Full Steam Ahead!!

Alright, so I've discussed a little bit of background behind the Ocalla Tramway and a bit about its track plan. Sow what now? Well you can't run a model railroad without a few locomotives and some rolling stock, can we? So this post will be about the railroad's motive power and some to the equipment it will haul.

As stated in my first post, most of the motive power is inspired by the little engines of the Arizona Copper Company. One other copper company, that shared a 20" gauge interchange with the ACC, was the Detroit Copper Co. Sadly I haven't seen many photos of the DCC engines, though they were all 0-4-0T types, where as the ACC's motive power, aside from their #1, all started off as 0-4-4 types.

Considering the very tight radii of the track plan, 0-4-4 types would have a little difficulty navigating the sharp curves and steep grades up to the mine. So I've decided to stick with 0-4-0T type motive power, and MAYBE I might through in an 0-4-2T just for fun. Still debating on that though. However most of my motive power will consist of small 0-4-0 Porter built locomotives inspired by the "Kornut" Porter, the smallest locomotive built by the H.K. Porter Co. Although I have yet to find any official drawings for the engine and I've never seen a photo of said locomotive (if one even exists) but I have read a written description of its proportions; and using that I came up with a concept drawing of the locomotive.

The drawing is not to scale and it's somewhat proportional, but here is the general idea of what I'm going for. I added "Lee Van Cleef" there to give an idea of scale. I do have a scale drawing I did in 1/4" scale and I'll gladly post them... as soon as I can find a working scanner.

I have an idea on how to build this as a model, and there is an HOn30 locomotive on the market that matches the wheelbase perfectly! Big City Hobbies' HOn30 0-4-0T steam loco!

Now I'm sure some of you are thinking "Why not just go with On18? It's already N gauge!". The reasons why I'm sticking with On20 is, well 1: it has historical continuity to Arizona, and 2: it is a modeling challenge and it brings me back to where our hobby first started. Before all this pre-manufactured, mass produced, ready to run stuff hit the market. Where one actually had to do some work to make their models. And thirdly: It's unique and fairly obscure as a gauge to model.

Anyway... when these HOn30 models are measured out in O scale they have a wheelbase of 3ft. And their drive wheels are roughly 18 inches in diameter. Just about spot on for the Kornut Porter! However in my design I made a few creative liberties just to make it easier to model the locomotive. The boiler was originally 20" in diameter and I upped that to 2'. That's about the extent of the changes I made, but I'll go more into detail when the time comes.

Another locomotive I have in the works is also an 0-4-0T type, but it's much larger and it's an outside frame design. The locomotive is a cross between the Detroit Copper Co.'s outside frame Porters and the Arizona Copper Co.'s #9 and 10 locomotives. Though the aesthetics lean more towards the ACC engines.

Another proportional drawing, not to scale, of the locomotive being mentioned. I've always loved small and chunky Porter types and I absolutely ADORE engines with outside frames! So why not put the two together? The base of the locomotive comes from a Grandt Line On3 18 Ton Porter kit. As well as the running gear, wheels, ect...

Other parts such as the domes, fill hatch, headlight, and a few other things will be used on the model also. I had started construction of the locomotive but had to put things on hold for a bit. The kit I bought didn't come with any gears or motor, so I need to find a gear set that will fit for either an HOn3 gauge or N gauge locomotive. As well as a small compact motor, but one that still has some power to it. The boiler will be replaced with plastic tubing, shrinking down the boiler diameter to a scale 3ft. I'm still debating on whether I want to use the supplied saddle tank or order a pair of the smaller ones used on the Grandt Line 8 Ton Porters and splice them together. My primary concern is width, I've set a standard maximum width of 6' even and no more. This is based on drawings of ACC #s 9 and 10 as shown in the Logging Mining & Industrial Annual from March of 2004. Absolutely FANTASTIC article about the Arizona 20" gauge for those interested!

Another one of my favorite types of locomotives are geared steam locomotives. Granted that, historically, there were no 20" gauge geared steamers in AZ (or as near as I can tell) I still wanted to have one... maybe two just for the heck of it! This idea was inspired by W.C. Green's On20 Gila Tramway layout.

