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

[Doctor G]

Well this move to town has meant a lot of changes for me. Gone is the original HO logger the C&S RR that was a great tool to begin the pursuit of logging railroad history in the mountains of East Tennessee where I grew up.

Now with age and presbyopia it is time to move on to bigger scales and out in to the yard. Going to give a try at capturing the spirit of the Little River Rail Road that ran from Townsend Tennessee up in to the Smokey Mountains of beautiful East Tennessee.

First order of business was to contact those Yankee locomotive builders up in Lima Ohio and get their 55 ton three truck monster on the payroll. Here are the shots of the delivered locomotive before lettering for the LRRR.

It is a Bachmann 3 truck Shay in Large scale and is an actual 2.5 feet long and weighs in at 18 pounds. I love the detail and you can really see it!!!

Custom decals for the LRRR are coming by mail and the locomotive will be converted to a radio controlled rechargeable battery powered engine which is becoming quite popular with Large scale modelers.

Wish me luck on this new adventure.

Doc Tom

 

[Hoorhaylowe]

Wow I'm pretty excited about this one too! Where'd ya get the trestle? That Loco is beautiful!

 

[Bill Nelson]

Nice looking Hog Tom. I like the dog in the Cab. Once upon a time, I had a dog on most of my locomotives. On my #9 a Westside models Westside Lumber Co. #3 the dog is sitting in the fireman's seat.


Bill Nelson

 

[sumpter250]

"the locomotive will be converted to a radio controlled rechargeable battery powered engine which is becoming quite popular with Large scale modelers."

That will certainly eliminate any problems with "dirty track", and makes perfect sense for an outdoor railroad.
Hmmmmmm Little River......maybe a G scale Baldwin 2-4-4-2 ???
Huh? maybe... maybe????

 

[Doctor G]

Wow I'm pretty excited about this one too! Where'd ya get the trestle? That Loco is beautiful!

Hi Hoorhaylowe,

Thanks for the compliment. I am very very lucky to have a good friend Mr Bill Nelson who supplied me with lots of track, large scale buildings, figures and that scratchbuilt trestle from his Dad's outdoor layout. Bill's father passed away but I am glad and proud to be giving all these very nice models a "new" showing. Bill has always been very supportive of my hobby adventures and this one in particular has benefitted from his generosity.
Doc Tom

 

[Doctor G]

Nice looking Hog Tom. I like the dog in the Cab. Once upon a time, I had a dog on most of my locomotives. On my #9 a Westside models Westside Lumber Co. #3 the dog is sitting in the fireman's seat.


Bill Nelson

Hey Bill,

Glad you like the "dawg." You know this another of your generous donations from your Dad's "G scale layout." Just so happens it is perfect 1:20.3 scale and I thought looked pretty cool on the engine. Thanks for getting all this neat stuff to begin this adventure in outdoor logging.
Tom

 

[Doctor G]

"the locomotive will be converted to a radio controlled rechargeable battery powered engine which is becoming quite popular with Large scale modelers."

That will certainly eliminate any problems with "dirty track", and makes perfect sense for an outdoor railroad.
Hmmmmmm Little River......maybe a G scale Baldwin 2-4-4-2 ???
Huh? maybe... maybe????

Thanks Sumpter,

The R/C battery conversion eliminates a lot of headaches including wiring, under ground conduits, section to section track jumper wires, all metal wheelsets (getting very expensive), large output power packs, difficulties with DCC control through very long track, cleaning track, reversing circuits,and having to buy exspensive brass track. I hope the experiment goes well.

Here's a few shots of that 2-4-4-2 you are thinking and dreaming about. Also, a large scale modeler's recreation of the prototype made by cutting up two LGB mechanisms and splicing them together. Anything is possible in this huge scale where the neighborhood Lowe's or Home Depot is your new Hobby Shop.
Doc Tom

 

[Doctor G]

Little River Shay 2147

When I get the custom decal sheet for the big shay this is how I will letter it for the original 2147 sitting at the museum in Townsend Tennessee. I am using a little "artisitic license" to give the name "Miss Kit" to the loco up there just below the cab window in honor of my very supportive wife Kit.

Bachmann did make a lettered model for LRRR 2147 but they are were all gone (limited run) when I saved up enough $ to buy it....so I got an unlettered one from Caboose Hobbies. The second picture is what Bachmann's model looked like in Large Scale.

Doc Tom

 

[Sawdust]

Wow!

Hey Doc Tom I remember this was coming & it sounds very exciting to see it come to pass. I am happy for you & your new endeavor. This will be an exciting Thread for sure. I mentioned this a long time back that my family & I have camped at Elkmont many times over the years. It will be exciting to see you capture this portion of the Logging era. I have read a little about the RC with trains & it sounds like that is the way to go especially in GRR. Keep us posted on EVERYTHING.

