Getting back to the book

Test cover (Green border because)

If you're a regular reader here you'll notice I'm cutting back a bit on posts, and will continue do so for a little while longer. I'm spending as much time as I can on the E. L. Moore ebook. I've been getting over a shoulder and neck injury which put a damper on my enthusiasm for big projects, but I'm more-or-less back in the saddle, so I'm dusting off the files and trying to catch up on lost time.

Anyway, that's the plan, mixed metaphors and all.

Optical Construction

Corrected* illustration that accompanied Dance's article

Optical Construction: A method of angling a layout's tablework to create the illusion of steeply graded track work.

Usage: Bob used optical construction in his layout's mountainous area so that he wasn't limited to using only his most powerful locomotives in that region.

Source: Sherman Dance described the concept in an article called Scenic Railroad Building that appeared in the February 1950 issue of Railroad Model Craftsman.

First, Mr. Dance describes the problem:

Building mountains, producing cuts and the like is not a big engineering problem. Real mountain scenery can easily be modeled, and without having steep grades. The entire scenery is laid out by construction of optical illusions - optical illusions of platform construction. Generally, the modeler will erect a platform that is level and on to which the mountains are made to rise from the platform. The result is, of course, steep grades over which only the largest motive power can be used and with a light train. Optically, it is done otherwise.

He then discusses using an optical illusion to solve the problem:

Optical construction calls for a platform that is anything but level - high where you want it and low any place that will fit the general plan of things. The mountainous area (let us say the North end) can be constructed on the low side of the platform. To the South end, the terrain is supposed to represent fairly level ground and this is erected on the high end of the platform. The trackage, on the other hand, is about level between these points - optical illusion of construction.

No example dimensions or implementation photographs accompanied the article to judge the effectiveness of this proposed method.

*The illustration shown in the source material shows the North and South ends of the layout section labelled opposite to the description in the article. In the article's illustration, South should be North, and North should be South. The illustration has been corrected for the dictionary.

from The Dictionary of Non-Existent Model Railroad Terms, 1st ed.,1959.

From the days when the OTrain was a good thing

Maybe when an RFP goes out for a new LRT system there needs to be a section specifying musical requirements. 

Starting to paint the Jigger

After a pause in construction I've decided to restart by painting the body shell.

I haven't been able to determine what colours the real Jigger was painted, so after some thought, I decided to use colours reminiscent of the ones Ottawa's streetcars used in the 1940s and 1950s, which appear to be well documented in colour photos.

Yellow and an orangey red dominate. For those I chose Tamyia Flat Yellow acrylic, XF-3, and Golden's SoFlat Cadmium Red Light. The Cadmium Red Light seems about right, although the Tamyia Flat Yellow is a little cheerier than the yellow on the prototype. The brown is Tamyia Linoleum Deck Brown acrylic, XF-79. I haven't decided on final colours for the roof, steps, or bumpers. All these paints are being applied with brushes.

Well, painting is maybe half-way done, which likely means it's really only a quarter done, and I see many areas for correction already, so ....

Layout stand, version 2

Two birds examine the remains of version 1 of the Loonar Module layout stand

Not all experiments are successful, although most are educational. My first attempt at a lightweight, portable, eye-level stand for the Loonar Module sure wasn't successful, but education did happen.

There were a few problems, but the one that sealed its fate was its smell. I used some ancient leftover black paint I had in the basement to paint it. After months of outgassing and attempts at smell remediation, it continued to have a strong paint smell no matter what was done. The only salvageable parts were the unpainted wheels.

In case you're interested, the other problems were that it needed to be shortened by 2" to 3" to properly accommodate the height of an average woman instead of being specifically designed to my eye-level when standing, and the wheels were too industrial for general domestic use. 

Version 2 minutes after final assembly. EyeChair in background

I didn't have enough leftover wood around the house to build another standing eye-level prototype (I'm trying to use up stuff around here as much as possible), but I did have enough for one at sitting eye-level*. And this time I looked up the standard eye-level for an average woman while seated, 46", to use as the dimension to design this thing around. The components were sized so that rolling stock on the track would be placed 46" above the floor. This is a tad too short for me, but I can  lower my chair or slouch a bit :-)

This height allows me to place the stand with the layout on top kitty-corner to both my desk and drafting table in the studio and be able to get an eye-level view whenever I want. Spoiler alert: this is working out quite well. The layout's calming to look at, and repeated viewing helps me figure out what should be added or removed. 

That's version 2 up there on the right. Like version 1, this one lacks diagonals for proper torsion and shear strength, so it's not up for rough handling. It turns out I have some leftover metal diagonal struts from an old, discarded Ikea shelf that are just the right length that I'll install once I've decided on what, if any, shelves to include. 

This one is going to remain unpainted until the spring, and only be painted if I can find some low or no odour paint. On the other hand, once I settle on a final design, I'd like to build a proper final version from some decent wood and components that are better looking and more generally house friendly.

One last thing. To make the controller easy to find and move around with the stand I screwed a cup hook into bottom of the stand's plywood top and glued a matching one to the bottom of the controller with J-B Weld epoxy.

