5 Perspectives

[mlehman]

I was railfanning the layout tonight since I'm having trouble getting to sleep. At least I had a good idea for a thread that others may want to participate in.

I'm gonna call it 5 Perspectives. Similar to Before and After, this is a photo concept thread, but you don't have to dig out musty old pics to show off the bright and shiny new stuff. 5 Perspectives is about seeing things from different angles to understand the whole better, to tell a story, or to provide different viewpoints. I'll do the example that got me thinking about this thread in a moment, but here's some possible ideas or concepts if you'd like to contribute. Basically, the only "rule" is to tell your story in just 5 pics. The pics may or may not have captions, it's up to you.

* 5 different angles of the same scene, with some variation of distance to the subject. This is what I'll do first.

* The 5 pics in a story is pretty familiar territory, it's just doing it in no more than 5 pics that's the trick. Tell a brief story, like a claymation cartoon or just the more standard model railroad vignettes.

* Showing 5 different views of the same scene is different than the first in that it involves different little folks either present in the scene or implied as present, say driving a car, but you can't quite see who is inside. An Operation Lifesaver one would be a cool idea, where differing views of a grade crossing could tell a story about safety.

* Take a favorite model on out for a spin. Pose it in 5 different real world locations that tell a story. Take it down to the tracks railfanning. Go out to lunch 5 different places during the week and take a cell pic each day. Might be a rather tame 5 Perspectives, but I'd almost bet someone asks you want you're doing out in public with a train.

So here's my first one, taken at Mountain Packing in Durango, which packs the finest meats in the Four Corners. The crew of F-M H10-44 switcher #123 has to sit in the whole as a wayfreight brings it even more work in the form of another cut of stock cars, then has to sit while a passenger got out of town. This 5 Perspectives starts in close, but then zooms out so you can see how the scene fits into this part of the layout, as well as the track arrangement.

[mlehman]

This evening's installment tells a story. It's my first helper op on the standard gauge. I installed a freight brake to hold the back part of the train while the swing helper is cut in at Dove Creek. Here are 5 Perspectives on this. Motive power is all F units a mix of Genesis and Walthers/P2K with sound. The train was 22 coal cars eastbound from the Utah mines. Imagine Minturn to Leadville on Tennessee Pass, but smaller scale.

Helper set was waiting to go to work as the coal drag arrived in Dove Creek


With brakes set n the rear cut of cars, the train power pulls forward to allow the helper set into the train.


Off to the races at 12 mph on the 3%


Wrap-around effect on Muleshoe Curve


At Durango, the process is reversed so the helper crew can head back down the mountain


Who said F units wouldn't look good in Durango?

[calzephyr]

Mike
Very nice article. If I had a layout, I would attempt to add to the post.

It is interesting to see the scene from different angles and how it gives a comparison prospective to the same area. This should also give you the best angle to take future pictures of that scene. The dual track for the narrow gauge probably looks odd to most of us, but normal to the D&RGW in many areas of Colorado.
Thanks for sharing

Larry

[mlehman]

Larry,
Thanks for your comments. The dual gauge is fun and sometimes maddening. 123 is my newest dual gauge switcher and will be far more suitable for several reasons, mostly because it's heavy, made in Austria.

I'm hoping 5 Perspectives is a little easier for people to try themselves than Before & After. Please rest assured there's no need for a layout to participate in 5P.

If you have a model, it could serve, even if it's just 5 pics of it. For instance, What about the underside? That's often unseen, but could make for one of a different set of views. When the weather's nice, I may do something outdoors. And there's always the prototype, which I think also lends itself well to 5P. Done right and you have enough to build a model of many things. I'm hoping anyone with a camera considers what they might do.

[railfan4life]

Five perspectives of a day at Palmer Lake circa 1993.

[Spikre]

Mike,
that BB Stock car and Train Minature stock car are way too clean !!
can understand not wanting to kill the value of the T-M car,but
the BB car should be Fair Game !!
Nice Pics,keep it up !!
some times Sleep is ornery here also,but usually read or eat something
until dropping off.
Spikre

[mlehman]

Jan 18, 2014 12:36:08 GMT -8 Spikre said:

Mike,
that BB Stock car and Train Minature stock car are way too clean !!
can understand not wanting to kill the value of the T-M car,but
the BB car should be Fair Game !!

