Vol. 29, No. 4 October / December 2013  Issue Select 
Issue Details
Cover Title: On the Durham Local in 1948, Modeler: The Station at Stanley pt 3
Cover Subtitle: Rails Remembered, Chapter 83: Diesels Invade the Pocahontas Coal Fields
On the Cover: On February 6, 1949, Class E-2a 553 is rolling at Durham, North Carolina, having just passed a freight whose caboose is disappearing behind the passenger train. An article on Fred Reburn’s timebook from 1948 gives us a look at operations on the Durham District that year.
Articles In This Issue
On the Durham Local in 1948 with Fred Reburn - Rob Minton
  Photo This undated photo shows the engine house at Island Yard in Lynchburg, Virginia. (N&WHS Archives collection)
  Photo Buildings at Island Yard in this 1917 photograph included the supply house (left), the shavings house (next to right) and the oil house (right). Most, if not all, of these buildings would have still been standing in 1949. (N&WHS Archives collection)
  Photo This view shows the tool house (at left) and the storage house (at right) in Island Yard. (N&WHS Archives collection)
  Photo This is the freight station in South Boston, Virginia, with a number of boxcars spotted at the loading dock. (N&WHS Archives collection)
  Photo The roadmaster’s office at South Boston was this simple one-room structure. (N&WHS Archives collection)
  Table Locomotives in Fred Reburn's Timebook, Durham District, 1948 (Fred Reburn)
  Table Locomotive Frequency in Fred Reburn’s Timebook, Durham District, 1948 (Fred Reburn)
  Table Fred Reburn’s Timebook Log Durham District, 1948 (Fred Reburn)
N&W/VGN Modeler / Modeling the Station at Stanley, Part 3 - James F. Brewer
  Photo The base for the loading dock is constructed from plain styrene. A Dupli- Cutter was used to cut strips to ensure the same height for all the pieces in the construction of the base. (James F. Brewer)
  Photo The two pieces of the loading dock base were placed against the structure and then glued to each other. (James F. Brewer)
  Photo Plain styrene was used to create the top base of the loading dock. The plain sheet was laid flat and the subassembly glued to it. The plain styrene was then trimmed using the base as a cutting guide. Before gluing the 1 by 12-inch styrene boards to the base, a coat of gray craft paint was applied. (James F. Brewer)
  Photo Using a square and working slowly, the individual 1-by-12-inch boards were added to the sides of the freight dock. (James F. Brewer)
  Photo The contrast between the 1 by 12-inch boards and the sub-assembly side is evident. The gray paint makes it a lot easier to see what you are doing and to keep the individual pieces square and straight. (James F. Brewer)
  Photo The deck has been applied and trim boards added to the top and bottom of the sides. (James F. Brewer)
  Photo Note the direction of the floor boards is perpendicular to the floor joists as they would have existed on the prototype. (James F. Brewer)
  Photo When laying out the door openings I mistakenly cut out the freight doors below the level of the freight dock. This mistake was hidden by the freight dock on the front and north sides of the structure, but had to be corrected on the rear side of the structure. (James F. Brewer)
  Photo These are the finished freight doors. Just like the entrance doors, I built doors for the exterior and interior of the freight room. (James F. Brewer)
  Photo Using the cardboard template made earlier, the interior ceiling/roof base was cut from a piece of plain 0.040-inch styrene. A lip was made from styrene strip material. (James F. Brewer)
  Photo The peaks for the front and rear of the station were cut after templates had been made, and then the vent opening was cut out using the casting frame to mark the location. (James F. Brewer)
  Photo The muntins have been removed from the Tichy window casting. Scribed styrene siding will be added behind the casting to simulate vents. (James F. Brewer)
  Photo Once the opening had been created in the peaks for the vent casting I applied Campbell shingles to the peaks, allowed them to dry, and then trimmed the shingles. (James F. Brewer)
  Photo After the glue for the shingles had dried I cut the opening in the shingles from the rear of the peak. I test-fitted the casting and made any necessary adjustments. (James F. Brewer)
  Photo This cardboard roof mock-up was made with my first attempt at the roof dormers as described in the text. I was unhappy with the appearance of those dormers and removed them from the model. I still used these templates to make the necessary tracings of pieces to create the roof. (James F. Brewer)
