James River Branch: What's New?

Website News Archive: March-May 2012

29 May 2012

Could the new project be over before it even got started? What looks to be a long, drawn-out battle with UPS has begun, and it will be uphill all the way. As part of their investigation into a claim they'll likely deny anyway, UPS may take possession of the James River Branch in order to examine it. Since I have no idea when (if?) it will be returned, I may not even bother starting the new layout, at least right away. For the next four weeks I may as well focus all of my spare energy on some N scale projects for the National N Scale Convention in Medford at the end of June—yes, that means I'm attending, and I may even be giving a clinic on animation.

28 May 2012

A miserable holiday weekend spent home alone and sick to boot left me feeling quite sorry for myself over UPS trashing my layout. Ultimately I broke out of my funk by pretending I'd planned to build another layout all along. After firing up AnyRail, I pushed track parts and pixels around for a couple of hours until I came up with something satisfying.

What emerged from that design session takes into account virtually all of the lessons I've learned up to now, both positive and negative; I've even officially begun construction, although the only thing I did was cut out a 12- by 24-inch chunk of Gatorfoam—not even worth an image. But it's progress, a forward direction, the theme of my last blog post.

Stop back again soon! I can't promise the updates will be as frequent as they used to be, but things will happen—given that I'm recycling as much as I can, the updates may be fewer but more substantial than if I was starting over from scratch. Meanwhile, please note that, since I'm keeping all of the original content intact (I can hear the regulars cheering), website navigation may be kinda flaky until I've settled on how to segregate/interlink old and new stuff.

26 May 2012

After hearing many anecdotal horror stories, as well as watching countless YouTube videos of shipping catastrophes, I've arrived at the conclusion that my layout was the subject of malicious and/or disgruntled UPS employees. The type and severity of damage indicates more than just rough handling; it suggests it was dropped upside down and/or endwise multiple times. The impacts had to be sufficient to dislodge some firmly packed and attached objects. The damage suggests the entire farm lift-off panel was free to move around inside the crate, and was responsible for the worst of the damage; I moved the lift-off sideways toward the town to observe what would happen, and the path of destruction it would have made matched the real damage. The remainder of the damage was caused by free-moving objects, once they were broken free by the lift-off.

The impacts required to cause the events I reproduced would have been extreme, and had to have happened multiple times. I can envision in my mind the crate being "rolled" endwise across a loading dock: tip it up on end, then let it fall over; repeat. Considering the size and number of dirty scuff marks on all sides of the crate, and the fact that the carrying handles I attached to the ends were crushed, leads me to suspect it was moved around by pushing or dragging while oriented in any random position. Plus, there are forklift marks on the top of the crate, possibly indicating that it was lifted and moved upside-down. Then there was one final sight etched in my mind: when the UPS truck arrived in my driveway and the door opened, I clearly saw the two crates both lying on their sides inside the truck, in spite of the clear "this end up" markings on all sides.

The UPS driver was kind enough to handle them with care—but then, this was in the presence of their owner. He commented on how well the crates were made, and I thanked him for the compliment; he seemed surprised that I was their builder. I told him why: the contents were very valuable, and cited the insurance amounts I'd placed on them. His eyes went wide and he became rather disturbingly quiet, as if he was perhaps witness to their mishandling.

Meanwhile, I've received a great number of supportive messages from modelers everywhere, even from N scalers. Some hoped I would repair the layout, and while it's within my ability, it would be a long, arduous and depressing task. I've been toying with the idea of building a new version of the layout, since most of the structures could be repaired and reused. My tentative plans are to make a smaller version, around 12 x 24, more like a diorama. I would omit the farm (which could be salvaged and turned into a separate diorama) and make the town the centerpiece.

Mind, these are only ideas; anything is still possible at this point. First, I must catch up on the days of work I've missed while examining and documenting the destruction of the James River Branch. Oh, and still no response from UPS, incidentally. I don't know if this is a good thing or a bad thing. It is frustrating, however, because I would like to begin dismantling the layout, but I can't until I know with certainty that they're not going to inspect it. It's purgatory!

