MidWestRegionNMRA– Summer2020

Waybill Summer 2020 page 1Midwest Region NMRA

WaybillMid West Region NMRA –Summer 2020

Midwest Region NMRAWaybill Summer 2020 page 2

The WAYBILLEditor

David J. Leider MMR601 N. Elmhurst Rd.

Prospect Hts. IL 60070847-253-7484

[email protected] EditorJim Osborn

The WAYBILLis published quarterly by the MidwestRegion of the National Model RailroadAssociation Inc. for the benefit of the

model railroading community.

SUBSCRIPTIONSElectronic delivery is free to all membersof the Region. Go to http://www.mwr-nmra.org/region/waybill/waybill.html tosubscribe or to change your e-mail

address. Regular mail subscriptions are$6.00 per year; $12.00 for two years. Tosubscribe, complete the applicable sec-

tions of the NMRA MembershipApplication at http://www.nmra.org/.

CONTRIBUTIONSArticles, photographs and artwork areencouraged in either hardcopy or elec-tronic form. The editor uses Quark 4.1 ashis publishing software on a Mac. Worddocuments are also acceptable, butplease send the photographs as an

attachment. Copy is due by the 10th ofFebruary, May, August and November andshould be sent to the editor at the above

address. Submitted material will bereturned upon request.

ADVERTISINGDeadlines for camera ready ads are thesame as for the copy deadlines. Pleasesubmit by email to the editor as a TIF or.jpeg. We accept only railroad related ads.

Advertising rates are:yearly or per issue

Full page $100 $35Half page 75 25Quarter page 50 20Business card 25 15

Make checks payable to the MidwestRegion NMRA and mail to: David Leider

601 N. Elmhurst RdProspect Hts IL [email protected]

847-253-7484

Editor’s Column

I asked Walt Herrick if he had anarticle for the Waybill. Imagine my sur-prise when he sent a photo of his trainroom filled with boxes of stuff. I have toagree with Walt, Model Railroaders arepackrats. I know, because we are in the

process of moving. For morethan a year I have been pack-ing and dumping. I never con-sidered myself as having ahobby shop in the basement,as many do. When we firstmade plans to move, manyyears ago it already, I startedtacking my excess stuff to theDuPage Swap meet to get ridof it.

I hope the future of the hobby is notvirtual. When our super, Mike Hirvelaasked what brings people to meetingsseveral years ago, the overall responsewas the camaraderie. I miss going tomeeting and the DuPage. swap meet. Ilike to see what other people are doing

and get new ideas and informa-tion, something that is lost in avirtual meeting. A group of uswent to local bar every Tuesdayfor close to 25 years. Wereplaced it with a ZoomMeeting. Although it is nice tosee everyone, it is not the same.

Above: Some of my layoutmodules stacked up.

Left: I bought these plastictotes at Menards. Eachholds an empty copypaperbox filled with buildings fromthe layout, surrounded bybubble wrap. It is then filledwith cars and accessories.Each tote has a list of whatis inside, in case I need toget at it.The shelves on the right arefilled with unsold books.

Front Cover: Midwest Rails display at Franklin Park Railroad Daze. see page 9.

A photo in the living room of aportion of my books and maga-zines. The bankers boxes arefilled with binders of photos andpapers. Each box is HEAVY!This is about 1/2 of what I haveleft to pack.

WaybillMid West Region NMRA –Summer 2020

Presidentʼs ReportSteve Studley President, MWR

PandemicWe are living in a very strange time in history.

Non-essential businesses are closed; restaurants areopen for carry-out or drive-through service only.There are to be no gatherings of large groups of peo-ple, and even then, we need to worry about “socialdistancing”. I suspect many of our local hobby shopsare also closed. We are told to stay at home andshelter-in-place. These restrictions started in Marchand are mostly still in effect. Indiana has begun theprocess to open up again, but the county in which Ilive still retains the restrictions.

The restrictions that were put in place forIllinois caused the Board to reconsider holding ourMidwest Regional convention. We had already heardfrom some members who were not going to attendbased on their personal health considerations. Andletʼs face it; most of us are in the at-risk group whoseage is greater than 60 yrs. In late March, with restric-tions in place in Illinois, the Peoria Rocket 2020 con-vention committee and the MWR Executive Boarddecided to consider postponing the convention. Afterchecking with the hotel for other possible dates andlearning that our best choice would be just afterTrainfest and just prior to Thanksgiving, we decidedto cancel. At that time, NMRA was still planning tohold the National Convention and National TrainShow in St. Louis. After running into countless diffi-culties trying to schedule planning meetings and hav-ing layout owners rethink having large numbers ofpeople trekking through their houses, the Gateway2020 committee and the NMRA decided to cancel theNational Convention.

