Time for an introduction!


Trussrod

Well-Known Member
Hi to all, I'm David Smith, Trussrod on the forum,
I'd like to introduce myself to everyone, I'm somewhat new to the forum although I did jump right in in the begining by trying to answer a photographic question or two Ray posted so he and a few others are already aware of me.

I've been involved with model railroading for a good many years and somewhat loosely consider myself to be a finescale modeler although I'm not perfect by any means nor do I attempt to adhear to strict standards. I'm loosely modeling the D&RGW & C&S in HO std gauge & possibly will incorporate some dual gauge trackage to operate a gem of an HOn3
RGS tank loco I purchased some years back. I've been working on new-old layout now for about the past eight years on and off due to various things and 9-11 hit us all hard I'm sure it did me anyway, so that and other things have interrupeted my RR efforts.

I'm modeling the period around the turn of the Century and running small loco's and 36 ft freight and passenger cars up and down some fairly steep grades, 8% approximately, which were somewhat common for Colorado I believe.

I should be farther along than I am but as I'm hand laying all the visable rail on wood ties using Railcraft weathered code 70 rail for my single track main line and code 55 for the sidings, logging & mine areas plus I'm scratch building all my own turnouts to fit the required space and track contours. It takes it's toll timewise but I sure like the effect of it, part of my photographic background I'm sure, and the way the trains operate plus it allows me to work turn outs in that otherwise wouldn't be possible! I'm about half way completed with the main line but may enlarge the layout as I just realized I'm going to have a considerable amount more space than I planed on in the beginning.

My existing plan which is a somewhat compact is a 10'3"x 10'6" uneven U shape design and if lengthen I'll have a much longer run with more real estate as well for my logging and mining operation as well. Hmm

Over the years I've had the good fortune to meet some very interesting individuals and such as John Andersen & Harry Parker of Cal Scale in Fresno, CA and became fairly good friends with a man who not only knew them both too but was excellent pattern and mold maker himself who would also
cast all kinds of brass & plastic parts on his own as they lived about 40 miles apart. I would have to say he was a master model builder and a railroader himself and made many contributions to the hobby! His name is Ken E. Barnhardt, he taught Engineering at State University in Fresno too. I've seen some of the locomotives he built in HO & HOn3 brass as well as the freight cars and you couldn't tell them apart from the real thing! Right down to the last detail. In fact he scratch built a #15? Shay from the rail up, sans the bevel Gears, and even built his own motor to power it as well as making
operating minature Knuckle Couplers. Ken was also an excellent photographer too and took various shots of his Shay with about four freight cars and a caboose he built that for all the world looked like a real train. His shot of the Shay and freight train was published by Model Railroader approximately in mid 1955 I believe? One of the cars in this train, a flat car, had on it three or four early Mack trucks he made paterns for and cast them
in brass too. Each truck was painted Red and had his initials, KEB running down the roof support of the open cab. I was fortunate enough to get a set of parts from Ken in plastic to construct a truck and after he saw that I built it he gave me parts for three or four more he squirted out, as he use to say, for me. You'll see one of this early Mack Truck in at least one of the shots I'll post a little later. Ken said I was one of the few who ever assemblyed one
of his trucks and I think that made him proud. I've sent an email to MR to try to determine the actual date of the MR magizine. I'd ask Ken but he moved away many years back and unfortunatly I've kind of lost contact with him. I have to try and get in touch again for sure. I learned quite a bit from him as we didn't live too far apart before he moved and I spent a number of hours at his place observing and taking in information. He had a wealth of it! I don't know if he has an email address or not these days?
 
Welcome to the forum David. I too was among those you counseled on Ray's thread with photography advice. Looks like you had the privilege to walk amoung some mrr giants - cool!
 
Thanks for the welcome!

Hi CSX RS,
I apreciate your welcome and was glad to try and help you if I could, I was doing some shots of my layout and equipment in it's early stages and found out that some pretty bright light was needed using an f22 on a 70-300.

The Avatar shot is one of those taken. Does that photo enlarge when you click on it? :confused:

Talk with you later,

David


Welcome to the forum David. I too was among those you counseled on Ray's thread with photography advice. Looks like you had the privilege to walk amoung some mrr giants - cool!
 
welcome David, I'll definately be looking in on your threads sounds like a very cool layout. Photography pointers are always a great thing to have as well.
 
... The Avatar shot is one of those taken. Does that photo enlarge when you click on it? :confused:

I don't believe it is supposed to; when I first tried setting up my own avatar here a few years ago, I got an error message that the image was too large - so I resized it to the actual size displayed to make it fit.
 
Welcome David! I'm a little bit of a newby to this forum too, but I can tell you that I know some of these guys from other places and so far I've found every person here a joy to meet.
 
Hello David,
I'll echo Philip here and say Welcome. I read your Photog stuff with interest and look forward to seeing your layout.

Scoot
 
I'll throw my howdy on the fire. I tracked down that Fuji lead and hope it pans out. The best estimate for fixing my S1 otherwise is $283--and it would have been $283 if I would have run over it with a truck. But I figure my problem is easer than that, the mirror just gets stuck halfway. Might be just a good cleaning. A good recommendation from you and I'm sending her in to Fuji. Thanks.
 
Hi David and welcome aboard!
It is always good to have experienced modelers join our forum. Where I am not an avid shutter-bug, I love good photos of people's work. I look forward to all your posts. Oh, thanks for the post on my "name-that-town" thread.
 
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Hi guys and thanks for your welcome,

I'll try to offer what I can both as far as railroading and photography. feel free to write me if you have any questions.

I'll try to answer if I know it or let you know otherwise.

Thanks again to all!
 



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