Thank You For Your Visit

Since 5th April, more than 140 visitors (including repeat visitors) have visited Rosenberg Meet in N-scale; as far north as Troms, Norway (Takk!) and as far south as Dunedin, New Zealand (Thank You!)



As you learn more about my Rosenberg Meet, do visit The City that Works. After all, each modeller is an ambassador of the place and country he/she models :)


Jimmy

Rosenberg Meet at Night Time

Steve Cox's recent post on 2nd Street job on Richmond Pacific and his subsequent modeler's note raised an interesting question about simulating the after dark look. Good point, Steve.

How many of us modelers considered this point in our layout?

We simulate winter, summer, fall and spring days but how often we simulate the dawn or dusk feeling or even night feeling? A food for thought for my Rosie :)

Wes Carr beautifully captured Tower 17 at a winter dawn
looking west. Can Jimmy capture this feeling in N-scale?

Jimmy Low

Texas' Last Interlocking Tower Closing

ROSENBERG, Texas - Effective at 8 a.m. today, Texas begins to lose Tower 17, its last active interlocking tower guarding a railroad junction. All Texas towers were numbered, and the one at Rosenburg, 35 miles southwest of Houston where Union Pacific's former Southern Pacific Sunset Route main line crosses BNSF's former Santa Fe line from the north into the Houston-Galveston area, happened to be 17.

Tower 17's closure is said to leave UP's West Bridge Junction in Louisiana, near the Huey P. Long bridge, as the last staffed traditional tower in service (vs. towers at moveable rail bridges at waterways) in the U.S. west of the Mississippi River.

A 36-hour maintenance-of-way window is in effect today for UP signal forces to change out switches, switch machines, and cut over new signals and take down old ones at Tower 17. The UP Glidden Sub dispatcher now controls the remaining switches and signals. Rosenburg operators are expected to find work at other UP locations.

The last day that Tower 17 will be open will be Friday, Feb. 13, with the last operator reporting for work at 11 p.m. When that shift is over at 7 a.m. Saturday morning, the tower will be closed.

Texas' towers were given numbers, at random, by the Railroad Commission of Texas after the 1901 passage of a state law to regulate crossings at grade of railroads. The numeric progression of Texas interlockings has no logic either geographically or by railroad. It is believed that Tower 196, in El Paso near Union Station, had the highest number. As late as early 1985 there were still well over 100 active interlockings in Texas, but only a couple of dozen or so were controlled by active towers.


Information provided by Trains Magazine

Deciphering Train Symbols - More Than Just Symbols

Last week, I got connected with 2 important people that spurred my interest to model Tower 17 in Rosenberg, Texas. Yes, Stephen Foyt and Wes Carr are now in my Facebook. I also found out that both are with UPRR and BNSF respectively as train dispatcher. Wow, what a discovery!

Train dispatchers are the air traffic controllers of the railroads. They control the movement of trains over large track territories.

Train dispatchers assign train symbols to indicate the train type, origin and destination of train and other information. Different railroads uses different train symbols. Knowing each railroad's train symbols help to make the model railroad operations more prototypical. I reread Stephen's 24 hours at Tower 17, Rosenberg report and trying to decipher all the 77 train symbols, both BNSF's and UPRR's.

By looking at each train symbols, I can now tell the origin and destination of each train type. It also give me an idea where each train originates and what it carries with it, and where it is going - loaded trains normally to ports in Texas or other States such as those in Long Beach or Los Angeles, California or New Orleans, Louisiana for handover to /from CSX.


Coals come from Wyoming for Smither's Lake Power Plant traveling over BNSF Galveston to Thompsons.

The train symbols also tell the type of commodity or product that BNSF and UPRR carry in this region. Grains and coals are BNSF main commodities while UP bends towards rocks (?) and intermodal between New Orleans and Los Angeles.

So, you will see actual* BNSF and UPRR train symbols used on Rosenberg Meet.



Jimmy

* I was told the BNSF train symbols have changed but since I am modelling 2004 period, train symbols in Stephen's report remained correct.

A Little Research Adds Realism

A little research goes a long way in adding realism to a layout. Not that I am a rivet counter. Think about it. Everything has a story to tell. The way tracks are laid, the trees branch out, the location of a structure or even some dirt on the track (yes, I noticed something).

I bought this book on BNSF by Brian Solomon. It is an interesting coffee table book that talks about the pre-BNSF days and how each mighty railroad started and merged to become the King of Grain BNSF today.

After all, I am modelling BNSF. It helps to sell them if you know them. Don't you think so?

Jimmy

Amtrak Sunset Limited Train No. 2 Is Now Departing for New Orleans via Houston

Good news!

Amtrak Sunset Limited train #2 will pass Tower 17 every Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays on my layout to Houston and New Orleans and return as train #1 every Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.

