I prefer the real thing!

Constant-readers of this drivel will know that yesterday (Tuesday, October 7, 2008) I visited the mighty Mezz, to dispense excess produce from our garden, in this case tomatoes.
It’s something I did when I worked there too. Our garden would produce a surfeit of tomatoes and beets and peppers and cucumbers and zucchinis and squash, so we would take the excess to the Messenger.
I still do that, though retired.
Quite a few friends are still working at the Messenger, including Kevin Frisch, the Managing Editor.
He had set aside a train-thing for me, knowing I’m a railfan.
The Messenger (him) had received a press-release from the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania in Strasburg.
I could OCR scan it, but it’s four pages; text front and back.
We used to get stuff like that at the Messenger; a giant eight-page tome announcing a chicken-barbecue.
We’d boil it down to a ten-word announcement, and then Granny would accost the head-honcho wondering why we hadn’t run the whole tome on the front-page. (“Some of my best writing of all time; and we all know you guys can’t write. Ya can’t even get your grammar straight!”)
Granny would cancel her subscription in a huff after spraying the newsroom with bullets.
Sorry; I appreciate the thought, and hope K-man (Kevin) continues to set aside press-releases from the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania.
But it’s only an announcement of a local tour of garden model railroads.
I prefer the real thing! (Always have.)
I’ve been involved in many model railroad projects.
During high-school I helped my neighbor, Bruce Stewart, build a giant HO layout in his parents’ basement.
It was an enlargement of his original layout on a 4-by-8 sheet of plywood.
We added two 4-by-4 plywood extensions, making a giant “L.”
We constructed a large two-level layout suggested by a magazine.
At one end the double-track climbed a loop and crossed itself, splitting apart to loop around a small yard at the higher level.
At the lower level the double-track passed through a depot area, and then split apart to loop around another yard at the lower level — much bigger.
Like all model railroad layouts, it was unrealistic.
The climbing loop was so steep and tight it stalled trains of more than five cars. —The average real freight-train is 50 cars or more; often 100+.
Our gorgeous Athearn F-units were rubber-band drive; that is rubber bands between a long shaft (rotated by a small electric motor) and rubberized drums on the wheels.
A Budd RDC we got was also rubber-band drive, and was capable of 250 scale mph.
It would accelerate 0-to-60 in about 20 scale feet.
With that kind of performance Don Garlitz would dominate drag-racing.
My friend Matt Reid (webmaster of the mighty Mezz; “REED”) once sent me a ‘pyooter-link to some modeling of Horseshoe Curve.
Ya could tell it was a model.
—A) It was Lionel O-gauge, I think.
Deduct one point. Lionel O-gauge is three-rail track. Standard railroading is two-rail.
The Lionel trainset I had was three-rail (O-27); not that bothersome, but irksome.
American Flyer was two-rail; as is HO.
—B) The curvature was so tight, it obviously wasn’t realistic.
Well okay; to model Horseshoe Curve to scale would take a whole basement.
And that’s just the Curve.
Include the approaches and ya’d need an airport hanger.
Even in HO-gauge you’d need an entire basement.
Sorry guys; model railroads are fun, but no match for standing in the apex of Horseshoe Curve as a freight-train hammers up The Hill.

The “mighty Mezz” is the Canandaigua Daily-Messenger newspaper, from where I retired over two years ago. Best job I ever had.

I’ve been a railfan since I was a child.

“Strasburg,” PA; is in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania-Dutch country, in southeastern PA.

“Matt Reid” is no longer with the Messenger. He moved to Denver. (At the Messenger we did their web-site.)

“OCR scan” is Optical-Character-Recognition scan; scanning to create a text-file. (I have software that can scan a document, to create text.)

“F-units” were the standard EMD freight unit that was in use back then. They have full coverage of the locomotive platform; like covered wagons, which they were nicknamed. In later years railroads went with “hood-units,” where the locomotive platform is only partially covered — mainly the engine and other internals that needed protection from the weather. A “hood-unit” could be easily operated in either direction — an F-unit couldn’t. Vision to the back was obstructed. F-units came in various models: FT, F2, F3, F7, and F9. (Ours were F7s; although Bruce had an F3 — but it didn’t look as good as the Athearn F7s.) F-units are no longer made. (“EMD” is Electromotive Division of General Motors, GM’s manufacturer of diesel railroad-locomotives. Most railroads used EMD when they dieselized; although many now use General-Electric diesel railroad-locomotives. —EMD’s first freight-units were F-units.)

A popular model F-unit was made by “Athearn®.”

A “Budd RDC” was the self-propelled Rail-Diesel-Car (“RDC” — a passenger-coach) made by Budd Company. —They were an attempt to minimize the cost of operating passenger accommodations. (By self-propelling the coach, use of a locomotive to pull one car could be avoided.) They came into use after WWII; propelled by two tank-engines.

Years ago “Big Daddy” Don Garlitz, from Florida, dominated drag-racing — which is start-to-finish over a quarter-mile. Garlitz could get over 200+ mph with his dragster.

In “O-gauge,” the rails are 1&1⁄4 inches apart. O-27 has the same gauge, but the rolling-stock is smaller at 1:64 instead of the 1:43 or 1:45 or 1:48 of O-gauge. The prime manufacturer of O-27 toy trains was “Lionel.” —Competitor American-Flyer was S-gauge, .884 inches between the rails, at 1:64 scale. As commonly seen, Lionel O-27 had three-rail track, with the center rail supplying direct current to the toy locomotives. S-gauge had two-rail track, with alternating polarity for each rail. (Thereby, S-gauge looked more realistic.) HO-gauge is half-O.

Horseshoe Curve west of Altoona, Pennsylvania, is by far the BEST railfan spot I have ever been to. Horseshoe Curve is a national historic site. It was a trick used by the Pennsylvania Railroad to get over the Allegheny mountains without steep grades. Horseshoe Curve was opened in 1854, and is still in use, although no longer Pennsy. It is now operated by Norfolk Southern Railroad.

Horseshoe Curve is part of the railroad’s 12-mile ascent of the Allegheny mountains: “The Hill.”