A Momentary Aside - Swanton Pacific Railroad

 The fires in California have ravaged a lot of land and property. But I heard the other day that they have claimed a railroad that is closer to my heart. My mom attended Cal Poly, and they have a 1/3rd scale railroad, the Swanton Pacific Railroad. Unfortunately, the fires claimed 3 of the four engines and numerous cars and railroad structures.

Damage to the SP locomotives.

They are raising money to restore the railroad. If you would like to donate, please use this link. I made a donation in memory of my mother earlier today.

Cameron Turner

A Momentary Aside: Its the Virus...

COVID-19 - ALISSA ECKERT, DAN HIGGINS/CDC

The COVID-19 virus has changed a lot of things. I had been doing a pretty good job posting on the blog, up until being sent home to work virtually in Mid March. Since then, posts have been few and far between, and hobby time has been almost nil.

Working virtually it turns out is more time consuming than working in person, at least for me. At a sometimes flakey internet connection, and trying to manage life in this COVID-19 world, and tornados and well you got lots of things to eat up your time.

I had been hoping to go to the regional NMRA meet in March, but had to forgo that since after my surgery I am in the high risk group for COVID-19. Similarly, I had to pass on going to RockyOp2020. Now, the PCR is canceled, the NMRA national is cancelled, and a bunch of other events are cancelled. Still waiting on the SER convention, but I won't be going. On the bright side, I hear that interest in hobbies such as Model Railroading has picked up with so many people at home these days and looking for things to do at home, inside.

An N-Scale Operating Session - Photo by the Author.

It is sad to see some of the social elements of the hobby coming to a halt, the ops sessions in particular grinding to a halt as people either are unwilling to conglomerate in a basement empire, unable to conglomerate in a basement empire or are unwilling to host people who might have COVID in a basement empire. Its been making me think about the layout I might build. Will it be the operating haven I had imagined, or does it need to be something else? How can I make the layout fun to operate with only a few people - or even just me? Is this what I want to build - or should I be looking at other options that I had not considered? When can I start? With what can I start?

I have a few more posts planned on the Moffat Line plan I had put together, and I have started the next generation of planning, making a few more compromises to allow better access to the crawlspace. And, I have done some work on another, shorter term project that I hope to actually cut wood on in the next couple of weeks. But my wife and I are alive and well. We are holed up, awaiting the all clear - the chance to step out into an all new world.

Oh, and I mentioned tornadoes? Turns out a property my wife and I bought as an investment, met up with one the other night. Nobody was there, but the remodeling job done on the kitchen is very...rustic.

A Rustic Kitchen Remodel. There was actually another room past the sink in the house. Photo by the Author.

It was apparently the result of an EF-3 that placed 3 80 foot trees into the house. Only two rooms do not seem to have visible damage. So, this will be another project coming up...

Stay safe everyone. Stay in. Keep your distance.

A Momentary Aside - Doug Midkiff RIP

I mentioned Doug a few days ago. His GoFundMe request raised near $30,000 towards his families expenses. A group of N-scalers came over to his house and worked to get trains running on his unfinished layout. Sadly, Doug passed away the morning of January 30, surrounded by those he loved and those who loved him.

Midkiff Family

Doug leaves behind his wife Kerrie and daughter Vivi. The current GoFundMe will continue, but at some point, there is going to be another run to help ensure that Vivi's education is supported. The N scale community will miss Doug and our love and prayers go out to his family.

Doug Midkiff GoFundMe Link

Give those around you a hug tonight.

Cameron Turner

A Momentary Aside - Doug Midkiff

I rebooted this blog last June after my own health scare. This weekend, as I was doing a little work on the Central T-Layout, I got a message through one of my old operating group friends that a student, colleague and fellow N-scaler is going through much the same thing as I did - but his prognosis is not as hopeful as mine.

Doug and his family.

Doug Midkiff was one of the first graduate students I had as a professor. Not only was he a great student, but I soon learned that he was a model railroader and an N-scaler. I soon got Doug involved in a local operating layout I had joined and we remained in contact until I changed jobs a few years ago. In fact, Doug encouraged me to produce an innocuous little part for some N-scale engines he was painting and detailing, and that helped lead to me starting a Shapeways store. Amazingly enough, this little detail is by far my best selling item....not that it will let me retire from the proceeds ... ever.

