Volume 68, Issue 2 Summer 2000
A s this issue of the SWITCHER goes to press, we have been informed, sadly, that while at a ball game in Milwaukee last week, Bill Mitchell collapsed. He was hospitalized, but is now home. Bill called down to the club Friday night and spoke with us. He is in good spirits and is doing well. He will be undergoing tests over the next week. Hurry back, Bill!
This Issue
On April 7th, Charles Edlow celebrated his 75th birthday - by coming down to the club, naturally. Happy birthday, Charles!
The BSME held another open house on Sunday, May 7. Although we did not have a record number of visitors, enough people came through to put a few coins in our coffers. Many thanks to all who came: Doug Albrecht, Ed Moniger, Dick Manning, Ted Leach, Carvey Davis, Bill Mitchell, Keith and Kevin Wood, John McPherson, Jim Berg, and Nick Costanzi.
The BSME has a new member, Kevin Hunter, and a new site on the WorldWideWeb - thanks to our new member. Kevin has not only provided the BSME with a new website that includes a bit of virtual reality (check it out), but also has gotten trains running on the HO narrow gauge - a real feat! Welcome Kevin.
Be sure to visit the new web site at:
Nothing new to report about a new home. The abandoned fire house under I-95 seems to be the best local so far. But it is under the control of a bureaucracy, and discussions take time.
The View From The Cupola
I have some great news for all. If you did not find out at our last business meeting, B.S.M.E will be filmed on August 18th by Tracks Ahead. If you have not viewed Tracks Ahead on your local public broadcasting TV station, they feature a model railroad layout along with the real railroads. We have been busy cleaning up the HO and O scale layouts. If you have not been down to help, the club surely could use your help. Please give me a call or your division superintendent. Tracks Ahead will be down all day August 18th. If you can make it down for the filming, please let me know.
On June 22nd, the New York Society of Model Engineers' Phoebe Snow made a stop on the O scale layout on the way to the O scale convention in New Orleans. There were pictures taken of the Phoebe Snow and the Cincinnatian. These pictures and pictures of other stops of the Phoebe Snow will appear in Model Railroader sometime next year, celebrating the New York Society of Model Engineers 75th anniversary. And speaking of celebrations, mark you calendars - the BSME will go to the celebration on the last Sunday in February, the week before our birthday party next year.
On other good news, Jim and Tracy Berg are the parents of a bouncing baby boy named Matthew Raymond Berg.
As some may know, our vice president, Charles Edlow, and his wife have been in the hospital. However, both Charles and Thelma are doing better, and we'll see Charles at the business meeting.
The BSME lost a former member May 15th. Tom Mulford was our treasurer before Doug took over the job. Tom was a great modeler. He did a lot of super detailing of Southern Pacific locos. He will be missed. I think he is now setting up a layout in heaven and the lord has given him plenty of trackage rights. On a personal note, when I was dating my wife, Tom and his wife Tommie took Mary and I railfanning in Altoona and on the East Broad Top Railroad. She really enjoyed our railfanning. Mary and I have fond memories of that weekend.
I was in Atlanta for my nephews wedding in April. If you are ever in Atlanta, stop by the Atlanta Underground. If you go to the third floor of the building, you will see a very interesting O scale layout. Your cost will be one dollar. This layout is very interesting. The buildings on the layout are made of cardboard, but not the way you think. This person cut the cardboard and glued the parts together. Then he put a layer of plaster finishing material on the cardboard and sculpted the details. It is an interesting way of building structures. The layout is open Friday and Saturday from 12 noon till 8:00 p.m. and Sunday from one to five. The owner is retired and plans to stop by the BSME to visit with us.
I hope to see you at the business meeting July 14th. Hope you all have a great July 4th.
Bill Mitchell
Calendar
July 14: Business Meeting, 8pm
July 21: HO Operating Session.
Aug. 04: Business Meeting, 8pm
Aug. 18: Tracks Ahead filming session
Urban Renewal!
HO Division
As can be seen from the photos, the HO layout is undergoing a major cleaning and general spruce-up. So far, the TV Hill tower has been relocated Urban Renewal!
(lights to be connected) and work is underway on the trolley and the interurben. An electrically open rail joint has been repaired on the branch line, and major track work has just about been completed on the narrow gauge. Meanwhile, the Charm City edifices are getting a good cleaning, and the effects of the BSME version of "Agent Orange" - a.k.a. a hungry mouse - on the foliage are being repaired, and once again, locos can run from the engine terminal to the yard.
