railrag 21

May, June & July - 2012 The Rail Rag Page | 1

FFEEAATTUURREE AARRTTIICCLLEESS Puffing Billy Railway

Visit Australia's Century Old Puffing Billy Railway

Locomotive of the Month - UP 1989

Lots of Tips N' Tricks on Model Railroad Scenery -

Isaac Logan

Model Train Scenery Tip n' Tricks


Isaac Logan

Norfolk Southern's West Slope


Isaac Logan

Coming next Issue

To celebrate Norfolk Southern's 30 Year

anniversary, TheRailRag Magazine will

be doing a NS 30 Year Special covering

the railroad then, now & the Railroads

that make up NS today.

An Introduction To Trainz Simulator

Learn about Trainz, a computer simulator and 21st

century modelling



Isaac Logan

Puffing Billy Railway

Visit Australia's Century Old Puffing Billy Railway



Isaac Logan


Welcome back, to our 2nd edition of

TheRailRag. Wow! What a great first few months and first issue!! Take a look at page

8 for information on our views!

Wow, what a busy 3 months since our last

magazine, NS announcing there doing 18

heritage units and Railstream adding 3 new

cameras to its live viewing system, good work Mike and the team! Over the last 3

months I have done a lot of fiddling with

the magazine, in the way of graphics, colors

and article ideas. We had many great

comments on our first issue and thanks to those guys but the guys I would like to

thank the most are the guys who also gave

us information on what we can improve on

and what they would like changed. I have

listed some of the things highlighted

All photos need Captions

Writing does not need to be so big

More Model Railroad Content

And more photos

I also picked up on a few things that needed to be changed they are

Revamped contents page

Getting it out earlier

Add a list of the magazine team

Adding News, Comments & Product

reviews!

All of the above have been implemented

along with the suggestions from our

readers - Thanks guys

Onto this month's magazine! Some great articles from our contributors again, great

work guys, THANKS A LOT! Along with

some by me on The Puffing Billy Tourist

Railway & Scenery Tips N' Tricks.

Enjoy our latest issue and may all your Railfaning and modeling adventures be fun!

CYA in August!

Isaac Logan - Executive Editor

The Team

Isaac Logan - Executive Editor

Contact: [email protected]

Ryan Vince - Assistant Editor

[email protected]

Mike Kisser - Railstream Owner & Manager


Andrea - Editor


Andrew - News


For Advertising & Contributing


Our Team Try our best to reply within 24

hours when were available, if you have any issue getting in contact with anyone, please

send an email to Isaac Logan - Executive Editor & it will be sorted out

- Thanks TheRailRag Magazine Team.

LetterFromTheEditor - Isaac Logan


Put together by - Andrew Tuttle &

Isaac Logan

Back to the good old days with NS Heritage units

To celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Norfolk & Western &

Southern merger of 1982. NS is going to honour many of the

railroads that make up the present NS system. The locomotives

will be 10 SD70ACes and eight ES44ACs from an upcoming order

for 25 units from GE. The 19 predecessor railroads selected for

heritage paint are: •Central of Georgia •Conrail •Erie • Erie

Lackawanna •Lehigh Valley • New Haven • New York Central

•Nickel Plate Road • Norfolk & Western •Penn Central

•Pennsylvania •Pittsburgh & West Virginia •Reading •Savannah &

Atlanta • Southern • Tennessee, Alabama & Georgia •Virginian

•Wabash.

NS plans to recreate the paint schemes as accurately as possible.

Can't wait to see them riding the rails! - Used With Permission of

NS Corp & NS Media - Drawing also used with permission from NS

& Andrew Fletcher - Thanks NS for letting us use them!

Less Accidents - more deaths - Operation Lifesaver

Operation Lifesaver reported that there was a reduction in highway-

rail grade crossing collisions in 2011 but an increase in fatalities.

