Video: Susquehanna 4004 at Passaic Junction in 1998

We were looking through Susquehanna railroad videos on YouTube and what popped up? A home video someone shot of a Morristown & Erie engine pushing what looks like an excursion train at Passaic Junction in 1998. But the second engine is the Susquehanna 4004! There are plenty of photos online of this engine, but this is the first time I've seen a video. 

It looks like the train is crossing over Midland Ave. and into the Passaic Junction yard. 

Modern-Era shelf layout: Big scenery update, trailer storage yard, ballast

 I'll have to finally come up with a better name than "tunnel hill" now that it's pretty much finished. Can't be confusing people since this is a blog titled Civil War Trains in N Scale. But it's done, with the interior of the tunnel painted and closed up from behind, and ballast along the track into the tunnel a bit. I realized after the fact that I should have added walls into the tunnel for at least the first few inches to simulate a tube. I can live with this. And again, this is all a learning experience for me. Small mistakes are fine. 

The open flat area below the tunnel will be residential lots. I'll need to build that later as I don't have enough or accurate houses right now. 

Tractor-trailer storage yard

The biggest addition this round is the landscaping and terrain, and the tractor-trailer storage yard. You can see a bunch of photos below. The first is the Susquehanna "SU-100" coming into the yard area from the "west," through the cut that separates the hill section from this new section. 

The "eastern" half of the new section features two rises in elevation to help add another break in the scenery before the approach to the downtown area and commuter station that'll come in the next few months. Here there are three tracks. The mainline to the station is in the middle. The passing/freight siding is on the bottom. And the reverse mainline is on the top and ducks behind the hill. 

Here's a look at the whole trailer yard. Once I get some actual trailers, it'll look good. There was an issue on my first attempt, however, as I used Woodland Scenics gravel for the lot surface. Those rocks were far too large. You can see some of them popping up from underneath the current surface. For this I used the WS fine ballast. It look almost perfect as a gravel lot surface. I plan to hit it with a little light paint to  give the effect of the truck paths. The chain-link fence adds to the little details that make a huge difference. 

I'll need to find houses that look better than the 40-year old Plasticville stuff. But you get the idea. 

A top-down look at the railroad cut on the western approach to the yard section. At first I wasn't sure how good this looked, but now I'm starting to come around. I really need to pain the wall blue or something. 

The next post will swing back to the original mission of this blog: The American Civil War. See you then. 

Welcome Union Pacific No. 7, newest Atlas 4-4-0 to the roster

 Very rarely these days will you see an Atlas 4-4-0 for sale. But I found one, and scooped it up right away. It's a nice runner. So say hello to the Union Pacific No. 7. This brings the roster to six locomotives. It'll be a busy railroad when the day comes that I finally can start the Civil War layout. 

The UP No. 7, an Atlas N Scale 4-4-0.

Trip to Gettysburg and the York 17!

 The family packed up the car and headed to Gettysburg on July 4, stopping in New Freedom, PA, to see the York 17 replica 1860s Rogers 4-4-0 steam engine. It's been about 20 years since I last really visited Gettysburg, with only a few quick drive-throughs over that time. We had planned this trip a few months ago with the intention of using the opportunity to finally see the York 17. Here are a bunch of photos (out of order taken) from Gettysburg and a video of the York in action. 

1st Minnesota Monument.

13th New Jersey (Paterson!) Monument.

20th Maine Left Flank Marker.

72nd Pennsylvania Monument on the last night.

Gen. Hancock Monument on Cemetery Hill.

Culp's Hill Breastworks.

Lt. Cushing Monument, The Angle.

Irish Brigade, New York Regiments, Monument.

McPherson Farm Looking Toward Seminary Ridge.

Gen. Warren Monument, Little Round Top.

The York 17.

One of the things that struck me--other than the thrill of seeing a real operating Civil War era locomotive--was how powerful the engine sounded when pulling into the station. During the switching moves, it never had to pull with power. But as you can hear from the start of the video, it sounds like the trains do in movies. I did not expect that. And for those of you who know The Great Locomotive Chase as well as my sons an I do, you'll notice a little easter egg in how my 6-year-old is waving to the train as it pulls into the station.

