D&H diesel engines in 1984

(Updated 6/05/2019)

D&H's roster in 1984 was diverse. The variety of locomotive makers (Alco, GE, EMD) and paint schemes really interested me. Some railroads (ex: Union Pacific, Conrail) have had a mind-numbing assortment of engines, but they were pretty much all painted the same way. Boring! The D&H wasn't like that at all, though it took a bit of research to find out just how diverse they were. I first started with the D&H's historical group, the Bridge Line Historical Society, whose webpage had some information and pictures about their all-time roster. This allowed me to make the spreadsheet above. The year is along the top, and the type of engine is on the left. I sorted the RS-11s by nose height (high and low). 

I also added a couple of other things that appealed to me (when the Adirondack passenger train ran, the one-week period when the D&H repainted an Amtrak dome, and the "I love NY" boxcars). While I am happy with my decision, I do miss the U23B class, especially the "Gray Ghost" #2311. However, I can still add that as a Maine Central patch paint job.

To further narrow down what was on the roster in 1984, I relied heavily on the book Bridge Line Blues by Hal Reiser. This excellent resource had a section on motive power from the late 1970s to the early 1980s which gave specific road numbers and paint scheme histories. With this information, I started making charts by type (RS3, GP39-2, etc.) listing each road number that was supposedly around in 1984. Next, I went online to the Railroad Picture Archives  (RRPA - D&H engine page) and hunted down pictures of these engines. I also scoured Ebay for relevant slides. Those pictures were also helpful for determining how to weather the engines as they looked in 1984. A couple of things immediately jumped out at me.

First, though the D&H had 9 types of locomotives in 1984 all but three were Alco, and usually a class size was a dozen or less. Surprisingly, through attrition and rebuilding into RS3m engines the large class of RS3s had been whittled down to just four by May of 1984.

Second, the diversity of paint schemes was astounding. The classic "Lightning Stripe" scheme was modified by the N&W in the early 1960s when they controlled the D&H through their holding company "Dereco." N&W insisted that road numbers be painted on the sides of the engines, but this was not done consistently. In 1977 in an austerity move the D&H went to solid blue scheme nicknamed "Blue Dip" or "Altschul Blue" (referring to D&H president Selig Altschul who served briefly in 1977). There were variants such as the color of the nose, frame trim, truck colors, and even one engine had script lettering. In 1979 to spruce it up yellow chevrons were added on the ends, creating the "zebra stripe" scheme.

Then, the side numbers were enlarged with the lightning stripe repaints at Colonie beginning with the 5012 on 3/15/1981. Units which were still in blue and grey paint were usually re-stenciled in this fashion by patch painting out the original lettering and applying the new standard numbering over the top. Unfortunately, this weathered poorly and peeled or washed off revealing the older lettering.  

So how did this all play out? A perfect example is the six high-nose RS11s. By 1984 nearly every one was different. Two were in the original lightning stripe scheme but with large hood numbers (#5000, #5005), one was in the blue dip with yellow nose (#5001), one was in solid blue with silver trucks (#5002) one was in a solid blue with yellow nose chevrons (#5003), and one had its nose chopped/modified (#5004)! It was quite a diverse class of engine. Also consider RS36 #5015, which featured three vastly different paint schemes from 1977-1979. 

Third, by 1984 many of the Alcos were on borrowed time. The influx of reliable EMD GP382s and GP39-2s made it economically and mechanically smart to congregate all of the remaining Alcos near the Colonie shops. So, even though some escaped to other parts of the system most were based in the Colonie Main area. Some lasted into the late 1980s, but they were likely on the Colonie dead line at that point. And, the engines were filthy by 1984. The sharp zebra stripe scheme looked dingy, anything with the lightning stripe scheme was severely faded, most had their numbers worn off, and the Geeps frequently had their previous owner's scheme coming through. 

The D&H also had patch paints (LV red, L&HR blue and white, CR blue engines), the Bicentennial #506, and several one-offs. The quality of the paint jobs seemed to run from very good (the Alco Centurys done in Hornell) to absolutely horrible. That being said, I plan to use restraint in compiling my HO scale roster. Because I like Alcos, I will lean heavily on the four classes that were prevalent in the area: RS36s and RS3ms for mainline and yard assignments, RS3s for yards, and RS11s for mainline and local trains. 

I would be remiss without mentioning Scot Lawrence's compilation of engines that the D&H owned prior to Guildford's takeover on 1/04/1984. While our lists aren't a perfect match, they are certainly very close. I likely had resources he didn't have and vice versa, and his list is for January while mine is for May. Still, it is very useful. There were also engines acquired from Guilford (transferred from the B&M or Maine Central), including types that would normally not have been found the D&H. I haven't fully tracked everything down yet that was painted for Guilford but lettered for D&H. 

I am very excited about modeling high-nose Geep #569, which was used for their executive and special railfan trains during the early period of Guilford's ownership. In January 1984, MEC GP7's #569 & #573 (which had recently been repainted in the new Guilford paint scheme) were relettered D&H. The #573 was subsequently lettered MEC later in 1984, but #569 kept its D&H lettering until 1988. I love high-nose units, and being able to model a first-generation EMD engine will add some diversity. They also leased six Conrail U33B engines in 1984 which were patch painted and lettered. They lasted a couple of years. 

Here is the 1984 D&H roster with paint schemes as best as I can put it together:

RS3 Road #	Notes
4075	Blue Dip with yellow stripe along frame, large yellow numbers on hood
4099	Lightning stripe with large blue numbers on hood
4103	Lightning stripe with small blue numbers on hood (in 1981… what about 1984?)
4118	Blue Dip with yellow stripe along frame, large yellow numbers on hood

  

RS3m Road #	Notes
501	Lightning stripe with large blue numbers on hood
502	Blue Dip with "zebra stripes", yellow stripe along frame, and large yellow numbers on hood.
503	Lightning stripe with large blue numbers on hood
504	Lightning stripe with large blue numbers on hood
505	Lightning stripe with large blue numbers on hood
506	"Bicentennial scheme" with white script lettering and stars on cab.
507	Lightning stripe with large blue numbers on hood
508	Lightning stripe, but no evidence of any numbers on hood

  