I have 3 P42s and 8 Superliner coaches. Amtrak Sunset Limited runs on this configuration: 2 locos (P42, P40 or P32) + Baggage + Transition Sleeper + Sleeper + Diner + Sightseer Lounge + Coach + Coach.

Now, I need to find a Budd baggage car and a transition sleeper in N-scale to complete the configuration.

So, when you see Amtrak Sunset Limited running on UP Glidden in certain direction, you know what day it is.


Jimmy

Madhatter: That's Me

Stephen Foyt posted his 24 hours at Tower 17, Rosenberg report and concluded that report saying "Anyone who actually read this far must have been REALLY interested." Yes, Stephen. I am one of those who read that far and analysed all the train movements as described by you.

I even looked up Google Map to map each of the start and end destination of the 77 trains you and Julian observed and recorded that winter 2004 day, just to get my orientation right vis-a-vis Rosenberg.

In fact, I went to the extent of analysing each train - the loco model, road number and cars that it hauled. You will notice a certain type of cars come from certain direction. And as I dived further, I found the reason why this is so. Well, I let you read Stephen's report and watch the type of trains that will ply my routes on my Rosenberg Meet.

Interestingly, BNSF tends to use specific motive powers in this region. The common ones are, in descending order of fleet, C44-9W and SD40-2 and SD70MAC. On the other hand, UP loves SD40-2, SD60M and SD70M. You will also see some SD40-2T (Tunnel Motor in Texas??), C44-9W and GP60. I suspect these came from ex-Southern Pacific fleet.

As for cars, definitely lots of rock hoppers and gondolas which are UP's "favourite" haul, the King of Grain BNSF with its grain hoppers and mixture of tanks, boxcars, stacks and trailers mainly by UP from New Orleans and Los Angeles

Now, you know what kind of traffic you will see on my layout and my coming acquisitions. Stay tune.

And, Stephen, someone is watching you :D


Jimmy Low

With a Magnifying Glass, Google Map and Pen

Even though Bharani, my carpenter, and Jason could not make it this afternoon to survey the train room and discuss my layout, no time was wasted.

I took out my track plan and started looking at the overall feel of the layout. I started mapping the track arrangements from Tower 17 east and west all the way to Algoa.

In earlier plans, I only outlined the mainlines (BNSF Galveston and UP Glidden) and some sidings that shape Rosenberg Meet. While this is fine for a start and defines the boundary of my layout, I need to make sure I have interesting features captured in the layout. I can't have everything but something just evoke a feel of the place in 1:160 world. I hope to be able to capture that feeling and when someone sees it, he/she will say, oh yea ... that's so-and-so place.

I was working with XTrkCAD, Google Map and a few sheets of paper. I took a closer look at the track arrangements and sketched them on paper. I zoomed for a closer look and some of the amazing things I discovered (to find out what I discovered, you got to wait till the layout is completed and I point them to you then :D)

Okay, back to "track hunting" again. Stay tune.

Jimmy Low

The Wonderful World of Internet

Isn't World Wide Web a wonderful invention of all time? For modellers like myself, from a far away land, the Internet brings the railroad closer to home; right in front of me. As I research about BNSF and UP in south-west Texas and looking at the photos, Google maps and other information about Rosenberg, Tower 17, Algoa, Galveston, etc., it made me feel like being there without being physically there.

As I looked at photos from Wes Carr, Russell Straw, Bob Chapman and others for inspirations and get a feel on the places mentioned about, immediately ideas popped in my head. I begin to jot down finer details what should be incorporated into my layout; those little things that you will not nice. Like they say, a picture paints a thousand words. There are many more words that you can dechiper from the photos. Take a look at them in these links and tell me what you see (look at them and close your eyes)

Photos:
Robert Chapman's Rosenberg
Tower 17 Rosenberg Webshots
Rosenberg Railroad Museum and Tower 17
Rosenberg RR Museum
William Davis Jr's Information on Tower 17
Russell Straw's Photos of Tower 17 and other SP Towers (the man with the keys to Tower 17)
Wes Carr's Photos of Tower 17 Rosenberg (the photo that started my Tower 17 hunt)

And, with instant messaging, I am in touch with many on the side of the world. Thanks Steve, Denny, Kenneth, Dave, Flash, Russell, Jamie and others for your advice and comments. I truly appreciate the help in my layout. Every bit of information counts.



Jimmy Low

Locations to Model

I have taken some snapshots of the locations I want to model from Google Map. Some interesting features or industries to model (some selective compression is necessary).