  Photo I left the end hip sections of the roof extra long so I could adjust as necessary. (James F. Brewer)
  Photo Using a metal straight edge and some clothes pins I carefully marked the end of each hip section. I lightly scribed several times until I could snap off the excess material. (James F. Brewer)
  Photo The hip ends have been cut and now match up with the main roof sections. (James F. Brewer)
  Photo I masked off the ceiling, or bottom, of the roof section. Since this would be visible I wanted it to have an appearance closer to the prototype. (James F. Brewer)
  Photo Evergreen freight car siding was used to represent the boards that would have been applied to the roof trusses. This was then painted to match the exterior wall color. (James F. Brewer)
  Photo I pre-cut all pieces for the dormers. The large triangle-shaped piece will form the ridge support for the roof sections of the dormer. (James F. Brewer)
  Photo The assembled dormer has been set in place. The shingles were applied to the dormers on the prototype. The clapboard siding is used to represent the vent slats. (James F. Brewer)
  Photo This view shows two dormers and how they were placed and aligned on the roof. (James F. Brewer)
  Photo Using a cardboard template, I traced the roof sections for each dormer on a piece of plain styrene. (James F. Brewer)
  Photo The shingle material has been placed over the styrene roof sections created from the template. (James F. Brewer)
  Photo This dormer sits directly above the door to the express room. (James F. Brewer)
  Photo The roof material has been painted and styrene strip used for the weather stripping applied. (James F. Brewer)
  Photo The weather stripping applied on the roof has been “painted” using a Sharpie silver marker. The gutters have been created from styrene angle and strip and glued to the edge of the roof. (James F. Brewer)
  Photo This closer view of the gutters shows the treatment at the corners of the roof. (James F. Brewer)
  Photo I scratchbuilt the chimney for my Stanley depot because I had nothing on hand that captured the appearance of the one shown in the Herron video. The brick material is styrene so it easily glued to the plain styrene base. Before adding the concrete cap be certain to paint the “inside” of the chimney black. (James F. Brewer)
  Photo I created the stairway to the basement level boiler room with plain styrene, Central Valley steps, and a Grandt Line door. (James F. Brewer)
  Photo I painted this assembly concrete and the door to match the trim on the rest of the depot. The railing is from Central Valley. (James F. Brewer)
  Photo The exterior and interior lights have been located on the ceiling of the removable roof. The brass “tape” allows for easy attachment of the feeder wires for each lamp. A two-wire plug allows the entire roof to be disconnected from the layout wiring so it can be removed when necessary. (James F. Brewer)
Rails Remembered, Chapter 83 / Diesels invade the Pocahontas Coal Fields; Four Alco RS-3s - Louis M. Newton
  Chart Proposed Alco RS-3 diesel unit tonnage ratings on the Pocahontas Division for loaded coal, time freight and empty equipment trains at various speeds on ruling grades dated February 11, 1956. Permanent ratings would be generally in line with those proposed. (Louis M. Newton)
  Photo Any photographs of N&W’s original Alco RS-3s in two-digit numbers are rare, and this N&W company photo of the 97 qualifies. The date is September 1955, while the first batch of RS-3s were being delivered to the Durham District. (N&W Photo, Louis A. Marre collection)
  Map The author’s hand-drawn map of the main line of the Pocahontas Division between Bluefield, Virginia, and Sandy Huff, West Virginia, as of late 1955, with some minor changes in signals and other facilities made in 1956. (Louis M. Newton)
  Sidebar This is the newspaper account of the tragic death of Bluefield roundhouse foreman Edward A. Bender on February 24, 1956. The accident shocked not only local railroaders but also the entire community. (Bluefield Daily Telegraph, Louis M. Newton collection)
  Chart Permanent tonnage ratings for “Diesel-Elec. 1,600 HP or equiv. — per unit” were first included in Pocahontas Division Timetable No. 10, effective April 29, 1956. (Louis M. Newton collection)
“Hi, Ho, Silver, Away!” - George R. Nuckolls
Vol. 29, No. 4 October / December 2013  Issue Select