Quanah, Acme and Pacific (QA&P) - West Texas - Fictitious Model Railroad Layout Agriculture Industry

Do you have some kind of safety interlock on the track approach the bridge that leaves that section dead? So that no engine can run through into glory?

 

Hi Patrick,

No, I've got a GUMPS check on the power pack. You can't turn the power on without seeing the checklist. Ask sirfoldalot .

 

... who might add "there are two kinds of people in the world, them that have, and etc. ...."

 

If you're referring to gear up landings, fortunately, I quit flying while I was still in the have not category.

Now if you want to talk about those who have crashed their bicycle numerous times, that, unfortunately, is me

 

Likewise, (knock on wood for two-wheelers...) Meanwhile, keep the fine pictures of your layout coming. It is coming along very well, indeed.

 

Thanks, and as they say, keep the rubber side down, shiny side up and the pointy end forward!!

 

My mom grew up in Quanah, TX. Her father was a career lineman for the QA&P. Mom's best friend was Connie Pharoah and Connie's father was a former WWII fighter pilot who transferred his skills into serving the local ag community by crop dusting. He had a box car in their backyard that served as his storage / office. Ever since I first laid eyes on that box car I've wanted a box car. Strangely, I can't remember what road it was!!! Guess I'll have to settle for an HO one.

As a result, the yard office / storage shed of my layout is a retired 40' steel box car sitting on blocks. It needs lots more junk, stuff, people and weathering, but this is basically how it will look. Using easy liftoff, Q tips and a little 600 grit sandpaper, I took off most of the lettering to simulate it wearing off over time. That will get blended in and weathered. My wife is out of town and has the camera, so there are cellphone shots.

Paul Moore

 

Funny you say that Tom. Here in Erie country there are a lot of those. One right down the road. Most have very good paint still. The guy by me said they were free if you could move it. He would return the favor now for anyone that could move it.

This shoving platform is near me also. It is too bent to use but paint is still nice.

 

Your version looks good Paul.

 

Two of the years I taught school I spent summers in Nathrop, CO, as a rafting and backpacking guide. Nathrop is just south of Buena Vista--not really a town, but there is a post office. The now closed D&RGW line over Tennessee Pass goes through this area paralleling the Arkansas River. Off in a field there was a 50' box car that we passed at least twice a day going to work and back. The paint was so faded it took a couple of months to figure out that it was Savannah and Atlanta. That's where the idea for faded lettering came from. That, and the fact that this particular model was New York New Haven and Hartford, which I have no interest in, so most of the lettering got removed.

 

What a great use for a Pennsylvania boxcar! My least favorite road!

Just east of Pine Bluff AR on US 65 several old Cotton Belt Hydra Cushion boxcars have rusted away for decades in some kind of recycle or junk dealer, for sale to use as farm sheds and such. Every few years one gets sold.

I saw a flatcar repurposed as a creek bridge years ago.

 

Just about completed another scene on the layout today. This portion is definitely West Texas. Think QA&P--cotton, cattle, oil wells and rattlesnakes. Tom Holley's neck of the woods. Probably should have had a freight train instead of a troop train. Oh well...

The red rock formations are modeled after Caprock Canyon State Park, and it looks a lot like that. There's one prominent rock formation that looks like a ship's prow.

Someday I'll get around to making backdrops. That will help a lot.

 

Been super busy working on the property so there hasn't been much time for modeling. Made a little progress on the oilfield support sales yard and a few photos are attached. After tons of research I've come to the conclusion that there was no set way of doing things. Several friends have worked in the oilfield for their entire working career. Each had a little different take on how certain things were done--and all worked in this area of Texas. So this is based upon their input and what little was found online.

For example, there are several types of pipe racks. It's hard to determine what was used back in the 1940's and 1950's.

There may be a large lean-to (roof with no walls) on the right side of the yard to keep cable, etc., out of the rain, and to add a little more interest. The scene is a little sparse right now (as in boring) and needs some more details. A forklift kit arrived today. It's really too modern, but is the earliest outdoor heavy duty forklift I could find.

That's about it until more things are added.

Paul Moore

 

p.s. the concrete pipe racks are actually something that was used. They were the height of a flatbed truck or railroad flatcar so pipe could be rolled off of the rail car onto the pipe racks and off of the pipe racks onto a flatbed truck. They have steel pipe or some sort of steel grommet embedded in each end of the top so a piece of 1" diameter steel (piece of sucker rod or something) could be stuck in the hole to keep the pipe from rolling off of the concrete pipe racks.

 

Haven't touched the railroad in a couple of months, but due to an injured wrist and rain I'm "dead in the water" on a brick sidewalk I'm building around the south end of the house. Don't have a clue what I did to the wrist--started hurting on a 46 mile bicycle ride early this week, but it's probably from all the digging for the sidewalk.

As a result, a kit that's been in a drawer for years is underway. It's a Campbell Scale Models traveling overhead crane. It's a pretty nice little kit. The plan is to put it over two parallel MOW tracks for loading and unloading MOW cars . The bents won't be leaning up against each other like a tripod. They're just that way so I could see how well they fit over the two tracks. Tom Holley built the QA&P flatcar in the photo. The other photo is a stock Campbell photo showing the completed kit.

 

A tiny bit of progress on the overhead crane. Apparently I wasn't as still as I thought and the photo looks out of focus. Oh well...It's a pretty neat little kit with pretty good instructions. It's being modified a tiny bit, but not much. The two bents are nearly complete. The biggest concern is how fragile the connecting pieces are between the bents...that and trying to do the rigging correctly.

 

Is that kato track?

 

Yes, the majority of the layout is Kato Unitrack. A few years ago a friend found a huge box of it--new--at a swap meet for something like $80. It was probably 100' of track, 8 or 9 switches, etc. He sold it to me for what he had in it.

The stuff works great. It's not American prototype, but if you weather it it doesn't look too bad. I also built up the dirt around it so the roadbed wasn't quite so high. It's obviously not as nice as good code 70 flex track, but at today's prices, I decided to build the layout with it. The power routing feature on the switches is really nice for someone like myself who likes good old DC . The mainline is 34" radius curves and the sidings are 31" radius.

The yard and industry sidings are flextrack, but the rest is Kato.

 

Kato track is reportedly the best for electrical continuity between sections. Since I’m doing a shortline I like the widely spaced ties for the look of slightly cheesier trackwork.

Unfortunately early on I made a poor decision to use EZ track. I wanted an operating layout within a week and I got it but in turn I received ongoing aggravations. Continuity has failed in several locations and the switches are poorly crafted on several fronts. Plus there’s the code 100 track rail height which can be minimized in several ways but there’s always places where it peeks through.

I should have used code 70 from the beginning. But. My layout is mostly working ok now and at my age I’m not building another one.