This page contains a Flash digital edition of a book.
The author’s daughter shows off the layout at a meet (left). It can be operated as a dis- play using a custom programed microcon- troller or as a switching puzzle using a Nin- tendo Wii controller (above). The layout has lighting and scenic sound (below left).


Coupling and uncoupling are accom- plished with Micro-Trains couplers and magnets under the track with the loca- tions marked by model workmen. The use of a micro-controller also al- lows manipulation of other layout ele- ments. The main overhead lighting can be switched off, revealing the flickering TV in the farmhouse, and security lights at the mill and the glow of a burn barrel near the loading shed can be turned on. At the same time, the background sounds change from an ac- tual recording of the lunchtime whistle and mill operations to the evening sounds of frogs accompanied by a bark- ing dog.


These are prototypical


Willamette Valley frogs, mind you, and my dog, Mitsy, who will bark on com- mand if food is involved. One feature which has received posi- tive attention is the photo-realistic backdrop. I was able to combine panoramic photos taken at the mill with others of the nearby valley to cre- ate a nearly-seamless visual extension of the narrow layout. The backdrop was printed in two sections on matte canvas using a Hewlett-Packard large format inkjet printer, a perk of my day job as


RAILROAD MODEL CRAFTSMAN


and similar programs. – editors) Another interesting and rewarding ex- tension of designing and building the layout is virtual. I began blogging (www.dawson-station.blogspot.com) my learning adventures early in the con- struction process. This has led to an ex- tensive website which includes photos and videos of both the layout and the prototype. A recent addition is a “virtual- scale” layout which allows people to ex- perience solving the switching puzzle from any Java-enabled internet browser. John Allen, in his 1972 article about his own famous Timesaver switching puzzle said, “Often, one plans and builds something that later shows it- self to be less interesting or of less val- ue than originally anticipated. Occa- sionally the reverse is true; the product proves better than hoped for.” For me, Dawson Station has turned out far bet-


an HP technician. (For those of us who do not have direct access to such a printer, i.e., most of us, some camera stores with digital labs can produce con- tinuous-roll prints on paper, vinyl or canvas several feet long and, typically, up to four feet high from JPEG files of panoramas assembled using Photo- shop®


ter than I could have ever hoped for. From a simple idea has come a realistic and fun to operate layout. Its portabili- ty has given me the opportunity to share it firsthand with numerous peo- ple at local events. The internet has al- lowed me to share it with even more. Modeling is about capturing a place and a moment of time of interest to us. While the Hull-Oakes sawmill contin- ues its operation and legacy nearly un- changed, the railroad that served it will be sorely missed. I’m glad I had a chance to see it and record its opera- tion. I am even happier that I had the chance to capture it in the way that only modelers can, for myself and oth- ers to see and operate for themselves. The Bailey Branch may now be idle, but trains will keep running at my Dawson Station for some time to come.


Additional resources: Carl Arendt’s Micro/Small Layouts for Model Railroads: http://www.carendt.com. Dawson Station on the web, including photographs, video of both the layout and prototype, and the virtual-layout: http://dawson-station.blogspot.com. Adrian Wyman’s Model Railway Shunting Puzzles: http://www.wymann. info/ShuntingPuzzles. Backwoods Railroads: Branchlines & Shortlines of Western Oregon, D.C. Jesse Burkhardt, Washington State University Press, 1994. Historic American Engineering Re- cord HAER OR-89, Library of Congress (http://loc.gov/pictures/item/OR0449/), 1989.


Hull-Oakes Lumber Company’s


Steam-Powered Sawmill: A Case Study in Industrial Archaeology, George B. Wisner, Oregon State University Press, 1998.


59


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72  |  Page 73  |  Page 74  |  Page 75  |  Page 76  |  Page 77  |  Page 78  |  Page 79  |  Page 80  |  Page 81  |  Page 82  |  Page 83  |  Page 84  |  Page 85  |  Page 86  |  Page 87  |  Page 88  |  Page 89  |  Page 90  |  Page 91  |  Page 92  |  Page 93  |  Page 94  |  Page 95  |  Page 96  |  Page 97  |  Page 98  |  Page 99  |  Page 100