Scratchbuilding the Robertsdale Engine House - Part 3

 With the roof trusses in place, I constructed the roof panels using laser cut sheets of variable width shake shingles from Bollinger Edgerly Scale Trains (B.E.S.T.).  The sheets come in 4x12 and 6x12 sizes, which meant I had to cut and paste sections together to shingle the 60 foot long engine house and the 40 long extension and shop.  I made one side of the roof 1/16 inch less from eave to peak, and butted the shorter panel to the panel facing the aisle, eliminating the need for a roof cap.  I really liked the appearance of the shakes, and began to think about what color to make them.  Here is a shot of the engine house from the front.  

And here is a photo from the rear.  The roof is not yet on the extension.  The holes in the roof are for the smoke vents, which I made from 5/16" square styrene tubing

With the roof sections cut and assembled, my next thought was what color to make them.  I had painted the sides with a red primer from Home Depot, and liked the look.  I first tested a spray can of roof primer from Home Depot -- the color was designed to color flashing and roof pipes in an aged brown.  But when I sprayed a scrap of leftover roofing, the spray paint came out too thick and dark.  So I tried various weathering mixes from Hunterline, including brown, gray and driftwood.  I liked them all, but decided to go with a light gray that resembled the weathered color of shake shingles one sees here on Cape Cod.  The label said the dye was mixed with alcohol, so I felt safe brushing it on the wood shingles.  I brushed it on both sides just in case, to prevent any warping.

At first it looked great, but then I noticed that the wood was starting to warp anyway.  I quickly laid the panels flat on a sheet of glass with lead weights.  But then I noticed that the warp was more severe along the eaves than the peaks, giving each longitudinal roof section a fan shape.  The eaves were expanding lengthwise more than the peak!  I attributed the difference to the laser cuts that made the bottom of the roof thinner than the top. I quickly checked the bottle of weathering mix and found that the mix  was only 70% rubbing alcohol!  It pays to read the label carefully.  The mixture was 30% water!   I thought the shingles -- which were not cheap -- were ruined.  I left the roof panels on my workbench and went to bed.

To my amazement, when I lifted the weights off the next day, the warp had largely disappeared!  As the water content evaporated, the wood returned to its original shape.  There is still a subtle warp, so that the bottom of the roof sections sag slightly in the middle -- a nice touch, as it turns out, making the roof look a bit aged and sagging slightly like a wood passenger car.  The light gray stain turned out rather nice.  Here you can see the engine house on the layout with the roof in place.  The smoke vents have been painted and installed.  The styrene foundation is also visible.

And here is a photo of the entire structure with all roof panels in place.  This is the view seen by visitors, since the left side of the building faces the aisle and there is no really good view of the opposite side.

In my next post I will show how I wired the engine house for lights and added additional roof detail along with shop equipment and workers in the rear extension.

Scratch Building the Robertsdale Engine House - Part 2

 As I explained in part 1 of this series, I wanted to build the EBT two stall backwoods engine house in Robertsdale, Pennsylvania, at the southern end of the railroad.  The main shop facilities were in Rockhill, where the railroad had an eight stall round house and turntable, a car shop, locomotive shop, machine shop, foundry, blacksmith shop, and just about anything you might need to build, repair or service the railroad.  

But Rockhill was more than 20 miles north of Robertsdale and the coal mines on Broadtop Mountain.  If one of the EBT's fleet of 2-8-2 steamers needed repairs, it made sense to have a small service facility available at the southern end of the line.  The board and batten engine house was built around 1875, at the same time that the EBT was building the Robertsdale depot and company store.  

There are very few photos of the engine house when it was still standing, but I was blessed with  a set of drawings based on field notes made in 1973 when the building was still standing.  The set of 7 drawings was a godsend.  They were extremely well detailed, and included the floor plan, wall plans, the site plan and roof plan, front and rear elevations,side elevations, main door and vent stack detail. And best of all, they were drawn in HO scale!  This vastly simplified construction of the model.  After cutting out and assembling the walls, I was able to set my model directly on the plan, as seen here:

Since the engine house was built before the EBT bought its fleet of modern 2-8-2 locomotives, the tolerances between the engine and doors were extremely tight.  Being able to set the building on the floor plan helped keep the tracks within the proper clearances.

