BOOK REVIEW - Steel Mill Railroads Volume 6

To sum it up - a disappointment.  It looks like the Steel Mill Railroads series has finally "jumped the shark".    The most interesting photo in the book- your looking at it on the front cover.     My problem with this volume is that it isn't about steel mill railroads, as the title professes, but rather, steel mill ENGINES.   Don't get me wrong, I love Baldwin locomotives, which apparently so did southern steel mill operators, however, after 20 or 30 it starts to get boring.  The vast majority of the photos in this book are your Extra 2200 South type locomotive photos.    If you like that sort of thing - the ex Penn Central 1234, ex PLE 5432,..etc..  I guess you might like this, but otherwise don't waste your $55.    There were a number of shots that looked promising - if the photographer or editor had zoomed back from the locomotive a bit so I could actually see more than a small section of the mill in the background.   Much of the text of the captions relates to previous owners of the locomotive, lots about the paint schemes,  spark arrestors on locomotives, re-engineening Baldwin primer movers with EMD,...etc...   boring to me.     There were no maps, and I gained virtually no knowledge about southern steel mill locations, facilities, or operations of any sort.    Some of the very few interesting things - the cover photo, a close up of the air compressor car in the cover photo,  and a caboose from I think, USPipe.  There was a shot of a train of interesting ore jennies, hauling "Venezuelan iron ore" on the "high line" to an ore conditioning plant, but from where?, and what and where did the highline run?.....etc..     One of the few mill shots, was a 1950's vintage "commercial photo" that apparently was sold locally in Alabama or done as a promotional thing - night shot, poor resolution, oh, but if you look real close you can see the ass end of a Porter saddle tank in the open hearth.      My opinion is if there are to be more of these geographic themed volumes, a good template  to follow, would be the Morning Sun Union Railroad Book.  Most of the shots were of entire trains, with the mills visible in the background, so you knew where the trains were going or coming from and had some reference with the mills they served.    There were also maps and amble text describing the operation of the RAILROAD.     Otherwise, change the title to Steel Mill Locomotives of the South or something along those lines.    Of course, since Morning Sun books are wrapped in plastic, they are sort of like a box of Cracker Jacks - you don't know if you are going to get something good or bad until you fork over the money and buy it.  

 

1/35 WWII GERMAN STEAM LOCOMOTIVE BUILD - Part 2

Some photos of progress.  Many hours of work to get to this point.  I'm deviating from the instructions due to painting considerations.  I'm going with the standard, non-camo scheme - black body and red frame.   The instructions call for attaching the boiler section to the frame early in the assembly process.  Doing so would mean painting many many parts individually that would be added later.   I'm continuing with the assembly and evaluating every part as to whether they can be attached before mating the sub assemblies together.  If I'm not sure, or concerned that they would interfere with future assembly I leave them off.   I've only lost one part - one of the dozen or so clamps for the smoke box door - popped off tweezers and vanished.  I was able to replicate a decent enough replacement from styrene scraps on bench.  Notice the etched brass parts.

Tender frame and body under construction

Boiler and Cab

Loco frame

CHRISTMAS UPDATE

Happy Holidays to all.   I'd like to report that I spent plenty of cold nights and days down in the basement working on the layout, but alas, I continue to be trying to get through my work backlog.  Christmas Day was the second day off for me this fall (Thanksgiving was the other).  I actually almost worked as I spent the day down at the shore with my family and we have had an ongoing job at a Stone Harbor beach house - The job being only 5 minutes away, I'd planned on slipping out for an hour or two to work on some punch list items, but came to my senses, and relaxed a bit.   Lots of good presents, but on the railroad side - a Stewart AS-616 and a 1/35 scale model of a German WWII Locomotive - pictured above.    The AS-616 is the second that I've gotten in the past month - I plan on converting one into a B-unit 616 (there were a few, and since my railroad is fictional, we have one)    I will paint and decal them in our Amboy Terminal scheme and the two unit lash up will serve as transfer power, especially for drags up the hill from the lower works.     Recently, there was a period of a few weeks,  which was probably the longest time in recent history that I hadn't gone down to the basement to work.   When I did finally get down one night around Christmas, I found myself with modelers block of sorts - feeling overwhelmed and out of touch with trains I guess.  I watched some tv and straightened up a bit, but no productive modeling.   Since then, my second train present, the 1/35 locomotive, has been getting me back on track I think.   It's a straight plastic model, training wheels for hopefully some more productive scratchbuilding in the near future.  This kit is massive - 710 parts.

