Sunrise HeraldRMR - NMRA

D

I V I S I ON

Vol. 3, No. 12December

2010

In This IssueA New Field In Railroad Modeling ..............1MP Historical Society Headed By Division Member .................................................... 2December Meeting Is Celebration Time For Division ..................................................... 2About Sunrise Division .............................. 2Working Hard For You ............................... 3Patrick Lana’s CRANDIC Open House Was Holiday Treat ............................................. 3Railroadiana Was November S&T .............. 4From the Chief........................................... 9NMRA Notes ............................................. 11Upcoming Events ..................................... 12Your Model Railroader Horoscope ............ 12Show & Tell Themes ................................. 12

On the Webtrainweb.org/SunriseDivision

A New Field In Railroad ModelingResearch. That is the word Patrick Lana, MMR, used to

start his Modeling Agriculture clinic at the November Sunrise Division meeting. Once you have decided on a

time and place to model, picking not only the date but the season, he told us that you need to research your selec-tion. After you have learned about the geography and industry of your chosen locale, you can begin to figure out how to model what you have learned.

Patrick then illustrated his premise by de-scribing how he modelled Midwest agriculture on the N-scale Cedar River and Iowa Cen-

A gravel country road

passes between two corn fields on this N-scale diorama Pat-

rick used to illustrate some of his techniques.

tral Railway (CRANDIC), which has been featured in Model Railroader and N Scale Railroading.

He began by listing his research sourc-es, which included the web; books; other publications such as Farm Quarterly, Life Pictorial Atlas 1961, and Farm Journal; and especially his relatives. His father–in–law is a working Iowan farmer. This study gave him a sense of appropriate form, texture, and especially color, which he said is the most critical factor.

By paying attention to the details, his modelled landscape looks realistic. For ex-ample, he noted that gravel roads in the country do not have four sets of tire tracks in the dust. In-

stead, they have only three as drivers will move to the center if no one is coming the other direction.

Pat emphasized that he was modeling a field, not the plants. He had figured out that a single corn field would have used a huge number of individual cast plants—an approach that would have taken a lot of time and money to implement. By using other materials, such as sill material and foam, he was able to create a convincing field in a fraction of the time.

His witty presentation, clear explana-tions, and sharp obser-

vations made this clinic a standout. We look forward to an-

other clinic from Patrick Lana in

the future. 3

Sunrise Herald – December 2010 – Page 2

About Sunrise DivisionSunrise Division promotes and encourages

model railroading from I-25 east to the Kansas bor-der. We welcome all model railroaders, regardless of skill or experience, because our goal is to have fun.

Division OfficersAll officers were re-elected at the No-vember meeting for next year’s term.

Division Superintendent . . . . . . . . . . .Gary MyersAsst. Division Superintendent . . . . Donald FrancisTreasurer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .William JohnsonSecretary/Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Tom FrerichsProgram Chair . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Jim LairdModular Committee Chair . . . . . . Donald FrancisBoy Scout Liaison . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Louis SurlesAP Chairman . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . David BolEditor e-mail . tomfrerichs@tomfrerichs.comWebmaster e-mail . . garymyers06@comcast.net

The Sunrise Herald is a publication of the Sunrise Division of the Rocky Mountain Region, National Model Railroad Association.

MP Historical Society Headed By Division MemberBy Bob Hochstetter, President, Missouri Pacific Historical Society

Every year the Missouri Pacific Historical Society holds its annual convention in a city that was served by the Missouri Pacific Railroad. This

year the thirtieth annual convention was held on October 8th and 9th in Sedalia, Missouri.

During the convention there were six one-hour presentations. These included PowerPoint presen-tations on passenger cars that were built new or rebuilt in the Sedalia Shops from the 1940s to the 1960s, on the Sedalia-built Standard Steel Cabooses, presentations on building the Sedalia Shops, on the impact of the Missouri Pacific facilities in Sedalia, on Kansas City Union Station, and on the history of the Sedalia, Warsaw and Southern Railroad, a branch line of the Missouri Pacific.

