Volume 69, Issue 1 Special Birthday Issue - Spring 2001

Bill Mitchell has moved to the Northwest Hospital Center on Old Court Rd. in Randallstown. He is struggling after an incredible series of mishaps. Bill is still fighting and holding his own. He is allowed visitors, although he tires quickly, so it is best to visit in the morning. He is in room 233.

This Issue

This issue of the SWITCHER marks the 69th birthday of the BSME. And as if fitting, it is a special issue. Inside there is a great finish to Kevin Hunter's narrow gauge odyssey, some photos of last year's birthday party, and news of some very generous contributions to the BSME by fellow model railroaders - two of whom are BSME members: Carvey Davis and Charles Edlow. You will also find an update of the Timesaver project, by Doug Albrecht, with a renewed invitation to all to participate.

There is good news - Charles Edlow is out of the hospital and back at the club. Welcome back, Charles!

Unfortunately, there is also some bad news. Walt Chervtch, a long-time BSME member, passed away last August. You will find remembrances of Walt in a eulogy by Rich Randall.

Calendar

April 6 , business meeting
April 7-8, Great Scale Model Train Show, Timonium Fairgrounds
April 15, 20, 29, club open
May 4, business meeting
May 13, 18, 27, club open
May 20, Light Rail Excursion
June 1, business meeting
June 10, 15, 24, 29 , club open

View from the Cupola

Another year has passed, and the BSME celebrates its 69th birthday. Our continued presence is a testimony to how strong the club is and how dedicated our members are. Although we don't have many activities outside the club, we have many activities within the club walls. But we can have still more, with your help. If you have slides of your favorite railroad, or rail interest, consider sharing them with the club. Also, don't forget we have a VCR, and maybe you would like to show that latest video you got. If you have old 16 mm movies, we have a projector too. Finally, consider putting on a clinic or just simply talk about something railroad related that you find interesting - others may too! I'd like to hear Kevin Hunter talk about narrow gauge railroading, or maybe we can get Carvey Davis to tell us about Baltimore Streetcars.

We hope to improve access to the club with alternate Friday/Sunday openings so that those who can't make on a Friday have another opportunity. The reason for not being open both Friday and Sunday, is so that in any one weekend, we are not spending two of those days at the club. Our plan is to be open the 1st and 3rd Fridays and the 2nd and 4th Sundays following the Friday business meeting night. If it happens that there is an extra Friday in a month, then we will be open that evening too. This new opening schedule will begin in April.

We had a very successful show season. Although certainly not like the banner year when we had three thousand visitors, it was a good season, and far better than last year. If you were at the business meeting you found out we did considerably better this year than last with three fewer shows!

While our layouts are old and mature [some say cranky-ed.], we have new track being built. Doug Albrecht is leading a module project. Under Doug's direction, the club is building some lightweight modules with a simple switching operation, taken from the John Allen Timesaver series. [See Doug's article in this issue - ed.] This project gives us all an opportunity, regardless of scale preference, to learn module building techniques, as well as track laying, wiring, and scenery - everything that would be needed to build a new layout. Also, by building these modules with the techniques Doug is perfecting, we will be more quickly able to complete the construction of a new layout - and allow for movability, something the current layouts do not afford.

I hope to see each and every one of you over the coming months participating in YOUR club, making it better for everyone. Remember, Model Railroading is Fun, and the BSME is about Model Railroading, and has been since 1932, and it has been, and will continue to be fun, but only if all our members participate.

