Guest Report on the Olean, Bradford & Warren

I am pleased to repost this report on the OB&W from the website of the President of the Rose Gulch and Portland R.R. I do so with thanks to him.

Over the years the Olean, Bradford & Warren Railroad HON3 layout has continued to blossom. Since its arrival at St. Albert Priory (Dominican House of Studies) in Oakland, CA it has been carefully attached to a fourth floor wall, had a run-around behind the wall added, a spur into a storage room to protect the motive power from curious fingers, and the addition of some impressive building fronts. Rolling stock also seems to continue to grow through the creative hands of the chief engineer.

Not to be outdone, a friar from the local area has joined in establishing a rail empire at St. Albert. Just a few paces from the Olean, Bradford & Warren is an HO scale layout representing the Southern Pacific and other southern California roads in progress. The layout is on two levels on a framework that seems to be about twenty feet long and about eight feet wide with a crawl-under access to the central control area. The layout is powered by a NCE DCC system with access points around the perimeter as well as in the central area. The double main line with sidings and a significant yard would allow for moving both freight and passenger service. I will await future developments as they present themselves (and I am able to observe ... distance makes things difficult).

Below are pictures of the Olean, Bradford & Warren Railroad and the other layout ... connected at one point so that some exchange can happen and it is possible for the new route's motive power to be stored in the OB&W storeroom.

Take note of the new buildings to the right on this scene of the rail yard.

These Log cars sit on the upper level waiting to be taken to the mill.

The Mill is ready to accept logs.

The engine house is now empty, waiting the return of the 4-4-0
Meanwhile below near the main line work card ready for duty as needed.

These trestles have always impressed me.
It is quite a task to deliver cars and pick up loads through this
switch-back of bridge-work.

The new HO layout is on two levels
This is just the start of the project

Everything can be controlled by the NCE control
The framework is solid.

Complex crossing poses electrical problems that took a while to overcome
This crossing involved both ascending and descending trackage crossing each other.

The upper yard is significant and will be expanded
to include a turntable capable of holding a "big-boy"

The Layouts are connected along the wall with careful attention to granting control to each layout without creating shorts or dueling controls. I am sure that both OB&WRR and the new one will add their own details in the future.

Olean Bradford & Warren on Video

Here is a short video showing an OB&W freight being pulled by Rio Grande Western K-26 #454 from Olean to the Bradford Tunnel. It has audio, so you can hear the sounds produced by the model engine. The filming was done a while ago, so you do not see the more recent buildings in the Bradford Yard. Click the start button to play it.



Again I thank Bro. Lupe for this video.

On the Durango and Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad

The first part of the trip was on the Cumbres and Toltec Scenic Railroad, and I have already posted photos of that trip. The second part, July 17-20 was on the Durango and Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad. We first took the train from Durango to Silverton, riding in the parlor car Nomad, built in the 1880s as a business car. Here is a photo of that train parked in Silverton:


After two nights in Silverton, we took the train back to Durango, riding in the parlor car Cinco Animas, which was a originally an immigrant sleeper, but converted to a private car in the 1880s. Both were very beautifully restored. Here is a photo from the back observation deck, showing Silverton as we departed:


Before entering the "High Line" we stopped at Needleton to get water. One of the three water spots on the trip down to Durango. Here you can see the crew servicing the tender:


One interesting sight was the Tall Timbers Resort. This lodge is only accessible by train, helicopter, or backpacking in. We picked up a group of 20 backpackers at this stop:


After the high bridge, we entered the High Line, here is a photo down the 400 feet to the Animas River Gorge:


And a view of the Gorge from the High Line, looking toward Durango:


There is about 15 of the 45 miles of track that go through the outskirts of Durango, passing trailer parks, homes, and a golf course. The scenery is not all that exciting in this part of the trip, but their are sections of the Animas River near down that are very lovely. And as it was quite warm lots of people were swimming in the river. Here is an example of a nicer section:


In Durango the railroad has a very fine museum in part of the old round house. You can also go out into a viewing area and see the turntable and engine stalls. Here is a closing image of the station in Durango:

On the Cumbres and Toltec Scenic Railroad

Here as promised are photos of our narrow gauge steam train trip through the New Mexico / Colorado Rockies. The first part of the trip was on the Cumbres and Toltec Scenic Railroad and the second was on the Durango and Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad. This posting is on the first part of the trip, July 15-17 on the Cumbres and Toltec.

