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22 June
19 June I'm sure that visitors are getting quite bored with my obsession over the Shay crankshaft. For those few who may still be interested, however, I've finished number six using some starting new materials, namely .010-inch diameter steel wire for the shaft. While this is actually slightly undersize, it allowed me to make the webs—which up to now had been grossly oversized—nearly to exact scale; they're now within about an inch of being correct. And while my crankshafts may be getting worse in stead of better in terms of cosmetic quality, it's now so small that only a strong macro lens will detect the flaws.
Because the crankshaft has interesting three-dimensional qualities to it, I thought a short video might help show it off. (And by the way, there will be at least one more crankshaft to come...) 13 June I'm now 98% of the way to the goal line. After yesterday's failure, instead of retreating to safer ground, I took a bigger risk and made an even smaller, finer crankshaft than ever before. Although I successfully finished it, I think it needs a bit more refinement, so number five probably isn't the last Shay crankshaft to come out of the shop...
12 June
11 May It may not be modeling, but it's progress nonetheless. I've had the honor and distinct pleasure of beginning a series of telephone interviews with Andy Morrison, one of the original Pine Creek volunteers. He's helped clear up some of the finer points regarding the museum's somewhat murky history. He's also responsible for the drawing on a new web page detailing the original Pine Creek property in Marlboro Township. Rendered in 1996, the drawing is akin to the Rosetta Stone! The new page also features many rare early photographs, which I'll be captioning as time permits. 26 March Making a third crankshaft proved problematic: one of the solder joints failed during the very last construction step. So, I'll need to start a fourth. It's times like these that I find it useful to take a break and go do something entirely different, because frustration, no matter how slight, leads to more errors.
20 March While the second crankshaft very nearly scored a bull's-eye, I felt as though it could still be further refined; plus, I've been inching closer to making an attempt to power it, which means adding a gear in the assembly. So, I've begun work on a third crankshaft. Meanwhile, I finished painting and ballasting the switch (below), and for fun I've added a photo gallery featuring my latest modeling—minimal thought it may be at the moment.
14 March As a bona fide member of the New Jersey Museum of Transportation, I attended their annual meeting and 10th annual awards dinner last night. It was a wonderful evening, and I had a chance to meet more members. This morning, however, plans to drive up to Allaire had to be scrubbed owing to a torrential rainstorm. So, I did some modeling instead.
Exciting as it was to successfully complete the Shay crankshaft, after the euphoria wore down, I took a hard, critical look at the part, and decided I could do better. Then... I made a switch! This new stretch of test track was laid using a radically different technique: the ties are solid brass soldered to a solid PC board roadbed. While incredibly labor-intensive, the process does address the critical issue of precision.
This was an excellent learning experience. If nothing else, it's shown me that I may need to rethink some of my original tracklaying plans. I was going to lay everything in situ on the layout; Instead I might have to break the trackwork into sections so that I can lay the switches at the workbench. I also need to seriously think about my choice of techniques: this new style of tracklaying has it's advantages, but I don't know if I'd live long enough to see the layout completed... 9 March I've started making models! And for my first project I selected one of the very hardest things to make: a Shay crankshaft.
7 March With Spring essentially having arrived two weeks early, I was at last able to venture back up to Allaire this weekend and get some more research done. This time I was armed with a measuring wheel and a homemade camera rig to make switch templates. Here's what one looks like:
Incidentally, while taking measurements of various parts of the railroad property, I measured the length of the yard's passing siding, from the switch points at one end to those at the other, then did a quick calculation. I expected my satellite-image-based drawing, the scale of which was based on a single boxcar, to be off by some amount, but to my surprise it was exactly correct! Even stranger: the length of the siding is 440 feet, which is precisely two feet when scaled down to 1:220. Isn't that just a little uncanny? 27 February After wrapping up a successful tracklaying test, I decided to pose my new little micro-diorama on my James River Branch layout for a more complete scene—just for the fun of it. The curious thing about this image is that it's impossible to tell the track is narrow gauge! Which is just a little disappointing.
On the plus side, folks seem to really like this image—especially the posing and painting of the Preiser people. I wish I could take credit for painting them—I just plopped them in place, straight out of the box, to give the scene a sense of scale. I guess I should use more Preiser people! 26 February Another snow day! It means I won't be able to do any field research again this weekend, but with work closed, I was able to get something practical accomplished. I decided it was time to do a little tracklaying experiment. Even though I'm no stranger to handlaying track, I did it for a variety of reasons: first, to my knowledge, no one else is modeling American Zn3, so I wanted to know up front what it was like, and have an eye out for potential pitfalls. The exercise allowed me to look for ways to keep the quality as high as possible, while at the same time find shortcuts to speed the process, since I knew in advance the project, as modestly-sized as it may be, represents a significant amount of labor. This suspicion was born out as I spent the better part of a day completing a stretch of track measuring all of five inches (about 90 scale feet), which I finished off as a little micro-diorama (below; click for enlargement).
Here's a comparison: top right is Micro-Trains Z scale standard-gauge flex track; bottom left is T Gauge (1:450) flex track.