Jim Berg, President, BSME

IT'S OFFICIAL -
The Cincinnatian Will Run Forever on Allegheny Northern Rails

Several times over the past few years, Carvey Davis intimated to me that in his last will and testament he bequeathed his O-scale Weaver model of B&O's Cincinnatian (Class P-7d #5703) to the BSME. Having said that, you might expect the next line to read, "I've got some good news and some bad news...". Fortunately, there is no bad news; rather, there is good news and great news. The good news is that Carvey is alive and well and of sound mind. The great news is that in his present state of mind he chose to donate his Cincinnatian to the Club prior to his demise. (Someone needs to talk to me about priorities.) Officially, this event transpired at our first Open House date of this year, January 1, 2001 (or 01/01/01, which, as everyone knows, was the real first day of the new millennium). The engine immediately went into service pulling the O-Division's National Limited train set, as it had for the previous two years' Open Houses.

In the Winter 2001 issue of The Switcher, I chronicled the story of our National Limited trainset model and how natural it looked being pulled by Carvey's Cincinnatian locomotive. Although our train is a hybrid of two B&O name trains, it is a believable representation of the real Cincinnatian train to all but a B&O historian. For the record, B&O conceived the Cincinnatian as a daylight train of luxury coaches connecting Baltimore and Cincinnati on a 12 1/2-hour schedule. It was to compete with C&O's Chessie and N&W's Powhattan Arrow. Since B&O didn't have the funds to purchase new lightweight equipment, it streamlined old heavyweight cars, just as it had previously for the all-Pullman National Limited. Furthermore, since diesels were not available due to high demand by all railroads, B&O did what came naturally and streamlined four of its top-of-the-line President-series passenger steam locomotives. The very tight schedule left no time for locomotive changes, meaning the high-stepping Presidents with their 80-inch drivers had to handle the train over the mountains of western Maryland and West Virginia. This limited the length of the train to five heavyweight cars.

Move the scene to the rails of the Allegheny Northern. Our "Cincinnatian" train consists of a beautiful and accurate model of the real locomotive plus five streamlined, heavyweight B&O passenger cars - just like the real thing. If you look no further, you could easily be satisfied, if not fooled altogether. If you want to look for the differences, I would suggest reading the chapter entitled "Through the Alleghenies by Daylight: The Cincinnatian" starting on page 69 of The Route of the National Limited by Harry Stegmaier (TLC Publishing, 1993).

So Carvey, now you (and the rest of us) can enjoy watching your Cincinnatian pull a set of streamlined B&O passenger cars, just the way God and Col. Roy B. White intended. Come to think of it, of all the Weaver-built models, yours is probably the only one so honored. You've given us a wonderful gift that will gratify us and excite our visitors for years to come. On behalf of the BSME and, in particular the O-Division, I want to express our thanks and appreciation.

HO Division

The HO division had a successful show season and looks forward to another year of new activities. Ed Krowart has been able to make it back to the club with his work schedule settled down, and has plans on rebuilding the city. He has some large paper to trace out the city blocks and plan the revitalization of Baltimore. Ed wants to add some hills to the city, as we all know Baltimore is not flat. We may also take the opportunity to add some tracks for a stagging yard and improve clearances to the tracks under Baltimore. The current plans call for the trolley loop in the city to be completely redone as well. We are still working toward operating sessions. We need to get more practice runs in for time information and test out scenarios. Once this phase is over, we will be able to create an operating session time table and run true operating sessions. We have plenty of other plans too: reforestation of the Johnstown mountains, signals and block detection, and repair/extend the automated reversing circuit for the branch line. Ben McKnew has already put in several interlocking signals for crossovers, and most are wired and operational! Hopefully Keith and Kevin Wood will hold another tree making clinic/day at the club so we can get some trees made for the Johnstown mountains. If you have other ideas for improvements or changes, please let Jim Berg know.

Secretary's Report

Business Meeting
February 2, 2001

The business Meeting was called to order by President Jim Berg at 8:30 p.m., with 16 members present.

Secretary's Report
No business meeting in January.

Treasure's Report
The Treasurer's report for the months of Dec 2000 and January 2001 was read, motioned and approved by the membership.

Old Business
The 69th Birthday party celebration will be March 4, 2001 from 1-5 PM.