Unfortunately, by cancelling Peoria Rocket2020 all the work that had been accomplished by thetwo host Divisions – Illinois Valley and Illinois

Terminal – has all been for naught. We appreciatetheir labors in planning for the MWR regional conven-tion and are very sorry that it wasnʼt to be. Thanksalso to all the clinicians, layout owners, and volun-teers who were ready to help; and those who hadalready signed up to attend. Special thanks go toMike Shockley and the convention committee for thecountless hours spent getting ready for the Rocket.

We have seen that most (all?) division in-per-son meetings have been cancelled for the rest of thespring. We await a better situation for the fall model-ing season. Hopefully, the health crisis will havecalmed down by then and we can get back to whatsome health officials have named the “new normal”.In the meantime, we have learned to utilize video-conferencing applications to allow us to still havesome semblance of getting together to discuss modelrailroading. The MWR Board will have their springmeeting via video-conferencing in late May.Notifications for the Board and the MWR membersʼannual meetings will be sent by email.

I was able to attend 17 of the 25 (have to getsome sleep) hours of clinics of the first NMRA-X virtu-al convention. This was a Facebook, live video-con-ference that included 25 hours of internationally pre-sented clinics. The second of these will be held onMay 16. Check NMRA-X on Facebook to see if therewill be other events. I think there will be another onein mid-June. For further information, check NMRA-Xon Facebook or the NMRA website.

Since we are hoping for better conditions inthe future, we can also start making plans to attendthe 2021 MWR convention in the Rockford, IL area:Rockford Railroad Convention. The RRVD conven-tion committee is in the early planning stages for theconvention. As information becomes available, it willbe posted on the MWR website. Click on theConventions tab at the top of the page.

In the meantime – back to the layout!

Steve


Region NewsThe MWR will hold its Annual Membership meeting on Sunday May 31st at 10:00 am CDT via Zoom Video Conferencing. The MWR Spring BoD meeting will immediately follow the Member Meeting on the same conference call. Log-in details of the Zoom Video Conference will be emailed out no later than Tuesday May 26th. Members are encouraged to read the Virtual Meeting Logistics Section of the following MWR video conference guidelines PDF well in advance of the conference call in order to prepare for the call. Following these guidelines will help to insure a successful meeting. http://www.mwr-nmra.org/mwr2016/mwr-images/admin/mwrvirtualmeetingguidelines5-17-20.pdf Please address any questions to Jim Osborn, MWR webmaster at : [email protected]

AP Report by Jim LandwherThe following MWR members received AP awards:Steve Miazga Waukesha, WI DispatcherSteve Miazga Waukesha, WI AuthorSteve Miazga Waukesha, WI VolunteerDanny Hinel Westfield, IN CivilRobert Knobbe Glendale Hts., IL CivilRobert Knobbe Glendale Hts., IL DispatcherJon Zimmer Elmhurst, IL DispatcherJon Zimmer Elmhurst, IL Civil

Congratulations on your good work, Jim

Frugal Modeler by David NelsonMost of us are familiar with the tools, solvents,

paints and methods (such as score-and-snap) that make working with styrene so rewarding. Relatively few of us these days work much with wood, which requires its own skills, tools, glues, paints, and stains. The oldest wood kits (often with matboard or card-stock parts) can look home-spun and even crude to today's modelers. Beginning with Fine Scale Miniatures, wood craftsman kits became polished and precise, but not priced to invite casual experimenta-tion. This is where laser-cut kits fill a niche: the parts, often tab-and-slot, actually fit together, and the fine-ness of detail and ease of construction can make these wood kits feel more familiar to the modeler accustomed to working with plastic.

But laser precision, peel-and-stick parts, and the use of micro-plywoods, lessen but do not elimi-nate challenges that working with wood kits present. There are still learning curves. Styrene's "score-and-

snap" technique doesn't work with wood. The gluesdon't meld/bond as solvents do with plastic; theyadhere parts to each other, and slim mating surfacescan be too small to adhere well. Basswood can bemarred, even crushed, and the risk of warped partsfrom room humidity or moisture from paints and glueshas to be dealt with. On the plus side, if basswoodpieces are broken in half a carefully done repair canbe all but impossible to see.

One fair criticism is that by their nature laser-cut kits don't lend themselves to much modification orkitbashing. Micro-plywood is not so easy to cut withprecision, and the very tabs and slots that make partsfit together so precisely resist swapping out parts orcombining sides/ends from other kits to enlarge orchange a structure. If tabs and slots are removed,then other parts need to be changed, and without thestability that tab-and-slot creates, it's often necessaryto thicken or reinforce the slender joined surfaces tocreate a durable glued joint.


