OPEN HOUSE THIS SATUDAY AND SUNDAY NOON TO 5

We are having an open house in support of Mainline Hobby's open house on Saturday and Sunday Sept. 21 and 22 from Noon to 5PM. Come see the beginnings of the "Re-Birth" of the Chicago, South Shore, and South Bend Railroad which I modeled back in 2000. We will have trains running but very little scenery so far. But our full size CTC will be operating in ABS mode. The layout is O Scale and occupies our 30 x 60 foot basement in Berkeley Springs, WV. Message me if you need directions.

Most of the buildings from the PRR days have been removed to stordage. Today finished installing the new pieces of backdrop for the South Shore. Also the bridge and river have been completed. This Sunday the South Mountain Division of the National Model Railroad Assn. will meet at my house. So the first time anyone has seen the changes to the layout. However there will be months of work before it will begin to look like the South Shore.

Coming Soon Kits for PRR PL Signals.

The Begining of the Chicago, South Shore, and South Bend Railroad

The other day I moved the Gayty Theater which was located in Baltimore to its new location in South Bend the end of the South Shore Line. This evening i started to prepare sub roadbed at Randolph Street in downtown Chicago. The was the platform to the right of the stairs that used to be 3 feet wide and made it a bit uncomfortable walking between it and the chimmney support structure. It has be narrowed to 28 inches and will have room for the five track yard that is Randolph Road Station.

UPDATE OCTOBER 31, 2022

It is now official. I am taking the layout back to it's roots when I started the layout in 2000 as the Chicago, South Shore, and South Bend Railroad. Track will be restored to it's orginal format and I will be reannaging everything with the hope of reusing almost all structures and scenes. However, Baltimore Penn Station will be removed and South Shore equipment will gradually take over the function of operating mainly passenger services and some freight as prototypcial as possible.

Open House for Jay Beckham's O Scale Model Railroad

Jay Beckham's Model Railroad Layout. O Scale model of the Pennsylvania Railroad Northern Central branch from Penn Station Baltimore, MD to Harrisburg, PA. Trains will be running. Light refreshments will be served. This model railroad occupies our 1800 sq. ft. basement. Scenery is about 70% complete. Photos will be available soon at https://jaysoscalelayout.blogspot.com/ soon and on Jaysoscalelayout group on Facebook. SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 2022 AT 12 PM – 5 PM For Directions please email me at jay@jayandjulie.us.

Coming Soon

In the near future I hope to add a number of pages to this site. Pages about our CTC, use of C/MRI, 3D printing, laser cutting, a track plan, and other things of interest. When these pages are up and running this blog will look more like a web site for my model railroad. Stay tuned!

2022 Mini-Con 3D PRINTING FOR MODEL RAIROADERS

3D Printing for Model Railroaders at Amazon. Article in March 2018 of Model Railroad Hobbyist E Magazine. 3D Printing at Model Railroader.com. 3D Model Railroad Models to print at Yeggi. Model Railroad Info Guy. Train Models at Shapeways.com3D Printing of HO Water Tower on YouTubeModel Buildings and Structures on Thingiverse.com.

Real Men Don’t Read NMRA’s Recommended Practices

The Wheel Report, the official publication of the South Mountain Division of the NMRA, just released its Winter edition including my article "Real Men Don’t Read NMRA’s Recommended Practices". In the two page article I describe my problems and solutions to too tight of radius for running six wheel truck locomotives and passenger cars.

A KISS method to control PRR signals on my layout using 4 bits from the SMINI board per signal head.

Update

Today Fred continued work on the remaining CTC modules. Soon we will have to address the programming. I installed the fascia for the extended (larger radius) New Freedom. Need to add some internal framing and a few cross braces. So this week should start putting down the two track roadbed. Using my usual Homasote spline roadbed method. May send a photo when I get some of the roadbed in place. Was successful in removing the unused reverse loop so got almost new Homasote and lots of unused flex track. Also need additional lighting for York as now that you can see from the harbor area to Baltimore and York, I noticed how dark York is. But what a Wow view from the harbor now that the backdrop at the previous Warrens Gap is gone. The scene is about 40 feet deep and really shows well.