Testing Unitrack, First New Track in 25 Years

Got to keep this on the DL. I don't want the 5-year-old to find out ;). But I bought him a Kato Unitrack pack for Christmas. It's tough for him to run trains on the layout, since he has to be so careful and the track is pretty spotty. I've heard only good things about Unitrack, especially how easy it is for younger children to get trains up and running with it. MSRP on the Master 2 pack is $210, but I found a NIB set for less than $170 including shipping on eBay. 

Since I haven't purchased any new track in about 25 years, my curiosity got the best of me. I had to try it out. There's also the fear that something may have gotten damaged in transit. I didn't set up the whole thing. Just did a visual once-over of the contents. But I did get the feeder track, one straight section, and the power pack set up. My first test was with the Penn Central E9. It ran smoother than I can ever remember. Of course, I ran downstairs to get one of the Atlas 4-4-0's to really see how much difference this track would make. Well, you can see for yourself... 

New engine and the repainted Clarke, plus some buildings

It's a big deal whenever a new engine joins the roster, so this post is a big deal. There are usually about three to five Civil War era Atlas 4-4-0's on eBay at any given time, but they're almost always overpriced, at least for my wallet. So when a locomotive is available and in my range, I have to pounce. 

Newest addition to the roster:
Atlas 4-4-0 #7 of the Detroit & Lima Northern. 

That's what led to the No. 7 being purchased. It's got a great Russia iron boiler jacket, and has minimal ornamentation. The latter is perfect for when I can repaint it. I don't have any engines with mostly blue livery yet. The No. 7 should look great. I picked up some new paints recently and the color scheme was definitely incorporated in that. 

One of the B&O twins is now the USMRR Clarke.

Speaking of paint, after a horrible misstep (more on that later), I was finally able to paint and decal one of the B&O twins and make it the USMRR Clarke. I'll have to figure out a better solution for covering the number plate on the boiler, and the drivers will need some paint work. But overall I'm very happy with this one. 

This was also one of the engines I wanted to experiment with Bullfrog Snot. You saw the video of the Scout pulling 27 cars after getting the treatment. Here's a pic of the Clarke under the knife a few weeks back. It's a very easy process, but tough to truly master right away. Practice makes perfect.  

New kicks.

But before all this, there was a disaster. I had rubbed off as much of the old lettering as I could, painted the tender and old name plate under the cab window, and added new decals that very closely match the original Clarke. Then came the clear coat of spray. UGH! I was too heavy on the first coat. The decals degraded and smudged. All that work, about four hours, down the drain. Some people I talked to online said it could have been the decals. They were an old sheet, so it's possible. 

The moment I was ready to scream.

Now for the buildings. It's easy to get too heavy with the non-dwelling structures, so I tracked down some houses that fit the era. You wouldn't believe the amount of time I spent debating what color to paint this first house. Most wood houses were white because that's what was cheap. But I needed something else, so a nice yellow with dark green trim was the choice. The roof was simple black paper, weathered with some diluted white paint. It may not be completely accurate for the period, but I don't anticipate many stitch-counters visiting my layout anytime soon. The second house is a simple white farmhouse, similar to what you'll see across many battlefields. I might add a stone faux-foundation to it using a stone pattern printed on paper and wrapping it around the pylons. 

Typical house that could serve nicely in the Civil War era.

The last building is sort of a kit-bash, even though I didn't actually bash two together. Ok so it's more like just a modification of a kit. Anyway... this was my first experiment with covering a building with paper to give a non-wood exterior. This one was brick. It's the same Micro-Trains co-op kit that was painted green and you can see in the background of all these photos. I covered a few of the windows, and did not add the loading dock or subroof. I did move the loading dock bay door down to ground level, which was very easy since the original door opening is now covered by the brick paper. Looks pretty good, but I can't put it on the layout as it stands right now. It's too noticeably-similar to the green building. But it'll fit nicely when I can build the bigger shelf layout with several "towns" or whatever they'll be. 

