The new Ackley layout is being built as a point-to-point, one-town switching layout with a staging yard on each side. I call the staging yard on the south side of town South Side Staging and the staging yard on the north side of town North Side Staging. To access the staging yard from the visible part of the layout, I first built a very simple corner module our of standard benchwork components.  The 2-1/2-foot square corner module contains a 24-inch radius curve made from reliable Atlas Code 83 sectional track, and connects the visible main line to the staging yard.  … Continue reading No. 24: Ackley Layout – The South Staging Yard

I photographed this car at the same time I photographed the UTLX X-3 (see the first Steam Era Freight Cars post on this site). It IS obviously a 1937 ARA box car, but obviously IS NOT a Pennsylvania Railroad car. Wanting to identify the car before posting the photo, I e-mailed Ed Hawkins, Bill McCoy, Pat Wider and Bill Welch, asking for their thoughts. I referenced the 40-ton trucks, apparent seven-foot door opening, and unique defect car holder as an identifying “birth marks”. Normally I don’t rely on trucks to identify museum cars since trucks were often changed over time. … Continue reading No. 22: Steam Era Freight Cars – B&LE 1937 Box Car

This week, I was e-mailing with Frank Hodina–the man behind Resin Car Works (http://resincarworks.com/index.htm)–and I mentioned to him that I photographed a UTLX X-3 tank car at Dennison, Ohio last year.  Frank asked for the photos, and I thought it would be helpful to also post them here. The UTLX X-3 was Union Tank Car Line’s “standard” tank car.  At it’s height, UTLX operated over 41,000 tank cars.  The X-3 was it’s standard design, although over the years UTLX acquired through mergers and acquisitions tank cars of almost every size and type.  Even the X-3 came in a variety of … Continue reading No. 21: Steam Era Freight Cars – UTLX X-3

After the styrodur subroadbed was laid and fixed securely to the layout frame, it was time to start laying roadbed and track. I used cork roadbed exclusively because I like it. It is inexpensive, easy to get, comes in two pieces (essential for laying track on centerlines), stays in place with good glue, doesn’t swell, will hold spikes well if primed, and looks good.  I can get it shipped from the US and I can get it here in Germany easily from a local dealer. Before I laid any roadbed I set up the track on the styrodur surface and … Continue reading No. 20: Ackley Layout – Laying Roadbed

The Ackley depot is being constructed and this would be a good time for an update on it’s progress. The depot was built in 1908 as a combination passenger and freight depot. It replaced a typical M&StL wood structure on the same site. The building measured 24 feet by 96 feet and was built “for the ages” of brick. Other information: Elevation at the depot 1101 feet MSL. The station was located at milepost 200.6 but the Station Number was 201. Telegraph call sign was KY.  Below is an excellent prototype photo.  Love that long Minneapolis and St. Louis Railway sign! Photo … Continue reading No. 19: Ackley Depot Construction, Part 1

To compliment the conversation on the Standard oil terminal at Ackley, Iowa, here are photos of other “oil jobbers” I have run across in the Midwest.  No frills here–these are just photos that you might find useful or interesting. The three photos below were taken in 2012 at Villa Grove, Illinois across the street from the former C&EI roundhouse, which was still standing at that time.  I took a few detail shots here because the piping to and from the tanks was still painted red, white, blue and green to denote the different types of fuel carried. The photos below were taken near … Continue reading No. 18: Midwest Oil Jobbers

Recently, my friend Jared Harper told me that he found a nice sign for the Standard Oil terminal on his layout.  Jared and I both have Standard Oil terminals on our layouts and the terminals were very similar, and we have often discussed how to model them. Jared models an AT&SF branch in Kansas, circa 1943. Here’s the cool sign (below). The small Standard Oil terminal at Ackley was located on Sherman Avenue across the tracks from the Marshal Canning Co. on the east side of the tracks.  The terminal consisted of a “standard” Standard oil building with at least four tanks.  I … Continue reading No. 17: Ackley Layout: Standard Oil

We were fortunate recently to travel to Malta for a long weekend. Malta is a not-your-typical-American place to visit. We went to have a last summer blast and hit the beaches and snorkel spots, and we also spent a little time downtown shopping and checking out the local history, which is impressive to say the least.  In case you’re wondering, there was once a British meter-gauge railroad on the main island but it was gone before WWII.  Here are a couple of off-topic photos of our trip.       Now on to RPMing. In my work life, capturing “Lessons Learned” … Continue reading No. 16: Ackley 2.0 – Laying Styrodur

I began construction of the “Ackley 2.0” layout on Fourth of July weekend, 2016.  The family went up to Hamburg for the weekend and left me at the house specifically to get this job done. The visible layout is 16 x 2, with a 12-14-foot staging “wing” on each end.  The main part of the layout will consist of two 8 x 2-foot sections (16 feet total).  On each end, there will be an additional 2-1/2-foot section that serves as a lead to staging yard.  The lead–one on each end of the layout–conceals a 24-inch radius curve to a staging yard.  Each staging yard will be … Continue reading No. 15: Ackley 2.0 Begins Construction

Pictures make blogs more fun, so here are more pictures of the Ackley layout built at my Illinois home before it came down last fall. Below is a view of the main town site under construction. I used Micro Engineering Code 70 on the main line and sidings, and Code 55 everywhere else. All the turnouts were built using Code 70 rail and were kitbashed using Central Valley tie strips with Proto87 Stores parts and scratchbuilt throw rods.  I laid all the track on two layers of cork on top of wood subroadbed. I used HO or N scale roadbed where appropriate … Continue reading No. 14: Ackley 1.0 Layout Photos