Outings and such 2022: Trip to Boston, Reenactment in Morristown

We went on two blog-related trips last year. The first was a two-night stay in Boston. We took the Acela, covered completely by our Amtrak points. The second was a quick trip to see a Civil War reenactment at Fosterfields in Morristown. A few pics from each. 

One of the first sights we visited was Boston Common 
and the Robert Gould Shaw & 54th Mass. monument.

Boston was in April, and much colder than we expected, especially downtown where the wind was funneled through the streets and on the open bay taking the ferry to see the Constitution. As much as we didn't get to see, we did pretty well considering. If I didn't already know I'm a Northeasterner through and through, going to Boston reminded me of that. I absolutely loved Boston and the ride through New England. The family really enjoyed the trip, too. 

The other trip was a short Saturday afternoon in June to Morristown for the Fosterfields Civil War reenactment. I had been keeping an eye on the reenactment schedules last year, and one of my old units--the 7th New Jersey--was hosting this event once again after a hiatus. I got to see some old faces and take in the smell of black powder smoke. I tell you, it did spark a little flame inside to maybe try reenacting again. The boys had a great time and I'm going to try to take them to at least two this year. And if things fall the right way, we may try suiting up before this time next year. 

Boston South Station.

Old Ironsides.

Charlestown Drydock.

Soldiers and Sailors Monument.

Newark Penn Station.

Bi-Level NJ Transit Cars.

Fosterfields Civil War reenactment dress parade.

Marching off the field of battle.

Edison, NJ train show, Nov. 2021

Took the boys to their first train show, the Greenberg Train Show on Nov. 28 in Edison, NJ. I hadn't been to one in many years, decades in fact. It was a real treat and we had a great time. The Edison expo center was huge, with an entire wing dedicated to the big layouts that you can see in the photos below. The Jersey Central N-Trak club was there with an "M" shaped modular layout. It also included a module of the USS New Jersey (BB-62), which was very cool and the 10-year-old in particular loved.

The main area of the show was full of stuff to buy, which was one of the main reasons I wanted to go, to pick up some "show priced" pieces.  As you might guess, a good 60% was O scale/Lionel, but about 10% was N scale, which was still a ton of inventory to look through. We came away with several modern era freight cars, a building that could pass for Civil War era, tunnel portals, and a modern era factory/industrial building. 

The trip was a success in all ways.

The huge N scale staging yard.

USS New Jersey (BB-62).

The boys admiring the N scale layout.

This was just one part of the layout area. 

Starting a Shelf Layout

I'm building a new layout. This time it's a shelf-style, utilizing the existing shelf in the boys' playroom. This was the original plan years ago, but I was holding off on it since we expected to move at some point over the last 12 months. That didn't happen, and doesn't look like it's going to anytime soon with the market being insane. So I went to the store, picked up some wood, and started cutting. 

The only guide I was using was a pencil sketch I made with some dimensions. You'll see in a sec the shape of the layout on the shelf. But the idea here was to create something that I could easily take apart and move if necessary. So I created a pseudo-module standard for myself. The two ends would be L-shaped to accommodate the loops, with 2x1 sections added between. I'm going use bolts to connect all of them, again for an easy way to take it down and reassemble. 

I used simple pine board for the frame, and 1/4-inch plywood for the surface. It's extremely lightweight, something I'm happy about. I also picked up the "model trains" foam board that I should have used last time. This is all an exercise in "what I should have done last time." 

The two L's are in place, with the 2x1 section in the middle. If we want to expand--the shelf this is on extends to the right about 10 more feet--it's as simple as creating more 2x1 sections and plugging them into the layout. The track is not a final arrangement. This was a quick "let's see what we can do with all the track we have" and it worked out nicely to get some trains running right away and the boys happy.

I have to adjust and buy more track to make the loops fit better and just improve this overall. And of course we also have to put down the foam board. But I can say with confidence this is a vastly improved layout design, with longer runs and much easier access to all the areas. It wasn't easy reaching three feet across the old layout when a train stalled. 

This is the very early stage, so stay tuned as we progress! 

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.

My own 'Transition Era' with new diesels and cars

 It's been a long few months since tearing up the old 2018 layout--yes, I went through with it. Part of the reasoning was that we got new Unitrack for our 6-year-old and new trains to go with it, and needed the table. So in the interest of catching up on half a year's worth of stuff, I'll start with the new purchases. 

For Christmas we got the 6-year-old this fine Atlas Susquehanna #4004 Dash 8-40B, along with a bunch of freight cars, to go with his new Unitrack. 

