Page 7 - May June 2007

C A R S
condition, so much so that management had to buy some time with the old equip­ ment as in that picture.
The CNR immediately ordered hundreds of new vans to be built to their newly established standard. This standardisation included many differences such as the cupola offset to one end, set window spacings, set floor plans, end platforms and steps, safety appliances, grab irons, ladders, and so on. Most were built up from older existing double­sheathed box­ cars, stripped right to their wood beams and wood underframes, and built up new from the bottom up. There were many of these standard caboose­building contracts that took place across the vast new CNR system from 1923 through 1927 or so and continued into the 1930s at a lesser pace. Then again during the war, hundreds more were needed and it's probably significant to note for the modeller that from 1931 taller cupolas were the standard.
The spindly looking but quite robust open latticed steps were for a very good reason – ice and snow could be cleaned out easily compared to solid risers that could pocket snow and ice and make removal difficult. As soon as these new cabooses could be built and replace the old inherited equip­ ment, most of the earlier stuff was retired or rebuilt to the same standards. Interest­ ingly, some of these early centre­cupola design cabooses were retained, but rebuilt and greatly reinforced and made into snow flangers, with steel edge blades that were notched out to clear flangeways of ice and snow build­ups.
Bottom line, if I wished to model an earlier GTR centre­cupola caboose, I sure wouldn’t be chopping into a CNR brass model.’
Rich Chrysler
The American Model Railroad Group, Gosport
Allan Dobson
We are now looking forward to our next meet, being our 24th, which once again we are hoping will turn out fine; our last one was very well attended.
We had a good numbers through the door, and a very successful raffle, the funds of which we are using to finance the HO club layout.
As a group we are progressing well with the HO layout, now half built, which we showed at Sompting last year. It was well received and although half­finished ran well and has a further invite for next year. Roger Beech’s new Gilkicker Loop is up and running on DCC and he has now completed the scenery. Tony Halse has produced three Gauge 1 boards which worked well at our November meet.
We thank you for giving us a mention in Roundhouse in the past – we are only a small group, but try to give anyone who does come a very warm welcome and make them feel at home.
(all items by the Editor unless otherwise credited)
NG books
Narrow Gauge enthusiasts may like to know that the late John Knight’s interesting book collection was purchased by Rolling Stock Books of Wigan. You might just find some gems there. Email is rollingstockbooks @fsmail.net
N Trak Convention
Allan Dobson
Well, you might say, ‘What’s that got to do with me?’ Maybe not a lot, but a better weekend would be hard to find, as I’m sure that all who attended would be very happy to confirm.
I recently attended another fine N Trak Convention at the East Anglia Hotel in Bournemouth. It was worth going for the food really, but was nice to see the trains running too. This was once again organised by David Ballam, who did an excellent job, even though he steps back smartly when the suggestion of organisation is men­ tioned.
The British N Trak Group manages to exist with the minimum of fuss and is all the better for it, in lots of folk’s eyes. This time there were five layouts and once up and running all performed well, plus we also had three traders, two of which came from the USA; the first Neil Carnaby, of ‘Neil’s N­gauging Trains’ and second Russ Kaufman ‘The N Scale Architect’, who as usual gave an interesting clinic on the Saturday, the third being Tony Rogers of Tony’s Trains, from Hampshire.
A good time was also had by the ladies, with plenty of shops to visit, and a lot of carrier bags were seen in attendance, as they came looking for room keys after the excursions into the town. A lot of interest­ ing nattering was completed in the com­ fortable lounges and bars. The general consensus was that we all had a good time, and the hotel has already been booked again for next year.
This year they even put on a total eclipse of the moon for us on the Saturday evening, so you cannot get better service than that, can you!
Railroad time
One day an engineer calls the dispatcher and asks him for the time. The dispatcher responds by asking him what road he works for. The engineer is a little p*ssed and snaps, ‘What difference does that make?’
‘Well,’ the dispatcher drawls, ‘if you work fortheBNit’s2pm;ifyouworkfortheUP it is 14.00; if you work for the Norfolk Southern or CSX the big hand is on the 12 and the little hand is on the 2; and if you work for Amtrak it’s Tuesday!”
(From Tampa Bay NRHS ‘Order Board’)
Region Secretary Carol Webb . . .
. . . received this rather nice letter from Janice Pugh . . .
‘Dear Carol,
In October last year I visited your conven­ tion at Kegworth. I personally wanted to thank you for such a great weekend. I was pleasantly surprised at how much I really did enjoy the whole event. The organisation of such a venue takes such lot of hard work and patience and I'm sure quite a few headaches too! But looking at it as an outsider it certainly seemed to go ex­ tremely well and very smoothly. The atmos­ phere all around was buzzing, happy and friendly too. I visited three clinics through­ out the day with my other half. First the Tree Making Lesson, which I found very interesting learning that different bushes and greenery can make different sorts of trees. Intriguing. I am interested in art so I think this obviously made a difference too. Another clinic I visited was the Back Drop Painting. It was brilliant, I definitely learnt a lot here and also really did enjoy this. I could have sat there for even longer listen­ ing and learning. I must admit the gentle­ men that took these classes need to know and be complimented on how well they did and how they kept us continuously interested throughout the class.
As my other half wandered around looking and admiring the scenery and the train layouts, I went to another class, the Card Making Clinic which I thoroughly loved. I amsogladthatIjoinedinasIwas,tobe honest, a little nervous in going, as I didn’t know anyone else there. It was friendly and we had a good laugh too. The cards we made were excellent. Susan was a very good teacher and she definitely knows and enjoys her work. I really enjoyed it enough to come back the next day, which we hadn't intended doing. I would cer­ tainly come to this clinic again, if it is run at the next convention.
It was a great idea to include the girls in this weekend, I suppose it’s a change to see the men going around browsing and spending on the credit card. Let’s just hope when it’s our turn to shop, the men will give us a little more leeway in the way we shop compared to the way they look at their trains!!!
Thank you once again for a wonderful time and my compliments to the organisers and the speakers.’
Another item . . .
. . . in Tampa Bay’s NRHS chapter magazine ‘Order Board’ which is sent to me by Bob Warren, its editor, mentions that the Roanoke transportation museum is in difficulties, and is having to sell its NKP Berkshire #763 to Ohio Central. The good news is that the OC intends to restore and operate the 2­8­4.
The Virginia Museum of Transportation also houses N&W’s J class #611 and A class #1218, both sadly non­working now. Perhaps they could sell those off to an operator too!
YARD LIMIT
JUNE 2007