There was a two-hour private tour of the restored Katy Depot, and there were member model displays, a swap meet, slide auction and vendor sales. And the highlight of the convention: a buffet supper at the Katy Depot for the convention attendees and nearly forty retired Missouri Pacific employees. Once they started telling stories about working for the railroad it was hard to get them to stop.

And, of course, there was the opportunity to re-new old friendships and make new ones, all while talking about our favorite railroad. All of this and two lunches and one supper included for one regis-tration fee of only $40.

If this sounds like the way you would want to spend two days, I strongly encourage you to join your favorite railroad’s historical society. 3

After talking with Bob Hochstetter I learned

that the MP Eagle Merchandise Service box cars carried LCL

traffic and only ran on home rails. Anyone need an N–scale MP

box car? (Photo–Tom Frerichs)

December Meeting Is Celebration Time For Division

There won’t be a clinic; there won’t be much busi-ness, but there will be a lot of food and fellowship at the December meeting.

It really is a joyful tradition—and perhaps a fattening one as well—to kick back and enjoy the Christmas goodies we all bring to our December meeting.

Of course we will have our Show & Tell session; it is “Christmas Past: your oldest locomotive or roll-ing stock or the one you’ve owned longest.”

In place of a clinic, our program will be a screen-ing of The Railrodder, a 1965 short comedy starring Buster Keaton in one of his final film roles. Also on the program is Toccata For Toy Trains, a 1957 short with a score by Elmer Bernstein.

Join us during this season, a time of the year when many of us were first introduced to model railroading through the train set found under the tree on Christmas morning. And if we were lucky we got to play with it as soon as Dad got roped into carving the turkey or roast for Christmas dinner. 3

Sunrise Herald – December 2010 – Page 3

Working Hard For You Sunrise Division is pleased to have a new Achievement Program chair-

man, David Bol, who holds an AP certificate for scenery. We now have a member who has been through the process and can help us navigate the reporting requirements.

The AP is, according to the NMRA web site, “…a system of requirements for demonstrating a superior level of skill in various aspects of our hobby. It covers not only building various types of models, but also building other things which are important to the hobby, such as scenery, structures, track work, and wiring. It also recognizes service to the hobby and the NMRA….”

Left: Gary Myers watches the action during the re-cent CRANDIC open house. Below: Bob Hochstetter is a regular operator on the CRANDIC. Bottom: The CRANDIC is an N-scale agricultural road, so of course it has an extensive stock yard.

We had a double helping of fine modeling from Patrick Lana, MMR, in November. Af-ter presenting the great clinic described on

page 1, Pat then invited members of the Division to his Cedar River and Iowa Central Railway, the CRANDIC route, open house.

This N-scale railroad is a 32'×16' L–shaped walk-in island layout featuring Midwestern agricultural

operations and scenery. Rolling cornfields and stockyards, with their associated support industries are featured. Operations include piggy-back, gener-al merchandise, and though passenger traffic is de-clining, the Cyclone Service still makes a daily run.

It was an enjoyable and well-attended Saturday afternoon of model railroading. 3

Patrick Lana’s CRANDIC Open House Was Holiday Treat

Sunrise Herald – December 2010 – Page 4

Top left: The famous K–36 tender step found at the Mon-arch Wye is held by Gary My-ers who brought it. He didn’t hold it very long, however.Top right: Steve Sch-weighofer brought in a roller bearing from a modern rail car. The quarter is there to give some idea of scale.Right: James Prochaska brought in a 1905 map of downtown Denver, showing the large amount of trackage that serviced the businesses in that area. Jim is interested not only in model railroading but in building conservation and history.

