John Swartzell's layout appeared in Popular Science & Machinist's Monthly Journal

 

It turns out John Swartzel’’s layout got coverage in places other than Model Railroader, which might be a sign that it was indeed quite significant for its time. 

There was a small item in the Oct ’34 issue of Popular Science Monthly (that photo is snipped from the piece). It notes that:

When John N. Swartzell, of Washington, D. C., was studying railroad engineering at the University of Illinois, he enjoyed nothing more than climbing up into the cab of one of the locomotives on the test stands and pulling back the throttle. Swartzell was completely fascinated by his studies and by the prospects of following a railroad career. Then his father, a Washington real estate man, wanted Swartzell to come home and learn real estate. It was impossible to realize his railroading dreams but he could not forget them. He began the construction in his basement of a complete transportation system.

It sounds like he was a frustrated railroad man who put those energies into creating what was to become the first so-called modern model railroad layout. That appears to explain why his layout seemed more railroad-like than others of the time - he had some professional training.

There’s also an entry about Swartzell over at Forensic Genealogy, which covers some of the territory we’ve already seen, but has some new information to add. They include a link to a report on a visit to Swartzell’s layout that appeared in issue 728 of Machinist’s Monthly Journal (likely published around 1924 or so).  Among other things, the article notes that:

The construction was begun over 20 years ago, when Mr. Swartzell was only 14 years old. Some of the equipment dates back to that time, and, with the pieces added since, form a very good picture of some of the changes in railroading.

Given he was born in 1890, that would place the start around 1904. Like many of today’s model railroaders, they often start young, pack it away in their late teens for schooling, marriage, and career, and then come back once settled, sometimes digging up old equipment if it’s still around as a place to start again. I would speculate that something like that happened with Swartzell too. So, maybe those Pretty Village structures were surviving childhood playthings from his pre-teen years in the 1890s. That could explain their appearance on his layout. But, it sounds like those models didn’t have too much longer to go on the layout. Remember that Pretty Village Hotel #5 model found on his layout:

Another old timer is the frame hotel with a general store in one end. That will be replaced by a modern hotel, probably located elsewhere.

Indications are that Mr. Swartzell wasn’t a healthy man. From the obituary* included over at Forensic Genealogy, he had to retire from business in 1925 - he’d be 35 years old then - for health reasons, and died at age 47 in 1937. 

*The obituary at Forensic Genealogy makes no mention of attendance at the University of Illinois as did the Pop Sci piece, so there seems to be some inconsistency on this point.

The Wheels on the O-Train

Normally I only post once a day, however I had a special request to post this video. Ottawa's OTrain continues to have serious problems. On 8 August a train derailed - luckily it was out-of-service and no one was injured - and the recently released Transportation Safety Board report found that it was due to a wheel severed from an axle, which likely could have been avoided if the city had purchased heat-detection equipment for the trains (The full sorry story: Ottawa LRT derailment happened after hours of problems, TSB says.)

Then on Sunday, 19 September a second derailment occurred near Tremblay station. This one was more serious. Thirteen passengers were onboard, none injured, trackside signalling equipment and switch heaters were ripped out. Long story short, the TSB is investigating this one too, and the entire system has been shutdown for at least 3 weeks. No one is commenting on when it will reopen. (Here's the long story: LRT train derailed before entering station, then travelled across a bridge, says TSB)

The last derailment was so serious even the Toronto Star picked up the story, Why the bumpy, two-year ride of Ottawa's multibillion-dollar LRT system is sparking calls for a public inquiry. The Star's coverage is the best summary I've read of the situation.

Basically, Ottawa's LRT is a lemon, and it's looking like we're all going to have our wallets squeezed to fix it.

Pretty Village buildings and Washington, D. C. at the centre of layout innovation?

Repro of Pretty Village Hotel #5

I did a little digging through the Model Railroader archive to see if I could find anything about John Swartzell. I did, and it's quite interesting.

First, there's an article called History of Model Railroading in the Feb '37 issue that has this to say about Swartzell's layout:

The first model railroad that we know of, built as an operating entity according to present ideas, was the Baltimore & Ohio Junior of John Swartzell, Washington, D. C., the track layout and plan of which is shown on the next page. This road started in 1904 as a tinplate line, and the layout shown dates back as far as 1919. The photo above shows how complete it was in careful planning and execution. O gauge with 1/4" scale was used.

Yeap, and the plan does look like that Shorpy photo. But, more importantly, Swartzell's layout wasn't just any old layout, it was the first one to be what we today take to be a layout: a trackplan that seems realistic and allows for operation like an actual railroad set within a scenic context that also seems real in organization and modelling. Also, its construction dates back to 1919, so it pushes back the date of the first known layout quite a ways. The Jan '89 issue reiterated the importance of Swartzell's layout in the opening essay to Legendary layouts and the men who built them.

Interestingly, in that Feb '37 article no mention is made of Hugh Boutell and the HO layout he built in the '20s, although mention is made of Eric LaNal being an HO pioneer, although LaNal later noted Boutell as having the first HO layout in the US.

So, Swartzell had what was considered the first modern model train layout in the US, and Boutell had the first HO layout. Both were residents of Washington, D. C. at the time of these innovations. And both made use of Pretty Village toy buildings. Admittedly, they were used to fill out the non-railroad and domestic aspects of the layouts, but without them would the layouts have appeared as complete scenes? I'd argue maybe not. They fulfilled a role, albeit a minor one, to help boost those two layouts to iconic status. 