This is about two long nights progress.  You start with building the frame.    I didn't know much about this steam engine, or any European steam engines at all, prior to this kit.  This locomotive, German Class 52, was manufactured during WWII.  It was a redesign of an earlier locomotive, the Class 50.   It was sort of the Liberty Ship of trains for the Germans.  Designed to be manufactured quickly and with a minimum of raw materials.  The majority of these engines ended up on the eastern front, and ultimately over 7000 were built.    For you military historians you probably will realize the contradiction between Nazi Germany's production of Tanks and Aircraft, which were anything but focused on standardized designs.    The kit itself is by Trumpeter.  Trumpeter and also Dragon Models have issued a good number of 1/35 wartime railroad models in the past 10 years or so.    The railroad subject matter, and the unique modifications necessitated by partisan attacks has interested me enough to pick up a few of these kits, and probably more in the future.   The kits are a pleasure to assemble compared to the crap Walthers and other model railroad suppliers put out.   I will try to keep up with a few updates on this build.

 

This is what the inside of the box looks like

BOOK REVIEW - LEHIGH RIVER VALLEY TRACKSIDE by Douglas Peters

I believe this is a new Morning Sun release, but not sure.  Spotted it on the counter of the local train store and it was an impulse purchase.   I had some second thoughts afterwards, especially since my disappointment with the Morning Sun Lehigh and New England release earlier this year.   Not so with this publication - I was quite happy with both the captions and the photos.  Lots of 40's and 50's color photos with plenty of background structures in view.   I would call it an overview of the Lehigh Valley, but it's well balanced and doesn't cover any one subject  in too much depth.  There is plenty of railroading, steel, coal, cement, ...etc.    My only critical comment is that there aren't enough maps included.  I think there is a certain assumption that the reader is familiar with the spiderweb of competing railroads through the Lehigh Valley.   The book is organized into sections or chapters by railroad, and within each section the photos are broken down geographically so there is a natural progression down or up the line.  The first half of the book is devoted to the CNJ and Lehigh Valley, obviously the two railroads that literally followed the Lehigh Valley.   Two more sizable sections follow on the Reading and the Lehigh and New England.   The remainder of the book is devoted to the lesser characters - Lackawanna, Chestnut Ridge Railway (NJ Zinc railroad), the Pennsy (Bel-Del and Green Ridge Branch), Ironton, Lehigh and Hudson River, Northampton and Bath, PB&NE, Dragon Portland Cement, Mack Trucks, and Lehigh Valley Transit (Trolley)        Was fun to look at as many of the photos were from when the railroads were operating full steam ahead.

BASSWOOOD -  That's a 4.5"x8.5"x 10' piece of basswood.   If I cut it into stripwood  I'd have enough to last the rest of my modeling career probably.   I actually bought two of these.   A interior designer I work for had specified "hand hewn"  pieces for a project I was doing for her.   Basswood ended up making the most sense as a choice for the raw materials for a number of reasons - it's light; it machines well; little grain; available in thick pieces; absorbs stain well (needed to look old but not intentionally stained) ;etc.   These two pieces were $360.    How did I make it "hand hewn"?    I have an "undulating" cutter head for my Festool planer.  Just randomly attack the board with it and you quickly get the affect without swinging an adz all day.   Didn't take a photo of finished product.  I still have some nice chunks of basswood to cut up.

STILL HERE.... KIT REVIEW - WALTHER'S GLACIER INDUSTRIAL SANDS

The lack of posts is due to my work load as of late.  Even with adding another full time carpenter, we have been swamped with jobs.    Thanksgiving has been the first day I have had off since mid September - 75 or so straight 12-16 hour days have cut into my blogging, and modeling.   But you know the old adage, "make hay while the sun shines".....    We still are overbooked through February, but will probably be able to work at a saner pace to get this work done, and we no longer are working on any projects where the homeowners have temporarily moved out (ie no temptation to work until midnight or weekends) .   I did manage to pick up the new Walther's Glacier Industrial Sands kit last month.    It's described as a "modern" industrial structure, specifically a sand loading facility.   Some of the elements of the kit looked like they would work in my 1950's era layout, and others, well, maybe a future Free-mo module or sometimes it's just fun to build a model, even without a home for it.    Comparing this to the sand loading facilities I've seen down in Cumberland County, NJ, this structure is too small for a sand, rail-loading plant.  Also, the silos are always of greater diameter.    That being said, there are a number of other uses for this sort of structure, including several steel mill uses.   I might incorporate it into the loading facility for my ferro-manganese plant.   This would be a great addition to a BOF model, for the additives.  

Parts in box.   The usual Walther's injection molding - lame.  Anyone that's ever built a Tamiya or Dragon or Trumpeter military kit knows that it could be done much, much better.  Details could be crisper and the the fit of the parts could be engineered better.   One thing you will notice - extra parts.   The instructions, also not done as good as they could be, make note of these extra parts and suggest using them for kitbashing or details elsewhere.   Although they look like random industrial parts, they aren't - they assemble into three additional structures that I will explain in a bit.  

These are the built structures shown on the box photo and in the instructions.    The sand loading silos and elevator - a horizontal oil tank - a boring one story modern office - a purposeless three hopper something with a conveyor underneath (I guess you load the sand into the hoppers and then the conveyor dumps it back on the ground so you can scoop it up again)  - and two small conveyors.  The small conveyors come out pretty nice and could be used many places on a layout, including in a steel mill.    The triple hopper thing could probably be arranged with one of the small conveyors to feed the smallish hopper on the sand loader.  

