Part 3 - A trip down the Midland Western (using DCC) - action at  Laskey

Note:  all DCC references or to operation with an NCE pro cab running steam engines with tsunami 2–2 decoders.

The Midland Western is a subsidiary of the Gulf Coast Lines, operated by both the Missouri Pacific and the Frisco.  The year is 1940.

It's now the middle of the morning and Midland Western train number three is approaching the small settlement of Laskey, about 7 miles west of Midland. The engineer blows a single long blast on the 6-chime whistle (F2, 5 seconds) to notify the agent on duty at the train is near. Being a lightly traveled branch, the Midland Western is not signaled in any way, although telegraph has been used this morning to notify the Laskey agent that eastbound train No. 4 is not far out, and a meet between the two trains will be conducted at Laskey.

Both trains are too long for the passing track so a once-common maneuver known as a double saw-by will be conducted to get the two trains around each other.

https://www.trains.com/mrr/how-to/model-railroad-operations/how-a-saw-by-works/

No. 4 eastbound has no business to conduct in Laskey, so it proceeds on east to Midland, leaving No. 3 to set out and pick up a few cars.

The arriving car consist is:

UTLX 10000 gal tank car 10360
UTLX 10000 gal tank car 10366
Seaboard Air Line boxcar 18822
Kansas City Southern boxcar 15550
SSW flat car 85082
Texas & Pacific boxcar 30467
SSW boxcar 36502
L&A boxcar 15027

The first move is to set the caboose out of the way, on a trailing-facing siding leading to a gravel pit a half-mile away.  The passengers must leave the caboose by law, while switching is conducted, so they disembark and wait inside the small wood depot on the north side of the track. Once the caboose setout is done, the team track, with a facing switch, must be worked. This means that the locomotive must be on the east side of the involved cars, pushing, and pulling with the pilot coupler.

Three cars on the train are being set out on the team track, and three are being picked up from the team track.  The three being set out from the train are:

UTLX 10000 gal tank car 10366
Seaboard Air Line boxcar 1882
SSW flat car 85082

These cars are spotted on the passing track, so that the 1632 and the remainder of the train can back up and work them with the pilot couple from the side facing the switch. The remainder of the train will remain coupled to the rear of the locomotive during the team track moves to stay out of the way.

With these remainder cars behind it, the 1632 backs up past the east end of the passing track.  The head end brakeman jumps down to throw the switch from the main into the passing track.  However, the three cars currently on the team track, scheduled to be added to the train, must be removed before the new cars can be moved on to the team track.

The empties being pulled from the team track are:

CKRX 10000 gal tank car 324
Missouri-Illinois boxcar 4125
Midland Western flat car 160

These cars are pulled out, then shoved onto the main in front of the depot to await addition to the train.  The three setout cars are then pulled from the passing track and shoved into the team track, with the brakeman directing the box car door be spotted at the loading dock ramp.

It's now time to reassemble No. 3 for departure from Laskey. Engine 1632 and the remaining five cars unaffected by the switching now run around, via the passing track, the three cars picked up from the team track now sitting on the man. These being empties, they will be added to the very rear of the train, out of the way of switching moves scheduled at the next siding, Donna Pass.

The engine and the five remainder cars back up to the three being-picked-up cars on the main and couple up. The reassembling train then backs into the gravel pit spur to pick up the caboose, to be coupled on the end of the three picked up empties from the team track.

One move remains, however. Five loaded Missouri Pacific 40' gondolas remain to be picked up from the gravel pit spur and added to the train.  They will go on the front of the train right behind the 1632, since they are all headed to the next set out at Donna pass, loaded with pea gravel for ballast work currently underway on that section 7 miles to the west.

