Large Scale Central

East Broad Top Weekend

Prototypes
#1

I made my first visit to the EBT last weekend, courtesy of Pete T who invited me to come along and join the Friends for their annual reunion.

The day proved to be damp and rainy, but still very enjoyable. The event was held at the main railyard at Orbisonia, PA and consisted of lectures, a few vendors, a table top G track for running trains, and rides on the M1 and various speeders, shop tours, etc.

Pete also took me up to Mt Union to the old rail yard, now mostly overgrown with trees, but housing a collection of ancient narrow gage hoppers, and some contemporary hoppers on the standard gage track, in storage.

I attempted to take photographs despite the dismal light, and was able to get some fun shots. The shops, full of tools and machines, are truly amazing, frozen in time.

Here is the photo album for any who may be interested

https://goo.gl/photos/GQw2j2bAQaqoc13W6

Regards

Jerry

#2

Nice pictures Jerry. I like all the detail shots from Mt. Union (http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-cool.gif)

#3

Great shots - thanks for sharing.

#4

Whoa, I see some screensavers in there Jerry…and whoever scratchbuilt that passenger car is a brilliant craftsman.

#5

John Passaro said:

Whoa, I see some screensavers in there Jerry…and whoever scratchbuilt that passenger car is a brilliant craftsman.

Well, thank you but neither of the passenger cars was actually scratchbuilt. In fact, the photos of the ends about halfway down, a green coach then an unpainted end, is actually the prototype parked in the shed.

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Coach #20 is particularly difficult to model due to the end railings. The photo at the top of Jerry’s album with two guys and two coaches is John Pletcher of Iron Horse Engraving with his latest kit almost complete, and yours truly with my old #20 made from a Carter Bros kit (The MLS Master CLass project.) John runs a laser cutting business, so he’s been making CAD files and cutting the kit parts. (I am making one of his EBT #5 coaches and it is a beautiful thing.) Mine was modified just as the prototype was, with windows cut out to make double-wides, etc. My railings are styrene, cut by G.A.L. with brass uprights and tops. John’s are cut in thin plywood and are finer and more delicate.

I was struck by the number of Conrail (CSX/NS) standard gauge cars stored around the line in Mt Union. The old yard lead to the Pennsy mainline is stacked with hoppers and tanks. Inside the yard, where the original main line runs through as dual gauge, it’s been reballasted and filled with hoppers.

Here’s a photo of one line of EBT narrow gauge hoppers (there are 2 more rows of them off on the left.) You can see that they didn’t re-spike the 3’ rail when they fixed the mainline ties!

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And here’s the Conrail hoppers stored further down the line beyond the NG cars.

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#6

Well, of course they didn’t respike the third rail. The rail spiking machines the big guys use doesn’t have a 3 foot setting.

#7

David Maynard said:

Well, of course they didn’t respike the third rail. The rail spiking machines the big guys use doesn’t have a 3 foot setting.

I don’t think the EBT or the MUCRR ever used a rail spiking machine!

#8

Wow Jerry, you really have a talent for bringing the color out in a picture. I really like the one withe the brake staff and wheel covered in vines & the light and strap in M1. It was great to see you and Pete out there.

Pete Thornton said:

I don’t think the EBT or the MUCRR ever used a rail spiking machine!

Yeah, the MUCRR has pretty humble “equipment”.

Here is a shot of the F scale set up. Not bad for a lunch table-top set up. A passing siding on the far side and a three track yard on the other.

IMG_0349

#9

Pete Thornton said:

David Maynard said:

Well, of course they didn’t respike the third rail. The rail spiking machines the big guys use doesn’t have a 3 foot setting.

I don’t think the EBT or the MUCRR ever used a rail spiking machine!

Pete, yes, that is kind of my point. The big guys replaced ties there, and I would bet they used a spiking machine. So, the ties that were replaced didn’t have the small gauge rail (center rail) re-spiked. So if the EBT guys want it re-spiked, they will have to go do it themselves, by hand.

#10

Terrific pics! Excellent photography.