RS11 Road #	Notes             (#5000-5005 originally high nose, #5006-5011 originally low nose)
5000	Lightning stripe with small or large blue numbers on hood (large numbers in 11/1983, which were gone by sometime in 1984 and repainted in 1984 with ghost images of large numbers showing).
5001	Blue Dip with full yellow nose, large yellow numbers on hood
5002	Blue Dip with large yellow numbers on hood
5003	Blue Dip with "zebra stripes", yellow stripe along frame, and large yellow numbers on hood.
5004	Lightning stripe with large blue numbers on hood; nose chopped
5005	Lightning stripe with large blue numbers on hood
5006	Lightning stripe, but no evidence of any numbers on hood
5007	Blue Dip with large yellow numbers on hood
5008	Lightning stripe, but no evidence of any numbers on hood
5009	Lightning stripe with large blue numbers on hood
5010	Blue Dip with "zebra stripes", yellow stripe along frame, and large yellow numbers on hood.
5011	Blue Dip with "zebra stripes", yellow stripe along frame, and large yellow numbers on hood.

  

RS36 Road #	Notes
5012	Lightning stripe with large blue numbers on hood
5013	Lightning stripe with small blue numbers on hood
5014	Lightning stripe with large blue numbers on hood
5015	Blue Dip with full yellow nose, large yellow numbers on hood
5016	Lightning stripe with large blue numbers on hood
5017	Lightning stripe with large blue numbers on hood
5018	Lightning stripe with large blue numbers on hood
5019	Lightning stripe with small blue numbers on hood
5020	Lightning stripe with small blue numbers on hood
5021	Lightning stripe, but no evidence of any numbers on hood
5022	Lightning stripe with small blue numbers on hood
5023	Lightning stripe with large blue numbers on hood

C420 Road #	Notes
401	L&HR colors with D&H patch-outs on front of hood and cab numbers on sides of hood.
404	Lightning stripe with large blue numbers on hood
405	Blue Dip with "zebra stripes", yellow stripe along frame, and large yellow numbers on hood.
406	Lightning stripe with large blue numbers on hood.
407	Lightning stripe with large blue numbers on hood.
408	Lightning stripe with large blue numbers on hood.
409	LV red with white diamonds on nose, D&H patch-outs on front and sides of hood.
410	Lightning stripe with large blue numbers on hood. Notched nose from high-nose N&W C-420
411	Blue Dip with "zebra stripes", yellow stripe along frame, and large yellow numbers on hood.
412	Lightning stripe with large blue numbers on hood.
413	Blue Dip with "zebra stripes", yellow stripe along frame, and large yellow numbers on hood.
414	LV red with white diamonds on nose, D&H patch-outs on front and sides of hood.
415	Blue Dip with "zebra stripes", yellow stripe along frame, and large yellow numbers on hood.

  

C424 Road #	Notes
451	Blue Dip with "zebra stripes", yellow stripe along frame, and large yellow numbers on hood.
452	Blue Dip with "zebra stripes", yellow stripe along frame, and large yellow numbers on hood.
453	Blue Dip with "zebra stripes", yellow stripe along frame, and large yellow numbers on hood.
454	Blue Dip with "zebra stripes", yellow stripe along frame, and large yellow numbers on hood.
455	Blue Dip with "zebra stripes", yellow stripe along frame, and large yellow numbers on hood.
456	Blue Dip with "zebra stripes", yellow stripe along frame, and large yellow numbers on hood.
461	Blue Dip with "zebra stripes", yellow stripe along frame, and large yellow numbers on hood.
462	Blue Dip with "zebra stripes", yellow stripe along frame, and large yellow numbers on hood.

  

U33C Road #	Notes
754*	Lightning stripe with large blue numbers on hood.
755	Lightning stripe with large blue numbers on hood.
756	Lightning stripe with large blue numbers on hood.
757*	Lightning stripe with small blue numbers on hood
758	Blue Dip with "zebra stripes", yellow stripe along frame, and large yellow numbers on hood.
759*	Lightning stripe with large blue numbers on hood.
760*	Lightning stripe with small blue numbers on hood.
761	Lightning stripe with large blue numbers on hood.
762	Lightning stripe with large blue numbers on hood.

* After 1981, generally stored inactive at Colonie

GP38-2 Road #	Notes
7314	Blue Dip with full yellow nose, large yellow numbers on hood
7315	Blue Dip with "zebra stripes", yellow stripe along frame, and large yellow numbers on hood.
7316	Blue Dip with "zebra stripes", yellow stripe along frame, and large yellow numbers on hood.
7317	Blue Dip with full yellow nose, large yellow numbers on hood
7318	Blue Dip with full yellow nose, large yellow numbers on hood
7319	Blue Dip with full yellow nose, large yellow numbers on hood
7320	Blue Dip with full yellow nose, large yellow numbers on hood
7321	Blue Dip with "zebra stripes", yellow stripe along frame, and large yellow numbers on hood.
7322	Lightning stripe with large blue numbers on hood.
7323	Blue Dip with full yellow nose, large yellow numbers on hood
7324	Guilford gray with orange band and large white “G” on side of hood.
7325	Blue Dip with full yellow nose, large yellow numbers on hood

GP39-2 Road #	Notes
7401	Blue Dip with "zebra stripes", yellow stripe along frame, and large yellow numbers on hood.
7402	Blue Dip with full yellow nose, large yellow numbers on hood
7403	Blue Dip with "zebra stripes", yellow stripe along frame, and large yellow numbers on hood.
7404	Blue Dip with full yellow nose, large yellow numbers on hood
7405	Blue Dip with full yellow nose, large yellow numbers on hood
7406	Blue Dip with "zebra stripes", yellow stripe along frame, and large yellow numbers on hood.
7407	Blue Dip with full yellow nose, large yellow numbers on hood
7408	Blue Dip with "zebra stripes", yellow stripe along frame, and large yellow numbers on hood.
7409	Blue Dip with full yellow nose, large yellow numbers on hood
7410	Reading green with yellow diamonds on nose, D&H patch-outs on front of nose and cab sides.
7411	Lightning stripe with large blue numbers on hood.
7412	Reading green with yellow diamonds on nose, D&H patch-outs on front of nose and cab sides.
7413	Blue Dip with full yellow nose, large yellow numbers on hood
7414	Lightning stripe with large blue numbers on hood.
7415	Blue Dip with full yellow nose, large yellow numbers on hood
7416	Blue Dip with "zebra stripes", yellow stripe along frame, and large yellow numbers on hood.
7417	Blue Dip with full yellow nose, large yellow numbers on hood
7418	Reading green with yellow diamonds on nose, D&H patch-outs on front of nose and cab sides.
7419	Blue Dip with "zebra stripes", yellow stripe along frame, and large yellow numbers on hood.
7420	Guilford gray with orange band and large white “G” on side of hood.

