Oahu Railway modeling

Daniel Maxwell Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Aha see. The contrast between USGI military
> equipment and the NG would make for an interesting
> layout. I've not see nor heard of an Oahu setup,
> aside from a display model or two.
>
> In my case, I chose 1959 for the Southern Pacific
> because I like the bloody nose scheme on the
> Little Giant better than the tiger stripe or
> Halloween.

I know of a few modelers. There's at least one HOn3 layout which uses K-27s for the 2-8-2s and cutdown HO passenger cars. Jeff Livingston has a beautiful fleet of 1:20.3 scale Oahu Railway locomotives and cars (these are Gazette quality bashes!). There's another gentleman who's built some nice 1:20.3 scale models, a gentleman who has laser cut some passenger cars and resin cast USA/USN boxcars, and Jim Chiddix (author of Next Stop Honolulu) is planning a good sized On3 layout.

My plans are ambitious and will take many years to achieve. I was working towards an 1884-85 South Park layout when the Oahu Railway grew to the point of taking over for me. I was in Hawaii a few years back decided to stop by the Hawaiian Railway Society before catching our plane. I walked into the gift shop and saw a photo of the roundhouse and a map of the yards which were shocking to me. I then began walking around the yards and was overwhelmed by the high grade freight cars in the yard and their big 0-6-0. I returned home and began reading everything I could starting with Hilton, then the old Trains articles, Next Stop Honolulu, Railroads of Hawaii, and the WW2 photo albums. When I joined in some operating sessions on a local model railroad and starting building some Oahu Railway passenger cars, my conversion was complete.

My goal is to model the Oahu Railway for what it was: a heavy duty mainline Class 1 which just happened to be NG (I'm usually drawn to a railroads peak more than its decline). Modeling Honolulu is a daunting task. The terminal operations consumed 4-6 locomotives and saw dozens of trains every day. Accordingly, it will occupy a substantial piece of real estate. I expect my main deck to be Honolulu through to Waipahu Junction with double track, treated heavy rail & ties and automatic block signals all the way (most of the Aiea-Waipahu second track was removed right before WW2). A lower deck, if feasible, will be the selectively compressed mainline through to Kahuku with Ewa, Waiannae, Kaena Pt, and Waiamea Bay all modeled. It will require one typical, full Ohio basement, 300 cars, and 15 locomotives.

The equipment is what I'm focusing on now (as we search for a new house suitable to our growing family and my railroad). The passenger cars followed two basic designs and two sets of details. I've prepared patterns for both sets of details and one of the designs. The first pre-production resin coach is in my train cabinet, but family matters (birth of child #2) has kept me from getting the rest of the fleet into production. Once I'm able to, I'll probably develop wood boxcars and steel flatcars, followed by wood gons, steel boxcars, wood flats, wood stockcars, and arched roof passenger cars. The early motive power on my layout will be a fleet of 2-8-0s bashed from B-man On30 2-8-0 regauged to On3. I have a couple additional sets of these drivers to scratch build the two big 0-6-0s (#9 & #12). The 2-8-2s will be from whatever K-28s I can acquire...and I'll likely add shay #43 if I can get a reasonable deal on a WSL #8, #9,or #10. The first 4-4-0, #15, can be bashed from the B-man IF 4-4-0. The big 4-4-0 can be built using a Spartan Series engine or one of the phantom MMI engines. The little 0-6-0s can be built using drivers from the B-man OF forney. Grandt Line's porter is a good starting point for #6 & #8. #111 can be bashed from the new ET&WNC 4-6-0 or by acquiring an SPng #18 (I'd rather have SPng #18 than OR&L 111). The other 4-6-0s will likely requiring scratch building...#88 is my favorite. Additionally, I'll need some military equipment...probably ex-NCNG #9 and a small fleet of Army/Navy cars. I won't be modeling any of the OR&L or military diesels...for they'd displace steam.



A picture of the prototype at Travel Town on Flickr:
[www.flickr.com]

My picture of the prototype at Ewa and an example of the other passenger car design:



#12, one of the big 0-6-0s. She's the same size, 72,000lb, as D&RGW 315.

As a note on the original topic...I have an On3 Spartan Series 4-4-0, but I'll be using it to build Cincinnati Northern #1.

Michael



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/05/2011 10:02AM by myork.