# Steamup in Maine



## Phippsburg Eric (Jan 10, 2008)

Jim Coplan(aka Dr J) was visiting from Pennsylvania this week So I thought I would host a summer steam up featuring Maine Narrow gauge as much as possible. We had a good turn out for the Sunday after the 4th. 
Dr J brought his Roundhouse SR&RL 24 which ran well...gotta love that whistle and headlight! I ran my #24 as #23 with Jim as a double head. (I stuck on paper numbers from my printer but...contact cement removes factory lettering







)


Richard Jenkins who is well known to this forum brought his EBT 12 which is not Maine but is certainly a beautiful engine. 

Dave from New Hampshire brought along an Accucraft Garrett which is a two footer from the UK and fit in well on this Maine line.

Marcel brought his newly acquired 7/8" scale Maine Prairie, which didn't fit the covered bridges or reverse loop but ran well on the main line. The 7/8" scale stuff sure is cool looking and has a very respectable mass! My little 7/8" scale SD Warren engine made a run just as folks were arriving and shared the track with Marcel.

A number of folks had "Maine" Forneys. there were 8 on the table, not all got to run for various reasons. I think there were 5 ruby conversions, three models of Portland Forneys Including a Roundhouse product and two scratch built models including mine.

Lisa brought her Accucraft Climax which ran well, I placed my old Aster Climax behind it to see how they looked but didn't run it.

Tomorrow we will have a little steamup at Don's place in East Boothbay, and perhaps this weekend we will stop in at the WW&F Railway Museum in Alna.


----------



## HampshireCountyNarrowGage (Apr 4, 2012)

Eric, 

Having modeled in On2 for many years, I must say you have really captured the "Maine-2 Footers" feel with your railroad. And that 7/8" Prairie is so nice! 

Keep up the great work and the great videos too. 


Chester Louis SA #64
Hampshire County Narrow Gauge


----------



## Dr Rivet (Jan 5, 2008)

Eric 

Very nice video. Great setting. Nice to see some well behaved Ruby/Forneys.


----------



## ththfxr (Dec 27, 2007)

The YouTube videos of G gauge Winnegance and Quebec had a big influence on my getting the Accucraft Forney. The Maine 2 footers style has a nice feel for a live steam US prototype layout.


----------



## Phippsburg Eric (Jan 10, 2008)

Mark-- 

It is fun to see what you can pull with one of those Forneys! I have not yet had a proper Accucraft Forney on this line...only modified Rubys. the Forney is a different beast. I met my first at a steamup in Massachusetts in May and was quite impressed. Looks like yours pulls like a champ! 









here is an Accucraft Forney along side my son's modified Ruby and my scratch built Portland company engine


----------



## ththfxr (Dec 27, 2007)

We were very pleased with how it ran, on its first steamup, after a few runs, we just started to add cars to see what it would do, and never did stall it. And Richard's cars are wood, they have some heft to them.
Nice steaming, and I have put a Goodall valve on now, to exted the run a bit.


----------



## craig0127 (May 20, 2008)

Sorry i missed it guys. Things have been chaotic around here for me. Im gonna try to to make some steamups soon. I have the list somewhere. Pm me for any future ones. My engines are sad and cold:-( 

Craig 
Haverhill Ma.


----------



## Dr Rivet (Jan 5, 2008)

Eric 

I understand about bridges and 7/8n2. Steve King and Stumpy Stone showed up at one of my first meets in 1994/95. I had a double tracked redwood open arch bridge but the clearance was too tight on the sides by at least a quarter inch. So they could run 520 feet around the layout and then back up 520 feet to the other end of the bride. The next week I took out the bridge, cut it lengthwise with my jig saw, reassembled it with aluminum angle braces and widened it two inches. Relayed the track with and extra 1/2 inch on each side and an other inch of center-to-center. 

Now I have open deck bridges, so even 1.5in/ft scale 15 in gauge [like Heywood estate models] can run on the layout. 

I guess that my Rishon SR&RL #6 [7/8n2] will not make it around your layout. 

You are about 13 hours from me [including stops], but I would like to visit your line some time. I am glad Marcel got to run #14 since he could not make it to Steve King's meet this year. 

Any chance you will widen your loading gauge?


----------



## Phippsburg Eric (Jan 10, 2008)

Jim-- 

I, too, like the 7/8th stuff...I am just getting in to it with the little SD Warren Coal (er..wood pellet) fired Ruby. I have drawn up WW&F #10 in 7/8th scale which would (just) fit my bridges. I will probably ease my reverse loops or make passing sidings at each end that a large engine could negotiate with big cars and make new, larger bridges. 

I would enjoy seeing you should you journey north!