As for the #7600 class (#7601-7620), of GP39-2 engines, Hal Reiser's book states that they were sent in 1984 for rebuilding by Morrison Knudson and when they returned they were painted for Guilford and lettered for the B&M. I have found no pictures of any surviving to May 1984 in D&H paint, and very few pictures exist of them after 1983.

HO Roster: covered hoppers

A couple of years ago, I was sitting around looking at my train cars and noticed that I didn't have very many covered hoppers. I thought this was odd, and determined from that point on to try and find kits for some at train shows. Unlike boxcars, though, covered hoppers are somewhat limited in terms of what they can carry and many times the cars are dedicated to certain commodities. For example, the long trough roof hatches are generally used on cars carrying grain while the round roof ones are for things like plastic pellets. Evidence of spilled cement on the cars indicates cement inside the cars, etc.

While any type of covered hopper could presumably travel on a through freight on the Colonie Main, there were a couple of nearby shippers that likely had cars appear somewhat regularly. Howes Cave cement plant was a little west of Albany. And, the General Electric silicone plant in Waterford shipped powdered silicone in covered hoppers. The Freihofer Bakery received shipments of flour in Pillsbury Airslide covered hoppers from a siding in Colonie by the yard, though I don't know if that continued into the 1980s. Cargill in the Port of Albany was and still is a huge broker of grain. So, I could justify more than a few on my trains.

As much as I like Athearn, I find their covered hopper kits are frustrating. They seem really wobbly even if you ditch their stamped steel weight and put some down low in the wells where it can really do some good. Their ends are separate pieces and you need to get them lined up correctly inside the shell and then fit it into the floor properly without pushing something wrong and breaking the coupler mounting pads. And, the underframes are always unpainted black plastic requiring you to hopefully find a matching color to paint them.

MDC kits are okay, but the roof hatches always need a lot of trimming of flash which means touching up the paint. Their "detail parts" for the discharge chutes are a a case study in frustration. In fact, when MR magazine assembled some years ago for their project layout they had trouble too and said to throw them out. Walthers kits are better but have so many fragile end details on their airslide cars that after assembling them I found pieces just kept falling off. And, those round roof hatches with three separate "bolts" to glue down are a pain. I purchased and assembled four of their kits for $5 each, and I sometimes wonder if I paid too much for them. But, once completed they look nice. Thankfully, Accurail kits are a joy to put together.

I collected about 18 cars over the past couple of years. The D&H had red covered hoppers and the silver short covered hoppers are pretty snazzy, and I have examples of both on my roster. I hope to get some more of the Bowser silver ones, as I haven't tried one of their kits yet. All of my cars are weathered based on prototype photos, though not necessarily for that specific car and road number.

There are certain details which go a long way to establishing what lading a car contains and I plan to add a few examples to my models. For example, grain cars always have spilled seed on the roof and some sprouts. Cement collected on the roof around the hatches and hardened. Roof hatches become damaged over time and replaced, frequently with non-matching hatches. I really should paint a couple of hatches a contrasting color to represent this. And, though I was heavy with some of the rust on the cars it seems like in the northeast you can never have "too much" rust. Sometimes the entire upper portions are just orangish-brown from all the rust. My roster needs more of are Conrail brown cylinderical covered hoppers with the large can opener logo. I like the way they look, and remember seeing many as a child.

In a rare exception to my general rule, I was at the Springfield train show a couple of years ago and saw that Spring Mills Depot was selling Flexi-Flo covered hoppers for about $50. Since I don't usually pay more than $10 for a car, this was huge sum for a ready-to-run car and out of my comfort zone. I haven't seen many Flexi-flo cars- model or prototype- but the large can opener scheme fit my time era so I started talking with the people at SMD. Turns out, they have only seen a picture of one prototype painted in this scheme and due to a predicted low demand only made 48 models in this scheme. They had two left in inventory, but didn't bring them. The next day I went online and bought it. It's an exquisite car, and very unique. I don't have any idea if it ever made its way up to Albany but because of its rarity I doubt it. Still, it was much safer to buy it now and ask questions later. It currently sits in the box, untouched. (image taken from their website).

This last picture shows a non-covered hopper, but I thought I would mention it anyway. When I got back into HO in 2010 I decided to start slowly by picking up a couple of HO kits. One included this D&H coal hopper. If you have been following my blog you will quickly realize that this car has no real business being on my roster. In fact, when I bought it I wasn't sure what I was going to model. It just looked fun to put together. However, my wife saw it and immediately claimed it as her own, and has done all of the work on it to date. She assembled it, did the weathering, and installed the false floor for the eventual coal load. I am quite proud of her accomplishments. Once finished, it will be a very special car.

Assembling the benchwork

Well, this past weekend my layout took another step forward. I attached the leg assemblies to the L-girders, doing my best to space them 1/5 the total length of the girder in from the ends. This was per the chart in the benchwork book. Since I had to splice the 1x2" rail on the L-girder I used another piece of wood as a gusset, and that interfered with the optimal location of the legs. So, they are actually located inward 2" more than they should be. However, the ends will be secured to the perpendicular side-girders so I think they will be fine. Also, one L-girder came out warped so I clamped it to the table and then glued/screwed another 1x4" to it to help mitigate the bend.

Gluing the legs to the girders is not recommended usually, but I didn't want to rely solely on screws to hold it together. Reusing the girders should I decide to change my plans will mean cutting off the legs, or cutting the girder in half between the legs and then joining it together. Or something else, which I won't have to figure out until I change my plans.

As it currently stands, the layout lacks no diagonal supports for the legs, and the tops of the L-girders and the ends are not tied together with any cross braces. It is not sturdy, and I don't plan to put much weight on it for now. The bracing will come in another week or so, and then it will be leveled and all three pieces will be tied together to make one strong unit.