The steam valve has been repaired by the steam company. The club is looking to possibly move into a vacant firehouse under 1-95 owned by the Maryland Transportation Authority. Jim sent out the letters to invite the clubs in the area to the party. Bob Jackson will be handling the food arrangements.

New Business
The board of directors are Jim Berg, Nick Costanzi, Charles Edlow, Bob Jackson, Ted Leach, and Keith Wood. The membership discussed and approved opening the club on the 2nd and 4th Sundays following the 1st Friday of each month. The club would be closed on the preceding Fridays. These new opening times will begin in April. [see the calendar - ed.]

Division Reports

HO Division
The trolley ran for most of the shows. Turnout #27 was causing some problems. That was repaired. The turnout that goes to track #113 next to turnout #27 in not operating and needs repair.

O Division
The O division had some operational problems during the third show. A throttle in the engine terminal damaged during the show has been repaired. Also, a crossover on the main was fixed.

Membership

A second reading was given for a prospective new member, Roger Buchholz. Roger is an O scaler, and is sponsored by Dick Manning. The meeting was adjourned at 9:30 p.m.

Treasurer's Report

Open House 2001

This year's Open House, when compared to last year, would have to be considered a success. We did better in terms of visitors and income in five days than we did in seven days last year. Below are the numbers for the past four years.

We received good response from visitors picking up our flyer in hobby shops. Many thanks to John McPherson for riding the circuit and dropping off stacks of flyers along the way.

It is interesting to note that in 1998, our best year, a 3-column picture article appeared in the Washington Post Weekender immediately prior to first show date. In 1999, an article with pictures appeared in the Sun and in the Patuxent papers prior to the final 2 shows. Last year, we did not have any publicity, although for the first time we used a sign over the Fishbowl with recommended donation amounts. This year, 2001, we employed a banner flying across St Paul Street at Mt Royal Ave beginning before the shows.

The winner of the raffle prize was former member George Janis. George dropped his membership about two years ago, but still supports us. Ben McKnew delivered the HO prize to George's home.

Doug Albrecht - Treasurer BSME

Light Rail Tour

Sunday, May 20th is the date set for the Club to take an excursion on the Light Rail. Our itinerary will follow the MTA's Sunday service schedule, which begins at 10:40 AM. Since the South terminus, Cromwell Station, is very close to Carvey Davis' home in Glen Burnie, the plan is to meet at the Light Rail parking lot between 10:30 and 10:45. We would catch the second departure at 10:57 and travel the entire line to Camden Yards, Hunt Valley, and possibly the branches to BWI and Penn Station. MTA officials say the round trip should take about 4 hours. The price for a group is $2.00 per person for the whole day. We will probably stop for lunch somewhere along the way, most likely downtown around Camden Yards or Harbor Place or perhaps Penn Station. Obviously, these "extracurricular activities" will add to the overall time for the excursion. At the end of trip, we will visit the Glen Burnie Model Railroad Museum, a.k.a. Carvey's place. After watching trains for a while, Carvey's wife Marian will prepare a sit down dinner - but for no more than 50 people, so its first come, first served. Call Doug Albrecht at (410) 665-9031 or Ben McKnew (410) 255-3715 close to the excursion date, but no later than Wednesday, May 16, so we can let Marian know how many BSMErs to expect, and get a body count prior to departure so we will know whom to expect on the Cromwell Station platform, as well as whether we need to make a lunch reservation somewhere. In the fall, we will try to arrange a shop tour.

Doug Albrecht

More Live Steam Through the Mountains - 2000

by Kevin Hunter

[In the Fall SWITCHER, Kevin began recounting his ride on the Cumbres and Toltec Scenic Railroad - the old narrow gauge mainline of the D&RGW - between Chama, New Mexico and Antonio, Colorado. Here's the second half of the trip, the undulating descent from Cumbers to Antonio through the Toltec Gorge. - ed]

Into the Toltec Gorge

There used to be a station at the top of Cumbres Pass. It was a little yellow building with brown trim, like all the D&RGW buildings along the line, and sported a deeply overhanging alpine roof to carry the heavy snow loads. It was torn down in 1954 to save costs, and make room for the highway.