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*Digressions

You might be wondering why I've got lots of wood sticks lying around? They're the scraps and leftovers from making various types and sizes of backyard squirrel cages. They're not for keeping squirrels in, but keeping them out; out and away from plants and herbs they find irresistibly delicious. These cages get used for lots of things ranging from protecting potted plants while they get some rare fall sun to springtime service in the planting beds keeping young seedlings from being devoured. We're overrun with ravaging squirrels and there's not much that can be done to keep them out of the backyard, but there's plenty that can be done to keep them out of the salad bar. And doing so produces timber for squirrelly model train layouts :-)

Railroading A Tonic ...

... or so says the RMC editor's title to the letter sent in by Bill Schopp that appeared in the December 1949 issue:

Not many months ago I lost touch with one of my correspondents who just didn't answer my letters and cards. Finally the other day I heard from him: he had suffered a nervous breakdown to the extent that he was confined to a state hospital for the insane for a spell. He is now out, well on the road to recovery, and claims to be the only model railroader with a certificate signed by twelve doctors saying he is sane! Perhaps the NMRA could arrange for each of us to receive such a certificate (if we deserve it) without getting it the hard way.

Was Paul Detlefsen’s “Horse & Buggy Day’s” painting the inspiration for E. L. Moore’s Blacksmith Shop?

Left: E. L. Moore's Blacksmith, RMC Sept '67 | Right: Paul Detlefsen's Horse & Buggy Days

I'll start by getting right to the point: I think Paul Detlefsen's Horse & Buggy Days painting was the inspiration for E. L. Moore's blacksmith barn that appeared in the September 1967 issue of Railroad Model Craftsman. Evidence? It's a little speculative, but let's begin with the opening statements in Mr. Moore's article:

Although I recall quite a few blacksmith shops from the distant days of my youth, I'm still unable to pinpoint any one which appeared to be housed in a building of its own specifications. Mostly, it seemed, one just happened along and took over a building then grew into it and eventually became a part of it.

But this one - it certainly must have been designed and built exclusively for the use of a smithy - or so I would like to think. It came from my wall, right over my desk - at least the artist's conception of it - and he has made such an interesting study of the old shop that I never quite tire of looking at it. There it stands, in the prime of life, solidly built and well painted, and it looks the way one likes to image a blacksmith shop should look; a little shop at the outskirts of a village or at a crossroads.

Original photo of blacksmith by E. L. Moore

I built my model in HO, but along the same general lines, with a loft door and ladder, gambrel roof and stone foundation. I did, however, lower the foundation a bit, and moved the forge over near the door. Whether the artist saw a cupola or not is impossible to tell because of the tree's foliage, but since one adds much to the image, I gave mine one. Then, too, I added a lean-to woodshed to the side, and a gabled retreat off the rear where the smithy may wish to retire to tot up his accounts. And I'm not referring to the little house out back with the moon shaped ventilators.

From the above description, the model photograph, and comparison with the Defletsen painting, you can see the similarities, but that's not enough to connect them. 

AHM's plastic kit of E. L. Moore's Blacksmith

Wikipedia tells me that when Mr. Detlefsen retired from matte painting for Hollywood movies he turned his attention to painting scenes of rural life in late 1800s and early 1900s America, and making reproductions of them available in the form of, among other things, prints and calendars. Mr. Moore specialized in buildings and scenes of the same era, so it's not much of a stretch to think that what was on the wall above his desk he referred to in his article was a Detlefsen calendar or print. The Wikipedia article also notes that in 1969 it was estimated that 80% of Americans had seen Detlefsen's work. Mr. Moore submitted the manuscript in June '67, so by 1967 there was likely maximum circulation of Detlefsen art in various forms available in the marketplace.

Ok, I admit all my 'evidence' is circumstantial and the connections are speculative, but you've got to admit it's intriguing.

A glimpse of Paul Detlefsen's layout in 1949

Railroad Model Craftsman, August 1949

You may recall I wrote about Paul Detlefsen and his  layout a few years ago. These days I've been rereading some old Railroad Model Craftsmans and happened to come across that photo over on the left from Mr. Detlefsen's layout in the Your Nabor's Pike section of the August 1949 issue.

Interestingly we were treated to a much larger colour photo of that area of his layout on the cover of the December 1961 issue of Model Railroader.

As I mentioned in one of the previous posts, since Paul Detlefsen and John Allen were contemporaries, I wonder if one had any influence on the other? Hmm, maybe I need to reopen this case :-) I'll keep you posted.

Layout as Antilayout

The weather has been unusually pleasant for the last few weeks, consequently model building has been pushed to the side. However, winter is now definitely on the horizon, so I'm getting things organized for hunkering down in the workshop when the snow eventually flies.

One task is to get the layout ready for the next phase of construction. I think it might take 6 to 8 months to get it into some sort of baseline state as far as looks and features are concerned. It has been in a sorry state for awhile, so I figured if I got it cleaned and tidied, I'd have it in a positive condition as a starting point, which would put me in a good mood as I get going on this next phase.