The final train consist moving west out of Laskey is:

Missouri Pacific gondolas 70876, 71093, 24318, 24319, and 24306
UTLX 10000 gal tank car 10360
Kansas City Southern boxcar 15550
Texas & Pacific boxcar 30467
SSW boxcar 36502
L&A boxcar 15027
CKRX 10000 gal tank car 324
Missouri-Illinois boxcar 4125
Midland Western flat car 160

No. 3 looks very different now than when it pulled into Laskey about an hour ago.  A 13 car train is a very long one for the Midland Western, especially facing a 2% upgrade about a mile long, just west of Laskey.  The crew is apprehensive, wondering if they will have to double the hill, essentially breaking the train in half and taking it up into sections to be reunited at the passing siding at the top of the grade.  The train slowly pulls up so that the caboose is at the depot, so the passengers can get on board and ride, expecting quite a show on the grade from the 1632 which will be at near capacity on this trip uphill.  The engineer opens the cylinder cocks, sounds two shorts on his personal ATSF 6-chime, and slowly pulls the throttle open to start moving. He knows that he will not be doing much, if any, cutoff on the Johnson bar going up the grade, running at full steam, and the sharp bark of the superheated exhaust will be heard a mile away.

Note:  all DCC references or to operation with an NCE pro cab running steam engines with tsunami 2–2 decoders.

The Midland Western is a subsidiary of the Gulf Coast Lines, operated by both the Missouri Pacific and the Frisco.  The year is 1940.

Midland western westbound mixed train number 3 stands out on the main, getting ready to depart. The cross-compound air pump is heard in the background pumping the train brakes up to air line service pressure before departure. (Air pump sounds for an automatic background sound.)  While this is going on, the engineer and fireman walk around the running gear of 2-10-0 no. 1632, oiling around on the valve gear and rods, and tapping the rods occasionally with a hammer to check for flaws.( another automatic background sound.) Both brakemen walk up and down the length of the 8-car train, checking the air hose connections and the couplers.  When done, the rear brake man returns to the caboose, while the head end brakeman walks to the from the train, and climbs up the tender to get into the "doghouse" (brakeman shelter provided on the tender deck by state law to prevent overcrowding the engine cab.)

Air line service pressure is achieved after a few minutes, but the train will not move until the conductor signals to the engineer to do so.  The train is short enough that the engineer can look back to see the conductor give the highball sign, which is a vertical wave of the entire arm up and down. In this case, though, the train is not actually leaving, but it will back down the yard to the yard office to pick up the few passengers that will ride the caboose. Passengers are not allowed in the caboose until all switching is completed.

The engine has been standing for some time now, and condensate water ihas collected in the cylinders, so the engineer must open the cylinder cocks before backing (F4). Slowly backing down a couple of hundred feet down to the yard office, the engineer closes the cylinder cocks after about 10 seconds. Before reaching the office, he cuts the steam off (option key), which silences the chuff and all that is heard from the engine is the rods clanking as the train slowly drifts to a stop with a minimal brake application right at the end.

After a few minutes of passenger and LCL freight loading into the caboose, the train is ready to depart Midland. The engine has been standing still long enough to have to open the cylinder cocks again.  The engineer pulls two shorts on his personal ATSF six-chime whistle and slowly begins to open the throttle softly to take up the coupler slack in the train, so as not to cause passenger discomfort in the caboose. (coupler crash function.) After 10 seconds or so, the engineer closes the cylinder cocks, but the 1632 is having difficulty getting the train in motion on the rails wet from a 4:00 AM thunderstorm.  She loses traction and drivers slip.(F19).

Once sand is applied to the rail (F21), the 1632 gets hold of the rail and the train rolls out of the yard, approaching the Midland Western's 20 mph speed limit. The yard in Midland is an interchange yard that runs parallel to the north – south Missouri Pacific mainline. But once outside of the yard, the Midland Western begins to curve towards the west, heading towards the Frisco interchange at Thunder Grove 20 miles distant. Once on the curve, after whistling at the last grade crossing in Midland, the line enters a non-populated heavily wooded area, where the engine crew customarily blows down the engine safely to clean sludge and accumulated particulates out of the bottom of the boiler. (F10).  The engineer closes the blowdown valve after about 10 or 15 seconds. The train is now rolling at speed westbound towards the first community it will encounter, Laskey.  At speed, the engineer is able to use his Johnson bar to cut steam usage back some.(F5). The chuff audibly softens as the train continues its relatively uneventful trip to Laskey.

