Lebanon, MO Industries The NMRA Layout Design Special Interest Group calls them Layout Design Elements (LDEs). My favorite has become Lebanon, MO on the BN, ex SL-SF. These posts describe my design process. I got a lot of help. Sam Shepherd and Travers Stavik of Severna Park, MD; Paul Dolkos and Dr. Doug Gurin of N. VA; Gordon Everett of Rockville, MD; Tony Koester of NJ; Dean Smith of Rolla, MO; Tony Steele of Waterford, NY; Frank Bryan of Washington, MO; Jim Rucker of Houston; Jan Jester (Deceased) of KC, KS; Ed Vondrak of Indianapolis; and especially Michael Newton who helped a LOT with Lebanon. His material and maps follow: Taken from FMIG LINES 105 Spring 1991 MICHAEL NEWTON, 1352 Points 0 Call Apts, Palatine, IL 60067 Letter of July 31, 1990 I received your brick last week and quickly reviewed it. I had wondered what had happened to you since our phone conversation in 1989. I will try to help you as much as possible. I would not call myself a Lebanon expert for the late 60’s and early-mid 70’s. I was very young then, but I was quite observant, so I do remember the basic track arrangement. I have a cousin who can help you a great deal concerning Commercial Street. His name is Kirk Pearce, and he is a member of the Laclede County Historical Society. He has a large number of pictures of the downtown Lebanon area. I will give you the basic track plan arrangement along with building/industry locations and details on the enclosed drawing. I really don’t know a lot about track planning, but I do like realistic operation of a model railroad. Lebanon is a neat place for local freight operation. I have seen the streets blocked many times during switching operations. I have even seen a SW-1500/GP-7 combination being used during local freight moves at Lebanon. The track drawing is crude, but the major elements are present. I have tried to maintain the distance scale. All industries still exist except for Adair Concrete. I hope this helps you out. I would like to become more active in FMIG and would like to have the previous editions of FMIG LINES. I do have a model railroad, and I would like to share it. It is called the OZARK RAILWAY - SUBSIDIARY SL-SF (51% SL-SF, 49% MoPac). I will share more about it in another letter. Lebanon Industries 1. MFA PLANT FOOD Covered hoppers of all varieties with fertilizer. (Added by Doug) 1A. FERRELLGAS Liquefied petroleum tank cars 2. MID AMERICA DAIRY Formerly used coal for boilers. Hoppers. 3. DETROIT TOOL Light tool manufacturer. I’ve never seen any rolling stock there. 4. PHILLIPS 66 Never have seen any tanks cars there. 5. LIQUID FERTILIZER TANK Tank cars. 6. NOBLE HUDSON FEED STORE AT&SF “Ship & Travel” 40’ boxcars. I’ve seen a large number there. 7. NOBLE HUDSON FEED STORE Covered hoppers with grain and fertilizer. 8. SINCLAIR OIL Tank cars?? 9. DX OIL Tank cars?? 10. LEBANON PLANT FOOD Covered hoppers with fertilizer. 11. LUMBER STORAGE ON GROUND Flats, bulkheads, and boxcars. 12. TEAM TRACK I’ve seen 50 & 60’ boxcars being loaded with aluminum boats. Rest of the time, used for timber unloading. 13. TINDLE MILL Covered hoppers with grain. 14. MFA BULK FEED Covered hoppers with grain. 15. AMOCO BULK OIL 60’ tankers. They pulled a hose through the building to the storage tanks in back. 16. MFA FARMERS CO-OP 40 & 50’ single-door boxcars of the SL-SF 22000 series. 17. SL-SF DEPOT I’ve seen whiskey barrels from the local stave mill being loaded into 40’ boxcars. 18. LEE JEANS This is where they do their stone washing. I’ve never seen any cars there, only the track going up to it. 19. ADAIR CONCRETE I don’t remember anything there. The lower end of the track is used as a team track. 20. SP GAS Liquefied petroleum tank cars.
IMHO, the key is to model Lebanon with the view being to the SE. Model railroaders prefer east to the right, west to the left, but Lebanon probably works better the other way so the wye points away from the aisle. I'm now thinking of doing a switching layout just of Lebanon - with maybe some main-line staging thrown in. I'll let Brad Slone do the Ft. Wood Branch.