You can check out the evolution of this small layout on Freerails, here check it out!
Gila Tramway

The Gila Tram's shay locomotives are all build using the old MDC HOn3 2-Truck Shay kits. The cab and some other details are built up to better match O scale proportions. I have a concept for an On20 shay, though it would be a 2 cylinder rather than 3 and it would have an older style wagon top boiler.

Here is a general idea for what I propose to build for a shay type locomotive. Wiseman Model Services offers a few Sn3 conversion kits for the MDC shay, each representing a different variation. Some with three cylinders and others with 2. Some with strait boilers, wagon top, boot leg, and even a T boiler version! Although the kits are S scale, their proportion would allow them to fit in perfectly with On20! The proposed idea here is to use the S scale wagon top boiler kit, but scratch build a new cab and add S scale fluted domes and other details. The headlamp may remain O scale to give it that odd, but attractive scale proportion.

I am playing with the idea of building a second shay for the Ocalla Tramway, though one with a T boiler. Simply because I love the archaic look of the design and I feel it would look right at home in the wilds of the Arizona desert. Other motive power would be a 2 axle vertical boiler locomotive made from a Grandt Line HOn3 box cab mechanism, just to get something up and running for the tramway, or On20 in general.

Well that's about it for motive power, I hope I've kept your interest. Next time I'll go over rolling stock and equipment. Stay tuned!

Alright, so here's the plan...

For those of you who are still following this blog, and hopefully more to come, my last post was more about the inspiration and prototypical history of 20" gauge and On20 modeling. However in this post I will go into the history of my Ocalla Tramway and its evolution to the concept it has become today.

The Ocalla tramway started off on what would be a Colorado based On30 layout featuring a Figure 8 design. The tramway being nothing more than an On18 mine train to take ore cars from the mine to the mill. And the tram didn't even have a name then, but as my interests broadened and shifted west of the Rockies (and a rekindled interest in Disney railroading) I decided to relocate the layout's geographic location to the  arid, southwestern deserts of Arizona. The goal being to create a railroad that is a plausible blend of fantasy and reality. I also greatly loath most stereotypes, so the aspect of gold mining was thrown out the window right away. Sorry, no gold mines here. Instead I favored copper mining, which not only breaks the stereotype of gold and silver, but also has some historical significance to Arizona's history with narrow gauge.

At the time I was still set with On18 as a scale and gauge combination and so I went looking for not only examples of On18 modeling, but examples, tips and tricks also. There is a lovely group on Yahoo! focused on On18 and I found it quite inspirational. Along with looking for modeling inspiration I was also looking for prototype inspiration as well. I came across an old issue of the Narrow Gauge & Short Line Gazette that had an article about an On18 Porter. Not too long after that I learned about the 20" gauge in Arizona. Then one day I was browsing the On18 Yahoo! group and in there links section I say a group for On20. Curious I decided to check it out. I joined and looked around a bit. Although On18 is a wonderful scale/gauge, and I'll still use it for some mine tunnels, On20 had exactly what I was looking for. It didn't take me long to be sold on On20.

Unfortunately the time and the resources to build my On30 layout were not available, and still aren't, but that wasn't to say I couldn't start out small with portable micro layouts or something. And that's still an option for the time being.

This was my first real inception for what would become the Ocalla Tramway. A fairly small 2x8ft modular layout with On30 interchange and/or On30/On20 dual gauge track.

And yes, the "4ft" markings on the end are a mistake. Anyway it's not much and it's pretty simple. However it lacks the ability to have continuous running, and if I want to take this to a model train expo continuous running would help in terms of ease of operation. I have gone through many track plans, sadly none of them I have scanned, but I did finally settle on one track plan. It's not a micro or modular layout, it is a 4x8. The idea is that it still can be a portable model railroad that can be brought to model train shows for display and promotion of On20, but can also be a stand alone layout when not "On Tour".

And this is the current edition of the Ocalla Tramway. It is a 4x8 with an oval for continuous running, though most of it is hidden. The part of the oval running along the back side with have "Cut Aways" so that the train can be viewed as though it were passing through a long tunnel. It features a small yard with an engine facility and an On30 interchange with the Big Thunder & Western RR. The main line runs up to the mine(s) in the upper left hand corner along sharp curves and steep grades. Most of the structures will be scratch built or heavily kit-bashed. Equipment for the line will mostly be comprised of 4 wheel motive power and rolling stock, along with a shay, possibly 2.

