5
Effective at 12:01 AM, Eastern Standard Time
TUESDAY, JANUARY 8, 2013
FOR THE ENJOYMENT OF MEMBERS
AND FRIENDS
C. CRAWFORD……………..… Superintendent
H. G. GOODWIN……………………. Operations
I. D. JACKSON…………………………. Finance
C. G. WHITE ….……………….. Administration
P. RANKIN…………...……………….. Personnel
PIEDMONT DIVISION TIMETABLE
CHARLIE AT THE THROTTLE
The Home Stretch
PIEDMONT DIVISION
TIMETABLE
VOLUME 14, NUMBER 5
Charlie Crawford, MMR
CONSIST
Piedmont Division Superintendent
Another Piedmont Pilgrimage has come
and gone, and while this year’s edition
had some problems, thousands of folks
again saw a grand cross-section of
Atlanta’s great model railroads. Unfortunately, as usual, this year I was only
able to get out on a few weekends.
Seeing a couple of old favorites and
a few new layouts was its own reward.
As always, it’s good to see what others
model railroaders are doing and what
might work on my layout.
We had a great model contest last
November. A lot of models were entered and many of them earned merit
awards. The next contest will be at the
March meeting, and I hope that each of
you will bring an entry. I hope so because you will find that it can be a great
help to your modeling efforts.
The Piedmont Division will also be
participating at the Trains, Trains,
Trains event at the Southern Museum
of Civil War and Locomotive History in
Kennesaw on Saturday January 19th.
We’ll have more details at the January
meeting.
In November, we held elections. I
welcome back our four returning directors and Director of Personnel, Paul
Rankin. Joining the Board of Directors
will be Chris White, our new Director of
Administration. Chris will be filling the big
shoes of Rick Coble. Rick will be taking
some time off from working for the Piedmont Division to build his layout. Rick has
been a rock for the Board in his time as
editor of the Timetable and Director of
Administration. Good luck with the layout, Rick, ol’ buddy, you deserve it. I’m
sure we’ll be after you and your talents in
the future.
With the New Year, we are now in
the home stretch of Peachtree Express
2013. Your convention committee has
been hard at work meeting monthly to
sort out all that has to be done to make
this convention happen. To make the
convention a success, we will need many
volunteers. Please come forward when
asked, we will need your help.
Finally, I’d like to wish all of you a
Happy New Year. While this has been a
tough year for my family, we are doing
much better as my son has nearly fully
recovered from his motorcycle accident.
On behalf of the Division, I’d like to wish
a speedy recovery to Bob Wheeler after
his accident.
Hope to see you all the meetings!
JaN - MAR 2013
PAGE 2
Division Superintendent
Charlie at the Throttle
2
Division Operations
A Blast from the ‘Horn’
3
From the Editor
Why we Pilgrimage
4
Division Report
31 Scouts earn merit badges
5
Contest Report
Some Spiffy Biffies
6
Around the Shops
8
Getting Wired with Tom Gordon
Power Feeding
9
Train Tips with Peter Youngblood
Tips from Paul Boehlert
10
Division Honors Volunteers
11
Scott Chatfield’s Back Shop
Getting Cars on the Rails
12
Welcome Aboard New Members 14
NMRA National Wire
15
Officers & Board Members
14
Meeting Information
14
Division Contacts
15
Form 19 1st Quarter Schedule
16
PIEDMONT DIVISION TIMETABLE
PIEDMONT DIVISION
TIMETABLE
The Piedmont Division Timetable
is published quarterly by
the Piedmont Division
of the National Model Railroad Association
for the enjoyment for members and friends.
The Piedmont Division, NMRA is a registered
501(c)4 not-for-profit Civic Organization
DIVISION OFFICERS
Charlie Crawford, MMR (‘13)
Howard Goodwin (‘13)
I.D. Jackson (‘13)
Chris White (‘14)
Paul Rankin (‘14)
Superintendent
Director of Operations
Director of Finance
Director of Admin.
Director of Personnel
DIRECTORS
Scott Chatfield (‘14)
Mike Deaton (‘13)
David Gelmini (‘14)
Walton Liles (‘13)
Gary Jarabek (‘14)
Joe Sullivan (‘13)
Peter Youngblood, MMR (‘14)
Bill Zawacki, MMR (‘13)
SUPERINTENDENT EMERITUS
Bob McIntyre
NEWSLETTER
Doug Alexander
Bob Wood
Greg Williams
Editor & Publisher
Associate Editor
Associate Editor
CONTRIBUTORS
Scott Chatfield
Tom Gordon
Peter Youngblood, MMR
PRINTED BY
John & Betsy Kelly’s
The UPS Store
1750 Powder Springs Rd, Suite 190
Marietta, GA 30064-4850
770-514-7229
[email protected]
A BLAST FROM THE “HO”RN
Rolling into the New Year
Howard “HOrn” Goodwin
Piedmont Division Chief of Operations
Greetings boys and girls and welcome to
2013! What’s so special about 2013 you
ask? Well, for starters, we are just months
away from our National Convention and it
will be upon us before you realize it. Preparations are underway for its arrival on
many fronts.
Home layouts are being prepared and
spruced up, clinicians are making their
presentations ready and volunteers are
lining up to assist. Right???
Lest we forget, we also have a program to prepare for each month and to
that end, let me give you a brief glimpse of
what is in store for the first quarter of this
year.
Starting with the January offering, we
have Matt Coleman presenting his clinic
“Why model Narrow Gauge”. Many of you
will remember the Logging Clinic Matt presented a year ago in January, so you know
his work. Following up on the weekend is
home layout of Mike Flynn, in Fayetteville,
the HO Scale Elk Gorge and Western Railroad which is as complete a model railroad
as you will find anywhere.
In February, we will have Walt Liles
presenting his clinic on Improving Athearn
Blue Box Locomotives. Our home layout
offering will be the fantastic Pennsylvania
& Baltimore Central N Scale Layout of Bill
Raymond in Jasper (photo below). Featur-
ing a really nice point-to-point railroad
built for operations, you will find his
latest efforts really amazing. Bill is a recent recipient of the NMRA AP Scenery
Certificate, and it’s easy to see why.
