Details that Tell a Story of Decades

Details are part of the richness of modeling, and when we model railroads, there are plenty of details to choose from.

Here's a quick shot on the Onondaga Cutoff that is worth some pondering.  

 

Now and again, I find it is interesting to glance at an image of situations that 'happen' on a modeled railroad.  Recently, Garden State Modelworks did a great job installing a capacitor and proper LED lighting into my model of Conrail welder truck R-5180.  The R-5180 is a Bachmann model from a decade ago, one that ran out of box but was generally a rather poor runner.  It is hard to make models this small work well, but John's hand with a new keep-alive capacitor and LEDs has gone a long way to bringing new life to this little model.  I added details and weathering and we are in business.

Then, we add to the scene a passing ballast train, led by Rapido C30-7 6608. This is a model from their first run, delivered in 2025, with weathering and a crew added by me.  This adds to our collective background along with GP38 7714, an Atlas model custom finished by Southern Tier Modelworks, and some of the usual sundry freight cars - many 30 years old - at Onondaga Yard.  

Three decades of progress are represented here, along with the yard office created by Al Tillotson and my recently-added American flag.  And this is just a random happening as part of operations - in effect, just another day on the OC.  A favorite thing about modeling railroading to me is the ability to come down trackside and just gaze, standing with appreciation on how far this hobby has come and how wonderfully it builds upon itself.  

This month has gone by in a flash, as we had expected it to, with kids busy and family commitments after a series of great operating sessions in April.  There is a lot of good out there, we are fortunate to be busy with good things.  Take some time today to stand and gaze at some of what is going on in your life.  There is always good to come from that.  

The Long View

This hobby of ours is a long-view hobby.  At least for my case, it has stuck with me my whole conscious life, while other hobbies have come and gone again.  This long view requires diligence and a commitment to mindful appreciation of what we are modeling.  But, it's endlessly interesting and fun, too, so it doesn't feel like something to rush through.

Part of a longer game is that we remember things that impressed us even from decades past.  In the pages of Model Railroader magazine, I recall having seen some beautiful maintenance equipment on Michael Tylik's modules, one shot even on the cover of MR.  Years later I was told those models are from a company called Custom Finishing, a tiny firm whose kits were hard to find and even harder yet to assemble.  

A few months back, though, I came across a collection of them by Jerry Britton, and Jerry was downsizing his collection.  I made an offer which was accepted and the models now live on the OC.

 Here's the scene now, after some painting, weathering, repair and modernization of the cast-metal ballast tamper and tie handler crane.  Add in some Mt. Vernon shops decals, and we are set!

With fabulous 3D printed models coming on strong and with secondhand brass models like the single-track Jordan plow behind the tamper, these little cast metal kits complete the scene.  It's been more than 30 years in the making to get them on the Onondaga Cutoff, and seeing that come to life has been a really rewarding part of the long view.  

Don't be afraid of long term goals!  Keep your eyes and mind open, and you get your chance finally to make it happen.  

Using Resources - Sharing the Knowledge

There has never been better time to be a researcher of railroad history, whether recent or long ago.  Never before has so much information been available to us so simply and at such a low cost in dollars or time.  When we consider how things are developing and all the difficult energy in the greater world, it is sometimes easy to forget the bright sides of the internet and social media.

A longtime friend, Ian Clark, has begun to post some photos of his time trackside in the 1990's to the internet.  Ian was a quick friend of mine during my time at Syracuse University and he took time to show me the ropes on NYS&W and Conrail in the area.  He's a gifted photographer and in sharing some of his 'just another day trackside' images, I can draw great information for the Onondaga Cutoff.

This is an Ian Clark image of NYS&W's SY-1, the Syracuse, NY based crew that handled interchange with Conrail and local road freight work in the area.   By 1995 they were doing their interchange at Dewitt Yard, using trackage rights over Conrail from their junction at CP 293 west of town to get on the main line.   

What a wealth of information here!  First, we have four units including a GP18, SD45, B40-8 and F45, all in the attractive 'yellowjacket' paint.  We have the train on the North Runner at Dewitt with the large engine service facility in the background, with various Conrail power being serviced as well as an entire 'camp train' for the track gang - the white trailers on flat cars.  

Later that morning, Ian captured SY-1 leaving Dewitt, this time at CP 286 on the Chicago Line in East Syracuse, NY.  They are coming west on the North Runner for their 6-mile run out to Solvay to regain their own track.  This shot reminds me that I need some code lines as seen on the left, and shows a nice mix of freight cars that confirms the current makeup of the train as modeled.