 

[Doctor G]

Hey Doc Tom I remember this was coming & it sounds very exciting to see it come to pass. I am happy for you & your new endeavor. This will be an exciting Thread for sure. I mentioned this a long time back that my family & I have camped at Elkmont many times over the years. It will be exciting to see you capture this portion of the Logging era. I have read a little about the RC with trains & it sounds like that is the way to go especially in GRR. Keep us posted on EVERYTHING.

Hey Sawdust,

Thanks for the enthusiasm!!!
Elkmont is a great campground and we have camped there too when the kids were little. My wife and I also stayed at the Wonderland Hotel there after a hike up Mt Le Conte. They let the hotel go (very sad story) and it was finally torn down by the National Park Service.

Here are a few pictures of Elkmont in the days of steam. I may just have to model the Elkmont Post Office in Large Scale (1:20.3) for the evolving garden RR.

Doc Tom

 

[Doctor G]

Logo for the Little River Rail Road

Here is the logo I will be using for the decals on the Shay.
I also used it to make signs for the train shed out back and put it on wheel barrows and other "garden equipment" that will be used in the actual construction.

"Hard scapers" and retaining wall folks are supposed to be by tomorrow to begin surveying work.

I will post a layout plan soon.
Doc Tom:mrgreen:

 

[Doctor G]

Decal Proof Sheet for the Shay

Hi,

Here is the decal "proof sheet" for the custom lettering for the shay. The decals are made by Stan Cedarleaf who is an excellent craftsman to work with and very easy to communicate with. Here is his website: http://gold.mylargescale.com/StanCedarleaf/WebPageDecals/CustomDecalsx.html

Of course when the lettering gets here it will be white. I don't think black lettering will show up very well on a black locomotive.

Stan likes to use prototype photos, like the ones of 2147 I showed earlier, to make his decals. He also asked for measurements of where I would be putting the decals. These measurements allowed me to make decals of "2147" to go on the sides of the headlight and rear light and smoke box door just like the prototype. Bachmann does not include these numbers on the lights or smoke box door in its previous release of this model.

Doc Tom:mrgreen:

 

[Mountain Man]

Track plan? Overview? Before and after shots?

 

[Bill Nelson]

natural materials!

Tom, I was walking through the woods today, studying trees for firewood planning, and I though that you are going to need some log loads. Sometime this winter, you need to come out here dressed in woods clothes, and help me scout for some trees whose limbs might make good 1:20.3 logs. I can also show you some of the places where I have piles of rock, which we might be able to harvest for scenic purposes. I got some places with mossy rocks, that should be nice accent pieces for your project.


Bill

 

[Doctor G]

Track plan? Overview? Before and after shots?

Patience m.Man. Patience. They will be coming soon.
Doc Tom

 

[Doctor G]

Tom, I was walking through the woods today, studying trees for firewood planning, and I though that you are going to need some log loads. Sometime this winter, you need to come out here dressed in woods clothes, and help me scout for some trees whose limbs might make good 1:20.3 logs. I can also show you some of the places where I have piles of rock, which we might be able to harvest for scenic purposes. I got some places with mossy rocks, that should be nice accent pieces for your project.


Bill

Hey Bill,

Thanks for all your help and support. Mossy rocks I will need a lot of. Looks like Landscapers/Hardscrapers want too much $$$$ for the retaining wall. Sounds like it is going to have to be my build after all.

Thanks as always for your interest and support.

Tom:thumb:

 

[Sawdust]

Hey Doc if you build your own wall that would allow more money for rolling stock. :mrgreen: I really like the decal selection, good choices.

 

[Mountain Man]

Patience m.Man. Patience. They will be coming soon.
Doc Tom

Remember the joke about the two vultures?

"Patience, @#$%&*! If something doesn;t drop dead in the next minute, I'm going to fly down there and kill it myself!"

 

[steamhead]

Doc....Looking forward to your next adventure...I see you're getting off on the right foot with that Shay...Gorgeous loco..!! And, like you say...you can actually SEE the details...:mrgreen:

Best of luck, and keep us posted...:thumb:

 

[Doctor G]

Track plan at last

Remember the joke about the two vultures?

"Patience, @#$%&*! If something doesn;t drop dead in the next minute, I'm going to fly down there and kill it myself!"

Hi Mountain Man,

I got up at 6 AM today to get some pictures of the track plan before a vulture attack. Thanks for inspiring me to get moving.

Thanks also for the comments from Bill, Sawdust and Steamhead.

Your support is very helpful and Bill I'm going to need lots of rocks.

Also there is avery interesting construction technique I will use in some places of burlap strips dipped in concrete and draped over chicken wire that makes some very convincing mountains much like the plaster, paper over card board strips we use in HO indoor railroads. So a lot of hands on modeling will be done....should be fun and creative.
Doc Tom