Another view of smaller structures in kit.  

These are the structures the "extra parts" build.    The guard shack is actually described in the instructions but not shown on box photo or in diagram.  You don't really need instructions to build it.  Again a non-descript modern structure but the curb foundation is a nice shape.   This and the office are shown without the window frames and glass.    The flat thing in the foreground is a retaining wall, shown in the instructions to be used with the triple hopper thing - I guess that structure would have an embankment on the open side for loading.    The beam framework on left is a shorter version of the base for the sand towers.  There is a square box and hopper at the bottom of the elevator.  If you don't use these parts the whole structure could be built on this frame instead.   This would convert the structure from rail loading to truck loading.   It's not mentioned at all in the instructions.   Finally, the real bonus gem - I'm calling it the bag house/pug mill.   I'm not sure what it is really intended to represent and I can't figure out the material flow.  In fact, it seams to be missing some sort of input or output.   Whatever it is, the elements could be used for a number of things.  The one structure could be used as a bag house with a few minor details added.   Another nice part is the pipe between the two pieces - this is an 1/2" exact pipe (ie you can use with Evergreen tubing)  and the elbows are nicely segmented.   In a future blog I will be casting more of this part and show you how to do the same.

Mystery machine - that a wide belt conveyor on the right end of the closest structure element.     There is no reference to this structure in the instructions so you need to cut out the parts and backwards engineer it.  I enjoyed this and only had to flip one or two parts around.   If there is an interest from people building this kit,  I could post some close ups to help.  .

BY- PRODUCTS PLANT - Part 30

For over a year now the finished final/benzol cooling towers have remained "unconnected" from the rest of the by-products plant.  You can see the vertical intake gas main on the left of the towers.  The lack of planing in arranging my layout left making this connection a more complicated problem than it looks, that is to make it look believable.   The gas main itself is 1/2" styrene tubing.  Evergreen sells long lengths of this tubing making the task a bit easier.   I am using upside down Walther's Conveyor kits as the basis for the framework around the pipe.  I've previously used the trusses from these kits for the triangular framework for the arms in my Dorr Thickener and for some pipe supports on A-Furnace/precipitator complex.    These kits are inexpensive and good for a variety of industrial applications.   Remember they make two conveyor kits - one is the larger type with the arched roofs - this is the smaller version that it squarish.   I am working on the left turn right now.  Eventually the pipe and frame will extend to the stone wall along the rear tracks and then turn right, running behind the Ammonium Sulphate storage building and either into the main buildings or wrap around those buildings to connect with the tar scrubbers.  

BOOK REVIEW - Ghost Rails X Iron Phantoms, by Wayne A. Cole

Someone posted something about this book on the yahoo Steel Group a week or so ago.    There was some sort of link given but you had to order it the old fashioned way - send a check via US Mail to the author.  The price tag, $65 was steep, but when you compare it with a Morning Sun $60 book, and this is twice the size, and the nice cover shot, I decided to take a shot and sent out a check.  Of course a few people posted that they couldn't find the book on Amazon  - so I guess it must not exist then?  I too would prefer to send my hard earned money to a massive corporation instead of directly to the author.  duh.    The book arrived quickly, in about a week from when I mailed the check - not bad at all.    Now the review - this book is clearly the best book about all facets of the operation of an integrated steel mill out there.   My old favorite, Bethlehem Steel, by Bartholomew and Young is now my second favorite, although Bethlehem Steel is still my favorite steel mill.  Ghost Rails .   is 336 pages full of photos and lengthy descriptive captions to go with them.  Mostly black and white, with a section of color photos, some of the photos are a little grainy, but the range of coverage of the Jones and Laughlin Aliquippa Mill is mind boggling.  Solid detailed information throughout and tons of photos of mill exteriors and interiors, rolling stock, locomotives, cranes, equipment, vehicles, boats,....etc...  The author must have a lot of spare time to put together such a complete tome.   The book is self published so the page layout isn't as slick as some books, but who cares, I want content not fluff.      Again, to compare it to the Beth Steel book -   Beth Steel has some incredible photos and great informative captions to go with it, but the subject matter is all over the place to the point of being disorganized and hard to go back and find something.  There are also parts of the Bethlehem mill not even covered.    The author of Ghost Rails X,  Wayne A. Cole, has approached his coverage of the J&L Aliquippa plant as I had hoped a book would have for a long time - he organized it into sections about different mills, yards, and geographic locations within the plant.    He starts usually with an excellent aerial photo and track and building map, and then breaks down into individual buildings, cranes, acid tanks, etc...    I'll be looking through this book for the next month probably.    After working a 14 hour day, this book was a pleasant surprise when I arrived home, sort of that Christmas Day feeling from when you were young.    Get it -    You can go to www.atlasbooks.com  for a preview and ordering info, but you will still have to get out the checkbook and a stamp.