Clean Streets
Also the portion of the branch line under the mine has been cleaned, and operates, as does the yard "Y." There is still scenic work to be done, repairs to structures, and lots and lots of track cleaning (Conon, would you like to drop by?).
Snow meets Cincinnatian
O Division
The Phoebe Snow, on tour from the New York Society of Model Engineers, ran over the BSME O division this June. The occasion was part of the 75th Anniversary celebration of the NYSME. Besides the BSME members who set blocks and threw switches for the historic run, rail fans in the guise of Model Railroader staff were in attendance. Accompanying the Snow, was Carvey Davis's B&O Cincinnatian P-7d pulling the club's National Limited.
Welcome!
T he Phoebe Snow was built in 1948 by the NYSME to fulfill an agreement that the NYSME had with the Lackawana Railroad. At the time, the NYSME was located in the basement of a Lackawana station, and as a term of occupancy, the club agreed to build a model of what was to be Lackawana's showcase streamliner. The railroad supplied the club with drawings and specifications, and the club took it from there. Much to their credit, the club completed its O scale Phoebe Snow before Lackawana took delivery on their's. Originally, the railroad ordered the train to be built by Budd, and the drawings supplied to the NYSME were for Budd cars. However, Budd was unable to completely fill the order, and the remnant of the consist was constructed by ACF and Pullman. Hence, the Snow that we saw in June was an all-Budd variety, pulled by an ABA lash-up of All Nation F-3s. We understand that photos of the run will appear in next February's Model Railroader to coincide with the NYSME's 75th birthday.
Cape May Seashore Lines
A t the turn of the century - the last one - the fierce competition between the Reading and Pennsylvania for the South Jersey resort traffic generated extraordinarily fast trains racing between Philadelphia and Cape May - often racing head to head within sight of one another over the last eleven miles from Cape May Courthouse to Cape May. For nearly thirty years these two roads each strove to be the best, the fastest, the most fashionable way to reach the resort town of Cape May. Nonetheless, despite however well these two railroads served the vacationing public, they could not continue to compte both against the automobile and each other. In 1933, the West Jersey and Seashore Railroad (PRR) and the Atlantic City Railroad (RDG) merged to become the Pennsylvania-Reading Seashore Lines (PRSL), and so continued to carry those seeking relief from summer in Philadelphia to the cool breezes and warm sands of Cape May and the South Jersey shore. Unfortunately, as went the PRR, so to Conrail, and ultimate oblivion, went the PRSL - well almost.
At the time it took over the track and equipment from Conrail, the New Jersey Transit Authority (NJT) was not interested in running trains. Although the passenger traffic to Cape May was self supporting - and there was even a little freight - the NJT business was busses. On October 2 of 1981 passenger service to Cape May ended, with freight service terminating on September 10, 1983. To Anthony C. Macrie, who grew up watching Pennsy steam roll by his hometown of Hammonton N.J. (half way between Philadelphia and Atlantic City on the PRSL), the abandonment of passenger rail service in South Jersey was a loss of heritage as well as a loss of service. Being a railroader on a local Conrail spin off, Mr. Macrie believed that rail service in South Jersey was still feasible. In 1984 Mr. Macrie began studying the operations of the PRSL-come-NJT, and by 1986 had opened detailed negotiations with the NJT over trackage and operating rights, resulting in a long-term exclusive-use lease of the 27 miles of right-of-way and track between Tuckahoe and Cape May.
Years of Conrail neglect and NJT indifference, left the track and roadbed in fairly sad shape. Hence, the newly chartered Cape May Seashore Lines (CMSL) spent the next ten years replacing crossties - about 10,000 worth (some 50%) over the 10-mile stretch between the 4-H Fairgrounds at Cape May Courthouse and Historic Cold Spring Village alone, replacing grade crossing equipment, and pulling weeds along the right-of-way. Finally, on May 18, 1996, passenger rail service resumed in South Jersey with the first CMSL trains operating between the Fairgrounds and Cold Spring Village.
