16
Jun
What’s New?
The other day I was down in the layout room and I decided on some changes. Basically the changes are minor to make future expansion more feasible and looking at a couple of industries. It is something we all do if we have layout. Something does not look just right and something better will fit here instead of there. So I will have a few more things to to do over the summer.
I also have a modeling project. I picked up two brass ALCO Models ALCO T-6 Switchers. The motors are tiny open frame and I just can’t get them to run. I disassembled them cleaned them and lubed the gears. The mechanisms were not that great so I am going to switch out the chassis and drives and just leave the shells. I have an old Proto 2000 SW 9 switcher which I thought would be a good candidate. It will work but there will have to be some serious grinding. The couple pockets will have to be removed and some minor grinding of the motor cradle will also be needed.
This is what I observed:
1. The circuit board or DCC decoder would have to be changed to a smaller one.
2. The coupler pockets on the chassis of the SW9 would have to be ground off
3. The sides of the motor cradle would have to be ground down a little.
4. The cab floor in the T-6 would have to be partially removed
5. The length of the chassis is correct.
6. As with any grinding the motor would have to be removed first.
So in the meantime I am going to look for an Atlas or Athearn switcher underframe and see how they will work.
A.J.
13
May
May 2010
Hello Again. I have been busy lately and have not had much time to work on this page. I had some minor flooding in the layout room. No damage was sustained, it was just a headache to keep ahead of the water. The layout room is cleaned up and I have settled back down to working on the layout and some projects. I have also ordered a decal set and plan to paint some rolling stock for the Appalachian Northern. I will post some more pictures as the progress moves along.
I have also edited the model railroad page regarding the fictional history of my model railroad, the Appalachian Northern. Check out the changes.
I have not been track-side much either. CSX runs up near here and the traffic during the daylight hours has been light. There is more traffic at night, but this is not conducive to photography. Besides, I have been spoiled by my trips to western Pennsylvania over the years with all the traffic down there, it hardly seems worth the effort to spend a whole day track-side in New England and see maybe 6-8 trains vs. that same number of trains in 1-2 hours in Western PA.
Hang in there and please come back to visit. If you need to contact me about wanting to use some pictures, please email me at ajgemp@gmail.com. I apologize if you tried to contact after this past October. I switched internet providers and forgot to update the email settings on this page.
A.J.
17
Mar
The Appalachian Northern Replaces My Gauley River (Model) Railroad)
The last couple of years I have been getting back to my own model railroad. I do not have a large layout. I have roughly a 10ft. x 10ft. layout with coal mine, power plant and some local switching industries. One of these days I would love to expand it. Of course traffic rights would have to be negotiated.
For years I had a small MSN Group called the Gauley River Railroad. Well MSN took all the small groups down. I also know that my railroad had the same name as a real Gauley River Railroad with reporting marks GRIV. I used GRR which turns out were reporting marks for the Georgetown Railroad. So I decided to go with something new and fresh. So I decided upon the Appalachian Northern. It was a toss-up between that and the Appalachia River, but I thought that was too specific. The Appalachian Northern seems a little more user friendly and gives me some leeway, if I ever get expansion rights. (However, before I expand, I have to finish what I am building.) Anyway, I did a Google search for Appalachian Northern and did not get any specific hits. i then went to a website that had railroad reporting marks. ANR was already taken, but ANOR would work just as fine and no other railroad had it. So it is now the Appalachian Northern. I plan to get decal sets soon. Watch for my progress.
A.J.
