Conventions and Operations

Americans and ten-wheelers, all made from 3D printed materials abounded at the American Civil War Railroads convention. Drivers were from the Mantua/Tyco General or imported from Great Britain.

The last few weeks have been very busy, not in modeling, but in attending a couple of conventions. The first was in September when I attended the American Civil War Railroads Historical Society annual meet in Harper's Ferry, WV. There were several interesting talks on Civil War railroads topics. I gave one on producing smooth-running locomotives. In addition, some of the people brought models of locomotives made almost entirely by 3D printing. Wheels, motor and other parts were commercial items but the frame (brass) and superstructure (a plastic) were all 3D printed. This opens up a new way to built that locomotive which no one has ever made. A field trip to the Martinsburg,
WV 1866 roundhouse was also made.

A supply train at the Aquia Landing pier is ready to depart for Falmouth on Bernie Kempenski's U.S. Military Railroad. The white shape on the left is a hull of what will eventually become a side-wheeled supply ship.

     The highlight of the weekend for me was the chance to operate on Bernie Kempenski's U.S. Military Railroad's Aquia Line (usmrr.blogspot.com). It is O scale with just about everything being scratchbuilt. Several of us spent a few hours moving trains across the line and delivering goods to the brave Union soldiers facing Fredericksburg.

The yard at Falmouth is the site of much switching The small disks on the car tops contain the car's destination and if it is loaded or empty.

     The second convention was the annual Virginia and Truckee Railroad Historical Society conference in Carson City, Nevada (vtrrhs.org). This is my favorite convention of the year. The speakers are very knowledgeable and they speak on a railroad that has been of interest to me for a long time. I was honored to give a couple of talks on the prototype V&T locomotives and on building ore cars.
     Unfortunately, these great get-togethers only come once per year but it makes me look forward to the next one. Now, back to modeling.

Virginia & Truckee Railroad Historical Society Conference

A couple of weeks ago, the V&T RR Historical Society held their annual conference in Carson City. As usual, it was great to hear the various clinics on the history of the railroad and how to model it. I gave two clinics: the first was entitled The Circus Comes to the Comstock and covered the various ways the railroad handled the large shows getting them into Virginia City and back again. The other clinic was about the building of the Ormsby and the Storey moguls that I have mentioned elsewhere in this blog.
     The conference banquet finished with a stirring talk about the great Virginia City fire of October 1875. A field trip to the Carson & Colorado depot being restored at Dayton ended the weekend. In the modeling part of the weekend, a couple of folks showed their progress in using 3D printing for making cars for the railroad.

     

One of the many records to be found at UNR. This one shows part of the track

arrangement at Virginia City.

I spent another day in the Special Collections library at the University of Nevada, Reno. They have the bulk of the V&T records and I was able to find some things for which I had been looking from the early 1870s.
 

 It's a good organization and they publish a very informative quarterly newsletter along with an annual book on some facet of the railroad. If you are interested, go their website at  http://vtrrhs.org/.

Virginia and Truckee Historical Society

Not too much modeling this last week. I was attending the annual Virginia & Truckee Railroad Historical Society conference in Carson City, Nevada. Over a three-day period, we had the opportunity to listen to several talks on V&T subjects such as passenger cars, paint schemes, modeling equipment and development of the V&T's signature mogul locomotives. Other speakers showed the development of the main yards and shops at Carson City. There were several vendors of V&T related goods, both model and prototype.
   The best thing, though, is being able to visit with knowledgeable folks that you only see once a year at the conference. People from all over the U.S. attend and after-conference groups break away to discuss their own particular interests.
  The Saturday night banquet featured speakers from the engineering staff who are rebuilding the V&T from Virginia City to Carson. This is a great train ride, incidentally, and I highly recommend it if you are in the area.

   A visit to the V&T's first depot in Virginia City was the Sunday field trip. Of course, most us had to visit the Nevada State Railroad Museum in town and see what has been happening. The museum's gorgeous McKeen car was rolled out in the great Fall weather.
  Fortunately for me, I had some time to visit the University of Nevada and do some research on the early railroads of the area. This research has been very helpful in my modeling efforts.
   For those of you interested in the Virginia and Truckee, check out the Society's webpage at www.vtrrhs.org. They have a great newsletter and publish some well-research books on aspects of V&T history.