But, it was strong enough for me to set everything in place to see how much space it took. And it barely fit in the 12' width area that I planned for it. I am also glad I am currently only building it 12' square instead of 12' x 17' because that would be a monster. I hoped to leave some space around all four sides so that it wasn't touching the wall, but it might be closer to several inches rather than a foot as I originally intended.

Anyway, with that done I roughly put the plywood pieces on the L-girders and then set out to sketch what I thought the track plans might look like. One had been done years ago, so I cut and tacked it in places and transferred the lines. For two other sections, I went on rough sketches. My challenge is that I want 24" radius curves and I don't want much of the curve to fall on the side sections. That means the track has to end up near the back of each module to have enough room to curve on the corners. This makes planning any features on the far (North) side of the track very difficult. For one area, representing Keis Beverage and Norlite, I used some graceful curves to bring the track closer to the front of the section and add some visual interest. And, for the Mohawk Paper section I built in the only run-around on the layout (so far) and also let the spur into the paper mill pull as far away from the main line as I could as it will need to drop in elevation too.

Knowing the trackplan will be important when assembling the box frame structure for each section. I may use Tortoise (by Circuitron) switch machines mounted under the layout and if I do, I need to make sure not to put a cross brace in the way. It is easier to shift a cross-member a couple of inches now, and that way their location won't dictate where I can or cannot locate a switch. While surfing the web, I found someone on EBay ("jweed") selling a nifty template for installing the switch machines. If you search for "Tortoise switch machine drilling template" you will find it. With shipping, it cost nearly as much as a machine but it looks neat, should work well, comes in a variety of colors including glow-in-the-dark (!), and will make my life easier. Yes, a paper template would be just as easy to check clearances but when the time comes actually install them, I will take all the help I can get! I ordered mine in green to match the machines.

A friend recently asked me why I was buying all this expensive lumber and not just a bunch of 2x4" stock that I could build into a frame. It was an excellent question, and I am not sure I know the answer. I suppose it is because I would rather do it right following someone else's plan instead of making it up as I go. My last 4x8' layout in the late 1990s was framed with nothing but 2x4" lumber and it was fine, though wobbly (I didn't brace the legs). With the 1x3" and 1x4"lumber ($28) used to make the leg assemblies, the extra 1x4" ($6) I used to gusset the warped I-beam, and the carriage bolts ($8) I will insert into the legs to level the layout my total bill is $300. I certainly could have done it cheaper. But better? Probably not for me. I will likely be in around $500 when it is all said and done, which seems like a lot but I trust those who have gone before me who have warned that buying cheap lumber and rushing through the benchwork will lead to a disappointing layout.

HO Roster: D&H Cabooses

Even as my benchwork is being built, I am still working on other projects. I thought I would slowly go through my roster of equipment which I have collected that will someday make an appearance on the layout. While I am pretty much sticking to a time frame of 1984 for my D&H models I will occasionally bend the rules slightly if there is a good reason for it, and I will also go completely off the rails when I see something I like. If you have a layout of your own, I don't need to say anymore as I am sure you know where I am coming from.

Recently I was working on building some models of cabooses, so that seemed like a good place to start. One of the reasons I selected the early 1980s to model the D&H (as opposed to a later time period) was that they still used cabooses. I don't know when the practice was discontinued on through trains, but even today Canadian Pacific still runs their local out with a caboose in the consist though sometimes it is in the front and sometimes at the rear. It might be for a shove move, or perhaps just a place for the crew to rest in.

The D&H also had a ton of variety as would be expected from a railroad that was over 150 years old. Even into the 1980s, they were using bay window, extended vision window, Reading northeast style, and transfer cabooses, as well as a few home-built jobs. Most were red with black roofs, with several different styles of lettering and insignia designs. The D&H colorguide book is an excellent resource in this regard. 

Like all of my equipment, I try to purchase it inexpensively and I don't focus too much on details which are fragile and easily broken. The great modeler Allen McClelland of Virginia & Ohio Railroad fame popularized the "good enough" approach for modeling, at least at the onset of a layout, and I have adopted this approach. As my time and finances increase, I may start to replace earlier models with more detailed ones or build contest-quality models as part of my MMR merit badge. But, for right now, my roster is made up of Athearn and MDC/Roundhouse kits and some Atlas Trainman ready to run models.

Right now, I have ten cabooses. There is no way I will need that many on my layout for operations, as I doubt I will even be able to run more than two trains at the same time. Since I am not modeling one of the classification yards (Kenwood, Mechanicville, Colonie) I don't even need them to sit on the caboose ready track. But, I like them. 

Mechanically speaking, one thing I did to standardize all my cars was to convert them all to Intermountain metal wheels when practical. I also have adopted Kadee #58 and #158 couplers as well, and so the horn hooks, Accumates, McHenry, and Kadee #5s were removed (though I kept the Kadees for other projects). Next, I added weight consistent with the NMRA recommended practice. I build boxes of styrene and fill them with lead shot that I ordered online (try explaining why you need to buy it loose at a gun store and they look at you funny). Before that, I used BBs but they are larger and less dense so I generally don't use them much anymore. I mix up epoxy or wood glue, stir in the shot, and then pour it into the styrene boxes. Once cured, I use double sided tape to attach them to the caboose frames.

Aesthetically, I also upgraded the cabooses to give them a used, family appearance. All the wheels are painted in a jig that Tony Koester once described in MR. The frames and weights are painted flat black. Handrails and other trim are picked out in yellow the best that I can manage, but I always prefer to leave it unpainted rather than poorly painted. The windows are glazed from the inside with clear styrene, though no attempt is made at an interior. The roofs are all painted black, including some custom-painted Bev-Bel cabooses that had the roofs red. I couldn't find any picture documentation for that. Finally, the cars are weathered, usually heavily, as the D&H Alco engines threw up a tremendous about of black smoke. A clean caboose was a rarity. In looking at the picture above, I see that I probably should add more weathering to a couple of the models.

There are some anomalies in my roster. For example, two different extended vision cabooses are Athearn models painted by Bev-Bel and have the same road number (#35712) but the font size and location is different on both. I don't know why they did that. Also, I believe that the D&H had some roof-mounted electrical radio equipment (one of my kits came used with parts for this in the box) but I haven't bothered researching it.