March’s clinic is by none other than
Ovidiu Trifanescu, who will be sharing
his thoughts and techniques on model
railroad photography.
Titled “Photography - Models and
Methods”, he will take you through the
steps of good model photography. The
Utah Colorado & Western HO layout of
Perry Lamb will follow the March
meeting. Perry’s is another layout crying
out for the Scenery Certificate. His work,
as well as other participants will be on
display. He is in Legacy Park in Kennesaw.
All in all, the First Quarter is shaping
up to be a really good one with a wide
variety of clinic subjects and home layout tours.
I hope you will attend the meetings
and stay for the clinics!
I don’t think
anyone needs a reason or excuse for
visiting home layouts, since all are indoors and in most comfortable environments.
See you out there, and until next
time, may all your signals be Green!
Members are encouraged to send ideas,
comments, letters, articles and photographs
for publication in the TIMETABLE.
Please direct all Newsletter-related
communications to:
Doug Alexander, Editor
2530 Bohler Rd, NW
Atlanta, GA 30327
[email protected]
Bill Raymond’s N-Scale Pennsylvania & Baltimore Central RR will be open on Feb 17.
JAN - MAR 2013
PAGE 3
PIEDMONT DIVISION TIMETABLE
THE EDITOR’S DESK
Why we Pilgrimage
is THE Train Store
for the Advanced Modeler
From locomotives and cars to
scenery and buildings; from
track and power systems to all
kinds of detail parts; from
books and magazines to sound
advice from a master of the art
of model railroading, Riverdale
Station is well-stocked with
everything you need to bring
your model railroad to life.
6632 Ga. Hwy 85
Riverdale, GA 30274
770-991-6085
Fax: 770-907-4992
[email protected]
Hours: Tues-Sat 10 - 5:30
Find us on Facebook
DISCOUNT COUPON
Bring this Coupon with you
the next time you shop at
Riverdale Station and get
Added Savings off our
low everyday prices!
Not applicable to items already on sale or to
consignment brass locomotives and cars.
Valid through March 31, 2013
Doug Alexander
Editor
For the past ten years, the months of
October and November have been busy
ones for our Division. That of course is
when model railroaders throughout the
Piedmont open
their layouts to
the
general
public for the
annual
Piedmont Pilgrimage. As I write
this, we don’t
have the final
numbers, but it
does seem that
L.B. Groover talks with
a young visitor and his
each year the
mother while another
weekends
of
youngster gets ready to
“railfan” an oncoming
October
and
freight train with the
November get a
camera in his phone.
bit more full.
Timetable contributor Tom Gordon and I had the honor
of operating the trains on L.B. Groover’s
Hillabee & Okfuskee Railroad in Tyrone
last October 13th. Tom and I had a great
time running and talking trains, but the
best part for me was watching L.B. interacting with the children who visited. He
took an interest in each one and answered their questions with patience,
understanding and an obvious love for
model railroading.
Ron Gough, MMR, had a similar effect
on his young visitors, if the letter he
shared with me is any indication. Ron’s
HO-Scale National Southern Railroad was
open on November 4th. A few days
afterwards, he received a hand-written
letter from a young visitor:
Dear Mr. Gough
Thank you for letting me
drive your trains. I love
trains very much. Thats why I
go to these train shows. Thank
you for teaching me how to
drive the trains and telling
me what to do if something
goes wrong..
Sincerely,
John
JaN - MAR 2013
PAGE 4
When I see a letter like this, it makes me
hopeful for the future of our hobby.
I was also encouraged by the number
of people who came into the Hobbytown USA store in Kennesaw (where I
worked weekends over the holiday) who
were looking to buy a first train set for a
child who was “crazy about trains”; or
who at last had pulled down a train set
that had languished in their attic for any
number of years. The magic that trains
bring to the Christmas season cannot be
denied, and the opportunity that gives
us to bring more people into our hobby
should not be missed.
Thank Yous All Around
I am grateful this season for the many
wonderful friends I have made in the
Piedmont Division over the years, but
even more for the great help many of
you have given me in putting this newsletter together over the past year. I am
particularly thankful for the wonderful
on-going contributions to this publication by Tom Gordon, Peter Youngblood,
Greg Williams, Paul Voelker, Rick Coble
and especially Bob Wood, who is a
greater help to me than he knows!
Thank you all so very much.
Running Late...again
Like many a train in the real world, the
Timetable is “running behind the advertised” again. I apologize to all of you,
my fellow Piedmont Division members
and our friends who get this or read it
online. There are any number of reasons, but I have no excuses. I can only
say that I’ll try to do better next issue!
Join us on
Facebook and
learn what’s
new before it’s
news!
PIEDMONT DIVISION TIMETABLE
DIVISION REPORT
31 Scouts Earn Railroad Merit Badges
By Greg Williams
Associate Editor
The Piedmont Division held its semi-annual Boy Scout Merit Badge Day
September 22nd at the Southeastern Railway Museum in Duluth, Georgia with 31 scouts in attendance.
The day began with our team leader John Stevens, who serves as the
NMRA National Boy Scout Merit Badge coordinator, greeting the
scouts, troop leaders, and volunteers. He then covered the days’
schedule, station locations, and general requirements for the scouts. At
the conclusion of the opening session a special certificate was presented to Perry Lamb for his 500th scout. After much applause for Perry
everyone headed to their first assigned station.
The required stations cover safety, car identification, signals, timetables, locomotive operations, and switching. Most of the stations were
manned by NMRA merit badge volunteers Bill Mathewson, Howard
Goodwin, Rick Coble, Joe Gelmini, Tyler Gelmini, Mike Deaton, James
Deaton, Revis Butler, Dave Gilly, Lindsay Lapole, Perry Lamb and Kevin
Bush, and Greg Williams. And we greatly appreciate the assistance of
Cathy Temple who presented the Operation Lifesaver session. Cathy is
not only a certified Operation Lifesaver instructor but a volunteer at the
museum as well.