Sadly, the days of steam are long passed, and you will not see nor ride behind PRR E-6 Atlantics or Reading camelbacks speeding along beside NJ Route 47 or Route 9, but you will see and - better still - can ride the original Budd Rail Diesel Cars once operated by the PRSL. By the time Mr. Macrie began to (re)build his railroad, the benevolent souls at NJT had sold or leased all 13 of the PRSL RDC-1's. In fact, four had been leased to MARC, and you may have seen them running commuter service on the Camden line between Baltimore and D.C. The CMSL managed to retrieve two of these wonderful machines in '87-'88, and six more in '95. Thus CMSL now has eight of the original 13. Four have been scrapped, and one is currently in service with the New York Railroad Historical Society. Not all the CMSL RDC's are in service yet - three are currently operating - but the CMSL is planning to add one each year to serviceable condition. The CMSL also has acquired an ex PRR GP-9, No. 7000 (painted in Brunswick Green), and a GM rebuilt ALCO RS3, designated RS3M, ex PRR 8481. The CMSL also operates five P70 steel coaches, two of which were built for the West Jersey & Seashore (PRR predecessor to the PRSL) and are the last surviving PRSL P70's. Also on the CMSL roster are two Boston and Main RDC-9's.
As for the future, having just refurbished - actually completely rebuilt - the swing bridge over the Cape May canal which permits CMSL trains to run daily between the Fairgrounds and Cape May, Mr. Macrie is now finalizing another grant from the NJT to return to service the track north of the fairgrounds to Tuckahoe. He expects this additional 13-mile stretch to open next year, with an eventual interchange with the NJT rail line currently linking Philadelphia with Atlantic City.
The CMSL operates eight trains daily between the 4-H Fairgrounds at Cape May Courthouse and Cape May City during the summer season (roughly June through September). Along the way to Cape May, you can stop at Historic Cold Spring Village - sort of a Williamsburg, New Jersey style - and see the many colonial period exhibits, then continue your ride into the heart of Cape May. The Fairgrounds are close to the Cape May County Zoo, one of the best small zoos in the country (actually, it's quite big), and is worth a stop before or after taking the CMSL. Special trains run for festivals and special events year round. For more information, you can call at:
609 884 2675, or visit them at:
Clean Track
BSME member Conan Evans writes:
Because the layouts at the BSME are very much operations oriented, and one of the biggest maintenance chores is in my opinion track cleaning, I have always been on the lookout for better ways to accomplish this task. Recently I got this post from the Prototype Modelers list @ groups Community email addresses:
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Written by Earl T. Hackett [hacketet@delaware.infi.net]
Wheels. Especially brass wheels. I run mostly steam, but have a few diesels around for open houses. No sweat having a $20 diesel get grabbed by little hands and take a quick trip to the floor, but not one of my brass pieces - they stay WAY back on the service tracks. Don't get me wrong, diesels are great power plants and I really love that Volvo Penta MD11C in my boat. Anyhow a few years ago I finally got a new railroad going again after many years of boat building and decided to have an open house. A week before the open house I had everything ready except for some road power. The only thing around in operating condition (everything had been in boxes for 20 years or so) were some new Stewart F-7s and some very old vintage Atlas SD-18's (lots of gear noise but at least they seemed to move). I cleaned the track and the Stewart units ran fine all over the place. Then I stuck the Atlas units on the track. They made one circuit of the main line and stalled due to dirty track - the nickel plating had long ago worn off the wheels exposing the brass cores. So I cleaned the track and wheels of all the black gook and tried again with the same result. Signs of dementia started to show in my behavior because I tried the same thing again - with the same result. Thus began a (panicked) search for the answer to dirty track. So here's what I found:
On track cleaning chemicals such as Goo Gone (from a friend who found out the hard way): Use with extreme caution. These are powerful solvents for most plastics. If you have any plastic wheels these solvents will dissolve them and deposit the residue all over the track eventually gumming up the works. You then use more and rapidly spiral into a black hole.
On abrasive blocks such as Bright Boy (similar source as above): Also use with caution. These are abrasives bonded in a rubber block. Rubber has a lot of oil in it as part of the formulation. This coats the rails and can have results similar to the solvents but at a less serious level.
On plastic wheels: Dump 'em. Likewise for traction tires.
So what works...
Initial cleaning of new rail: First you have to get rid of the processing oils. This is more important for unweathered bulk rail. The manufacturer has to clean rail to weather it and most prefabricated track components appear to have pretty clean rail stock. Remove these oils with a clean rag LIGHTLY dampened with a quick evaporating solvent such as acetone or methyl ethyl ketone (ME). If oils are present the rag will quickly become black with gook.
Cleaning of heavily oxidized old rail: If the track has been heavily used you may have a lot of oxidation caused by arcing. In this case the only way to remove it is with an abrasive. Use 600 grit emery cloth or wet/dry sand paper rather than the trusty Bright Boy. Follow with the next step and you should never have to use an abrasive ever again...
