Just curious about where you are getting your inspiration for you narrow gauge railroad, so lets see where this thread goes. I will start it with my self.

I live in Missouri, I model in ON30 and my inspiration comes from the Rockies, D&RGW, RGS, DSP&P, and The Silverton Rail Roads.

Any body doing the EBT, Ohio, Iowa and other states that are mostly unknown as well as Mexico, and other countries.

Do you know of any web sites we could visit?

Al

Al-

I'm in West Virginia and modeled the C&O most of my life. A few years ago I came to the realization that I didn't have enough space to have the kind of operations I wanted so I made the jump to O Gauge and On30 along with it.

In On30 I am hoping to recreate a road that has the flavor of the Mann's Creek Railway. It was a logging and coal road that ran from Clifftop WV down the New River Gorge to Sewell, WV.

The Bachman Climax is right on for one the early engines. Resin kits are available for the "Buck Jimmies" or wooden coal hoppers used on the MCRR.

Ron Lane and Ted Schnepf's book, "West Virginia Narrow Gauge Mann's Creek Railway" is a must have. It is the definitive work for this unique operation.

Many of us C&O fans are planning a hiking trip to the Clifftop and Sewell areas this fall to walk the roadbed and look over the relics that still exist.

So, count me in for modeling WV.

Matt

Dear All,

As many of you know, I live in Florida but I am modeling a semi-mythical subdivision of the D&RGW from Espanola into the Jemez Mountains of New Mexico, where I grew up. Semi-mythical? Yes the Chili Lines was abandoned in 1941 but rumors persisted that it was a hoax to confuse the enemy and that the Chili Lines continued to operate as a subdivision into the secret laboratories in Los Alamos all during the war (Charlie Getz did a nifty article about three or four years ago about the "rumor"). I've created that line and extended it into 1951.

That said, after having lived in southern Africa for several years, I have always had a hankering to model the National Railway of Zimbabwe between Victoria Falls and Livingstone, Zambia. I have seen those incredible Garratts working the lines and have photographed the entire area. Now all I need is a Garratt I can afford and a whole bunch of scratchbuilding skills ...

Anyway, in either case, there's no web sites that I can find for the Chili Lines or modeling the NRZ.

Jim

Jim, A must-have book on the Chili Line is "Chili Line, The Narrow Rail Trail to Santa Fe, 3rd Edition" by John Gjevre. I have found 2 books on railways in Kenya, but not on South Africa. ChipR

Chip,

Thanks for the suggestion. I have all three editions of that book (the third edition is really tremendous) plus about ten more on the Chili Lines or other narrow gauge in New Mexico, and I have had quite a few Chili Line modelers visit my layout and we have exchanged ideas by email, now and then, but I haven't seen a website. I suspect there aren't enough of us to organize something like that.

When I lived in South Africa, I collected a couple of books on railroads of Rhodesia (Zimbabwe) and Northern Rhodesia (Zambia)but they weren't very satisfying. Again, I suspect not a whole lot of people model that system of railroads. I just love them because, even today, they are still operating steam on narrow gauge. I have this vision of modeling a railroad passing through the open veld with lions, giraffes, elephants, etc. Haven't seen that one in the modeling press in a long time!

Jim

I model a freelanced ng in nw illinois, loosely based on the Bellevue, Cascade, and Western that existed in eastern Iowa until 1936. My inspiration is an out of print book called, "Iowa's Slim Princess". This was one of several ng railroads in eastern Iowa that were initially run by the CM&St.P (The Milwaukee Road).

The new Bachmann long caboose is similar (not exact of course) to the only caboose the "gauge" had.

I would someday like to model the College Hill Railroad in 1:102 scale.

The College Hill Railroad ran from the CH&D (later B&O) depot at Winton Place (Cincinnati) up to College Hill. It was later extended to Mt. Healthy. It operated with a steam dummy and a pair of Porter 0-6-0s. The rolling stock was from Barney & Smith. From 1875 until SGing in 1899, she was a 3' railroad.