To tell you the truth, Spikre, the health inspectors made 'em clean things up down at the slaughter house. Since they contract the cars themselves, they have to clean them. When the inspectors not looking, we can slip in some of those somewhat grungy company cars

Jan 18, 2014 12:36:08 GMT -8 Spikre said:

Nice Pics,keep it up !!
some times Sleep is ornery here also,but usually read or eat something
until dropping off.
Spikre

Thanks for checking in. Hoping to make this a regular feature, railfan4life checked in with a great looking lake, so we're off to a good start. I'm wondering who made his GP40-2 with the great lighted numberboards? Nicely done.

[railfan4life]

Jan 18, 2014 19:45:51 GMT -8 mlehman said:

I'm wondering who made his GP40-2 with the great lighted numberboards? Nicely done.

Thanks.  It's an Atlas GP40-2.

[mlehman]

Kevin,
Thanks for verifying that. I suspected it probably was. I've been paying more attention to lighting lately now that the layout is set-up to do night ops. You really notice the locos that have "dead" numberboards.

[toml]

    The Lehigh and New England bridge over the Lehigh River at Lehigh Gap ,PA lives on in HO scale , prototype built in 1911, model built in 2010. Unfortunately,the prototype is gone.

[trebor]

TOML, thats a great scene. L&NE vidio has a scene that looks just like what you are building!

[toml]

Thanks trebor, glad you liked it! I enjoyed working that project very much, though, it did take a little while to complete.

[mlehman]

toml,
Great contribution of a really inspiring build! It's just dramatic as all heck, especially the last pic with the train rolling across the bridge.

[toml]

Jan 20, 2014 6:38:42 GMT -8 mlehman said:

toml,
Great contribution of a really inspiring build! It's just dramatic as all heck, especially the last pic with the train rolling across the bridge.

Thanks Mike! The five perspectives was a great idea. I always love to see photos of your railroad, the dual guage is awesome! The only chance I had to see dual guage in person was at the Bethlehem Steel plant in PA. I think I have more pics of the trackwork than the whole steel complex!

[mlehman]

Tom,
Glad you like the dual-gauge. I've been lucky enough to have seen my fair share of it by virtue of being a mil brat and traveling. The narrowgauge thing charmed me immediately on sight passing through Durango and Silverton (but not riding) in 1967. Then I got into model railroading a few years later and discovered dual-gauge -- and the Rio Grande had it!

Needless to say it took a couple more decades before I really started to scratch that itch. I'm having more and more fun with it as ops develop, although it tends to be a rather hands on endeavor so far, due to the lightness of the dual gauge idler cars. I may have to scare up some DU. I've already slugged them with titanium. So I try to eliminate one idler car and its headaches when I can by using a loco with dual couplers and working from the front of the train as much as possible.

Gotta get back to work, but your prompt may give me some ideas for my next shot at 5 Perspectives.

[mrsocal]

Boy Toml that is one impressive spance you built there. I would not want to be the Bridge Inspector that was responsible for that baby.

[toml]

Jan 21, 2014 12:45:11 GMT -8 mrsocal said:

Boy Toml that is one impressive spance you built there. I would not want to be the Bridge Inspector that was responsible for that baby.

Thanks mrsocal! , the chief bridge inspector would have his hands full for sure! especially monitoring condition of all the eye bars and pins , the most critical parts of the pin trusses.

Tom

[mlehman]

I'll call this edition of 5P "Infrastructure." Staging is that imaginary places where trains come and go from when they're not on the layout itself. My staging came along in stages. Currently, I have 6 tracks + the Main, plus another hidden siding elsewhere on the layout. Heading timetable East, the entrance is concealed under a highway overpass in the upper left corner of this pic.



On the other side.



The top track is a HOn3 helix down to a loop staging area that represents Chama, Alamosa and Santa Fe. Next down is the HOn3 loop-around track. It serves as staging for the Rio Grande Southern and as a continuous run connection to break-in locos, test, etc,. Next is the end of a short spur that presents the Durango powerplant. Then staging tracks 6 and 7 are on one side of the layout room wall and 1 thru 5 are in the separate staging area. The staging area tracks are controlled by NCE Switch-8 remotes on both throats, controlled through the Macro system on my PH PowerPro. A button push lines all the turnouts to entered the selected track.