Part 1 - preparing to depart the Midland Yard.

Note:  all DCC references or to operation with an NCE pro cab running steam engines with tsunami 2–2 decoders.

The Midland Western is a subsidiary of the Gulf Coast Lines, operated by both the Missouri Pacific and the Frisco.  The year is 1940.

Westbound train no. three is a mixed freight, with a few passengers carried in a side door caboose .  In the past, there had been enough passenger business to warrant an ancient open-platform wood combine on the end of the train. But that car is now in storage and lovingly preserved by the shop, awaiting an upturn in passenger business.

Today's run will be handled by the Frisco. The train is due out around 7 AM, so the Frisco engine crew arrives around 6:30 AM to find Frisco 2–10–0 number 1632 with steam up already, done by the engine watchman starting at 5 AM. 

The crew climbs on board to move the engine to the head of the freight that was already assembled by the yard crew during the night, and is standing ready on the outbound track. The night before, the engine watchman had installed the engineers personal whistle on the engine, a well-tuned deep-toned six – chime from the Santa Fe (cv 120, whistle no. 38).  The engineer sounds a long blast on the six chime to announce imminent movement. (F2).  He then opens the cylinder cocks to evacuate condensate water from the cylinders (F4), sounds two shorts on the six-chime, and slowly opens the throttle to move gently forward.  After 10 seconds, he closes the cylinder cocks (F4 again.)  Approaching the switch at  the throat of the yard, he cuts the steam to drift to a stop just beyond the switch.  ("Option" key.). The side rods can be heard clanking as the engine gently drifts to a stop just beyond the switchstand   https://www.hobbylinc.com/htm/cab/cab204.htm?source=froogle&gclid=EAIaIQobChMImarb1YG2_QIV5hvUAR1ASAaiEAQYAyABEgJ9lvD_BwE

The head-end brakeman climbs down from the cab to realign the switch, to allow the engine to back in to the yard . He then notifies the engineer to back up, using the standard hand signal, rotating his arm and hand in a wide circle.  The engineer sounds three shorts (F3) on the six-chime notifying the crew of a back up move into the yard to couple up to the waiting freight. The engine smoothly begins to move backwards and the brakeman swings up into the cab as it slowly passes. 

No. 1632 slows to an almost imperceptible crawl as it approaches the train.  The rear brakeman signals the engineer with the backup hand signal, and when the couplers meet, he swings his hand horizontally at his waist to tell the engineer to cut the steam.  The engineer has hit the cars a little too hard, causing a crash sound to happen (F7, a relocated function on the decoder.) Fortunately no damage occurred. The brakeman couples the tender air hose to the rest of the train's air brake system, and the engineer pumps the train line up to service pressure before the train moves. When this is finished, and the brake test is conducted, train no. three will be ready to leave the yard westbound.

Log in and report.

1.  Are you in the NMRA?
2.  Why or why not?
3.  What benefits have you experienced from membership?
4.  Are you in regular contact with any other local members?
5.  Have you attended any conventions?

I'll respond with my comments shortly.

Unfortunately, for model railroaders like me who follow less popular roads like the MP, Bachmann is in the Model Railroad business to make money, not to grant the every wish of me and everyone else like me.

The models offered by Bachmann, and just about every other vendor, seem to be prototypes from roads that serve the most major major population centers, essentially the metropolitan Northeast and Chicago. This makes sense, because that's where the most people interested in model railroading are going to be concentrated, not in small towns and small regional cities throughout the country. There's only a couple of Bachmann models defying this logic, which are the mogul, based on a engine from a 100 mile long midwestern short line, and a Wisconsin central diesel, from a relatively small regional carrier, not well known outside it's immediate area. 

Fortunately, for Missouri pacific steam modelers like me, over the years Bachmann has offered several engines that, while not precise molecular correct models, are very reasonable stand-ins that have made me happy for a very long time.

