RIDING RAILWAYSNEWSLETTER

JULY 2007RAILROADER GrandGrand ScalesScales

Q u a r t e r l y

RIDING RAILWAYS

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Visit http://www.arborwayrailroad.com/2007_conven-tion.html for more info on the convention.

Welcome to the July issue of the Riding Railways Newsletter. I know I am cut-ting it very close since this is the last day of July! But here it is and I hope youenjoy it.

The convention in Missouri will be here before we know it. Mr. Woods hasput a great deal of effort into this event and we are grateful to him. I am sure thatall who attend will have a wonderful time. Greg will be there (in his usual con-ductor’s uniform) but sadly, as much as I want to be there, my boys and I won’tbe able to make it. We will miss seeing you all.

In this issue we have a brief article with photos on building bridges in1.5” gauge and also information on the railroad at the Humboldt State HistoricPark in Eureka. Hope you enjoy it all. See you next month!Regards,

Ihave always loved to read. While growing up I readevery book in the Bobbsey Twins series that I couldget my hands on. A couple of years ago I purchased

some of these books on eBay to share with my children.One of the books I found was the Bobbsey Twins’ OwnLittle Railroad. Who knew o’ so many years ago thatthis book would have even more meaning for me!

In the story young Freddie is upset because histoy train is broken. One day his dad comes and tellshim that his neighbor has sold their property and movedinto an apartment in town. Since their children are now grown, they havedecided to give their grand scale railroad to the Bobbsey family. The bookdoesn’t tell us the gauge or size but from the photo at left it looks like thedrawing was based on a Cagney design or something similar. The familywere given an engine, a tender, a passenger car and track. Before long thefamily has the train set up in their yard and all sorts of fun things happen.

This particular edition was published in 1951 by Grosset & Dunlap,Inc. I am curious if any of our readers remember this story or know whatengine the artist used as a model for the illustration. If nothing else, it’s a funstory to share with whatever children are near you. . . or just to reread foryourself.

The Bobbsey Twins’ Own Little Railroad

The Fort HumboldtState Historic Park sits on abluff above Eureka,California on the far north-ern coast. It was establishedas a military post in 1853 toassist settlers and gold min-ers in their conflicts withthe Native Americans. For asix months period in itsearly years the Fort saw acommander who wouldeventually become veryfamous: Ulysses S. Grant.Reportedly Grant didn'tenjoy being in what wasthen an extremely isolatedpost.

The one originalbuilding on the site is the military hospital. What willinterest our readers far more, however, are the logginginterpretive displays which include Bear Harbor No.1and the famous Elk River engine, Falk. These enginesare standard gauge 0-4-0Ts built by Marshutz &

Cantrell in 1892 and 1884 respectively.They both have distinctive bull gear winch-es mounted in front of their boilers.

The Bear Harbor engine has two cylin-ders mounted “backwards”, turning a driveshaft in front of the smokebox. The driversare powered by a gear on the front axle andcan be disengaged. A separate mechanism

can engage the bullgear. The Falk is a nor-mal “rod” engine withtwo cylinders poweringthe drivers. A thirdcylinder located in thefireman’s side of thecab powers a flywheel,which is geared to thebull gear on the spoolshaft. The Bear HarborNo. 1 weighs in at 12tons. The Falk is alightweight at 9 tons . .. but cute as a bug’s ear.Many readers will rec-ognize it from theseries of articles thatappeared in Live Steam

magazine a number of years ago.There is also an excellent collection of steam

donkeys that had been used in the once prosperous log-ging industry on the coast. A close-up look at these fab-ulous machines will delight anyone who has a Rube

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FORT HUMBOLDTSTATE HISTORIC PARKPrototype GypsiesPrototype Gypsies

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Goldberg sense of wonder about mechanics. There aremore levers and gears and shafts than you can shake astick at.

During the summer, one day each month is setaside to give train rides behind one of the engines. Thetrack is short, but could certainly be considered “raremileage”! A number of the donkey engines are steamedup on a weekend in April for “Donkey Days”.

For more information contact Fort HumboldtState Historic Park, 3431 Fort Avenue, Eureka, CA95503. Phone: 707-445-6567. Website:www.parks.ca.gov

NEW CHANCE FOR MEMPHIS ZOO

The Memphis Zoo,Memphis, Tenn.,

received a new C.P.Huntington locomotive thispast June. This is number350 for Chance Rides manu-facturing who has been pro-ducing CPH trains for morethan 45 years. The MemphisZoo operates two trains dailyfrom March throughOctober. Cost to ride is $1.Chance Morgan, Inc. islocated in Wichita, Kansas.For more information about Chance Morgan products,visitwww.chancemorgan.com.

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BACKYARD RAILROAD BRIDGESby Greville Machell

Having completed the intended track plan formy 1400 foot, 1.5 inch scale backyard rail-road, I wanted to add some features to the

enhance the layout. My first choice were some smallbridges, specifically an 8-foot long through plategrinder and a 12-foot long pony truss. I particularlychose the latter to avoid the problem of “scale size”vs. “people size” inherent in models of truss bridgeswith overhead bracing. The requirement for at least 5feet people clearance above the rail gives the rollingstock a “toy train” look. Pony, or half trusses, weregenerally built in prototype lengths of about 90 to120 feet. Many are still in use on class 1 railroads.

