The 43rd National Narrow Gauge Convention

Almost 1200 narrow gauge enthusiasts assembled in Denver from August 30 to September 2 for the 43rd National Narrow Gauge Convention.  This year's convention was one of the largest in recent memory, with 80 vendors and 60 clinics, not to mention 44 home layouts and museums open to convention goers.  The convention followed the format of previous events, with clinics and vendors open mornings and evenings, leaving the afternoons free to visit area model railroads and other attractions.  

 

 

I arrived a day early, rented a car and drove into the mountains to visit with a friend from Minnesota who has a cabin on the South Platte River.  The road between the cabin and the river was originally the main line of the Denver, South Park and Pacific Railroad.  Just a stone's throw from the cabin stands a log depot, which once served the narrow gauge DSP&P.

 

The cabin was rustic, but had a well stocked bar.  We spent the evening talking about the history of the place until finally turning in.  The sound of river crashing over the rocks and the light of a full moon were the perfect ending to my first day. 

 

The next morning, after an leisurely walk along the South Platte, I drove back to Denver and registered at the convention center.  That evening I made a quick tour of the vendor room, then wandered over to the contest room.  Models and photos were available for viewing throughout the convention.  Attendees each received a ballot to vote for their favorite entries, with winners to be announced at the closing event Saturday night. 

 

The quality of the contest entries was stunning.  Among the impressive structures was a beautiful HO scale model of a machine shop with lights and working overhead belts and pulleys. 

 

 An HO scale working model of the Durango coaling tower featured a working lift for the coal. 

 

 

As you might expect, most of the models and photos were of Colorado narrow gauge prototypes.  But there were a few Eastern narrow gauge entries.The winner in the passenger car division was an O scale replica of the East Broad Top's business car, number 20, the Orbisonia.

 

 

On Thursday, I drove up I-70 into the mountains to visit the Georgetown Loop Railroad.  The Loop is steeped in the history of Colorado.  By 1879 the silver boom had created a race between Colorado's competing railroad systems. One of the proposed routes, relying on the Union Pacific owned Colorado Central, would extend west from Georgetown, cross Loveland Pass, and turn south to the silver mines at Leadville.  But a competing route, using DSP&P track, crossed the Continental Divide first, leaving the Georgetown route unfinished.  The line never did reach the Divide, but it did beget the construction of the Georgetown Loop.  The Loop consists of a number of  hairpin curves, along with a spectacular, high spindly bridge, built to raise the track 638 feet in less than 2 miles. Today the loop carries tourists over a short run from Georgetown to Silver Plume and back. I did manage to get my photo taken with the high bridge in the background.

 

 After a great lunch in Georgetown, I drove back down I-70 to Idaho Springs, former home of well known author and model railroader Harry Brunk.  Long time readers of the Narrow Gauge and Shortline Gazette will know of Harry. He wrote a column from 1980 to 2010 describing his HOn3 Union Central & Northern Clear Creek Division. Harry’s layout depicted the Colorado & Southern’s 3-foot gauge Clear Creek line that once ran from Denver through Golden, up Clear Creek Canyon, through Forks Creek, spun a branch off to Black Hawk and Central City, past the famous Argo Tunnel, through Idaho Springs and Georgetown, over and up and around the famous Georgetown Loop and into Silver Plume and even a bit beyond.  Harry passed away recently, but his layout has been preserved at the Cheyenne Depot Museum in Wyoming. 

 While in Idaho Springs, I visited a large and incredibly detailed model railroad built by Mike Horner.  The layout, which occupied the entire second floor of a large garage, took over thirty years to build.  In talking with one of the operating crew, I learned that the railroad had not operated in over a year.  Mike's focus is on building, not operating.  But with the help of some local model railroaders, they had managed to get the whole thing up and running in time for the convention.  Truly an amazing layout!

On Friday, I joined several friends for a trip to the Colorado Railroad Museum in Golden, about 30 minutes from the hotel.  The museum has a large collection of historic and modern locomotives and rolling stock.  We arrived just in time for a ride behind RGS ten-wheeler #20. The Rio Grande Southern bought the locomotive from the Florence & Cripple Creek in 1889, pulling trains west from Alamosa to Durango.  A fan favorite, #20 was often requested to haul special charter trains for railfans.  Famed railroad photographers Beebe and Clegg chartered two private cars in the 1930's that carried them over the so-called "Narrow Gauge Circle" behind RGS #20. 

 

While exploring the museum, a young man noticed my convention name badge and asked, "Are you the Russ Norris who has a blog on the internet?"  Turns out he has followed my blog for a number of years -- the very first person who has ever told me that!  

