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

Doctor G

Well-Known Member
Motor Car Number One hits the rails and actually runs.

I finally finished my Motor Car #1 for the Little River Rail Road. I used G Scale Graphics simple critter control and powered it with 8 AA rechargeable Ever Ready batteries in a very simple battery case from Radio Shack.

http://i542.photobucket.com/albums/gg412/DrGrab/DSC04447.jpg

The head lamp functions as the speed control knob.

http://i542.photobucket.com/albums/gg412/DrGrab/DSC04448.jpg

The on/off switch and the forward/reverse switch are from G Scale Graphics and placed in a "motor housing" up in the cab made from a tapered conduit box from Lowe's.

http://i542.photobucket.com/albums/gg412/DrGrab/DSC04450.jpg

This was my first scratch built motive power in any scale ever. I was pleased that it actually ran and the electronics did not go up in a puff of smoke.

http://i542.photobucket.com/albums/gg412/DrGrab/DSC04443.jpg

Thanks for looking. Doc Tom
 

Doctor G

Well-Known Member
When are you installing your "Little River"? :cool:

Hi M. Man,

Good to hear from you. I do plan to put running water in the Little River eventually. I did look at pumps at Lowes this weekend. I am still spending my hobby $ on wood for the monster curved trestle and the bridges this mountain RR uses. So far 10 bridges in place and I am only about half way complete. More pictures to follow.
Doc TOM:wave:
 

Doctor G

Well-Known Member
The Big Trestle gets built.

Seems the construction crews have been putting in a lot of overtime to finish the large curved trestle coming out of Nelson's hollow.

http://i542.photobucket.com/albums/gg412/DrGrab/DSC04465.jpg

Colonel Townsend was quite impressed with the work and took out Motor Car #1 for inspection. When he saw a Shay with a Lumber train trundling below he had to have some pictures.

http://i542.photobucket.com/albums/gg412/DrGrab/DSC04477.jpg

He had the Motor Car stop right over the logging train.

http://i542.photobucket.com/albums/gg412/DrGrab/DSC04475.jpg

Boss Crumb alighted and had Bubba Jones crawl out to try and and get some "eagle shots" with the Brownie Camera.

http://i542.photobucket.com/albums/gg412/DrGrab/DSC04482.jpg

http://i542.photobucket.com/albums/gg412/DrGrab/DSC04480.jpg

The pictures were fairly dramatic but Bubba done forgot to put film in the ole Brownie before they headed off to the woods.

http://i542.photobucket.com/albums/gg412/DrGrab/DSC04472.jpg

http://i542.photobucket.com/albums/gg412/DrGrab/DSC04472.jpg

http://i542.photobucket.com/albums/gg412/DrGrab/DSC04478.jpg

Thanks for looking.
Doc Tom
 

gbwdude

General Manager, W.R.Ry.
Dr. Tom,

I know you don't deal with HO scale anymore but NWSL did finally release their gear kit for the Bachmann Climax. I noticed it in my email I get from Model Railroad News. Here's the link:
http://www.modelrailroadnews.com/ne...gears-for-bachmann-locomotive/8be7423b07.html
If anything, our own "Dr." Bill might have a use for them. Seeing this gear kit almost makes me want to add another geared steamer to the WRRy's roster... almost.

Tyler
 

Doctor G

Well-Known Member
Dr. Tom,

I know you don't deal with HO scale anymore but NWSL did finally release their gear kit for the Bachmann Climax. I noticed it in my email I get from Model Railroad News. Here's the link:
http://www.modelrailroadnews.com/ne...gears-for-bachmann-locomotive/8be7423b07.html
If anything, our own "Dr." Bill might have a use for them. Seeing this gear kit almost makes me want to add another geared steamer to the WRRy's roster... almost.

Tyler

Hi Tyler,

Thanks for this bit of news. It is sad that the plastic B.mann uses for their gears is so brittle they will crack just sitting on the shelf.

Believe it or not they have the same problem in Large Scale B.mann locomotives. A whole cottage industry of replacement parts has sprung up for the large scale modeler using B.mann locomotives.

