New County Bridge Erected Over Little John Creek

Stockton Daily Independent - July 2, 1895

The new steel bridge now spans the normally-dry Little John Creek. The abutments are what was left after cutting the Chooch ones used on the railroad bridge in the background.

Yesterday, the new bridge over Little John Creek was dedicated and opened to traffic. Residents of the area are overjoyed at the prospect of regaining their connection to Farmington after the collapse the wooden bridge 16 months ago. Winning contractors for the project were the Cotton Brothers of Oakland, a well-known construction firm.
   
 

Farmers can now get their produce to the packers in Farmington. You can barely make out the builder's plate on the arch at the center of  the bridge. The device at the far right is a scissors phone used by crews during operation to OS their trains.

 In other words, I finally finished my bridge project and got it mounted on the railroad. As mentioned in my  previous post here, the bridge has been a 30-year project (sort of) and I am pleased that it is finished. It is very delicate due to its almost-scale sized components and I will probably erect a clear plastic barrier so I don't get my shirt cuffs entangled in the bridge and a cause of collapse.
   

A farmer on his way to Farmington crosses the new bridge. Although it is satisfactory for normal wagon traffic, one wonders how it will fare if the new "horseless carriages" catch on.

 My method of lacing the girders using laser-cut pieces worked out well. Although you can't see it very well in photos, I placed a builder's plate on the arch over each end of the bridge. It is a photograph of the original Cotton Brothers plate found on the prototype. Most people will probably not notice it but I know it is there.

Railroad Traveling - Nevada to Georgia

Ex-Central Pacific car lettered for a motion picture now resides at the Nevada State Railroad Museum.

The last few weeks have been another hectic time of the year. The Virginia and Truckee Railroad Historical Society had its Annual Conference in Carson City during the first part of October. This is an event I have attended for about 25 years and it is one of the year's highlights for me. Presentations on the V&T's operations and history and made along with a modeling workshop and, usually, a field trip. The nice thing is that these presentations are often presented by professional railroad historians presenting researched facts about nineteenth century railroading in general. The modeling programs featured items on locomotive performance and using 3D modeling techniques.
     The field trip consisted of a closeup inspection of the V&T coach 17. This was the Directors' Car which conveyed Central Pacific dignitaries to the driving of the golden spike at promontory. Over the years, it saw changes as it went to a coach, then to the V&T and then a career in the movies and, finally, as a museum piece. The V&TRRHS has published a book about the history of this car which can be obtained from the Society website (www.vtrrhs.org).
   

The diesel, having outlived its usefulness, is preserved in the local part.

Arriving home from the Conference, I had barely enough time to unpack and do my laundry before getting on another plane to Atlanta to participate in Dixie Rails. This is a model railroad event put on by the modeling community of the area. It consists of operating on four model railroads over a three-day period. It was great fun on great railroads with my favorite being Norm Stenzel's Brandywine and Benedictine Railroad. It represents a 1953 coal-hauling line in the Allegheny Mountains. There are many large steam locomotives plus some first-generation diesels plus great scenery. Norm has a good sense of humor with several small scenes around the railroad. My favorite was the late-model diesel in the park.
      If you are interested in early western mining railroading, consider joining the V&TRR Historical Society (www.vtrrhs.org). There is a quarterly magazine and a great conference.

New Bridge for Little John Creek Under Construction

Deer Creek bridge in California shows its age. It was built in 1898 by the Cotton Brothers of Oakland, CA for the wagon trade. My first sight of the bridge came in 1972 when I crossed it in the back of a Model T Ford.

 The last couple of months have been rather enjoyable, hectic and disappointing, all at the same time. First, as most of you know, the NMRA National Convention was in Kansas City during the first part of August. It was enjoyable for me to see a number of old friends and to meet some new ones as well. I gave a clinic on tuning steam locomotive mechanisms and modeling the nineteenth century using modern methods. Both were well-attended and received.
     The hectic part running back and forth from home to the convention hotel because each clinic presentation was on a different day. One day, I had two busloads of conventioneers go through the layout followed by a number of Layout Design Sig folks on a special tour. On top of that, I hosted two operating sessions for the Operations Sig group. There were also dinners and then the National Train Show on the Weekend. All of great fun but I was glad to get back to a more restless pace of life.
     Disappointment reared  its head when I tried to get a couple of projects done. The first is an interlocking which will control the Central Pacific/S&C diamond at Stockton. I was on a roll, got the circuitry wired and came up one semaphore base short. That project went on hold pending arrival of a new part.
   

The girders were made from styrene channel held together with laser-cut lacing. Tension rods along the bottom of the bridge are more laser-cut pieces reinforced by brass strips. A wood deck roadway will cover the stringers after painting.

 Enjoyment, however returned when I started building a steel wagon bridge based on a prototype bridge I had measured about 30 years ago. It still stands outside of Grass Valley, California but the road no longer goes over it having been rerouted. I have been putting off modeling it because it is of very light construction and I wasn't quite sure how to model the laced girders to scale. This problem was finally solved with the arrival of my laser cutter which allowed me to cut the lacing I needed.
   

The intricate lacing which makes up the arch is all laser-cut. The reinforcements around the edges are of styrene. 

As the photos show, it's mostly styrene with some brass strips and rod. It's turning out so delicate that I think I should put a clear plastic box around it to protect it from injury. It's ready for paint in the next couple of days and then I'm off to the annual Virginia and Truckee Railroad Historical Society meeting in Carson City, Nevada. It's always a fun few days. The weekend after that will find me in Atlanta for an  operating weekend called Dixie Rails. I've never been and am looking forward to it.