Sort of a kit-bash. Changed up some of the doors and windows,
and added a brick exterior to the Micro-Trains co-op. 

Since I'm not building that shelf layout for at least another 18 months, I'll keep working on the current layout to hone my amateur skills. Here's an overhead shot of the area I plan to work on. The wagons and escort are where I plan to build a road, bordered by either fences or stone walls. The 32-pounders are just too great to leave off the layout. Even if they don't exactly fit what I'm portraying here--What exactly am I portraying here anyway? I have no idea!--I'll need to construct some kind of earthen fortifications straddling the road. If I put the guns emplacements a few inches more to the left in this photo, that should look a little better than them being right on the little farmstead. Plus, if I can get a "fort" scene going on, that'll open up a ton of new possibilities for scratch building, like chevaux de frise, which I've been itching to build. 

Needs... more stuff.

I'll have a new update sometime in the next few weeks. Stay tuned.

Video: Scout pulls 27 cars like a champ

Here's a short video showing the results of my recent trial with Bullfrog Snot. The Atlas 4-4-0's have gained a great reputation as strong pullers. But I wanted more. So when my younger son's 4-6-0 needed new tires, I figured this was my chance to try out BFS on the Civil War locomotives. The Scout was the trial run, and wow! It's previous record was somewhere around 17 cars pulled before any wheel slip. Now she's pulling 27 cars and could have probably hit 30 had it not been for the double curve. Check it out. Be sure to like the video and subscribe to my YouTube channel.

The 'Scout' arrives, cannons, and warehouse

It's been a very long time since the last substantive update here, so I'll give a few with photos. The pandemic has been difficult here in North Jersey. We were one of the first hot spots in the nation. Our county saw the state's first death. I've been working remotely from the office since March, though the second job remains in-person, as it's essential. That would normally be a formula to get plenty of work done on the layout, but not so much in this reality. The boys are home from school, too, meaning all our extra time is devoted to working with them and other parental duties usually reserved for only non-school hours. Still, I've managed to get a few things done.

The 'Scout'

The Scout.

I've been waiting a long time to finally dive in and re-letter an engine. The PRR 1510 was the first candidate since I already painted over its old letters and numbers. Now it's the locomotive Scout, and I must say it looks very handsome in its new digs. I don't believe there's a prototype photo for Scout, so it's really up to the modeler with this one.

It retains pretty much everything from before, including the Rogers style smokestack and strap iron cowcatcher. I did add another coat of bright red paint to the cowcatcher to better align with the nameplate and tender letter accent color. Needs a little more detail work, but for now it's a great improvement. Next up will be one of the B&O twins.

Bring up the guns! And new warehouse.

In my effort to avoid doing difficult track work or layout redesigns, I've focused on fleshing out the scenery and miniatures. This round brought six 3-inch ordnance rifles and caissons, three barbette rifles and platforms, and three stacks of cannonballs.

I thought I took some closeups of the barbette guns, but will have to come back with those later. Right now I have no place for them on the layout, but there is a photo of those guns in Alexandria guarding the port. They're definitely for use in prepared fortifications. I don't have anything like that on the current layout. If I make any major changes to it, maybe I'll add some kind of fort. Otherwise, these guns will have to hibernate until I can build the new layout next year or the year after.

The six-gun battery of 3-inch ordnance rifles are lined up in storage at the yard. This is one of the best reasons to model in N scale: volume. In most larger scales, six cannons and caissons would be a major expense. In N scale, this entire battery cost less than $100.

At first I was going to use the Parrott Rifle barrels, but decided to use the 3-inch ordnance since they were far more common during the Civil War.

In the background, you'll see a small coal shed kit I picked up, too. With a little weathering, it's the kind of building that adds necessary detail and depth. 

Probably should've cropped this photo better, but it is what it is. The new warehouse is the Micro-Trains Grain Co-Op kit. It has all the right lines for a structure of the Civil War era. And with a sharp coat of dark green paint with white trim, it fits very nicely. It's also the first two-story building on the layout.

I liked this one so much, I bought another a few weeks later super cheap on eBay. I obviously can't paint it the same color as this one. I'm still working out what I want to do there. Also under consideration is a bit of a modification to make them look a little more different, but again, still thinking about it.

