Eastern Tn logging on the DG CC & W RR 1928

Bill Nelson

Well-Known Member
Good to hear from you!

Good to hear from you Tyler, sorry you don't have room for any projects. I like the dictator also. I have toyed with getting one of the large railway guns that shoots a projectile, and lettering it for the DG CC & W.

One thing really good about civil war era freight cars Is you van make a switching RR in very little space. I started with cars that size back 44 years ago, and want to add some to the mix now.


Bill Nelson
 

Bill Nelson

Well-Known Member
There is a little bit of activity outside of the logging area, not a lot, bit I'll keep plugging on here, and see if anything happens.


Bill
 

gbwdude

General Manager, W.R.Ry.
I did find your old layout on Carl Arendt's website. Do you still have that all together like in the pictures or did you hack it up and fit it in your current layout? I know you said that you've learned your lesson on making that on a branchline. I wish I had the room to do something like that, we have the supplies to do it (everything but the code 83).

A note about the Dictator, that model is a static model, so it'd need to be modified to be hauled around. Also a long time ago, I bought a Model Power rocket launcher that launched missiles. For the longest time I had it run out at the club back home and people thought it was neat. I'm not sure if I did grab it or if someone snagged it from the club, so that'll have to be one thing I look for when I get home. Maybe the WRRy will start a real war with Canadian National or Union Pacific...

Tyler
 

Bill Nelson

Well-Known Member
The notorious Bumpass Modules

The Bumpass modules are gone. They were once built into my current railroad, or rather my curent railroad was built around them.

That became an issue due to the extreme small size of the project, 2 ft by 6 ft. Bumpass was a bottleneck from hell while all of my power could get through it, only # 15 a 25 ton shay, # 9 a 35 ton Heisler and #4 a class A climax, ( perhaps an 8 ton locomotive) were comfortable switching there.

Running three ore cars from the mine to the smelter required going down the switch back to run around the cars on the passing siding, going back up the switchback to deliver them. a round trip could take over half an hour, and block the the mountain division, which at that time had no other passing siding.

Bumpass was removed from my RR , and Montgomery furnace was put in in it's place. Bumpass sat in my garage for years, I eventually stripped everything useful from it and burnt it. It looked great, but I would have required a huge amount of work to restore it to potability and operability, and I decided that It would be best to start off fresh as it was extremely heavy for a portable RR .


the best thing about the Bumpass design was the two half going together with their back drops to make a 2 foot x two foot by 3 foot box I could fit all of the buildings and some of the rolling stock needed to run it inside. I designed it when I was fresh out of highschool, and toted it around for the next 23 years. During that time I could set up a railroad in 15 to 29 minutes.

I thought about rebuilding the Bumpass modules as narrow gauge, but again, I figured best to start over and make a different set of mistakes.


Bill Nelson
 

macwatch

New Member
Bill's Bumpass modules

Bill forgot to mention the even more infamous #2-1/2 hand laid stub switch, which had a lot to do with making the switching there shall we say, "interesting"... It was more like a hard right turn than a switch.

Mack Montgomery
 

Bill Nelson

Well-Known Member
My BTS kits came in

I got my BTS kits in , and they look great. They are tiny , they make the Mantua 1860 cars look big. I could stick narrow gauge trucks and couplers on them and they would look ok.


These look like they will build up into very interesting cars. they also make later truss rod flats that fill a much needed niche , especially for logging outfits.


Bill Nelson
 

Bill Nelson

Well-Known Member
bumpass stub switch.jpg
Bill forgot to mention the even more infamous #2-1/2 hand laid stub switch, which had a lot to do with making the switching there shall we say, "interesting"... It was more like a hard right turn than a switch.

Mack Montgomery


Good to see you posting here Mack. Mack has been associated with the DG, CC, & W RR since the early 1970's.