I did sell the old HO Climaxes on Evil Bay to help pay for my new Large Scale addiction.

Fortunately the Big Shay I purchased has "all metal" gearing in it. It is the fourth iteration coming from B.mann. I believe the prior three had plastic gearing that cracked and broke.

Doc Tom
 

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Doctor G

Well-Known Member
Nod to Malcolm Furlow's modeling

Here is a rather improbable bridge in the real world.

I had fun with Malcolm Furlow's wild ideas in HO scale . My Crazy Horse bridge on the old HO layout was the same as Mr Furlow's San Juan Central.

So on this Large Scale outdoor layout I thought I would have some fun with this logging bridge built on a ledge of sandstone. The bents are situated on a ledge with a significant undercut. I doubt this would even work and support the weight of a prototype logging train in the real world.....but I really had fun putting this in and so far it has not collapsed.

Doc Tom
 

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Doctor G

Well-Known Member
Water in the Little River

A while back Mountain Man wanted to see some water in the Little River watershed.

With all the rain recently the Little River has filled up and I just had to get some pictures.

This will be the eventual "water feature" of the outdoor RR depicting the Little River RR in the 1920's.

Doc Tom
 

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Doctor G

Well-Known Member
Happy Thanksgiving from Little River Country

Colonel Townsend stopped the Little River Railroad motor car at the Black Gum road crossing to get ready for a Thanksgiving feast up the line in Elkmont.
It seems that each year there is a great spread of food at the Wonderland Hotel in Elkmont as way of giving thanks for the year's blessings.
Colonel Townsend wanted to do his part and is purchasing fresh rainbow trout right out of the Little River and Fresh eggs for all the baking and frying that will be done come Thanksgiving day.
Happy Thanksgiving to all of you. Enjoy your families and friends.

Doc Tom
 

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Bill Nelson

Well-Known Member
Happy Thanksgiving to all of those around the Little River, and to it's visitors, electronic and actual, from the folks just over sand mountain ridge in the Crooked Creek watershed.
 

Doctor G

Well-Known Member
The Whiskey River RR interchanges with the Little River Rail Road

Mr Tyler Dreisow, the brass hat, of the Whiskey River Rail Road has commenced interchange operations with the Little River Rail Road.

With this connection the good folks in Merrick Wisconsin can now trade with the isolated hills of Townsend Tennessee and the Little River Lumber Company mill. It seems that there is a big need for the hard wood lumber of the Smoky Mountains to provide timbers for the Dolomite and Lead mines up in Merrick. The good ole boys in Tennessee are only too happy to oblige.

Here we see a WRRR box car being switched to the lead outside the Little River Mill.

Mr Dreisow also sent a very nice rail pass allowing Doc Tom And Mr Townsend to take a trip up north and see the sights.

Many, many, many THANK YOUS Tyler. You are very kind!!!!

Doc Tom
 

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Doctor G

Well-Known Member
Thanksgiving on the Little River Rail Road

Mr Zach paid a visit to Little River Country this past Thanksgiving. He wanted to run his favorite lokie and trackage rights were granted.

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He also wanted a VIP to use his RR pass and take a ride out on The Nelson's Gap trestle.

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I hope you all had a good time with your family and friends.

Doc Tom and the Little River Rail Road in Tennessee
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Doctor G

Well-Known Member
A "set out" logger's cabin for the Little River Rail Road

The Little River Rail Road in Eastern Tennessee constructed these "set out" cabins for its hard working loggers and their families.

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They would haul them to a camp site and "set them out" in what were frequently called "string towns" a line of buildings along the rail road.

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Interestingly one of the original set out cabins is still in existence 85 years later at the Little River RR museum in Townsend Tennessee. I was there this past summer and photographed the prototype. I was able to get a one foot ruler at a local store and did my first field research photos of a prototype structure I wanted to recreate in 1:20.3. Amazingly the planks used in the prototype are one foot across and speak to the huge trees that were cut in this area, now the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

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I have read a lot about using clear acrylic "plexiglass" plastic and thought I would give it a try in my attempts to model a set out cabin.