Doug, If you will be building an operating railroad I strongly believe the better orientation for Lebanon is looking to the Northeast. With a northeast orientation the majority of the industries are on the aisle side. This includes those along the wye tracks. The all important wye, with its industries, can extend into the aisle. This is a critical element for an operating railroad so that the operators can reach the equipment to more easily couple and uncouple cars. Even a tight radius wye would extend beyond comfortable reach (24" to 30" max) if orientated the other way. Since the majority of the rail served industries on on the south side, they would have their fronts toward the aisle, so business signs are more readily visible, easy for operators to identify and aesthetically pleasing. The backs of the downtown businesses on the north side then form a "logical" backdrop of flats or shallow profile buildings against the wall. For the owner building the railroad with this orientation would be much easier. The orientation places the tracks in easy to reach locations for installation, wiring, maintenance and cleaning. Any derailment could be reached without having to lean over the railroad. If aisle space becomes a concern, the stub end of the wye could be hinged to fold out of the way when not in use. And better still, this orientation resolves the direction orientation issue. Operators always face north, to the right is east and to the left is west. In the Northern Hemisphere, it keeps the North Star orientation everyone is familiar with on maps. Visiting operators can keep their bearings and understand St. Louis is east of Springfield. Hope this helps. Thanks! Mark
Thanks Mark, This issue has been a design hang up for about six years. Actually most of the industries, except Lee Jeans and Detroit Tool, are on the south side, so the operators would have to reach over the model structures for uncoupling. It probably doesn't matter much - I don't think my wife wants to stay in this house long enough for me to build another layout. This string has been dormant for several years - I'm guessing you and I are the only ones interested in Lebanon.
Doug, I might eventually have an interest in Lebanon as well. I have been doodling grand layout plans ( easy to do when you don't have the space for the actual layout). One of these days, I will model at least part of the Springfield terminal and at least one of the lines radiating out from it... In addition to the Ozark branch ( which is a personal favorite). Current thoughts are to model a few towns on the St Louis main to Newburg and a few towns between Springfield and Thayer with connections between the two on the old east belt and the new east belt, along with a common staging yard representing Tulsa and KC. ( and the staging may be labeled on the plan as North Yard on one end and South yard on the other... But I have not thought that through completely). If I am doing the Ozark branch, modeling the old east belt and everything east of the there in town would provide enough action for a couple of crews. The mainline run would provide additional interest. Paul
Paul, it sounds interesting. Give your operators two or three towns to switch and they'll always show up. Those industry charts posted here a month or so ago are ample ammunition. Lebanon's blew me away with all the local industries that used the team tracks. I knew about the track-side ones. Doug
Doug, I think your detailed notes and photos make it ridiculously easy for anyone who would be interesting in modeling Lebanon. I think Lebanon by itself, with staging at each end - the end-to-end forks, if you will - would provide several operators a LOT of work in one fast-clock trick. Would the LDE lend itself to portable or even moveable segments that could be moved to another house? Best Regards,
Yes, but my wife is intent on down sizing and my eyesight no longer allows detailed model building. If I'd known I'd live this long, I would have taken better care of myself. Thanks Chris, Doug
Re: Lebanon East leg of wye Just one additional use of the team track near the Lebanon depot. I remember a 50 foot Great Northern (similar to the Kadee model #39817) box car spotted just to the west of the depot, and the Osagian Canoe company was loading canoes into the box car. I have no idea of the destination for the canoes. Also, the MFA feed mill use to receive a lot of Peavey and ICG covered hoppers. I really liked those cars when I was a kid (oh wait, I am still a kid just with an older body now).
Well, Frisco Nation is the poorer for it. With my maternal/paternal family's history of eye problems increasing with age, I shall heed your words. I think this LDE is ripe for the picking for an intrepid prototype modeler. One might turn away from modeling it since it's on the busy Eastern Division main. However, even for someone who doesn't have the wherewithal to model the full range of traffic, I think it's possible to still accurately model Lebanon, operating the layout as a "switching/local" layout, and have any mainline traffic be conceptual in nature. As someone who finds this type of Frisco archaeology challenging, a big THANK YOU for carefully documenting Lebanon! Best Regards,
I'm back. I have a new layout room for which to design. We moved from Ann Arbor to Knoxville June 1st. It's great to know that a few others are also interested in Lebanon. Brad Slone has also expressed an interest. I just rechecked the Industry Schematic(s) for Lebanon and note that there are two. One is downtown and the other west of town to service the LP Gas, MFA, and Detroit tool. Staging and two LDEs? That could work. I was laying track for Lebanon before I had to tear out the Annapolis layout for the move to Ann Arbor. I feel the need for bonding. DJH
Hi Doug, Let me know how I can help you out. I still have a bunch of memories of Lebanon! Mike Newton
Doug, I'll be in the area at least for a little while. Let me know if you want me to scout or photograph anything extant in the present day. BAS
It's very good to have you back, Doug. Knoxville Tennessee, I presume? Looking forward to seeing thoughts and sketches of the new liayout. Best Regards,
The thoughts going through the old noggin when I step into that room are fascinating. It's on my mind when I wake each morning. I'm thinking an out-and-back design. The main classification yard with be Springburg or Newfield. Going east: Sleeper, W. Lebanon, Lebanon, and Dixon. Dixon can be used for my prototype scene AP award. The curve just east of Dixon will start the reverse loop back to the yard - at a lower level and with a lot of linear staging. Now to draw it up. My old list of fellow modelers concentrating on the MO Ozarks was: Sloan, Wirth, Wulfert, Tyson, Manning, Allen, Frisco George Magyar, Stevenson, Old Dan Gray, Maxfield, Seevers, Bloch, Brinkley, Cordell Webb, and Jerry Hurt. Who'd I miss? Doug