The USMRR Armored Train Set

Below you'll see a couple photos of the U.S.M.R.R. Armored Train set from Micro-Trains Civil War Era line. This arrived a while back, but after I took a break from posting. So with all the catching up, I wanted to make sure these got into this post. The set is very nice, as is nearly all of MTL's stuff.

However, I'm a little disappointed in a few things. The first is that they included a conductor car / caboose, when a standard box car would've likely been the better fit. Next, the armored cars are decently detailed, but not as much as I'd hoped. A little weathering will go a long, long way with these. Lastly, the two Dictator mortars are nothing but plastic, when I was expecting either GHQ-quality or similar. The bores don't even extend far enough into the miniature so you can't see where it ends. They look very toy-like, rather than model quality I've come to expect from MTL. But overall I have no regret purchasing the armored train set. It'll go very well in a vignette on the layout somewhere.

Video update: Weathered boxcars, supply wagons, new army depot scene

It's been a while since my last post. So I wanted to prove I didn't give up on this thing. I finally got around to making a new video tour of the layout. Not much has changed since I posted it (you should subscribe), but I'll tell you a few upcoming things after the video.



Things you'll notice...

• The Micro-Trains Civil War era boxcars have been given road numbers and weathering. It's makes such a difference. Also, they're all fitted with metal wheels. 
• The tender load is tungsten putty covered in firewood I cut from leftover laser kits. 
• Soldiers! I finished the Union Army supply wagons. They look great and add much-needed life to the layout. They were a breeze to paint, even if my eyes were screaming at me for trying to focus so small. I haven't gotten to adding more miniatures, but painting has started slowly. I'll have two more wagons (these from Good Ground Minis) soon.
• The freight station and other scenic changes were covered in the last post. 

Things in the works... 

• I found one of Mark Watson's ventilated boxcars. It's based on a post-war prototype from the Virginia and Truckee, meaning it won't be historically accurate on a Civil War layout. However, it's a good way to add variety to the rolling stock for now. 
• More wagons and miniatures. 
• If I'm adventurous enough, I'm going to paint over the Pennsylvania Railroad markings on the PRR 1510. It'll be a little scary since I really don't want to disturb any of the other ornamentation. But as long as the black paint matches up well enough, it'll be very cool to finally use the U.S.M.R.R. locomotive decals that have been sitting on a shelf. 

Civil War Trains: A Scene

Settling back into the routine today after spending a week down the shore. It was our first true vacation as a family. We had a great time.

Before I left, I spent a few minutes setting up a static scene on the layout, using the figures I had completed, as well as three of the four locomotives and a good number of the cars. The lighting wasn't great, and there needs to be far more figures (and more wood loads to cover the decoders) to give a decent amount of realism. But overall I thought this turned out to be a good overview of what I've accumulated since last summer. 

And just for fun, I threw the first image above into photoshop. It's not the greatest, but it changes the perception a little. I'll have to play around with the settings more to get that true wet-plate look.

Introducing the B&O twins

Here are the latest additions to the roster: a pair of Atlas 4-4-0 Baltimore & Ohio No. 25's. Until I can reletter them, I'll refer to them as The Twins. The decoder addresses are Nos. 5 & 25, but you can't tell from just eyeballing it.

Doubling the size of my roster for a great price?
Yes, please!

Over at the Streamlined Backshop, they're running an inventory clearance sale on a bunch of stuff. So if you're looking to add to your stock, go check them out. I picked up these beauties for a fantastic price, and Steve was able to get the decoders installed super fast. Maybe someday I'll be adventurous and do these installations myself, but right now I'm in no position to ruin engines.

I'll have to figure out some ways other than just relettering or giving them nameplates on the boilers. I'm not going to disassemble, strip and paint either of them. My initial thoughts are using different color cowcatchers, smokestacks, and giving one of the cab roofs a coat of black. We'll see.

The best part is seeing them run together for the first time. One (I forget which at the moment) has a hitch going in reverse, but other than that, they're great.