There were 1,956 vehicle-train collisions in the U.S. in 2011

compared to 2,017 incidents in 2010; those collisions resulted in 262

deaths and 964 injuries. There were 428 trespass-related pedestrian

deaths last year and 346 trespass injuries

Operation Lifesaver President Helen M. Sramek said states with the

most crossing collisions in 2011 were Texas, Indiana, California,

Louisiana, and Illinois. States with the most pedestrian-train

casualties in 2011 were California, Texas, Illinois, Florida, and

New York. - www.oli.org

W&LE Lifesaver Unit 102 - Photo by Richard


Put together by - Andrew Tuttle &

Isaac Logan

Back to the good old days with NS Heritage units

To celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Norfolk & Western &

Southern merger of 1982. NS is going to honour many of the

railroads that make up the present NS system. The locomotives

will be 10 SD70ACes and eight ES44ACs from an upcoming order

for 25 units from GE. The 18 predecessor railroads selected for

heritage paint are: •Central of Georgia •Conrail •Erie • Erie

Lackawanna •Lehigh Valley • New Haven • New York Central

•Nickel Plate Road • Norfolk & Western •Penn Central

•Pennsylvania •Pittsburgh & West Virginia •Reading •Savannah &

Atlanta • Southern • Tennessee, Alabama & Georgia •Virginian

•Wabash.

NS plans to recreate the paint schemes as accurately as possible.

Can't wait to see them riding the rails! - Official Drawings are on

NS's Website:

http://www.nscorp.com/nscportal/nscorp/Media/images/herita

ge_images.html -- Source: NS Media

Railstream's Latest Cameras

Due the past 3 months new cameras have gone up in Chesterton, IL,

Berea, Oh and in Australia. Good work by the Railstream team on the

USA cams and me & Brian's team down under! Lots of new action to

be had at railstream.biz today!!


Questions & Comments

With TheRailRag Magazine Staff

First issue comments

Dear editor, Thanks for bringing us the RailRag online

magazine to all of us here at Rail Stream. It is an awesome

addition to the website and members area of the site along

with the Fostoria cams -- thanks a bunch Andrew

[Thanks Andrew, it you guys who keep us going. Ed]

Online

I could not stop reading until the end! Very well put together,

it's in my Favourites list. Thank you! - Robert Auran Forums

[Thanks - Enjoy our new issue. ED]

Sensational effort, well done to all the contributors. An hour

had passed while reading until I was snapped out of it by a

phone call. Nothing holds my attention that long -PegHorse

Auran Forums

[Thanks, great to see something free can provide enjoyment. ED]

It looks very good and I was pleasantly surprised to see some

English and Australian content. I look forward to seeing your

next issue -HSB RMWEB

[Being from Australia, Australian content suited and being an

online mag, we target the world, thanks for kind works. ED]

Wow - that's nice. Thanks for posting

Is it easiest to just always go to the issuu.com site to get the

latest issue? - Xrunner - modeltrainforum.com

[The best way is to bookmark www.railstream.biz, where the

magazine will be posted as soon as it goes live. I will also look into

a subscriber button where you get an email when it is out. ED]


Being a free magazine, contributors and

advertisers are what keep us going and

bring you this great content you read!

Advertising So we need your help, if you

are a company take a look at our

advertising options on the left on screen,

there are many options for you to chose

from so we are sure there's one that suits

you budget and needs. We have also

included the stats for our February, March

& April Issue, of both PDF downloads &

Online version views.

Contributing We are also looking for more

contributors to our magazine, although at

this time we are unable to pay our

contributors, all fund generated from our

magazine go into, the magazine &

Railstream but we may be able to work out

a discount on your next membership at

Railstream. We look for articles from

Prototype to Model & Simulator Trains, a

good thing to think of when submitting is,

would you want to read this in TheRailRag

Magazine? If the answer is YES, then

contact [email protected] - There

are also Editorial & Columnist jobs

available.

