Building and operating the Atlantic Inland

 It’s no secret I am opposed to installing layers of technology on my layouts. While there are as many examples, if not more,  of the successful use of technology on our layouts, I choose to dwell on the failures.  What I’m trying to say is I’m not all that scared of technology, but I’m probably less likely to include some “Trick-bag*” gimmicks on my layout than the average modeler. I have a command control system which worked nearly flawlessly for every session on AIR1. It had some teething problems early on, but these were overcome.  I have operated on NUMEROUS layouts where their Tortoise switch machines operate without a hint of trouble for decades. I have looked at the wiring on many of those layouts and to describe them as “rats nests” is complementary. Yet they soldier on with no issues. The big complaint is when your wiring is a mess tracing problems is that much more difficult. My opposition to adding technology feeds on itself. I say I’m opposed to somethin...

 Do you enjoy annoying people? At op sessions is that part of YOUR fun? So I fly or drive a long way at great expense, I try to play the game to the best of my ability, and try to be the best “Employee”of the host railroad I can be. And your personal measure of success is that you’ve pissed off fellow operators. As a general rule if I’m annoyed enough I leave. I used to leave quietly. Now I make sure the layout owner knows why I’m leaving and as a general rule I never come back. I try not to bad mouth anyone publicly, in fact I usually only share the specifics with a very select few. I’ve grown to realize that different people will have completely different reactions to other people; you make up your own mind. I will generally not allow comments to cloud my opinions of others I have not yet met.  In my case, almost every person that I’ve heard negative comments about, usually turns out to be “okay” by me. I know I’m an acquired taste, so I will always give other people the ben...

 On AIR1 my coal marshaling yard, Pettigrew Yard, was on a turn back curve on the closed end of an aisle. While I thought this curved yard looked good, and by locating it on a curve I maximized the use of space, it functioned poorly.  In order to classify cars on these curved tracks you needed A LOT of tractive force. I started operating this yard with a P2K 0-8-0. Really cool switch engine, and it ran very smoothly, like a watch. However once you began shoving cars into these curved tracks the friction on the curves really reduced the number of cars these switch engines could handle (Andy Sperandeo was a guest Yardmaster and all he did was cuss!). I first changed these 0-8-0’s out for 2-8-8-2’s, but these engines, and impatient operators,  did not always track well through Pettigrew’s east throat. I settled on a pair of Atlas GP-7’s. While this was an aesthetic disappointment, operationally this worked well. On AIR1 curves imposed their penalty on tractive effort in a co...

 Well it IS amazing how time flies. I thought this was my second Christmas during this blog, but it’s my third! Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from the Atlantic Inland Railway Co.

 Railroads create pools of cars in order to supply the needs of a particular shipper. Auto parts cars are often likely to be part of a pool, the various contributing railroads contribute cars to the pool in numbers equivalent to their portion of the line haul. Although not STRICTLY considered such, it can be argued that coal hoppers are part of a pool. I created several pools of cars, cars dedicated to serving one specific industry on my layout. I labeled the car cards to inform the operator that the car was in a pool. The MTY return information on the car card usually listed the industry in question as the return location.  My first pool of cars was modeled before really understanding the industry and commodity. I painted, and decaled a small group of cars for newsprint loading. I probably will retire those cars sooner rather than later. They do have one large door, the idea was the larger door size would accommodate the large rolls of newsprint AND the forklift that was load...

 My basement is unfinished. The walls are covered by a “blanket” of basement wrap insulation (This was a requirement by the county when I built the house. It’s not terrible and I’m just going to leave the insulation in place). What I’m doing is framing in 2x4 walls in front of that wrap. I plan to cover the “public” areas with drywall and those walls that are strictly in the layout area with OSB plywood. My thought there is all the wall area in the layout will be covered by, well, layout. In the areas that I’m planning to drywall; a entry stairwell, hall, and crew lounge (That will double as my wife’s craft area the balance of the time) I’m thinking of building in 2x6 backing at 36” O/C  up from the floor for any eventual hand rail installation. You never know how much help we’ll need as we age. Additionally at 66” O/C up from the floor I’m putting 2x12 backing to allow easy installation of TV hanging brackets (I chose 2x12 because I have a shit-pot full of scrap 2x12 left ove...

 As most of you know I moved to Virginia from California about nine years ago. I am STILL traumatized from that move. Yes the distance was long, and we moved from an urban environment to a rural one (I always say it’s Big City vs Small Town), but it’s all the stuff we moved! My wife and I saved tons of useless “Stuff”. She always likes to accuse me of collecting a lot of junk, but with the exception of the railroad, which to be honest is half of the total, her useless junk pile is equal to mine. A great deal of it has to go to make room for the railroad, and YES, there will be room for this railroad. I’m going to begin shopping for casters so I can build a shit-pot full of rolling carts that will fit under the layout to wrangle this collection. I made a very rough, ball park estimate of casters, four to a cart, and the price was in excess of $800! And I’m not sure that’s going to be enough. THEN I went on Amazon and found four packs of wheels for 1/4 the price! Still, with that sav...