1. The spectrum consolidation, while a little heavy for a Missouri Pacific 2-8–0, has overall lines and details very Missouri Pacific like. I have four of these engines lettered as the imaginary MP 180 class, right above the MP spot class engines numbered 1–173.

2. The spectrum consolidation was offered as Missouri Pacific 92 many years ago. It appears from time to time on eBay and I finally got one about two years ago. It's very cleanly and prototypically lettered. It's a little heavy for a spot class engine, but again, who cares. A very accurate brass model of a spot class was offered many years ago, but they run like coffee grinders, and are unusable for any kind of operation or anything at all other than a mantel piece placeholder. On the other hand. Bachmann steam engines run like clocks once the DCC CV settings are correctly.

3. The Bachmann USRA mikado is almost dead on for an MP 1300 class. I have one done up as the 1304, with multiple added MP specific details, such as an oil bunker for the tender, number boards by the stack, and a hinged stack cover.

4. Bachmann offered a USRA light 4-8-2 years ago, dead on for the MP 5300 class as-built and before their heavy rebuilds in the late 1930s. Bachmann's MP model is very beautifully lettered. A purist could argue that the numerals on the cab side are a little big, but who care, I don't. It's a beautiful engine that took me a very long time to locate.

5. Bachmann also offered a Spectrum light USRA 2-10-2 back in the days of yore.  There were several variations for different prototypes, and the Seaboard Air Line one was very close to some of the MP 1700 class engines, including a Boxpok center driver acquired by some during shoppings. I bought one to repaint for the MP, but my Gulf Coast friend cried out, how can you paint over something that says "through the heart of Dixie" on the cab?  So I never did, and it is still in my roundhouse as a Seaboard engine, although really too large to run my branch line.

6. The Russian decapod is an incredible offering. The Bachmann one is in its second run now. I've loved those engines ever since I saw a photograph of an MP one way back when I was a teenager, switching in the Anchorage, Louisiana yard across the Mississippi River from Baton Rouge.  The MP engines vary  some from the Bachmann model, especially the running board configuration, but I don't care. The 8 MP decapods were numbered from 941 to 948. I've lettered two of mine as imaginary MP 940 and 949, just outside of MPs numbers as if they could've been a couple of extra engines.  I have five other decapods operating on layout, but the MP ones are my favorites.

Some might argue otherwise, but for someone who is modeling a marginally popular railroad, I feel like I've been showered with riches untold.

We called it the mail train.  Because it was, one or two coaches behind lots of head end cars.

I'll never forget the finely tuned dance and workaday drama of the handling of No. 5's mail at the New Iberia depot.  Before the train arrived at 2:12, old-fashioned baggage carts with big spoked steel wheels, some loaded with canvas mail bags and some empty, would be rolled out alongside the track, under the long passenger umbrella shed that is no longer there today. Somehow the agent always got the cart within an inch or two of where the engine would pass.

You'd hear No. 5's readily identifiable smooth distinctive 5-chime air horn faintly float in on the wind from the east.  On days at home we could hear its approach from the house as well.  After interminable moments you'd hear it again, louder now, and you'd finally see the mars light swing into view around the curve at Center Street and enter the paved-over street trackage of Washington Avenue, invariably right on time, rolling beneath the ancient oaks, passing the parish courthouse where ten years earlier the 5-year-old me had watched Mikados stomping and squalling past with westbound freights.

As the train crossed Jefferson Street and negotiated a gentle S curve right before reaching the platform, you'd invariably see that the engine was a single Alco PA unit, classically running out its last miles on a plug mail run, although we didn't know that.  The PA would majestically roll past, slowing, with cadenced bell ringing.  A classic head end consist followed, heavyweight baggage cars with very cool express reefers and boxcars mixed in, steam hissing from between the cars. 

As the railway post office cars smoothly glided by, you'd see the doors already opened with a clerk standing in the door, and others visible behind the barred windows.  Somehow the train always stopped with the open door right at the perfectly placed baggage wagon.  With  precision smoother than any fine classical ballet, the inbound mail would quickly be stacked on the wagon, rolled away, and immediately replaced by the cart loaded with outbound mail.  Just as quickly, the loaded canvas mail bags disappeared into the car. 