My rational for 1:102 scale is that I can use a B-man N-scale 0-6-0 (or an Atlas 2-6-0) as the mechanism for the locomotive. 9mm track is 36" at 1:102 scale, and the 51" drivers scale out to 32". 36" N-scale wheels scale out to 23" 1:102 wheels. Since my primary layout will still be 1:48, 1:102 allows me to create a complete railroad in a space equivalent to 4'x8' which I can take to local shows.

Today, a portion of the ROW is visible in a huge park (Laboiteaux Woods). Here are a few pictures I took back in March...







My #2 favorite local NG is the Cincinnati and Westwood...the closest I'll get to modeling it would be lettering up a Baldwin mogul for her...

Rush hour is a bad time to snap photos...but that is the last remaining track. It was SGed and at unused for decades with a 2-8-2t and 2-6-2t in the enginehous.


The other side of the street is the Lunkenheimer Valve Co (any whistle collectors ought to know this company).




Both railroads were created for commuters and so the CHRR was killed by the street car while the C&WRR was killed by the private auto.

Michael

Hi Gang,

After years of modeling in On2, I decided to leave it and take up On30. I have always liked the eastern narrow gauge lines, OR&W, all of the Pennsy lines, LO&S, BB&K and connecting lines in western New York, the Tweetsie, HT&W of New England. So my railroad, the Ware River Ry, will be a prototypical-freelance eastern narrow gauge.

I have a Bachmann 2-6-0 which is getting a light rebuilding. The tender work is finished and am quite pleased with the way it turned out. Raising the tender .060 makes a big help in its look.

I'm thinking building a finished bookcase type shielf layout for a living area. I like what Iain Rice does with his designs.

That's it for now.

Chester

I would like to model the Guatemalan railway system which is three foot gauge. Some time ago, RY Models announced an O scale model of the 700 series GE 50 ton end cab unit which would serve as a good starting point. Most of the road's other power was composed of several variants of GE "U Series" end cab unit and the Bombardier/MLW MX620.

Due to a dispute between designated operator Railroad Development Corporation and the Guatemalan government, service is currently suspended.

Bob

quote:

Originally posted by CNJ 3676:
I would like to model the Guatemalan railway system which is three foot gauge. Some time ago, RY Models announced an O scale model of the 700 series GE 50 ton end cab unit which would serve as a good starting point. Most of the road's other power was composed of several variants of GE "U Series" end cab unit and the Bombardier/MLW MX620.

Due to a dispute between designated operator Railroad Development Corporation and the Guatemalan government, service is currently suspended.

Bob

The White Pass 2-8-2's were very close to some of the IRCA power. Railmaster offers them in Sn3, and I'd guess that they've been offered in On3.

I'm planning to turn a B-man 2-8-0 (regauged to On3) into an Oahu Railway locomotive which ended her career in Guatemala.

Michael

Pennsylvania logging ca the 1890's.

Al- I model in On3 and try and model Colarado....mostly DRGW AND C&S. I have a few shots of my stuff on this Narrow Gauge Section for those who are interested.

Although I live close to the CP and CN LINES most of my attention is to-ward narrow gauge.

However I have a large collection of three-rail and for some reason can't avoid a good deal....

This is a place where you can make new friends....believe me..

Chester,

Neat, didn't know you did On2. Question. If On3 and On2.5 uses HO gauge, then what gauge would On2 use? I imagine something between N and HO gauges.

I haven't posted anything recently b/c I'm working on designing a new workshop so I can build more trains without tripping over tools and losing things

quote:

Originally posted by SE18:
Chester,

Neat, didn't know you did On2. Question. If On3 and On2.5 uses HO gauge, then what gauge would On2 use? I imagine something between N and HO gauges.

I haven't posted anything recently b/c I'm working on designing a new workshop so I can build more trains without tripping over tools and losing things

On3 and On2 use their own track gauges. On30 alone uses HO track.