I don't yet have a model of the D&H sesquicentennial scheme with the round emblem though I want one even if it didn't exist in 1984. Sadly, the attractive yellow bay window cabooses delivered to the D&H in 1968 weathered poorly and were repainted red in the early 1970s so I won't buy one of those kits. I purchased my tenth kit recently because it was only $3, and with that I am closing the book on D&H cabooses. It is the one in the back awaiting construction.

There are lots of junk train set cabooses on EBay. What I find surprising though is that very few even attempt to be close to realistic. For example, Life Like has Reading-style cabooses in two different paint schemes- one is bright orange with black shield outlines and the other is gray with yellow shields- but had they painted it red it might have been passable. Some company actually did a red D&H caboose but they used a streamlined Wabash style car and picked the round D&H insignia. I imagine they will be for sale on EBay forever.

For the most part, I am ready to move on from D&H cabooses. However, the D&H ran through trains in conjunction with the B&M and Maine Central during this period and they swapped equipment frequently. So, I can always pick up a couple of cabooses for either of those roads. Yay!

Assembling the Legs

A quick sketch was made to determine exactly how I should assemble the legs together, and then I compared it to the leg fixture I had glued up. They didn't match. Originally I was going to have my legs spaced about 20" apart with the L-girders on the inside of them. I changed my mind and moved the legs closer together so that the L-girders would be outside. Recessing the legs in a bit more (though admittedly not by much) may prevent accidental bumps to the layout. So, I modified my jig and began assembling things.

One of the main considerations I had when deciding on layout height was my wife's concern that if it were too high, she wouldn't be able to see it easily. I like my layouts high (48"-60") where as she prefers them lower, like what you would see at an N-trak exhibit (40"). However, when we were at the Springfield show recently Model Railroad Hobbyist e-magazine had a really nice booth set up, and featured in it was an HO scale switching layout. Not only did the modeling portion look great, but the physical construction details (layout height, fascia color and material, recessed toggle switches) made it look professional and clean. And, my wife liked the height. So much that we asked how tall it was and Joe Fugate (publisher of MRH) pulled out a tape measure and checked for us. 50". So, that became the height for my new layout.

L-girder has a lot going for it but one problem is that it is really thick. The girders that are 3-5" tall, the cross joists on top are usually another 3-4" thick, and then you have risers, the track support plywood, cork roadbed, and actual track. It adds up and could be as much as 7-8" more above the girders.

My box-frame layout sections will be about 3.5" thick, with another half-inch of plywood on top, for a total of 4." I needed the L-girders to be about 44" tall so that when I added any cross supports, my open grid sections, and the leveling bolts on the bottom of the legs my layout would come up to about 50" tall. Which meant my legs needed to get shortened by about 4". No problem, I borrowed my uncle's chop saw which made nice clean ends perfect for accepting the 5/16" tee nuts that are necessary for the bolts for leveling the legs.

Finally, each pair of legs was secured to some 1x3" and 1x4" stock that I cut to length and it all was glued and screwed together. I originally planned to go with diagonal cross braces but I have seen many people use perpendicular ones and they are much easier to cut if you have a chop saw. Also, some people specifically advocate not gluing anything else besides the L-girders together and instead just relying on the screws to hold it all in place. Because I wanted my leg assemblies to be rock solid, I glued and screwed it all together. Overkill? Perhaps, but one think I knew I would need to contend with was a the occasional bump from the dog (or me)!

Starting the L-girder benchwork

I have been struggling with how to support my layout sections. I originally wanted shelf brackets but am not going to drill holes in my basement wall at this time. Then I thought about cheap plastic banquet tables, which are sturdy and would work well. But, the downside is that they are too short in height and the cost and effort to make them taller isn't worth it. Plus, under the layout access could be difficult to do wiring or anything, and any connections between them like clamps would need to overhang the table ends to work. I looked into plastic shelving units to support them and while the added storage would be awesome I would need a lot of shelves, and they would all need to be shimmed accordingly for my uneven floor.

I guess I could just mount legs on the bottom of my layout sections but I really want the ability to flip them over or on their side to work on them, and legs will make that difficult even if I have removable legs. Plus, I would need to build a lot of legs. Perhaps I am overthinking this and legs might just work out fine. But, I want to move forward and so I came to...

L-Girder benchwork!
I originally threw it out as old-fashioned and unworkable. Designed by Linn Westcott (the diagram at right is taken from his benchwork book), one of its strengths is that it doesn't require precise lumber cuts. That means no chop saw is required. While I overlooked this benchwork system originally because it isn't easy to make strong sections required for LDEs, here I can build a simple L-girder framework to go below my LDEs. And, I won't need a million legs to support it and I can make them as tall as I want.

So, with this idea fresh in my head I ran off to the lumber store to purchase some supplies to make a fixture to help build the leg assemblies square and identical. I also went looking for some 2" x 2" lumber for the legs but instead what I found was a pile of warped, twisted, wood. So, I instead I bought 16 pieces of 1" x 2" pine boards. They were very straight, all were about the same length (4'), and as a bonus I wouldn't need to cut them to size as I wanted the layout L-girders to be about 4' off the ground. I glued and screw them back to back and now have very straight 2x2 lumber for my legs. They will cost more than a regular 2x2 stock but in total each one will cost me less than $5. I only need 12 legs, so it was a good deal. If I had a table saw and could rip down 2x4 lumber, it would be a different story.

If you look at my drawing at the right, you can spot to omissions pretty quickly. First, the L-girders look pretty empty and not really suitable to hold the layout sections. But, I will secure some 1x2" lumber laid flat along the way, bridging the two girders. They are yellow in the diagram, and I omitted them from most of the benchwork for clarity. Second, I don't know how I am going to handle the section where I plan to enter/exit the interior of the layout.

Then, I pre-drilled seven or eight holes along one of the 2x2 pieces, spread glue on the back, put it on top of another piece and carefully lined up one end. Some #6 drywall screws, 1+1/8" long, went into the soft pine perfectly and things were set. I had to check the alignment of the legs before setting each screw but these pieces will be perfect for what I need once the glue sets. I don't know if predrilling was necessary but I did the top piece. I used a #6 countersink drill bit that I bought on Ebay for a buck or so. It took a month to arrive from China but it worked great. Switching bits between that and the screw driver bit was very annoying though.