Railroadiana Was November S&T

Sunrise Herald – December 2010 – Page 5

Right: Jim Laird brought two items: a C&NW cross buck that somehow man-aged to fit in the trunk of his Pontiac and half a nut found on the Denver South Park & Pacific right-of-way near Buena Vista. The half of a nut is the inset; the full nut is holding up the cross buck.Below: A collection of miscellaneous pamphlets and other railroad-related paper was John Grigg’s contribution.Bottom: Won as a door prize at the Missouri Pacific Historical Soci-ety conference, this MP door seal was Bob Hochstet-ter’s contribution. It is leaning against a piece of what Steve Schweighofer calls “Code 1200” rail.

Sunrise Herald – December 2010 – Page 6

Top: Stewart Jones’ display included a switch target, now electrified but he still has the oil lamp innards, and a kerosene brakeman’s lantern. Left & Above: A more modern brakeman’s lantern, powered by batteries, was the first offering from Don Francis. His second offering was a Rock Island sign that he obtained under circumstances that he didn’t fully ex-plain—although he did mention being in college, a late night, and a rail yard 1-½ blocks from his fraternity house. Do the statutes of limitation apply?

Sunrise Herald – December 2010 – Page 7

John Kerbaugh’s eclectic collection included a C&NW accident postcard from 1908, a B&O group tour tag, and a paperweight with a small constuction error. Apparently someone thought the ties should go above the rails. I wonder if that C&NW accident has anything to do with missing cross bucks.

Above: Perhaps one of the largest pieces of “rail-roadiana” is the Union Pacific Northern, #844. It is probably larger than most of us have room for in our collections. Dillon Allison brought this Ri-varossi HO–scale model commemorating the full size preserved locomo-tive.Left: A passenger step, used at stations without a passenger platform, a switch lock and match-ing key, a Rock Island cut (printer’s block), and a railroader’s hat with buttons dating from the 40s: these made up the grouping of items brought by Bill Johnson.

J

Sunrise Herald – December 2010 – Page 8

Top left: Tim Harkey is holding a pipe wrench marked AT&SF. He also brought some of the stacks of paper that a working railroader accumulates during his career.Bottom left: Dick Hunter wields his wife’s grandfa-ther’s fireman pick. It has a concave head, said to break coal better. Dick pointed out that the pick, and not Hunter, is 120 years old.Above: Al Johnson’s Great Northern RR menues were dated from 1932 to 1960. Al was the winner of the ran-dom drawing for the Caboose Hobbies gift certificate.

Thanks to Caboose Hobbies for providing the drawing prize.

Sunrise Herald – December 2010 – Page 9

From the ChiefGary Myers–Division SuperintendentPart III—Modeling Realistic Backdrops

The Great Outdoors

It can really be fun to get out and explore the sites where the railroads actually were, walk along old roadbeds, and maybe kick up an old railroad spike

in the dirt. Sometimes these areas may be the area you are modeling or can inspire you to model some-thing similar on a free-lanced model railroad. So look up, take some photos of that beautiful scen-

ery, and maybe you will find the answer to that big, blank backdrop you’ve been dreading.

The Backdrop SceneryWhat are you

going to put on that particular backdrop? Is it sup-posed to be a forest, mountains, a lake, or what? Whatever it is going to be,

take a picture of a real life example. This is easy to do if it is some place you can visit or that resembles what your backdrop should look like. Even photos in books can be used for remote places that you are unable to visit in person-but not quite as fun as taking your own photographs. A lot of backdrops I have seen are some generic rendition of mountains or desert or trees; they look nice, but they do not really look like any place real-at least to me. Un-derstand, I am not trying to say that your backdrop should look like a window into a world you could step into, but rather that it presents a realistic back-drop to the models you are operating as a comple-ment to the entire scene and not a distraction.

Subject I—MountainsI have been to a lot of layouts all over Colorado

and have seen lots of backdrops with mountains on them: some really good, some not so hot. What is the secret? One thing you can always judge right

away: do they look like real mountains? On my backdrop I chose to put part of the Collegiate range, showing Mt. Princeton and Mt. Shavanno in par-ticular. Although we modeled the fall, every spring everyone in Salida can clearly see the “Angel of Shavanno” on the slopes of Mt. Shavanno, named for a Ute princess. This was a must for a backdrop for Salida on the layout. I picked a spot on the west side of town to take Photo 2. Since I wanted to model the “Angel,” which is formed by snow melt, I drove a couple miles closer to take the close-up in Photo 3.

