Model train layout at Schuylkill Mall shows time when coal was king

From Republican Herald:  Model train layout at Schuylkill Mall shows time when coal was king

FRACKVILLE - A 5-year-old boy was fixated by the train as it rounded the track.
The boy, Gavin Pabst, Egg Harbor City, N.J., was one of several people who stopped to admire the trains on the 26-foot by 55-foot display inside the Schuylkill Mall on Sunday.
"The layout is loosely based from Mahanoy City to Ashland," said Wally Fetterolf Jr., a member of the North Schuylkill High Railers, a group of railroad enthusiasts.
Ten members of the group maintain the tracks, O Gauge trains and layout. It took owner Joseph Webber and others 2 1/2 years to build the layout, Fetterolf said.
Replicas of individual borough structures are stops along the three-rail track. A Catholic church in Maizeville, a replica of the Mahanoy Plane and the mansion of the Kaier Brewery in Mahanoy City are some of the features.
"It's actually a bed-and-breakfast right now. It's on the main street in Mahanoy City," Fetterolf said of the mansion.
There is even a replica of the Pioneer Colliery in Ashland.
The layout of the set is from about 1925, he said, one of the booming years for the coal industry.
The nine trains and three trolleys are run by remote control.
One locomotive carries 25 coal cars. Many of the trains carry coal "because that was the main traffic in the area," Fetterolf said. Other freight cars carry small twigs to look like lumber.
The layout has been at the mall for 12 years, but the group has been displaying it for five, Fetterolf said.
"The agreement was $1 a year," Fetterolf said. He owns most of the trains that run on the tracks. Other members own the rest.
Keeping the trains and set in working order takes time, he said.
"It's a never ending process to keep it running," he said.
A scrubber like device is used to clean the dirt and other substances from the track on a weekly basis. Routine maintenance is also done on the locomotives and cars as needed, he said.
Dave Cruikshank, 51, of Reading, another volunteer, said he enjoys the time he spends with the display.
"Everybody likes trains," he said.
"I think it's pretty neat. They did a good job with it," said John Pabst, father of Gavin.
He said his son loves trains.
The group is seeking those who want to volunteer and learn more about trains. Those interested can call Fetterolf at 570-205-6275 or visit the Facebook page of the group at North Schuylkill High Railers. More information is available at www.anthracitemodelrr.com.
Hours for the display are from noon to 5 p.m. every other Sunday. Cost is $1

 

Miniature masterpiece in DeKalb basement

From Daily Chronicle:  Miniature masterpiece in DeKalb basement

Tom Thompson has spent years working on his European-themed model railroad in his DeKalb basementA hobby that has grown and grown over the years takes up most of the basement in Tom Thompson’s DeKalb home.

At 22 feet in one direction and 20 feet in another, Thompson’s G-scale model train setup – a recreation of a European village in the Alps – has taken on a life of its own. It’s all about the stories for Thompson: He finds joy in imagining the possibilities with the villagers, businesses and train passengers who inhabit the tiny world.

“Everywhere you look, you’ll see little interesting tidbits, something that kind of tells an interesting story,” Thompson said.

In the 10 years he spent building the model railroad, Thompson let no detail go overlooked. Miniature parking meters have time left on them; others are expired. There’s a roll of toilet paper on the inside of an outhouse door. The Swiss Alps are reflected on the windows of the passenger cars, where people sit inside.
“It’s your own fantasy world. I mean, model railroad, that’s what it is,” Thompson said. “The reality is, it’s your world and you can make it what you want.”

When Thompson retired from Northern Illinois University in 2001, he planned to occupy his time building dollhouses for his grandchildren. During a trip to a hobby shop, he spotted a model train instead. The idea for a grand railroad was set in motion.

He sketched and mapped the layout of the train setup that soon would take over a good portion of his basement. He’s particularly proud of the trestle he built on a curve, which was challenging.

“It’s a work in progress,” he said. “As anybody who builds model railroads will tell you, it’s never finished.”
The European theme of the railroad reflects trips he and his wife, Jane, have taken to Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Thompson was captivated by European trains.

Freight and passenger trains make complete loops through the miniature
village, where signs and business names are written in German. A cog engine that handles steep inclines heads up a mountain similar to the Matterhorn. A trolley runs past the train station and out to a beer garden. An opening in the middle of the train setup allows for a 360-degree view of the village.

“We’ve lived with this for 10 years, and I could still notice something for the first time,” Jane Thompson said about the details.

The real thrill for the couple is seeing children enjoy the model railroad. Thompson’s grandchildren will say, “Run the train, Poppy, run the train” when they visit. The train setup has attracted neighborhood fans as well, including 2-year-old George Taylor.

