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

[Mountain Man]

Wow those are incredibly powerful winds!!!! We get tornadoes but they are focal and not as wide spread or prolonged as those monster katabiatic winds.

It is amazing the differences through out this great land of ours.

Doc Tom

Colorado gets a lot of tornados, too, but the K-winds blow steadily in the same direction with heavy gusting for hours and hours on end, powered by gravity feeding very cold air downwards from 14,000 feet all along the front range. It's a bit like an invisible avalanche. I had to re-engineer and rebuild my house after the first one, including the fence. My neighbors laughed at me, until the next one.

 

[S class]

sounds to me moutain man that you have a great location for some of them wind turbin's fo that there "green" power for your layout.

or you could put it outside and stick sails on your loco's

 

[Mountain Man]

sounds to me moutain man that you have a great location for some of them wind turbin's fo that there "green" power for your layout.

or you could put it outside and stick sails on your loco's

It's already been done in Around The World In Eighty Days.

Make a great fantasy modeling subject, though.

 

[Doctor G]

Could not do this on the indoor layout.

Hi folks,

Our part of Tennessee had a little bit of snow, so I thought one of Garden Rail Roading all time favorite pictures should be done. All the large scale websites have got pictures of trains in snow, trains plowing snow, live steam engines working in snow and G scale buildings buried in snow. So I thought I would get my snow picture from my humble pike out there too.

Nope, you could not do this on the old HO indoor layout.....well not easily.

Doc Tom

 

[Bill Nelson]

As if I wasn't cold enough already!, it makes me cold looking at that, and I'm already cold.


Jennifer had her first day of teaching Clinicals today, so after getting up @ 4:30 in the morning to get her lunch packed, I went to take a nap before going in for training for my new job. Jennifer's car blew a belt off a ways down the expressway. so I had to go down and swap cars, and then work on a diagnosis (a idler pulley on the serpentine belt broke), before going off to training. After work I went and ordered the parts I need , Jennifer's car has a rare motor, so I won't get a part till Tuesday. In the mean time Jennifer's Miata will be parked in the garage, Jennifer is driving my new (03 is new for us) Subaru Baja, and I'm back to driving my Suburban until I can get parts. My woodsove is kicking out good heat, I can start working on dinner.

 

[Doctor G]

As if I wasn't cold enough already!, it makes me cold looking at that, and I'm already cold.


Jennifer had her first day of teaching Clinicals today, so after getting up @ 4:30 in the morning to get her lunch packed, I went to take a nap before going in for training for my new job. Jennifer's car blew a belt off a ways down the expressway. so I had to go down and swap cars, and then work on a diagnosis (a idler pulley on the serpentine belt broke), before going off to training. After work I went and ordered the parts I need , Jennifer's car has a rare motor, so I won't get a part till Tuesday. In the mean time Jennifer's Miata will be parked in the garage, Jennifer is driving my new (03 is new for us) Subaru Baja, and I'm back to driving my Suburban until I can get parts. My woodsove is kicking out good heat, I can start working on dinner.

Hey Bill,

Was it the Miata that blew the belt??? Pretty rare for those little guys to have mechanical failures.

Tom

 

[Sawdust]

Hi folks,

Our part of Tennessee had a little bit of snow, so I thought one of Garden Rail Roading all time favorite pictures should be done. All the large scale websites have got pictures of trains in snow, trains plowing snow, live steam engines working in snow and G scale buildings buried in snow. So I thought I would get my snow picture from my humble pike out there too.

Nope, you could not do this on the old HO indoor layout.....well not easily.

Doc Tom

You can sure tell that's not Woodland Scenics Snow. :mrgreen: I was wondering yesterday about your RR getting some snow or not. Fantastic pic, I would frame that & call it "First Snow on the LRRR"

 

[Sawdust]

As if I wasn't cold enough already!, it makes me cold looking at that, and I'm already cold.


Jennifer had her first day of teaching Clinicals today, so after getting up @ 4:30 in the morning to get her lunch packed, I went to take a nap before going in for training for my new job. Jennifer's car blew a belt off a ways down the expressway. so I had to go down and swap cars, and then work on a diagnosis (a idler pulley on the serpentine belt broke), before going off to training. After work I went and ordered the parts I need , Jennifer's car has a rare motor, so I won't get a part till Tuesday. In the mean time Jennifer's Miata will be parked in the garage, Jennifer is driving my new (03 is new for us) Subaru Baja, and I'm back to driving my Suburban until I can get parts. My woodsove is kicking out good heat, I can start working on dinner.

Sounds like you had a busy day Bill. I use to love working on cars but now I hate it. I just spent a day & a half a few weeks ago putting a radiator in my wifes Jeep. It has a towing package & several coolers in front of the radiator. It wasn't too bad once I got to the radiator :mrgreen:.

 

[Bill Nelson]

Hey Bill,

Was it the Miata that blew the belt??? Pretty rare for those little guys to have mechanical failures.

Tom

Tom, the Miata is hibernating in the garage, waiting for spring. It was the Subaru Outback (which has a lot more miles on than the miata does,) that blew the belt. This kind of thing could happen to any car, that pulley has had a big lateral force on it for over 100,000 miles. If they made them stout enough to last forever, they would weigh to much, and cut into the fuel mileage.

as I said Jennifer has the rare 6 cly engine in her Subaru, so I won't get the part till Tuesday, so in the meantime she is driving my little Subaru Baja, and I'm driving my suburban. two weeks ago, and somebody would have been driving the old 86 Toyota 4-Runner.