----------



## StevenJ (Apr 24, 2009)

If only there was an efficient way for me to drive to Maine from FL that didn't involve driving through DC, New York, Massachusetts, and Connecticut! Great layout I may have to ask permission to visit someday regardless of the two and a half day journey!


----------



## Phippsburg Eric (Jan 10, 2008)

I got it! Head out to Diamondhead, up to the summer steamup, stop in at Stavers, perhaps a stop or two in Canada...You could get here by spring and happy too!


----------



## StevenJ (Apr 24, 2009)

LOL maybe in twenty years when I'm retired hehe.


----------



## Dr. J (Feb 29, 2008)

A big "Thank You!" to Eric for organizing this steamup on the WW&Q, and to Don Jackson for the subsequent steamup at his place in East Boothbay (the Downeast Light Railway). I had a great time at both events, and finally got to meet Eric, after emailing back & forth for over a year! (He's just as nice in person!)

Also thanks to Ryan Bednarik for installing the headlight, Bob Weltyk for the whistle, and a tip of the hat to Zoe Topper - who will be missed by many of us - for the Summerlands Chuffer. No. 24 never looked or sounded better. Great setting, great stack talk, and whistling through the crossings was cool. Double-heading ahead of Eric's "23" was exceptionally cool.









My broadband is down







so I cant upload any photos at the moment, but I will as soon as comcast fixes my modem (right now I'm tethered to my iphone, which is OK for text, but otherwise reeeeaaaal sloooow.)

Jim Coplan (aka Dr. J)


----------



## Dr. J (Feb 29, 2008)

Guest motive power in the W&Q: Eric's 1st edition SR&RL #24, and my recent run.


----------



## Dr. J (Feb 29, 2008)

A meet on the W&Q. Eric's forney exits the covered bridge. My SR&RL 24 is on the station track. Double-click on the thumbnail, to bring up the full size image.


----------



## Dr. J (Feb 29, 2008)

Another shot of the depot and environs. Cant beat the setting! PS: Double click on the thumbnail, to bring up the full size image!


----------



## Dr. J (Feb 29, 2008)

I was pleasantly surprised to discover that Winnegance is a real place. Here's the Winnegance General Store, which is about half a mile up the road from Eric's. And it's for sale!!! I think an extension of the ROW is called for. PS: Click on the thumbnail to bring up the full size image)


----------



## Shay Gear Head (Jan 3, 2008)

Dr. J,

How's about making the photos somewhat larger as the postage stamp views don't lend to seeing much detail.

I can read the message* REALLY* good.


----------



## Dr. J (Feb 29, 2008)

Hi Gearhead
I followed the "how to" video. The small image in the post is a thumbnail. Double click on it, and the hyperlink should jump you to the full size picture. Let me know if you have problems. I'm still learning.
Jim C


----------



## Shay Gear Head (Jan 3, 2008)

I learned something too. Didn't realize you could click on small photos to get larger view.
Suggestion - the next time you take photos set the camera to *Large - Fine* on the resolution.
Your photos will be sharper and reduce better. You can always reduce the photo size/resoultion but you can't increase the size/resolution and regain the lost sharpness.
Of course JPG files are also lossy and everytime you open and close them you loose information. Use TIF if you don't want to loose due to auto compression algorithms.
Memory cards are cheap - much cheaper than the equivalent of file - and you can reuse them. My 16meg camera will save several thousand pics on the one 16G card.


----------



## Phippsburg Eric (Jan 10, 2008)

Bruce--

I have seen Jim's camera and the photos he takes, they are top of the line. for some reason he hasn't managed to get them posted the way he wants.

here is a test made by copying his expanded photo in his first post. I stored his photo on my computer then uploaded it using the insert image button in respond editor.


----------



## Dr. J (Feb 29, 2008)

Thanks, guys. I'm a bit confused & frustrated. I'm saving my images in photoshop to the lowest possible resolution (file size < 1000 bytes). But when I try to upload the file in the 1st class Upload utility, I get the message "Wrong file format." Or "Run Time Error on the server." Grrrr..... What am I doing wrong? Thanks.
Jim C


----------



## Dr. J (Feb 29, 2008)

I took a screen shot of the original jpeg on my PC, to get it small enough. Click the thumbnail to bring up the full size photo. This is the Wiscasset, Waterville, & Farmington (or what's left of it), about 20 miles up the road from Winnegance. If there's a way to get higher resolution uploads, I havent figured it out yet.


----------



## snowshoe (Jan 2, 2008)

Looks like you guys had a great day. Eric the layout looks great in its summer colors. I just love how your layout changes with each season. I like the new addition with the dock/tugboat.


----------



## Phippsburg Eric (Jan 10, 2008)

I was excited to show off my little wood pellet fired Ruby, but I took some video of the rest of our little steamup at Don Jackson's place in East Bootbay which was also in honor of Dr J.


----------

