Using a timeline is something I learned a long time ago in the military as a tool for operational planning and execution. The most common military use is in a Synchronization Matrix, in which the progression of time is laid out along the top horizontally with the beginning of an operation on the left, and then the different actors (to include the enemy) and friendly organizational entities are laid out vertically. The commander then can see visually what is or should be going on at specific times throughout the operation and what each actor needs to do to counteract what the enemy is doing.
A more toned down civilian version of this might be for example when planning a vacation trip where you figure out what time to leave based on what time you want to arrive, taking into account stops along the way, traffic, road construction, etc.
Once again, model railroading is no exception to this concept. We know some modelers may choose an era spanning several years, while other modelers on the opposite end of the spectrum choose to model a specific year, or a specific month of a specific year, or even an exact date.
In the March 2017 issue of Model Railroader magazine, Tony Koester writes about this very topic in his monthly Trains of Thought column, which is usually found on the last page just inside the back cover of magazine.
When I read his article, I remembered how I wrote many synchronization matrices and timelines in the military and it dawned on me that this would be the perfect tool for planning the Spruce Street project. I also figured it would be a great way to keep focus on certain things such as purchasing locomotives and rolling stock for the layout. If I am planning on 1947 as my year to model, then it would make no sense for me to blow money on a GP30 locomotive.
Here is my initial work-in-progress timeline for the Spruce Street project.
You can put anything you want along the left side of the matrix. In my matrix I of course put my T1 locomotive in the top position and then you can see I timelined it out horizontally. It was built and delivered to PRR in 1945 and was retired and scrapped in 1953. There are also events listed along the left side, such as the Pullman anti-trust lawsuit going into effect in December 1945. That topic could be another blog post in itself.
One event I recently discovered was starting on 15 July 1945, the Office of Defense Transportation took control of over 800 sleeper cars from the railroads in order to move thousands of troops from the east coast to the west coast. Germany surrendered in May 1945 but in July 1945 the US was planning a necessary invasion of Japan to put a final end to the war. Of course the atomic bombs changed that but still the invasion plan was going to require massive troop movements from the European Theater to the Pacific Theater, so the War Department took control of a large fleet of sleeper cars for that purpose. PRR took their own initiative and temporarily suspended sleeper service on all trains traveling 450 miles or less. The Panhandle Route through Columbus was affected by this since most trains through Columbus originated in Pittsburgh or St. Louis. Assuming I wanted to be historically accurate in my modeling of an era, this event would be very important to consider.
There were other more local events to consider for the Spruce St project. It was around 1950 that PRR decided they would consolidate operations in Columbus to save money and demolish the Spruce St roundhouse and move the locomotive servicing operation over to the east side of town to the 20th Street Yards. The Spruce Street roundhouse was dismantled starting in 1952 and was completely torn down within a year.
The flip side of this is that as a model railroader you can always decide to hang the labels "proto-freelance" or "freelance" on your project, which essentially gives you full artistic license to create your own alternate plane of existence and do whatever you want, either completely ignoring history or incorporating certain pieces of history as you see fit. While I am by no means a "rivet counter", I do like sticking to history as much as possible, so using a timeline fits right in to my modeling mindset.
A more toned down civilian version of this might be for example when planning a vacation trip where you figure out what time to leave based on what time you want to arrive, taking into account stops along the way, traffic, road construction, etc.
Once again, model railroading is no exception to this concept. We know some modelers may choose an era spanning several years, while other modelers on the opposite end of the spectrum choose to model a specific year, or a specific month of a specific year, or even an exact date.
In the March 2017 issue of Model Railroader magazine, Tony Koester writes about this very topic in his monthly Trains of Thought column, which is usually found on the last page just inside the back cover of magazine.
When I read his article, I remembered how I wrote many synchronization matrices and timelines in the military and it dawned on me that this would be the perfect tool for planning the Spruce Street project. I also figured it would be a great way to keep focus on certain things such as purchasing locomotives and rolling stock for the layout. If I am planning on 1947 as my year to model, then it would make no sense for me to blow money on a GP30 locomotive.
Here is my initial work-in-progress timeline for the Spruce Street project.
You can put anything you want along the left side of the matrix. In my matrix I of course put my T1 locomotive in the top position and then you can see I timelined it out horizontally. It was built and delivered to PRR in 1945 and was retired and scrapped in 1953. There are also events listed along the left side, such as the Pullman anti-trust lawsuit going into effect in December 1945. That topic could be another blog post in itself.
