The GRR Model RR

10 May 2000

As you have noticed I have added a photo album. These pictures are not of the Gauley River (Model) Railroad, but are of some railfan sites near where I live. Enjoy.
As for pictures of the model railroad. They will becoming soon, or at least some pictures I have of the construction process.
Part of the benchwork for my model railroad is up. If we have a hot summer up here, the basement will be a nice cool place to work in.

Until the next update. AJ

15 May 2000.

I have added a couple of photo's of when I was finishing the basement to put in the railroad. More updates later.
All construction photo's will be on the construction photo page. The photo page will continue, for now, to show real railroading.

A.J.

23 May 2000 - About the Prototype (Real) Gauley RR.

After I set up this page I wanted to do some more research on the Gauley River Area. When I did the web search I came upon the Gauley River Railroad. I was intrigued. I found the home page for the prototype. Then I searched the Surface Transportation Board filings and here is what I found:

In the Federal Register, 37932, volume 63, number 134, dated 14 July 1998, there was a notice of the Gauley River Railroad, LLC, to operate approximately 30.7 miles of ex CSX Transportation trackage. This trackage was near Cowen, Muddlety Falls, and Allingdale, WV. The railroad had the GRIV reporting marks. The transaction to operate was consumated on or around 25 June 1998.
Roster for the prototype GRR were 3 GM (EMD) GP 16's with road numbers 1819, 1821 and 1822.
In the Federal Register / Vol. 64, No. 52, dated Thursday March 18, 1999, page 13469 there was a Surface Transportation Board notice (docket AB-559) on behalf of the Gauley River Railroad to abandon the same 30.7 miles, I mentioned above.
Recently, between March and May 2000, a couple of the Gauley River Railroad locomotives have shown up on Providence and Worcester Railroad property, in Worcester, Massachusetts (which is about 20 miles from where I live now). According to the Providence and Worcester Railfan Website, these units may end up in P&W paint soon. I am going to see if I can get down there and get pictures and add them to my web page.

As in a lot of model railroading, our model railroads live on longer than our prototypes. In my unique case, my model railroad name came before the prototype and apparently outlived the prototype. Hmm, maybe they should have followed my fictional plan.

A.J.

25 May 2000

Well after more research, the units that are now on the Providence and Worcester are Georgetown Railroad (GRR) locomotives. Not the ex Gauley River Railroad units.

A.J.

6 July 2000

Well I am starting to make progress on my layout. I just built a new 2ft x 4ft of benchwork to be attached to what I already have up. I have also taken some pictures of the construction and the finished room. Expect to see these on the web pages in a couple of weeks. Hopefully your summer is going well.

A.J.

22 October 2000

More progress has been made on the layout. I have the basic forms in place and now all I have to do is to put the legs on the table. I haven't had to much time to do this as I have also been doing work at my club's layout in preparation for a photo spread by Model Railroader Magazine. Also it is my kids soccer season, and that takes up a lot of time. On the railfanning side, I did manage to get down to Cumberland, Maryland on the weekend of 14 October 2000. I took lots of slides. Anyway, more photo's of the layout should be coming soon. I hope.

A.J.

29 November 2000

Hopefully I will have all the benchwork up within the next two weekends. I promise to take photos of the table top benchwork when it is up. I also plan to work on the layout over the Christmas and New Year's Holidays. I will keep you informed.

A.J.

THE FIRST RAIL IS LAID

21 JANUARY 2001

Hi all, just to let you know the benchwork is up and the track work is being laid. The first track work went down as part of a 30 inch minimum radius curve. This layout will have curves of no less than 30 inches on the mainline. Hopefully I will be running trains in a couple of weeks.

A.J.

28 January 2001

Well folks I have uploaded some new construction photos, enjoy! I also submitted this site to be linked to NMRA site. I hope they like it.

A.J.

