Trip to Altoona for Baseball and Rail Fanning

On April 11, John Drye, Brian Brendel, Jake Brendel and Bernard Kempinski were in Altoona to see Steven Strassberg, the $15M man pitch for the Harrisburg Senators. While they were there, they did some railfanning on the PRR Horseshoe Curve, demolished several buffets and generally had a good time. This film clip covers some of the highlights, except for Jake's lost Peanut.

You can't see the forest....

One thing the layout needs in large numbers (besides coal hoppers) is trees. Fortunately, N Scalers in Northern Virginia have developed a great way to represent the lush green foliage of the Alleghenies in spring and summer.

Woodland Scenics Foliage Clusters are the key. First step is to spend several evenings in front of the TV tearing the clusters into N scale treetops. Roughly-shaped spheroids (think a fuzzy green football) about 1" to 2" across are about right.

There are several means of attaching the clusters to the mountainside. I used to use hot glue but have found that clear caulk is easier to work with. It doesn't get hot or leave strings behind. Spread about a square foot's worth of caulk and attach the foam. The caulk is sufficiently tacky that the "trees" will stay on even an almost vertical surface. If not, hot glue is a backup method.

The first couple acres of forest have been planted near Horseshoe Curve. Many more are on the way.

Scenery Progress

Over the past few weeks, we have made quite a bit of progress on preparations for actually making scenery. If you squint a bit, you can almost see what the finished layout might look like. We ought to be doing things such as detailing the roadbed, spreading ballast, and planting trees on the mountainsides in the next few months.

Getting there!




Here, a westbound (uphill) merchandise train meets a coal extra coming downhill at the curve.




A PRR I-1 shoves uphill while a set of F7s brings merchandise east.

Neither snow, nor cold....

Here's another shot of our intrepid photographer Jake, proving that no amount of snow or cold will prevent him and the team from a thorough photo-documentation of the current state of the former PRR.



Now, as then; it takes a lot to stop a train.

First Train Running

The first train on the layout was a hopper train on Track #4, with engineer Leonard White, one of the regular crew, at the controls; May 20, 2009. With some scenery installed, this view is no longer possible. It does demonstrate one of the layout design objectives: that is to have trains long enough to go completely around the curve. It takes about thirty 40-foot freight cars.

Prototype Research

One of the advantages of building a Horseshoe Curve Layout is that the location is so well documented. Of course, that doesn't prevent dedicated modelers from paying a visit (the curve is about 3 hours from home). Here, Jake Brendel helps record the current state of downtown Altoona.

Early Benchwork

Here are a couple of shots of the early benchwork. The layout plumber and carpenter is Mark Andersen. Although he usually models in a larger scale, he managed to find some 1/160 lumber and has done a superb job of keeping the roadbed straight and level. Well, except for the curves and grades.

The first shot is the benchwork for West Altoona, from Slope to Brickyard Corner. The second is Horseshoe Curve. Both shots from early 2009.