It sure was fun to watch a 2-4-4-2 do what was necessary go through that #2.5 stub switch. it was a miracle anything ever got through that switch, but all the power I owned at that time would go through that switch ( I did not acquire my PFM Cherry River 3 truck shay until years later, it wouldn't stay on the rails within ten feet of Bumpass , and to this day can't negotiate the mountain division, or Harlow).



I don't think this switch in the photo is the #2.5, but they were all pretty tight.


Bill Nelson
 
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Bill Nelson

Well-Known Member
Boxed Bumpass.jpg bumpass & Pinto.jpg Bumpass overall.jpg South Bumpass.jpg #15 & bumpass creek.jpg More Bumpass photos

Bumpass was removed from my RR before I got a digital camera, and With film cameras I did not document my RR as much as I do now, as it wasn't easy to share the photos. Here are some ancient black and white photos of Bumpass that I have found and scanned.


My best guess these photos were taken in My folks driveway @ Timberlake near Meridian Mississippi in 1978 .


Bumpass was a marvel of design and construction. at two feet by six feet in two sections; it fit into it's twelve square feet a passing siding, a station, a two stall engine house, a log loading ramp, a switchback, an iron furnace and an iron mine. with room for a creek winding through it. The plywood back drops allowed the two halves of the layout to be assembled into a 2 foot x 2 foot by 3 foot box for transport, and fit neatly into my pinto wagon.

There was room on the end of the passing siding and switchback leads for a 25 ton shay and two short cars. As a portable RR it worked well, but it was a judgment error, however, to build a much larger RR around it. It might have worked had The larger RR been committed to very small power, and short trains made up of small cars, but I built a big Sawmill, and then had to look like I was trying to feed it. You can't feed a double band saw mill with trains that can make it through Bumpass, it just can't be done.

The track work in Bumpass needed a lot of work. I had never sealed the homasote by painting it before putting ties down, so the homasote held moisture, and spikes would rust out in five or ten years, so continual maintenance was needed. The benchwork was heavier than it needed to be half of Bumpass could be handled by one man; but when it was bolted into it's box form it took two men and a mule to move it. It would have been a lot of work to restore, and was too heavy to be an ideal portable, so I salvaged all I could and put it on the burnpile.

If I am forced to downsize, I will consider revisiting the Bumpass concept. I have toyed with the idea of doing something like it in On3, or something more expansive in HOn3. It is very nice to have something like Bumpass, so you know you could move to a new house, and have a fully functioning railroad up and running in less than a half hour.

In the photo that shows all of the Bumpass module note the Toyota truck in the background. Perry's Gizzzard , now the oldest portion of my RR, was built to fit in that truck.

The evil voice of the model train demons keep whispering in my ear Bumpass was designed to fit in a pinto wagon, what could you build that would fit in the back of your Suburban!


Bill Nelson
 
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Bill Nelson

Well-Known Member
SML BTS cr prts.jpg speaking of short cars.

Good operations in the six foot long Bumpass module was dependent on very good running very small locomotives, like Shay # 15; and various small rolling stock like Mantua 1860 Box cars and flats, Keystone log buggies and tiny ore cars like the ones now made by Tichy Train group.



I cot the civil war era kits I ordered from BRS, and they are tiny. they are so small that, like the tichy ore cars, they could be built as narrow gauge cars very easily.


I have one of the open roof cattle cars, that I intend to use as bark cars for the tannery open for study, I'd be painting it except It is still too dark outside for me to trust .


To show how tiny this car is I have photographed some of the laser cut parts next to a 50 foot box car. this makes me think that the Mantua 1860 cars mayy be 20% oversize.


If you want more operation in less space old time with tiny cars can really help.

I want to see if I can get some extra pieces of the framing for these cattle cars, to use to model boxcars under construction next to my car shops in crooked creek, that would make a great scene.


Bill Nelson
 
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gbwdude

General Manager, W.R.Ry.
Bumpass

The evil voice of the model train demons keep whispering in my ear Bumpass was designed to fit in a pinto wagon, what could you build that would fit in the back of your Suburban!


