how I earn a living

Since I'm not independently wealthy, and have a strong work ethic instilled in me by my parents (listen up, you lazy OWS bums), I have to actually WORK for a living. Which is fine by me- I'd rather be productive in some way.

I'm in the healthcare industry, and have been for almost 32 years. More specifically, I'm a clinical laboratory technologist. Ir requires a bachelor's degree in the sciences plus a year in an approved training school (not to mention passing a nationally-recognized agency exam) to become one. What I do is perform analysis on blood & body fluids and pass the results on to the physicians, who use these results to help in the diagnosis & treatment of their patients.

We are one of the most anal-retentive folks in the facility when it comes to accuracy of results- we run quality control on each & every thing we test every day (sometimes three times a day), plue we have to be able to spot problems as they occur & solve them. It's more than sticking a needle in someone's arm at 6 in the morning and pushing buttons. We are also one of the least-known departments in lab- usually our only visible representatives are the folks (called phlebotomists) who are out drawing blood specimens.

In my 32 years, I have worked in hospitals as small as 18 beds and as large as 1,000 beds, in urban & rural environments. All shifts, and in the case of the small places even taking call.

Currently I'm a supervisor for the evening & night shift in the facility I work at, a medium-sized medical center in northeastern Oklahoma. What I have largely learned is that crap not only rolls downhil, it can bounce back up. I have also learned that there is still a spot or two on my backside that hasn't been chewed on by someone higher-up. Except now, it's also for someone else's mistakes. Fortunately, it doesn't happen very often...........

Most likely, I'll be doing this job all the way to retirement, God willing. I've had some good times and some less-than-good times, but overall it's been rewarding.

Wanna see a trackplan? OK, here ya go.....

How's about a track plan? This is what I have so far, courtesy of Atlas' RightTrack software.

Name: St. Louis-San Francisco Arthur Subdivision, Paris, Texas
Era: 1975-1977
Scale: HO
Size: 6 x 11 1/2 feet
Track size: code 83 and 70, code 83 in staging
Minimum radius 22" main, 18" some spurs
Height: 54"
Grades: none
Scenery: northeastern Texas (hardwoods, lots & lots of green)
Control: DCC

Another tool for layout design

Not sure if I mentioned looking for maps of the area you wish to model, but if not, here are some ideas:

. Sanborn maps - first made by the Sanborn Company for fire insurance purposes, it lists buildings as well as railroad rights-of-way.

. Topographical maps - can be found online, and will show track locations (usually older locations, depending on when the maps were made). Also shows abandoned tracks, if one is interested in the location of whatever bygone railroad was there.

. Online satellite images - Yahoo and Bing have these features, but my favorite is Bing. You get satellite images of almost every place on the globe. Caution: some areas may not have sharp pictures when seen up-close. Bing has a birds'-eye view which allows for sharper, closer pictures. This is a feature better used for latter-day modeling, since almost invariably track arrangements change (and in some cases, vanish altogether) over the years.

Please note that the above suggestions are most helpful for prototype modelers; however, if you're interested in freelancing, they can work just as well.

One other thing.....

I did mention that I had Frisco motive power in HO scale- well, in the real world this became part of the Burlington Northern, who, in a fit of line-shedding, sold off the A&A and Arthur Subs to the Kiamihci Railroad in 1987 (which is now a RailAmerica subsidiary). I am friends with the fellow who was the Chief Mechanical Officer of the Kiamichi, and was able to model two GP35Ms (one in KRR burgundy, the other MP), one chopnose GP9, and a GP7 and GP9 in Texas Northwestern colors. With these diesels, I could spin the clock ahead say, 10-15 years or so, completely bypassing the era of Bad News, and run this layout as part of the Kiamichi. Of course, the cabooses would be gone, and I'd have to have the train (nicknamed the Soup Job by KRR crews) come out of staging (which represents Hugo, OK) to do its work in the Betner yard as well as the Paris area, but by & large the buildings would remain the same. Why no BN? I don't have any BN power, and everybody and his dog models BN, so why bother?

For that matter, I could model the whole thing as a freelance shortline (the Paris Belt), but I'm getting ahead of things here.......for now, I'll focus on matters Frisco as close as I can.