23 May 2012

$42,866. That's the figure at which I arrived for the layout replacement cost after almost two full days of research. It's quite realistic as well, based on $10,366 in materials and around 1,300 hours of labor. Of course, UPS wants the lowest figure possible, and offers your choice of replacement or repair. For the latter, I determined it would cost approximately $12,250, comprised of $1,000 in materials and roughly 450 hours of labor (all of which I feel is quite conservative). Eleven pages of documentation have been faxed and mailed to UPS; now comes the wait for their response. This should be very interesting.

22 May 2012

I've been in touch with UPS, and now have a three-page report to fill out detailing the damage done and the costs for repair and/or replacement. This will take some time to document, obviously, considering the extent of the damage. For those modelers with a strong stomach, I've created a web page detailing the worst of the worst. If you're inclined to have a look, you are advised to proceed with caution. And now I could use a few more good stiff drinks...

(Lest anyone get the wrong idea, I don't drink; I merely use the reference as an expression to illustrate my state of mind, which isn't pretty.)

21 May 2012

So far, the UPS claims inspector has neither called nor visited, as I was assured yesterday. Are we surprised?

Meanwhile, I've received a number of supportive messages. One of the nicest was from Rob Super, with whom I spoke at Denver, who wrote, in part—

My discovery and following of your JRB construction blog got me hooked on Z. The fact that the layout is now history adds a note of poignant appreciation to the Denver trip. I am so glad I had the chance to see and examine the real thing. How wonderful that it existed, that I—and I know many others—benefited from it, and that it was so beautifully documented. The website ...is the best Z tutorial I can imagine; I go back to it frequently.

Thank you, Rob. Your thoughtful message makes the painful tasks I face in the days to come easier to take. Who knows what will arise from the ashes of the James River Branch?

20 May 2012

It is with tremendous regret that I make this post. It was not until today that I finally had a chance to uncrate the layout after its return trip from Denver. The James River Branch made it to the National Z Scale Convention with hardly a scratch, thanks to Federal Express, and so a significant number of fellow Z scalers had the opportunity to enjoy the layout in a very-nearly finished state.

The return trip, however, was another story; UPS must have literally kicked the crate the 1,785 miles from Denver back to my home in New Jersey, because almost everything on the layout received some kind of damage, from scratches and dings to being completely smashed. Many rare, valuable items on the layout have been destroyed. So much damage has been done, in fact, that I must declare the layout a total loss. Not to mention the $250 custom Plexiglas display case I had fabricated for it is so badly scratched that it's a loss as well.

On the bright side, the layout was insured for $10,000; on the dark side, I have yet to file a claim, and I can only imagine UPS will fight this one tooth and nail. But since the actual damages exceed the insured amount, I will be fighting back to get every last red cent of the full amount.

One thing is certain: I will never, ever again ship anything via UPS (not that this will make any difference to them; it will only make me feel a little better). If the occasion arises that I must ship a layout somewhere again, it will be via Federal Express, or a private carrier with a solid-gold reputation.

I've now begun the painful task of documenting all of the damage; I will post more photos shortly (or not). Incidentally, the Geordie and Daphne was in absolutely perfect condition. But the James River Branch has gone from the highest of highs (literally as well as figuratively) to the lowest of lows in a matter of weeks. Right now I think I need a few good stiff drinks...

13 May 2012

The Major Event alluded to in the previous post (29 March 2012) is that roughly six months of work have been crammed into six weeks of time in order to have the layout ready for the National Z Scale Convention in Denver, its first national appearance. But I couldn't post any updates during this time without giving away the surprise of showing up unannounced. So now I'll compress all of the accomplishments into one great big special Show Report.

The first thing to note is that the layout is now about 98% complete; in fact, the only items remaining on the to-do list are automobiles and street signs. That's it! Otherwise, it's all finished, including the river. (Which means the graphic in the 29 March post would be all solid green, so I've dropped it from the Plan page as it no longer serves any purpose.)

