Bluford Shops Rock Island Transfer Cabooses

Bluford Shops May Announcement

Rock Island Transfer Cabooses. Rock Island began building “shack-on-a-flat” style transfer cabooses as early as 1951. Variations in lettering placement were commonplace so we are presenting 2 variations with this run. After 1956, Rock Island cabooses could be found in either, as RI called it, “light red” which other roads might call caboose red, or “boxcar color” which was a rich brown approaching maroon. Both of these road numbers are in “boxcar color” with gray ladders and railings.  Expected in late 2012.  Very nice!  A pair of these would make a nice Christmas gift!


A link to the original announcement:
http://www.bluford-shops.com/bluford_93_018.htm




.






share on: facebook

Ovalix to Nolix?

It could be the medication, but I have considered thoughts of removing the ovalix on the layout.  In place, I would like to make enough of a run on a straight grade so that I could reach the height of the second level, but also add two key towns that the layout is missing between Bureau and Ottawa: Peru/LaSalle and Utica.  This would give me the ability to accurately model the flair of the Rock Island with their extensive silica business.

The question is how to do it?  I have 14" of elevation I need to make up.  I have an area originally roped off as the "children zone" for watching tv.  I'm wondering if that area can be moved or re-purposed since a flat screen is now in place.

Engineers are on site taking notes and discussing with chief engineers of two other railroads.  They hope to come up with a feasible plan that will benefit all.


.
share on: facebook

Research

I'm still here.  I haven't reported in a while as I have been caught up in researching the Rock Island from Bureau to Chicago.  I have gone over the entire route via Bing Maps in great detail taking notes.  I have watched YouTube videos of cab rides on the RI lines, found tower diagrams, track charts, etc.  It has been a pleasure to research the Rock in such detail.

There hasn't been any progress on the layout lately other then working on re-staging for the next session.  I plan on operating on my friend's L&HR layout soon.  That is always a pleasurable experience and gives me further ideas to enhance operations on the Rock.
share on: facebook

Virtual Railfanning

I've known of this before, but never really got into it until the other day.  I have been railfanning the former Rock Island line from Davenport to Chicago and down to Peoria via Bing maps.  Awesome stuff!  For a person that has never seen much of this area, it has been a great resource.  My favorite find of today is the Ottawa Silica Plant in Ottawa, IL.  I love it!

Ottawa Silica Company, Ottawa, Illinois

Operated with Larry today.  We talked about operations on both of our layouts mostly, but we each ran a local.

Larry ran the Ottawa local.  This was the first run since moving sand from the mine to the Libbey-Owens-Ford plant.  Larry found it quite interesting to work and was reminded to never break his cardinal rule of moving cars unnecessarily.  The local kept him busy and out of trouble for a while.

I ran the Blue Island local.  Good thing we didn't have any through freights today.  I had cars everywhere!  Who designed this industrial area anyway?  Oh, nevermind!

Earlier during the week, my girls and I had run all the through freights.  I even had to run an extra #2 Tucumcari to Chicago freight.  I have found the last couple of sessions that has been required.  I will run the three remaining locals this coming week.

It was a good time.  Followed up by lunch at Porkys BBQ and a run to the local hobby shop.  It is always good to have friends over to run some trains and socialize.


.
share on: facebook

Time to ROCK again!

Well, boys and girls, it's that time again!  What time is it?  It's time to ROCK!!

The layout is staged and ready to roll.  There weren't too many improvements since the last op session.  

- Economic real estate growth in Bureau, IL

- Industrial trackage changes in Blue Island after initial design was found to be flawed.

- Repair of electrical system for train order signals.

- GP7 Re-powering project

I believe I failed to mention that last one now that I think about it.  I had numerous issues with my Atlas GP7s.  I've tried everything possible even sending them off to Atlas.  They were just poor performers which is quite odd as Atlas has a great reputation.  All my other Atlas locomotives run fine.  

I had always been quite satisfied with my cheap Bachmann GP7s.  Although some can be noisy at times, they are solid performers running and pulling quite well.  On a whelm, I pondered the thought if an Atlas GP7 shell would fit on a Bachmann chassis.  Well, it did.  As well as my Proto 2000 GP18 that required a decoder and frame milling.  It was one of the first locomotives I purchased, but never placed in service due to the complex decoder install.  So, I began a search for Bachmann GP7s on eBay for cheap.  I was able to locate some and re-power the Atlas GP7 shells plus the Proto 2000 GP18.  All are in service now and I couldn't be happier.  Completely absurd, right?  Yep, but it works for me.  So, it is so.