I decided for the sake of structural integrity I would set the sills on a concrete foundation -- in this case a 1/8 inch sheet of styrene painted a weathered gray.  Using the plans for a guide, I carefully marked out the stalls, then cut out the spaces for the tracks.  I tested the fit on a flat surface to make sure the tolerances were correct, then glued the walls to the foundation with ACC cement.

The plans indicated that the roof of the main building was supported by a series of 6 trusses.  I followed the plans and constructed four trusses that were then placed where the plans indicated they were located.  The front and rear trusses were continued up to the peak of both ends to strengthen the assembly.

At this point I was able to place the structure on the layout where it would go when finished.  The laser cut shake shingle roof panels from B.E.S.T. would rest on the trusses leaving enough space above for wiring the lights and for a roof beam to run from one end of the building to the other.  I will continue the construction in part 3.

Scratch Building the Robertsdale Engine House

The East Broad Top Railroad runs south from its junction with the Pennsylvania Railroad in Mount Union, to Robertsdale and the coal mines on Broad Top Mountain.  Robertsdale was a bustling little town in its heyday, with a large and well stocked company store, a concrete block depot, another concrete block structure that once held the coal company offices, and an impressive new office building across the street.  Robertsdale also boasted a wye for turning the coal trains, an enclosed water tank, and an engine house.  The engine house was the most enigmatic structure, having fallen into ruin in the early 1990's, about the same time that the company store was razed.  

I was hard put to find any photos of the engine house, which was a two stall board and batten structure just south of company square.  At the EBT Fall Reunion in 2014 I walked what was left of the roadbed with Ric Case and Ron Pearson, who took me on  a short tour of where the engine house once stood.  There was virtually nothing left of the building except some of the concrete foundation.  Later I ran across some old photos from the 1990's that were all I could find of what the structure looked like.  Here is a picture taken in 1992 of the front foundation looking out at the approach track.

The best photos I found of the actual structure were low resolution and very grainy. Here is a shot of the front and side of the building.It's hard to make out much detail.

And here is a shot lookng up at the front of the building.

I had reserved a special place, right on the aisle, for the Robertsdale engine house on my EBT railroad, but the information I had to go one was pretty sparse.  Then a friend and fellow EBT modeler shared a set of plans made in 1973 by William J. Karl, when the building was still standing.  What a find!  The drawings showed all sides of the structure, as well as the interior, roof trusses, the works!

I decided to model the engine house using scribed board and batten siding -- which I happened to have a lot of in my stash of modeling supplies.  The drawings specified that the roof was made of wood shake shingles, so for the sake of realism I purchased several sheets of laser cut cedar shake shingles from B.E.S.T. modeling supplies.  By Christmas 2020 I was ready to start work.  During the week between Christmas and New Year's Day I cut all the sides and  punched out holes for the windows and doors. I ordered several sets of Tichy 6/6 frame windows 36" wide by 64" high, item TTG8024, which were just about the exact size of the engine house windows.  After cutting out the sides, I spray painted the exterior with red primer from the local Home Depot.  I installed the windows, and began to assemble the building, which measures out to about 100 feet long incluiding the rear extension.  In the next post I will continue with how I constructed the roof trusses, foundation, and interior.

The National Narrow Gauge Convention - The CSRM

In my previous post I described the tour of the Sacramento Locomotive Shops, where the California State Railroad Museum (CSRM) stores its collection of historic locomotives and cars.  The museum itself is located on the other side of the Union Pacific main line in Old Sacramento.  On the day after the shop tour I visited the museum.

The CSRM has its origins in 1937, when a group of railroad enthusiasts formed the Pacific Coast Chapter of the Railway & Locomotive Historical Society.  When they were unable to develop their own museum in the Bay area, the organization donated 33 historic cars and locomotives to the California Department of Parks and Recreation as the nucleus for the museum in Sacramento.  Today the museum facilities include the restored Central Pacific Railroad passenger station, Sacramento Southern Railroad and Museum of Railroad History, and the historic Sierra Railway Shops at Railtown 1897 in Jamestown. 