All of the stations are important to meet the scouting requirements
and my only involvement so far has been on the switching units where
the need for team work becomes very apparent. The boys are paired
up with someone from another group with one starting out as the Conductor and the other as Engineer then swap positions half-way through
the challenge.
I have seen teams that work well, seamlessly moving through the
exercise even leaving enough time to run the process in reverse, to
teams that have troubles understanding the positioning of the switches.
But no matter the level of competency, they enjoy getting the hands on
time with the equipment.
After lunch there was a perfect an example of how the enjoyment of
operating trains is ageless. We were short one scout to make an operating team when I noticed a scout leader in the area. He wasn’t jumping up and down but had a twinkle in his eyes so when asked if he
would like to try he gladly volunteered to fill out the team.
The merit badge program is an opportunity to help teach the next
generation of hopeful railroad hobbyists. So if you have some free
time, enjoy teaching, love to play with trains, and enjoy onion pizza for
lunch I suggest you get in contact with John Stevens to reserve a spot in
the upcoming 2013 schedule.
And for those who think that Duluth is on the other side of the world
you can contact the West side merit badge coordinator Bill Ello. Like
Duluth there will be two sessions for 2013 and they will be held at the
Southern Museum of Locomotives & Civil War History located in downtown Kennesaw.
JAN - MAR 2013
PAGE 5
PIEDMONT DIVISION TIMETABLE
DIVISION REPORT
Spiffy Biffies at
Fall Model Contest
What is it about Model Railroading and
outhouses? For us the two have somehow been intertwined ever since we got
our first copy of the NMRA Bulletin back
‘round 1970. It’s probably all the fault
of the late, great Whit Towers, who
used his position as editor of the Bulletin to spread his brand of HO-scale scatologicality.
But whatever the root cause, we in
the model railroad community like to
stay close to our roots. And so it was
that the theme for the Piedmont
Division’s Fall Model Contest was:
Outhouses.
Modelers had two months advance
notice to prepare their entries. The
only requirement put in place by AP
Program Chair Bob McIntyre was that
they had to be scratch-built.
Some of the entries were straightforward, and some were more fanciful.
Bill Zawacki, MMR (fig. 1), got an
Honorable Mention for his second-story
job. Biffy’s by Revis Butler and Sally
Bando (fig. 4) also were awarded Honorable Mentions for their work.
3rd Place was won by Alan Mole
for his two-level outhouse (fig. 2). The
sign on the door at the top reads
“Politicians”. One can imagine just who
is supposed to use the bottom door.
2nd Place was split between Greg
Williams and Dave Rever.
Greg’s
matching “His and Hers” facilities (fig. 3)
come equipped with flowers for the
ladies.
All were great models, but the First
Place entry was recognized almost immediately by everyone who saw it as
the top winner— a two-story biffy by
Peter Youngblood, MMR complete with
diorama and a button that when pushed
resulted in some very disgusting —
though appropriate — sound effects
(fig. 5).
There’s little doubt that considering the
great work and good humor the entrants
put into their models, Whit Towers is smiling from his golden biffy in heaven.






JaN - MAR 2013
PAGE 6
PIEDMONT DIVISION TIMETABLE
Of course, there were other entries too, not just the ubiquitous
outdoor toilets.
Greg Williams came away with
1st place in Online Structures with
his G-Scale Hand Car Shed. His
entry also won a Merit Award and
Best in Show for the entire contest.
In the Passenger Car category, Joe
Gelmini earned First Place and a
Merit Award for his N-scale openair Georgia Great Southern tourist
car.
U PCOMING E VENTS
TRAINS, TRAINS, TRAINS
January 19
Southern Museum of Civil War & Locomotive History
Kennesaw, GA
The family friendly “Trains, Trains, Trains” event
will be held from 9:30 a.m. until 4 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 19, and will feature crafts, tips and techniques for building a home layout, and a variety of
operating model train layouts. The daylong event
will also include interactive activities, including a
train-themed story time, railroad music and vendors selling a variety of train-related items.
The museum is located at 2829 Cherokee Street
in downtown Kennesaw (exit 273 on I- 75). For
more information, call (770) 427-2117, or visit
www.southernmuseum.org.
_________________________________________
In the Freight Car category, 3rd
Place was awarded to Regis
Brooks for a CSX Coal Hopper
with real coal load, and his beautifully weathered and ‘graffittied‘
Bad Order Western Pacific boxcar
earned an Honorable Mention.
Coastal Rail Buff’s 24th Annual
Railroad and Train Show
January 26 – 27
Armstrong Atlantic State University
Savannah, GA
Savannah’s model railroad club, Coastal Rail Buffs,
annual show will feature the Southeast Georgia
Free Mo Modular layout; a wild-west themed Oscale layout; the N.E. Florida Model RR Club HO
layout and an N-scale layout by Three Men and a
Little Choo-Choo.
The show will take place in The Sports Center of
Armstrong Atlantic State University, located at
11935 Abercorn Street in Savannah. Saturday
hours are from 10am to 5pm and Sunday will be
from 10am through 4pm.
Go to www.coastalrailbuffs.org for more info.
_________________________________
Southern Rails
2nd Place and an Honorable Mention in the Freight Car category
was earned by Joe Gelmini for his
N-Scale PRR Auto-Rack.
First Place in Freight Cars also
went to Joe for this N-Scale
Southern Railway Woodchip car,
lettered for his Georgia Great
Southern railroad.
February 1 – 3
Callaway Gardens
Pine Mountain, GA
Show director Ray Montgomery invites you to
attend "SOUTHERN RAILS", a "traditional meet" for
rail fans, modelers, and specialty railroad vendors.
The meet, formerly called "Narrow Gauge Railway Day", will be held at Callaway Gardens in Pine
Mountain, Ga. and will have a more "down south"
slant and will include traditional elements like
clinics, contests, vendors and above all fun. Additional information is available at their website:
www.SouthernRails.org.