George loves trains, and when the family stopped by the Thompsons’ home on Christmas and saw the expansive display, his eyes lit up.

“He was in awe,” his mom, Sarah Taylor, said.

The Taylors have visited the Thompsons’ railroad a couple of times. When they walk by the home, George says, “trains.”

Thompson has “obviously spent a lot of time on it,” Sarah Taylor said.

Thompson has amassed a collection of train paraphernalia, including photos and prints of trains, a railroad crossing sign that hangs in the basement, and an authentic conductor’s hat Thompson wears when he reads “The Polar Express” to his grandchildren each Christmas.

“It’s really taken on a life of its own,” Jane Thompson said.

Eventually, Thompson will dismantle the model railroad. When the couple move elsewhere, they probably won’t have room for such a setup, but they plan to display train cars on shelves.

“It brought a lot of pleasure, and it still does,” Thompson said.

 

China creates model for sustainable living

From :  Mother Nature Network: China creates model for sustainable living

At first glance, Tianjin Eco-City looks much like any other upscale Chinese urban development, with its rows of identical apartment blocks, wide roads and manicured verges.

 

In fact, it is being touted as a model for sustainable living in this rapidly urbanizing and heavily polluted country, whose congested, smog-choked cities are becoming increasingly unlivable.

 

Many of its features — including well-insulated housing, waste recycling systems and solar-powered water heaters — are common in other countries, but remain rare in China, where sustainability has lost out in the rush to develop.

 

Around 60 percent of household waste will be recycled and much of the city's electricity will come from renewable energy sources including wind, solar and geothermal power, while the transport system will rely on hybrid vehicles.

 

Construction work on Tianjin Eco-City, about 95 miles east of Beijing, began in 2008 and although it will not be completed until 2020, about 60 families have moved in this year.

 

They are the first guinea pigs in what the Beijing- and Singapore-backed project's deputy director Wang Meng calls an experiment to try to find ways for the country's cities to be run in a more sustainable way.

 

"In China, we have a very large population but we lack natural resources. The over-exploitation of those resources means that our cities cannot develop in a sustainable way," said Wang.

 

"The eco-cities are an experiment that is being conducted in that context. We are researching a sustainable approach to the industrialisation and urbanisation of the country through the eco-cities."

 

The new city, which will include schools, medical facilities and business districts, covers 11.6 square miles of salt pans and former fishing villages near the busy industrial port of Binhai.

 

Wang said Tianjin Eco-City was deliberately sited on a heavily polluted patch of land with no access to fresh water, to prove that such projects could work anywhere.

 

Unlike other eco-cities, which are adapted from existing settlements, it is being built from scratch and will need to attract residents from nearby cities such as Beijing and Tianjin, about 40 kilometres away.

 

Xie Kai, a 30-year-old entrepreneur who supplied the flooring for some of the new apartment complexes, moved to the city in March with his parents and young family after buying a flat at a preferential rate.

 

He says he was attracted by the city's eco-friendly credentials, but these were not the prime consideration — business opportunities, transport and education facilities for his young son were also important.

 

"Education and transport are two big strong points here. You are near Beijing, which is only 100 kilometers away, and Tianjin is a big city that has very good educational facilities," he told AFP.

 

"You are also living somewhere where they look after the environment, there are lots of green spaces... (But) I didn't move here just because it is an eco-city."

 

Tianjin Eco-City is not the first such project in China. In 2005, China and Britain agreed to collaborate on building the world's first so-called "eco-city" on an island off Shanghai.

 

Dongtan Eco-City was dubbed a "city of the future" and aimed to provide virtually carbon-neutral living for up to 10,000 people from 2010, when it was to have been showcased at the 2010 World Expo in Shanghai.

 

But the deadline slid amid claims of corruption after the ouster of Chen Liangyu, the former Shanghai Communist party chief who was convicted for graft in 2008, and the city has still not been completed.

 

Plans for dozens of other low-carbon "eco-cities" and towns are springing up around the country, as developers rush to cash in on the green movement and government authorities seek to attract foreign investors to their regions.

 

But as China's economy slows, it will take more than green credentials to attract buyers for eco-friendly housing — as Wang is all too aware.

 

"At the moment, the media is following the project closely and so local people are coming 'round more and more to the green concept. The apartments are selling well," he said.

 

"The Binhai area of Tianjin is becoming the third most important center of growth in China. The eco-city will attract more and more people who want to settle and work here."