Well, i wish I could add more here that is visually interesting, but alas this is all I got for now. In my next post, though, I'll be going over motive power and equipment the Ocalla Tramway will use to haul ore from the mines to the interchange!

The Begining...

Greetings all! And welcome to my blog!

Though first I must make a confession. I had another blog under a different profile and gmail account. However I had neglected it for so long I had forgotten my gmail account completely! I'm a little embarrassed to admit it, but that is the truth. Anyway, since I've lost access to that account I thought why not start over from scratch, right? Oh, and one more disclaimer. At present, this blog is for a PROPOSED On20 scale/gauge layout. I currently am not able to built the model railroad, however I will be working on locomotives and rolling stock for the railway and I will keep my watchers/readers informed on their progress. Most of what the first few posts will be are my plans and intentions for when I can finally start putting the benchwork together. So please, have patience and I promise that you will be satisfied with my endeavors.

Ok, then! Now that's out of the way time to move forward!

The Ocalla Tramway is going to be a freelance On20 gauge 4x8' layout with the intent of taking to model train shows to promote the unusual scale/gauge combination. But what is the Ocalla Tramway, and more importantly what it On20!? Well all those questions will be answered.

Simply put, On20 is "O" scale on HOn3 gauge track. 20" gauge railroads are almost unheard of, however there were a few rare examples of them that operated here in the US. The first being some of the mines of gold mines of California where this chunky Baldwin built locomotive operated. And yes, it was in fact 20" gauge.

Affectionately known as the "Wallis", it was a coal burning 20" gauge 0-4-0 built in 1876. The engine was only 5'3" in height so that it could steam its way into mine addits and drift tunnels. As a side note this engine has inspire my own mine locomotive, but for the more common 18" gauge (On18, O scale on N gauge track) which I have lovingly titled "Spud".

And now to get back on track, if there was one place that was known for having 20" gauge railways it would have to be the mystical territory of Arizona. Three different operations in two different areas of the state had 20" gauge lines. The most famous being the Arizona Copper Company and their fabled Coronado Railroad. The ACC built not only the first narrow gauge railway in the state, but also the first 20" gauge line running up Chase Creek Canyon outside of Clifton, AZ in the late 1870s. Their first locomotive was built by H.K. Porter and delivered to the ACC in 1880.

It was this locomotive, and the terrain that the ACC's little Porters navigated from the mines to the smelter that solidified my interest in 20" narrow gauge. I myself an primarily a modeler of On30 and also planning a large On30 layout inspired by the famous Disney theme park attractions "Big Thunder Mt. Railroad"...

 and the "Nature's Wonderland Mine Train".

This On30 layout would be named the Big Thunder & Western and would incorporate three other 30" gauge lines also. The Big Thunder Mining Co. and the Big Thunder & Prescott RR, the BT&W's connection to the outside world. Although a common carrier the line's primary revenue would be from copper ore, worth more than gold at the time in Arizona. And it breaks up the stereotype of "Gold" or "Silver" mining in the west.

However, an idea came to my mind as I was designing this layout, which is still under revision, or rather a question came to mind. What if the BT&W couldn't reach some of the mine along the cliffs and canyons? Well a tramway would make logical sense! And originally I was going to use an On18 line to do so, but as I delved into the history of Arizona I came across the 20" gauge and then shortly there after the 20" Gauge Modeling group on Yahoo! After learning more about modeling On20 I was set on the scale/gauge. Why? Although it is easier to bash models in On18 it lacks the historical congruence and authenticity that On20 offers to an Arizona based layout. That and it's a challenge... and different.

As a modeler I am always attracted to more obscure things with model railroading, whether it be scale or gauge, or both! And even more so if it requires a lot of modification, kit-bashing or scratch building! Those aspects bring me back to how our hobby started, when there weren't pre-manufactured kits to assemble or Ready-To-Run stuff on the shelf. Back when EVERYTHING had to be fabricated or you didn't do it at all. Throughout this blog I will post and keep updates on my modeling progress with both locomotives and rolling stock, and perhaps other equipment I may find suitable to build for my Ocalla Tramway.

After delving into a little history and what On20 is my next post will be about the tramway itself! Stay tuned and you won't be disappointed!!