_________________________________
Savannah Rail Prototype Modelers
April 4 - 6
Port Wentworth Community Center
Port Wentworth, GA
$20 for the whole weekend includes displays,
clinics, door prizes, historical societies, friendship
and more. For more info, email Bob Harpe at
[email protected]
or
Denis
Blake
at
[email protected].
JAN - MAR 2013
PAGE 7
PIEDMONT DIVISION TIMETABLE
PIEDMONT DIVISION
HOBBY SHOPS
Italics indicates a NMRA member shop
___________________________________________________________________________
American Hobby Supply
349 North Cobb Parkway
Marietta, GA 30062
678-383-6179
B & B Sales
2332 Henry Clower Blvd
Snellville, GA 30078
770-972-2328
From the “There’s a Prototype for Everything” Dept.
Bob Branin, proprietor at Riverdale Station and a crackerjack model railroader, shared
this photograph with us to show that even if you don’t get your decals exactly straight
every time that you need not worry. It seems, if Norfolk Southern covered hopper No.
293001 is any indication, that the 1:1 scale railroads can make the same mistake!
Blue Ox Trains
425 Market Place
Roswell, GA 30075
404-312-6467
Buford Junction
359 W Shadburn Ave
Buford,GA30518
678-772-7949
Free Time Hobbies
4167 East First Street
Blue Ridge, GA 30513
706-946-1120
HobbyTown USA - Cumming
911 Market Place Blvd., Suite 11
Cumming, GA 30041
770-651-8170
HobbyTown USA - Duluth
3360 Satellite Blvd
Duluth, GA 30096
770-418-0850
AAA Closes its doors
AAA Hobby Supply, long known to modelers for its wide selection of modeling tools,
has closed its doors for good the week before Thanksgiving. We have no information
as to just why this has happened, though it’s a pretty good guess that the state of the
economy had something to do with it. RIP
HobbyTown USA - Kennesaw
800 Earnest Barrett Parkway NM
Kennesaw, GA 30044
770-426-8800
Legacy Station
4153 Lawrenceville Hwy
Lilburn, GA 30047
Toll Free 800-964-8724
Phone
770-339-7780
Riverdale Station
6632 Hwy. 85 Riverdale Plaza
Riverdale, GA 30274
Phone
770-991-6085
Trainmaster Models
601 East Main Street
Buford, GA 30518
678-546-3600
_______________________________________
ELSEWHERE IN GEORGIA
Bull Street Station
1:00 pm ‘till 6:00 pm
307 Kentucky Ave
Savannah, GA
Toll Free 800-611-8521
Phone
912-236-4344
JaN - MAR 2013
PAGE 8
PIEDMONT DIVISION TIMETABLE
Power Feeding
This quarter, I’ll venture into some of
the more esoteric, and abstract, but
when you really think about it, this is
practical stuff.
Have you ever run your engines
around the layout, pulling a nice string
of cars, and it seems to slow down on
one section of track? Never? OK, you,
in the back that doesn’t have the problem, can quit reading.
For the rest of us, here’s a goodie that
I found in Bruce Chubb’s C/MRI Application Handbook (Volume 1) regarding
the sizes of wire we connect to our
track. Bruce has sources,
which I’ll cite for those that
have the reference issues:
Model Railroading – a June
2000 article by Larry Puckett, which was amplified by
Don Fiehmann in the July
2001 RMC. … Ok, enough for
the legal stuff.
So what is the topic? It’s
about how poorly our nickel
silver rail conducts electricity. It really is an extremely
poor conductor of electricity. Actually, it’s worse than that. You
wouldn’t want to use it for anything that
you depended upon to conduct electricity very far. I was shocked when reading
the synopsis. Here’s the table Bruce
Chubb provided:
Rail Size
(Code)
Resistance
(ohms/100ft)
Equivalent
wire size
(AWG)
100
2.8
24
83
4.2
26
70
7.6
28
55
11.1
30
So you may say “So what?” Have you
ever checked the size of the wire that
feeds your LED signal poles? It’s probably AWG 30 – very tiny. So that code 55
rail in your yard conducts just as well as
the tiny magnet wire in those poles?
Wow! And that Code 83 stuff – it conducts like the tiny wire in a Category 5
network cable!
Here’s another item that he pointed
out – which blew away my default of
putting a feeder wire only every 3 feet.
Rail Size (Code)
Required Feeder
Spacing for a .5v drop
@ 5amps
100
3.6 ft
83
2.4 ft
70
1.3 ft
55
0.9 ft
What this says is that if you are drawing
5 amps (OK, that’s a big consist, but also
the capacity of many DCC boosters –
bear with me here), you
would have about a 1/2-volt
drop at the indicated feeder
interval. Go over that interval, and your engines can
noticeably slow down. This
effect is amplified if your
track is dirty.
That’s an operational
problem, but now let’s addresses safety. Let’s consider that nice 5A booster you
are using. If you have a
short circuit, and the short is a bit of a
distance from the feeder, there might be
enough resistance in the rails to prevent
tripping the circuit breaker. Your track
and equipment might just get very, very
hot without any effective circuit protection.
14 volts at 5 amps is 70 Watts – sort of
like a light bulb. That can very bad for
lots of reasons, and the short might ruin
your entire day. Of course, you may
want to check this with the ‘quarter’ test
in HO: Place a quarter across the rails,
and if the circuit breaker doesn’t trip,
you could have a problem and need to
beef up your wiring. At a minimum…
keep a fire extinguisher handy.
The moral of this story – use LOTS of
feeders on your track!
JAN - MAR 2013
PAGE 9
EXTRA
BOARD
Take advantage of
these opportunities to
“Mark Up” on the
Extra Board and
support your
Division!
———————-
Open your Layout for
The Operators
The Operations Special Interest Group
(OPSIG) is looking for local layout owners who would like to host an operating
session for its members during the
2013 NMRA Convention, Peachtree
Express. If you have an operationsoriented layout and are interested in
hosting one or more sessions, contact
Milton Burge at [email protected] or
call him at 678-344-7500.