The ChallengeYou might think you need to be an artist of Van

Gogh’s ability to paint, but not true. Although it may be easier if you were Van Gogh, some of us paint like Picasso, and it might take many years af-ter our passing for our paintings to sell for anything. Really, your eye and patience are what is needed.

No doubt you have already painted countless models and structures, so think of your backdrop as a big, flat model to paint. Always start by painting the outline of what is furthest away in the darker base colors. Make the basic mountain shapes and extend downwards for as far as that color base needs to go. Highlight one side of the slope with a slightly different, brighter shade to give the effect of the sun hitting one side of the slope making it brighter than the other. Keep the darker side always to the same side.

Now add snow at the tops, and, on lower eleva-tions, foliage or trees. Go a little below any other hills or mountains in the foreground, then repeat the process by making a new sharp horizon line of mountain peaks in front of the previously painted range. You can spray a fine haze of white paint for the illusion of further away mountains, the closer hills and mountains will be brighter colors and

SUNRISE

Your Superintendent out doing some real up and close research-and

maybe a little trespass-ing. (Photo–Dave

Spritke)

Photo 2: View of the Collegiate Range

west of Salida.(Photo -Gary Myers)

Photo 3: View of Mt. Shavanno and the “Angel of Sha-vanno” formed by snow melt near center. (Photo-Gary Myers)

Sunrise Herald – December 2010 – Page 10

sharper-even though they are the same color. Copy any interesting shapes or formations that you like, and if there are some areas that may be too complex, just leave them out or simplify them with some other similar area-like PhotoShop-ing out an area.

Eventually, work your way down to the ground from the peaks to the scenery on the ground. Photo 4 shows my Collegiate Range on the backdrop next to Salida on the layout. I got a lot of As in school, but none ever in art class. This backdrop was all done by copying shapes and filling in with colors. I did sketch the “Angel” with light pencil before col-oring it in with “snow.”

Subject II—Mine TailingsWe faced a tough obstacle painting the backdrop

behind the Monarch CF&I mine not only because it was a condensed, complex scene, but was also the very first thing a visitor would see when entering the layout. The area behind the mine has a lot of de-tail and difficult terrain to paint, as shown in Photo 5. After an initial cut at the backdrop in Photo 6,

it was re-sketched to maximize the area onto the backdrop and re-scaled to appropriate proportions. We matched the major slopes and skyline in photos.

My son, Alex, started com-pressing the total area be-hind the mine by selecting features we could fit in.

We could not use the present–day photos exactly, because we wanted to model in earlier times. We got help from photos in the Monarch branch book Trails Among the Columbines.

Alex started with a basic hillside color and grad-ually added in background shades for other parts of the slopes and tailings as shown in Photo 7. He very patiently painted in trees one by one to copy the basic foliage from the photos. Unfortunately, we started with the background first and then added in the ground turf and earth colors later.

As Alex showed me, because it is important to match the ground to blend into the backdrop, you must paint in the shades of your earth into the bot-tom area of your backdrop. This would have been a little easier to match with the dirt & ground scenery already there-before trees and structures are added. Alex did a superb job with extreme patience, paint-ing in the base colors to give the illusion of differ-ent tailings spread over the mountainside. Alex was able to apply ground cover to match the backdrop as close as possible, with some retouch on the back-

drop (Photos 8 and 9, next page).The object of blending the bottom

of the backdrop into the foreground scenery helps eliminate the two-di-mensional appearance of the back-drop, bringing the background into a seamless extension of the foreground. This presents a smooth transition, and trains passing through the scene look like a natural fit.

