Where, oh where...

DairyStateMom and I took a weekend away to West Central Wisconsin, specifically Spring Green. Our primary agenda (besides marking our 5th Anniversary) was to see the American Players Theater.

On our way home today, however, we drove down to Mineral Point and visited the Mineral Point RR Depot museum. What a delight! And driving through the area--as well as learning just a bit about the history of railroading and mining in this area--got me to considering a shift in my own model's setting.

As I've noted before, I don't plan to model a specific, real-life prototype. I want too much freedom to do that. Rather, I choose to model an imagined railroad that will be set in Wisconsin, in a certain time period sometime in the first half of the 20th century. I know that I want to have some logging, some mining, some local common-carrier traffic, and at least token passenger service.

Up to now I've been figuring the northern part of the state, perhaps the Nicolet Forest. The Mineral Point visit, however, has me considering a change to Southwestern Wisconsin. A serious drawback is that I really do want to include some logging, and I have yet to find any indication that there was significant logging in the area. There was, however, lumber processing of various kinds, but just where the lumber came from isn't clear to me.

So I have more to think about. Right now, it's all academic. I don't have much in the way of any kind of rolling stock, so I've got freedom to move in any direction I want to. And on the track plan I have, the small branch line that is to go to a logging camp could, instead, be repurposed to go to a mine (indeed, the original track plan I'm copying calls for a mine at that site).

In short... decisions, decisions...

We've got legs!

Well, it took about a week. But I now have 16 pairs of 42-inch-long, L-shaped, 1/2-inch plywood legs: 4 each for the 4 sections of my layout. Each board had to be sanded to remove rough spots, then they were glued and nailed into their current configuration. In order to make sure that the nails were consistent from one leg to the next, I created a simple jig for marking the nail holes.

The next step will be to attach 12-inch-long 2x2 blocks at the bottom of each leg, into which will be inserted T-nuts and screw-in levelers.

Then I will be assembling pairs of legs into H-shaped assemblies with cross braces, using glue, carriage bolts and locking nuts. The cross braces need to be cut to 22-1/2 inches long, and the holes will need to be drilled. I'm going to make a simple cardboard jig for marking the location of the holes. I've made a simple wooden jig to mark the location of the holes.

The leg system is basically the one shown in this video:



Two differences: I made the blocks at the base 1 foot rather than 8 inches. And I used framing nails (slightly larger) instead of trim nails -- mostly because that's what I could find.

Cheap (or Free) to a Good Home

So I dropped by the local hobby shop today. I've been in there browsing many a time, so what happened next is probably understandable.

I saw some Bachmann ore cars. They were quite inexpensive. I have been dying to get SOME kind of rolling stock for the as yet unbuilt railroad.

So I bought one and asked how old the prototype was. It goes back to the 1930s, I was assured.

Here's the model I got (although it was black and lettered for the N&W).

Once home with it, I had some second thoughts and hunted around to see if I could find the history of the prototype.

I didn't find this particular model, but MR has a review of another manufacturer's kit that sure looks like the same prototype.

Grrrrr. It was introduced in 1961. That's a whole lot later than I plan to model.

Would you like it?

Update: Framing almost finished

Well, while it's taken a lot more time than I planned (thanks to intervening events like work, vacation, and chores around the house), I've gotten frames made for all 4 sections of the layout. Three of them still need the top boards of 1/4-inch plywood, and all 4 sections need legs. But we're making progress, however slowly. I hope to add pictures later.

For the legs I'm going to use a design I've seen a couple of places, including on the World's Greatest Hobby Madison Central: L-shaped legs of plywood, connected by a cross-beam to make an 'H'. They'll be attached with carriage bolts so they can be easily removed.

I've assumed I'd put screw-in levelers in the bottom of the legs, and I think I'll still go that way. But I'm wondering about casters. That's because I've also discovered that the fit in my basement room is going to be just a little tighter than I realized. I'm glad that I chose a sectional approach. The original point was simply to make it easier to move out in 5 or 10 years. Instead, though, I suspect I'll be taking it apart regularly to make it easier to move around the room. So casters -- or else levelers with bottoms that are easier to glide along the floor -- may be necessary.