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February, March, April - 2012 The Rail Rag Page | 1

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Dynon Yard - Melbourne

Fostoria goes Live -

Again!

Tree Scapes


Visit Fostoria Ohio & Fostoria Photography

Come along, as Chris, Bill and Richard take you though one of the most amazing

Railfaning locations in America in the photo story visit to Fostoria Ohio

'The Challenge' N scale Bridge Building

Read along, as Sam Stokes takes you though how he constructed a space saving N

scale bridge for his freelance SAXT railroad

Churnet Valley Railway Photography

After reading Neil first story, 'Churnet Valley Railway' you can also view some of his

photos of the railway and its working operations

Dynon Yard & Bunbury St Cam Project

Learn More about our new live camera in Australia and about its

location - Isaac Logan

Churnet Valley Railway

Visit the Churnet Valley Railway, in the UK. Learn about daily operations

and the challengers faced by its volunteers - Neil Higginson

Trees and Vegetation

Learn about full scale railroading, and how many things on this exciting

museum railway can relate to scale modelling - Dave Ruffner

Letter From The

Editor


Many of you know me as log0008

and some of you by my name,

Isaac Logan, from the Railstream

cam chat pages. I am now your

editor for our own magazine

'RailRag'. Being our first issue is

here, and I am sure many of you

are asking, how did this come

about and what will it include.

Over 3 years ago, I started my

own forum and had a monthly

newsletter but with the forum

was small and it receive a very low

amount of viewers, so I had to

scrap it as it was not worth the

time and effort.

So that’s where railstream came

in, I decided to ask mike and post

in the forums, my idea of having a

magazine every 3 months or so.

Everyone loved the idea, so here

we are today!

The other question I am sure

some of you are asking, ‘what will

it include’. Well here’s your

answer!

Our magazine is run by you, and in

saying that I mean, most articles

are written by you and then I have

the job of putting them into

magazine format and getting it

ready to be featured on

railstream. So our articles with

vary depending on what our

contributors submit. To find out

more about contributing, please

view the contributing information

page, the last page in this issue.

Now the name, catchy isn’t it?

Well, that was my work! I was just

having fun with coming up with a

few names and ‘The Rail Rag’ was

stuck! I hope you like it!

So guys, there’s my first letter I

hope you enjoyed it and I can’t

wait to see you all back here next

time for more fun with ‘The Rail

Rag’!!!

-Isaac

Letter From The Editor- Isaac Logan


Mike Kisser - Cam & Website Updates


With our new live cam, in

Australia, going live this month, I

thought I would take the time to

write a small article and share a

few photos by me and my friends

featuring Dynon Yard, which is

where, the line featured in the

cam runs too. Depending on how

wide the view is, you may be able

to see the edge of the yard within

the view of the yard. I hope you

enjoy, and also that the photos,

help you understand the different

locomotives you will see on the

cam.

Some interesting notes to make

on the yard and the line in which

the cam features is, this line is

duel gauge, Australia has a poor

stranded in rail, with many states

having their own gauge, and here

in Victoria, we have 2 gauges,

listed below. Dynon yard was

constructed in an area of free

land, southwest of the Melbourne

CBD, in 1950. It has tracks for two

gauges is stranded gauge which is

4 ft 8 ½ inch (1,435mm) and broad

gauge which is 5 ft 3 inch

(1,600mm). The issue was caused

by the introduction, after Victoria

Railways (VR) built a standard

network, before a standard gauge

was implemented. North Dynon

yard is a general yard, which

serves any railroad which requires

its use, this is mostly broad gauge

and South Dynon, which mostly

consist of an intermodal terminal

using the standard gauge. Unlike

US railroads, where CSX operates

one line, and NS another, our lines

a government owned, and

railroads require a ‘permit’ to use

each line. So if you watch one line,

you may see many railroads.

Dynon yard, is close to Swanston

St station, the main station in

Melbourne for both commuter

traffic and also regional traffic.

So if you watch one line, you may

see many railroads. Dynon yard is

close to Swanston St Station, the

main station in Melbourne for

both metro commuter traffic and

also regional passenger traffic.

The bridge featured in the rail cam

is one of 2 bridges which cross the

Maribymong River to enter Dynon

yard from the west.

I hope your enjoying the new cam

like I am!