———————-
Volunteer for
Peachtree Express
2013 is going to be a BIG year for the
Division, and we need everyone's’ help
in making the Peachtree Express convention a success!
All Division mem-
bers are encouraged to attend planning
meetings and become part of this great
event. For more information, or just to
volunteer, contact Chairman Bob
McIntyre at 404-973-9566 or by email
at: [email protected]
PIEDMONT DIVISION TIMETABLE
3 Tips from Paul
My good friend and fellow NMRA Piedmont Division member Paul Boehlert,
sent me the following “Train Tips.” I’m
sure they can be really useful to many of
us and so I thought I’d share them with
you.
Because he’s busy caring full-time for
his elderly mother in upstate New York,
Paul hasn’t been able to attend our Division meetings for almost a year now.
Thank you, Paul, for your generosity by sharing your model
railroading creativity and skills
with the rest of us.
like for my personal taste. So I removed
that foil, painted another piece with Testor’s Pure Gold--again from a spray can-and attached it to the valence. That really
did the trick—the combination of direct
cool white light plus some reflected golden light from the valence looks to me like
a summer afternoon. The slightly crinkled
surface of the foil diffused the light a bit,
which I thought was a good idea. But you
can use any paintable material—primed
plywood, styrene and smooth cardstock
will all work well.
Tip 2: Fading — The 1st Step in
Weathering
Many RTR freight cars are practically
contest-quality right out of the box.
They’re beautiful models, but put them
on your layout and they still look vaguely
unrealistic. I believe that’s because they
Tip 1: Warming Up
Layout Lighting
My snazzy new Super-Bright
LED indirect lighting was easy
to install—but the cool white
light it put out was a little too
cool and blue, and made my
modeling look funny (well, funnier than usual).
Many modelers who use fluorescent lighting in their railroad
rooms have the same problem.
Here’s how I warmed up the
color temperature of my lighting simply
and inexpensively, using an old trick
developed by movie crews.
Following conventional wisdom, I had
painted the back side of my lighting valence white to reflect the maximum
amount of light.
As an experiment I cut a piece of aluminum foil to size and spray-painted it
copper color, using a household color
from
the
local
mega-homeimprovement store. Then I lightly taped
it in place behind the valence, and
turned the LEDs back on.
The reflective copper paint made an
immediate difference, but the resulting
light was a bit too orange and sunset-
sport factory-fresh paint jobs with bright
saturated colors. That’s fine for the occasional newly out-shopped car making its
first revenue trip, but I want most of my
rolling stock to show varying degrees of
weathering.
The first step to realistic weathering is
to fade that factory paint job, simulating
the effects of sunlight and abrasive airborne dust. There are several ways to do
this, but lately I’ve been getting good
results with an airbrush and transparent
paint. That’s right—transparent—paint.
Even when thinned, regular white paint
can still make a car look as if it’s been
splashed with some opaque liquid. But
Transparent Mixing White acrylic paint (I
JaN - MAR 2013
PAGE 10
use Liquitex brand from the art store),
thinned with windshield washer fluid
(yup-the blue stuff. It dries clear.) will
make the paint look ‘let down’ and less
vibrant without simulating an environmental disaster.
Start with a very thinned solution—1
part paint to 10 parts washer fluid—and
test it on a junk car to see how it looks.
You can adjust the mixture to get the
effect you want before airbrushing a
valuable model.
Once the factory paint has been faded, you can proceed with your usual car
-weathering techniques. Faded paint on
structures also looks great, whether it’s
used on wood, Hydrocal or plastic.
Tip 3: Ditch the Centerlines On
Sharp Curves
Those of us who build small layouts
often have to include curves
which are quite sharp, just to
make things fit. But even a
gym-sized empire will often
have tight radii in yard or industrial areas, streetcar lines
or up on the narrow gauge.
Here’s a trick I use to get nice
smooth curves with flex track,
regardless of how tight the
radius may be.
When transferring the track
plan to plywood or foam in
preparation for tracklaying,
we’re taught to draw track
centerlines as our primary
guide. That’s the ticket in most
situations, but on very sharp
radii my trackwork tended to drift away
from the centerline toward the outside
of the curve because of the tension I
was putting on the length of flextrack.
This deviation effectively widens the
radius and can introduce kinks. Not acceptable. So now when plotting a very
tight curve, instead of a centerline I’ll
draw a line corresponding to the outside ends of the ties. When laying track,
I can butt the tie ends up to this line
with great precision, yielding a smooth
curve without deviation. This works
with any type or radius of curve, and
I’ve successfully built derailment-free 7
¼” radii in HO using ordinary Atlas flextrack.
PIEDMONT DIVISION TIMETABLE
PIEDMONT DIVISION HONORS VOLUNTEERS
Since 2006 it has been the custom at the Division’s Annual Christmas Party to recognize exceptional volunteers who are going “above and beyond”
in their commitment to the success of the Piedmont Division. Three awards are presented to members who have distinguished themselves over
the past year. The Brakeman award recognizes members relatively new to the Division who have made significant contributions. The Conductor
award is for those having made on-going contributions for several years. The Engineer is the Division’s top award. It is given to recognizes a member who has made lifetime contributions to the Division, the Region and the NMRA. Congratulations and thanks to all those honored here.
Awards Chairman Joe Gelmini presented the 2012 Brakeman Award to James and Sally Bando (Left); Howard Goodwin was recognized for his
efforts on behalf of the Division as Superintendent and TWO times as Operations Director — among other things — with a Conductor Award
(Center); and Gary Jarabek received The Engineer Award for his life-long dedication to the Division and the hobby (RIGHT). Photos by Greg Williams
rolling down the track. Most of today’s HOscale ready-to-run models have metal
wheels, and we’re starting to see more Nscale models come with them, too.
In the old days, model trucks for freight
and passenger cars were built much like the
Getting Cars On the Rails
Now that we’ve covered couplers, let’s talk
about wheels and trucks. A car with bad
wheels or trucks will make you cuss like a
golfer. Let’s see if we can improve your
language….