Next, I made my L-girders. The "back" side (the side opposite the one facing the stairway where I plan to enter) will have a pair of 12' long L-girders. The two sides will each have a pair of 10' L-girders attached, making a "C" shape. The front, or entrance, is unknown yet. I might build a shorter L-girder to fit between the two sides, or I might try and make a lift section combined with a smaller piece. I will cross that bridge later.

Anyway, finding 10' and 12' long 1x3 lumber was impossible at Home Depot and Lowes. Even 1x4, slightly oversize for my needs but extra strong, wasn't available. But, an 84 Lumber about 20 minutes away had 1x4s in lengths up to 14', so a quick Saturday morning trip found two 12' and four 10' long pieces sticking out the back of my Toyota Corolla. They only have "select" grade which was knot and warp free but at a slightly more expensive price than HD/L. To me, it was worth it.

Then, for the top of the L-girder I went to Lowes and picked out a bunch of 8' long 1x2 stock that was straight and knot free. I will need to splice them to get the proper length, but at least the 1x4s aren't spliced. A lot of pre-drilling and gluing later (I bought a gallon of wood glue for the whole project, and it should last me years), I had my L-girders and legs ready for the next step.

A new member to our household is "Clover," our recently adopted 5 year old golden retriever. She was serving as my apprentice as I worked on the benchwork. Some of the sawdust landed on her, making a mess of sorts. And, she has a fondness of chewing wood scraps I left lying around on the floor. I can't do that again!

Total cost so far? While I don't really want to think about costs for a layout, nor do I want to keep a running tally (nor publish it where my wife can easily see it!), so far I have spent about $45 on the two sheets of plywood; $48 for the twenty four 1x2 lumber for the legs; $70 for the six 1x4 boards for the web of the l-girders; and $35 for the nine 1x2 boards for the flanges of the l-girders. Additionally, have $22 for the box of #6 drywall screws, $7 for the tee-nuts for the bottoms of the legs, and $18 for the gallon of wood glue. Another $14 was used for the plywood for the leg fixture. So, about $260 for what I have so far. And, it is high quality lumber and not that twisted stuff. The lumber has come from Lowes, Home Depot, and 84 Lumber, which makes me an equal opportunity shopper.

First wood purchased for benchwork!

I had hoped to be knee-deep in benchwork by now, but some various factors in and out of my control have served to prevent that. First off, I don't own a chop saw. This tool, which not entirely necessary for benchwork, is handy and convenient for making repeated, straight cuts to lumber. And those are the types of cuts that are required for open-grid style benchwork. While I could try and build it using a plain old miter saw or a backsaw, it would be a disaster.

Thankfully, a friend offered to help cut all the lumber I needed in his workshop. However, some personal problems in his life have held that up. I wish him and his family well, and all of the extra time has been a blessing because I have been able to think through my next steps.

But, I still wanted to get moving. So, a couple of days before New Year's Eve I went to Home Depot and purchased two sheets of 4x8 plywood and I had them rip them lengthwise. I also had them trim the final length to 7'. So, I now have at least the tops for four of my LDEs. With great excitement I loaded them into my Toyota Corolla (they just fit) and brought them home and set them up on the floor. Where they sat and sat...

It is cold in the basement in the winter, and sitting on the floor sketching track arrangements (necessary to ensure that track switches and under-the-table motors won't interfere with the benchwork) just wasn't a pleasant thought. Plus, a ceiling joist directly over the layout area split and had to be repaired and that took priority of my time.

But, my benchwork is started!

Springfield Train Show 2017

Well, it's a wrap. Another wonderful day come and gone. If you have never been to the Springfield Train Show (http://www.railroadhobbyshow.com/) then you are really missing out. There are eight (!) acres of trains... consisting of model layouts, exhibitions, prototype train displays with brochures, tables upon tables of books, models, slides, etc. and tons of other great things. It is, quite frankly, impossible to see in one day- which is why it is actually a two day show.

For the past 5 years the local chapter of the NMRA has chartered a bus to go out, and I think that it is great. Not only do you not have to deal with driving or parking, but after 8 hours of walking on pavement you can relax and sleep on the way back (or play with your newly purchased goodies!) Lately, my wife has joined me and she usually has a good time too though like most normal people she gets tired after 4-5 hours of solid walking.

This year was the first year that I had to be careful of my spending for two reasons: (1) I now have a mortgage payment to deal with, and (2) I am building a layout now, so the things to look for and prioritize have changed. Specifically, I was hoping to find Micro Engineering track, Highball ballast (recently discontinued), and Tortoise switch machines at good prices. Instead, I bought more of the same!

The first thing I bought was three different 40/45' trailer kits. Lately I have been really interested in building Trailer-on-flatcar (TOFC) models even though the required minimum radius of my layout probably won't support it. I will likely post on that sometime in the future, but I have been collecting inexpensive 40' and 45' trailer kits to go on 85' and 89' flat cars. I found three more that would be appropriate for the early 1980s for $10 total. Plus, one was in the Rock Island scheme which I like.

Next, I found a D&H bay-window caboose that was a custom Bev-Bel paint job for $3. It was assembled, somewhat poorly, and there were holes in the roof drilled for radio antennas and marker lights. I will need to fill the holes and paint the whole roof black (Bev-Bel never did it), but for the price it was good. Last month I worked on my fleet of nine D&H cabooses, including adding weight, window glass, painted railings, metal wheels, and weathering. I am pretty burned out from that project, so this caboose may sit around for awhile.

I also bought a Escanaba and Lake Superior RR 50' boxcar. Did I need another one? Well, not really. I doubt it ever would have made it to D&H rails. But, the E&LS is a special line to me for two reasons: (1) they sold the Arcade and Attica Railroad their #14 ten-wheeler (my favorite steam engine), and (2) they currently have on their property the D&H's two Baldwin shark engines. So, I had to buy the boxcar. It will likely sit in my kit pile though for some time.

Finally, I had an impulse purchase. I couldn't help myself. There was a seller with a box of about a half-dozen Athearn undecorated, unpowered RDC units for $5. I nearly bought one, but I held my composure. I mean, what exactly would I do with it anyway?