0

500

1,000

1,500

2,000

2,500

Febuary March April

DRAFT ONLY

Views

Advertising & Contributing


-


The Puffing Billy Railway -- Isaac Logan


Locomotive of the

Month - UP 1989

Union Pacific 1989 is one of Union Pacific's Heritage Series

locomotives. Painted in the scheme of predecessor railroad,

Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad. It's an EMD SD70ACe

locomotive which is owned by UP.

Union Pacific started its Heritage Unit Program in 2005. The

program consisted of six SD70ACe's. Each was painted in a scheme

representing one of six railroads that make Union Pacific today.

They are not painted to the original schemes worn by the railroad

it represents but the scheme clearly defines the railroad. In

addition to a unique scheme, each unit is numbered according to

the year the railroad become part of UP.

The other locomotives in the Heritage Unit Program are: Missouri

Pacific - UP 1982, Western Pacific - UP 1983, Missouri-Kansas-

Texas - UP 1988, Chicago and North Western - UP 1995 and

Southern Pacific - UP 1996. They also featured UP 4141 which

say's "George Bush 41"

With the announcement by NS, that they will do 18 Heritage style

units, there will be lots of fun to be had beside the rails and on

Railstream.biz! --Article by Isaac Logan

>> UP 1989 turning his power in Durand, MI on

a snowy Sunday morning Photo Andy's

Backyard - By Andy


By Isaac Logan

Step By Step


While tossing around ideas for a Model Train article for

the magazine, I was thinking around 3 things, a general

introduction to model trains, alternatives to plaster cloth

and a scenery technique article. I chose the latter, as I

enjoyed doing scenery and had plenty of supplies on my

shelf as I had just brought a heap of them. Although I

could have done it on the layout, I tried but was having

issues with getting good photos. So in the end I decided to

do a small diorama on a piece of foam which I could then

fit into the layout at a later date and so cam this article. I

hope you enjoy and learn some new techniques along the

way.

I started with a flat sheet of white foam but its up to you

what your scenery base is it can be foam, plaster, plywood

or whatever you use on your model railroad. Now start by

coating the area with full strength white glue from your

craft store. Make sure the whole area is coated as this is

what holds down everything thing else we place down.

Also, I recommend you work in small sections about 1 foot

at a time to make it easier. With our glue now down we can

add our first layer of grass, for this layer use Woodland

Scenic's Fine Turf, Grass Green. Cover the whole area but if

you miss a few places don’t worry. In some patches add a

little extra grass to simulate un-even ground.


With that complete now place some Woodland Scenic's

Corse turf around randomly create the effect of small

bushes. Now cover the area with a light misting of 70%

Isopropyl Alcohol. Let this settle into the material for

about 2 minutes before soaking the area with a 40/60

mix of white glue and water. Some people use 50/50 but

because the base has already been coated with white glue

the runny mixture, mixes with that fully soaking the area.

Now you can let it dry and go onto another section or

continue onto the next step.

With the first layer of grass down, it's now time to add a

second layer. This what gives the grass a feel that is real.

Unless you modelling someone's yard the grass shouldn't be

just one flat color. For my second layer I used Woodland

Scenic's Burnt grass but for this step it doesn't matter what

color you use, just use what feels right for you. I also added a

sprinkle of Woodland Scenic's 'Soil' turf. The amount of

layers you use is also up to you, you could use just the 2 or

go out and use everyone color Woodland Scenic's have to

offer. I have found that when buying in the shaker bottles you

actually use less because you can get the thinner, even

coverage. Once you have finished this step you want to have

all the foam/base covered.


Now for the small gravel road. I wanted a limestone type road

so I used Fine Buff, Woodland Scenic's ballast but you chose a

color to match the type of road you are trying to model.

To apply the 'limestone' use a spoon and pour the stones on

top of the wet grass following the path you would like your

road to take. Remember not to apply it to thickly because

most roads are dug into the ground before the surface is

applied.

Fill the edges around the road with more grass.