And the sawdust begins to fly...........

Can't remember if I mentioned this earlier, but I am working with a 6-foot by 11 1/2-foot room, with a door at one end. Not a lot to deal with, so mainline runs are out. However, as I have mentioend earlier, modeling communities the Frisco served is quite doable- in this case, Paris. Here's what I have so far for desired statistics:


NAME- SLSF Arthur Subdivision, Paris, TX
ERA- 1975-1977
SCALE- HO
SIZE- 6' by 11 1/2'
TYPE- Walk-in shelf, around the room, liftout section at door
HEIGHT-54 inches
MINIMUM RADIUS- 22" main, 18" some spurs
TRACK- Code 83 and 70
GRADE- none
SCENERY- Summer, typical northeast Texas foliage (oak, pecan, elm, bois d'arc)
CONTROL- DC for now, but will be wired for future DCC purchase.

GP7s were prevalent on the A&A and Arthur Subs at this time, until 1977 when the GP15s came online. Since I have 5 of the former and 2 of the latter, I have no shortage of Frisco diesel power. I also have 2 of the 1100-series cabooses (the ex-Santa Fes), so my, er, rear is covered.

Did I mention DCC? Why, yes, I did..... :).....I've had the opportunity to run on layouts that used DCC, and I'm impressed with the ease of operation. After seeing how one can install the system on one's own layout, I said to myself "Self, if they can do it, I know I can- and I'm an electrical idiot". Unfortunately, I have no system in my possession, so I'll go with DC (Digitally Challenged) control for now, but the layout will be wired for DCC. Ground throws will be used to control all of the turnouts.

I'm a big fan of Atlas track, and having converted to their code 83 line, I'm a happy guy. However, I've looked at Micro Engineering's code 70 track, and after having purchased some from Internet Trains, I'm pleased with the rail size. After all, I AM modeling a remote outpost of the Frisco, and the track was never up to Class 1 mainline standards in the 1970s. Had I the funds and time, I'd go strictly to code 70 and 55 track & turnouts for better realism, but I'm staying with code 83 and 70. If I get any staging track, it'll definitely be code 83- I'll keep the 70 for sidings & spurs.

Paris has a lot of trees, even though they're kinda sparse around the major shippers I'll be modeling. However, I like the oaks, elms & bois d'arcs that grow in that town, so I'll have them represented. Nope, no mesquite- that starts showing up about 60 miles west, close to Sherman. The tracks will show what minimal maintenance can look like, with some weed growth along and between the rails in some places. In the real world, this area was listed as yard limits, and IIRC there was a 10 MPH speed limit on most tracks. That will be represented as well.

As for benchwork, hollow-core doors from my remodeling projects are being used. I am also using the 27 x 80" HCD I used for my N scale layout, cutting it down to fit along one of the 6-foot walls. I'll attach the narower doors to the wall & support them with shelf brackets, and for the wider door I'm going to use angled 2x2s from door to wall, fastened to the studs. The doors will be overlaid with 1" thick foam sheets, upon which the roadbed (N scale, cork or foam) and track will sit.

I already have the first 19"x80" door up on brackets, and have been test-running some locomotives using the code 70 ME flex. So far, so good.........later I'll tack on a foal overlay, and move on to the rest of the door sections.

I'll have a trackplan posted here soon, I promise.....

Keepin' it real.........in HO scale

Before I get tied up into the layout room, I want to cover a couple of other things in designing a model railroad. If you're freelancing, you options are limited only by your own concept of what you want. If you're a prototype modeler, the options are much less- the more of a stickler you are about getting it right (what we medical lab folks call being anal), the less the options.

I'm leaning towards the prototype, but following the philosophy of Allen McClelland, who built & operated the Virginian & Ohio, an HO scale line depicting a fictitious railroad serving the coal mines in the Appalachias. Even though the V&O was freelance, Allen added details to buildings, locomotives, rolling stock, and the general scenery to make one think he or she was actually in the Appalachain mountains. He followed the philosophy of "good enough"- that is, adding sufficient detail to make something appear realistic. While some would go so far as to paint the caboose toilets in a color that existed on a certain day & time (OK, an exaggeration, but you know what I mean), Allen added enough details, say, on a diesel locomotive to make it look like it was ready to lug coal.