Jennifer is working all this weekend, so I'll be cutting and burning firewood to try to keep warm, and tyring to figure out what train project to work on.

Bill Nelson

 

[kf4jqd]

I am a board member at the Little River Railroad in Townsend, TN! I am currently restoring a L&N caboose there!

Andy

 

[Doctor G]

I am a board member at the Little River Railroad in Townsend, TN! I am currently restoring a L&N caboose there!

Andy

Hi Andy,
Love the Little River Museum there in Townsend!!!!! I have spent many an enjoyable hour there.

We had a Mr John Patterson,now deceased,in our local Clarksville TN. RR club related to the "caretaker's" of the museum wife.....lives in a house out back on the river. I even visited them and saw his model RR layout.

You know I ought to join your organization and help y'all in that restoration. How do I do that???

I am interested in what kind of caboose the LRRR used on their logging trains if at all. I would like to build one in 1:20.3 large scale.

Looking forward to continuing the dialogue.

Dr Tom

 

[Bill Nelson]

Welcome Andy

I have tried to post two long responses, which Zealot ate. Tom and I have both been heavily influenced by the Little River RR, The dominant power on the Valley division of my DG, CC, & W is two Little river 2-4-4-2s one an ancient Gem import, and the other a more recent Oriental powerhouse series composite (brass and cast white metal).

Nothing like the sight of a 2-4-4-2 dancing through an S curve. Tom and I have been working with each other for more than 20 years. He is the only person I have ever met whose modeling inspirations were exactly like mine when we met.

Welcome to Zealot. if you build stuff, share it here, if not share this site with anyone who has an interest. this site is a great way to share information, techniques , and inspiration; and the only thing lacking is more folks participating.

Tom may be scarce for a while he is heavily involved with several heath care facilities in Haiti, through one of his several avenues of charitable work. below are some links to threads where the Little River is an inspiration.

Bill Nelson

Eastern Tn logging on the DG CC & W RR 1928

Bill and Tom's EXCELLENT ADVENTURE in Logging and Mining


Picture thread of your Logging, Mining, or unique industrial equipment.

 

[kf4jqd]

Email me directly Tom at kf4jqd@netzero.net Please email me you model pictures. I know some fellow board member will be interested in seeing them. We have our next board meeting Tuesday at 7pm at the museum. We welcome any help and support!

Andy
PS
This invitation goes out to everyone!

 

[kf4jqd]

I am on also on Face book. So is the restoration of the caboose and my Rock Island page.

 

[Doctor G]

Beautiful Day on the Little River RR

We have had some beautiful days here in Clarksville Tennessee, so I got a little more work done on the Little River RR in the backyard. I put together a scene of a steam engine taking on water near the Little River gorge.

The bridge is made from redwood and is from "Desert Bridges". The "G guage" track is painted and the ballast is crushed granite from Lowe's that is used under patio stone etc.

I hope to be building some trestles and tall bridges soon in this outdoor replica of beautiful East Tennessee.

Doc Tom:mrgreen:

 

[Bill Nelson]

Tom it looks like you put those mossy rocks to good use.


Bill

 

[Doctor G]

Another bridge for the Little River Railroad

Hello,

The nice weekend weather prompted me to do a little more work on the Little River RR in the back yard.

I scratchbuilt a deck bridge and placed it over Wash Out Creek. What was interesting to me is that water run off was washing out the ballast at this little rivulet despite two conduit tubes. So management decided to "daylight" the little creek and build a deck bridge with creosoted wood. You can see the old pipes pulled and thrown upstream from the bridge.....just like the prototype.

It was a fun scratchbuild. My first in this large scale. It was fun using actual hand tools to build it.

Here is also a shot of the end of the line built up on cribbing. I will build a trestle here that will bridge a gorge with fairly steep sides.

I received word this week that the RC/ battery conversion of my three truck Shay is nearing completion after the release of the long delayed Phoenix P8 sound system. I have about 45-50 feet of ballasted track in now and I am looking forward to running the Shay on it.

Doc Tom

 

[Bill Nelson]

I like it!

 

[steamhead]

That looks fantastic..!! I have a huge backyard...might have to get me one of those one of these days.....Live steam would be even better.....
(Anyone can dream...right..??)

 

[Doctor G]

LRRR station platforms and thank you

That looks fantastic..!! I have a huge backyard...might have to get me one of those one of these days.....Live steam would be even better.....
(Anyone can dream...right..??)

Hi Gus,
Thanks for the nice feedback. This is an interesting scale to model in as you are confronted with all the real issues the real railroads had. For example the deck bridge was placed at an area where the ballast was washing out at a small rivulet despite two pipe culverts.

Steam is possible in this scale as well. However the track has to be laid almost completely flat as the model steam engines do not have the umphhh to pull grades. At least that is what my reading says, I have no direct experience. Apparently the steamers with R/C throttles can handle up and downs better.

The LRRR had some neat station platforms (see pictures below) and I am considering building a full size replica 1:1 of the one at Sunshine or "Wonderland Park" as a garden gazebo for eating and drinking out doors watching the trains roll by. Even have a corner of the backyard picked out for this structure. Yes, dreaming is fun and keeps the creative juices flowing.

Doc Tom