Here's a quick video run-by I finally got around to uploading. It runs very nicely, especially for a used engine.  Then again, I'm not used to running diesels, or any locomotives that have so many points of contact on the track. It's so nice to not worry about choppy power supply to the motor. 

The other new engine that we got was for the 6-year-old's birthday this spring. He's been wanting a passenger locomotive for a while, since we have the 25-year-old Amtrak double-deckers. The old Amtrak EMD F40PH was beyond repair--at least for me and time--so I got him a new one from KATO. It's easily the best engine I've ever run. We took it outside in March on a warm sunny day. 

That's about it for the modern additions to our collection. I also found a big, cheap lot of freight cars for the Susquehanna engine, and added another switch and more track to the tabletop layout. 

The next update will be back to Civil War era trains, as I've worked on some new cars, figures, and buildings. Stay tuned. Hopefully it won't be another five months until then. 

The beginning... sort of

TL;DR version: 

After a ~20-year hiatus from model trains, I'm getting back into it, thanks to my two sons--6 and 3 years old. I've seen one or two fellas on here say they're modeling the Civil War era. Just wanted to throw my hat in and say that I'm planning on starting down that path. I'll try to post some photos as I go along, but this will essentially be my personal progress thread. Warning: It'll be a slow one, as I work two jobs, have two young children, and limited funds for anything but a slow and steady path forward.

The backstory: 

I inherited a large box of old n-scale stuff from my uncle in the mid-90s, which is where I first starting using n-scale. And since that stuff was old back then, it's reeeally old now. The oldest is an Arnold 0-6-0 Wabash switcher from 1966, and the second oldest is a Bachmann F9 PennCentral from 1971. Over the years I added some new track, engines and cars, but not a whole lot since I was given so much to start with. Plus we never had much extra money. My dad built me a nice train table that could fit either the 027 set I had, or a larger n-scale layout. It was great.

Since I started loving trains around 2 years old, I had always wanted an American 4-4-0 like "The General." The Great Locomotive Chase was (and probably still is) my all-time favorite movie. I grew up and live near Paterson, NJ, which many of you already know about in terms of locomotive history. It was very cool when I found out that both the General and the Texas were built in Paterson (though by different companies).

For Christmas one year my parents got me the Bachmann 4-4-0 Old Timer set. I was in heaven. But as many of you know, there was extremely limited Civil War era stuff available in n-scale, so I was limited in how much I could really do. And again, money was always an issue.

Skip 20 years, to today:

As most boys tend to be, my sons love trains. And now that they're old enough, I built a small 3x3 train table and cleaned up the n's as best I could to get them running again. Most of the stuff we have is of the diesel era, except for the Arnold switcher and the Bachmann 4-4-0 set. My boys also love The Great Locomotive Chase, so I decided to start looking for some new engines of that era.

Back in 2015, my older son got an Atlas catalog when we saw Santa at the Maywood Train Station. Atlas had been promoting their HO Erie Lackawanna series, and that station has a static S2 and caboose. But in that catalog was the Atlas Civil War era 4-4-0's. I didn't realize at the time it was a limited run, but my son loved looking at them in the book. And now recently that we've pulled out the n's, he went back and looked at that catalog reminding me that he loved the U.S. Military R.R. engine. I told him we'd save up for it.

About a month ago, I ordered a Bachmann F7 Erie-Lackawanna, the first new model train I've purchased since the 90s. It was like new, but a Plus, so its gears were cracked and I didn't realize it. Fortunately I didn't pay much. If I get around to replacing the gears, great, but if not, I have a nice Christmas tree ornament.

A few weeks ago, I found on eBay a set of two engines, the Jupiter and the No. 119 in their original white boxes with the manuals and all, for just $50, so I jumped on them, figuring at that price it'd be worth it no matter how they run. Turns out, they're great. A little hesitation here or there, but overall like new. They even successfully navigate the old turnouts and crossover nine times out of 10.

I haven't told my oldest yet, but I ordered the Gen. Haupt from Streamlined Backshop and it's currently getting a decoder installed for when we make the switch to DCC. I can't wait to show them. I also just bought 4 W&A R.R. boxcars from some train store for a really great price.

What's to come: 

My plan is to make the switch to DCC at least a year or two from now. DC works great for what we want, and the boys are happy. I'm going to build a shelf layout along two walls in our basement, and will need it to be transportable, as we plan to move in about 2 years. I'm debating whether or not to commit to the W&A RR, or somewhere else during the Civil War. We lived in Northern Virginia for a few years, so that's very tempting to do a U.S.M.R.R. layout or something along those lines.