Then, I turned the corner and saw someone selling a new B&M Life Like Proto 1000 RDC for $20. After checking that it had the McGuinness scheme on the ends (instead of the "Minuteman logo") I snapped it up. I am partial to the scheme because my initials are "B&M" and the black/white/blue color scheme is sharp. Plus, I had the identical model in college but sold it off when I briefly converted to N scale. As my wife put it moments later when she caught up with me, "I left you alone for 10 seconds and you buy something!" It won't fit my layout at all, but I am only human. Surprisingly, I didn't buy any old magazines or paper. Maybe because I am running out of space to store it?

We did visit the displays of the Boothbay Railway Village, the Wiscasset, Waterville & Farmington Railway Museum, the Sandy River and Rangeley Lakes Railroad museum, and the Maine Narrow Gauge Railroad Co. & Museum. For my birthday around Memorial Day weekend this year, we are going to Maine to do the "Two Foot Gauge Tour." Four railroads in three days, but it should be fun.

The Boothbay Railway Village even had brought an engine out to steam up and slowly travel up and down a short stretch of track they laid in the parking lot. As the temperature was cold, I looked on from the comfort of our tour bus and noted that the whistle and safety valve were really, really loud!

My wife, who is interested in N scale, picked out several more cars for her small but growing collection. Looking through cases and cases of small trains made me realize that my eyes just aren't what they used to be.

The only downside is that now I need to wait another whole year before Springfield comes around again!

Benchwork: the plan

I started planning what I was going to do for benchwork for my layout. As has previously been mentioned, I want it to be sectional/movable, but not necessarily easily movable. I don't plan to take the layout to train shows and such, but it will be reconfigured over the life of the layout. Also, flipping it on its side for wiring is a must for me. Legs or other supports will be determined later.

What I realized once I started working in the basement again is that this might be too large for the space I had. I allotted a small walkway around the layout for access to the washing machine and dryer, but that might not fly with my wife. As drawn at right, the two green sections are 5' long.

So, I may take the two 5' sections on each side and instead make them 3' sections. Since that is definitely too short for the Watervliet section, it will just be a filler for now. As for the part that adjoins the Mohawk Paper section, it might just be an extension of that. So why not build Mohawk Paper as two 5' sections, which would be easier? Because I cannot see myself devoting 10 feet of the layout to one industry. Allowing 7' and 3' sections gives me more flexibility.

First track purchased!

Going under the logic that if I spread out the cost of my layout over time it will be easier on my pocketbook, I decided to start purchasing track. Honestly, I first checked Ebay to see if there was anything interesting for sale (HO engines, slides, books, A&A stuff, etc.) but then corrected myself and decided to focus on something I actually "need" (I do not need another 50' boxcar at this time) and that was track. But, since today was rainy and I had already taken it off I drove to the nearby JP Trains hobby store.

After checking out their Roundhouse/MDC and Athearn kits (I can't help it!) and realizing I keep seeing the same ones over and over, I looked at Paul's track selection. And, lo and behold there were three Micro Engineering code 83 #6 LH switches on sale for $15 each... brand new. Since I plan to use code 83 on the main line, and Micro Engineering is the track brand I have decided to go with, I bought all three. The packages were marked "DCC compatible with no modifications necessary," which I hope is a good thing. I plan to power the frogs and control them via a switch (either a TAM Frog Juicer if I use Caboose Industries ground throws, or the contacts from a Tortoise switch machine). I also ordered some ME flextrack. It comes in bundles of six pieces, so I ordered a bundle in code 83, code 70, and code 55. I likely won't need it until spring, but I can at least get a feel for how the stuff works.

News flash: code 55 is really tiny! I had no idea how delicate it was until I had some actually in my hands. Micro Engineering sells sample pieces through their website for I think $1.50 a piece (each piece is about 2-3 inches long). I bought some of each in codes 55, 70, and 83 in both weathered and non-weathered. I mounted them on a small board along with some samples of Hobby Innovations' Flexxbed (formerly Vinylbed) roadbed. I will likely mount small pieces of Atlas and Peco track on the board too, and if nothing else it will allow me to easily show others the various types of track on the market.

Track Plan thoughts

This is the time when the rubber hits the road. As I was trying to finalize how I would build my layout sections I thought that it might be useful to do a more detailed sketch of exactly how I envisioned my train layout would look. Admittedly, I am sure that once it is built and I am sketching it again in full size some things might change. However, we will call this a "Feasibility Study" of the layout.

Ideally, my layout sections would be no more than 2 feet wide and no more than 6 feet long. Some recent articles in the modeling magazines have advocated for narrower (thinner) layout sections, saying that 2 feet just used up lots of scenery materials without any appreciable benefit. That might be true for those modelers building double-deck layouts were the focus is to move trains, but I want my layout's focus be to accurately represent scenes, and I don't think I can accomplish that on a section only a foot deep.

As to length, at least two of my scenes will need to be 7 feet long. Minimum. Sure, I could make them as a 3 foot and four foot combination but that will just increase the number of joints in the finished scene. I want to avoid that. I already will have numerous gaps between sections. Since my basement has easy access to the outside, and because I will make sure if I move to pick a new house with a basement that can easily move in 7 foot long sections of benchwork, I should be fine. I hope.

For the 2 of you who actually studied my sketch from 9/11/2016, you will notice that I inverted the locations of Watervliet Wye and Colonie Liquor. I was rushing, that's for sure. But, I really haven't don't much planning for Watervliet Wye and so I didn't put much thought into it. I haven't explored that area, taken any pictures, sketched and diagrams, etc. I will, I am sure, But, since it isn't the most accessible area to get into I have left it for now. Thus, I threw some ideas together but they are just that, rough ideas.

Frankly, I may discover that 5 feet isn't enough room to do it justice and I may just use that area to model the area just south of Colonie Liquor. (I would swap the Colonie Liquor section and the Watervliet Wye section, because the part is south of Colonie Liquor). There is an interstate (I-378) overpass and an old Erie Canal lock, so it would be fun to build. And, I can build the park where I used to sit and railfan while in law school. So, the Watervliet Wye area is a very strong "maybe" and nothing more. Still, you can see that it faces inwards which means that I could hinge a drop-down layout section for normal storage but raise it up if putting cars on the wye tracks would add anything operationally to the layout.