Dynon Yard & Bunbury St Cam Project - By Isaac Logan


Isaac asked me to write an article for his newsletter about my experiences working at an operating museum railroad, which I have posted about on his online board. At first, I wasn't sure how I would do this, but since his board is focused on model railroading, both physically and electronically, I decided to write in the perspective of a model railroader. In fact, many of the people I worked with at the museum were and are model railroaders and we tended to call it modeling in the 1:1 scale since we did many of the things that model railroaders do, including laying track, repairing and in some cases rebuilding equipment and also buiding structures as necessary to improve our operations and appearance to our passengers and the public. We also dealt with trees and vegetation along the right of way. Of course the big

difference in our 1:1 scale model and the smaller scale models is that instead of having to create trees and vegetation to add to our right of way, we had to remove quite a bit of it in order to run trains. When I first joined the museum, much of the track appeared to be a pair of rails running through a sea of green. The line had been ballasted mainly with cinders from steam locomotives and over the years of deferred maintenance, the cinder ballast had become fouled with dirt and rotting ties, making it fertile ground for growing all sorts of weeds. All sorts of bushes and tree limbs brushed against the train when it ran down the track, also due to deferred maintenance, as controlling the vegetation along the right of way is one of the responsibilities of the track gangs. Since we were a self funded, non-profit museum we

had little more than hand tools and chainsaws for use in controlling the vegetation. A lot of our members were farmers and some of them would bring their spraying equipment over from time to time and try to spray chemical weed killers along the right of way, but in the early years these attempts were sporadic at best and most of the brush was cut by hand. In addition to the brush, we would deal with the occasional tree blocking the tracks. Most of these were removed in the spring after the snow melted and we could get out on the line with our trucks and motor cars to inspect and see what sort of damage had occurred over the winter. Our track would lay dormant for three to four months from the time we shut down operations in the beginning of December usually until about the middle of March

Trees and Vegetation - Dave Ruffner


when it became warm enough to thaw the ground and work outside for a few hours depending on how the weather went each year. A lot of trees would come down in the winter storms and it usually took us a couple of Saturdays to clear the line of fallen trees. We would load up our hirail truck with chainsaws and axes, chains and come alongs, and fuel and water and set out to do battle with Mother Nature, who sometimes seemed determined to shut us down. Downed trees come in all sizes from less than a foot in diameter up to huge monsters nearly four feet in diameter which are a lot of work when most of your chainsaws have short bars less than two feet long. We rarely had more than three or four guys out there at a time and sometimes there would just be two of us. The easiest trees to remove were the one that fell

at an angle to the tracks, with ofter just the brushy top fouling the track, the trunk nearly parrallel to the rails. That was just a matter of cutting the limbs and using a combination of lining bars and come alongs to move the trunk away from the track. Next in difficulty were trees the fell across the tracks which usually meant a lot of sawing to remove the trunk from the rails and track structure. In many cases this required us to cut the tree into pieces small enough to be moved with the manpower at hand. By far the most difficult trees to remove were the ones that leaned against another tree on the other side of the track. This situation was complicated by the danger of the tree falling on the guys trying to cut it down and we had several close calls with these over the years. In addition to blocking the railroad physically, falling trees

could cause other problems, too. In at least one case, a tree fell on a creek bank after the roots were undermined by floodwaters and left a hole in the bank that those same floodwaters eroded until they washed out the roadbed under a bridge approach and left some twenty-odd feet of track hanging in the air. This happened in June and could have cost us quite a bit of lost revenue, except for the fact that we were running a special event for two weekends which did not require us to cross the bridge. The same spring storm that caused the washout also dropped more trees on the line further south the track gang spent most of its time during the event reopening the rest of the line, while a contractor was hired to deal with the washout.

One of the craziest tree involved situations that I was involved in happened on a Sunday afternoon


in 1985. Normal operating weekends at the museum involved two passenger trains operating each day, one being a small train of a locomotive, coach and caboose that ran deadhead on Saturday morning from our northern terminus to our southern terminus, seventeen miles away and hauled passengers two miles out and back from our southern terminus, making several trips on Saturday and Sunday, before deadheading north on Sunday. The other passenger train was a roundtrip from the northern terminus to the south and back after a two hour layover. This train consisted of a locomotive, three coaches or more if necessary and a caboose.

On that particular Sunday, the daily train returned and unloaded and the crew was in the process of putting their train away when we heard a plaintive call from the

deadhead about a tree across the track obstructing their progress. I got the hirail truck and a chainsaw and headed down to them. Sure enough a tree had fallen across the track between the two trains. I cut it up as quickly as I could with the chainsaw and the engine crew got down from the cab to move the pieces out of the way. To the best of my knowledge that is the only time something like that has ever happened at the museum.


Churnet Valley Railway Churnet Valley Railway/Moorlands

And City Railway Permanent Way

By Neil Higginson


Here in North Staffordshire, England is the Churnet Valley Railway, an 8 1/2 mile long heritage line. This is

connected to the Moorlands and City Railway, a new project to connect the Moorland District with the network

mainline at Stoke on Trent. These lines were last used by passenger trains in the early 1960's and by freight in the

1980's.