Today as you clear the pass the engine eases it's lumbering gait, and the cars lean into the engine as you cross the "new" highway. At 10,000 feet, the trees are a good bit shorter than they were back in Chama where we started, and the air is cool even on a brilliant August day.

Here at the top of the Toltec gorge the roadbed flirts with the crest of the valley wall as the ridge rises and falls to our left. The cut for the track turns left as the wall turns up into a stream valley. Just where the streambed rises to the track level, the track turns a tight half circle back and follows the opposite side of the stream back out to the gorge wall. These tight "20 degree" turns in tight valley quarters prevented this line from ever being "broad guaged" with the rest of the D&RGW back in the 1890's.

As the train winds through the "S" turns in and out of side valleys I caught a glimpse of the tiny speeder following the train looking for brush fires set by the engine.

The ruling grade on the undulating eastern side of the pass is about 2- 1/2%. Our engine alternately chuffs in labor as it first struggles up a rise, and then assumes a gentle clank and clatter as it drifts downhill, thence once again chuffing in earnest. A pattern repeating itself as our train gently loses elevation. With the engine throwing a far lighter plume of cinders, and a light breeze running up the gorge wall, the windows are thrown open, and the cameras come out.

The line runs through cuts and over fills trying to follow the lines of a contour map as they wiggle about in this rough terrain. With no warning, the Rock tunnel appears around the bend ahead.

The afternoon winds on as the train reaches the lower end of the gorge. The land becomes drier. The trees dwindle. The rugged mountain ridges with their stands of aspen evolve into the "trademark" treeless flat topped mesas of New Mexico.

The track winds back and forth, occasionally passing itself in it's turns, around the tops of a final mesa or two. Then down a cut in the face of a low mesa to the broad sloping tabletop of the scrub spotted prairie. With an ambling gait, the mountain climbing mikado looks far too large for it's final couple of miles rolling down the last low grade to Antonito.

We pull onto the dual gauge tracks of the "New" Antonito station. The narrow gauge tracks end in the loop around the station and yard. The standard gauge tracks run on for a quarter mile to the interchange with the old main that was "broad gauged" with the bulk of the Rio Grande lines in 1890.

Chasing Ghosts

After a brief readjustment to pneumatic-tired transit, I bolted headlong towards the headwaters of the Rio Grande river following the RioGrande rails.

At Alamosa the tracks lead to the Royal Gorge to the east, and to the San Juans to the west. The low mounded trail of the long abandonded narrow guage stretches north, marked by the telegraph poles that seem to stand forever in the dry western climate. State route 17 follows the old roadbed.

Headed north, trapped between the great first range of the Rockies east and the San Juan mountains to the west, the broad San Luis valley floor is perhaps fifty miles wide. Everything seems endless. The straightness of the road is broken only when it dodges around tiny farm towns. The mound of the old roadbed runs straight through, sometimes down the main street, past old structures that might have been designed by Revell Models. The first hour passes with only the slightest suggestion that the mountains on either side were closer. Near the end of the second hour the mountains begin to converge. The road begins to rise, heading into the pass leading on to Salida.

The roadbed can be picked out amongst the thin trees, through cuts, up creekbeds, over long gone trestles and bridges. I am following a dreadful road map and trying to reconcile it with a detailed map of the Colorado narrow gauge lines. I try not to look too drunk as I drive, craning my neck around to catch a better look.

The road winds on. At Fairplay, I head toward Denver, following the tracks of the Denver and South Park. Much of the terrain is open and treeless, oddly like a train set. Every intent of the surveyors and engineers is laid out before you as the road winds serpentine up a rise to a pass. For miles the trackbed dodges to the left or right, swinging clear of some obstacle, no longer of consequence to modern highway construction equipment.