The first item on the agenda was Mirror Road, named for the stream- and road-extending mirror installed under the bridge. I began by making the road bridge, which was bashed from a modified Peco N scale pony truss railroad bridge. Next came the continuation of River Road from the crossing to the mirror, along with the strip of scenery between the track and the river. I wrapped up this leg of the journey by finishing the James River, using the paint and gloss medium technique.

Next up was the pond and waterfalls. The pond was poured using a clear potting epoxy from Smooth-On. In order to give Auger Creek depth, I repeatedly poured it until the epoxy began to thicken. Then I made the various rapids and waterfalls with gloss gel medium tinted with white acrylic paint; the main waterfall is based on a sheet of waxed paper for extra body.

The final and most substantial effort went into wrapping up the town of Naughtright—and no, I didn't make any last-minute changes. Surprise! Although all of the buildings were pretty much done, I still had to install them all, as well as finish Allen's Alley and the scenery around the junkyard. But the biggest chore by far was wiring all of the lighting effects, which included four animated signs, over a dozen streetlights, building illumination, hobby shop layout, and much more.

On the downside, however, I worked so hard and so fast that I hardly took any photos of Naughtright in its last stages of construction. There are just a few images of Dick's Auto Salvage, Spano's Service Station and Emma's Cafe—just enough to provide an impression of the transition.

In addition to (nearly) finishing the layout cosmetically, I also had to construct a shipping crate (two, actually, since I also brought the Geordie & Daphne), which was quite a process on its own. Plus, I ordered custom Plexiglas enclosures to protect them while on display, and I had to devise a means to illuminate them both, since convention hall lighting always sucks, and Red Lion was no exception.

As the convention neared, I pulled a couple of all-nighters so as to get as much accomplished as possible. Alas, I did not have enough time to get trains running, on either layout—that would have forced me to choose between running trains or getting the layout visually to the 98% mark, and I think it's pretty obvious which was more important to me. Besides, having the trains running would have been a fairly significant distraction for me, as I'd have to monitor their performance and remove the large, heavy Plexiglas enclosures to correct problems.

The layout did suffer a few minor disasters. First, the barber pole stopped working at the last minute, and there was no time to make repairs. Then, as I was packing the layout, the Canal Street crossing shanty suffered irreparable damage. Fortunately I had one of Stony Smith's RP shanties on hand, so after a heptane bath, I upgraded it with an etched brass ladder, gave it a quick coat of paint, and glued it in place after the layout arrived in Denver. As for the trip itself, evidently it wasn't as smooth as I'd hoped, since there was some cosmetic damage indicating the crate had either been dropped or knocked hard; but the damage was relatively minor and easily disguised with the emergency repair supplies I'd brought along to the show.

All in all, the layout was a huge hit, often being the center of attention, with crowds jockeying for good views. I spoke to so many people for so long that I came quite close to losing my voice. And I left the booth only twice, once to get a drink, and once sometime later in response to having had the drink.

Best of all, the James River Branch was awarded Best of Show—which genuinely blew me away. For the record, after 47 years of modeling, this is the very first award I've ever received!

For much more detail on the work that's been done, look for UPDATED entries on the Construction page. Incidentally, the layout is currently still on the road, headed my way. Once it's home safe and sound, I can shoot some more images of the work that was done, and make another, more in-depth update. Stay tuned...

29 March 2012

While this update does not constitute work having been done on the layout (that would be a Major Event!), it does reflect my intention to do something. Recently I've improved the efficiency of my product manufacturing process, which has begun to reward me with a few scraps of free time—the first in over a year. I began by reviewing what's left to do on the James River Branch, and in doing so I noticed the graphic depicting the layout's completion status (below) was out of date, so I updated it to reflect the fact that all of the layout's structures are done.

Stay tuned... there may in fact be a Major Event on the way!