Now we move onto the thicker foliage, some Woodland

Scenic's bushes. There are two ways in which you can do

this, one is to put dollops of white glue on the base and place

the bushes on top and the other is to place them directly

onto the diorama/layout and then use more of the water and

glue mix.

Always use more than one color of bushes, like when we're

doing the base colors of grass we want to give it a more

natural effect. Its best to place them in clumps and not just a

little here and a little here, also plan for where trees will be

and arrange them around the areas which would be shaded

by trees, which would cause more growth.


To add a little extra detail I decided to use some MiniNatur®

Grass Turfs. There come in small packs from Scenic Express.Pl

ease note that I think they are expensive, about $8 a pack so

only use them in highly visible areas, and in the foreground

but in saying that, I do love them!

To add the turfs, just pull them from the backing and place on

layout, if the glue for the scenery base has dried, paint on a

little bit of white glue (don’t use to much or you will wreak the

effect)

The final bit of detail I added was to sprinkle down some

yellow grass over the area, to simulate flowers/weeds in the

area.

For our last step comes trees for this small area I used 3

small pine trees. Two of the pine trees I brought on eBay

from China, they are low cost and still look great! These trees

can just be pushed into the foam using the wire based as

shown above. The 3rd tree was from Life-Like, it have a

plastic base so I glued it on and coved the base with more

grass and bushes. - Finish by adding a few autos or other

details to the scene

I hope my tips and techniques help you in your next scenery

project, remember just to let things go down naturally and it

will look more natural!! More photos of the finished scene

can be seen on the following page!

--Isaac Logan, Managing Editor TheRailRag


I'd Been Working on The Railroad

Dave Ruffner


One of benefits of working at an operating railroad museum such as the Whitewater Valley Railroad is the opportunity to experience all facets of railroad operation. The WVRR is somewhat unique among operating railroad museums in that it actually runs between two towns, Connersville, IN and Metamora, IN. We are exclusively a passenger operation and run passenger trains from Connersville to Metamora on weekends (Saturday and Sunday) from May through October on a

timetable schedule. With the exception of one or two full time paid employees, most of the work on the railroad is done by volunteer employees, who donate their time and sweat to get the work done. Certain large restoration and rehabilitation projects are accomplished using contractors, but the regular maintenance work is done by volunteers. The Whitewater Valley Railroad's 76 mile line from Cincinnati OH to Hagerstown, IN, was built on the towpath of the Whitewater Canal. The

Indianapolis & Cincinnati began construction in 1863 and completed the line to Hagerstown in 1867. In 1890 the line was absorbed by the Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago & St. Louis aka The Big Four, which was then absorbed by the New York Central. Commuter trains were operated on the line between Connersville and Cincinnati until 1933, when passenger service was abandoned. Freight service by Penn Central ended in 1972 at which time the Whitewater Valley Railroad was formed


by a group of men who did not want to see the railroad completely disappear. Passenger trains began operation in 1974 after the WVRR obtained Ex Cincinnati Union Terminal #25, a Lima Hamilton product that was part of six locomotive order for CUT. The passenger train consisted of 4 Erie Stilwell Suburban and Semi-Suburban commuter cars and the operating museum replicated a small chunk of the commuter service, in its mission of preserving and interpreting railroad culture and history. When I started working at the WVRR in

1984 our track was in deplorable condition due to the fact that it was part of the Penn Central's former NYC Whitewater Valley branch and had been placed sometime earlier on deferred track maintenance. Many of the ties were rotten and the cinder ballast was choked with weeds. On my first run as a student brakeman our train derailed at the Laurel Feeder dam, nearly four miles from our destination. As I helped the crew re-rail the equipment, it became obvious to me that if I wanted to operate trains on this railroad without having to stop every whipstitch

to rerail derailed equipment, that I should apply the majority of my efforts there to track maintenance and restoration. I semi-officially joined the track gang in May of 1984, two days after the derailment, the only pieces of mechanized track maintenance equipment we owned was a broken down International pickup truck with hirail wheels and a newly acquired Grumman awaiting installation of its rear hirail wheels. The track gang at that point consisted of the Chief


Engineer and me. I was able to expand our little gang on the day in question by collaring the 15 year old son of a couple of our members who happened to be handy while the Chief and I loaded ties and tools on our new truck. We were on our way out to repair the site of our most recent derailment, the situation that occasioned my decision to join the track gang.

