HOn30 Shay

I love Shay locomotives. Well, I suppose I love all geared locomotives. Growing up in North Central Pennsylvania, I remember traveling the skid roads and jeep trails all over the mountains in Clinton County. What I never new, was that many of those jeep trails were actually railroad grades 100 years earlier. When I came to that realization later in life, I was shocked at how tons of steel and wood would climb 6 and 8% grades on ribbon rail to get logs to the mill, and how the hell someone designed and built these monsters with a stubby pencil and a slide rule.

I'm floating between 2 scales, On30 and HOn30, and by chance last night, I found an Atlas N scale Shay for a really reasonable price. I used to model N scale, but I caught the "n30" bug a couple of years ago, so when I decided to buy the shay (it didn't take long), I had thoughts of reselling and turning a profit, or maybe even dabbling back in N scale. I didn't want the model to convert to HOn30. That is until this morning, and I started searching for Atlas shay HOn30 conversions.  Most of the conversions I have seen look ridiculous, with a gargantuan cab, and a teeny boiler, with gargantuan domes, and a stack that is pencil thin and (seemingly) 20 feet tall.

If you have built one of these, and are getting angry with me, please un-wad your panties. It's not a personal insult. I just don't like the way it looks. You may, and that's cool with me. Some people think that Camelback locomotives are hideous, but I think they are wicked cool. Anyhootie...

I wasn't going to convert it until I saw this:

Photo Credit: Kermit Geary, Jr.
 

That is an honest to goodness 3 cylinder, 2 foot gauge shay. As Wayne used to say: "SCHWING!!!"

You know what is even better? That sucker runs...right MEOW! 

Better yet? It's in PENNSYLVANIA!!!

Shay S/N 3118 was built by Lima in 1920 for Good Roads Construction Co.,  Leachville, AR.  I'll spare the rest of the details, but in 2003, it was born again for Doug Kuntz (railfan), Foster Brook & State Line RR #12, Bradford PA.

Here are some more porn shots for you slobbering weirdos (like myself)

Photo Credit: Kermit Geary, Jr.

Photo Credit: Kermit Geary, Jr.

Photo Credit: Kermit Geary, Jr.

I found all these at http://biglittlerr.blogspot.com
Hope this gives you some inspiration to:

Go build something awesome...

Weathered wood technique

Here is my quick and simple method of weathering wood. Some people have asked me how I do it, and sometimes it's easiest to just show you what I do. It's not easy making videos though!

Go Build Something Awesome.

Changing plans

Last week I discovered that the Five79 Forney rolling chassis wouldn't navigate the north end of Buzzard's Cove. Forneys have problems with tight radius turns, and can have a large lateral movement of the rear of the locomotive when modified to take tighter turns. Long story short, it's butt was too big for the bridge. Insert your favorite Sir Mixalot or LL Cool J song about generous posteriors.

The only solution available for me was to rip out everything north of the creek (I need to name that I guess huh?) and modify the bridge, and change the track plan slightly.

The north end

You can see where the spur track originally went, next to the seawall. The divergent radius was too tight, and the locomotive was hopping the rails. I have also decided that the RDA Johnson's Loft and Boathouse was too big, and not aesthetically interesting enough for the front of the layout, so it was replaced with Bar Mills' Staton Marine. I have found that building laser cut wood kits is actually too much fun. I've been scratchbuilding quite a bit of stuff, and these little kits fly together at ludicrous speed. Now that Bar Mills is including injection molded windows with their kits, I'm hooked. My one complaint about laser kits has always been the windows. In my opinion, the wooden windows don't look as nice as plastic, because the mullions are far to thick, and the layering of parts is too easy to screw up, so your windows look crooked.

 

Demolition Man

 

While I had the track ripped up, I decided that I didn't like the long straight sea wall, so it came out as well. A new section of dock will have to be built to replace it, so that the boats have a place to tie off to and get their fuel and repairs from old man Staton.

 

 

Under new lights

The north end is still functionally the same as before, with the "exit stage right" track, and the spur, but now I think the scene is better looking, with the tracks going behind the structure. I carved a boat hull out of some balsa, and it will fit nicely along the dock. I think I could even squeeze another 10 feet out of the hull. We'll see.


Off to a train show to find some goodies....

Go build something awesome.

 

Enough is enough

This doesn't have a damn thing to do with trains, so if you want to know about how I do x,y, or z, it will have to wait. This is far more important than what we do with our choo choos in the basement. I'm going to get on my soapbox and talk about a damn travesty that is happening every day, and hardly anyone knows about it, unless you run in the same circles that I do.

Warning: if my choice of language during this post offends your sensibilities, cry about it. I'm going to use language that I know from years of experience, works at getting the attention of young men who hunt other men for a living.

Only 0.45% of Americans serve in the military, and of that figure, less than 1% see combat.  That ridiculously small percentage of men and women are shooting themselves in the face at an alarming rate, and they fucking need to stop it. STOP IT. 3 and a half.  3 and a half Soldiers I knew killed themselves. I say a half, because one of my Soldiers tried to suck start his sidearm, and his battle buddy found him on their kitchen floor and saved his life. The latest one was today, and I'm pissed off.

I sound pretty crass, don't I? There is a reason for that...

For those of you who don't know anyone in the military, it sounds cliché, but you really have no fucking clue about what it is like to volunteer to watch the people you love literally get blown up around you. Spare me the "war is bad" and political diatribes about illegal wars and all of the other talking points.  It is what it is. That is what we said, how we coped, and how we learned to accept that in far flung shitholes, people are really, really, fucked up. "Everything in Iraq is fucked up.", was the first thing that I heard that made any sense my first week there. I took that to heart, and I learned that what I was going to experience, was going to be fucked up, no matter what. 

The VA system is just as fucked up as Iraq is, and is of no real help, so it is up to friends and relatives, wives, husbands, brothers, sisters moms and dads to be the first line of defense in combating suicide. This doesn't just go for vets. "I'm not a professional" doesn't fucking apply when it comes to someone who you know. For fucks sake, have them email ME, and I'll talk to them. I don't give a shit!  I had to get between another one of my Soldiers, his 1911, and 3 cops with tasers and M4s at the ready...pointing at MY back to stop him from making a permanent mistake. The point is, that I am here, and I will talk to you if you need it.

"spreading awareness" of Veteran Suicide is a bullshit concept, just like all "awareness" campaigns. Veterans know damn well that their buddies are killing themselves, and the media sensationalization of the phenomena makes the rest of us look like psychopaths that you don't want your kids knocking on our doors on Halloween.

There are resources out there. There are people who understand, and are willing to talk. http://www.veteranscrisisline.net/ is just one of the many places vets can go to talk to someone, but you, dear reader, if you know a vet, you need to keep your eye on them to make sure they are good to go, because they volunteered to do the same for you, whether or not you even realize it.

Coming home was even more fucked up than going to war.  I've adjusted. Many of my brothers have not.

Go build something awesome.

Graphic Designers:

Graphic Designers: I have a need for some of your work. Although I know how to use photoshop and illustrator, I don't have the time to sit down and work on branding. 

I'm in need of some logos and headers that can be used on my kits, the Facebook page, and the blog. 

If you are interested, email me at marshcreekrr@yahoo.com 

1000 page views

WOOOHOOO!!!!

So, apparently you all think I am interesting enough that when I logged in this morning, The Marsh Creek Railroad had 1000 page views.

Thank You!

I guess that means I have to keep writing and taking pictures....