I have a programming track and workbench right by staging.



My staging is set up to hold trains of the maximum length the sidings will accommodate. The car card boxes hold waybills for incoming loads. I have several storage drawer units under staging that hold off-layout cars easily accessible.



Another shelf holds the paperwork for the staged trains. I use a clip to hold the car cards and a train card. A magnetic strip shows the lead loco assigned.



So that's a look behind the scenes. If you're ever near Urbana, IL and want to run some trains, drop me a PM. I'll also have scheduled operating sessions starting soon and will note that here when I do.

[Spikre]

Mike,
even though not all threads viewed are posted in,do try to
check them all,except DCC,since there is no smell of Frying
Decoders here in the morning !!
but maybe someday,who knows ?
do like the Original T-M cars,and have more of them than BB cars.
even have a few Train Master boxes with the Original name they
had to change.
need any T-M FA-1 drive parts ?
Toml,
great looking Bridge and hopper train.
did actually see an L&NE train or 2 in Sussex county,one was really
moving,they must have been brave,or had some good Pizzas waiting for them
back in Pennsy.
lets see where this thread goes....?
Spikre

[Spikre]

Mike,
nice Pig train,any more pics of it ?
Spikre

[mlehman]

Spikre,
Happy to oblige.

The current motive power, a set of Athearn RTR SD-45s that, of course, really don't need sound units. Which makes the idea of triple Tsunamis kind of obnoxious, because if I turned them up loud enough to drown out the grindy Athearn noises, they'll be too loud for me to listen to.


#81 and its Eastbound twin #80 handle TOFC and expedite "hot" cars as needed. In this case, one of those new Centerbeam cars that rack up serious per diem and a similarly hot MT, one of the coil steel cars in the Geneva, Utah pool. Since there's an AEC plant at Dove Creek, there may be "hot" loads in more ways than one.


In the background of this one you can see Durango lift. We even do narrowgauge TOFC, but not really much call for it, because smart folks located next to the RR tracks.


I've got a few single bottom 54' flats, a Walthers F89F, and a group of 75' Walthers TOFC cars. They run well with surprisingly few issues now they've been tuned.


And we still run real cabooses on this RR, even if the RR isn't real.

[mlehman]

Continuing the TOFC theme, here's another group of 5. First, a close-up of Durango Lift.



The train heads downgrade from Durango and on into the coal-mining town of Hesperus, heading for Utah.



Even in mid-morning, some parts down in the canyons are just starting to seeing direct light.



This is one of those scenes where another 10 feet of track would've been nice, but now the train is rolling into Dove Creek, where you're supposed to imagine the pinto bean co-op's warehouses along the track here.



Leaving the west side of Dove Creek, the westbound TOFC train has no need for the helper waiting for the next eastbound.

[Spikre]

Mike,nice train !!
have a pic here of an NYC Flexi van on a TTX car.
the date was about 72 in the PC Era,but it does show
that Flexis went Piggy Style on occaissions.
Spikre

[mlehman]

Thanks, Spikre.

I guess I was never in the right place at the right time to see Flexivans in service. Any idea if they ran to St. Louis through Terre Haute from Indianapolis, as that's about the only place I was around where I might have seen them back then?

Alas, Walthers is sold out of the Flexivan trailers except for the Milwaukee one. The undec Flexivan car with two trailers is the only car still available, so anyone that needs one, versus just wanting one like me, should act now.

I don't know much about the NYC side of things in Terre Haute, but great grandpa was a clerk who started working for the Vandalia Line, starting in 1910 IIRC from his papers which I have around somewhere. Grandpa was a passenger conductor on the Pennsy until the Great Depression put an end to that. My dad schlepped baggage and freight around for the Pennsy while in college. And there's always our proud son of Terre Haute, Eugene Debs, whose only connection to this story was that he was a great union leader and presidential candidate and his house (now a neat little museum) was my dad's frat house when he was in college and worked for the Pennsy.