17 February 2001

For some reason I am having trouble with the message board and email link. You guys can also email me at ajy6b@hotmail.com

Anyway, I am going to discuss a little about tracklaying. I am using flextrack for my curves and straightaways. Anyway trying to figure out how to put down flextrack and get larger radius curves was a problem. I have read and heard about people using the old yardstick, pencil and tripod method. I tried this, and it is not the most accurate. Anyway, a couple of weeks ago I read about track alignment gauges. A couple of companies make them and for ho you can get them from a company called Ribbon Rail. These are basically strips of metal that fit in-between the rails of your flextrack. The metal is pre-cut to a certain radius. You just slide this piece of metal along in-between the rail as you secure the rail. I have seen the 22, 24, 34, and 38 inch guages. I have ordered the 28, 30 and 32 inch gauges from Caboose Hobbies in Denver. The gauges are about $4.00 a piece. Just ask for Ribbon Rail Alignment Gauges in HO. You can also contact Ribbon rail directly, but I tried and I was just playing phone tag with the person. You may have better luck with Caboose Hobbies.

A. J.

31 March 2001 Disaster Stikes!

Hello again. One of the most feared things to basement railroaders is the phrase, "there is water in the basement" Well mother nature dealt a cruel blow. On March 22, 2001 we got about 4 to 5 inches of rain in 24 hours. Add to this the fact that we had a good snow pack of about 2ft and you get water everywhere. I had about an inch of water on the floor in the basement. But the biggest problem was the the 10 x 10 carpet under the layout. Well, fortunately my layout was built in sections. It had to come apart to get the carpet out. So this meant I lost some time that I spent laying track. In others words some nice looking track work had to be undone.

Now again on 30 March we got two inches of rain in about 10 hours. The water table came up. We found where some of the water came in. There were two holes in the basement floor. One under the washer and one under som utility room shelves. Needless to say they were subsequently plugged.

What does that mean for the layout? Well I hope to be running trains again soon. Hopefully no later than June 1st.

A.J.

6 July 2001

Just a note, the layout progress is back on track. No more huge area rug under the layout, just small throw rugs. I have been progressing with the yard, turntable and interchange area. I also have a DCC system to install as I go. I hope to update the website with pictures soon. I have also been busy with my club (NVRRA) as I was elected President and we are installing DCC there as well.

That's it from me this time. Hope to have more updates on a regular basis.

A.J.

20 August 2001

Hi everyone, I just got back from vacation. I spent time at a couple of hotspots: Bayview Junction, in Hamilton Ontario, Port Clinton Ohio Drawbridge, Portsmouth, Ohio and the famous Horseshoe Curve in Altoona, PA. One of these days I will update my photo album once I find a good slide scanner.

First of all was Bayview Junction. I was at the Spring Garden Footbridge in the Royal Botanical Garden. Canadian National, sends lots of trains through. I got there at 8 am on a Sunday Morning and met some very nice railfans. Most were local and were very helpful. I probably caught between 7-10 trains in a little over two hours. Then I got a lull for about two hours then got about 5 more in about an hour. I was told this was typical on a Sunday Morning.

Next stop was Port Clinton, Ohio. I found a drawbridge on the west end of town. This place is documented in "Conrail's Hotspots West" video by Pentrex. Anyway My wife let me and my oldest son drop over there for a half hour. We caught three trains at this time. Two wb freights and a wb Amtrak. The setting sun was just right for them. This drawbridge is at the end of town, you have to have a good city map or a Delorme Gazetter for Ohio to find this place. If you want better info email me at ajy6b@hotmail.com I went there at late eveneing so the local marina was closed but the local trailer park manager came by to see what I was up to. Once I told him I was taking pictures of trains, he had no problems. On to Portsmouth, Ohio

Portsmouth is not the rail hub it used to be. I spent 5 days there visiting relatives. The trains are either early morning or late at night. I got a late start one morning did CSX and NS lines within a 20 mile radius of Portsmouth. I was only able to catch two trains (and only heard two trains) in a five hour period. The next day I got an earlier start and caught two other trains I missed. I got them between the hours of 7-9 am. I guess the merger has really done away with some traffic in that area.

Horeshoe Curve was great. I timed it right. After spending time at the Railroaders Museum in Altoona, I went up to the curve. The curve is still brush covered so you can only see trains in park itself. Anyway, I caught 6 trains in about 1.5 hours. 3 trains had helpers and a I got an intermodal passing a long freight going uphill.

It was a good railfanning trip. Now I plan to spend my time wiring my layout. 90% of the track is laid.

A.J.

August 2002

It has been a while since I added some notes to this page. I haven't seen the need. However, as a short update, check my DCC pages for information on decoder installations and other stuff. I will be adding more pictures of my layout, my clubs layout and some more railfanning pictures soon. I will also be updating the welcome page. A.J.