They were then mothballed until the North Staffordshire Railway company bought the track from Leekbrook Jn to

Oakamoor in 1996.


Extensive track renovation has taken place with

many track panels completely replaced, and 1000s

of sleepers (ties) replaced due to the damp track

bed. Our permanent way gang is totally voluntary,

mainly being golden oldies (me being an exception).

The MCR line from Leekbrook Jn-Cauldon Lowe was

completed in 2010, and work is underway to renew

the line from Leekbrook Jn-Stoke on Trent as we

speak.

There are many varied duties to perform on the

Permanent Way gang, from track renewal to weed

killing, crossing replacement to drain clearing. It’s

not always the easiest of jobs, but it’s a very

satisfying one to watch trains roll by when it’s done.

We have acquired a mobile tool van to help us out

on our endeavours, a Permaquip 4wd to get us to

where our tasks take us. It also helps to eat our

lunch in the dry, as its often raining up on the

moors. All people working on the railway, be it on

the national rail system (Network Rail) or on a

railway like ours are required to wear orange hi-

visibility kit at all times. Safety is priority number one

for us.


Professional rail contractors have been brought in

from time to time with their time-saving (and labour

saving too) machinery such as tampers and sleeper

changers. These will have to be hired in again as the

Stoke on Trent line needs much upgrading. Over

5000 sleepers will have to be changed, and many

chairs replaced, as well as lineside fencing, signalling

cable and bridge/crossing/ station infrastructure

restored/replaced.

Once finished, the line into the quarry at Cauldon

Lowe can be extended into the premises, and

cement brought out to various UK destinations.

Freight will also be taken into Cauldon Lowe, as their

power station burns green energy sources, imported

by rail. The revenue generated by this will allow a

further line from Leekbrook Jn to Leek to be

reopened, and also a link to Alton Towers, Britain's

biggest theme park, to be reopened from

Oakamoor. An hourly passenger service is planned

from Leek to Stoke, and in season trains

--Neil Higginson


During 2011 and 2010 I visited

Fostoria Ohio, the location of 2 of

railstreams live cams. I had a fun

time! The first time there in 2010 I

saw many trains! When I visited in

2010, the platform from the old

station along the CSX double track

mainline was still there, this has

sadly now been removed. I loved it

how I could see NS & CSX trains at

the one location. I also saw many

units for other railroads such as

BNSF and it was my first time seeing

a UP food car. I was so lucky

because I really wanted to see that

train, I think it’s the best train that

goes through Fostoria. During my

visit in 2011 I only saw one NS and

but saw many CSX trains. I saw an a

train which had, CSX, CN and 'The J'

leading it. For me, this was my

second time I seeing a J. The J is

orange, Bright orange. But sadly I

did not get a photo of that train. But

I got video. I am hoping to go there

during 2012, and have more fun and

maybe see a few of you there. I am

also hoping I can go to Deshler too!

Fostoria is Awesome!

-- Chris - DownRiverBoys

Visit Fostoria Ohio By Chris - with photos from Chris, Bill and Richard


Churnet Valley

Railway Photography

By Neil Higginson


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Article Writers

With the first issue done and now out

there to read, for the team its onto

next month's issue but we need your

help. As you would have noticed most

articles are written by you, our readers.

We are always looking for more

articles. Please use the article submit

link under 'Magazine' on the railstream

website. There is no way to attach a

document in this section, this is

because before you write your article

we would like you to let us know what

you idea is.

Please include the following

The main idea of your topic

The approximant length of your

article

Your name

Any further info we may find

helpful

Columnists

RailRag is also looking for some

columnists, these people write

something for each issue under

the same topic but on different

ideas and sub-topics. These could

be on model railroads, real trains,

train simulators or anything in

between. If you have an idea and

would like to contribute in each

magazine, you will be required to

write your column on a bi-

monthly basis.

Please use the submit article

page and include the following

Topic idea

A brief overview of what

could be included

Name

Once we look at this, and if

we like the idea, we will

ask you to write the

column for the first month

and we will decide

whether to include it.

Editors

We are also looking for

editors, please contact us

via submit article page for

more info

-Isaac Logan

RailRag Editor

Looking for Articles and columnists


Q. What do you call a man who

steps on a live 3rd rail?

A. A conductor

Q. What's the angriest piece of

track?

A. A cross tie

Halloween Train

Monster: I have to walk 25 miles

home.

Grandma: Why not take the train.

Monster: I did once but they made

me give it back

Humour & Last Word - Isaac Logan

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Documents

rail rag page

contributing information

isaac letter

editor isaac logan

exciting museum railway

scale railroading

railstream cam chat

magazine format