High on a pass, the roadbed swings across a field, out to a tiny town with a large stone structure on the brow of the hill. On a whim I turned down the stone road to have a look. I am in Como. The stone building is the Como roundhouse, built here at the top of the long hill rising from Denver to service the little engines of the D&SP in around 1880. At one time there may have been perhaps twenty stalls, but most were wood and have burned, or were torn down before they did. Only the six original stone stalls now stand.

The mainline runs just behind the engine house. It runs a few hundred feet on, past the freight depot (now just a toppling shed), and the passenger depot, which is now a nice restaurant. But with close inspection, you can still pick out the roadbed through the shrubs where tracks once ran by what is now the restaurant's front entrance.

The road by the restaurant is now just an access to a farmers field. A crossbuck marks the track crossing, warning of trains now gone 68 years.

Donation

by Ted Leach

Recently, the club has been gifted with the donation of nearly 900 issues of various model and prototype magazines. These came from the archives of Dr. James Chapman of Falls Church, Virginia. A long-time "O" Scale model railroader, Dr. Chapman has been active in the hobby for most of his life. In addition to his medical duties, he has been involved in prototype rail operations, including efforts to save the now abandoned Washington & Old Dominion Railroad, and also has been involved in passenger car leasing. Dr. Chapman had a large "O" Scale pike in his basement, depicting scenes along the Southern Railway in Virginia. His desire to move to a retirement community meant that he had to dispose of many things for which he would not have room in his new home, thus, his decision to donate the magazines to the club. Magazines donated to the club include: "Railroad Model Craftsman" from 1957-1993, 69 issues of the "NMRA Bulletin," 128 copies of "48/ft. O Scale News," 75 issues of "O Scale Railroading," and nearly 200 assorted issues of other magazines such as "Private Varnish," "Railmodel Journal," "Model Railroading" and "Rails Northeast." The magazines were picked up and delivered to the club by members Ted Leach and Carvey Davis in late February. Ted wishes to thank all those who helped to schlepp the magazines up to the club room. These will go a long way to filling many gaps in the Charles Edlow Library at the club. Any issues that are duplicates will be sold as part of our ongoing fund-raising efforts.

Once again, our thanks go to Dr. Chapman for his thoughtful and kind donation.

Timesaver Project

Progress Report

BSME Timesaver

The timetable for the Timesaver project is ambitious, to say the least. Nevertheless, we have made significant progress over the past two months, and have completed the first two tasks in the project plan. After drawing the full-size track plan, I determined the overall dimensions of the layout - including the two mainline tracks - to be 10 feet by 30 inches. This completed the first task and at the same time showed that the first objective could be satisfied.

The second task was the construction of two five-foot long frames as the foundation for the two sections of the ten-foot module. By chance, I had six fireproof (i.e., steel) studs waiting in my garage to be put to good use. Each was lighter than its 2x4 wooden counterpart and could be cut quickly and easily with tin snips. Remembering that these were readily available, I hit upon the idea of cutting both sides of a stud at points opposite one another and then bending the stud 90 degrees to form an "L." Down at the club, we joined two such Ls - facing each other, but upside down from one another - forming a rectangle. In each corner, we used a wood block cut from a 4x4, and fastened these with 2-inch sheet rock screws drilled through the steel studs. The wood blocks served the dual purpose of joining the Ls to form the rectangle and also helping to ensure a 90-degree angle at each corner. (Ultimately, they may also provide an anchor point for legs.) Rich Randall and Bob Jackson provided critical input and assistance at this stage of construction. Bob had the great idea of cutting a third stud and bending it into a "V" shape. We anchored the bottom of the V in the center of one long side of the rectangle and then attached the two arms of the V to the wood blocks in the corners of the opposing side, thereby forming a truss. The end result is nothing short of incredible in terms of strength, rigidity, and lightness. A 58.5"x30" deck of 2" thick extruded Styrofoam and end sills of 1"x8"x30" wood will complete this phase of construction.