This line, as most readers probably know, was originally part of the Denver and Rio Grande Western's narrow-gauge system and runs from Chama NM to Antonito CO. The track of this section was laid down in 1880 and extends over 65 miles, crossing the Colorado / New Mexico boarder 11 times, with many sharp loop backs crossing the passes. There are two sections of track where the grade reaches 4%!. As they like to say it is the "longest and highest narrow guage railroad in the world." Much of the staff of the railroad are volunteers who love the line. The Durango may be fancier, and its equipment a bit more authentic, but the down-home feel and incredible changes of ecosystem and scenery made the Cumbres our favorite.

We started our trip in Chama. Here is the station:


Unfortunately at the end of June there was a fire on the Lobato Bridge that closed the line from Chama to the half-way point at Osier. But the railroad quickly moved a engine and six passenger cars from Chama to Cumbres Pass Station to allow a reopening of at least part of the line. So we went the 13 miles from Chama to Cumbres by motor coach. The rest of the 65 miles of track was all operational so from there on we went by train. Here is a view of the Wolf Creek Valley as the bus climbed to the Cumbres Pass:


Along the way, we passed the burned bridge, and Vincent was able to snap a quick picture from the bus:


At Cumbres Pass Station, elevation 10,022 feet above sea level, we found the train waiting to board. This photo shows the end of the train with our parlor car on the end -- still decorated from the Fourth of July. The parlor car in nearly new, just built last year! To the right is the Cumbres station.


From Cumbres the train traveled over the Tanglefoot Curve and the Cascade Trestle above the Rio del los Pinos valley, to reach the lunch stop at Osier. Scenery along the way changed from high pine forest to alpine meadow, with grand vistas of the valley. Lunch was turkey, stuffing, and fixings: the turkey especially good. On the return trip we tried the alternative, meatloaf. We recommend the turkey. Here is the Osier water tank and one of the old section house:


Leaving Osier the train traveled high above the valley into the Toltec Gorge area. Here is a photo taken out the parlor car window of the engine rounding the curve at Toltec Siding:


Engine 484 is a K-36 Class D&RG Mikado; the first car was the concession car. In parlor car service the snacks and drinks were complementary. Along this part of the trip the views of the valley were spectacular. Here is an example:

Here is a photo off the observation deck on the back of our car showing the track along the area of the Toltec Gorge:


We passed through the Rock and Mud Tunnels, past the Sublette Section house, where they replenished the water in the tender, and then followed the sharp curves and 4% grade down the Whiplash Curves to the high desert in Colorado. Here you can see the train leaving Whiplash onto the desert:


The relatively flat section of desert from there to Antonito was striking in a different way from the higher peaks part of the trip. Here is a video of the train as it crosses the desert toward Antonito. Click the start button to view it:



Finally we arrived in Antonito, after about 6 hours of train travel and an hour stop for lunch. Here is the Antonito station.


After a night at a hotel right next to the station and yard, we took the train back to Chama, picked up the car, and drove to Durango for the next leg of the trip. Photos of that will follow.

The Silverton Train

As a teaser for the photos of this summer's trip on the Durango and Silverton and Cumbres and Toltec Narrow Gauge Railways, here is a music video with the song of C. W. McCall about the Silverton train:



THE SILVERTON TRAIN

C. W. McCall

She was born one mornin' on a San Juan summer,
Back in eighteen an' eighty an' one.
She was a beautiful daughter
of the D. & R. G.,
And she weighed about a thousand ton.
Well it's a forty-five miles up the Animas Canyon,
So they set her on the narrow gauge.
She drank a whole lotta water,
and she ate a lotta coal,
And they called her The Silverton (Silverton Train).