My RR career? I play with trains

[Spikre]

Mike,
the main Flexi route was from Chicago to NYC,and Boston.
would think they went from St.Louis to NYC/Boston also,but
not really sure.
Flexis mainly hauled Mail,lots of Storage Mail[catologs,etc],
so would guess NYC put them on heavy Mail Routes.
after PC they started phasing out the Flexis,and went with Pennsy
style Truck Train service on TTX cars.
think the last tru Flexis made to CR,but no data yet,but am looking.
Walthers did do a PC era Flexi.
the other service would be with ATSF on the fast trains to LA and SF
areas.Walthers has done a Santa Fe Flexi,but not sure they had them,but
they did have Containers,and regular Vans.
Spikre

[mlehman]

OK, got a special two-part 5P this time around. I may run out of energy, so 2nd part may be in the morning...

The first 5P is for Spikre, just because I knew he'd enjoy it. Nothing too scenic, just good ol' fashioned model railroading.
I spied this classic little number in my pile of kits I've been working through over the last few months.



Nothing too complex.



Went together well, although fit isn't quite up to current day standards and I wouldn't want those fragile plastic grabs any thinner.



Easy enough, maybe an hour to build and that was taking breaks.



And the Hand of Fate dealt the little Erie box a good play when another recent build was bad ordered from the "long train" I'm putting together for the upcoming ops session. Little Erie got to sub and shined in circling the dogbone on various test runs. The "long train" is a through freight that runs 22 to 26 cars, gets three Tunnelmotors on the point, and adds a swing helper at Dove Creek for the climb to Durango. Gonna be good fun, but it has to run well if those rookies are gonna be shoving on it.

In any case, here the little box is at Cascade Falls, doing great.



Stay tuned for Part Two.

[mlehman]

OK, some shots of Hesperus, which are different than seen before. It's a coal-mining town west of Durango on the standard gauge line to Moab, Helper and on into the rest of Utah. The third rail ends here and it serves as a break-bulk tranfer point for groceries, lumber, oil and livestock.

On the layout, it's the front part of a scene 16' long that also holds Rockwood and its lumbermill above and behind Hesperus. The steep rock cliffs that separate the lower line from the narrowgauge above are mostly RubberRocks, which are just great to work with in situations like this. Those cliffs form a giant 8' long liftout to access a couple of staging tracks underneath.

Entering the scene with Durango and the ASARCO smelter behind the train led by SD45s.



Up against the (Rubber)Rocks



Another angle giving perspective on how this two-level scene works pretty well despite being crowded together



A trackside view looking west. The "mountain" on the right is actually a viewblock on the central penisula. I really like how it adds to the "down in the canyon" feel of this pic.



#5 is a pic taken some time ago. I really like how the light reflects off the RubberRocks. This is yet another liftout.

[Spikre]

Mike,
there should be one of those Erie cars here.
the Front Range problem was Fred lettered any ACF built Steel AAR
cars on the post 1955 body.
those cars should have Rolling Pin Early Improved Dreadnaught ends.
but one will stay as is here as piece of Front Range history.
also like the hard boxes and have gotten rid of most of the Picture Window
boxes that were here.
took a few years,but "the Quest is the Quest" !!
looks nice on Your layout.
is that Paterson Falls ?
Spikre

[mlehman]

Hi Spikre,
I figured the FRP was only approximate, but still a nicely done car. Helped us get away from all those BB Zombies.

The big falls is Cascade Falls, a rather redundant name, but what the heck

[mlehman]

This 5P is all about perspective from an angle I haven't shot before. In the far corner of the Cascade Branch at Black Cat Junction is a popup...



Once there, you can look back at most of the rest of the Cascade Branch, except for Crater Lake and its quarry, which are around the corner at the far end, along with the standard gauge staging tracks below. From left to right, looking from the popup...

First you see this odd-looking "tunnel" which is not a tunnel. When seen from the aisle, it looks like the train is exiting or entering a deep cut. This is where the Cascade Branch enters through the wall from the main layout.



A whole lot of trains below and Under Construction above:



Looking over the turntable, sidings, and stone mill at Purgatory:



And all the way to the right, lots of trees and mountains as the branch climbs past Camp 10 and sidings that aren't yet in place.