KANAWHA

16 Jan 23: 

Seems if want to have a luxury yacht all we need to do is start up a little railroad, using some of our spare oil baron money. KANAWHA would be a good tender for our small boat Armada.

"Kanawha was a 471-ton steam-powered luxury yacht initially built in 1899 for millionaire industrialist and financier Henry Huttleston Rogers (1840–1909). One of the key men in the Standard Oil Trust, Rogers was one of the last of the robber barons of the Gilded Age in the United States. Rogers was a major developer of coal and railroad properties in West Virginia along the Kanawha River., including the Virginian Railway. Aboard the Kanawha, he frequently hosted his friends, including American humorist Mark Twain and black educator Booker T. Washington."

What is more interesting about KANAWHA is her second and third careers. We'll get into the Virginian more as we explore our new territory.

FMI: 

KANAWHA

Henry Huttleston Rogers

Virginian Railway

Surry, Sussex and Southhampton Railway

14 Jan 2023:

A 3 foot narrow gauge ran nearby from the late 1800s until 1930, the Surry, Sussex and Southhampton Railway. The railway was started to support the Surry Lumber Company, and part of its charter from the State included freight and passenger service. 

The money part of the company was out of Baltimore, MD while the field headquarters was in Dendron, VA. One end of the line ended on the Scotland Wharf, James River, where the Jamestown-Scotland ferry crossed. Large schooners and later steamships loaded lumber for ports up the James, Chesapeake and all points East. Here SS&S #2, Baldwin Vauclain Compound, waits to run back up the hill around the wye and pick up the mail train.

#2 was the second #2, the first was scrapped when the railway folded, but the bell is still ringing at the Dendron Museum. Skipper field tested it today.

The Dendron sawmill grew to be the largest sawmil East of the Mississippi, with a thriving lumber town springing up around it. Today, its residents number just over 200. While much of the equipment was sold to other industries, a few artifacts remain, one being a steam engine from the saw mill.

One of the SS&S boxcars was lovingly restored by a Dendron family, after spending a few decades as a corn crib.

(Image Credit: WR, Dendron Museum)

The photos inside the boxcar chronicle the restoration, all image credits to WR of the Museum. 

Many of the SS&S car bodies and log cars were built on site, with the undercarriages shipped in by the railway. There was no shortage of lumber. 

There is some rail to start a new railway...

...and a combination baggage/freight car and R.P.O to rebuild. It served as a cottage for decades until 2003, when it was damaged by Hurricane Isabell. More on a restoration effort soon. 

(Image: The Comp'ny by H. Temple Crittenden. 1967.
Available for sale through the Surry County Historical Society)

FMI: Surry, Sussex and Southhampton Railway

Surry, Sussex and Southhampton Combination Express and R.P.O. Car

14 Jan 23:  

Combination Express and R.P.O.

(Image credit: The Comp'ny)

Remnants of the car at the Dendron History Museum. Needs a trip through the car shop... there is a discussion as to how to best stabilize and/or restore.

FMI: S,S&S Rolling Stock

Suffolk Seaboard Station

07 May 22:

Former Nickel Plate, then Norfolks and Western, then an attraction at Mike's trains before finding a home next to the Suffolk Depot. We think this side would look good in Norfolk and Western blue and yellow.

FMI: Suffolk Seaboard Station. 

Super Bench Foamboard

 06 May 22:

We used 3 layers of Owens Corning Extruded Polystyrene (XPS) Foamboard on top of the benchtop, you can use more or less depending on if you want to have valleys and streams incorporated into your layout. Elmer's Carpenters Glue keeps the foamboard from moving around. I tried a brush at first, but what ended up working the best was a foam roller. 

And just like that you can run trains, figure out if your track plan works, make adjustments, etc...Check for any hills or valleys on the benchwork and take care of adjustments now. We had to shim a few legs to get the top of the foam flat. Another option is to unscrew a leg and adjust that, but we are going to give everything a week or two to settle and see how things look.

Super Bench.

Problems and Tips

 06 May 22:

Problems in Production and a few tips. If a screw strips out, use a pair of vise grips to unscrew it.

A small difference in frame height should be taken care of now, then frames screwed together with a few screws. 

It figures, the last module had a leg that was too long. This leg was cut an 1/8th of an inch too high, so we removed it and trimmed off a bit. It might be better to set the first module frame an 1/8th of an inch high on the leg, so problems like this can be adjusted for later vs having to recut.

Put screws in at an angle such that they can be removed from below the table, because once the bench top goes on it will be inaccessible. This one needed to be redone.

The blue tape covers the raw edge of the bench top, where lots of splinters live.

Wear PPE. SPlinters in fingers and eyeballs are not fun.

Leave a bit of space between the module and the will so it will be easy to install, there's space for wiring and relief for any facades that are added to the wall.

As mentioned before. attach modules from below.

Bench top screws placed every 6 inches or so.

We use star drive deck screws, they rarely strip out and are easy to remove.

Star drive bits may start to wear out though, so buy a few spares.

Clamps are your friends.

Plan access to vents and electrical outlets.

Make sure windows can be reached.

Plan a hiding space.

Remember when we rounded off sharp edges?

Use a carpenter square to find plumb on bench legs.

Keep outlets clear of legs.

Plan for the exact number of screws.

Video: https://youtu.be/H6EYg6gRnPA