Many of those older kits on your shelves
have plastic trucks wheels, unless they’re
really old kits, and then they might be metal covered with enough oxidation to make
The Statue of Liberty proud.
Plastic trucks are usually okay, but
plastic wheels are trouble waiting to happen. For some reason plastic wheels pick
up an ever-thickening layer of crud as they
roll around the layout, and eventually the
crud gets nearly as deep as the flange, and
if you think those little wheels are hard to
put on the track when they’re clean, try
doing it with no flange. Metal wheels rarely pick up crud, and they just sound cool
HO Scale 36” Metal Wheels
Top
Proto:87 Scale wheelset
Middle
Intermountain and Kadee Code
88 semi-scale tread width
Bottom
Intermountain and Kadee Code
110 NMRA standard tread width
real ones, with separate side frames cushioned from the bolster by real coil springs.
Those trucks were easier to make in model
form than the one-piece trucks we often
use today, but they were never cheap, and
lubrication was an issue just like on the real
ones.
Once molding technology was developed to allow the two-slide mold to kick out
one-piece plastic truck frames and wheelsets at the rate of one every couple of seconds, prices came down and just about
every model had plastic trucks and wheels.
There are several brands of metal
wheelsets in HO and N, but not all are equal
or equally suitable for a given truck. Since
the bearing surface is actually a cone shape,
if the axle is somewhat shorter than the
distance between the insides of the sideframes, the wheelset will move laterally
enough to cause all sorts of mischief, especially in curves. If the axle is too long, it
won’t spin properly and your car will act like
the brakes are set.
N-scalers have known for some time
that axle length is important, even though
the differences between brands are only a
few thousandths of an inch. For instance,
Fox Valley makes N-scale wheelsets with
two wheel diameters and three axle
lengths. HO manufacturers still seem to be
Continued on page 13
JAN - MAR 2013
PAGE 11
PIEDMONT DIVISION TIMETABLE
Welcome
Aboard!
Paul Rankin
Director of Personnel
Please welcome these new
members aboard
The Piedmont Division!
R. Barr
Powder Springs
David Beck
Norcross
Charles Robinson
Villa Rica
David Crabtree
Acworth
Jim Foley
Atlanta
Larry Fritchman
Toccoa
Les Garlin
Loganville
Bob Giselbach
Buford
Kenneth Grubb
Woodstock
James Poulin
Atlanta
Craig Knox
Kennesaw
Philip Shafer
Mableton
Richard Stewart
Duluth
Fred Stillwell
Marietta
Rail Barons seek New
Members
The North Atlanta Rail Barons operating
group has immediate openings for new
members in the Marietta, Woodstock
and Acworth area. We meet every Tuesday night except for Piedmont Division
meeting nights. We are a 100% NMRA
member group, so you must be a current
member. If you enjoy operations and/or
have a layout that is fitted for operations
please contact us for gathering location
and info. Contact Walt Liles via email at:
[email protected], or call his cell
at 678-896-6311.
This operating group was started by
Howard Goodwin to accommodate the
model railroaders on the northwest side
of Atlanta in an effort to assist those who
are building or starting home layouts, to
teach the skills it necessitates and to be a
source of fellowship, support base and
encouragement to those in the group. In
less than two years since it's creation, the
most important accomplishment has
been the fellowship derived from participation in the group. Along the way we
are managing to get some model railroads built.
National
Wire
Bill Kaufman, Vice President of Special
Projects, is spearheading a new eBulletin
concept – an electronic communication
sent by email to interested NMRA members on a regular basis. The project is still
in the planning stages, and will be presented to the Board of Directors at the
Winter Meeting in February.
Western Director Jack Hamilton and his
committee are working on a new Long
Range Plan for the NMRA. Jack is still
looking for input from members, and
writes, “The October edition of NMRA
Magazine put out a general call (“NMRA
– Where do the tracks lead?”) to members for input for NMRA strategic planning. There have been a number of excellent responses to the call but not nearly
in the numbers that might be suggested
by the normal level of grousing and
gripes about the organization. This is
your opportunity to make a difference
and have some direct say in the direction
the NMRA takes into our future. This is
Continued on page 15
Whut in Tarnation ?
Those of y’all whut
had Lionel trains when
you was little might
recollect how annoyin’ it was when
the lights in the passenger cars or
cabeese would flicker on and off as
yer train went around on its run. It
just ain’t right, and many of us has
spent most of our good years figurin’ out how to make the lights on
our trains stay lit steady all the
time. (Me, I like batteries, but some
folk pre-fer them electronical transistor thing-bobs that store a little energy to get over bad spots. Ol’ Pete did try some of them, but they
kept explodin’ like some overworked still, so I gave up on that.)
But not good ol’ Lionel, nosiree-bob! Instead of coming up with a fix for the flicker, they figured out how
to make that little ol’ sow’s ear into a silk purse, at least on the extra cars that they made for their Harry
Potter train set — instead of a fix, they just turned the problem into a plus, as you’ll see in these here pictures.
JaN - MAR 2013
PAGE 12
PIEDMONT DIVISION TIMETABLE
BACK SHOP
From page 11
in the dark about this, but Intermountain’s
turned nickel-silver wheelsets fit nicely in
Athearn, Roundhouse, and Walthers trucks.
I used Kadee wheelsets on my models, and
I’ve had no complaints with them. Some
modelers have reported problems with the
Kadees picking up dirt. Like the Kadees,
Walthers’ Proto:2000 wheelsets are cast
metal, but the alloy seem to be a little harder and perhaps less likely to pick up dirt.
PEACHTREE EXPRESS 2013
is YOUR Convention, Piedmonters!
YOU can help to make it the best
NMRA Convention EVER!
VOLUNTEER TODAY!
Does Diameter Matter?
