Going for a spin on the Way Out Layout

I haven't been ignoring the Way Out Layout. I have been tinkering with it now and then, but I did lose the plot for awhile. There was something that didn't quite sit well with me, but after staring and thinking for a long time I realized there were two problems: there were too many buildings on the beach side of the layout which destroyed the open field look I wanted, and the arrangement of buildings was too scattered in the urban area that fronts the side road that divides the city and beach. Now that I've resolved those problems, the layout arrangement is looking better to my eye so I can get on with modelling and detailing.

So, to kick things off I decided to try running the two AHM trolleys I bought at a swap meet back in the spring. They were $5 each, but the seller didn't know if they ran. I found they ran haltingly at best. I opened up the Public Service trolley, scrubbed its wheels and pickups clean, and oiled the gears. After a bit of run in it ran quite smoothly, and I shot this video once it could do reliable laps. Although, I should note that sometimes it would stall on the wye switch frogs because of its large flanges. You can see in the video how it bumps through those switches.

I see more tinkering on the horizon.

The Immortal Beaver

Last night we were once again talking about floatplanes, and it got me thinking about the de Havilland Beaver. My subsequent wanderings turned up this history of that legendary plane. If you were wondering, there is a railway angle: take a look at that picture I snipped from the video of a boxed up Beaver ready to ship to a customer on a flatcar - that would make for an interesting and unique little project.

Oh, where oh where can my Space Hopper be?

That's not it.

Last Thursday was the first time this year I could get out of the car and have a look, albeit a very quick look, up and down the Havelock yard. I was looking for the Space Hopper, but didn't see it amongst all the parked hoppers. Maybe it has returned to its home planet :-)

That's not it either.

Yclept [alternate; archaic]

Yclept: A railroad by the name of.

Usage: His beautiful woodland layout, yclept Havelock & Hastings RR, was displayed at the fall model railroad show.

Source: New discoveries being considered for the dictionary have to be reviewed for spelling or typographic mistakes; however, such errors are not always the cause of “new” finds. For example, omnivagant was suggested by a prominent editor to be simply a typographic error, but that proved not to be the case. 

Yclept, as used in this sentence found in the September 1961 article called, Toronto, Lake Shore & St. Lawrence in Railroad Model Craftsman by The Layout Doctor, Bill Schopp,

In a ten by twelve foot room, one side open, on a solid plywood tabletop already in place, a model HO railroad with room for running plenty of trains over alternate routes, plus terminal operation: such was the prescription which lead to my designing the Toronto, Lake Shore, & St. Lawrence R.R. (which was almost yclept Toronto, North Shore, & Atlantic).

is the correct spelling and usage of the now archaic term.

from The Dictionary of Non-Existent Model Railroad Terms, 2nd ed., 1999.

Comparing VW pickups and vans

Left: Husky's VW pickup (1/66 scale) | Right: An HO (1/87) scale VW pickup

Through the magic of eBay I found and bought a Husky brand VW pickup. After comparing the Husky to a variety of E. L. Moore photos where his VW pickup appears, I'm fairly certain the Husky is the one he used. It looks like he pried out the extensible scaffolding in the bed and covered over the hole with some wood, likely balsa :-) 

The internet tells me the toy is 1/66 scale, which is close to S scale's 1/64, so it's going to appear a little large compared to other HO scale items. 

The Husky in comparison to other HO scale VWs

Although the toy is in good shape I'm going to convert it to E. L. Moore's version. This may seem like sacrilege to collectors, but I don't plan to destroy any of the components, so it could be changed back in the future. Longtime readers might recall my attempt at converting an HO VW van to the E. L. Moore pickup, and may also recall that it was lost just a few months later. I'll do my darnedest to prevent that from happening to this one :-)