Some recent photos. Also on September 18th and 19th we are having an Open House. Noon to 5. Face masks optional. Email: james@thebeckhams.us for directions

Facebook & Update

I am posting on this blog until I have time to work on my website.

A brief statement of the layout.

We are modeling in the late 1960s mainly the Pennsylvania Railroad from Baltimore to Harrisburg up the trackage that belonged to the Northern Central.  That route hauled freight as well as passenger service including several through trains from Washington DC to points West and North e.g. Chicago and New York.  A good bit of the freight was coal that was south bound.  We are also modeling PRR trains running on what is now the North East Corridor.  Washington DC and New York are represented by a North and South bound staging yards.  That portion of the layout will eventually be under Catenary.  

Downtown Baltimore near Penn Station.  Tracks in the street are for our future trolley line representing the Baltimore Transit Company.  The department store in actually based on a Washington DC store Woodward and Lothrop.

Stay tuned for more current photos.

Thanks

PROGRESS 8/3/2019

Progress the last week of so. Almost finished the Concourse for Penn Station. Need to test fit it Sunday and take some photos. Also the Dam is installed and some weathering done. Poured first coat of "water" to make sure everything is sealed. Need a couple more coats and then have to deal with where the water flows over the dam. Also finished framing the engine house (John Allen Memorial Engine House) and just cut the roof on my laser. Roof will have eight clear glass windows so you can see inside and four smoke stacks aligned over where a steam engine's stack would be located. Have three of the windows and the other five are hopefully in the mail. Also the shingles I laser cut out of thin cardboard for the roof and will be installed when the five windows arrive next week I hope. Still have to complete the power plant that the dam feeds. So some photos should be forthcoming.

3D PRINTING FOR MODEL RAILROADER LINKS

3D Printing for Model Railroaders at Amazon

Article in March 2018 of Model Railroad Hobbyist E Magazine

3D Printing at Model Railroader.com

3D Model Railroad Models to print at Yeggi

Model Railroad Info Guy

Train Models at Shapeways.com3D Printing of HO Water Tower on YouTubeModel Buildings and Structures on Thingiverse.com

Where I Purchased my printer

Most of the rust colored parts on my coaling tower we 3D printed.  The clutches were made out of styrene. The chain was from Michell's .

THANKS TO ALL WHOM ATTENDED MY CLINIC AT THE MINI CON!

Somerset PA Photos

Here is some of the most recent work on the layout.  It is  in Somerset, PA just East of Gary and J. Withrow Mine No. 7.

Engine Facilities including the new scratch built Coal Tower

Not the best part of town.

Snyder Shoe Company All American Made

She is Coming Around The Mountain from Gray

Someone shouldn't smoke in bed don't you think!

2018 Clinics Given. PowerPoints and Handouts

Here is the link to my CMR/I Power Point Presentation for the 2018 O Scale National and the MER Regional Conventions given in 2018

Jays-2018-CMRI-presentation

Here is also the handout for the CMR/I clinic.
https://www.slideshare.net/jaybeckham/cmri-and-signaling-handout-2018

Here is the handout for the Molding and Casting clinic for the O Scale National
https://www.slideshare.net/jaybeckham/molding-and-casting-clinic-2018-o-scale-national

If you have additional questions, just email me.

Well my 50-Watt Laser Cutter finally arrived Tuesday. I removed the crate yesterday to get my first look at this huge machine. I now need to build a strong workbench with wheels for it. Then some 6-inch piping for flumes, a tank for distilled water, and then hook it up and give it a go. We need more than 100 structures for the layout and this machine will certainly help. Hopefully will make first cut next week.  The machine cuts using drawings done in one of several CADs including the one I use, Visual Cadd.  It can engrave and cut at the same time.  For example, it can engrave bricks on several different surfaces e.g. wood or acrylic and then cut out the building.  All the stuff on top are parts that hook up to the cutter.  It is huge, 40 x 26 x 20 and weighs about 145 pounds.  Here is a video featuring this cutter if you are interested.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vm4RaIZS1Eg

Some recent photos of the layout.

Our Mine for the layout

 

This is Consolidated Coal Company No. 87.

It and several other deep shaft tipples are the basis for a free lanced tipple which will be located in one of the southern PA coal fields and served by the PB&J. It will be known as J. Withrow #1.