The Little River Rail Road in Doc Tom's Back Yard

Doctor G

Well-Known Member
First operating switch stand for the LRRR installation

Well here are the first photos of the operating switch stand on the layout. It was such a beautiful day that everybody turned out for the pictures including management. Timmie just couldn't stop pulling on the handle. He is lucky he did not fall off the mountain!!!!

The Shay backed on to the turnout and it did not derail....a good day for everyone.
Doc Tom
 

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Bill Nelson

Well-Known Member
Good to see you made use of the sunshine. we were so shat after a busy week, and a trip to Nashville for a very satisfying hockey game, all we manage was putting the top down on the Miata coming home from church. It was the second time in more than two months that the Miata got out of hibernation.
 

Doctor G

Well-Known Member
Doc,

I personally like the "Plantation" engine, it's quite similar to WRRy's #12 (the one that you thought was the DZUL). #12 is also a 0-4-2T but doesn't have the fancy cowcatcher or link and pin couplers, and is a little chunkier in design. I plan to remotor it with a nice can motor with a flywheel so it runs smooth, as it runs really good right now with the stock motor in her.

Tyler

Hi Tyler,

I like that Plantation engine too. It costs about $850 -$900 and I am fearful of spending that kind of money until the RR is finished. Right now it is a one Shay show.......although I have two LGB motor blocks from the past stored away for future kitbashes.

Doc Tom
 

Doctor G

Well-Known Member
Good to see you made use of the sunshine. we were so shat after a busy week, and a trip to Nashville for a very satisfying hockey game, all we manage was putting the top down on the Miata coming home from church. It was the second time in more than two months that the Miata got out of hibernation.

Hey Bill,

Believe it or not that section where I put in the turnout was still covered with snow this AM. It finally melted this afternoon and I was able to get busy.

Thanks again for the donations that made the operating switch stand possible. Your Dad had some cool stuff!!!! The brass switch stand kit was a lot of fun and easily attached to the very good LGB turnout.

I have had my Miata out buzzing around today but did not pull down its top yet.

You gots any more thoughts on that AH&D loader project in 1:20.3 scale?

Tom
 

Doctor G

Well-Known Member
The trestle in the Spring

I really liked the prototype photo below I found doing computer research on The Little River Rail Road. While it is The Little River Redwood Company way out in California I kept the picture as I thought it was very dramatic.



It was beautiful Spring day here in Clarksville Tennessee and after chores and gardening on the RR I thought I would try to get a drama shot of the trestle under construction at Nelson's Gap on my Little River Rail Road.



Of course a party of local residents and their pets wanted to get in on the fun and "hang out" on a flat car a scale 60 feet in the air on an unfinished RR trestle.



I hope you all like the pics.

Doc Tom:mrgreen:
 

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Bill Nelson

Well-Known Member
I like the picks, I'm glad someone has been getting something done. I have been under the weather this weekend with a sore throat. I went to the last Home Hockey game of the regular season on Friday night, rode it the Miata with the top down, and then worked till Eight on Saturday morning. Yesterday I was hoping my sore throat was a mixture of allergies, aggravated by riding with the top down , and worsened by Yelling too loud in a victory that clinched us a playoff spot. The throat isn't feeling much better and I have no energy, so I might actually be sick.


There is a hockey game on TV today, Chicago Vs Detroit. If Detroit wins, we will have home ice advantage in the playoffs, so I have hockey to watch on TV, and may try to work on engine house hinges during the . It will be painful to root for the hated Redwings, but such is life.


It is very nice outside, and I ought to try to get some yard work done , if I get any energy, otherwise, rest and work on trains.


Bill Nelson
 

Doctor G

Well-Known Member
Grade Crossing on the Little River RR

Hey Bill,

Sorry to hear you are sick. Hope you are better soon. Here are some "down in the Tennessee" mountains scenes that will hopefully lift your spirits.

By the way I really like your new Avatar. Let me know sometime hjow you were able to get an enlarged picture on there.

It has been such a beautiful weekend that I was able to build my first ever grade crossing.........and it did not derail anything.

Little River management made it over for the final inspection for the grade crossing over Black Gum Road just below Elkmont. The photographer even caught a glimpse of Mr W.B. Townsend himself, a very hands on rail road owner

Of course true to the standards of !920's Tennessee the workman who did all the heavy lifting on the timbers for the crossing stayed to the back in the picture that was taken on this fine Spring day.

The grade crossing was made from .25"X .25" poplar hardwood strips from my new local hobby shop....Lowes. This size allowed it to nestle below the .322" rail and helped with the avoidance of derailments. The wood got the generous soaking of Thompson's Water Seal I have used throughout this project.