 

 

Miniature Technology

From Technology Review: Miniature Technology

Credit: Jay London

With a streetcar, a vegetable stand, and a boy hawking newspapers, Gifford City looks like a bustling miniature community—a throwback to simpler times. Yet it's both old and new. Gifford City—and its multitrain Nickel Plate Railroad—is the creation of the Tech Model Railroad Club (TMRC), one of MIT's oldest student groups. About 20 locomotives, 200 train cars, and several scale miles of track fill a first-floor room in Building N52, all in so-called HO (1:87.1) scale. TMRC includes a dozen current and former students, who meet a few times per month, and counts 750 former members

While railroad technology may no longer represent the forefront of engineering, the club still attracts students. "My research interests focus on virtual worlds, and Gifford City is definitely a virtual world," says Rebecca Perry, a doctoral student in the department of Science, Technology, and Society who joined TMRC in early 2012. "It's a great way of thinking about physical model systems."
Member-operated trains are electronically powered and move at scale speeds of 100 miles per hour (about 1.15 miles per hour in real time). The track is modeled on the Boston and Albany Railroad, and Gifford City is loosely based on Boston and Cambridge.

"It's more than just engineering technique," says TMRC electronics consultant John Purbrick '73. "It's part engineering, part art."

Members create buildings and most scenery from scratch, and they repaint locomotives in MIT's cardinal and gray. Many buildings pay homage to MIT, including a miniaturized Green Building, whose façade doubles as a game screen to play Tetris.

The group has also built a niche campus community. "As a grad student, you're always rushed. There aren't many chances to talk to people outside your department," says Perry. "The people here have such a rich history."

Past TMRC members have had careers with real railroads. J. Reilly ­McCarren '77, for example, is chairman of the board of the Arkansas & Missouri Railroad, and Joshua Coran '68 is the former chief mechanical engineer for the Alaska Railroad Corporation.

Founded in 1946, the club has declined in membership since its 1960s peak, when it was a 24-hour operation. But there are no plans to close shop.

"The new fashion in model railroading is multiple, connected decks. We'd like to add an upper level, a small mountain town named Sawyer, above our current track," says John McNamara '64, who builds scenery. "That's our next goal. We've already got the layout planned."

 

IL, June 23: North Barrington amazing garden of trains on rare display

From the Daily Herald:  North Barrington amazing garden of trains on rare display

 

Elaine Silets is known as “The Train Lady” for the amazing display of model train railroads winding through her North Barrington garden and museum.

This weekend the public can get a rare glimpse at the display when Silets, an internationally acclaimed professional designer of railway gardens and indoor model railroads, opens up her gardens as a fundraiser in honor of her late husband, Harvey M. Silets.

On Saturday, June 23, her company, Huff and Puff Industries Ltd., will hold its Garden Walk and Model Railroad Display at her Wandering Tree estate, 125 Arrowhead Lane in North Barrington.

The event, taking place from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., benefits the Harvey M. Silets Memorial Scholarship Fund, created this year to fund scholarships for children and teens to attend Interlochen Arts Camp in Interlochen, Mich.

Along with the garden railway, Japanese garden and Harvey M. Silets O-Scale Railroad Museum, there will be booths set up by Interlochen, Fiore Nursery and Landscape Supply, Stillman Nature Center and Operation Lifesaver. Singers and a woodwind quintet from Interlochen will perform in the gazebo by the property’s four-acre spring-fed pond.

The booths will offer learning opportunities as visitors peruse Silets’ intricate, hand-built creations. The Stillman Nature Center is bringing baby owls, and Operation Lifesaver will have train safety information.

Silets said she’s expanded the event this year to make it more family-friendly.

“Harvey would’ve liked it that way,” she said of her husband, an attorney who died in 2007.

Between 5,000 and 6,000 people came to 2011’s public opening. A cash-only $10 donation is suggested for adults, but children 16 and under are free.

With trains and displays interwoven through the gardens, Silets said wandering her 10-acre property can be an inexpensive full-day event. Visitors can chat with Silets and buy refreshments or bring their own food.

“It’s become a family-oriented event, which is great,” she said.

Silets said Interlochen was her former husband’s favorite charity. Although he never attended as a student, she said, he visited several times and “fell in love with the place.”

Famous alumni of the camp, which offers opportunities to learn from world-class teachers in the creative fields such as dance and film, include singers Josh Groban and Norah Jones, and cartoonist Cathy Guisewite.

Because Silets expects large crowds Saturday, there will be free parking off-site with shuttle service to and from the estate.

Shuttle parking lots are at the former Kmart at the corner of Rand and Whitney roads, Lake Zurich; J.J. Twig’s Pizza & Pub North on the west side of Rand at Golfview Road, Lake Zurich; and the Advocate Good Shepherd Hospital Doctors Building off Route 22 near Kelsey Road in North Barrington.