Okay, so you look at all the choices in
wheels and trucks hanging on the wall and
ask “which one
goes on which
car?” Perhaps the
most
common
question I get has
something to do
with the difference
between 33-inch
and
36-inch
wheels. The short
answer is a car
The data and build date
on this Atlas refrigerator
with a load capacicar indicate that it should
ty of less than 80
have 33” wheels with ribs
on the back for heat
tons (160,000 lbs.)
dissipation.
will generally have
33-inch wheels, while a car that can carry
between 80 and 115 tons (230,000 lbs.) will
have 36-inch wheels.
So, how do you know which wheel is
right for your car? The data on the car side
will tell you. Cars painted before 1989 will
have a CAPY under the road number that is
roughly its carrying capacity in pounds
rounded off to the nearest thousand, and
under that is the Load Limit (LD LMT)
rounded off to the nearest hundred. Below
that is the Light Weight (LT WT), the car’s
actually weight measured on a scale. Load
Limit is Light Weight subtracted from the
rated weight limit of the journal bearings.
After 1989 the specs eliminated the CAPY
line and we are left with the more specific
Load Limit and Light Weight painted on the
car. Journal bearing capacity directly determines a truck’s weight capacity, and as
weight goes up the trucks get slightly longer
to spread the load out on the rails better
and make room for the bigger wheels. 40ton and 50-ton trucks, common in the
steam era, had a 5’6” wheelbase. 70-ton
and 77-ton trucks have a 5’8” wheelbase,
100-ton trucks have a 5’10” wheelbase, and
Continued Next Page
JAN - MAR 2013
PAGE 13
PIEDMONT DIVISION TIMETABLE
PIEDMONT DIVISION
Meeting Information
OFFICERS & DIRECTORS
Superintendent
Charlie Crawford, MMR
678-982-4699
[email protected]
Director of Operations
Howard Goodwin
770-529-2103
[email protected]
Director of Finance
I.D. Jackson
770-926-4261
[email protected]
Director of Administration
Chris White
770-594-2618
[email protected]
Director of Personnel
Paul Rankin
770-849-9659
[email protected]
The Piedmont Division meets on the 2nd
Tuesday of each month at the Elks Lodge
located at 1775 Montreal Rd. in Tucker,
Georgia, and is open to all.
D IRE C TO RS
Scott Chatfield
678-467-6480
[email protected]
Mike Deaton
770-552-7888
[email protected]
David Gelmini
770-707-5019
[email protected]
Gary Jarabek
770-509-6941
[email protected]
Walton Liles
678-896-6311
[email protected]
Joe Sullivan
770-664-4725
[email protected]
Peter Youngblood, MMR
770-966-1661
[email protected]
Bill Zawacki, MMR
678-398-7210
[email protected]
Bob McIntyre
404-973-9566
[email protected]
Superintendent Emeritus
BACK SHOP
From page 13
125-ton trucks have 38” wheels and a 6’0”
wheelbase.
Sideframes
The designs of a truck’s sideframe is the
most obvious visual difference in style, and
knowing their names will help you pick out
the right trucks for your cars.
Archbar trucks were the first steel
trucks and were used from the late 1800s
into the 1930s, but the bolts that held them
together tended to work loose with very bad
results. They were finally banned from interchange in 1941, so if you model the
steam-to-diesel transition era or later years
the only cars you might see an archbar under were maintenance-of-way cars, or on
private logging and mining lines.
Introduced around 1900, Andrews
trucks were the first with cast-steel sideframes, and were designed to use the journal boxes from archbar trucks, since the
brass journal bearings were the most expensive part of a truck. There were several varieties of Andrews, with the longest lasting
being the Pennsy’s 70-ton Crown trucks,
which were used under coal cars into the
1970s. Many older cabooses rode on Andrews-style trucks for their entire service
lives.
Cast-steel trucks with the journal boxes
cast integral to the sideframe were developed in the 1920s and lasted in revenue service into the mid 1990s, with the designs of
the Bettendorf Company being the best
known, so much so that modelers tend to
call all such trucks “Bettendorfs.” Many
foundries actually made such trucks, with
American Steel Foundries being the biggest.
In HO scale there is quite a variety of integral
cast-steel trucks, with Kadee and Tahoe
Model Works leading the way, and the only
way to know which is exactly right for your
model is to look at photos.
Ribbed or Flat Back wheels
Before World War II most wheels were cast
iron and had spiral ribs on the backs to help
cool the wheel after heavy braking. By the
war the technology for forging steel wheels
had been developed and these wheels have
smooth backs, and their superior resistance
to thermal cracking meant they quickly
replaced cast wheels after the war. So if
you model mainline railroading after 1945,
most of your cars should ride on smoothbacked wheels. For those modeling before
the War, both Kadee and Walthers Proto
offer 33-inch wheels with ribbed backs.
Wheel Size and Coupler Height
Although 70-ton and 90-ton trucks existed
in the plain-journal bearing era, their reliability was poor, and roller bearings made
the larger car sizes of the modern era possible. Starting in 1963, the 100-ton roller
bearing truck appeared and little has
changed in its basic appearance since. The
roller bearing trucks used in most Athearn,
Roundhouse, and Walthers HO kits between the 1960s and 2000 were generic
100-ton trucks, regardless of the size of
wheels included.
Indeed, on the old
Athearn 3-bay and 4-bay covered hoppers,
replacing the 33-inch wheels they came
with proper 36-inch wheels raises the couContinued Next Page
JaN - MAR 2013
PAGE 14
PIEDMONT DIVISION TIMETABLE
BACK SHOP
PIEDMONT DIVISION
From page 14
COMMITTEE, PROGRAM & ACTIVITY CONTACTS
Achievement Program, Piedmont Pilgrimage
& Peachtree Express 2013 NMRA Convention
Bob McIntyre
404-973-9566
[email protected]
_________________________________________________________________________
Boy Scout Clinics
John Stevens (SERM)
770-632-0753
[email protected]
Bill Ello (Kennesaw)
[email protected]
___________________________________________________________________________
Train Show Manager &
Good & Welfare
Joe Gelmini
770-460-8873
[email protected]
___________________________________________________________________________
Advertising & Promotion
Gary Jarabek
770-509-6941
[email protected]
___________________________________________________________________________
Audio-Visual Production & Promotion
Peter Youngblood, MMR 678-920-8818
[email protected]
___________________________________________________________________________
Book Library
Stephen Leydon
770-338-4966
[email protected]
___________________________________________________________________________
Coffee Coordinator
Revis Butler, Jr.