Doc Tom:mrgreen:
 

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Bill Nelson

Well-Known Member
Tom, Do You have Graphic converter on your Mac? It was a share ware app in years past, Apple has been buying it , and bundling it on there recent platforms, so it is standard on later Macs.


The avatar editing allows a maximum of 200x 200 pixels. I used an old photo My good friend George Eldred took back before I had a digital camera . (If you look closely, the bridge is not double tracked.


What I did was opened up the photo I was working from , and played with making selections, trying for as close to square as possible. then I would use the new image from selection command, I could check for square, by going to the picture menu, and scrolling down to canvass size, which would give me horizontal and vertical pixel counts. I did selections over and over till I was very close to square, on a scene I liked the composition of.

Then I went back to the picture menu, and scrolled down to the scale command. I then tries scaling it down by various percentages until it was just under 200 X 200.


If you have problems with this you could send me a photo, tell me what the primary interest is; or crop it to the that main wanted subject, but leaving some extra margins to play with, and I could cut to size. I had tried to do this before, but had not come up with the right strategy.


Graphic converter is the best!


Tell Mr. Townsend that he is looking sharp


Bill
 

Doctor G

Well-Known Member
DGCC&W interchanges a Box Car of Timber for the Little River Rail Road

For some reason this post didn't take earlier so I will try again.

Bill Nelson has been extremely generous in providing track,turnouts and rolling stock for the Little River RR in the backyard.

Here is a neat red box car lettered for his HO Dead Grass Crooked Creek and Western logging outfit. Bill gave this to me for my growing outdoor logging line in the backyard.

I removed the LGB style bottle opener couplers, built up a brake wheel and added ladders. I did some light weathering with acrylic washes and dry brushing.

Here are some pictures of the car on its way to Townsend yard with a load of solid oak timbers from Bill's sawmills. These timbers are desperately needed to build new trestles and bridges for the expanding mainline.

The office accountants just don't understand gifts and are trying to figure a way to charge daily tare for the car now on Little River Property.

Thanks Bill!!!!!!!
Doc Tom:mrgreen:
 

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Bill Nelson

Well-Known Member
good job!

Great work Tom. It is wonderful to see my dad's stuff used so well. You are doing what he wanted to , but was unable to do, so seeing his stuff , used this way is very satisfying.


Keep up the good work, I imagine my dad is enjoying this even more than I am.


Bill
 

Doctor G

Well-Known Member
Great work Tom. It is wonderful to see my dad's stuff used so well. You are doing what he wanted to , but was unable to do, so seeing his stuff , used this way is very satisfying.


Keep up the good work, I imagine my dad is enjoying this even more than I am.


Bill

Thanks Bill for the kind sentiments. Thanks also for the help in changing the Avatar. HAPPY EASTER.
Doc Tom:mrgreen:
 

Bill Nelson

Well-Known Member
I see you got the avatar switched . Looks good. that was a challenge trying to come up with a square work out of that Jpeg that wanted to be rectangular.


If you have graphic converter on your mac, you should come over some time , and let me do some basic conversions for you as a demonstration. Every single image I have posted on Zealot has been cropped for composition, and then re sized to just under zealot's maximum size. the tools in graphic converter show pixel size of any document, and that is how I could tell when the selection size was close enough to a square to se size down to close to the 200 x 200 maximum, that lets us get this great detail on our avatars, so we can post anywhere on Zealot, and even if folks are not aware of the body of our work, we are showing what we can do with each post.


Bill
 

Doctor G

Well-Known Member
Cross Bucks on the LRRR. Safety on Tennessee's roads and railways.

The Black Gum road grade crossing just below Elkmont needed some sign-age to announce its presence deep in the Tennessee woods.

So, I researched cross bucks on the net and found official looking plans and dimensions. I scaled these to 1:20.3 size and printed them.

My dear wife, Kit, then laminated the cutouts in plastic.

The Tennessee road codes called for a post 10.5 feet from top to grade level with the cross buck placed at the nine foot level. This was done using .25 inch square wood strip and small nails.

The cross bucks were put in place much to the satisfaction of Boss Crumb who knows he is contributing to the overall safety of the roadways and railways of Tennessee.


Doc Tom
 

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Doctor G

Well-Known Member
LRRR Motor Car #1 is taking shape.

Boss Grump's crew takes a break after a whole lot of wood working to finish off the interior of Motor Car #1.

Seems sawn lumber is in plentiful supply from the Little River Lumber Company Mill in Townsend Tennessee.

However like accountants throughout the ages an accounting of just how much wood was used on the Motor Car is needed by management.

So while the working men rest, the nit pickers and the bean counters go to work to render an accurate ciphering of just how much wood was used and which department of the organization has to post these real costs on their ledgers.

Doc Tom

PS Included is a prototype picture of the real Little River Motor Car #1.
 