There is a crew shortage for layouts this month.  I could only find one attendee for this weekend.  We're going to make a go at it though.  A synopsis of the op session is below:

• All passenger trains have been annulled.  The peeps will just have to ride the bus today.
• We're running a Saturday schedule, so no train #57 Chicago to Council Bluffs auto parts today.
• Train #20 Houston to Davenport Freight and #110 IL Shorts have already been run.
• Initial interchange of cars for trains #2 Tucumcari to Chicago freight and #43 Council Bluffs to Chicago freight have been made.  Trains are ready for departure in West Davenport.
• Bulletin: Train #2 Tucumcari to Chicago freight is required to pick up two Chicago cars in Joliet.
• Bulletin: Train #112 Davenport to Bureau Turn is required to pick up two cars at the new Bureau storage track for delivery
• Foreign power on the line: 
• Erie Lackawanna GP35 #2559 in the lead on train #44 Council Bluffs to Chicago freight
• Union Pacific SD40 #3017 second unit on train #23 Chicago to Houston freight
• No fast clock will be used this session.  Trains will be run in sequence order.

One other change.  An offline industry has been added that will have cars spotted at the Bureau storage track.  LaSalle Carbon Coal located in LaSalle, IL (between Bureau and Ottawa (in the ovalix)).  They will receive empties coming off the N&W from Peoria.  The Peoria local will drop the empties at Bureau where (during the night) the LaSalle local will come pick up and deliver on site.  Any loads for the coal mine will be placed back on the storage track for pick up by #112 Davenport to Bureau turn.

Sometimes, it can seem overwhelming having a room size layout.  It is all worth it though when its time to run. I was getting excited last night as the first pre-session trains began to run.  Looking forward to it as always!

Let's Rock!

.

share on: facebook

Progress Report 05.01.12

Greetings fellow Rock Island fans...

I apologize for not posting more, but I have been suffering from a nasty sinus infection that just doesn't seem to want to go away.  Progress has been slow on the layout.

The only reportable progress recently is the paving and painting of the roads and industrial parking areas in Blue Island.

I have placed red flags (red thumbtacks) across the layout to be used by crews for flag protection on the next op session.

Recently, I read an interesting article regarding simplified car routing using color dots.  I have used color dot routing on my friend Larry's Lehigh & Hudson River Railroad layout, but never thought to apply them to waybills on my layout.  I pondered the thought of implementing this on my layout.  There are definite advantages as classifying trains on Larry's layout is easy with the color code system.  It allows me to quickly identify cars and routes without having to read a waybill for each car and then process their destination.  I decided to use a two dot color system.  The dot on the left on the waybill would determine the trains destination terminal.  The dot on the right would indicate any local or subsequent train required for delivery.  I came up with 9 terminals/locals that would need to be identified with the dot labels.  Since I'm color blind, this could be an issue, but I was able to find enough contrasting colored 1/4" dot labels to make it work.

This morning, I started applying the dot labels to the waybills.  I thought it would be a more cumbersome task, but so far it has gone pretty quick.  After applying the dot labels, I went back through the trains sitting in staging.  They were classified by train, but not blocked as I have been filling out trains off and on for the last two weeks.  I was easily able to sort through all the cards and block the train by destination.  Success!  A simple idea, but it provides great results allowing crews to be more efficient.  I like it!

A preview to the How to Operate Your Model Railroad Special Issue.
http://mrr.trains.com/en/Videos/Issue%20Preview/2012/04/Video%20How%20to%20Operate%20Your%20Model%20Railroad%20preview.aspx



.
share on: facebook

Flag Man Protection

I have been thinking about timetable and train order operations more lately.  One common aspect is Rule 99.  It basically states:

Rule 99 requires the rear brakeman and head end brakeman to proceed from the train and carry lighted fusees at night, flags by day, and two torpedoes for placement on the track. This protects the train for other trains in either direction. Also, if another train can overtake the train, lighted fusees must be dropped off of the rear of the train at appropriate intervals to protect the rear of the train from collision.

We have had discussions about this when operating at my friend Larry's Lehigh & Hudson River Railroad.  Also, this past session, I was operating an extra freight into Chicago.  I had clearance into Chicago and knew that Larry was working in Blue Island, but didn't know which track.  I stopped at Joliet and contacted the Blue Island operator to find out his location (track one or two).  With Rule 99, he would have been protected by my advancing train.

I have been thinking about how to incorporate this into the operating sessions.  I've only come up with simply requiring crews to place red push pins (crewman with red flags) at either end of the train for protection.  It's not much, but offers a sense of realism when operating.  Especially, if the crews take into account the time for crewman to walk the required distance to set the fusees (push pins).
share on: facebook