For more information, visit trainlady.com.

 

 

UK: Model trains on track to fetch fortune

From the Sun: Model trains on track to fetch fortune

THIS enormous collection of model trains is steaming its way to auction - and is expected to fetch a massive £10,000.

Made up of around 4,000 engines, this ultimate train set was built up over decades by an unnamed enthusiast.

But following his recent death, the models have been put up for sale by his family.
Believed to be one of the world's largest collections of railway memorabilia, the collection is already attracting attention from all over the world.

Adrian Rathbone, fine arts manager at Richard Winterton Auctioneers Ltd, who are organising the sale, said: “There’s literally thousands and thousands of locomotives - it’s a trainspotter’s dream come true.
“We’ve got Wrenn engines, they are a quality maker.

“It could be thousands and thousands of pounds when they are all sold - I expect it could reach £10,000."
Many of the engines, wagons and coaches are still in their original boxes, creating an even greater draw for train enthusiasts.

Not training in vain ... part of the collection of models

NewsTeam

Mr Rathbone added: “The collector must have been a real enthusiast and spent his whole life collecting engines.
"The ones that haven’t got boxes were in home-made boxes.
“And there’s thousands and thousands of photos he has taken of locomotives being sold.
“They’re from all over the country and from different stations.
“It’s one of the biggest collections we’ve had, it was quite daunting at first but we know how to arrange it to sell.
“This is the sort of thing that people will travel from all over the country to come to. Trainspotting is serious business.”
The collection will be sold at Richard Winterton’s Collectors’ Sale at The Lichfield Auction Centre, Staffordshire, on Thursday June 28.

 

 

UK: Full steam ahead for a double celebration

From Market Rasen Mail:  Full steam ahead for a double celebration

GAINSBOROUGH Model Railway Society will be celebrating two important anniversaries during its open weekend on June 16 and 17 - the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee and 150 years of the Flying Scotsman express between London and Edinburgh.

Chairman Richard Woods said: “In the days of steam the Royal Family travelled much more by train than they do today, and King’s Cross station was favoured for many royal journeys, particularly to Sandringham, as it avoided the elaborate formalities if the monarch entered the City of London.”

“Special engines were used for these trains, maintained in pristine condition with white cab roofs, and we have in our collection models of two of these locomotives, which hauled the Royal train on many occasions between the 1920s and 1950s.”

The society will also be running engines named in honour of the Silver Jubilee of King George V in 1935 and the coronation of King George VI in 1937, as well as the engine which pulled the Royal train to the wedding of the Duke and Duchess of Kent in York Minster in 1961.

The second anniversary being celebrated is that of the Flying Scotsman express, which began to run between London and Edinburgh in June 1862.

Often confused with the engine of the same name, which did not appear until 1923, the train was officially known as the Special Scotch Express and Flying Scotsman was only its nickname and the open days will see models of many of the types of engine used to haul the train running.

The open days will be held at the clubrooms in Florence Terrace from 1.30pm to 6pm.

Admission is £4 for adults and £3 for children and senior citizens, with a family ticket for £10.
 

Australia: Expo opens up world of trains

From The Chronicle: Expo opens up world of trains

A STEADY chain of stooped-over Lego-philes embarked on a journey through the ages at the weekend's Toowoomba Model Train Exhibition.

Naia Murphy's face lit up as she shuffled ever closer to the miniaturised platforms of the Brisbane Lego Train Group's sprawling creation.

The six-year-old model train lover was in good company - the colourful and inspired diorama was among the show's most popular exhibits.

Group president Russell Bates said the bricks were far more than just plastic prisms.

He said they were the building blocks of imagination.

"It's all about the love of the little bricks," he said.

"What people like most about Lego is that you don't have to build what's on the cover of the box.

"Imagination comes into play and it's all about what you want to create."

The vast Lego scene took spectators on a trip from prehistoric times to a world of space travel, with a splash of dragons and fantasy added to the mix.

"It took hundreds of hours to complete," Mr Bates said.

"We have 45 members and we all contributed to the finished product."

Stratford, CA: Miniature Worlds and Model Trains

From I on Stratford: Miniature Worlds and Model Trains

Toy locomotives held an obvious fascination to the children and adults visiting the Stratford Heritage Railway Show on Sunday. Crowds seemed mesmerized by the tiny model trains whizzing round the tracks, past a miniature world of farms, towns and stations all on display at the William Allman Arena.

Vendors showed an array of all things railway; books, paintings, prints, toys and memorabilia. Also on show were night inspection lamps, caboose markers, old glass plate cameras, and photographs of the Royal Visit of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth at Stratford Station in 1939.