Unfortunately we soon discovered that the missing rear hirail wheels made it impossible for us to run the truck on the track, which meant that we would have to drag the three ties up an embankment to the repair site. This site was located a few hundred feet from the Feeder Dam for the state's restored portion of the Whitewater Canal and there was a small park there with a

parking area and picnic tables. Track level is a good 20 feet above ground level at that point and by the time the Chief and I dragged three 250 lb. crossties up there using two man timber tongs (similar to ice tongs, except equipped with 18 inch long steel handles) the Chief and I were obliged to rest for about an hour before setting about replacing the scarred and broken ties with these new ones. In the meantime our teenaged helper was employed in bringing up the tools we would need in order to do the job. While the Chief and I rested and tried to get our breath, the boy brought up 2 track jacks, 3 shovels, a pick. a lining bar, a claw bar for removing spikes, 2 spike mauls and some new track spikes. The Chief and I soon discovered that telekinesis was not going to work and after our rest period got up and set about the job. The basic procedure for replacing a crosstie is very simple. Pull the spikes and jack up the rail to get the weight of it off the tie to be removed. Use a shovel to excavate a trench for the crosstie to occupy as it is removed. Use the pick or lining bar to loosen the material around the tie, then remove same using timber


tongs and/or the lining bar. Lower the rail back to normal position, then excavate the tie crib so that the new tie will fit. (this procedure avoids producing a hump in the rail because many of the original ties were smaller than the ties we had to replace them with) Install the new tie under the rail with tie plates between the tie and the rail. Attach the tie to the rail with spikes driven by the spike mauls, being careful to maintain correct gauge. Repeat as needed, in this case twice. This little job took us six hours in all, from the time we loaded the truck in

Connersville until we arrived back in Connersville. The stated goal of our Chief Engineer in 1984 was to replace 100 ties per mile for a total of 1700 ties in one year. The actual figure was around 500 and that came only after a couple of extra days during which we ran big work parties on non operating days and nights. Our typical Saturday work crew consisted of 5 or 6 people, mainly folks we found loafing with nothing to do first thing on Saturday morning. A lot of people learned to hide when they saw me approaching them on a Saturday morning.

The following year, after we begged for it, the WVRR acquired a tractor loader backhoe, commonly referred to as a backhoe. Similar only in appearanceto the Case machine in the photos accompanying this article, it was an ancient Massey Ferguson machine and like a lot of the equipment obtained by operating railroad museums, nearly worn out. When we could get it to start, though, it was very handy for removing ties, and cut down on the workload a lot. On occasion we would have an experienced operator come out with us, and that person could not only use it to remove ties, but also install the new ones under the rail. Because of this


machine we were able to double our annual production and replaced over a thousand crossties in 1985. Historically speaking, railroads began mechanizing track maintenance forces during World War II, at which time labour had become very scarce. Functions that had once required several men to accomplish were now handled by one machine and its operator. After the war these machines were improved dramatically as innovations came along in hydraulic technology applied to construction equipment. As the years passed, newer machines would replace older ones and the railroads would sell the older machines at auctions to

dispose of them. The WVRR obtained several pieces of track maintenance equipment at a Conrail auction of surplus equipment. We still own five of the pieces and those are in the photos that accompany this article. These are actually historic artefacts now, as most of them are gone from modern railroading, replaced by newer machinery whose function is similar. The machine with long rigid boom is an RTW 1040 tie crane or handler. The clamp is capable of holding three crossties at once and the machine can also pick up a 33ft long stick of 90 lb. rail if necessary. The machinery platform will revolve continuously 360

