STAYING ON TRACK
There have been two continuing articles for the newsletter I need to finish. The first is about women in railroading and the second about weathering wood.concluded(. . . regarding the Harvey Girls) Lois Tait of Perris was "a wannabe Harvey Girl." Dissuaded by her father, she became a teacher instead. Now in her mid-70s, she is a founder of the Harvey Girls Historical Society at the Orange Empire Railroad Museum in Perris.
Fred Harvey, she says, had wanted male waiters but the men he could hire out West "got paid, went to a bar, got drunk and landed in jail." He said, 'if this is the way it's going to be, I'll get women.'" Before most of the restaurants closed in the mid-50s, they'd employed about 100,000 young women.
To Ms. Tait, the Harvey Girls are "a part of women's history that's been neglected." In an era when working women often were at the mercy of the men who hired them, Mr. Harvey offered young women "an opportunity to go west and live in a safe environment and be respected."
Darlene Sexton, 26, is one of a new generation of women discovering the romance of railroading. Ms. Sexton, an administrative assistant for a title company and mother of a 4-year-old son, went to Travel Town Railroad Museum in Los Angeles as a volunteer, to work off a community-service commitment for traffic violations.
Within two years, she became the first woman engineer and the first woman engineering instructor on Travel Town's trains. "It's the most awesome thing" she says, "If I wasn't a mom, my dream would be to work the Union Pacific or Santa Fe."
As for Ms. Moses and Ms. Lindeman [founders of the International Society for the Preservation of Women in Railroading], they are ready to take their women-in-railroading group "wherever the tracks may lead."
Beverly Beyette, "Tracking women railroaders," The Dallas Morning News, May 24, 2000, Page 5C.
This concludes the series of articles on Women in Railroading which began with the August 2000 issue.
CORRUGATED ROOFSMany kits use Campbell's corrugated aluminum for model roofing material. It is possible to weather this material with paint and chalks, but for a really old, beaten-up look, consider using Archer's Etchant, available at Radio Shack stores. First cut the aluminum to the desired shape and size. Paint (airbrushing works best for aluminum) the strips with Roof Brown or Rust, or you can leave them unpainted. Etchant is used to etch printed circuit boards. It's very caustic. Treat it like acid. Wear gloves. Use tweezers. Use only glass jar containers. Place about an inch of Etchant into one jar and three or four inches of water into a second jar. Drop one of the roof panels into the Etchant and push it under the solution (but not with your finger). For a while, nothing will happen. When the panel starts to fizz and foam, remove it and place in the jar of water. Swish it around to stop the chemical reaction. Examine the aluminum. It should be all dark with no "normal" aluminum showing through. If this is not the case, place it back into the Etchant for a few seconds until all the shine turns dark. As you work, the Etchant heats up and the soaking time becomes less and less. Finally, wash off all the roof panels with some clean soapy water and allow to dry on paper towels. When finished, the previous aluminum will be a dark, rusty, grimy color. If you want some holes in the panels for a really weathered look, just leave the aluminum in the Etchant a little longer. Be careful you don't end up with slush. Be careful when disposing of the used Etchant. It is industrial waste!
FIRE
Old buildings occasionally burn. You can model this. After the structure is completed and all the weathering and detailing are finished, set the model on a fire proof surface. Consider doing this outside. Get a spray bottle with water to serve as an extinguisher. Light the building on fire and let it burn to any extent you desire, then douse the fire with the spray bottle. The late, great, John Allen did this to a fire extinguisher plant on his famous Gorre & Daphetid layout.
DEAD FLAT
I have used all manner of sprays (Testers Dullcote as mentioned above), but none are as flat as Polly Scale "Dust" put on with an air brush. This stuff will dull anything to dead flat like nothing else I have ever used. It also leaves a faint hint of - you guessed it - dust on the structure which adds to the weathered look we are after.
DIRT IS DIRT
Malcolm Furlow, of narrow gauge fame, describes a technique to weather rolling stock and vehicles which work around dirty areas. He calls it "dirt-dunking." Fill a small box with fine, dry dirt, preferably from the area you are modeling (Lubbock dust works very well for this). Place your finished model (without couplers or trucks) in the box and brush or pour the dirt over the model. Knock off the loose stuff. This is particularly effective for rolling stock like gondolas or flat cars which carry rock ore or crushed rock to industrial sites. Ditto vehicles.
FADED ROOFS
Another method originally described by George Sellios of Fine Scale Miniatures works great for weathering black (or at least dark) roofs. It also works well for black rolling stock. After the roofing or car is completed and sprayed with a flattening agent (Testors Dullcote, for example) wash the area with the alcohol and shoe dye stain (see above) one more time. Let it dry. Surprise! The alcohol reacts with the flat spray to leave a white-gray color all over the treated area. I treated a black stock car this way and liked the result. This is a fast way to get white, dusty weathering on a dark color.
Item Number Vendor Brass bristle brush 50301 Micro-Mark Pounce wheel 15200 Micro-Mark Brass bristly brush, pen type 14258 Micro-Mark Fiberglass brush 14259 Micro-Mark File card 70216 Micro-Mark Railroad tie & bridge stain 81721 Micro-Mark Archer PCB Etchant 276-1535 Radio Shack Dust paint 414305 Polly Scale Nupastel Design, 36 colors 27050 FaberCastellMaterials Used in the articles on Weathering Wood
This concluded the series of articles on Weathering Wood which began with the May 2000 issue.
MEETINGS
Here follows a listing of meetings coming up in the near future:Live Oak, TX - October 7th - 8th. Alamo Model Railroad Engineers Train Show. Live Oak Civic Center, 8101 Pat Booker Road. Saturday from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Sunday from 11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Admission is $5.00 single and $8.00 for family.
Fort Worth, TX - October 14th - 18th. 18th Annual Railroad Show. Lockheed Martin Recreation Area, 3400 Bryant Irvin Road. Saturday from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Sunday from 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Admission is $5.00. Under 12, free with an adult.
Round Rock, TX - October 28th. Austin Area Model Railroad Jamboree. First United Methodist Church, 1004 North Maya. From 8:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Admission is $4.00.
St. Louis, MO - July 8th - 15th, 2001. NMRA National Convention, Gateway, For information or registration contact Gateway 2001, P.O. Box 6846, Chesterfield, MO 63006. Their web site page is: http://www.gatewaynmra.org,.
NOMINATIONS
At the October meeting Bob will ask for nominations for positions on the Board of Directors for those members leaving. The actual election will occur in November.PLAY DAY
Play Day will be November 3 - 4 at the Highland Baptist Activity Center. Setup will be on Friday evening and take down must be completed by 6:00 p.m. Saturday.