Both of these images, while familiar to me, were freshly reconsidered thanks to Ian's Facebook posts.  Having resources like this and reflecting on how to improve our models helps the cause.  

Likewise it's fun to share the hobby and layout with young people, including my sons Teddy & Pete, both shown having some fun while switching Euclid Yard.  I work to teach them to be careful with the delicate models and the throttles, but also to enjoy the trains and have fun working together moving cars.  

It remains a wonderful hobby, and a great way to share time together for friends and for family.  I am grateful for both!

~RGDave

A Push to Finish the Yard

With the new DCC system awaiting installation, I am pushing hard to get the yard in service.  Over the weekend, I finished installing the body of the yard including both ladders, all the yard tracks, and the North Runner.  The last few evenings have been spent wiring it, more than 70 feeder wires so far.  That's a lot of rail joints and worse, lots of joints at the back of the layout that require quite a stretch to reach!  But, at long last, all that remains is to wire the feeders to the bus below the layout.

Then it is on to the engine yard, which will be its own challenge, but is considerably smaller than the yard itself. 

Here is the newly-laid East End of Ononodaga Yard, with the yard tracks stretching into the distance.  The main line is to the left, then continuing to the right are the south yard, north yard, and finally the North Runner.  The turnout to the future engine facility is at extreme right.

It won't be this empty for long.  But it will be again a few months from now, when Kristen and I hang the backdrops.  With the yard in service, I will finally be able to put more cars on the railroad too, so I can start to build kits that I've had for years - which will be fun later this winter as a break from layout work!

The view of the yard from the West End is also much more enjoyable now with the yard all in place:

In the middle left of this view, you can see the unique 3-way turnout I am using to allow the North Runner to rejoin the North Yard Ladder.  This saves an important amount of space, as you can see. If I needed another separate turnout for that, I would loose a track in the North Yard. 

It is important to test all this trackwork before going for DCC - derailments now are a hassle but don't fry decoders!  I can fine-tune all the joints, turnouts, and gaps to ensure when I plug in DCC and run the first train into the yard I don't end up with constant problems.  For this purpose, I put together a train of varied cars, and run it through the yard as tracks become 'live' with feeders.  This is a 25-car train, a good length for a future operation that would terminate and originate at Onondaga Yard.  I took the liberty of calling this SEON, Selkirk (Albany), NY to Onondaga Yard.  SD40-2 6495 leads a C30-7A into the North Runner:

Lots of fun.  It will be great to populate the yard once it is all wired, and even more fun to switch the yard with a radio-controlled DCC throttle and train, while mainline trains pass at speed.  Good times coming on the Onondaga Cutoff!

Layin' the Yard

The yard is growing...last week the west end ladder of the South Yard was installed including the first few feet of track on each of the yard tracks.  Last night, I finished some switch modification for the north ladder, and laid that.  Here's a view of the south ladder, crossovers, and weights atop the freshly-laid north ladder:

The sharpest curves in the yard are about 24 inches, though that is an estimate.  Using flextrack, it would have been a good idea to invest in some of the metal guides you can buy for handlaying track that would set the radius definitively.  I'm confident that an estimate will work for yard tracks.

Then, to test my kitbashed 'insulated' (i.e. DCC-friendly) switches, I wired the entire west end of the yard to its own bus wire, just to be sure that an engine would run through the trackwork and not short out.  (A post about how I modified the switches is forthcoming.)  Later this fall, the yard bus will be powered by a separate DCC booster than the mainline, and will have its own power-breaker, so as not to short the whole railroad when there is a minor yard derailment.  So far, so good.

Here is the west end area as it looks now, glued in place and fully wired.  All that remains for new track now is the eventual shortline connection (far back left in this view) and the trackage for Niagara Mohawk Propane (the switch at far right, on the North Runner).

In this view, from left to right:  Track #2, Track #1, South Runner, North Runner.  I'm excited how this whole interlocking turned out - it captures the 'look' of a major interlocking at the end of a yard, and I think it flows nicely.  There are a few rough transition joints that I will use my Dremel to smooth out, but it should work well.  The big curved turnout in the bottom right hand corner there is the #1 Track-to-South Runner connection, and will be wired to throw with the mainline turnout just beyond.  They will function as a crossover.

I will have some time for more yard progress tonight - a few more pieces of track for tracklaying, and then wiring what I put in last night.  Little by little!