In honor of the National Convention, the museum fired up a second locomotive just for the day.  K-37 #491 was originally built as a standard gauge engine, but the D&RGW rebuilt it to operate on narrow gauge tracks in the last days of steam railroading.  When we arrived at the museum, the K-37 was steaming up next to the roundhouse.  With my convention badge, I was free to wander almost anywhere, so I strolled over to take some pictures of #491.  The hostler invited me into the cab, where he was feeding coal into the firebox.  It was in the 90's in Golden that day, but the weather felt cool compared to the temperature in the cab.

In the afternoon, museum staff pulled #20 and replaced it with the K-37.  What a thrill when that huge locomotive came chuffing up to the station, slowed to a halt, and with a shout of warning from the engineer, performed a blow down for the crowd.

One of the delightful surprises at the museum was the discovery of a large HO scale model railroad in the basement of the station, owned and operated by the Denver HO Model Railroad Club. 

Space does not permit a review of all the historic rolling stock at the museum, but I can't finish without mentioning the famous "galloping geese" on display -- another tip of the hat to the stubborn little RGS, which found ways to keep operating right through the depression.  If you are ever in Denver, the Colorado Railroad Museum is worth a visit!

Saturday morning, the last day of the convention, several friends and I drove up and over the Continental Divide for a visit to the famous Como Roundhouse.  The route follows the DSP&P railroad to the top of the world.  After climbing steeply for miles, we passed the Divide and entered a wide flat prairie dotted with cattle and horses... and the occasional moose!

Como is a small village, but it played an outsized role in Colorado railroading.  The route that succeeded in reaching the silver lode at Leadville (and ended the dreams of Georgetown) ran through Como, which had an engine service facility at the top of the world.  A small group of dedicated local citizens is working to restore the roundhouse.  

The roundhouse has been largely renovated and the turntable is operation.  It is an "Armstrong" table, but the bridge is so well balanced on its bearing that I was able to push it myself with very little effort. 

After visiting the roundhouse and enjoying speeder rides on a half-mile stretch of track, we drove back down I-70, ending the day at a nifty little bar and restaurant not far from the cabin where I spent my first night. What a great way to wind  up a fabulous adventure!

 

 

The 43rd National Narrow Gauge Convention came to an end Saturday night.  Contest award winners were announced and a vote was taken on where the next annual conventions will be held.  Next year's event will be in Pittsburgh, and will feature a bus trip to visit the East Broad Top Railroad.  Future conventions will be in St. Louis, Minneapolis and Nashville.

 

Modeling East Broad Top Mine Number 1

The Rockhill Iron and Coal Company opened its first deep mine on Broad Top Mountain in 1875 -- the same year that the East Broad Top Railroad reached Robertsdale at the southern end of the tracks.  Mine number 1 was a slope mine that proved to be one of the most productive of a number of deep mines on the Broad Top.  Over the next 75 plus years number 1 closed and reopened several times.  It was still active when the railroad ceased operations in 1956.

The mine was a short walk from the center of Robertsdale, where the EBT tracks crossed Main Street at what became known as "Company Square" -- so named because of the four railroad-owned structures that bracketed the crossing: the Company Store, the Robertsdale station and scale, the old Post Office, and the coal company office building.  The Company Store was demolished years ago, but the other three buildings are still standing. 

The mine openings are still visible, but the tunnels have collapsed.  However, tours of the area are offered by the Friends of the East Broad Top (FEBT) on weekends.  What is visible today is a pile of "boney" where the tipple once stood.  The above photo is a rare shot of engine 15 pulling a string of hopper cars past the tipple.  The wood structure with the chimney was the scale house.  The metal building next to it was a shelter for crews during inclement weather.  

Two sets of tracks served the tipple: Loaded mine cars carrying a long ton {2200 pounds} of coal were hauled up by a continuous cable that also lowered the empties back into the mine.  A long trestle for the loaded mine cars rose slightly higher than the floor of the trestle.  Cars were cut loose from the cable and drifted down the incline to the scale, where they were weighed prior to dumping their loads into waiting hopper cars below.  The empties then rolled back down a return track to the mine.

The deck of the tipple was constructed of 12 x 4 boards resting on heavy timbers.  I decided to make the decking from coffee stirrers cut to size and stained various shades of gray and brown.  To make construction easier, I cut out a sub-floor from 1/16" basswood sheet based on scale drawings by Lee Rainey published in Along the East Broad Top by Donald J.  Heimburger (Heimburger House Publishing, River Forest, IL, 1987), pp. 84-85.  I drew guidelines on the floor to make sure the boards were square.

