Large Scale Central

A 24 hour Railroad for a Wedding

I think this could be a first, but I am sure it’s not that common. I was asked to set up an run a model railroad with my EBT equipment by my good friend and fellow FEBT Board member. At first I was a bit skeptical that it could be done. Once I made a site visit the area was found to be quite level and I decided to give it a shot.

I told him that I would need a 1/2 yard of top soil delivered Friday afternoon. The plan was to mow the grass as short as possible along the the new ROW then put down a top soil road bed. Afterward we would rake out the soil into the grass and hopefully it would settle into the law leaving no evidence at the venue that the railroad nuts had visited. The picture below shows the newly laid road bed.

EBT at a Wedding

We assembled large sections of track on the tables inside the reception pavilion in an effort to not lose as many screws in the dirt during assembly. We ended up using every piece of track we had and were able to add a freight house spur with an “industrial” spur off of it. Unfortunately I didn’t have any type of structure for the industry, but some spotted hoppers with dead trees around got the point across.

EBT at a Wedding

EBT at a Wedding

The were lots weed along the forest line that were harvested to make trees and shrubs around the scene. Between 4 and 8pm on Friday we (my self and two other buddies) were able to get the road be laid and 90% of the track down. Between 9am and 12pm Saturday we got the track finished, structures placed and the trees and shrubs planted. By 1:15 the realization the the plastic battery holder for my locomotives RC controls had failed and ceased to conduct electricity. I had tested the loco on my coffee table 5 days prior and not had issues. At the time the holder was a bit corroded and warped looking but worked fine. Apparently that was it’s last gasp. One of the fellows that helped me set up was sent out to find a replacement holder or some cheap toy that we could break the battery compartment out of to use. Unfortunately he found nothing in the few options available in this semi rural location. Luckily though I was able to use a piece of tinfoil to jump the bad spot in the pack and we ran without problem all afternoon.

EBT at a Wedding

EBT at a Wedding

Here is the Groom having his got at the controls of live steam for the first time.

EBT at a Wedding

All the guests loved the set up and lots of great conversation and questions ensued. Tear down started around 9 and went well. We scooped out the road bed with 5 gallon buckets tossed it in the woods and raked out the remains in to the grass by car headlight. We were on our way home by 11pm.

Randy, that would be a first for me. Great photo op and a wonderful wedding gift.

Yeah Bob,

I thought it was pretty cool. The Groom loved it but did admit after he saw what went in to it that it may have been a bit of a crazy idea. It was my kind of crazy though.

I just realized I for got the video. My Son took this. I was so busy running and watching for flaws in the new track work I barley had a chance to get pictures.

I am impressed! What a good friend you are for doing this. I did not register you were using live steam (even though you did say RC battery) until the video!

Greg

What a great idea for a wedding!

ha ha. Ya dun good kid…(https://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-wink.gif)

Looked great Randy. Especially #29 on the rear!

Thanks Guys.

Yes Pete, I was very pleased to give your #12 and Baggage #29 their first runs. They did look great!

I have been very lucky to acquire many of Pete’s fine models as he downsizes and adjusts his collection. I’m going to try hard to give them a good home and keep them in the pubic eye. It was a slightly stressful event dealing with the very fresh roadbed that caused one serious derailment and a few near misses. We kept a few buckets of dirt on hand to repair as needed. It became quite stressful trying to deal with the electrical issue without any volt meter or soldering equipment handy. A few batteries were taped together, some plugs in the wiring were rerouted and eliminated the toggle switch from the circuit and then some electrical tape removed from solders in the wires so they could be touched to the poles of the cobbled battery pack. With that done the receiver lit right up and we had confirmation of the culprit. Once I got word that there were no battery holders to be found I decided to re-jump all the connections in the current holder with tin foil. It turned out to be the first one I jumped. Big relief!

Overall I was pretty pleased and so was the groom. Four people that never ran live steam were able to take the controls and a few of them were walking away talking about having to get something. I hope the urge sticks for them.

Congratulations Randy on spreading the infection of live steam model railroading. Good job, on all counts.