While busy cleaning up I got to thinking this layout is more antilayout than layout. You may recall I wrote about Bill Schopp's concept of the anti-layout, but I'm starting to think that is a specific instance of a more general concept I call the antilayout. I define antilayout as a layout that goes against the grain of layout conventions, and not just here and there, but in overall design and execution. An antilayout isn't nontraditional just for the sake of being contrarian, but because it is the only way to express what the builder needs to express. With this layout the goals are many and don't involve the usual things such as the ability to simulate railway operations or delivering power by functioning overhead wiring, but instead it provides: loops so I can watch streetcars run, a place for displaying buildings (and is very reconfigurable as the mood strikes), a setup for photographing city and seaside scenes, and lightweight construction so I can move it around and take it places. Antilayouts are idiosyncratic and reach beyond the somewhat juvenile refrain we hear these days that goes something like, "it's my layout and I'll do as I please". This being said, I need to tell you that if you are looking for helpful, realistic, and generally applicable layout construction advice, you need to look elsewhere.

Skipper: Trolley & Sax Man

Left: 1st published 1972 | Right: 1st published 1935

I bought these two cartoon compilations in the summer and dipped into them now-and-then whenever I needed some laughs - which was often. I still frequently pull Toonerville Trolley off the shelf for emergency use :-)

Railway Ribaldry was the first one I bought. It's a 2014 reprint of cartoonist William Heath Robinson's 1935 book that was published to commemorate the centenary of the Great Western Railway. It's full of debonair and droll railway boffin humour. I especially like the ways Robinson often used the page as a design element.

Skipper wails on his sax

And then there's Fontaine Fox's Toonerville Trolley! It's completely wild and crazy. Feral maybe? It's a bracing contrast to Railway Ribaldry.

The internet tells me that what I think of as the Toonerville Trolley cartoons were actually called Toonerville Folks, or at times, alternatively, The Toonerville Trolley That Meets All The Trains. Whatever the name, it ran in the Chicago Post and in syndication from 1908 to 1955 when Fox retired.

Skipper and his trolley were prominent characters of course, but the cast of characters was vast. The table of contents lists 86!  

The antics of children in the wilds of what was then thought of as an emerging U.S. suburbia - which looks more like the country from where I sit in the over developed 21st century - are prominently featured. 

Remember when vacant lots abounded in our land and kids played on them the year round? Remember when trolley cars crisscrossed every street and some lines ended in the "country"?... Remember when suburbia could be located only a few miles from downtown?

Some introductory thoughts from 1972 to Fontaine Fox's Toonerville Trolley by co-compiler Herb Galewitz.

Ok, this is 30Squares the last I looked, so let's get some highly speculative E. L. Moore connections out of way before I bust. Mr. Moore also had a large cast of characters in his articles. Was that in anyway influenced by the large cast of Toonerville Folks? Not to mention his character naming convention has a Toonerville vibe. And what about that name, Toonerville Folks? Mr. Moore's photography studio, which focused on child portraiture, was called Little Folks Studio. Coincidence? Completely unrelated? The most likely answers are Yes and Yes. But, still, I keep these sorts of things in the back of my mind, and let me tell you they itch back there :-)

Toonerville Folks reached the end of the line on February 9, 1955, when the seventy-year-old Fox retired to Florida. Wisely, neither the Syndicate nor Fox sought a replacement. The "vacant lot" era of American life was disappearing. It was beaten by the population explosion of post-Word War II, suburban developers, and urban blight. Today, seventeen years later, we have "progressed" to professional Little Leagues, artificial grass, and the disappearance of street life. It is enough to make a grown man cry.

Herb Galewitz wraps up his introductory comments on a downbeat.

At least the '70s didn't usher in the end of the saxophone ...

... and I got to wondering, was there any Skipper-style Toonerville Trolley music out there?

I found this piece recorded sometime in 1944 or 1945 by Raymond Scott and his orchestra:

The time period's right, but it sounds a little too smooth. I imagine Skipper belting out something more raucous.

I kept looking and found this 1967 song by The Electric Prunes whose lead singer was ....

... James Lowe. At this point music searching stopped dead as I pondered this strange coincidence. This James Lowe parts his name in the middle. His full name turns out to be Thaddeus James Lowe, a descendent of none other than Thaddeus Lowe who built the Mt. Lowe electric railway, which we've discussed here in the past.

These coincidences are making me dizzy. I think I'll go lie down. Ask Katrinka to wake me when the trolley gets here.

The trolley is actually a mobile jazz club. I wonder if it stops at Baker St.?

Putting on some weight

The Jigger was turning out to be a rather lightweight model and was having trouble going through a slightly uneven switch. It didn't have enough momentum at low speeds to just power through.

To fix this I stuck small weights, each about 7g, to the chassis, just above each pair of wheels. I picked up that strip of weights many years ago at George's Trains, and they've come in handy on a variety of projects. Looks like I'm now down to my last four. I need to get some more. 

The weights are visible through the windows, but my plan is to use some smoked plastic for window glass so the interior is obscured.

The model runs much better now, and it's onto finishing the front and back ends of the chassis.