Planks were dipped in various shades of stain for random lengths of time, then dried on a paper towel and cut to size.  The boards were glued to the sub-floor with Aileen's Tacky Glue.  After the floor planks were in place, I used the plans to lay out HOn3 code 40 rail for the tracks.  Rusty brown colored powders were applied to the tracks to give a sense of rust and dirt.  The rails were secured to the deck with Pliobond, an adhesive that is strong, quick drying and flexible. The walls of the scale house can be seen on the left end of the tipple floor.

The tipple rested on heavy timbers and cross beams.  I laid the floor upside down on the workbench, then carefully set the supports along the near side of the tipple.  Here is a photo of the structure on a bare section of the railroad that would later be covered with vegetation and trees.

Note that the loaded mine cars were hauled up to the tipple on a long trestle that rose to an apex slightly higher than the deck of the tipple, allowing the cars to coast down to the scale house, where they were weighed.  Workers would then push the car to one of the chutes, where the wheels would actuate a mechanism that tipped the car, dumping its contents either into waiting hopper cars or a truck for local deliveries.  

The return track (furthest from the camera) did not run on a trestle, but on a bed of boney, which still stands today.  The back of the tipple is supported by timbers largely hidden by a bank of boney.  To model this embankment, I cut a piece of 2 inch pink foam insulation, cut to resemble the fill.

The foam was then shaped with a surfoam tool, painted black and sprinkled with finely crushed boney I collected from the EBT yards in Rockhill. The pile of boney supports the back side of the tipple, and the tracks for the empties slopes down to where it will eventually disappear into the trees.

Since I was working with code 40 rail, not flextrack, I had to create a length of track for the empties.  I laid out a series of tinted wood ties on a sheet of glass using doubled sided sticky tape.  I then used Pliobond to glue the rails to the ties, using HOn3 track gauges to keep the rails 3 scale feet apart.

Before gluing the tracks in place, I needed to finish the scenery for the hillside above and behind the tipple.  The mountain was made with strips of plaster bandages with several additional layers of plaster added.  To give the smooth hillside some "tooth" I applied a layer of adhesive screen used by contractors to plaster over sheet rock.  For trees, I used some of my collected of lichen found in low-lying areas of Cape Cod, then cleaned, boiled in glycerin and water, sprayed with adhesive and sprinkled with green foam. If you look closely at the following photo, you can see one of the company houses in Robertsdale on the extreme right.  This is not scenic compression.  The town really is that close to mine number 1.

That left only the details.  I added a small corrugated shed for the crew, railings all around, and chutes made from Polystyrene sheet to protect the decking.  Here is a close-up shot of how it looks.

 The project is not yet finished.  I still have to construct the trestle that will run parallel to the boney roadbed, for the loaded cars to make their ascent to the tipple.  Before I can finalize the model, I also need to ballast the tracks and add other scenic materials.  But here is a photo designed to reflect the prototype shot at the beginning of the article.

Ewings Mill

The East Broad Top was a short narrow gauge line that extended from a  junction with the Pennsylvania Railroad at Mount Union to the mines on the east slope of Broad Top Mountain some 32 miles to the south.  Thirty-two miles is still a lot of railroad to model.  I only know of one EBT modeler who has tried to do the whole thing.  His layout fills his entire basement!  I was working with an available space between 500 and 600 square feet.

Since I clearly could not model everything, I decided to model three or four well-known scenes, starting with a dual gauge yard designed to resemble Mount Union.  A second scene includes the shop complex, Orbisonia Station and the roundhouse.  The end of the line at Robertsdale was another obvious choice.  I have thoroughly enjoyed modeling these three scenes, which are detailed in earlier posts.  

The problem I had not thought about is how to connect these scenes, which in real life are located miles from each other.  Specifically, I had to figure out what to do with a short section that links the Mount Union yards with Orbisonia and Rockhill.  The track exits the dual gauge yard and curves around to Orbisonia Station and the shops.  The connecting track is concave to the aisle, so the viewer would see a blank area bordered by the tracks.

 

I had gone round and round what to put in that space.  After working with EBT historian Lee Rainey on an article about the old mill that still stands in Shade Gap, south of Orbisonia, I thought I would build a model of the mill.  But it was a large structure and I kept putting off starting the project.

In October 2021 I attended the annual EBT Reunion in Rockhill and Robertsdale, Pennsylvania.  During the reunion the Friends of the EBT held a silent auction.  One of the items up for bid was the model of another old mill -- Ewings Mill -- that once stood just south of Mount Union on old route 522.  It was torn down in the 1950's to make way for the widening of the highway, but it was just such a neat structure I couldn't resist bidding on it -- and I won!