Here are some first shots of craft sticks cut to 1 foot width in 1:20.3 and two of the acrylic end pieces I made using the score and snap technique. The wood pieces have received an India Ink stain and Thompson's Water Seal treatment.

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I am very interested in your comments on constructing models using acrylic plastic sheathed with wood. I would love to hear your experiences in this technique and advice regarding adhesives used etc. If there is a past article here on how to do this please let me know. I tried the search engine and only got a little.

Doc Tom and the Little River Rail Road in Tennessee
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Doctor G

Well-Known Member
nice looking boards Tom.

Thanks Bill. The guys over on the Large Scale fora report to hold off on the Thompson's water seal until after the model is built. The Thompson's apparently interferes with the adhesion of the glue. So I will be staining and gluing only until completion of this skid shack.

I feel like such a newbie in this scale.......but I am learning a lot.

Tom
 

Doctor G

Well-Known Member
Building the loggers a home on the Little River RR

After a lively discussion and tremendous input from the wood and glue experts in the Cyber Large Scale train club, Boss Crumb thought he better get down to the shops and set the workman straight on the correct way to laminate acrylic.

DSC04622.jpg



It seems the best way is to glue the raw wood to the acrylic as seen in the photo above which will be the "inside" of the logger's cabin and represents the end pieces.

Prior to "edumacation" the workers were laminating stained and treated wood to the exterior as seen on the left in the photo below.

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Now the boys have got the hang of it and stains and water sealing will occur AFTER the planks are glued to the acrylic as in the picture to the right.

Thanks to all for the higher education on this little project.......now on to a saw mill, commissary store and the rough homes that Tennesseans love so much.

Doc Tom and the Little River Rail Road in Tennessee
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Doctor G

Well-Known Member
More work on the set out cabin

After the educational courses on gluing and staining the boys settled in to some good work and laid down the floor and hung the first wall of the set out cabin. Paul B. and Andrew the accountant stopped by the shops to see how the new domicile was progressing.

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Boss Crumb enjoys the 1926 pin up that Timmie put on the wall.

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Here are some prototypical interior shots of logging set out cabins also know as "skid shacks", or "bunk houses."

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The hard working loggers sure had a Spartan existence in their very tight quarters!!
Doc Tom and the Little River Rail Road in Tennessee
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Post Reply
 

Bill Nelson

Well-Known Member
Tom, the actual cabin has the floor boards running long ways, and they are long boards, you have them running short ways with short boards.


I love the stain .
 

gbwdude

General Manager, W.R.Ry.
Dr Tom,

That first prototype pic looks like the inside of the b-huts we had in Afghanistan, but even they had a luxury that we couldn't get... a phone. When I first got there you could call from my office, being patched through to a naval base in who knows where and then to your number of choice. Then only 1-800 numbers worked, and good thing I kept a few of those phone cards they send to troops. When I left, you could only call inter-theater unless you either knew the right person to hack it or walked down to the phone center. Either way, pretty close to our interiors.

I noted it in my thread but didn't get a response from either yourself or Bill, but there is a train show at the TN state fairgrounds tomorrow from 9-4. We could have a Clarksville MRR Club outing day... just a thought.

Tyler
 

Doctor G

Well-Known Member
Tom, the actual cabin has the floor boards running long ways, and they are long boards, you have them running short ways with short boards.


I love the stain .

Hi Bill,

Thanks for the followup.

Well I took a guess at placement of the floor boards and placed them perpendicular to the long axis of the structure. This decision was also heavily influenced by the length of the craft sticks I used in making the floor boards. The prototype photos in the post above are from loggers shacks out west. Here are the real "interior shots" of the set out cabin from the real Little River RR at the museum at Townsend.

The inside had so much junk in it that it is hard to say how the boards were aligned. One picture does seem to show the boards aligned perpendicular to the axis like the model. The picture with the door shows an end wall and the floor boards sorta of look like mine.

Knowing that the shed probably had its fair share of slithering logging creatures I elected not to go inside and further study the place.

Doc Tom
 

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