Added bracing and new door edges for the narrowerdoor.

The garage built as per the instructions.

http://www.mwr-nmra.org/mwr2016/mwr-images/admin/mwrvirtualmeetingguidelines5-17-20.pdf

mailto:[email protected]

My purpose here is to encourage giving laser-cut kits a try, and then to go a bit further and get thehang of making modest, and frugal, modifications,using a simple entry-level laser-cut kit as an example.

American Model Builders' Laserkit One CarGarage (No. 796) is small as laser cut kits go, yet ithas nearly 50 pieces using micro-plywood, bass-wood, paper, card, and clear plastic for windows.The doors and windows demonstrate the minutedetail the process allows. The kit goes together rap-idly enough but time has to be set aside for paintingboth sides of wood parts (to prevent warping), plusthe glues or cements take time. The clearly writtenand illustrated instructions cover each step, with onecaveat: the floor will nest within the walls but only ifthe outer edges of the floor are cut away along shal-low dark lines made by the laser. Otherwise, as isthe floor sits under the sides and ends like a concrete

slab (so paint it gray or tan). Caution: note that theend and side corner trim pieces of peal-and-stickcardstock are different widths; the wide side trim ismeant to overlap the narrow front trim at the corners.It's easy to overlook the instruction's brief mention ofthis. If you botch this (I did) then remember, theentire fret is peal-and-stick, so replacement trimpieces can be cut from the remaining fret. To me thetrim pieces look rather bulky and maybe I shouldhave substituted "L" shaped wood or styrene.

Paint while parts are still part of the fret butdon't paint the "backs" of parts with peel-and-stickadhesive (tip: identify and mark which side of everypiece has the adhesive backing). Use a fresh razorblade to separate parts from the frets and to peelaway adhesive backing: the blade is thinner than aknife and less likely to pinch the basswood sides andends (floor and roof underlay are micro-plywood).I've had mixed luck using AC to cement wood kitparts. Faller's "Expert - Lasercut" glue, No. 170494works well for me and I like the fine tube applicator.

Be Frugal. I save all frets and parts left overfrom this and any laser-cut kit to supply raw materialsfor other projects. A fret in the photo of my laserscrap box obviously once held a staircase; it can pro-vide a "free" staircase if carefully cut from the fret.

I built one version of this 1920s era garage asper the instructions: note the rather ornate swinginggarage doors, the "metal" external side hinges (thickpaper with peal-and-stick backing), the rolled "tarpaper" roofing (thick peel-and-stick paper attached toa micro-plywood subroof), and the unusual three-pane side windows. I added my own 3M double-sided "transfer tape" to the subroof so that the paint-ed peel-and-stick paper "rolled roof" would adhereeven more securely.

While the garage looks a bit dated it isn'tunprototypical for my late 1960s era, but I did wish ithad offered some modernizing options, so I decidedto build another and update it with an overheadgarage door, more common windows, and a shingledroof. The side walls are seven feet high so I aban-doned an idea of adding a side door. I also consid-ered narrowing the garage a foot or two but thatwould have made the basswood front faces on eitherside of the door very flimsy, the sides would be thewrong height, and it would eliminate the tab-in-slotsolidity of the kit's design. Adding a plastic roof meantslicing off four tabs on the ends that were there tohold the original subroof.


The Grandt Line windows needed to be inserted side-ways.

The modified version of the kit.

My plastic garage door is AM Models 202:cleverly, two styles of doors, front and back are oneach of the four doors in the package. AM Models isone outfit that's kept prices reasonable. These doorsare just slightly narrower than the original kit doors soafter making gluing edges larger with interior piecesof scrap wood, I "thickened" both edges of the dooropening with HO 2x10 Northeastern Scale lumber(cut to length after taking the photo of the back side)so the peel-and-stick door framing could be broughtin that much closer. A piece of micro-plywood frommy laser kit scrap box spanning those "2x10s" thenprovided the rear support for securing the new door.I used a sharp pencil to highlight the garage doorseams.

The four-pane side windows are from aGrandt Line window and door "grab bag" No. 5192;not sure exactly what number they are, perhaps 5239(the same as Tichy 8067?). I needed to rotate them90 degrees to fit, so before painting I shaved off theprotruding bottom "sills" and made new sills fromsmall styrene strips. A scrap piece of micro-plywood

was needed to slightly narrow each pre-cut windowopening. Plastic "glass" was affixed with Testors ClearParts Cement ("canopy glue"). The shingled roofing isPikestuff 541-1007. I don't like the rough look of myroof, pieced together from leftovers from a prior proj-ect: yes, folks, sometimes you can be too frugal. Thetwo roof halves are held at the correct roof angle dueto two styrene scraps that used the kit's empty fret asthe template to capture that roof angle.