A slideshow of old sepia postcards narrated by local historian Lutzen Riedstra whose comments of Stratford’s past was definitely not rehearsed, his commentary was natural and heartfelt. Most of the photos shown were from around 1912 when the Stratford railway station was closer to Downie Street on Guelph facing the Dominion Hotel. Stratford was a lively town with the successful and competitive Grand Trunk Railway Shop accommodating the maintenance and repair of huge locomotives.

Ian Taylor, fascinated by trains since he was a young boy, proudly displayed his lifetime collection of thousands of photographs from steam trains to stations, to repairs shops, to the long winding tracks themselves. His wife, Dorothy was happy her husband was finally letting the public admire his impressive collection and making sales of a few pictures as well. Taylor plans on setting up a booth again next year and is presently pursuing permission from City Hall for a Stratford Railway Museum.

Quietly on his own, Albert Herman sat next to his beautiful, hand-crafted model of a 6218, which he explained was the last engine that was repaired in Stratford. Herman was employed in the Black Smith Shop from 1944 to 1958, in the Grand Trunk Railway shop in Stratford. Herman diligently worked on the model for about two years. A beautiful and detailed creation, which he calls his “junk train” made up of bits and pieces of scrap metal found around his yard and garage. A true, recycled piece of railway art.

The Railway Heritage Show was organised by the Perth County Historical Foundation.

Canada: Railway history runs through heart of Stratford

From Stratford Beacon Herald: Railway history runs through heart of Stratford

Before the big tent of the Festival was raised, Stratford was a railway town. Albert Herman, 84, remembers those days well. As a boy Herman watched the steam engines from his home on Guelph St., across from the railyard.
It wasn't long before Herman stopped watching the trains and started working on them. At age 15 the Canadian National Railway hired Herman as a blacksmith.

"It was like working in hell - heat, fire and smoke," Herman said of his work in Stratford's locomotive repair shop. But, "when you watched (the engines) come out all brand new and ready to run, it made you feel good," he said.
Herman's work with CNR is what brought him to the annual Railway Heritage Show, held Sunday at the William Allman Memorial Arena. The event, now in its 11th year, featured model trains, archival photos and, to the interest of many, a model Herman built of the last locomotive repaired in Stratford.

When the CNR shop closed in 1964 the steam-powered locomotives either went to museums or the scrapyard. Stratford, Herman said, didn't keep any. So he decided to build his own.

Herman's replica is about three feet long and built to scale. It took him two years to make it. By comparison, the original engine was 95 feet in length and powered by 275 pounds of steam.

While Herman's model is made with impressive detail, he never worked on that particular engine. Herman, like many in Stratford, was laid off by CNR in 1958. At the time the company was shifting from steam to diesel power and said Stratford didn't fit into its new production plans. Before the change in technology the railway employed 850 people in Stratford, or about a third of the city's workforce. The shop officially closed on March 31, 1964.
Before being laid off Herman forged the train's side rods. When the steel went into the furnace it was five feet long and weighed about two tons. After about six hours a gang of men would pull the steel from the furnace-now white hot-and pound the metal until it reached 12 feet in length. When the men worked "all of Downie St. would shiver," Herman said.

Despite the city's long history with the railroad, prior to the Railway Heritage Show "there was nothing in town celebrating the railway's years in Stratford," said Eric Adams, one of the event's founding organizers. With the help of the Perth County Historical Foundation the event is now a regular attraction for both young and old.
Herman, however, doesn't need an annual show to remind him of the railway. "The CNR gets in your blood," he said. "You've always got a bit of it in you."

 

Public Transport Moving Toward More Train-Driven Model

From ERR: Public Transport Moving Toward More Train-Driven Model

Although the results may not be apparent yet, Estonia has firmly opted for a future public transport model with more emphasis on train traffic, say officials.

The goal is to increase train speeds, make platforms more convenient to use and add trains. Transfer opportunities from trains to other types of transport will also improve in the years to come.

Toomas Haidak, head of the transport development and investments department at the Economic Affairs Ministry, said the public transport system in Eastern Europe still lags behind the quality in countries to the west, although the number of users is high.

Haidak said the biggest problems are in domestic and local public transport, but that efforts are being made to rectify the situation.

"The results are not yet visible, but they should be in a few years, when the new trains arrive."

This May, for instance, work is in full swing to build new standardized-looking lighted platforms for all of the stops on the Tartu-Koidula line, allowing passengers to exit the train from any car.

Europe has prepared a single transport area action plan designed to introduce environmentally sustainable transport and increase mobility by 2050. Haidak said it was possible to meet the goals but added much had to do with domestic commitment.