Ted Leach and Rich helped with the construction of the second section. Ted also provided #6 and #8 O-gauge switch tie templates and a NW Shortlines "Chopper." While the "heavy" construction was proceeding, Dick Manning set to work using Ted's tools. He cut Kapler switch ties in sufficient numbers and lengths for six #6 switches and one #8 switch. Meanwhile, Ed Kroart and Rich struggled with cutting tapered edges on the material I brought in to use for roadbed. Finally (mercifully?), Kevin Hunter volunteered to take the 50 or so feet of material home with him to cut on his table or radial arm saw.

So, what's next? Once we attach the deck and end sills, we will lay the track plan on the full length of the two-piece module to determine the location of the track centers and the switch frogs. Then we will position the roadbed, apply some sort of basic ground cover color, glue down ties and ballast and proceed with some track laying.

If you are interested in helping, or learning some fundamental track work and scenery skills, now is the time to get involved. So far, all the work has been done on Friday nights, and we will continue on that schedule unless someone who wants to help can't make it at that time. Contact me at the Club on Fridays or at home: (410) 665-9031, if you are interested.

Incidentally, two other module projects are underway. The first also makes use of lightweight materials. The frame of each 2x4-foot module consists of 2-inch thick Styrofoam sandwiched between 4-inch wide strips of Luan plywood. The deck is also Styrofoam. O-Division member Rich Randall built the modules to the East Penn O-scale Traction standard. The BSME used three of the modules at the B&O Railroad Museum exhibit two years ago. Their purpose was to demonstrate the use of lightweight materials and techniques for building model railroad bench work, in contrast to the traditional use of lumber and homasote. A feature of one of Rich's modules is a two-track mainline overpass that could join with another standard module, such as NMRA.

The other project consists of two 6x2-foot modules built by Ed Moniger, also from the O-Division.

Ed gathered information about several groups within the O-scale community that are building and/or operating modular layouts. His modules most closely follow the design used by the Eastern O-Scalers, a loose affiliation of O-scalers from the Mid-Atlantic region. Ed had not progressed as far as adding track or scenery to the two modules, but offered them to the Club "as is," if we can make use of them.

Shov'lin' Coal

I wish to begin this months column by acknowledging and thanking Charles Edlow for his generosity in donating six boxes of magazines and one box of videos - at least one of which is of the Pennsy. Of course you realize Charles, that we'll leave it to you to catalogue and file all those magazines and tapes - no good deed goes unpunished!

A few days ago I was looking for an electrician to do some wiring in our home. As I thumbed through the yellow pages, I could not but help notice numerous adds reading something like "...established in 1995..." or "...serving Baltimore since 1997..." In these times of apparent instant antiquity, it would seem that any entity over 6 months old is an institution. And so it goes. However, this month the BSME is 69 years old. There are not that many organizations around that can legitimately claim true continuity for that long a time - organizations where the character and purpose have remained true to their roots since their inception. But the BSME is one of them, and in my opinion, it is a Baltimore institution - or rather, we are a Baltimore institution.

Next year the BSME would be 70. Will there be a BSME next year? That is up to us - the members. The BSME has facilities - two venerable layouts, numerous bits of railroad memorabilia, and an extensive, and - thanks to the generosity of Dr. Chapman and Charles Edlow - growing library. But these are things. They are not the BSME. We, the members, are the BSME. More precisely, we, jointly and actively participating in the hobby of model railroading, are the BSME. And it is we who celebrate our birthday this month. As for next year, with what seems to me to be renewed interest in vigor with the advent of the Timesaver module project and the urban renewal of downtown Baltimore on the HO side, I would say that we will have a great 70th year and a terrific 70th birthday.

Happy 69th birthday, BSME.
Happy birthday to us!

Nick Costanzi - editor