 The mill was built by Douglas Taylor based on an article by Lee Rainey that appeared in the spring 2020 issue of the FEBT journal, the Timber Transfer.  Rainey's photos and historical information were just what I needed to start the project.  As soon as I got back from Pennsylvania, I took the mill up to the train room and started moving it around to see where it would best fit without blocking the scenery behind it.

Photos of the mill over the first half of the 20th century showed that one opened to a slope down to a nearby road, with a rough stone retaining wall that ran from the mill to the road.  I cut and sanded down a chunk of 2 inch extruded foam insulation to form the hillside. The rock wall was cut from a sheet of "Dolomit" rock wall by Noch (57710) that I have used in other places on the layout.

Ground foam was used for the grassy slope and other places in the scene (medium green, burnt grass, yellow grass).  The road was made from drywall joint compound applied with a wide spatula, sanded and painted a light gray.  Trees were made from local weeds sprayed with adhesive and shaken  with ground foam.  The scene was completed with a Grey Street Company House by Conowingo Models.  The result is a perfect transition from the Mount Union yards to the shops at Rockhill.

East Broad Top Reunion 2021

 It has been two years since the last fall Reunion of the Friends of the EBT.  I was anxious to see what changes might have occurred since the EBT Foundation took over management of the railroad in February 2021.  So early in October I drove the 500 miles from Cape Cod to the twin boroughs of Orbisonia and Rockhill, Pennsylvania.  I made arrangements to stay at Pogue Station, an old farmhouse about two miles south of Orbisonia used as a general store, post office, and flag stop for the EBT.  From my bedroom window I could see the EBT tracks.  It has been 65 years since a train ran there, but that may soon change!

 

  
               Annual reunions traditionally started on Friday evening in the elementary school across from Orbisonia Station, and lasted through Saturday.  But there was a whiff of change in the air this year.  The reunion was scheduled to start Friday morning in Robertsdale, some 20 miles south of Orbisonia.  There visitors could see the new FEBT museum located in the old Robertsdale post office across the tracks from the depot.  The depot now has a new red standing seam roof, installed this summer thanks to contributions from the FEBT.   

             Several steel hopper cars have been moved to tracks near the station, where they were once weighed before the trip north to Mount Union and the junction with the Pennsylvania Railroad.  Hand car rides were offered all weekend long on a restored section of track. (Those things are harder to pump than you think!)   Here is a photo of me standing on the handcar.

 

 

             The tracks south of Robertsdale led to the mines operated by the Rockhill Iron and Coal Company (RICC).  Coal was transferred to EBT hopper cars from various tipples and truck dumps along the right-of-way.  A high point for me was a guided tour of what is left of the mines conducted by Ric Case and Ron Pearson, both of whom have spent decades exploring and documenting the mines.  Beginning at Mine #1, a hundred yards south of the EBT station and scale, we followed the tracks south for maybe half a mile.  There we explored some of the remnants of mining structures – the foundations of the boiler house, fan house, winch house, mule barn and the small two stall EBT engine house.  Our guides provided a wealth of information on coal mining operations over the 80 history of the EBT as a common carrier.  Here is a photo of Ric Case with a group of intrepid explorers.

 

Before leaving on our tour, we had a surprise visit from Henry Posner, the Chairman of the Board of the EBT Foundation, who praised the FEBT for their faithful work over many years when the future seemed bleak.  Posner told the crowd that other members of the Board were on site for the weekend, and that all of them saw the FEBT as a valuable partner in rebuilding the railroad.  In candid remarks, Posner hinted that plans are in place to reopen the track south of Rockhill, with a long range goal of restoring operations from Orbisonia all the way to Robertsdale.  The Foundation is conferring with bridge and tunnel engineers about the status of the 210-foot-long steel deck trestle over Aughwick Creek, and the two long tunnels at Cooks and Sideling Hill.  Two of the six steam engines that have been stored in the roundhouse at Rockhill are currently being restored, with steam operations planned to resume shortly.  

             On Saturday activities moved to Rockhill, where we were astonished by newly ballasted track and ties!   Together with the FEBT, the railroad is working to upgrade track and switches that have suffered from ten years of neglect after tourist operations shut down in 2011.

 

    The elementary school gymnasium across from the depot was the site for registrations, contests, clinics and the FEBT Company Store.  Ron Pearson and Ric Case brought a six foot long diorama of Mine #9 in exquisite detail.  No one was surprised when the mine scene won first place for structures!  