Bill Nelson

Man how I wish I still had my Suburban... but that's another story.

Seeing your module really inspires me to work on the WRRy and kind of resembles how I want my Badger Imperial quarry to look, but the main difference being that it shouldn't be a bottleneck since it'll be a industry located off the main. The track diagram is located in my WRRy thread for those who are interested. Too bad I'll have to work on it when I get back from the 'Stan...

Anyways Bill, thanks for posting the great pics of your old Bumpass and your new toys... I can't wait to see the final result of your new cars.

Tyler
 

Bill Nelson

Well-Known Member
Sml 1st brk car #1.jpg SML tnry w drs &wnds#1.jpg Tnery w  wndws &drs #2.jpg Tannery progress

Very little got done on the RR this weekend. The Pediatric practice where my wife Jennifer is a Nurse Practitioner, had their Christmas party Saturday evening, so as soon as I got home from work Sat morning I had to take a nap to try to get to the point where I could fake sociability.


After the party Jennifer and I listened to the end of our Hockey game on the radio . Our Nashville Predators beat Carolina, playing well in front of our rookie backup goaltender, temporarily in the #1 spot as the #1 goalie is injured; and we crashed early as Jennifer was working a 12 hour on the pediatric cardiology floor at Vanderbilt on Sunday. I had planned to work in the RR room on Sunday as well, but my work in my woods getting firewood ended up being very productive, and when I drug my weary carcass in from the blowing sleet, I wasn't in shape for anything other than sampling Malt beverages in front of the blazing fire. I was going to do more work today, but

This morning, before I take my nap trying to get ready for another week of the graveyard shift I did some work related to the Tannery, so the entire weekend wouldn't be a total bust as far as the important stuff (trains) was concerned I got some windows and doors paited and installed. The lage window openings did not have widow castings available so I cut down some city classic skylights, the same thing I did for my bid sawmill windows, and the windows for the Crooked creek shops.


So far both the train size doors on the tannery open and close. I will probably glue the doors over the siding open (with water based glue, so that the operation can be restored, but otherwise the doors are likely to move and interfere with clearance) I'll wait with the other door to see what kind of scene I want to set up.


The worst is yet to come with this building, Getting the roof lines right when the building abuts the backdrop at an odd angle is a ****. Building the needed loading docks and work surfaces all on trestling will be very tricky, but will make a very impressive scene.

Since I took the photos I have cut a floor for the section of the Tannery that has the railroad car size doors out of foam cor, and got it glued in to the section of building. that will help stiffen that part of the structure, and help the look of the building too, as buildings without floors look a little more hollow and fake, even if you can't see the floor.

Here also is a photo of the fist bark car 's exploratory Assembly (nothing is glues yet),, Time for me to take a nap untill about 5:15 when I need to get up to get ready to go to the train club, and see what I can mess up there.


Bill Nelson
 
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Bill Nelson

Well-Known Member
SML  rnry w pntd wndsw #1.jpg Here is a photo of the tannery with some of the windows and doors.

where the hopper car is , in front of #9, I will make a coal dump, and there will be a boilerhouse with a big brick stack in front of that track. Behind that track it will be a big loading dock and work area supported on tresteling, with the wooden tanks where the bark is soaked to extract the tannic acid

Bill Nelson
 
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Bill Nelson

Well-Known Member
SML Brk cr  cnstrctn #1.jpg SML Brk cr  cnstrctn  detl #.1.jpg work with the bark cars

Thank you mountain man, and a reminder to those who have not followed my projects very long. Excellent work doesn't come from great innate skill (all though there are differences in natural skill levels). Excellence comes from working on stuff often, and striving to improve. One can also do very well picking up tips from others. I have done a lot of that over the 44 years I have been modeling, and that is why I strive to share so much ; and the fact that I like to show off.