One event I recently discovered was starting on 15 July 1945, the Office of Defense Transportation took control of over 800 sleeper cars from the railroads in order to move thousands of troops from the east coast to the west coast. Germany surrendered in May 1945 but in July 1945 the US was planning a necessary invasion of Japan to put a final end to the war. Of course the atomic bombs changed that but still the invasion plan was going to require massive troop movements from the European Theater to the Pacific Theater, so the War Department took control of a large fleet of sleeper cars for that purpose. PRR took their own initiative and temporarily suspended sleeper service on all trains traveling 450 miles or less. The Panhandle Route through Columbus was affected by this since most trains through Columbus originated in Pittsburgh or St. Louis. Assuming I wanted to be historically accurate in my modeling of an era, this event would be very important to consider.
There were other more local events to consider for the Spruce St project. It was around 1950 that PRR decided they would consolidate operations in Columbus to save money and demolish the Spruce St roundhouse and move the locomotive servicing operation over to the east side of town to the 20th Street Yards. The Spruce Street roundhouse was dismantled starting in 1952 and was completely torn down within a year.
The flip side of this is that as a model railroader you can always decide to hang the labels "proto-freelance" or "freelance" on your project, which essentially gives you full artistic license to create your own alternate plane of existence and do whatever you want, either completely ignoring history or incorporating certain pieces of history as you see fit. While I am by no means a "rivet counter", I do like sticking to history as much as possible, so using a timeline fits right in to my modeling mindset.
More acquisitions for the Spruce Street project
Right now I am leaning towards 1947 as my year to model, for more reasons than what I list here at the moment. In the timeline above, which by the way is nowhere near complete, you can see a line for Alco PA1 5756 / PB1 5756B, which were on roster with PRR in 1947. Here they are by MTH in HO scale:
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| MTH PRR PA/PB-1 #5756/5756B. Noticeable is the rear end of the A unit which sits a little low compared to the B unit. |
I picked the set up direct from Walthers when I noticed they were in their Warehouse Sale page. This is a DC set (DCC-Ready) that retails for $349 normally, but Walthers was running it for $218. The caveat to this is that PRR ran the PA1's in an A-B-A configuration, so to be more prototypical I need to get another A unit and number it 5757.
This is my first locomotive set from MTH. I have to say I am quite impressed so far, although I have yet to run them. Both units are powered, and except for the A unit having a cab they are both nearly identical under the hood. They have an 8-pin NMRA DCC plug and there is also a recess and holes in the frame for a downward firing rectangular speaker. One thing I have noticed on the down side though is that the rear end of the A unit sits a little low and is quite noticeable when coupled to the B unit. I figure it will require some shimming of the rear truck to level it with the B unit, but I haven't really examined it closely yet.
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| Under the hood - large can motor with dual brass flywheels and a circuit board with an 8-pin NMRA plug. |
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| The A unit with cab section, lighted number boards, working mars light, and speaker cutout and bottom venting holes. |
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| Same shot of the B unit front end. |
I have read some mixed reviews about the MTH Digital Command System, which is MTH's proprietary DCC system that is supposed to be compatible with NMRA DCC systems. With that in mind and not having any experience with MTH to concur or refute, I figured it best to get the DC/DCC Ready set and add my own sound.
I also picked up a couple Branchline heavyweight sleeper car kits from Ebay. I've been keeping my eye on them after reading some favorable reviews and a couple popped up for around $20 unassembled. I have no other Branchline cars, so I figured I would try a couple to see what they are about. Apparently these are no longer made, so I'm trying to get some before their price goes up.
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| The kits appear to be high quality and highly detailed. All parts to include interior, wheels, and couplers are included. |
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| 8-1-2 sleeper in Pullman Pool paint scheme |
Finally, I bought a couple books recently to aid in my research efforts.
I am hesitant to admit that both these books have great pictures in them, but they also both have a lot of great information that is quite relevant to the Spruce Street project. The Stegmaier book has a lot of consist info and is split in half with the first half being New York-Chicago trains and the second half being New York-St Louis trains. There is also a small section on non-mainline trains which includes some more Columbus area trains.
Next step is assembly of the two Branchline kits and adding DCC to the Alco PA/PB units. At some point too I will actually try to start building a model railroad...
Those MTH PA-1s look nice, I've always wondered how MTH Ho stuff performs and stands up against the other manufacturers. I too would stay away from their version of DCC. The Branchline passenger cars are beautiful cars but as you saw are quite a project to put together. One day I'll finish mine.
ReplyDeleteI couldn't resist running the PA set in DC and I was quite impressed with how smooth it ran at low speed and without the recommended lubrication prior to first running. I had forgotten about a 40 year old Blue Box PA1 in PRR Tuscan Red livery that I have, so I broke it out to compare. The details on the modern MTH version are light years ahead of the old one, which has practically no detail at all. I am thinking though that the old one would make a great project by turning it into an unpowered dummy unit and painting/detailing it to make the A-B-A set complete.
ReplyDeleteJeff,
ReplyDeleteWhat kind of passenger cars are you going to populate your layout with? Have you looked at the old Walther's stamped metal passenger kits for a "Blue Box" kind of fleet builder?
Tim