degrees, as will the tie clamp. It is self propelled and forward and reverse functions are controlled using the pedals. The brakes automatically apply when the movement pedals are released. The other tie crane pictured here is a similar model, a slightly newer RTW 1040b that I purchased a few years ago with the intention of converting it to a light brush cutting machine. With the exception of the articulating boom and the single tie clamp, it is virtually identical to original machine owned by the WVRR. My plans changed due to medical issues and I donated it to the WVRR in 2009. Tie cranes allow one person to pick and


place crossties. The newest models you can see on the big railroads have been constructed by taking a light hydraulic excavator off its normal crawler chassis and marrying it to a rail chassis very similar to ones under these machines. John Deere is one of the notable examples of companies who have done this and I've seen several examples of these working in timber gangs on CSX. In the WVRR's case it eliminated the problems associated with moving crossties around. And while spending a few hours on one of these will tire out most people, the operator can accomplish far more work in the limited time available. The machine with the double flanged wheels on front and rear is a Fairmont W-114-C tie shear. Its purpose is to remove crossties and accomplishes that by using hydraulically powered shears to cut the tie into three pieces. The operator lowers the open blades into the ballast around the tie, then closes the blades which cut the tie into three pieces. The blades are powerful enough to cut the ties completely. After completion of the shearing operation, the operator raised the shears with the center section of the tie held in place

and moves ahead a few inches. She (Women operated the shear most of the time) then uses the hydraulically actuated dozers to push the tie ends (called butts) out from under the rail. Because we operate on fairly light rail (70 - 90 lb.) she then reverses to drop the centre section into the crib, before proceeding to the next tie to be removed. Depending on the availability of equipment, the three pieces are removed with either a tie crane or by hand. The next machine is the Kershaw W87- E rotary tie crib scarified. This machine works like a big rototiller and excavates the crib so that a new tie can be installed. This machine is quite an efficient excavator and if set up properly will produce properly sized cribs in far less time than it takes two people to dig out a crib by hand. In addition to that function it will also insert ties, using a handle attached to cable to winch the new tie into the new crib. A person on the ground is required to use the handle to guide the tie into proper position and usually a tie crane will place the new tie into the access trench, which the scarified excavated at the same time as it excavated the crib, using a bolt on extensions to the scarifier's drum.


Another machine that was acquired at the same auction is our Plasser spot tamper, which is used to tamp the ballast under ties directly under the rails. The operator positions the tamping tools over the tie, opens the valve so that the hydraulic motors begin vibrating the tools, then lowers the tools into the ballast on either side of the tie. The operator then uses another handle to squeeze the tools and move ballast into place under the tie. If a certain amount of lifting is required the machine is equipped with rail clamps that apply automatically with the brakes and a large jacking bar operated by hydraulic cylinder to raise the tie and the rail simultaneously. Incidentally, tamping is where the name gandydancer originated. Before mechanization, lining and levelling operations were accomplished with large gangs of men using lining bars and tamping bars, which have heads on them similar to those on the tamping tools on the Plasser machine. A company called Gandy supplied many of these hand tools to the railroads and from a distance the gangs of men appeared to be dancing, hence the name. I've done this and it is very hard work. I much prefer mechanized tamping to manual, even though manual

tamping produces a much better job. For awhile one of our members owned several other pieces of equipment, including a Nordberg HydroSpiker that allowed two operators to drive spikes all day long by pushing the spikes into the ties with hydraulic cylinders. This gentleman was getting himself in the track contracting business and helped with our track maintenance enormously while simultaneously training his personnel to operate the equipment. We discover during this time why the big railroads no longer used this equipment, because it is maintenance intensive and broke down frequently. When running properly though, it would drive a lot of spikes in a very short time. Most of the spikes on the WVRR were driven by hand with spike mauls, or with an air hammer similar to a jack hammer. I used this hammer to drive spikes and it is nearly as tiring to use it as it is drive them by hand, because it weighs about 60 lbs. and the handle only comes up to my knees when it is sitting on a driven spike. The other machine we own from the original buy is the Kershaw ballast regulator, which came equipped with the front plow, side boxes and powered