Here comes The Silverton up from Durango;
Here comes The Silverton, a shovelin' coal.
Here comes The Silverton up from the canyon;
See the smoke, and hear the whistle blow.

Well now listen to the whistle in the Rockwood Cut,
On the High Line to Silverton town.
An' yer gonna git a shiver,
when ya check out the river,
Which is four hunderd feet straight down!
Take on some water at the Needleton tank,
And then ya struggle up a two-five grade.
And by the time ya git yer hide
pass the Snowshed Slide,
Ya had a ride on The Silverton (Silverton Train).

[Repeat verse twice.]

Now down by the station, early in the mornin',
There's a whole lotta people in line.
An' they all got a ticket
on the train to yesterday,
An' it's a gonna leave on time.
Well it's a forty-five mile up the Animas Canyon.
So they run her on the narrow gauge.
She takes a whole lotta water,
and she needs a lotta coal,
And they call her The Silverton (Silverton Train)

[Repeat verse thrice.]

Back to Bradford

On the left sidebar you may now find a link to Back to Bradford a marvelous site for pictures and information on late-nineteenth-and early-twentieth-century Bradford Pennsylvania.

Be sure to take a look at the collections of photographs for the oil country and the railroads around Bradford. I intend to use these in my future modeling projects.

I thank Mr. Dave Rathfon, who called my attention to this site, and, even more, Ms. Angela Nuzzo, who has created this site.

OB&W Photos with Sound Background

Here is a tour of the layout, with sound in the background! These photos predate the previous post showing the completed buildings in the Bradford Yard, but the images of the rest of the layout are still "current." You will hear the Class A 22 Ton Shay of the James Brothers Lumber Co. running in the background. Sound is being produced by a Tsunami "Light Logging" Sound Decoder.



I thank Bro. Lupe for putting this great show together.

The Yard at Bradford and Tunnels

Here we have the yard at Bradford. Which you have seen before, but without the factories behind.  These now cover that section of track that joins Elred to the logging area served by the James Brothers Lumber Company.  There are cars of both the OB&W in the yard and two cabooses of Denver Rio Grand Western prototype, that with lettering a gift of Fr. Leo, that without, a gift of the president of the Rose Gulch and Porltand.

Here we see the station and the tunnel entrance in the Bradford yard.  Of course, there was no tunnel at Bradford, but for modeling purposes, this is the entrance to the loop built by Fr. Leo and the spurs into the storage cabinets in the work room.  The semaphore signal that you see here (which is prototypical of the 1880s) was a gift of Fr. Leo for Christmas 2009. It is totally functional.

Here is another view back into the Bardford yard.  You can see the first the office of the James Brothers Lumber Company (and the Kane Oil Field Railroad), then the Blaisbell Machine Tool Company of Bradford (which was the parent company of the Zippo Lighter Company), and then the building that houses the offices of the Kendell Refining Company.

Here is a broad view of the yards at Bradford, with some tank cars on the right on a siding at Eldred.

The factories in Bradford are conceived as facing directly onto the tracks (mostly here a result of modeling needs).  Here is front view:

Although this is a bit blurry, we have a good view of where the "mainline" (here dual gauge, even if there was no joint OB&W trackage with the Eire RR) enters the tunnel to the "Leo Loop."

And here we are looking up into the logging country from the Bardford yard we can see the logging area of the James Brothers Logging Railroad.  Here on the logging "siding" is a caboose -- modeled after #1 of the West Side Logging Company of California of the 1920s, but very suitable for the 1890s in Pennsylvania.  With it is a tank car modeled after #7 of the Westside Logging Company, which is very similar to those seen on the narrow guage lines of Pennsylvania and New York oil country in the late 1800s.