DCC++ and an eBay score

eBay score

Finding N scale Civil War engines and rolling stock is difficult enough. Finding structures, especially the Micro-Trains Line laser kits, are downright impossible. Well, that's what I thought. Out of the blue I saw several Civil War era pieces for sale on eBay, including the MTL Civil War Era Loco Shed and, an awesome bonus, two packs of Sibley Tents!

Other items for sale that day were what looked to be 3D printed passenger cars, but I wasn't going to spend that kind of money to win those at the moment. What I definitely was going to do: win the shed and tents. They arrived and I couldn't be happier. I'm about 1/3 of the way through the shed, and I punched the tents and firewood out of the frames. I'll post an update on this when I'm done. Frankly, I don't know where I will fit the engine shed, as I didn't set up any kind of siding or yard to accommodate it. The Sibley Tents should fit nicely almost anywhere.

 

DCC++

About three months ago, I read about DCC++ and it piqued my interest. For about $50 I could make my own DCC system? Yes, please. I've been itching to get familiar with DCC so that in a few months, I can start actually building a new layout with DCC from the start. This would be an awesome way to get the ball rolling.

So I got to work on ordering supplies and carving out some time to work on it. The two best tutorials I found were by DIY & Digital Railroad and Cobo in HO.

After some false starts, I got the thing to power the Gen. Haupt. But the program track was makeshift and poorly connected. So I got to work building a nice program track that would offer stability and connectivity.

I used a piece of composite wood, some code 80 Atlas flex track, and two siding bumpers. But what I was really anxious about was soldering for the first time. Yes, I've never soldered before.

Fast forward about an hour. The tracks are cut to size, cleaned, and fitted with new rail joiners.

Things worked out well, even if the soldering job wasn't very aesthetic. I cleaned it up a little with a file after it was done. The wires ran through the board. The track caulked down tight. And the locomotives wouldn't run off the end of the earth. Testing out the DCC++ system was made much better using this later that day.

 

I get the engine running, but can't seem to read or do anything to the decoder. For three days, I'm trying to figure out what I'm doing wrong. It has to be something, right? The engine runs ok, even if a little rough. But JMRI keeps giving me an error message: "No acknowledge from locomotive (308)"

Turns out the answer was right in front of me the whole time... the wires! I had them in the main and not the program. How stupid of me. Once I did that, restarted the locomotive entry in DecoderPro and hit the read button, holy moly it worked.

But there's another problem. The Haupt is running very poorly, considering how wonderful everyone says DCC can be for slow speeds. It starts out running at what appears to be in the 15mph zone, and when it does run, it has a  bad lurching gait to it. I'm hopeful that it's just a matter of adjusting the settings in the decoder, and not a bad engine.

Update: After consulting with decoder guru Steve Fields, I've made some adjustments to the CVs and, well, just look at how beautifully it runs!

Balloon stacks for the Atlas 4-4-0!

Cue the Hallelujah Chorus, folks!

Presenting the biggest event in N Scale Civil War trains since the original Atlas/MTL run. Eric Cox of Panamint Models has posted his 3D printed Smokestacks and Cowcatchers for Civil War era locomotives.

This all came from me asking him if he would work up some designs. Turned out he had some already but never put them out because the print quality back then wasn't what it was now. I got to order the first public printing, and I got to tell you, they're friggin' incredible!

It completely changes the look and feel of the Atlas engines, which suffered from the blatant "this 1870s engine is good enough for Civil War modeling." Now, not only with the variety of balloon stacks from Eric, but the horizontal cowcatchers, these locomotives scream "1860." You can check out each of them below. In general, they're based on Rogers smokestacks, but will look great as Mason or Cooke engines, too.

I noticed they sit a little high on the post rising from the Atlas engine body. So what I did for the Rogers style stack is file out the inside of the base a little. That allows it to "hug" around the post a little more, lowering the distance between the bottom of the balloon base and the boiler body. I'm still working on it. Eric thinks they're a little too big still, and if he took them down another 5-10%, I'd be okay with that. Only the two bigger stacks should be taken down, if at all. The smaller one looks good as it is.