End Of The Line

I'm afraid this is it for the Southside Spur layout project. I've essentially killed it before I could really get started. It took me a long while to discover, but I realized N scale just doesn't work for me. I posted once about working on a side project Atlantic Coast Line GP7 in HO, and this is what undid my interest in N scale. I was able to do more real "modeling" in one GP7 than in 9 years of N scale. The larger size allowed me to play around with detail parts, painting, and even a Loksound installation, without needing years of expertise, which I certainly don't have. I am now a firm believer that no locomotive should be without sound, and this is much easier to do in HO. N scale in comparison felt like collecting little toys instead of real models. Now, I have a total of six Atlantic Coast Line units, 4 of which already have Loksound. I've sold the entirety of my N scale collection. I think for the future I'll be focusing on the same area, but this time with Atlantic Coast Line in 1952. This means long passenger trains with purple E-units AND freight operations AND switching. I feel the era and scale change has much more to offer me in terms of enjoyment. I plan to leave this blog up forever. To see my progress as a modeler in the years to come. Be on the lookout for another article in Model Railroader this year. You may see a glimpse of some of my future modeling aspirations...

Digitized Track Plan

Well, thanks to the efforts of Robert Sprague, I now how a professional looking track plan for this layout. His layout rendering really is top notch! Check out his website for more of his track plans. You may have seen some of his in Model Railroader Magazine!

http://www.annapolisjunctionrr.com/

Running Trains at Citrus Model Railroad Club

Until I can get the Southside Spur going, enjoy watching a consist run with a few other trains on my local model railroad club!

HO Scale Side Project

I've been working on this little project for some time now, and just thought I'd share it with you all. I acquired a Proto 2000 GP7 in ACL paint and just did a simple TCS LL8 decoder install along with scale Kadee coupler fitting. I'll probably have some video of it running at the model railroad club soon!

Details such as a roof bell, gyra-lights, and see-through vents will be added at a later time.

Photo from www.tcsdcc.com of the installed LL8 decoder. Forgot to take a picture of the set up before I put the shell back on!

Removing the factory board.

Straight outta the box comparison between P2K products in N and HO.

Power on the Southside

Just a quick look at the two locomotives I have assigned on the Southside Spur layout. A third will arrive eventually, once Atlas releases those GP40-2's that were due December of LAST YEAR. Anyway, I currently have the brand new release of Proto 2000 GP38-2 in the Boxcar Logo scheme, as well as the 2005 release of Atlas's GP40-2 in YN3. Hopefully I'll get around to making a pair of GP39-2's in the future, as these were the most common on the Southside. My current locos both have DCC installed. The 38 has a Digitrax DN163L0A, and the 40 has a TCS AMD4. A little work was needed to get the contact to be firm for constant electric current, but all in all they were easy installs. The next GP40-2 will be released in June this year and will come DCC Equipped with an NCE 2-Function decoder. I may save sound decoder ventures for a future HO scale layout.

Proto 2000 GP38-2 on the left, Atlas GP40-2 on the right.

Proto 2000 GP38-2 sitting with its old factory board removed. The locomotives are well worth the money now that the new release is truly DCC Ready, and comes standard with MT couplers. The old release required hard-wiring.

Southside spur locals most commonly operated with a pair of matched GP39-2's of GP40-2's, but a GP38-2 will suffice until the new GP40-2 arrives from Atlas, or I build some GP39-2's.

A TBOX Arrives!

After a lot of hunting on eBay, I managed to track down a LBF TBOX model that has been discontinued since 2004. These boxcars are a keystone of modern industrial layouts. This will be a nice project to work on with upgrades and weathering. The paint has already been toned down to better reflect the faded yellow color seen in real life, something that desperately needs to be done to my TTZX Red Caboose Center-beams (come on, Intermountain!).

Southside Spur Consists

Here are a few shots of Southside Spur consists that helped me decide on rolling stock to purchase.

RR Donnelly & Sons

The first industry on the Southside Spur is this giant phonebook manufacturer. The closure of this industry in the later years of the Southside Spur basically signed the death certificate for the Southside. Without the large revenue from switching high cube paper boxcars, there just wasn't enough traffic from Cox and Littrell (Bama was long gone since the 90's I think) to warrant a run down from St. Pete yard. There are no photos of this industry in action, but a few shots of the building.

Littrell Building Materials

I don't know much about this little industry other than it received single-car shipments of boxcars full of most likely veneer some type of board for construction. This is the second industry right after RR Donnelly on the Southside Spur. I once had a Canadian Pacific 50' boxcar that matched the one in the prototype photos, but I didn't feel it meshed well colorwise with the rest of my fleet. i have traded that car for an ExactRail EEC 50' Evans 5277 boxcar which should be here any day now. In the meantime, check out a few photos of this industry from Google Maps and TPavluvcik on Flickr.

Bama Freeze on the Southside

Bama Freeze is the second to last industry on the Southside Spur. I have no photos of this industry in action, but my best guess would be this industry received single reefer shipments in ARMN 57' and occasionally 60' reefers as per usual in food industries around the Tampa area. Check out these aerial photos I have from Google Maps.

Cox Lumber: Southside Spur's Largest Shipper

Nearly every train that travelled down the Southside Spur carried centerbeams and boxcars for this industry. Check out a few photos I found on TPavluvcik's photostream on Flickr. These photos helped me select rolling stock I will use on the layout.

A look at the overall layout of Cox Lumber (now Tibbett's Lumber). Note the bike trail that has replaced the rails as of 2005.