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Bill Nelson

Well-Known Member
Excellent work Tom.


What mechanism are you using? it's a shame it doesn't have a longer wheel base, but you have to use what is available, I love the superstructure.

anyway excellent work, this larger scale is giving you the confidence to do stuff.

the cross buck looks good, but is a little clean, let me photograph the 1910 cast iron cross buck that I have off of the Tallulah Falls RR, and see what you can do with that, thise photo's would come pre weathered.


Bill
 

Bill Nelson

Well-Known Member
Excellent work Tom.


What mechanism are you using? it's a shame it doesn't have a longer wheel base, but you have to use what is available, I love the superstructure.

anyway excellent work, this larger scale is giving you the confidence to do stuff you might not have attempted in smaller scales

the cross buck looks good, but is a little clean, let me photograph the 1910 cast iron cross buck that I have off of the Tallulah Falls RR, and see what you can do with that, thise photo's would come pre weathered.


Bill
 

Doctor G

Well-Known Member
Excellent work Tom.


What mechanism are you using? it's a shame it doesn't have a longer wheel base, but you have to use what is available, I love the superstructure.

anyway excellent work, this larger scale is giving you the confidence to do stuff you might not have attempted in smaller scales

the cross buck looks good, but is a little clean, let me photograph the 1910 cast iron cross buck that I have off of the Tallulah Falls RR, and see what you can do with that, thise photo's would come pre weathered.


Bill

Hi Bill,

Glad you like the pics. I started this project when we had all that rain and it was impossible to lay track or construct roadbed outside.

Once again the incredible supplies from you dad made this possible. I still have a ton of strip wood left over after scratching up the flat car and now this model. The LRRR Motor Car #1 is being built from card stock and strip wood.

The mechanism or "brick" ( a term used a lot in the large scale press and websites) is from my kids Playmobil steam engine. I believe it it is of LGB parentage as it runs very well and is very smooth. I gutted its wires and sliders and soldered on new power leads. The wires com up through the floor and will be wired to a low cost battery back of NimH batteries from Walmart that are rechargeable. Control will come from a low cost large scale product called "Critter Control." It will have a reversing lever in the cab (electronic switch) and voltage to the block will be adjusted by a knob disguised as the headlamp on the front of the beast. It is meant to be turned on and adjust speed at track side and follow along to its destination when you put the 1:1 hand in to the cab and shut her down.

If there is room I will play around with an internal combustion engine sound card and speaker.

I am being a lot more bold with these models as they are so big clumsy me is not as likely to botch a solder job or break detail parts.

What is interesting is getting info from fellow G scalers on the net who have prototype information on the Little River RR. For example LRRR Motor Car #1 was built 1910-1920 and was built in the company shops on an infernal combustion track inspection chassis. It was built from wood and has a back door for passengers to get in. It was 15 feet long. My model using the handy 1:20.3 ruler is 15 feet long.

The wheel base on the "brick" is too short and I suspect the diameter of the wheels is little too big also.......but it was free and runs. I hope to build up the wheels to look like those in the picture and get rid of that toy like red.

I realized my cross bucks were built to !990's standards but it was a fun little project in which I wanted to try out the laminating techniques. I would love to see a picture of your older cross bucks and use the same techniques to build a set a little more specific for 1910-1920.

Thanks for all the words of encouragement and again for all the great supplies!!!!!

Doc Tom:mrgreen:
 

Doctor G

Well-Known Member
Checking out the BIG BRIDGE with the BIG SHAY

Bill Nelson kindly donated this huge wooden bridge for the Little River Rail Road in the back yard. It was constructed as a very special present for his Dad's RR.

I have the first abutment in place where this bridge will cross the Little River and I realized I needed to get serious about whether the monster 1:20.3 Shay would fit. So here are some pictures taken with a cell phone camera on a rainy day in Tennessee.

I am glad it fits!!!

As an "added extra attraction" is Clarksville's old swing RR bridge open to let a barge through because of very high waters on the Cumberland River.

Hope you enjoy the pics.

Doc Tom:mrgreen:
 

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Doctor G

Well-Known Member
More work on Little River Rail Road's Motor Car #1

Little River Rail Road's Motor Car #1 has had its wood work completed, roof applied, and been to the shops for a primer paint job.

The "toy like" red wheels on the "brick" have been reworked and built up to resemble the wheel-sets on the prototype photo from a few posts back. The wheels were done using styrene discs and strip styrene and then painted to resemble rust and weathered.

The face of this beast, is that only a mother would love, but I think captures the simple lines of the prototype.

The rear is removable for access to the battery pack.

Next steps are adding a rear step, stirrup steps and grab irons to give it a little more railroader look.

Then its back to the paint shops for a black exterior coat, glazing and decals.

I hope you like the pictures.

Doc Tom
 

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