Unfortunately, in the Dec '37 issue, MR ran Mr Swartzell's obituary, noting that he died on 18 November 1937.

Another Pretty Village sighting

Pretty Village buildings used on J. N. Swartzell's layout, Aug '29 | Shorpy

I was browsing around Pinterest and came across this photo from Shorpy. It's the layout of Mr. John N. Swartzell of Washington, D. C., dated 5 August 1929. Over at Shorpy there are 4 photos of Mr. Swartzell's layout: 2 from 11 December 1925, and 2 from 5 August 1929. The 1925 photos look like they were taken to document construction. 

One thing that caught my eye were the Pretty Village buildings in the background. I've noted them in the photo: item 1 is House No. 15; item 2 I can't identify from my reference material although it has the characteristics of a Pretty Village model; item 3 is Hotel No. 5. 

I speculate that Mr. Swartzell's layout is in O scale, and if that's the case he's been quite strategic in placing the Pretty Village models in the background as they're somewhat smaller than O; probably closer to S or HO. If you look at the other 1929 layout photo you'll also see what look like Pretty Village models deeper in the background, in the mountain's foothills. This is a rather sophisticated use of these buildings.

My suspicions were that these Pretty Village toys were likely used on many early model train layouts as they were relatively inexpensive and sized just about right for O or HO layouts if carefully placed, as we saw with Hugh Boutell's layouts* (here and here). To me it's interesting to trace the use of these kid's toys that were first released in the late 1890s to early 20th century model railroads.

*I wonder if Boutell and Swartzell knew each other as they both lived in Washington, D. C. in the mid and late 1920s?

Restoring E. L. Moore's Norfolk & Southern yard office

After some restoration work

Until recently I looked down on E. L. Moore’s Norfolk & Southern yard office that was published in the Feb ’66 issue of Railroad Model Craftsman. It seemed a simple, two-page space filler project. I shouldn’t have been so snobby. As Mr. Moore points out in the article, it’s a model of an actual Norfolk & Southern building, but what he only mentions in a letter to Hal Carstens, dated May 16, 1965, is that the prototype, along with the blacksmith shop, was one he himself discovered in Charlotte. Much like the HOJ POJ MFG CO. and the 1900’s Foundry, those two little buildings were Charlotte structures he saw, measured, and modelled. So, there’s a little thread of Charlotte history running through a subset of his models that should be given some consideration on my part.

Before restoration

The model as received wasn’t in too bad shape. The end walls have warped a bit. Some parts had broken off, but were included along with the fence section that stands in the landscape outside the front door, so it was complete. 

The more concerning problem were the discoloured edges to the end walls and the slopes on their upper brick work. At first I thought they were exposed raw wood from where the Northeastern brick sheet was cut, but looking closer with a magnifying glass showed faint brick work. It turns out Mr. Moore painted bricks on those edges to finish them, and he outlines the procedure in the article:

Now you will need a paint mixture to cover the raw surfaces to match the brick. Take a few brushfuls of red, a couple of yellow, then a touch of green - and maybe a bit of white if it needs lightening. When you’ve got a close match cover the surfaces and stripe, using a fine pointed brush, and an off white paint to simulate mortar joints.

He doesn’t say what kind of paint was used, but after 56 years it appears to have almost faded away. However, from the article’s photos, it looks like he did a good job of matching the Northeastern brick pattern. I decided not to overpaint these edges, but just leave them as is. I think I’d do more harm than good if I tried to match the brick.

I did do a little touchup painting on those two sets of concrete steps. It looks like their lower edges collected a little plaster from sitting on somebody’s layout, so I overpainted those areas with some thin flat black to blend them into the black washes Mr. Moore had already applied to the stairs. You can also see a little plaster on the lower edge of the front wall. I’ll leave it for now as I’m not sure how to remove it without damaging the brick surface.

So, not much to see here. Glued a few pieces back on and touched up some stairs. 

But, there’s one last thing. Take a look at this cover letter E. L. Moore sent to Hal Carstens with the yard office manuscript:

August 25, 1965

Major H. Hoople Carsten,

Ye Editor,

Railroad Model Craftsman

Ramsey, N. J.

Dear Major . . .

By golly, I didn’t think you’d do it — really dunno as it was worth the extra wordage but I wuz not in the mood to be factual . . . but I can understand now why Mr. Zip (JDL: aka Linn Westcott, editor of Model Railroader magazine), if, as according to one of his readers, he writes three quarters of what goes into his mag, has little time or desire for humor.

But here is one in the approved style, short and terse, to make up for Major Hoople’s excesses (JDL: The ‘excess’ was a long, tall tale in the Hoople Warehouse article; no tall tale in the yard office article). And it’s from the same yard in which I discovered the blacksmith shop.

Y’know why I kinda like RMC best? Not because of your shiny coated paper or your plastic bags — but because it ain’t so damned technical that it gives one an inferiority complex — so keep it kinda that way for us more simple minded folks. But this ain’t no testimonial because now and then I gotta pat my friend, Bill Rau (JDL: Bill Rau was an associate editor at MR at that time), on the back too.

Mud in your eye . . . 

{signed E. L. Moore}

(Had this article ready but held it about a month so as not to push too much into the old boy’s craw at a time)

Yes, that last bit in red was actually typed in red at the bottom of the copy of the letter. He’s done that on a few letters, and I’ve wondered for what reason? A note to himself? A note to a relative? A note to me? I can’t say I know anything about the complexities of the space-time continuum, but one wonders :-)