Having finished the project I now wish I'dmodeled it with the garage door open, as I did withone of the two Walthers one-car garages in kit 933-3796. But the Walthers castings have excellent fullinterior wall stud (and side door) detail which I hopeare just possible to make out in the photo; this wouldbe laborious to add to the wood kit, and I would haveto do my interior bracing differently. Still, I shouldhave done it. Photos by Dave Nelson.

Model Railroad Pack RattingPart 1by Walt Herrick

A lot model railroaders are pack rats and Iʼmone of them. The time Iʼve spent sheltered in placeduring this springʼs Covid-19 pandemic has made meacutely aware of this. With all the time I am beingforced to spend at home, Iʼve had no excuses to keepme from doing what I know I need to do: clean upand organize my jam packed, pack ratted to therafters, train room. This little project has enabled me


Compare the original version to the modified garage.

My box of laser kit scraps.

Walthers' plastic one car garage kit, built with the dooropen.

to become quiteintimate with all ofmy model railroadstuff.

The polite termterm for pack rat-ting is collecting.Iʼve been collectingmodel railroadingand model rail-roading relateditems for probably35 years now, andI have accumulat-ed a reasonablylarge collection.Not nearly as largeas some collec-tions Iʼve seen, butcertainly sizablegiven the amountof space I haveand the budget towork with.According to thefinal arbiter ofthings like this—

my wife—I have a LOT of stuff.For example, right now in my 16 x 31 foot

basement train room, you can find the followingmodel railroad items in my collection:• 4 boxes (boxes hereafter will refer to either largecardboard boxes or large plastic bins) of structurekits, structure parts, partially built or fully built struc-tures• 4 boxes of rolling stock kits or built ups• 3 boxes of flex track, turn outs, and cork road bed• 3 boxes of unsorted magazines, newsletters, calen-dars and other paper stuff• 2 dozen binders of past Model Railroader,Craftsman, Gazette, Model Railroading, etc. maga-zines (which have, by the way, at one time or another,been sorted to yield only the issues I really liked!)• 1 smaller box of HO vehicles• 1 smaller box of HO figures and detail parts• 2 medium bins of electronics, power packs, wire,etc.• 1 large bin of 12 x 12 inch canopy tree sectionsfrom Pete Waltonʼs old layout• 4-5 dioramas, completed scenes, and half started

dioramas ranging in size from 12 x 12 inches to 16 x24 inches• 4-5 medium sized bins of ground foam, ballast,clump foliage, lichen, etc.• 2 large garbage bags full of dry sedum plants to beused in tree making• 2 half sized bins of American Flyer locos and rollingstock• 1 bin of American Flyer track and transformers• 2 bins of O/S Plasticville buildings

As mentioned, all of the above is in my trainroom. My small 8 x 9 foot model work shop is similar-ly pack rated with stuff, itʼs just in smaller boxes onshelves above the work bench or on the floor beneaththe bench. The operative word describing the waythings are put in my model shop is “crammed”. In thenext Waybill Iʼll give you a list of all my model railroadrelated materials such as plywood, homasote, etc. Icollect that stuff, too. Canʼt wait, can you?Photo by Walt Herrick

National NewsAn NMRA First! Introducing NMRA-X!

NMRA-X is bringing clinics, layout tours, and moreright to your home computer!

Some of you may have noticed a strangeoccurrence on Facebook between April 24th and April25th and still might be wondering what happened tothe NMRA. Well, the NMRA-X is what happened, andit is here to stay! The NMRA-X is the new virtualexperience formed to bring some of the benefits ofthe organization live, right to your computer screens!

The very first NMRA-X Virtual Convention washeld from 7pm EDT on April 24th to 7pm EDT on April25th and consisted of 25 straight hours of clinics andtours from around the globe, featuring a new presen-tation every hour. Broadcasted through both theNMRA Facebook page and group, NMRA-X was ahuge success with both members and non-membersalike and it definitely broke the mold in the model rail-roading community.

Dean Mikalouski has provided the followinginformation about the NMRA-X and future eventschedules.