Direct observation of prototype bridges, andperusal of photographs, helped me in developingdesigns but left a lot of unanswered questions. As aformer HO-scale modeler I also have the NationalModel Railway Association’s Data Sheets, including“D6c” on steel bridges, which was useful. However,the best information was gathered with the help ofthe inter-library loan section of the local publiclibrary. They obtained for me the following out-of-print books:1) Steel Railway Bridges by Edward C. Dilworth (DVan Norstrand, 1916)2) Manual for Railway Engineering (AmericanRailway Engineering Assoc., 1979)3) Railway Engineering & Maintenance Cyclopedia(1926)4) Standard Handbook for Civil Engineers by F.S.Merritt (3rd Ed., 1983)

I chose to build two of the designs from theDilworth book, although I changed the through plategirder to a heavier-duty type with a 14-inch deep(actual size) web. Both bridges were constructedfrom aluminum sections to keep the weight down (Ihave physical handicaps).

To carry most of the wood, however, I usedtreated lumber for stringers instead of the usual gird-ers: 2 pairs of 2”x6”x8-foot (nominal) for the plategirder and two sets of three (2”x8”x12-foot) for thepony truss. The latter bridge is just over two feet highoverall or about 20” above rail level.

Most existing railroad bridges are assembledwith rivets but I used button-head socket and Phillips

bolts. There are about 1100 in the plate girder andclose to 4000 in the pony truss. Prototype bridgeshave even more fasteners of course. The two bridgesare supported on heavy timber trestle bents which arenot unusual on prototype secondary lines.

The photos illustrate the two bridges installedand in use. Since they are close to prototype in con-struction, they look more convincing than the weldedangle-iron or tubing bridges seen on many club lay-outs. For example, following Dilworth’s design, the

Above and below: The completed through plate girderbridge

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Riding Railway Newsletter is pub-lished each month by Robinson &Associates as a special service toour paid subscribers of the GrandScales Quarterly and 7+RAIL-ROADER magazines.

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pony truss top chord has a “box” section formed fromtwo channels with a solid top plate and x-lacing onthe underside. The bottom chord, verticals and diago-nals are “H” sections assembled from strips andangles. In addition, the cross bar of the “H” sectionof the bottom chord is perforated. A tedious job butjustified by the end result.

I hope this information will help other rail-roaders who are contemplating adding bridges totheir railroads.

Photos this page: the pony truss bridge. All photos byGreville Machell.

TRTR AINAIN MOUNTMOUNTAINAINREVISITEDREVISITED

The 2006 TM Triennial was even larg-er and more spectacularthan in years past. Thisprogram takes us backto Train Mountain toenjoy this world classevent. Surprise footagefeatures the worldrecord setting opera-tions! $29.95

RIDINGRIDING RR AILAILWAWAYY UNIUNI --VERSITY VERSITY VOL 3VOL 3

The Fine Art of LayingTrack –Mark Flitton ABC’s of TenderBuilding –Don Orr Proposed NorthAmerican SafetyStandards –QuentinBreenStability Problems &

Solutions –Bill DonovanThe Sum of Parts –Paul LavacotRGS 20 Project: Three Years Later–Tom ArtzbergerBoiler Inspection - Pat Durand

$39.95 (2 disk set - over 5hours of instruction)

RIDINGRIDING RR AILAILWAWAYYUNIVERSITYUNIVERSITY VOL 4VOL 4

“Curves You CanBank On” –GlennPeterson Steel Car Construction–Paul VernonMachine Shop Tips–Jim Boyer Updated Operations atTM –Russ Wood

Details Details –From On30 to 2.5”Scale –Peter Moseley Building a K-27 –Kevin DoeHow to Cripple Your Locomotive–Cal Tinkham $39.95 (2disk set - over 5 hours of instruction)

TEXAS LIVE STEAM DVD Come on y’all andvisit three of the nicest7.5” gauge railroads inthe glorious state ofTexas! You’ll beimpressed with thesize and quality ofNick Edward’s newlybuilt Wimberley

Blanco & Southern. You’ll learn aboutlarge scale Operations at Roy Pickard’sdown-home Comanche & Indian Gap.And you’ll really enjoy the welcomingatmosphere at Terry McGrath’sAnnetta Valley & Western. A must forTexans and for anyone interested inseeing how live steam railroadingshould be done.$29.95

STEAM ON THEMOUNTAIN DVD

There aren't manyplaces left where asteam engine can beseen working on thevery rails it did when itwas brand new. InSteam on the Mountainyou'll see a 1914Baldwin Mikado working the samegrades in the shadow of the samemountain it saw over ninety years ago.You'll ride in the cab with the engineerand the fireman as they reign in thepower of a loud, bucking "iron horse".You'll see close-up shots of the power-

ful drive rods and steelwheels. You'll enjoy thedramatic scenery andhearing the engineerdescribe what it's like torun a steam engine over a railroad hehas worked on for decades. And there isno sound in the world like a lonesomesteam whistle echoing through the pinetrees.

DVD $19.95Companion Audio CD $9.95

PACIFIC COAST RR ROUND UP DVD

The Pacific Coast is a private railroadon the CentralCalifornia coast. It isopened to the publiconly once each year, asa fund raiser for the SanLuis Obispo RailwayMuseum. This DVDtakes you aboard thecharming narrow gauge train. It fea-tures vintage steam engines (includingthe one that was in the opening shots ofDr. Quinn, Medicine Woman TV showwith Jane Seymour). The coaches aregenuine Disney coaches - the firstcoaches to be used in service atDisneyland. Great for railfans, narrowgaugers, families, Disney enthusiastsand anyone else who would just enjoy agood show. Approx. 1 hour with bonusfeatures. $19.95.

ORDER TODAY

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GG II FF TT SS HH OO PPNEW DVDs and More!