Back down in Bradford, a view toward the tunnels and the logging area, with freight on the tracks in the yard.  You can see the logging area above the tunnel portals.


Here is a long shot, in which you can clearly see the tunnels and the yard.  The opening into the Kendall Oil Company building will eventually be hidden by trees.  Having the Kendall and Eldred trackage go through the buildings, is, of course, a modeling conceit to hide the track from the Eldred to the logging zone.



Here is a reverse view of the same scene.  You can see the Bradford yard below and two tank cars on the siding at Eldred.



Here is a close-up of Engine # 104, a class A, 22 ton, Shay of the Kane Oil Field RR on the siding with its fire-water car.  That car carries enough water to supply the engine (should it be caught short in the woods) or to put out any timber fires caused by cinders from the engine's stack.



And this last photo shows the whole train.  Excuse the white-out from the camera flash.



This completes the views of the new work on the Bardford yard and the logging area.  I hope to do a series on the motive power and rolling stock of the lines in the near future. -- If the loan camera gives me some useful photos.

New Constuction!

.
The major construction here in Oakland has been that of a return loop under the eves, behind the curtain wall of the room where the layout is located.   This has almost entirely been the work of Fr. Leo, who nearly destroyed his back putting in the table shown here.  Here we see the loop of track (22" radius) going around under the eves.  Eventually there will be a turnout on this curve that will connect that loop of track to that along the front of the new table to create a reversing Y.  All this track is double gauge, and that coming off the layout main line, where there is now a dead end, will continue into a standard gauge module based on the famous "Time-Saver" switching module.   That's for now.  The future may contain even more interesting developments.


Here we see where the loop goes under the eves.


And with special lighting we can see the track running down the return loop to the curve that takes us back onto the layout.  Those who have conventional layouts, where trains can run in a circle, might find this uninteresting, but, for us who have built shelf layouts, the possibility of running trains around in a loop and giving them a work-out for their gears and motors this kind of link is very much an "upgrade."


Here we see where the new loop comes out onto the layout-- on the lower level in the Bradford yard.  The new scratch-built tunnel portals are in place but the mountain is still Styrofoam. Above you can see the tunnel portal where the old Elred spur now continues through a (still Styrofoam) hill and on through the dry wall into the workroom. The OB&W tunnel also passes into the workroom, through a hidden turnout that allows traffic access to the loop or to the workroom.


Another photo of the same scene, but closer:


Here is a long-distance shot, giving a better idea of how the layout merges into the mountain and tunnels.


Now we jump into the workroom.  Here we see the upper track and the two lower tracks coming through the wall.  You can see in back, the double-gauge track turnout, were it is possible to go to the return loop under the eves or to continue into the workroom.  Some scenery paper has been pasted around the holes in the wall to make them more esthetically pleasing.  This is not mean to represent any actual prototype.


A more expansive view of the same trackage.  The engine storage cabinet is seen to the left.  And materials storage below the tracks.


Here is a photo of the tracks going into the storage cabinet.  These entrances are still rough  And eventually door that can be shut will be added so that the cabinet is dust free.


Here we can see the motive power of the OB&W, the K&E, the Kane Oilfield RR, and the PRR shifter in the case.  Also visible is the gift "Mudhen" 2-8-2 Rio Grand Western, a great engine.


Here is a larger shot of the storage cabinet.  This is an Office Depot kit and actually cheaper than 2 double gauge turnouts!  But you have to put it together!


In the workroom the tracks can be isolated from the layout and used as programming tracks.  Below we see computer used to reprogram the decoders--saved from a dumpster!


The display of the computer with the programming screen for Rio Grand Western #454.


Finally, a less than perfect photo of the whole shelf layout from the tunnels at Bradford to the dock at Olean.  As new work is done, more will follow.