Rock Island Cooling Assemblies

I learned this weekend that Doug has developed stage 4 colon cancer and has been placed in hospice care. While we pray for the best, we know that there is an uphill fight ahead for Doug. Doug has a wife and young daughter. They have started a GoFundMe page to help cover some expenses. As of this morning they are almost 2/3rds of the way to their goal.


Please pass the link along and consider whether you can find a little hobby money to help them.

Doug Midkiff GoFundMe

All our prayers go out to you and your family Doug.

Cameron Turner

A Momentary Aside - A little HOn2z Progress

Sometimes, even the best plans go amiss. Yesterday, was the NMRA Palmetto Division of the NMRA fall meeting. I had planned on going, but a combination of a tweeked back and not feeling particularly well led me to pass on the meeting.

One of my goals, going back even before my surgery has been to earn my Master Model Railroader (MMR) certification. Not because I feel the need to demonstrate my skills, but as a means of improving them. While I primarily model in N-scale, I dabble in Z, T and in HOn2z (2' gauge, HO scale using Z-scale track). And I cannot confirm or deny the presence of some On30 in my basement either. But it is the HOn2z that I am taking an aside to discuss today.

I had been thinking about bringing my HOn2z projects tot he meeting to show, but alas, I do not have things at a point where I want to show them yet. Most are incomplete, but I thought I might preview a couple of pictures.

Gilpin Gold Tram Ore Car.

 Most of my efforts are focused towards the Gilpin Gold Tram, a 2' gauge line that ran out of Central City and Blackhawk, Colorado.  Despite being HO scale, the cars are similar in size to N-scale cars, and they ride on Z-scale trucks and track. The cars are all being 3D printed and then I am assembling them and finishing them. The ore car above has just had the two cross bars that connected to the chains the connected to the doors of the ore car. There is still some work to be done, but the car is making progress.

Gilpin Rail Car.

The latest car to get started is this Gilpin rail car. Basically an open frame used to move sections of rail and steam boilers along the line, I printed this car primarily in brass to get sufficient weight on the car.

More of the fleet.

And the rest of the fleet. There is a water car (upper left), a stake bed flat car (left), 2 more typed of ore cars (middle), a gondola (upper right) and several flat car frames are all under construction. It is nice to have something to do when I do not want to work on planning, and maybe this will even lead to yet another little layout project. Stay tuned!

20 days to go. 20 Posts to go!

Cameron Turner

A Momentary Aside – The B&O Museum

Just an aside from the discussions of the layout. My wife and I took some time off to go see her parents and our nephew in Maryland. His dad and granddad are doing a good job introducing him to trains, but we decided to help out with a trip to the B&O Railroad Museum in Baltimore. It is definitely worth the stop in Baltimore. Currently, the museum is running an exhibit about how the B&O railroaders served during World War I. One element of that display is a diorama built by Bernie Kempinski. Bernie's blog is one of those that I follow regularly. The diorama of Fins France looks just as good in person as it does on Bernie's blog.

Bernie Kempinski's diorama of Fins.

In addition, there is a large G-scale Garden railway, an HO scale layout, and a number of engines of various scales on display around the museum in addition to the full size trains.

B&O Garden Railway.

B&O HO Scale Layout.

One of several model display engines at the museum.

In addition, it turned out that there was a special event at the Museum that day sponsored by CSX to celebrate the first responders and military service of their employees. Introduced at the event were two specially painted CSX locomotives. CSX1776 - in honor of the military service of our veterans, and CSX911 - in honor of the first responders.

CSX1776 - Honoring our Vets.

CSX911 - Honoring our First Responders.

Another part of our visit was the ride over the first mile of the B&O laid out of Baltimore and now operated by the Museum as an exhibition ride. Our engine was a restored B&O EMD GP30. The trip is 10 minutes each way but is an enjoyable part of the visit.

B&O Engine 6944.

It was nice to see the museum again and to enjoy a little time with family. We will get back to the layout plan in upcoming posts.

Cameron Turner