Periodic maintenance of rail: You need two things, a block of balsa wood from which you will cut cleaning blocks and a 12 oz. spray can of LPS #1 lubricant. I found the LPS in a local True Value hardware store but it is available from McMaster Carr and other mail order industrial suppliers.
Cut the balsa so the end grain will make a convenient sized cleaning block. Squirt the balsa with the LPS #1 for a second or two. This one squirt did all 600 feet of my mainline. Now gently rub the rail with the moistened balsa. It'll get black with crud and you may want to sand to a new surface if it really gets bad, but the LPS is sucked up into the grain so a second application is unnecessary unless you sand off a quarter inch or more of the block. This will remove all the abrasive dust form the previous step and leave a thin layer of the LPS #1 lubricant on the rail head. The LPS #1 prevents oxidation and enhances electrical contact but don't ask me how. I suspect a treatment with LPS #1 once a year weather it needed to or not wouldn't be a bad idea. At this rate of utilization the 12 oz can will probably out last any of us on this list.
So how did it work? After following the above procedure the Atlas units ran perfectly for three hours straight. Unbelievable slow speed performance. NO arcing even when pulling 1.5 amps each with 40 car coal drag on a 2% grade. It did nothing for the gear noise, but that was all right as they sounded sort of like a diesel. Since I spend most of my time building I don't get to run trains much so a year later another open house approached and I had to fire it up again. I had no idea what would happen. Except for a little construction dust in one corner everything worked just as well.
Shov'lin' Coal
Elsewhere in this issue of the SWITCHER there is an article about the Cape May Seashore Lines. This tourist railroad now operating over the tracks that once sped vacationers between Philadelphia and Cape May is the result of the vision of one Anthony C. Macrie. Of course, that's what we call it today - vision. The CMSL is a fact. It operates. It has revenues. It has employees. It runs trains. It is a fact. However, it was not always a fact. At one point, some 16 or 17 years ago, we would have called the CMSL a dream, perhaps, and Mr. Macrie a dreamer. When Mr. Macrie tells us that he plans to resume passenger service between Philadelphia and Cape May we say that he has plans, has vision. But now with the CMSL a fact, we certainly would not call Mr. Macrie's plans dreams, nor would we call him a dreamer.
Mr. Macrie is that same fellow today who believed 16 years ago who knew what rail service in South Jersey had been, and believed that rail passenger service in South Jersey was still feasible. Perhaps he has vision because he acted on his dreams. So to it may be with us and the BSME. Of course, the BSME is fact - we exist, we run trains - sometimes. Therein lies the rub - sometimes. Like the PRSL, it would appear that the BSME's glory days are in the past.
As a club we seem to spend a good deal of effort dreaming - dreaming about a new location. Yes, new modern layouts in a new home in a more accessible spot would be great. But that has not yet happened. It will. I'm sure. But at this moment we can share a vision much more concrete and immediate - that of renewal - a club with an active membership that hosts regular operating sessions. On the HO side, the Division Super has designated the third Friday of each month as an "Operating Session." This is great, even if at the moment the HO layout is a bit torn apart for cleaning and restoration, and hence there has not been as yet an operating session. But just the fact that the HO layout is being restored shows that there is a vision for our club. I would guess that this same vision is shared by BSME O scalers as well. The BSME has two fine layouts. They are old, but they are fact, they are complete, and they can run trains. We can make this vision reality. We do not need to build new layouts. We do not need to find a new home. We do not need to replace ten thousand cross ties. We only need to show up on Friday nights.
The 21st of July is the next "third Friday." I do not know whether the HO side will be ready for a full-tilt operating session. Probably not. But I know we can do something along those lines - maybe only shuffle a few cars here and there, and maybe only some planning for an August session -- but I know we'll do something, and the more who are there, the more we will do.
Classifieds
Wanted: stories, information and pictures of the PRR Orangeville engine facility. I am seriously considering a scene incorporating the Orangeville facility and wish to obtain reference material and stories to accomplish this endeavor.
Contact: Conan Evans,
or (703)234-1502.
Fare well
George Arndt, a current and former member of the BSME is leaving - again. George returned to the BSME after, some absence from the Baltimore area, about six months ago. But George has his travlin' shoes on again, and shortly will set off for Grand Rapids. Good luck, George, and keep in touch. Let us know about the model railroading in Grand Rapids.