Rosenberg Junction where BNSF Galveston and UP Glidden
cross each other

Richmond Junction where BNSF Galveston heads south-east
and UP Glidden heads east

Junction to Smithers Lake and Thompsons

Smithers Lake and Thompsons Coal Fired Power Plant

Thompson coal deposit pit and tracks that circle the pit


Thompson power plant

BNSF Galveston and BNSF Mykawa junction near Alvin

BNSF Galveston and UP Angelston junction near Algoa

BNSF Galveston and UP Galveston merge at
Virginia Point before heading to Galveston

Galveston causeway and lift bridge

Galveston

Galveston can occupy the entire lower deck in the future. What a sight to model! Kenneth from Corpus Christi, Texas is modelling the island seaport of Galveston

I am drooling already

Jimmy Low

And Then, There Was Sante Fe and Southern Pacific .....

Some of the forumers in TrainBoard.com gave some useful information on the region that I am modelling. I also noticed in my research that Santa Fe (ATSF/SF) and Southern Pacific (SP) used to own the lines in South Texas. Apparently, the present BNSF Galveston subdivision was owned by Santa Fe while UP Glidden and UP Galveston by Southern Pacific. Besides having BNSF and UP paint schemes in the locomotives and rolling stock, I can add Santa Fe and Southern Pacific too.

Furthermore, the trackside equipment, depots and other railroad structures will have both SF and SP flavour. I am beginning to like what I am modelling now, even more.

Sometime back, I was reading about Class 1 railroads and found David Hall's YouTube on How The West Was Lost. It was about the merger of railroads into UP and BNSF. I dugged further and came out with these two maps.

I have the above maps in PDF version. Email me if you want a copy as I can't uploaded into this blog.

I know there are other railroads I have not traced back or those taken over by Canadian Pacific (CP) and Canadian National (CN). I will do more once I have the free time.

Books on North American Railroad

I was at The Curve Borders this morning and just casually walked to the Hobbies/Special Interests section. They had a section on Transportations. Usually you will find books about automobile, airplane, ships, etc. Very rare you will find books about trains. Lady luck was at my side this morning. I found 4 books in North American railroads. Wow! What a bonus.

I sat down on the floor and flipped through each of there. One particular book caught my attention which I would never expect it to be there at all.

This is a coffee table book on BNSF and traced its history back to pre-merger days. It's 290 pages thick but I am sure it is a good reading material. I flipped through some chapters and I am already excited to delve deeper. I hope to find something about the Galveston line.

The other 3 books are interesting too. Here are what I bought.

I have not gone through all of them so I can't give you my review. I will start a collection of railroad books and looking forward to buy a few more especially about Southern Pacific, which owns most of the lines in Texas (SP merged into UP in 1996) and Union Pacific.

It's about time for me to catch up with some reading. My investment today, priceless. For those interested, check out http://www.motorbooks.com/Store/CustomPage_6131.ncm. Don't let the URL deceive you.

Book Reviews: (All reviews are based on this blogger's opinions)
Rail Power by Steve Barry
It took less than 24 hours to finish this book (okay, that 24 hours include sleep, bath and other personal and work activities). Then again, this book is full of color photos and captions accompanying each of the photos. For those who love the various shots of the "lost" American railroad, this is a good book. The book starts with Steam locos followed by Electric and Diesel (-Electric). While I am not an expert in American railroad, this book has taught me the various steam loco wheel arrangements from American 4-4-0 to Challenger 4-6-6-4. What's obviously missing from the Steam category is UP Big Boy 4-8-8-4. Now, how you can NOT include the icon of American steam loco? This I will leave to Steve and the publisher to answer.

Overall, this is a handy book to have and a good pictorial reference of the good old steam-electric-diesel era of the grand American railroads.

The American Railroad - Working for the Nation by Joe Welsh
See my comments in later blog.

Studying Prototype Railroad Operations

The Houston Freight Rail Study offers a wealth of information on the routes that I am planning to model. My model is the intersection of 3 subdivisions - BNSF Galveston (216 miles from Temple (North-West) to Galveston (South-East)), UP Glidden (210 miles from San Antonio (West) to Houston (East) and UP Galveston (47 miles from Houston (North) to Galveston (South))

Source: Texas Department of Transportation

In summary,

Source: BNSF Railway

BNSF Galveston
Milage: 216 miles
Terminus: Temple and BNSF's West Yard at Galveston
Trackage: Predominantly single track from Tower 17 to Galveston
Traffic: 20-30 trains per day bi-directional
Trackage Rights: UP from Rosenberg to Algoa
Serving Industries:

UP Glidden
Milage: 210 miles
Terminus: Harrisburg Junction at Houston and Kirby Yard at San Antonio
Trackage: Predominantly single track
Traffic: Average 30-40 trains per day bi-directional; Amtrak Sunset Limited 3 eastbound and 3 westbound weekly service
Trackage Rights: BNSF from Rosenberg to Houston, KCS from Flatonia to Houston
Allowable Gross Weight Permitted: 315,000lb (158 tons) Gross Weight Cars & Unit Trains
Serving Industries:

