And today, the 15 of May, we begin a line up of our latest encarnation of “The Line.”
I am the owner and operator of the Norma & Micaela Railroad, N&MRR, and my line is about 45% complete. I have a collection of “Sow’s Ears” as well as several Bachmanns. These pics will be designed to show the limits of Sow’s Ears…
(Above) A Sow’s Ear, Locomotive No. 9, pulling more considerable Rolling Stock through Poor Vic’s Curve. Poor Vic’s Curve is named for our Own Vic Smith. In the story of the N&MRR the curve is named for an Engineer, Vicktor Schmitt, who went off the tracks near this area.
(Above) Locomotive No 9, approaches the Borracho Gultch Trestle. Also named in honour of Vic Smith’s Line (of which I hope he posts some pics). It is a tresetle that bridges a segment of the line after a caliche rock fromation called Indain Point which was the site of “the Cut.”
(Above) Here is a pic of the old fence. A few months back I made a post on how long wooden structures last. In the Story, this is part of an old fence line build by the city of Two Trees, Texas to parallel the railroad. It is to be rebuilt.
(Above) Another image of the Borracho Gultch Trestle.
(Above) The town of Two Trees, Texas. Its a peaceful Monday morning…soon trains will pull in to take produce to the market.
Is the Dixie D Short Line ready for the grand opening? Well, no, but here are some shots of where I’m at.
This is about 6 weeks ago when I just put down some plantings, included here for perspective.
This is the current city area. I used roof shingles for the asphalt areas and Elfin Thyme for what will be the park.
Here is a very “jungle” looking shot of the coreopsis, yarrow and pond. Wait! Is that a tiger hiding in the grass?
This is the reality check, yeah, I’m about that far along.
What photo of a Garden Railroad would be complete without a train? Right now this is just a prop, I haven’t got the track all the way down quite yet, but I like the look so far. The green rolling stock is being lettered for the Dixie D SL.
The “tree” to the right of the box car is nothing more than common parsley.
You have to admit, May is a beautiful month to run trains but truthfully I try to operate year-round as long as it is not snowing or raining. With the rhododendrons in bloom in the background, my Bachmann PRR Annie with a mixed consist made up of a USA boxcar nearly 20 years old, followed by a couple of Bachmann Jackson & Sharp cars, heads towards the camera.
And if you can handle a video clip of about 4.4 megs, here’s a link to them chugging away from the camera:
Well, it’s a few days after the Captain’s due date at this point, but the pleasant weather had me outside running again this evening. Here’s my Forney with a short train, plus you can get an idea of what my layout is like. Take note of my JR terrier Cassie in the upper left corner.
And below is a 4.1 meg video clip link to the Forney running past:
I am Matt Starman, owner of the Boulder Creek and Cheshire Valley Railroad. I run all Bachmann equipment because I like it, but will make some new purchases soon.
Today, it was HOT, 95 when I took these pictures. I did not have any time, unfortunatly, to get the railroad runnin this weekend, so I staged the following photos…
#7 on a freight run.
Airial view of the freight.
#12 on a coboose hop.
#12 and #7 double heading a freight train.
Airial view of the double header.
A view of the current layout. That chair in the middle is my “train watching chair” [:D]
Hi all, well I got to run something this weekend, sort of…
Mostly to test my new jerry rigged Basic Train Engineer set up so I can run it on the outside loop. I made a carriable platform that holds the powerpack, and the BTE reciever that fits the wood post I was till now just putting the powerpack alone on top of, now I can use the BTE on the outside loop and I’ll be able to use it on whatever set I eventually end up with.
No pics as I’m just getting a new computer set up here and I havent reloaded the camera software yet. I just had it finally with my 10 year old computer and dial-up. So till I get everything reloaded no pics and new e-mail address is in the loop too.
Sorry for the technical hiccups. Can you see these pics?
Ah, the sun was up and I had a bit of time outside in the garden, so here are a few pics of the line. The track was laid last year, in August. Enjoying my first spring with the railway I realize how satisfying it is to see different plants spilling over here and overhanging there. I suppose the thyme is doing the best job of lineside bushes and bramble.
Here my Decauville inspired 0-4-0 ‘Sage’ pulls a small goods train along the side of the shed. I got an IP Engineering deluxe chassis from my wife for Christmas which is the basis for this loco. The boiler is from a deodorant can with main panels of styrene (plasticard).
Having traversed the endless wobbly straight, the driver begins to ‘give it some welly’ due to the slight incline here.
The back end of a train, a small planked wagon and the guards van pass ‘Gunma Village Station’ (just a halt really). Both rolling stock are scratch built. The wheels are really for use as rollers on Japanese sliding doors, but do the job well for 30cents a pair. You can just make out my wife and daughter having a heart to heart in the background. Hey girls, you should be watching the train!
Here is my railcar and carriage. These were the first things I built, based on actual 1920/30s railcars. The motor unit runs on a Tamiya simple gearbox with 2 AA cells.
Just a small pic to show the front radiator.
Bugger! I thought I’d got most of the
Matt, apparently a lot of people are seeing your pictures as a red X on their computers, perhaps because the file sizes are too large. Maybe you can compress them.
I was able to look at them individually, however, by right-clicking on properties, then doing a copy and paste into the url address box at the top of the screen. They are outstanding shots. GR Magazine should feature your railway!
Joe your railway has reallly come on but take some advice from an old man and forget about anything but getting a full circle, no matter how rough and insignificanr it may be. Once you have one you will know why! Thanks for naming a curve after me Joe; in reply i am developing Carrelles Cutting. it willbe on the link between area 1 and area 2.
Matt. we don’t usually use our full names on this forum, as most of us have pretty sordid backgrounds and we would prefer that people didn’t know who we really are.
Great pics everyone!!! And Train 284, I’ve got total respect for you and your layout!! Great things come from small beginnings.
I’ve posted these before, but I’ll repost 'em just for kicks. We ran today for a little bit. No name and not our permanent home. Although my son refers to it as “The Pencil Train”. Maybe “The Pencil Line”?
Kudos to everyone…this thread has been a sucess!!! Keep it coming!
If you didn’t get the pics in on the deadline day…remember 15 May is the opening of the season. If you got rained out, do not fret…simply take pics on your opening day and post them here later.
Vic, I look forward to seeing pics…even one at a time…of your outdoor efforts. Ian of Aussie, thanks for the section of the line…I am working on the circle…it getting the track that is a pain.
Trig, I am going to put a parallel yard in Norma, Texas and name it after you.
Konichiwa Matt, I look forward to more pics from your layout. Did you make the figures…do you lay your own track?
I am happy…lots of pics to show my daughter. Lots of layouts to live vicariously through!!!
Major J.E. Carrales
Public Affairs Officer
Corpus Christi Comp Squadron
Civil Air Patrol
Pics are up now, I hope. Cappy, I try hard with kids modelling clay as it is sooooooo cheap here. The track is floating on 2 inches of gravel, ballested with very small gravel. I soaked it in but have waited until after winter before getting serious.