              That afternoon we heard a powerful presentation by the new EBT Archivist Julie Rockwell, hired by the Foundation to sort through 150 years of documents, maps, operating orders, reports, survey instruments and ephemera that had been stored on the second floor of the station, in the basement, in the old farm house used for the yardmaster’s office, and a raft of other cubbyholes.  Long range plans include digitizing much of this material to make it available for historical research.  There are literally thousands of documents to sort through, an unparalleled treasure of industrial archaeology stretching back over a century and a half.

Although no steam engines were operating this year, there were plenty of other opportunities to ride the rails.  Single cylinder “pop pop” track cars ran continuously to the south end of the yard and back, a distance of over a mile.   

 

 

             Train trips were also available to the picnic area at Colgate Grove, 5 miles north of the depot, where the recently rebuilt wye allows trains to turn.  Some of the track restoration was so recent that the new ties weren’t yet ballasted! Trains of open cars were pulled by the M-7 diesel electric engine.  

 

 For those looking for something more historic, the M-1 gas electric motor car was running as well.  The M-1 was constructed by the railroad in 1927 with plans and parts from Westinghouse and Brill.  It was, in effect, a kit-built car designed to carry mail and a few passengers when it was too expensive to fire up a steam engine.  I was lucky enough to get a seat on a rare night trip.  What a treat! As the M-1 backed down the wye, there was a sudden thump-thump from below and the train stopped dead.  The conductor stepped down with his lantern and inspected the trucks, then assured the engineer we were still on the rails.  A good thing, since no one was looking forward to walking back in the dark!  But soon the M-1 was humming south again, arriving safely at the Rockhill Trolley Museum.

 

            I should add that Orbisonia is not only home to the East Broad Top Railroad, but also to the trolley museum.  A variety of historic trolleys and light rail vehicles ran all day Saturday and Sunday.  Returning EBT trains used a short section of dual gauge track to drop off passengers at the museum.  The Foundation is looking for ways to keep visitors interested and on site for more than a quick train ride.  Stopping at the trolley museum is designed to attract visitors to extend their stay.  Another attraction is the newly restored shop complex, which guests are welcome to visit.  The railroad has found that with the combination of trains, trolleys and the shops, guests are now staying an average of four hours.  

             And speaking of the shops, special tours led by EBT General Manager Brad Esposito were offered both Saturday and Sunday.  Additional tours of the FEBT’s restoration work were also offered.  On Sunday there were activities all day at both Rockhill and Robertsdale, making the reunion a three day event!  I opted for the Sunday shop tour.  The tour began in the 8 stall roundhouse, which has been recently upgraded with a new fire suppression system and better lighting.  Fire suppression has been extended to the shops and several other buildings.  Esposito explained that two of the six Baldwins were in relatively good condition for refitting and restoration: Number 14 and number 16.  Locomotive 16 was in the best condition, having just been shopped before the railroad shut down in 1956.  One of three heavyweight engines, it weighs around 80 tons – not what you would expect from a narrow gauge locomotive!  

             After exploring the roundhouse we walked over to the locomotive and machine shops, originally built in the late 19^th century and upgraded in the 1920s.  The massive presses, lathes, punches and other historic machines were powered by an overhead system of pulleys and leather belts, all driven by a large single stroke steam engine in the powerhouse.  Steam was generated by two large coal fired boilers, no longer in use.  But several years ago, members of the FEBT had cleaned and restored the one cylinder engine to run on compressed air.  The engine now runs quietly and smoothly, just as it did in the days of steam.

 

The new owners of the railroad brought in outside specialists to stabilize and level the trusses and shafts in the ceiling, so that the entire antique belt driven system now runs as it did a century ago.  It was incredible to see the steam engine quietly hissing, the governor spinning and the flywheel turning as it did when the shops were operating.  Several machines are now able to operate using the overhead belts for power.  We watched a large planer smoothly move back and forth more quietly than I had expected.  I always assumed that the belt system must have been incredibly noisy, but it is not!  Management is gradually restoring many of these magnificent machines to use in repairing and servicing the locomotives and rolling stock.  The goal is to restore the EBT to it was so many years ago.

 

The 9 hour ride back to Cape Cod that Monday left me with plenty of time to reflect on the changes taking place on the East Broad Top Railroad.  Narrow gauge enthusiasts are familiar with railroads like the Durango and Silverton or the Cumbres and Toltec.  But there is no other narrow gauge road anywhere that has survived intact from end to end like the EBT.  The entire railroad – the right of way, the structures, the locomotives, the rolling stock and the shops – have by a historical fluke survived just as they were on that April day in 1956, when the shop crew went home and never came back!  That the railroad has survived is a miracle. And together the EBT Foundation and the Friends of the EBT are working to ensure that the railroad will be around for a long time yet to come.