Amazingly, Alex will be upset with me for showing his work as it exists because it is still a work in progress. The area behind and to the left of the mine is very much still the basic background colors with some major details added, but far from finished. Alex wants to add a few more details like a couple aspen, here and there, to the areas I have shown to the right of the mine.

Subject III—StructuresA note on painting structures on backdrops.

These are very difficult to paint in perspective and usually need to be viewed from a specific angle. From different angles they may not appear as desired. Some-times this is unavoidable,

Photo 4: The Col-legiate Range,

copied from photos, and painted on the

backdrop left–handed by the author while

recovering from right shoulder arthroscopic

surgery. (Photo-Gary Myers)

Photo 5 (top): The Monarch Colorado Fuel & Iron mine, with the extensive

mine tailings as it is today.

Photo 6 (middle): The first attempt on the Monarch backdrop

was a little too dark, too much sky, some-what out of propor-

tion, and the hill slopes were not quite

natural.

Photo 7 (bottom): Monarch backdrop totally redone with

many details begin-ning to be filled in.

At this time, the ground scenery had

not been added. (All photos-Gary Myers)

Sunrise Herald – December 2010 – Page 11

and you will need to paint a structure on the back-drop. I would recommend keeping them to a mini-mum and blending them in with soft-as opposed to stark-colors.

Subject IV—PaintsWhat paints you like are really up to you. At

Lowe’s and Sears we found many cheap rejects of paints in various shades we found useful to paint large areas in light, earthen tones. These were ap-plied first. Details were added later using the simple acrylic paints in various colors we got at Michael’s or Hobby Lobby for under $1. Studying the pho-tographs will show you what colors you need, how dark to light from foreground to further away you will need.

ConclusionBy experimenting on smaller and simpler areas

you can gain the confidence for painting that mas-terpiece on the blank wall staring at you in the face. Remember, always start with your furthest away scenery at the top, doing one layer at a time, with subsequent scenes closer to the foreground. Work toward the ground, which needs to be blended into the dirt and turf. Patience, perseverance, and using your eye will let you copy the image from a photo to a decent and realistic characterization on your back-drop. Do not worry if it does not come out right the first time; you can always repaint it. That is what Alex told me I have to do in a bunch of places. 3

Photo 8: An ex-ample where Alex

has blended the slopes with different shades of tailings above the

road, with the scenery blending different

tones of earth to match. (Photo-Gary Myers)

Photo 9: Further along the backdrop,

Alex’s effort shows his masterful blending of

the foreground scenery with the flat surface above. (Photo-Gary

Myers)

NMRA Notes◊ The NMRA Magazine will soon be running a “help wanted”  column each month.  As you know, we’re a volunteer organization and always in need of able bodies to lend a hand. 

Now that we’re going to be putting more empha-sis on our web site, we especially need help in that area.  Here are the positions we’re looking for. If any of your members fit the qualifications below, please pass the their names along to us.

Electronics engineers with experience in setting up control systems needed to take part in discus-sions and development of NMRANET.  Current bus is designed using CAN.  Time commitment: several hours per week.IT staff volunteer with experience in Content Management Systems. Able to program in PHP and PostgreSQL/MySQL, and good experience in HTML and CSS.  IIS and VB experience a plus.  Time commitment: ~3 hours per week.“Members Only” content manager who can oversee our web site’s “Members Only” section by finding content (e.g. scanning articles from

past issues of Scale Rails, uploading finished data sheets, etc).  Time commitment: ~6 hours per month.Data Sheet program manager with some techni-cal and editorial background to identify new top-ics to cover as well as older Data Sheets that will benefit from updates and upgrades. Help locat-ing subject-matter experts will be provided. Time commitment: a few hours per week.