broom attached. This machine is very old and the power unit has a six cylinder International gasoline truck engine in it. However if you compare it to its modern counterpart, not much has changed. The purpose of this machine is to shape the ballast along the railroad, using its plow and side boxes. The height of plow and side boxes is controlled by hydraulic winches, a function that now uses hydraulic cylinders on modern machines. The front plow can be re-cofigured to work as a transfer plow so the extra ballast dumped along one side of the track can be transferred to the

centre or the other side. The side boxes can be moved in and out horizontally with hydraulic cylinders and are used to evenly distibute the shoulder ballast and also to shape the ballast shoulder to the proper slope. The boxes are equipped with digging bars to loosen ballast that has become choked with dust and compacted into what is called cemented ballast. These bars are deployed manually by loosening the set bolts and extending them. The power broom on the back of the machine is also a Kershaw product and as the nameplate shows it is powered with a 4

cylinder Wisconsin engine. It can be lowered to the track hydraulically from the operator station on the machine. Unlike the other machines covered by this article, which use hydraulic power for all of their functions, this machine uses a mechanical transmission and forward and reverse gearbox to for its propulsion. It is very difficult to use and had a bad tendency to derail itself when it was used. Because most of its functions can be accomplished with the backhoe, I suspect this machine will become a permanent static display item in our new museum facility currently under construction. Also included in the photos with this article are two of the newest pieces of track maintenance equipment. First, the small red machine with the rubber tires on it is an RCC Tie master that was acquired from the estate of a deceased member who built his track contracting firm around it. The Tie master is a nifty little machine that is powered by a two cylinder gasoline engine of about 25 hp driving a hydraulic pump. Its primary function is to remove and insert crossties and it is equipped with a two piece boom and tilting tie clamp for this purpose. It can clamp itself to the rail


and jack up itself and the rail to facilitate tie removal, remove the tie, then lower the rail and carry the tie away for disposal. Then it can pick a new tie and return to insert the new tie under the rail. It is additionally equipped with a hydraulic tool circuit and hoses to power a spike remover and a spike driver, along with a hydraulic tamping hammer. It is light enough to towed behind a pickup truck on its rubber tires and can remove itself from the track using those tires and the tie boom. The gentleman who owned it passed away in 2003 and eventually his estate sold his equipment to the WVRR. We acquired the Case backhoe and a Ford hirail pickup truck in this deal as well. The newest piece of equipment owned by the WVRR is this International medium duty hirail truck with crew cab and crane. This truck was donated by a member who has belonged to organization from its start and recently retired from a long career in railroading, most of it spent in maintaining the track belonging to a short line that operates a few miles south of us from Brookville to Valley Junction on this same branch. The gentleman purchased and donated the truck last year and I have been told

that he came up once a week afterwards to use it and the Tiemaster to go out and install 25 ties a day. He begins by using the crane to load the Tiemaster and a bunk of ties on the truck, then drives to his work area and unloads both the ties and the machine. When he intalls all of the ties he brought, he reloads the machine on the truck and returns to Connersville and unloads. He leaves the spiking of the ties to another crew to accomlish from what I've been told. This is done with a hydraulically powered spiker attached to either this truck or the Tiemaster. The Whitewater Valley Railroad is forty years old this year and a lot has happened in that time. I rode the train to Metamora back in 1982 when it was but ten years old. As I mentioned earlier, I joined the organization two years later. Thirty years ago the mainline appeared to be part of the landscape, the rail hard to see under the weeds and grass that grew in the cinder ballast. I've personally witnessed and been a part of the rehabilitation efforts, $1.6 million funded by federal grants that has resulted in a fully ballasted main mainline upon which our passenger trains operate at 15 mph. I've also watched our track gang evolve

from several people using hand tools to a mechanized force capable of maintaining our track in its current condition. Personal health issues forced me to retire from active service as a volunteer employee of the railroad museum in 2006, but I still have the friends I've made there and the personal experience of working on the railroad, "all the livelong day."


