The PRS Story

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Ages ago, I wrote about starting my first Pacific Rail Shops boxcar kit. In that post, I commented that…

This kit reminds me of working in HO 25-30 years ago, when companies like Front Range and McKeen were creating state of the art kits. This is fun – it’s like a trip in the TARDIS, to the time before HO modellers enjoyed so many resin kits and excellent examples of RTR rolling stock.

Well, it seems there’s a good reason for that. For the answer, read the story of Pacific Rail Shops in the S Scale Journal.

Update on rebuilding this site

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I’ve spent a bit of time this evening restoring about a dozen posts to this site. (Long-time readers will remember I lost the entire site a couple of months ago, but my bacon was saved by reader Gordon Dobson, who had all of my postings – although not the comments – in his RSS reader.)

Newly restored posts include items on the water tank, the backdrop, the sector plate and the switch stands I’m using for turnout control – among other things. So if you’re looking for something, have a browse…

I’ll keep restoring old posts as time permits.

The right tool for the job

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As regular readers know, when the guys come over to work on the layout I like to feed ‘em. And nothing makes a dinner complete like fresh, home-baked bread.

The problem is, making dough with a kitchen appliance is fine if I’m doing a single loaf. But when there’s a large crowd, I needed something up to the task.

So yesterday, I picked up this beauty. It’s a 3/4 horsepower, 16-speed model with a six-inch quill stroke, so it’ll get to the bottom of even the deepest mixing bowl and work through the toughest of doughs. And the large table has several clamping options to keep the dough from hitting the floor, or me.

I also appreciate the LED work light.

I’m sure I’ll find many other uses for it. Already, my friend Chris Abbott has suggested pancake batter.

A prototype + S connection

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Thanks to Bill Roberts, I have a fresh prototype photo to share – and there’s an interesting connection with S scale.

It’s the summer of 1955 and Anthony Perles took this picture of The Daily Effort.

The note on the back of the photo states:

Anthony H. Perles, 7-16-55, Port Rowan, Ont. CNR 80 (2-6-0 E-10a) RPO 7707, and combine 7176, as Train 233 at Port Rowan terminal.

There are not many photos taken from this side of the tracks so it’s wonderful to see a different perspective – and a perspective that operators on my layout will see since this is the “aisle side” on my layout. I will have to park a couple of automobiles at this end of the depot, as in the photo. And I definitely need to add weeds, saplings and other vegetation along this side of the rails.

Speaking of rails – look how small they are. Talk about a ribbon of steel.

Now, the S connection: The National Association of S Gaugers gives out an annual award to an author who publishes an article about S in a non-S scale publication. It’s a great way to encourage people to promote the scale. And the award is named in honour of…

Anthony H. Perles.

Thanks, Gary!

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I received my latest issue of the 1:64 Modeling Guide today and was pleasantly surprised to see I was mentioned in the regular column penned by Gary Carmichael.

Gary – it was great to meet you in Springfield as well and your Kennebec Central Sn2 modules were a highlight of the show for me. Thanks for the shout-out for this blog and for The Model Railway Show – the podcast I co-host and produce.

And to any readers who are now here because they read about Port Rowan in Gary’s column, welcome aboard! I hope you enjoy your visit and return often. If you would like an easy way to be notified when I add something here, subscribe to this blog via RSS. Here’s the link.

Because pictures of wires are boring…

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… I’m not going to shoot more of them. If you must see pictures, have a look at this earlier wiring update.

But I found a couple of hours after dinner last night so I installed a half-dozen drop feeders and wired them to the bus. I can now run trains as far as the south switches in St. Williams.

I finished spiking another three feet of rail, too. On a simple layout, even small progress like this is satisfying.

Track tweaks

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A few years ago while working on The Peterboro Project, my friend Pierre Oliver and I coined a phrase…

Make Train Go: Find Boo-Boo.

It acknowledges that despite our best efforts with track laying, it’s not until we wire up the layout and the models start to move that we will find all the little places where flanged wheel and rail just do not play together nicely.

On my Port Rowan branch, I’ve found a few spots where I’ve had to do some tweaking – adding a spike or two here, filing a point a little more there, that sort of thing. But very few spots – at least so far.

The reality is, it won’t be until I am regularly running trains, with the full variety of locomotives and rolling stock, that I’ll be able to say I have finished with the tweaking. That’s just the way it is.

One of my favourite tools for this work is a graver – a tool more associated with watch making than model railroading. Mine was a surprise gift a few years back from my friend Chris Abbott. Chris made it out of High Speed Steel – the same stuff commonly used for drill bits.

I have to admit that when I first received it I wondered if I would ever use a graver. But one day I needed to do something and reached for it… and said “wow – what an awesome tool!” Since then, I’ve used it often, for a variety of tasks.

For track, I find it’s more handy than a file for removing material from the rail – for instance, to create a deeper notch in the stock rail of a switch to allow the point to nest more deeply. I’m not sure whether the verb “to grave” is correct, but I’m going to use it. (It’s my blog: so there!) I grave the inside of the railhead on the stock rail, then dress it with a small file.

Two of the five track switches in Port Rowan needed attention with the graver and file in order for the six-axle passenger cars to track reliably. I think I’ve addressed the problems now. But only time – and running trains, lots of trains – will tell.