◊ If you recall, the Union Pacific sponsored a pho-to contest last summer. The grand prize was a day-long ride in the cab of a UP steamer.  The winner, who was chosen from the over 100 photographs en-tered, was Harlan “Buzz” Lenander.  Buzz had his day in the cab on October 4 on a fan trip that start-ed in the Kansas City (Missouri) Union Station and ended at the old Missouri Pacific Depot in Jefferson City, Missouri. The UP posted a short movie clip featuring  Buzz and the model he photographed.  You can download that clip from: http://www.uprr.com/newsinfo/attachments/media_kit/steam/2010/mo-river-eagle/video/1004_a.wmv  Watch NMRA Magazine for the full story

Sunrise Herald – December 2010 – Page 12

Upcoming Events• December 2 Sunrise Division Meeting. 7:15

PM, Holy Love Lutheran Church, 4210 South Chambers Road, Aurora, Colorado.

• December 3-28 Polar Express. Durango & Silverton Railroad

• December 4 Santa Express Train ‑ Steam‑Up. Colorado Railroad Museum, Golden, Colorado. Santa Claus!

• December 11 Pueblo Express. 2-7 PM, Pueblo Railway Museum, Pueblo, Colorado. Ca-boose rides $3 & locomotive rides $10.

• December 11-12 Santa Express Train ‑ Steam‑Up. Colorado Railroad Museum, Golden, Colorado. Santa Claus!

• December 11-12 Train Show & Swap Meet. Boulder Model Railroad Club, Boulder County Fairgrounds, Longmont, Colorado.

• December 17-18 Pueblo Express. Friday 4-7 PM, Saturday 2-7 PM, Pueblo Railway Mu-seum, Pueblo, Colorado. Caboose rides $3 & locomotive rides $10.

• December 18-19 Christmas Train Show, Train Expo Colorado. Saturday 9 AM–4 PM, Sunday 10 AM–3 PM, Plum Creek Plaza, 906 South Frontage Road, Castle Rock, Colorado -

• December 18 Santa Express Train ‑ Steam‑Up. Colorado Railroad Museum, Golden, Colorado. Santa Claus!

• December 24 Pueblo Express. 4-7 PM, Pueblo Railway Museum, Pueblo, Colorado. Ca-boose rides $3 & locomotive rides $10.

• December 31 New Year’s Eve Train. Durango & Silverton Railroad

Sunrise Division meets on the first Thursday of each month at 7:15 PM. Check out our web site, http://www.trainweb.org/SunriseDivision/, for the most current information.

Holy Love Lutheran Church is located one block north of Quincy Avenue on Chambers Road. Parking is on the west side of the church.

Next Meeting For Sunrise Division, RMR, NMRA,

December 2, 2010–7:15 PM,Holy Love Lutheran Church,4210 South Chambers Road,

Aurora, Colorado

Your Model Railroader HoroscopeEach month, and strictly as a public service,

we are printing the year’s modeling horoscope for the signs of the Zodiac found in that month. Our resident Seer has looked into the future to divine what wondrous things lie ahead for You. Until your month comes up, you will have to live carefully, not knowing what modelling pitfalls or rewards may await you in Your Future.

Show & Tell ThemesWhen you submit a model for the show and tell,

you automatically are entered into a drawing for a gift certificate from Caboose Hobbies in Denver.December 2 .................Christmas Past: Your oldest

locomotive or rolling stock or the one you’ve owned longest

SagittariusNov. 22–Dec. 21

A great modeling year is ordained for you, the Archer, but only if you can pull a 120–pound bow. If you cannot, your aim will be off in everything. Ballast will land only on the tops of ties and between switch points; you will never be able to re–rail a car; and the only locomotive you acquire with your DCC controller will be in the roundhouse. You probably should become a couch po-tato.

CapricornDec. 22–Jan. 21

This year, dear Cap-ricorn, your modeling skills are fated to im-prove dramatically as you spend more time working on your rail-road. Because you will be devoting so much time to modeling, do not be surprised when you are greeted by your Zodiacal sign’s name. It is just your wife, affectionately reminding you of your household duties, say-ing, “get busy, you old Goat.”

Don’t get left behind by forgetting to pay your dues. Remember to

keep your NMRA member-ship current to continue to receive the benefits of belonging to this great or-ganization.