Your Introduction To Trainz Simulator


Athearn's GP15-1 is loaded with details,

from working ditch lights to sand lines &

airlines, Athearn's Genesis series

locomotive has them all! My locomotive, is

painted for Norfolk Sothern and has

running number 1403. Although my unit

does not have DCC and sound, it has both a

8 & 9 pin plug. Many modellers say it's one

of the most details locomotive yet. Some of

the details include, detailed fuel tank, wire

grab irons, etched metal lift rings & grills,

celcon handrails, sliding cab windows and

lots of under body details. The locomotives

paint is good, but there are some minor

issues with the yellow on the handrails

seems to have run meaning the paint does

not finish on a straight edge. The loco runs

great on Dc, and I am yet to install a

PPRROODDUUCCTT RREEVVIIEEWWSS -- AATTHHEEAARRNN GGEENNEESSIISS GGPP1155--11


decoder, although like many Athearn's it

runs noisy but I hope once I install a

decoder I will be able to fix this issue. Great

work Athearn on an amazingly detailed

locomotive, you guys still need to work on

you quality control and get those motors

quietened down!

The Dc version sells for $169.98 & $269.98

for DCC & sound. Also in BN, CR, MP, CNW

& UP, also coming is the GP15T in other

color schemes. - Isaac Logan


<< U83924 heading

westbound at Vine St.

Fostoria, Oh. ahead of a storm

with UP 8053 leading, as they

haul empty coal back to

Chicago, as work continues

on the Tiffin St. overpass. --

Matt Smith

<< 146 with NS 6675 heads east in the early morning at Poplar St. in Fostoria,

Oh. as Bellevue and the next crew change close in.


<< Mike Tierney: NS H-74 has a nice consist today , with NS 5425 and 5300. 5425 is one of

only 17 active Conrail blue units left on the NS roster and seeing it lead in perfect morning

sunlight was a added bonus! - Mike Tierney of New Jersey Aged 17


Why Railfaning is better than Deer Hunting

Train lovers don't get mad at you for

shooting "Thomas The Tank Engine."

You can't use a scanner to tell when deer

are getting close.

No arguments when two people shoot the

same train at the same time.

Nobody cares if you use a railroad crossing

sign to "sight in" your camera.

Three words: "Hunting License Fee."

SD90MAC's don't need to be field dressed.

Working models of deer? Yeah, right.

There's no limit on how many trains you're

allowed to shoot or bring home.

Unless they're really dumb, your buddies

won't mistake you for a diesel locomotive.

A warm train room beats a tree stand any

day.

Trains can be shot all year long.

No taxidermist fee needs to be paid when

"mounting" your best trophy shot.

Wife wouldn't object too much to having

your "trophy shot" hang over dining room

table or displayed in the front room.

Kids don't run away sobbing "BAMBI"

when you bring a "trophy" home.

Filet of GP7 just doesn't sound too

appetizing.

A LITTLE BIT OF HUMOR & LAST WORDS! - OH deer!!

Two blondes were walking through the woods and they

came to some tracks.

The first blonde said: "These look like deer tracks."

And the other one said: "No they look like moose

tracks."

They argued and argued for a while and they were still

arguing when the train hit them. DEAR, DEAR People!!

A passenger train is creeping along, slowly. Finally

it creaks to a halt. A passenger sees a conductor

walking by outside.

"What's going on?" she yells out the window.

"Cow on the track!" replies the conductor.

Ten minutes later, the train resumes its slow pace.

Within five minutes, however, it stops Again

The woman sees the same conductor walk again.

She leans out the window and yells, "What

happened? Did we catch up with the cow again?"

railrag 21

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