Train Showcase

Here's a little video of some of my equipment I currently have. I sold the exactrail gondolas in the video recently for more boxcars for the Southside Spur, as there were no gondolas used on this spur (save for the occasional granite rock delivery during the St. pete Beach jetty reconstruction). the consist is reminiscent of the DeSoto turn on the Seminole Gulf Railway.

Seminole Feed in Ocala

Here's a quick look at a feed mill in Ocala, Florida. I never fail to see a 60' high-cube boxcar in the siding being unloaded. There are also pairs of covered hoppers that come in as well as the maps photos will show. I have video of this location being switching as well by A782, the Wildwood Sub. local. I took the photo of the boxcar, but the other images are from Google Maps. You can see the Florida Northern Railroad's diamond is very close to this industry, as well as the CSX S-Line.

Propane Corridor

Another modelable spot on the SGLR. This short spur parallels Evans Avenue in Fort Myers. It consists of four industries, including, from north to south, Amerigas, Tri-Circle Pavers, Balgas, and another Amerigas. This spur is very active and receives cars nearly every DeSoto turn. The tiny sidings are packed to absolute capacity with tanks and Ortner hoppers. depending on the view you use on Google Maps, whether from north, south, west or east, different cars can be seen.

North-oriented view, as it appears on a map.

Looking west, an ortner appears at Tricircle.

Looking east, two ortner hoppers.

Second Amerigas at the end of the line.

Balgas, second to last industry.

Empty Tri-Circle Pavers. Note the unloading hatch beneath the rails that connects to the conveyor belt.

First industry, first Amerigas. Note how close the switch for Tri-Circle Pavers is to the Amerigas spur.

Fort Myers Industrial Spur (SGLR)

One of the most modelable things in Fort Myers is this short industrial spur right outside the SGLR yard. Unfortunately, this line is now abandoned, as Google Maps clearly shows. A few gondolas were once stored here, but now have been pulled I believe. Curiously, there are numerous track improvements in sporadic spots on the line, perhaps a sign of eventual regrowth once the housing market returns to normal, as most of the industries on the line are building materials distributors. The numerous line improvements include concrete ties, ballast, and brand new switches amongst the rest of the line which is covered in weeds. From left to right, the industries a feed dealer, building materials distributor, another building materials distributor, lumber yard, CertainTeed Building Products, Suncoast Roofing Supply, a small runaround, then a switchback into Huting Building Materials.

The entire line.

Brand new switch from the air.

Brand new switch into the first industry on the line and stored gondolas in the distance.

Looking west near Suncoast Roofing before the switchback at the concrete ties.

Seminole Gulf Railway Explorations

Fort Myers! What a stronghold for shortlines operations. The Seminole Gulf railway, a healthy southwest Florida railroad, utilizes it's fleet of B39-8's to move building products, propane, refrigerated goods, aggregate and scrap metal from their terminus in Fort Myers to the interchange at Arcadia, Florida with CSX. The trains hauled by this line are full classic Florida products, and make a nice looking train, not to mention the awesome blue orange and yellow paint scheme of the locomotives. I'll be posting several of the industries from this line in the next few weeks. There are several modelable opportunities to be found on this line. I'm even drawing a few track plans myself. I hope to find some way to incorporate the entire system into a track plan one day, focusing on the four layout design elements of the Arcadia interchange, fly ash transload facility, Bayshore, and Fort Myers.

Weyand Food Dist.

One more industry for the modules of the future. This one comes from East Tampa on the Clearwater Subdivision just south of the Sulphur Springs Junction connecting to the Brooksville Subdivision. This industry is known as Weyand Food Distributors. I see their trucks shuttling food products to my local Applebee's every once in a while. Again, depending on the google maps version you use, there will be different cars on the tracks. I actually took this particular shot of Weyand using Apple Maps. This particular one included shows a single 57' ARMN reefer. A year ago, the clearer zoomable imagery for this area showed this car, but now it is just empty when you zoom in that far. I have purchased a 60' Exactrail ARMN reefer, as well as an Intermountain 57' reefer for this industry. both of these cars were to be used for Bama Freeze on the Southside Spur, which unfortunately I can't find pictures it being switched anywhere.

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East Rail N Scale

Here's my take on the East Rail spur, along with a 2001 track chart. Obviously, I drew this plan from Google Maps instead of finding a track chart first. i'll probably revisit this track plan later and make a better version. (Is it sad that I can tell that those two little boxcars on the Archive Americas spur in the Google Maps photo are TBOX's?)

Sweet, Sweet, Prototype

One of my favorite feelings in the world is exactly mimicking the correct rolling stock for industries. I found Florida Silica Sand Co. in Plant City, FL on Google Maps, and decided it was something I might like to model in a module for my switching layout. I did some searching on eBay and found the exact cars and loads I needed. Depending on the version of google maps you use (I prefer the classic version), there are different cars on the spur, because the photos were taken at different times. One view shows a black CSX ortner with a BN 100 ton hopper, the other, a white CSX ortner. I also purchased a Missouri Pacific 3 bay covered hopper for use on this spur. They are frequently used (along with Cotton Belt versions of the 3 bay covered) to deliver the red landscaping lava rock in the BN hopper around Central Florida. All the cars I found are Micro-Trains, which makes it even better! Obviously, I'll need some more ortners for larger deliveries. Probably a 100 ton CSX 4-bay hopper too, as one of the map photos show, but the Trainworx one is a bad stand-in model. No detail under that load.