The CSRM is built in the shape of a roundhouse, with tracks converging on an external turntable.  The exhibits rest on rails that allow them to be moved or removed if needed.  The museum has three floors.  The main floor holds most of the exhibits.  A mezzanine includes a theater, while a gallery on the third level provides a children's play area, toy train gallery and the future home of the National Model Railroad Association's new exhibit on model railroading.  A unique narrow gauge exhibit in located on the third level as well.

When I entered the museum, I passed the ticket counter and gift shop and followed signs to the main floor. Suddenly I was confronted by a massive wall of black steel.  It took a moment to realize that I was staring at the enormous tender of a Southern Pacific cab forward.  Number 4294 is the last steam locomotive purchased new by the SP, and the sole survivor of the 256 cab forward engines developed for use in the Sierra Nevada.  Retired in 1956, the 6,000 horsepower giant is a monument to modern steam power.

On the left of the locomotive I discovered a stairway leading up to the crew access door on the engineer's side.  Supposing it gave a peek through the window, I climbed up and discovered that the door was open to the cab.  Inside a docent invited visitors to sit in the crew seats as he answered questions.  It was a unique experience.  Unlike ordinary locomotives, the controls were actually behind the crew except for throttle and brake levers.  Driving a cab forward was more like flying an airliner.  In front of the engineer and fireman were large windows that looked directly out at the track ahead.  In the following photo, an Australian friend I met at the convention, Garry Walden, looks down from the platform leading to the cab,

The museum not only displays historic locomotives and cars, it also gives one a sense of time and history.  Located alongside the last steam engine to be purchased by the SP was the railroad's very first locomotive, the C. P. Huntingdon, purchased in 1863 from the Central Pacific.  The unusual 4-2-4 "bicycle" type engine ended its career as a weed burner around 1900.  Later restored by the SP it became the corporate symbol of the railroad.

 

Nearby I discovered the very first locomotive of the Central Pacific, the Governor Standford, which was shipped around Cape Horn by sailing ship, arriving on the Sacramento waterfront in late 1863.  It was set up and put to work just a few feet from its present location in the museum.

North Pacific Coast No. 12 first operated in 1876 in Marin County.  The "Sonoma" spent almost 60 years on the Nevada Central Railroad pulling trains between Austin and Battle Mountain.  Retired from service in 1938, the Sonoma last operated in 1940.  Today it is the finest restored example of the American Standard locomotive and displays the care and artistry lavished on engines of the 1870's.

The legendary Virginia and Truckee No. 12 "Genoa" pulled crack passenger trains between Carson City, Reno and the Comstock Lode from 1873 to 1908.  It has been restored to its 1902 appearance and is exhibited pulling V&T combine No. 16 over an 1884 wrought iron truss bridge.

While it was easy to be caught up in the elegance of these wonderful 19th century locomotives, the museum also included examples of more modern steam engines, such as this heavy 0-6-0 shifter with Walschaerts valve gear looking like it just rolled in from a long day in the yards.

In addition, the museum also included a variety of rolling stock, from ornate Victorian passenger cars of the late 19th century to modern era cars like this sleeper, with sound and motion effects.  As the on board docent explained the evolution of the Pullman car, the coach rocked back and forth while the clickety-clack of steel wheels on steel rails and passing lights and crossing signals in the windows gave the impression of rolling through the night.

Another exhibit featured a Great Northern railway post office car, where we could see how the mail was sorted and prepared for drop-off.

One of the more fascinating exhibits was a dining car, where you could see the kitchen where meals were prepared in the days when train travel was both elegant and comfortable.

At the end of the week a special tour was arranged for a tour of the NMRA exhibit on the magic of model railroading.  We were greeted in the lobby by former NMRA President Charlie Getz, who gave the group an overview of the exhibit, which will be open to the public later this year.