Similarly, Nn3 uses Z scale track, HOn30 uses N scale track, Sn2 uses HOn3 track, and Gn15 uses HO track.

Michael

Here is a pic showing On3, and On2 on my layout.

[IMG][/IMG]

So, is there a Gilpin shay in your near future/present?

How did you wire up the 3-way stub switch? I've looked at various schemes for mine, but I haven't been happy with any of them.

Michael

Don't ask me about wiring. I can't remember how I did it. I did have a Bachmann Shay that I had converted to On2, but it really wasn't what I really wanted, and I sould it. So right now I'm engineless.

quote:

Originally posted by SE18:
Chester,

I'm working on designing a new workshop so I can build more trains without tripping over tools and losing things

Well, I hate to deflate your dreams, but you will end up having more stuff to lose and trip over within 6 months.

Al

quote:

Originally posted by Prancingponysales:
Don't ask me about wiring. I can't remember how I did it. I did have a Bachmann Shay that I had converted to On2, but it really wasn't what I really wanted, and I sould it. So right now I'm engineless.

I've evaluated the same situation and decided that it just isn't close enough to justify the surgery.

I'm probably going to use a rotary switch for my 3-way stub. I need to build a South Park harp switch stand for it...

Michael

Grizzly Mountain Engineering http://www.g-m-e.com/ has come out with a really cool switch machine for On3 three way stub turnouts. I saw it at the NG show in Colorado Springs, and it's really amazing. It handles your power routing as well. I'm going to eventually use them on all my three ways. Right now I have a three way rotary, for power routing, and PSC brass Harp switchstands for manual operation.

Everybody,

Hey, On2 track gauge is .500. Very easy to remember.

Well, the brass castings I ordered for my mogul arrived yesterday, so now I can get down to finishing it. Hope to have all the work except for electronics done for the mid hudson meet on the 31st.

I also purchesed a Mount Blue caboose kit the fits the Bachmann caboose frame. I've got the body together and with those large windows a new interior will have to be made.

Yeah, On30 IS fun

Chester

thanks for all the info.

Some sweet looking construction going on!

I just posted a query about ON-30 trains, after seeing the Bachmann ad in the lastest O Scale Trains.

If the bug bites, I'd probably model something in the way of the Suffolk & Carolina RR, which was a 3ft narrow gauge RR going thru NC and VA (see topic below as to why):

REAL RAIL SIZE

The Suffolk & Carolina...

I previously knew nothing about it, by George Hilton's book does:

35# rail (Code 70 in O-scale). It was 40 miles long...the sharpest curve was 716' radius. The steepest grade was 66' per mile. Frequently ran trains, 25 cars, at 30mph. They had a small Porter 4-4-0 (#5)...pictured on page 546 of Hilton's book...as well as a big, long 4-4-0 (#10)...appears to be Baldwin...on the next page.

Note: it was 3'6" gauge, not 3'.
Note #2: Most people are referring to 0-4-0t's and 0-4-2t's when they say "a porter". Porter also built, as you see above, road engines such as 4-4-0s, 2-8-0s, 2-6-0s, and 0-6-0s... such as the locomotive pictured here:
http://narrowgauge.org/images/tkcok/m00160.jpg
That's from the Ted Kierscey Collection (www.narrowgauge.org)

Michael

Thanks again Michael!

I also need to research Atlantic Wood Industries here in Portsmouth. I know they have/had a GE25-tonner, but I feel they also had some steamers as well.

I've also been trying to find info on the Dismal Swamp Railroad. So far what I've found is that the track was laid on cris-crossed logs because of the soft, swampy ground. If I recall correctly the N&W tracks that General Mahone put down back in the 1800's were laid on a Herringbone pattern of logs and that as long as the logs stayed submerged they were fine.

Reports were that the Dismal Swamp RR trackage was quite a ride!!!