collection</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Albia should fit on a standard width AmericaN module, which is 40 cm wide at the endplates. It will also fit inside the 50 cm deep Ikea Ivar system I would like to use for my home layout. It has 43 cm between the vertical parts of the legs.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>Naomihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18073066248810364811noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5775291270787144205.post-59075638502276314652016-01-29T01:32:00.001+01:002016-02-04T01:42:52.316+01:004 Design considerations as influenced by<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">The design of any model railroad is influenced by a number of things. The most commonly named in the model railroad press are time, space and money. For me skills as well as energy and willpower are equally important as the first three named. There are also others to take into account.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Design consideration may be constrained by:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">- time</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">- money</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">- skills</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">- energy and wilpower</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">- space</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">- benchwork</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">- chosen prototype and period</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">- yard location</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">- type of operation</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">- chosen scale</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Some design considerations may be more important than others and during the design process it can change as well.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Case in point: my woodworking skills are not great so I opted to go with an Ikea Ivar storage system as my basic benchwork on which modules and segments will rest. However, I'm having problems locating Oskaloosa's South Yard and in particularly the wye at the south end. It's a very big element and doesn't fit into the Ivar directly so I might have to scale back on the way I want to operate the layout. I'm confident I'll find a solution so I can include a functioning wye and with it the operational benefits of including the beginning of the 11 district and the through freights I can then operate. This in contrast to not making the wye functional and then having all freight cars come from North Yard / staging in the shape of transfers. There is drama missing there and what attracted me to the M&StL in the first place where picture of through freights passing the passenger station. I might have to become good enough at woodworking or find another way to include this important part (to me) of the railroad.</span><br />
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Naomihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18073066248810364811noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5775291270787144205.post-10919557546545629682016-01-17T22:56:00.003+01:002016-01-17T23:15:03.043+01:003 A list of all the interesting places along the line<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It's high time I post a list of all the interesting places on the Oskaloosa to Albia line of the M&StL. I'll use the mileposts as markers. Mileposts were calculated with St. Paul Union Depot as the 0 milepost. Most places are so large and / or diverse that I've subdivided them for better presentation of information.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">1 MP 301.1 <b>Oskaloosa</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> - 1a Depot and trackage to North Yard including freight customers north of depot but excluding North Yard itself (with enginehouse) and College area</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> - 1b Freighthouse, team tracks and related freight customer tracks</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> - 1c South Yard</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> - 1d </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Wye including CRI&P and CBQ trackage below wye in cut</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> - 1e </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">11th district to Monmouth and continuing on as 12th district Peoria, both in Illinois, including trackage to freight customers like Clow Valve and interchange with CRI&P</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> - 1f </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">ex CBQ trackage taken over in 1934</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> - 1g CRI&P trackage</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">2 MP 302.6 <b>Tracy Junction</b>, since washout of the bridge over the des Moines River at </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Tracy in 1947:</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span><b style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Fosterdale Junction</b><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> - 2a </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Tracy Junction area but excluding the Beacon area</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> - 2b </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Fosterdale Rutherford coal washer and possibly coal mines nearby</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> - 2c </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Rochester</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> - 2d </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Tracy bridge over Des Moines river and sand and gravel companies</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> - 2e </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Tracy crossing of Wabash RR and Tracy CBQ yard (shared with CBQ)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">3 MP 303.2 <b>Beacon</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> - 3a </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Beacon M&StL</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> - 3b </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Beacon CRI&P including spur to coal mines and junction of line to Oskaloosa and K&D mainline to Evansville and Des Moines right near trestle</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> - 3c </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Beacon ex CBQ trestle across CRI&P and possibly coal mines</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">4 MP 304.9 <b>Excelsior</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">5 MP </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">306.7 </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Givin</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> - 5a </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Givin M&StL including tracks to coal mines east and south of CRI&P crossing</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> - 5b </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Givin bridges over Muchakinnock Creek</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> - 5c </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Givin CRI&P including spur to coal mine west of line</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">6 MP 311.2 <b>Eddyville</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> - 6a </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Eddyville CRI&P interchange and spur to sand and gravel company</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> - 6b </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Eddyville M&StL depot including spur to sand and gravel company besides Des Moines river in town</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> - 6c </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Eddyville Des Moines river bridge</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> - 6d </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Eddyville CRI&P depot</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">7 </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">MP</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> 313 </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Bridgeport</b> including ISU coal fired power plant but not Cargill (too late)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">8 </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">MP</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> 315.9 </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Coalfield</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> - 8a </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Coalfield station sign (depot?)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> - 8b </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Coalfield spur to coal mines</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> - 8c </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Coalfield multiple bridges over Miller Creek</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">9 </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">MP</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> 318.8 </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Lockman</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> - 9a </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Lockman junction to coal mines</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> - 9b </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Lockman coal mines</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> - 9c </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Lockman trestle</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">10 </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">MP</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> 319.4 </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Hickory</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> - 10a </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Hickory station sign</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> - 10b </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Hickory hill including big trestles over Miller Creek</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">11 </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">MP</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> 323.2 </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Maxon</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> Interchange with CB&Q</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">12 </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">MP</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> 324.6 </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Albia</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> - 12a </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Albia Depot & freighthouse (joint with Wabash)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> - 12b </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Albia </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">yard, engine facilities, freight track</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> - 12c </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">crossing of Wabash, M&StL and interurban Iowa Southern Utillities (ISU) including facilities, if any, of the latter interurban</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">13 </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">MP</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Rizerville</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> Junction of line to 1 coal mine and line to Hocking parallel to Wabash and ISU, passing track</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">14 </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">MP</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Hocking</b> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> Coal mines of subsidiary Hocking Coal Company</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">That's a long list of items to consider for a railroad in a small room and clearly not everything will make it onto the layout but not bad for a railroad line only 23.5 miles long, right? Also, not all places existed at the same time so there is that to consider.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It feels like I'm trying to fit a gallon (of 3,785 liters) of railroad in a liter of train room...</span>Naomihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18073066248810364811noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5775291270787144205.post-73332488655247074942015-12-17T01:26:00.002+01:002016-02-12T00:49:49.794+01:002 Distractions<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I have to put the design of the home layout on ice for a bit due to lack of funds. I plan on using Ikea's Ivar storage system as benchwork as I need to store stuff under the modelrailroad. I also want the layout to be easily covered to protect it and I want good lighting.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I'm one of those people who needs to see things in the flesh modelrailroad wise before things sink in as I still have problems visualising N scale. Got some information from my American sources and it seems I have to do some serious thinking as not even a 50 cm deep Ivar is deep enough to contain 4 (of 8) sorting tracks, 2 (of 4) arrival / departure tracks, siding, main and more freight tracks than I thought there were in the South Yard of Oskaloosa Iowa. Not to mention the trackage taken over after the CBQ left town in 1934.