Source: Union Pacific Allowable Gross Weight Map
(Green - 315,000lb; Blue - 286,000lb; Red - 268,000lb)

UP Galveston
Milage: 47 miles
Terminus: South GH&H Junction at Houston and Galveston
Trackage: Predominantly single track
Traffic: Average 5-10 trains per day bi-directional
Trackage Rights: None; UP and BNSF jointly operates single track bridge spanning Galveston Causeway to Galveston Island
Allowable Gross Weight Permitted: 286,000lb (143 tons) Gross Weight Cars & Unit Trains
Serving Industries:


BNSF does not use the UP Glidden trackage. It has its own Galveston trackage from Tower 17 to Virginia Point on the north side of Galveston Bay, before crossing the Galveston Causeway to West Yard on the island. The track on the Causeway is jointly operated with UP, which also serve the industries in Galveston Island.

I found this presentation pack to the Steering Committee on the Houston Region Freight Study. This shows the long-term plan to improve the freight traffic around Houston. The main improvements are on grade separations and closures as well as double tracking and new rail corridors.

Tower 17 Rosenberg, Meeting of Two Giants

As I was chatting with Denny "Oh Wise Guru" Turani from Italy the other day, he asked me which prototype railroad am I going to model. Denny is modelling Southern Pacific (SP / Espee) Coast Line in Central California from Callender to Surf in N-scale. As you can see in his Southern Pacific Coast Line in N scale blog, he is doing an excellent job in modelling realistic operations.

I always like and want to model Union Pacific. I love their Armor Yellow livery and their range of steam and diesel locos - some of the largest locos such as the EMD DD40AX and the famous Big Boy (Alco 4-8-8-4 Mallet). UP also happens to the one of the two American railroads that retained its original name since its inception (Kansas City Southern (KCS) is the other one)

I also like, to some extent, BSNF or more towards its predecessor Sante Fe (SF). And, greedy me. I also want to incorporate Amtrak since they are the national passenger carrier.

Now, where can I find all 3 in one location? Wes Carr's photos of Tower 17 Rosenberg in Texas caught my eyes. Thanks to Google Map, I zoomed to Rosenberg, Texas. A potpourri of the Class 1 railroads, West of Mississippi. There are a few UP and BNSF subdivisions operating around that area with both UP and BNSF having trackage right on each other's track from Rosenberg to Houston and to Galveston. To model this on N-scale over 11ft x 12ft room will be an interesting sight.

Source: Texas Department of Transportation (BNSF - Green; UP - Red)

During the weekend, I found the Houston Freight Rail Study plan in the Texas Department of Transportation. Yee Haw! This detailed study is what I have been looking for. The study was to improve the freight movements around Greater Houston and yes, it fits my bill. Information about geographical limit, length, traffic volume and profile as well as operating railroad(s) for each subdivision are all here.

Source: Google Earth

The focal point of my layout (tentatively named "Rosenberg Meet") is Tower 17. It was the last manned interlocking tower in Texas, closed in February 2004. BNSF Galveston subdivision which stretches from Temple to Virginia Point (Galveston) and UP Glidden subdivision which stretches from Harrisburg Junction (near Houston) to San Antonio crosses each other at Tower 17. Wes Carr wrote about A Day at Tower 17 while Stephen Foyt recounted the train movements at Tower 17 over a 24 hour period. Amazingly, during its last operating days this Tower was buzzing with train activities and definitely a railfanning spot. In that 24 hour slot, there were 77 train movements as reported by Stephen.

AMTK – 1
KCS/TM – 1
BNSF – 34
UP – 41

Now, I just need to build up the locomotive roster and rolling stocks to to match that list. My layout will cover the triangle zone bordered by UP Glidden, BNSF Galveston and UP Galveston with the 2 focal points at Tower 17, Rosenberg and Galveston intermodal terminal at Galveston. As these routes cross the flat plains of South Texas, there won't be challenging mountains to climb. Grade will be minimal. It will be more downgrade from Rosenberg to Galveston (sea level)

Join me as I research more about the railroads, its routes and movements and present them in 1:160 form on my "Rosenberg Meet" layout.

Photos:
Robert Chapman's Rosenberg
Tower 17 Rosenberg Webshots
Rosenberg Railroad Museum and Tower 17
Rosenberg RR Museum
William Davis Jr's Information on Tower 17
Russell Straw's Photos of Tower 17 and other SP Towers (the man with the keys to Tower 17)
Wes Carr's Photos of Tower 17 Rosenberg (the photo that started my Tower 17 hunt)