As a clinical laboratory scientist, I have to pay close attention to details to ensure the results I turn out on patient samples are correct, 100% of the time. I do pay attention to detail in my hobby, but my work is not nitpick-free (warning to potential nitpickers who come to visit: DON'T. Nitpick, that is. Ever. ). Still, I want enough to make people think I AM modeling a small town in northeastern Texas.

To that end, I rely on topographical maps I find on the Internet to see where the tracks go (or went, if they've been abandoned). Since I lived in & near Paris for 12 1/2 years, I have a good sense of where the Frisco's trackage goes, since this later became BN and later Kiamichi. I also can get an idea of where the shippers are that were served by Frisco.

Model railroad research, or why you must do your homework

There are several schools of thought in reseaching, building & operating a model railroad. One is freelance, which could be anywhere from "imaginary-but-quite-plausible" (think Allen McLelland's Virginia & Ohio) to off-the-wall (let's model EVERYTHING). The other is strict prototype (or as close as possible), which is where such folks as Tony Koester dwell. Then there is somewhere in between- that is, basing the railroad on an actual location, but stretching the timelines and plausibility a bit. All of these schools of thought have their supporters, and IMO they're all valid- after all, it is indeed your model railroad, and you do what pleases you.

Since I'm a devoted Frisco modeler, I lean more toward the prototype school, but faced with space constraints, I find myself having to makesome adjustments to include the industries that the real Frisco served in Paris, TX in the 1970s. Plus, I also am restricting my work to the north side of town, ignoring the Santa Fe-Frisco depot & joint yard and the interchanges with MP and Cotton Belt (well, not entirely........it'll be a staging track, but I'm getting ahead of the story here).

OK, I have location, so I only need to research the following items:

• Year modeled


• Shippers served


• Motive power used

I chose the 1970s because of the type of motive power I had (mostly 4-axle EMD and GE hood units). Only a few locomotives are in the older black & yellow scheme (two GP7s), which lasted until the last GP7 was retired in December 1979. I have five GP7s total on my roster, and from what I've found out, they were used extensively in secondary & local service, especially on this part of the Central Division. I also have two GP15-1s, a model that came to Frisco in 1977. Using these 7 locomotives together, I'm somewhat restricted to 1977 if I want to stay prototypically realistic, so 1977 it is (reserving the right to move up to 1980 provided I remove the GP7s and add a couple of GP38s in the mix, which I can do with ease). For the sake of simplicity, 1977 it is.

Paris has a massive Campbell Soup plant, first built in the mid-1960s. It has since expanded to include Prego sauces and Pace picante sauce, and still ships out soup like nobody's business. In the '70s, it was still a soup plant. Next is Merico, the bakery that made Earth Grains products (it's now a Sara Lee plant, and still quite busy). Not far from the Merico plant is Flex-o-Lite, which makes those reflective glass beads seen in reflective lenses. The other two shippers I'm including (and also found on the north side of town) is Precision Printing & Packaging (making corrugated cardboard boxes) and VFM, a feed mill and shipper of outbound grains. The interchanges with the other Paris railroads will be represented with a staging track, and they can be considered a 6th customer of sorts, since Campbell and Merico sent products in all directions out of town.

I covered motive power in a way when I discussed era modeled, but I'll touch on it again here. The Arthur Subdivision (Paris-Ft. Smith) was never a heavy-duty main line, and became more of a secondary route with the completion of a line from Sapulpa, OK south to Irving, TX which bypassed the steep grades on the Central Division as a whole. In the diesel years, this line was 4-axle territory, with GP7s handling the work. Hugo, 25 miles north of Paris, is the hub of this area, and is on the junction of the Ardmore & Arkinda and Arthur subs. Aside from the coal trains which run between Lakeside, OK and the WFEC power plant near Ft. Towson, four-axle diesels rule. GP7s usually finished their careers on the secondary lines and in switching service, being replaced by GP15-1s on the Central Division. I'm not sure if it ever happened, but I wouldn't be surprised if GP38AC/GP38-2s didn't work Paris as well during the Frisco years.

I'll discuss the layout room and trackplan in a later post.