Mohawk Paper is another question mark. I don't want to model the full industry, and I actually care more about the really neat track that drops down a significant grade through a cut in the trees and over the middle of a road intersection to reach the paper mill. That I want to model. Can I do it in 7 feet? Perhaps, but it will mostly depend on the grade I use. If I use a steel (or realistic) grade I doubt I can drop it enough in the space I have. But, making the scene longer just to feature that grade doesn't make a lot of sense. So, the area next to Mohawk Paper labeled Cohoes may not feature the parts of Cohoes I wanted to model (the bridge over the Mohawk River, the old warehouses, the Cohoes passenger station) and instead will just be a continuation of the paper mill scene. Again, we shall see.

Basement modifications

So, first thing's first: my Albany Tomato Building is on hold for right now. This move into our new house has sapped all energy I have (as well as time) and I will never get the building done by the convention, which is next week. I sort of figured this out a couple of months ago, when all my modeling things were still in boxes, but I hoped that things might change. They won't.

One the other side, the basement is slowly taking shape. We don't have the funds to remodel it at the moment and likely won't for a long time. But, to make it nicer I painted all of the walls a soft blue that is both reminiscent of a backdrop and just happens to be more pleasing than concrete gray. To provide adequate lighting (and fix the problem with having to pull 6 different light cords or plug in various extension cords) a good friend and I installed 12 fluorescent light fixtures and tied them to one switch accessed at the top of the stairs. Very helpful! There is plenty of room for my many books, boxes of research files, and modeling supplies. You can even see part of my two old N scale layouts off to the side, though for right now I am not planning on working on them much.

The ceiling rafters have been slowly dropping dirt as we walk around upstairs, which is a big problem and I am still hoping to cover the ceiling with plastic sheets to contain the dust.

I purchased a desk (actually two... don't ask!) to use as a work bench and I whipped up a quick tool organizer made of wood that clamps to the back. In the process of rerouting all of the cable television wires in our basement rafters I installed a drop to the workbench and bought a cheap television off of Craigslist, so now I can watch football while working. And, a radio let's me listen to games not shown. It should be a pleasant place to work in the winter, and finally I will be able to have a project or two in progress and not need to clean off the kitchen table at the end of the night so we can eat!

I apportioned off a quarter of the basement to devote to non-train stuff, and it houses the washer/dryer, etc. When we remodel the basement I will have these relocated to give me a larger layout area. As it is, I am planning on it taking up one quarter of the basement. It will stand away from two walls by a foot, and be exposed/open on the other two sides. Backdrops will run around the entire outside, so the ideal viewing location will be inside the layout. A portion will be removable for access.

Until recently I struggled with conceptualizing how I would fit my D&H Layout Design Elements (LDEs) into the space, but after fussing a while I think I have a good arrangement. For some areas I have clear ideas of what I want to model and the space it will take (Colonie Liquor, Keis/Norlite), and for other areas (Mohawk Paper, Cokoes) I haven't worked it out yet. One area will require more research to see if I even want to add it (Watervliet Wye) but the location I planned is good because I can extend the wye in or out for scenic or operational interest. And, I can build a staging yard along the wall (lower left in the diagram below) and tie it into the layout easily. The North Albany Yard will be where the lift section is, so I might just make it a generic scene and leave off building a yard being demolished for now.
Of course, once the benchwork is up I may need to shift things around, or shorten/lengthen them to fit into the sections that I can move if necessary. I want each area to be its own benchwork section, which means all four corners will be separate.

New House - home for the layout!

It's official! After three years of searching, my wife and I have finally found a house that we both love and can afford. And let me tell you, it wasn't easy. Going into the search process, I knew it had to have a dry basement. That was something I wasn't willing to compromise on. It didn't have to be large, it didn't have to be a finished basement, but it had to be dry. That precluded a lot of nice houses that didn't have any sort of basement (who designs those anyway?) or houses that were listed as having a basement but in reality they were the first floor (split level homes: I'm looking at you). Then, subtract the houses we looked at with dirt floors, low ceilings, pipes everywhere, or horrible 90-degree access stairways and you don't have much left.

But, God had the perfect house for us and we just had to be patient. For three years...

Anyway, the basement is perfect for what I am looking for right now. It is large (26' x 36') for a whopping potential 936 square feet. That is almost as much as our current apartment! And, the house has a detached garage and a carport, as well as an attic, so I won't need to devote much basement space to non-railroad related storage. The walls are pretty clear of pipes and utilities, and the ceilings aren't too low. The basement is accessed by a straight stairway AND outside Bilco access doors, so my oversize lumber, machine shop tools, and live steam equipment can come in without problem. And, to top it off, it is bone dry. I really couldn't ask for anything better.

Oh sure, it isn't perfect. It has exposed ceiling rafters, but I don't have the money to install a drop ceiling so for now I will tack plastic sheeting all over the top. It might not look pretty, but it will keep the dust away from my models. Someday, if I want to install a ceiling, I can just pull the plastic down (and try not to ingest all that collected dust.) The walls are poured cement and blocks, which again isn't ideal for my dream set-up of shelf style brackets and standards. But, for now I will build stand alone benchwork until such time as I may refinish the basement. Since the entire layout will be sectional, it won't be the end of the world to move everything out and then refinish it.

At this point, it is just an open canvas for potential. I have an existing N scale layout which I will set up for now but I still need to figure out in my head where I want my modeling desk, my tools, my book shelves, etc. I do plan to paint the walls a sky blue soon to help make it more of a "layout" room. And, I just bought a large metal desk with drawers to use as a real, honest-to-goodness worktable. I am really excited about that, because now I can have a place to leave my stuff out and work on it at my own pace.

The biggest problem I have is that I cannot let this get in the way of having the ATC building ready for the competition in September. But, having a ready workbench will make it easier to come down every evening and work on the project a little.

My plan was to build the layout piece by piece and that is what I will do. Finances will be tight for awhile, but that is okay as I like to scratchbuild and am starting small. So, look out world, the layout is coming!

And in case you were wondering, we started signing closing papers at 11:00AM, we finished around noon, went to lunch with our agent, and by 1:30PM I was in the basement working on cleaning it up and taking measurements to make a scale drawing of the space (see above).