In other news, the tale of Lehigh Valley Coal Company No. 117 is finished—for now; it will likely be expanded as I interview all of the members of the New Jersey Museum of Transportation over the coming months. 20 February Research on Pine Creek's roster is now under way in earnest. It's slow-going, as I like to do as much research as possible before presenting it on the site. I've got six steam locomotives completed, with three in the works, and five diesels to go. Then comes the rolling stock... 12 February I've made a couple of major scores in the history department this past week: first, in a new book I just bought—Shortlines and Industrial Railroads of New Jersey by Benjamin L. Bernhart—I found very early photographs of Pine Creek No. 1, Copper Creek No. 3 and Raritan Copper Works No. 9, taken by Thurlow C. Haunton, Jr.; I was also able to obtain permission from the author to reproduce them. But the really exciting news is that I've been contacted by one of the original Pine Creek Railroad Museum volunteers. I'll be conducting a phone interview with him sometime next week, and revisions the museum's historical account are already under way. This stroke of pure luck was all thanks to my modeling project—the gentlemen found my website and decided to contact me. 4 February In anticipation of providing a detailed account of the layout's construction, I've added a new section to the website. Since the layout is obviously still in its earliest stages, there isn't much there at the moment, but you can be sure it will be growing over time. The weather has been my biggest roadblock in making much progress lately. I've been planning to return to Allaire to do more research; I want to photograph the track using a special camera jig that would provide me with square-on overhead views of the property, because the resolution of the satellite images is far too low for developing an accurate track plan. I also have a measuring wheel to take accurate measurements of track and structures. But Mother Nature has made this impractical for the time being... 20 January The Plan has had its first revision: I've decided to stick with the arrangement of track as it actually exists at the real Pine Creek. To that end, I've also included the short bit of newly-added 48-inch gauge track to the entrance area, where derelict Carroll Park & Western 0-4-0 #117 now rests (below). However, I'm on the fence about making subtle changes to the scenery; I'm still tempted to push the tree line around just a little so that there can be something interesting-looking to the right of the yard, besides just trees.
In addition to this revision, I've been contemplating the possibility of building the "layout" (it's really more like a functional diorama, no?) as completely self-contained, with an integrated background and lighting unit with valance. This will of course make it more costly and complex to build, but it will also create a controlled viewing environment such that it will not be at the effect of whatever lighting may (or may not) exist wherever it may be displayed. 17 January The future Webmaster for the New Jersey Museum of Transportation has now been introduced to most of the staff, and everyone seems thrilled to have me on board; they're especially excited to have someone who might breathe new life into their newsletter. As a bonus, it was a beautiful morning, allowing me to shoot hundreds of reference photos (like the one below).
14 January I'd said previously that I had a surprise coming... and here it is: I've become a staff member of the New Jersey Museum of Transportation. If all goes well, I'll be their new Webmaster! I'm headed up to the museum on Saturday morning to meet some of the crew and get the ball rolling for their new website. It means I'll have direct access to loads of historical information to flesh out their history, as well as full access to their property. Of course, I'll be taking my camera to shoot plenty of reference photos (to add to the 400+ I've already collected from the Internet). 11 January Having secured permission to use images from several sources, I've revised the Prototype page and all of the locomotive history pages. I've also been chatting with some of the historians who have written about Pine Creek and its first locos, and I've found some interesting new details, which I've incorporated into all of the documents I've written to date. The research is ongoing, so there will certainly be more revisions ahead. Plus, I have a surprise coming... 10 January The plan has been traced from the full-sized satellite image to the base using Saral transfer paper and a special drafting tool called an AcuArc, which lets me draw perfect arcs of any radius from 7 inches to infinity.
It was a bit disconcerting once I'd finished tracing over the pale red transfer lines with a Sharpie—things were looking awfully small. The station, for instance, measured a mere 7/8 x 1-3/4 inches; the water tower was the size of a quarter; and the shed next to it was 1/2 x 5/8 inches.
So, I double-checked the 40-foot boxcars next to the storage shed in the satellite image; they were dead-on 40 Z scale feet long. Which meant I was in for some tiny, tiny modeling! On the plus side, there was no need to do any selective compression; everything fit perfectly exactly as it is in real life. In other news, I've added detailed histories for the museum's first three locomotives; they can be reached from the bottom of the Prototype page. 9 January Yesterday, while researching the first locomotives owned by the Pine Creek Railroad, I picked up quite a few little details on the history of the railroad itself. As a consequence, this morning I wrote an all-new background story, from its very beginning around 1950 through its move to Allaire State Park in 1965. I hope to continue building this resource over time.
Then, in the midst of a surfeit of "real life stuff" to deal with so far this weekend, I managed to build the layout base. It literally took just a few minutes, since I already had the primary ingredient at hand: a 36 x 48 inch sheet of half-inch thick Gatorfoam. It was a simple matter of shaving off an inch along the short side (my available shelf space is only 47 inches wide, not 48), slicing the board in half, and laminating the two pieces together with extra-heavy-duty spray cement. 7 January 2010 Welcome to the new website! Once I established the plan, I wasted no time in creating a virtual home for the project. Out of the blue the Pine Creek Railroad showed up, and after investigating this tiny tourist line (which I'd visited many times), I chose it as my next Z scale modeling project. I hope that you'll be inspired to return often to watch the project grow. There should be plenty of useful information as I detail my adventures in narrow-gauge Z scale. |
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Copyright © 2010 by David K. Smith. All Rights Reserved.