404-255-9578
[email protected]
___________________________________________________________________________
Division Auction
Howard Goodwin
770-529-2103
[email protected]
___________________________________________________________________________
Division Apparel
Gary Jarabek
770-509-6941
[email protected]
___________________________________________________________________________
Member Aid
Bob McIntyre
404-973-9566
[email protected]
Joe Nichols, Sr.
770-396-6447
[email protected]
___________________________________________________________________________
Operations Experience
Milton Burge
678-344-7500
[email protected]
___________________________________________________________________________
Raffle Layout
I.D. Jackson
770-926-4261
[email protected]
___________________________________________________________________________
Refreshments
George Masak
770-945-6488
[email protected]
___________________________________________________________________________
SERM Layout
Bob Wheeler
770-887-0072
[email protected]
___________________________________________________________________________
Special Projects
Scott Chatfield
678-467-6480
[email protected]
___________________________________________________________________________
Train Show Coordinator &
Video Library
David Gelmini
770-707-5019
[email protected]
___________________________________________________________________________
Volunteers
Walt Liles
678-896-6311
[email protected]
___________________________________________________________________________
Webmaster
Scott Povlot
770-569-4678
[email protected]
JAN - MAR 2013
PAGE 15
plers to the correct height without any
other modifications.
Dragging Trucks
One potential problem to look for on any
plastic truck sideframe is to make sure the
sprue has been cut off cleanly. On most
sideframes it is located on the bottom of
the sag under the “springs”, and since the
truck almost touches the rail at this point,
any extra plastic here will cause the truck to
drag on the track and derail at turnouts or
crossings.
Keep your Wheels on
The trucks included in Roundhouse kits had
a bolster hole that was only as big as the
screw that held them to the frame, and I
found as the cars wound their way around
the layout the truck would slowly unscrew
itself, and eventually I’d have a wrecked
train. One time the screw fell out in exactly
the right spot to short out a turnout, bringing the layout to a halt before the train
wrecked. I knew to look first at the Roundhouse cars in the consist to find the culprit.
I’ve found that many Roundhouse (and
Details West) cars are about .020” too low,
which is conveniently about the thickness
of a Kadee #5 coupler box lid, the half without the sides. I glue this to the car frame to
make a body bolster more like an
Athearn’s, ream out the hole in the truck
bolster so it will fit over my new centering
pin, and now my Roundhouse cars don’t
lose their truck screws and cause random
derailments. So, that’s one less cause for
using colorful language, anyway.
National Wire
From page 12
your organization and your ideas and
input will be treated with equal value
and respect. Please read the October
article and make your desires known to
Western District Director Jack Hamilton
at [email protected] or mail them
directly to Jack at 10731 Warren Road
NW, Silverdale, WA 98383.”
FORM
19
PIEDMONT DIVISION
NATIONAL MODEL RAILROAD ASSOCIATION
FORM
19
Train Order ________
___________,
20 ___
Q1-13
Jan 8
13
By __________________,
Dir.
of
Operations
H. Goodwin
Tues, Jan 8
7 pm— 9:30 pm
Piedmont Division Meeting
Clinic: Why Model Narrow Guage by Matt Coleman
Theme: Refrigerator Cars
Elks Lodge
1775 Montreal Rd
Tucker, GA
Sat, Jan 12
9 am-4 pm
44th Atlanta Model Train and Railroadiana Show
www.gserr.com
North Atlanta Trade Center
1700 Jeurgens Court
Norcross, GA 30093
Sun, Jan 13
1 pm – 4 pm
Open House: Mike Flynn
Elk Gorge and Western RR (HO-Scale)
295 Cedar Lane
Fayetteville, GA 30214
Sun, Jan 13
1 pm
Pidemont Div. Long Range Planning Meeting
HobbytownUSA
Kennesaw, GA
Wed, Jan 16
6 pm
Peachtree Express Committee Meeting
1st Pres. Church of Marietta
189 Church Street, NE
Marietta, GA 30060
Sat, Jan 19
9:30 am—4 pm
Trains, Trains, Trains
Southern Museum of Civil War
& Locomotive History
Kennesaw, GA
770-487-9669
Sat, Jan 26-27 Coastal Rail Buff’s 24th Annual Railroad & Train Show
10 am—4 pm
www.coastalrailbuffs.org
Armstrong Atlantic State Univ.
Savannah, GA
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________
Feb 1 — 3
Southern Rails
www.SouthernRails.org
Calloway Gardens
Pine Mountain, GA
Tues, Feb 12
7:00-9:30 pm
Piedmont Division Meeting
Clinic: Improving Athearn Blue Box Locos by Walt Liles
Theme: Small Diesel Switchers
Elks Lodge
1775 Montreal Rd
Tucker, GA
Sat, Feb 16
1 pm — 6 pm
Piedmont Division Live Auction
1st Pres. Church of Marietta
189 Church Street, NE
Marietta, GA 30060
Sun, Feb 17
1 pm – 4 pm
Open House: Bill Raymond
678-454-6132
Pennsylvania & Baltimore Central RR (N-Scale)
68 Kimberly's Way
Jasper, Georgia 30143
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________
Sat, Mar 9-10
The Great Train Expo
www.greattrainexpo.com
Tues, Mar 12
7 pm — 9:30 pm
Piedmont Division Meeting & Model Contest
Elks Lodge
Clinic: Photography- Models & Methods by Ovidiu Trifanescu 1775 Montreal Rd
Theme: Cabooses
Tucker, GA
Sun, Mar 16
1 - 4 pm
Open House: Perry Lamb
Utah, Colorado & Western (HO-scale)
(770) 218-9744
Cobb Galleria Centre
Cobb County, GA
4034 Palisades Main, NW
Kennesaw, GA 30144-5725