I am working on building the first of my four barks cars, made from BTS war between the states open rood cattle car kits. Cars similar to this were used in bark service in the Pennsylvania area. This is well documented in the Pennsylvania logging books, a very thourough series of paper bound books. Our documentation for the eastern Tn area is no where near as thorough, but some of the big players in the development of the logging industry in eastern TN. came from Pennsylvania, and brought their knowlege and techniques.


So far I have four of these car kits. I will want more I think, as well as carrying bark from the logging camp in the Valley to the Tannery, these cars would be perfect for carrying chord wood for use in wood burning locomotives from place to place. My railroad used to be 100% wood burning, but that is not realistic for my time period, so I am building coaling facilities, and aim at getting 50% of my locomotives set up as coal burners, with the mill switcher, and the woods engines being wood burners and the road engines being coal burners.


Here are some pictures of the pieces of the first car going together. these photos show very clearly why I was dreading having to scratch-build a similar car. Thankfully BTS has saved me from that chore. in one of the photographs I have included a Titchy train groups ore car. This ore car is the shortest car in service on my RR. the size of cars like this made me select the iron ore industry to base the infamous Bumpass modules on.

I usually batch build cars, but not being familiar with this car I'm building one first, so I don't make the same mistake an all four cars. This way I'll make different mistakes on all four cars.

A Tannery , being served by tinny cars like these bark cars and similarly sized 1860 style boxcars, also available from BTS, would also serve as an interesting bassis for a very small switching layout. In those tight places you can have twice as much fun with 1/2 sizes equipment.


Bill Nelson
 
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Bill Nelson

Well-Known Member
I'm a fan of Tichy, myself...although they offer little in N-scale.


I love the tichy train group stuff. I built some of their USRA hoppers, and the pieces were scale size, and made my other hopper cars look crude. Mind you I did not install all the brake piping provided. hey it is cool to have that detiail if you want it, but if you are planning on putting a bunch of cars on the RR A. you can't see that detail from the aisle , and B none of your other cars have it, so why take so much time make the rest of your cars look bad?



I wish Tichy would make a 34 foot truss rod flat car. in the 1910-1930 era this was probably one most common cars around, and they were very common much later on logging RRs. BTS has them in laser kits, but those are the only options I now of, and plastic kits can be built faster than the wood kits. That said the next round of kit purchasing I will do will include lots of BTS #$ foot truss rod flatcars to reward them for making what no one else does.


Bill Nelson
 

Doctor G

Well-Known Member
Lot's of work getting done Bill. All looks good. I enjoyed the B&W's of the infamous Bumpass module. It was the first time for me to see actual pictures of the little module although I have experienced the joys of running on it when it was incorporated in to your larger layout. It was a really neat "mini/micro" layout. Your pinto was cool too.
Doc Tom:thumb:
 

Bill Nelson

Well-Known Member
Lot's of work getting done Bill. All looks good. I enjoyed the B&W's of the infamous Bumpass module. It was the first time for me to see actual pictures of the little module although I have experienced the joys of running on it when it was incorporated in to your larger layout. It was a really neat "mini/micro" layout. Your pinto was cool too.
Doc Tom:thumb:



The Pinto was a marvelous , much maligned vehicle. The infamous exploding pinto was at a dead stop when it was rear ended by a full size van doing 80 . Mine was a good car and took a huge amount of abuse.

Bumpas was a great looking fun to operate switching layout, I'd have kept it if it hadn't weighted so much.

Bill
 

Mountain Man

Active Member
The Pinto was a marvelous , much maligned vehicle. The infamous exploding pinto was at a dead stop when it was rear ended by a full size van doing 80 . Mine was a good car and took a huge amount of abuse.

Bumpas was a great looking fun to operate switching layout, I'd have kept it if it hadn't weighted so much.

Bill

Sounds like my first wife...:mrgreen:
 
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