We then filed up to the third floor to an area still under construction where we were able to see examples of some of the finest and most iconic model railroads of the last fifty years, by modelers as diverse as John Allen, Malcolm Furlow and Jim Vail. 

From Charlie's description, when the NMRA exhibit area is completed, it will not only present a history of model railroading, but will also engage viewers in the hobby in ways that will encourage them to explore the magic of model railroading for themselves.

The CSRM is a magical place.I have visited railroad museums from Lancaster, Pennsylvania to Baltimore to the French National Railroad Museum in Alsace, France, but this is one of the best collections of early and modern railroad history I have seen,  If you have a chance to visit Sacramento, this is one place you won't want to miss.

The National Narrow Gauge Convention - The Shop Tour

The 2019 National Narrow Gauge Convention was held the first week in September at the Hilton Double Tree Hotel in Sacramento, California.   My wife and I arrived on Monday, the 2nd, giving us a couple of days to familiarize ourselves with the area.  For me, the convention really began on Tuesday with a tour of the historic Sacramento Locomotive Shops, a short walk from the California State Railroad Museum (CSRM) in Old Sacramento on the banks of the Sacramento River.  We began our adventure in the former headquarters of the Central Pacific Railroad.

Walking past the adjacent CSRM the group descended into an underpass beneath the Union Pacific tracks to the mammoth shop complex.

This was a special treat, as the shops are in daily use by the CSRM for housing and working on their superb collection of historic locomotives and rail cars, and visitors are generally not allowed.  We were met at the entrance to the machine shop by a group of docents who guided us through the facility.  Hard hats and steel toe boots are normal requirements for entrance.

The complex consisted of two long structures separated by the tracks for a transfer table (visible in the distance) used to move engines and cars from one building to the other.

The shops date from the middle of the 19th century.  Standing at one end of the machine shop one can see the original roof trusses and beams stretching away into the distance.  At the height of their use thousands of men worked in these shops.  The noise must have been deafening.

After a brief visit to the machine shop, the group walked across the transfer table track to the locomotive shop, where much of the CSRM's collection is stored.  The tour group was divided into two sections, and each was assigned a docent who walked us through the facility, pointing out rare and one of a kind exhibits.

When the shops were built back in the 1860's, they were much smaller than they are today.  The Central Pacific decided it was too expensive and time consuming to send locomotives back east for service and repair, so they built the first shop at what is now one end of the locomotive shop.  In the early days machine tools were powered by overhead belts and pulleys, the supports of which can still be seen hanging from the rafters.  As the railroad grew the buildings were enlarged by extending them into the structures as they exist today.  But there are still parts of the facility in use that are over 150 years old.

The shop complex is a huge, echoing place where time appears to have stopped.  Here are some images of what we discovered in dusty corners of the facility.

 

The CSRM has an incredible collection, most of which are standard gauge, but there are some examples of narrow gauge locomotives and cars.  Here is a sample of what we saw on our tour.

There were plenty of examples of more modern equipment, including diesel electric locomotives  that were turning points in locomotive power and design.

The size of these enormous machines was impressive, but the museum also has examples of technical advances that made modern railroading possible.  We saw an example of the 1930 Winton diesel engine, one of the forerunners of modern prime movers.

Our guide then led us to one of the direct descendents of this early example of diesel technology, a modern 16 cylinder prime mover used in the Amtrak locomotive next to it.

My first electric trains were, as for so many of us, Lionels.  One of my favorites was a Santa Fe war bonnet diesel that pulled a string of fluted silver cars around the Christmas tree.  The diesel and cars are long gone, but I was delighted to find the prototype for my Santa Fe engine in the shop museum.

I lost touch with allmost all my old Lionel trains until a few years ago.  A cousin of mine called from New Jersey to ask if a cardboard box of old trains in his attic might be mine.  It was, and 60 years after I last saw it a Western Pacific A-B lashup is now on display in my train room.  It is the spitting image of the WP diesel we saw in the Sacramento shops.

This concludes part 1 of my report on the 39th National Narrow Gauge Convention.  Part 2 will focus on the California State Railroad Museum itself, with a glimpse of the new exhibit being prepared by the National Model Railroad Association.