The clerk would signal to the conductor that the mail transfer was complete.  In the steam engine days, the engine would have completed water top off at the water column at the west end of the platform.  Since  the few outbound passengers had already boarded the train, the conductor gave the highball to the hogger.  Two airhorn shorts signaled the almost imperceptible start of the train.  Crossing signals sounded for Corrine Street, then Hopkins Street.  The rear end red mars light, suspended from the accordion gate in the doorway of the rearmost car, slowly disappeared around the long gentle curve to the west, passing the barely visible West Tower on its way out, and following the complex pole lines on their westward march.

With the dramatic intensity winding down as the airhorn of No. 5 faded to the west, the carts with the loaded mail bags were rolled to a waiting postal vehicle and the bags loaded for the ride to the post office.  But, like a hidden bonus track on a record, one last dramatic detail remained.  No.2 eastbound, the Sunset Limited, was due at 2:37.  This train didn't stop in New Iberia at the time.  The depot agent walked down to the east end of the platform and hung an outbound mailbag on a mail crane.  No. 2, on the end of its run from the west coast, would often be late but when it was on time you'd hear the airhorn to the west, where No. 5 had gone into the hole ("siding") for the meet, and you'd watch the train regally roll in behind MU'd EMD FP units that always handled the train, the bell majestically clanging a slow tempo. The mailbag would be snagged onboard by the RPO, ending the daily drama of the US Mail coming and going from New Iberia Louisiana.

Oh what a time to be a young railfan there.  We didn't know what we had until it was gone, No. 5 making its last run in late 1963.

I looked at your headquarters on 1400 east Erie Ave on Google earth.

What is the double track railroad that runs down the street in front of your building? The Erie?

Log in, those of you who are old enough to have, in the days of private railroad passenger service in the United States:

1. Ridden overnight in a Pullman car.
2. Eaten meals in a full-service white-tablecloth diner.

I'm working on a narrative of several overnight trips my family took by train in those long-gone days

My layout is only 15 inches wide but it is 50 feet long and runs through two walls to occupy 2 1/2 rooms in the house. The house is so small that this  is the only way I could get anything meaningful Model Railroad wise going in the house, wanting more realistic operations than a 4 x 8 could afford.

Today, I remembered this record I had heard as a kid. It is very appropriate for my Model Railroad.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=h4BYdTrkWoo

In the old forum, I narrated some very detailed analyses of great railroad scenes in older movies from the steam era. Unfortunately, all of those appear to have been lost in the data loss at Bachmann concerning the forum.

However, I had published several stories of my experiences on the railroad back home as a youngster. All of those have survived in my own data, but were also lost in the Bachmann event.  The two that come to mind at the moment are the story of T&NO West Tower back home in the 60's, and exploring an abandoned B&O tunnel in West Virginia in the early 1970s. There was also a narration about watching a mail train stop in my hometown in the very early 60s.

I had started a multi part description of the now long-abandoned Missouri Pacific branch line in our town as I saw it as a teenager.  It was also lost but I still have the completed parts in my own data.

My question is - how much of this stuff does anyone want to see?  And where to start. I don't want to unnecessarily take up space here if no one is interested. Please advise.

I was looking at the online store on the Bachmann website and noticed a number of things not there anymore. I wonder if they've been discontinued.

1. Under the consolidation, no new items are shown.
2. Only three road names are shown for the 10-wheeler, which makes me think they are slowly selling them out. Fortunately, the Texas and Pacific one is still there.
3. The USRA pacific is no longer shown. I'm glad I got one while they were around.
4. The USRA mikado is still there, but the Southern Railway one and the New York, central one are no longer shown.
5.  And, the mogul is not there at all.

All of this makes me wonder if Bachmann is slowly getting out of the steam engine business, other than the 0-6-0 and variations, which seem to be in most of the steam engine train sets.


Sent from my iPhone

Anything new?  Or do we still need a photo hosting services?