Steamrollers on the Move

At the team track, waiting to be unloaded.

This little car started when I was reading a Facebook post by Bernd Shroter from Germany. He was just finishing a flat car with the steamroller as a possible load. The roller was originally an SS Ltd. kit, now available from Wiseman. Bernd had made some nameplates which are not in the kit but clearly present on the prototype rollers. He had some extras and was selling them so I bought two.
     I had one of the kits kicking around so I decided to build it up while waiting for some other parts.  Several hours later, I had finished the little guy. One to a car looked a little lonely so I ordered another one and built that one then chained both down on an available flat car.
     The flat car was one of several I had made in pairs, that is, two cars with the same number. In this case, I have one car with the load and the other with scraps of bracing and other dunnage. This way, I can actually swap cars out after an operating session leaving an empty car to take away from the industry during the next session.

New Car Arrives on the S&C

C&A 13103 rests on a siding in Oakdale before going into regular service.

During my first operating session at the NMRA convention, I had to the opportunity to host Howard Garner as one of the operators. Many on the Early Rail list know him and his Cascade Western Railroad (and Cascade Western Laser). Howard is an excellent modeler and a very fine gentleman. A totally unexpected but very delightful part of his visit was the gift of a car he had scratchbuilt, the Chicago and Alton No. 13103. It was a car he used to get an Achievement Award toward his Master Model Railroader. The car is very fine with a complete underbody detail. Thank  you so very much, Howard. It is already in service on the railroad.

NMRA National Convention 2018

Two guest operators switch at Peters during one of the week's operating sessions.

Last week, the National Model Railroad Association held its annual convention in Kansas City and was attended by almost 1500 model railroaders. During the week, these brave folks were treated to clinics, layout tours, operating sessions, non-railroad tours and some just plain fun.
   

The Copperopolis passenger local briefly stops at Milton en route to Peters.

 Since the Kansas City area is home to the Stockton & Copperopolis, we had to participate in the excitement as well. We had two bus tours with about 140 people viewing the railroad. I gave two clinics twice each. One was on improving the performance of small steam engines and the other was on modeling the nineteenth century using the modern techniques we have available. Both were well attended.
   

A private car is dropped off on the house track at Farmington by No. 4. 

 The railroad was also open for two operating sessions during the week and for a special visit by members of the Layout Design Special Interest Group. Capping off the week was the National Train Show where one could visit and speak with many of the hobby's manufacturers. It was a hectic time for me but well worth it. Now it's time to get back to normal and continue building things.

Furniture and Carriage Cars

As just about everyone knows, the scope of a project has a way of growing. The one I just finished started after I completed the Henderson Carriage factory at Stockton (see my post here). I wanted a carriage car or two to service the factory. As you can see, the project did grow significantly.
     My first choice was the A. A. Cooper car shown above. I liked the billboard look of the car. It was also 40 feet long, a typical size for carriage and furniture cars of the period. This was due to the fact that the loads they carried were relatively light for the volume so they could build larger cars without increasing the stress on the timbers and trucks. Decals were by Art Griffin.
   

 My second car was to be a Southern Pacific furniture and buggy car, also a 40-footer, and one for which I had original drawings. It was the car which the SP used to represent the maximum height and width for travel over Donner Pass. It was large enough that the bolsters were lowered to keep the total height down. Notice how the body sort of nestled over the trucks similar to the apearance of some narrow gauge cars. I had the decal set for the Cooper car, some SP heralds left over from another project and the rest was not difficult to make up. While I was rummaging through my decal drawer, I found a few more decals and thought I might as well build up some of them, all of which were larger cars. This led to the following cars.

     The Abernathy Furniture Company was a Kansas City concern whose building still exists in the West Bottoms area of the city. According to some documents I have, these cars made it out to California in the 1890s so it was appropriate for use on the S&C. Decals for this car were also made by Art Griffin.
   

     The Santa Fe cars also appeared in California and, since several of my operators are Santa Fe fans, I decided to include it. It rode on Thielsen swing-motion trucks. More Griffin decals.

     

Kentucky Refining was a surprise to me when I found it in a record of cars appearing on the Southern Pacific. It was a 52-foot long behemoth (for the day) and delivered all sorts of oil, mostly for cooking purposes. The two hatches in the roof presumably were for loading tanks located inside the car. Another great decal set by Art Griffin.
   

The Samuel Cupples car was 50 feet long and another car which was extra high. Here was another manufacturer who used all the "billboard" space he could. I guess he thought bigger was better. More of Art Griffin's work.
   

The C. C. Comstock car was one which has intrigued me ever since I saw a photo in poor condition. Mr. Comstock was again one of those who liked advertising and apparently multi-colored paint jobs and fancy lettering. Applying the decals was somewhat exacting but they came out to my satisfaction which is what matters.
   

While going through this, I found another large car, the Menasha Woodenware 50-foot long car described as the tallest freight car built (of the period anyway). It was a kit made by Main Line Models and one I had forgotten I had. Since it fit with the theme of large car construction, I assembled it as well. Interestingly enough, one of these cars was restored or reconstructed and donated to the National Railroad Museum so you can visit it if you like. These cars, too, made it out to California.
     While a 50-foot car seems like no great shakes in the context of modern railroading, these "monsters" as they were sometimes called gave rise to editorials questioning the wisdom of such large cars on the railroads. To give an idea of what they were talking about, take a look at the photo below comparing a standard 34-foot car to the Menasha car. There was a lot of difference, especially in high winds. And, yes, there were even larger 60- and 70-foot wood cars tried out before the car builders wisely changed to steel construction.