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I also need to think about the way I want the storage of trains handled. Current thinking is surround staging on the upper deck featuring Albia Iowa and Hickory Hill down to the Des Moines River at Bridgeport / Eddyville with active interchange by Wabash in Albia and CBQ in Maxon.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">The lower deck will contain South Yard at Oskaloosa down to the Des Moines River at Eddyville. Staging here could be done on a deck below that as the line to Peoria would need to curve into the room and thus a small helix could be used.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Lately I've been thinking about using an elevator to go from one deck to another as there is not enough length available to go from one deck to another unless I go to a helix that blocks too much of the small room (which is 360x205 cm) and I don't fancy a twice around through the same scene to gain height or even more.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">But all the research is an enjoyable thing so that's no great problem. I do need to think of a way to present it here. If only to make better sense of the information and to see where there are still holes in the information. Would also help in presenting it in this blog. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Meanwhile, a German friend offered to help me with the design of the home layout as well as the reconstruction of some Fremo americaN modules I want to reuse. Theme for that is a section of track just south of Interstate 80 in Grinnell Iowa called G&M Junction and a broad curve just south of it. The M in G&M stands for Montezuma and is a nice place to model also, particularly since the Rock Island had a slightly larger station right next to it but coming from the south wereas the G&M (later Iowa Central then M&StL) came from the northwest via a small place called Ewart.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">And then there is Story City Iowa. Another end of the line station on a M&StL branch. This line had its junction at Minerva Junction just northwest of the division point of Marshalltown Iowa and went in a northwesterly direction. The line was build by the Iowa Central & Northwestern, an Iowa Central subsidiary.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I have enough plywood lying around to do Montezuma or Story City. The latter I might do as it is simpler to build and above all easier to transport by train, all straight modules. The Story City line has been reasonably docmented and the line will be a subject for the next layout of a well known M&StL modeller in the USA.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">This shows the situation at G&M junction in 1937. The curve is just south of it *with the two groups of trees at the east side and will include the road crossing the railway. Source is http://www.historicaerials.com/</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRhJxx_GMtwqK1Lm8WxQl7wnbZNUqYO-q0U3V0gPxnBxr6V8QmUbGFwvEB3WHgb19Ap8uCr8FQGIwt7GqWd5s6YmGmobTX9KIRHEneD6Fl1-RjAhDR9R5YTWNVW6H0KHovoK3Sg2mk5Os/s1600/G%2526M+Junction+1937.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="273" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRhJxx_GMtwqK1Lm8WxQl7wnbZNUqYO-q0U3V0gPxnBxr6V8QmUbGFwvEB3WHgb19Ap8uCr8FQGIwt7GqWd5s6YmGmobTX9KIRHEneD6Fl1-RjAhDR9R5YTWNVW6H0KHovoK3Sg2mk5Os/s320/G%2526M+Junction+1937.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Anyway, that's it for this time.</span>Naomihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18073066248810364811noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5775291270787144205.post-27738222552623051942015-10-22T22:54:00.001+02:002015-12-18T01:47:15.105+01:001 Introduction<span style="font-family: verdana, sans-serif;">Hello and welcome to this new blog in which I will document the gathering of information for, the design of and hopefully the building of a N scale model railroad set in 1950s Iowa and based on the south end of the 10th district of the Minneapolis & St. Louis Railroad between Oskaloosa to the north and Albia to the south.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Who am I?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">My name is Naomi and I'm an archivist (by trade and inclination) living in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. I have long been fascinated by the M&StL. I can trace this back to a chance buying of a photograph, showing red and white EMD F units approaching the Oskaloosa, Iowa, passenger station from the north, back in 1988 at a meeting of the Contactgroep NMRA Nederland. I had just joined that group and at the twice a year meeting there was a man selling all kinds of postcards and photographs he had collected when he lived in the USA.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">My second purchase was a postcard of Wabash Railway EMD F units at a location in southern Ontario, Canada. Another fascination (but less intense) was born. Much later I found out that both railroads had one point in common. That point being Albia in southern Iowa.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">For a long time I didn't know what to choose to model and since my railroad interests are rather broad, I collected lots of stuff like books and magazines but never actually build a home modelrailroad. The usual other things like time, space and money interfered too. Around 2006 I made the choice to concentrate on American prototypes and specifically the M&StL. Since then I have dabbled in building modules as I became a member of Fremo and have participated in meetings of the Fremo <a href="http://www.fremo-net.eu/en/modular-systems/n-scale/american/">americaN</a> N scale group since 2009.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">However, a severe physical illness (the result of a medical treatment gone wrong) in 2011 and following years (I'm still not in the clear) let to severe mental health problems as well. So I never got around to fixing the problems I had with the modules I had build.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">It's only now, october 2015, that I feel well enough to try again. I sorely missed having something to run my model trains on. I didn't even have something to let my locomotives go back and forth or in a circle. I'm convinced it would have proven quite beneficial for my mental health if I had.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">So, come along as I try to organise my thoughts, gather information from numerous sources and finally start getting active again in model railroading.</span>Naomihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18073066248810364811noreply@blogger.com3