The NMRA-X held its very first VirtualConvention from 7pm EDT on April 24th to 7pm EDTon April 25th. It had 25 straight hours of clinics andtours from around the globe, featuring a new presen-


“Here is about half of Walt’s modelrailroad ‘collection’. This photo wastaken after he completed ‘Phase I’of his ‘Train Room Cleaning &Reorganization Project’ in April!”

tation every hour. They broadcast these presentationsthrough both the NMRA Facebook page and group A.This new NMRA-X got a thumbs up from both mem-bers and non-members alike. Itʼs a great new techno-logical advance for the NMRA and the model railroad-ing community.

If you missed out on any of the action, all thevideos are saved in the NMRA Facebook group (youdo need be a Facebook member to access):facebook.com/pg/NMRA.org/videos/Â

Donʼt worry if youʼre not a Facebook member,the NMRA will be splitting these videos out, re-editingthem, and posting them on the NMRA YouTube chan-nel as well. Eventually, the videos will be edited andadded to the NMRA YouTube Channel:http://www.youtube.com/c/NMRAORGModelRailroading

The next event was “Ask the Master ModelRailroader” which they ran on Saturday, May 2nd at 5p.m. EDT. Additionally, theyʼre planning four, 12-hourNMRA-X Virtual Conventions for May 16th, May 30th,June 13th and June 27th.

Dean Mikalouski gave a clinic during the May16th event. These can all be accessed from the

NMRA Facebook groupA and the NMRA Facebookpage. For those who just donʼt do Facebook, theNMRA understands your hesitation.

For now, this venue provides the level ofstreaming service needed thatʼs both affordable to theNMRA and allows free attendees. The NMRA is alsolooking for some other venue outside of Facebook todo these online virtual events that is affordable, andprovides for free access to modelers. If you know ofany such online streaming service that meets this cri-teria, please pass that along to us.

Marketing and the Social Media Team havebeen pushing for this and plan on making NMRA-Xthe virtual model railroading destination by continuingto bring you more valuable content over the comingmonths.

A special "thank you" goes to GordyRobinson, Martyn Jenkins, Gert "Speed" Muller, BradAnderson, and Jordan Kramer for pulling togetherand running the entire event, the presenters for shar-ing their knowledge and time, and the group from theA Modeler's Life Podcast for wrapping up the event!Christina ZambriNMRA Marketing Consultant


From left to right: Funaro & Camerlengo GTW single sheathed boxcar; Westerfielddouble sheathed DSS&A boxcar; F&C B&O M-53 wagontop boxcar; F&CPennsylvania X-37B automobile car; Sunshine Pennsylvania X-29B boxcar.

I always include full underbody detail.Closer look at the automobile car.

My WinterIn between packing and

writing, I managed to build a fewresin kits this winter, I started onthe GTW doubledoor car first,but the ladders need some extrawork. The tool needed waspacked away, so I went on to thePennsy kits. I paint the under-frame a grimy color, as theywere always left unpainted. Thetape on the couplers is to pre-vent from being painted. I am stillusing Floquil paint.David


Photo Section

all photos by David Leider

Additional photographs from Franklin Park Railroad Daze

I have been attending Railroad Daze for many years. For sever-al years the Fox Valley Division had a booth, but in 2019 it wasdecided not to go as there was a good chance of rain.Fortunately it was sunny and bright and I was able to take somephotos. No Railroad Daze this year.

One of the stars of the show, Metra’s F40PHM-2 number 405painted in the Hiawatha Heritage Scheme

The Canadian Pacific Bensenville yard is a little west and thisunit came to join the fun and get its picture taken.

CSX sent along these units.

Lineup of some of the equipment on display


Weeds are always an unwelcome guest for therailroads, on mainlines as well as spur tracks.This was especially so on the western end of theGranger Roads in the 1900s. The tracks weredirt ballasted and weeds were common, leadingto wheel slippage and obscuring defects in therails. The traditional way for weed control wasgrubbing with a shovel, a never ending, andexpensive solution. For many years the roadsexperimented with numerous methods of keep-ing vegetation down mechanically. One of themost effective was scorching the weeds by burn-ing crude petroleum under a shield carried a fewinches above the track.

Weed Burnersby David Leider

One of earliest roads, if notthe first, to devise a weed-burningmachine was the Soo Line, whereone was constructed and first usedin the spring of 1894. The machinewas built by Mr. E. A. Williams,mechanical superintendent of theroad. Its success was widely copiedby the other granger roads.

This excerpt is from anarticle I wrote for the SOO maga-zine.

I am looking for photos ofweed spraying equipment for apossible book. David

Photo from the Railway and Engineering Review of May 21, 1900showing Soo Line Weed Burner number 1.

The Milwaukee built a weed burner shortly after the Soo Line. This photo fromthe Railway and Engineering Review of June 27, 1903 shows their version.The “fire pit” was under the middle of the car.

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