The Dinsdale and Southern: an Odyssey

By Wade Atkinson

I must have been nuts. At 75, I decided to revive the Dinsdale and Southern, my 4 x 8 foot HO layout from 35 years ago, one on which I had worked for ten years. It had disappeared when I divorced, sold my house, and gave the layout to my next door neighbor with his three children. Somebody asked me why I didn't sell it and my answer was, "it would be like selling a child."
The stimulus was a collection of Atlas Snap Track, an F7 Santa Fe diesel, in the war bonnet paint scheme, a couple of freight cars, signs, figures, a couple of lampposts, even a couple of billboards, all in HO scale which my married son had purchased for his three stepsons but which were never assembled.
Where to put it? I am now in an apartment with no basement and limited space. The living room would do, but I didn't want it there because it could interfere with my TV viewing. I looked in my bedroom made some careful measurements and found that I could have a 4 x 6 foot HO layout maybe.
Where to begin? My foray of 35 years ago had been sparked by the books by Linn Westcott with all his basic information. While my memory was still in pretty good shape, I needed current information although I had several photos of the former layout. Spotting Model Railroader on a newsstand, I bought a copy and was delighted to see old friends such as Atlas were still around. Then I discovered the wonders of the Internet and began logging onto the NMRA site. There I discovered the Atlas site and purchased that firm's layout software. For a year I futzed with the software designing configurations to match the 4 x 6 foot space. Nothing suited me. One day I discovered the Morgan Valley layout designed by Atlas. Perfect! It was a small switching railroad with indications for nine structures. It would have a connection to the Southern Railroad and would be the reincarnation of The Dinsdale and Southern. I wouldn't be running the Mikado of 35 years ago but I'd have a layout.
Now I had the plan but what would be the base? My former layout had been built on a 4 x 8 foot table, which I had had in my office with a Masonite top. Having picked up Model Railroader about every two months, I saw an article with a base on two saw horses. It didn't mention what the material was for the base, but many of the articles had indicated that Homasote, made from old newspapers, was the preferred base. Where to get this material? I called a couple of lumber yards with negative response. Finally I got in touch with the home office. They seemed a little puzzled that a consumer was calling, not a retailer. However, I was given the correct information and was able to locate a nearby lumber yard that carried the material. But the Homasote lacked enough strength to support itself. I did some figuring with pencil and paper and came up with a plywood support braced against the saw horses with 1 x 3 lumber nailed to the bottom of the plywood at two foot intervals. I took this to the lumber yard's owner who said he could make it, including the saw horses. One thing I had not figured was the height of the saw horses, made from 2 x 4 lumber with metal braces. I finally decided on 30 inches. If you try this, check on metal saw horses as a cheaper alternative. I'm not sure about the height. (Editor's note: you may find adjustable height saw horses.)
By December 1999, I was ready to go. I had the support built, delivered, and the Homasote placed on top. Everything fit perfectly and I could walk around the support next to my bed. I had downloaded other information from the manufacturers sites listed by NMRA and had a fistful of tips from Life Like which proved invaluable. I purchased all the necessary Snap Track with a 25 degree crossing and several switches plus a couple of wyes since I was modifying one siding of the Morgan Valley.
I began to put the track together and had forgotten that it was not as simple as I had thought. One tip from Life Like, to put push pins into the track to hold it in place before it was nailed proved invaluable. Another useful tip-run your fingers over the track to determine the smoothness of the joints.

Wye not?
With all track in place, including several rerailers, bumpers at the end of the sidings, with one open e3nded connection to the Southern Railroad, a concession to my Atlanta, Georgia heritage, I hooked up a new MRC rectifier and, whoopee, the Santa Fe F7 ran! Except for the right section of a wye that led to another wye which was going to lead to an engine house and the headquarters of the D & S. That section was completely dead and I was baffled since current was flowing through my switches. I emailed Atlas and Model Railroader about the dead section but could not get an answer that made sense. Atlas offered to replace the wye. Taking more than one deep breath, I inserted an Atlas curved terminal section just beyond the frustrating wye, connected some wire, punched a hole, reached under the Homasote, pulled the wire through and connected the terminals to the MRC. It worked!
As I progressed during the winter of 2000, I began adding structures such as Atlas' Hillside Lumber, which I had had on my previous layout, and Life Like's engine house. I discovered my tactile coordination was not as good with Testor's cement as it was 35 years ago. My Life Like general store still has an open roof. For motive power, I had a 0 4 0 as I had had previously and I couldn't resist buying an on sale gandy dancer, mainly to test the track.
Using the NMRA site on the Internet, I discovered suppliers who were unknown 35 years ago. DPM and Woodland Scenics caught my attention. The office for the D & S is a DPM structure. I purchased Woodland's The Scenery Manual for guidance on scenery for the layout. Earth and lichen for foliage were supplied by this firm.
With my emphysema (my doctor tells me I have only one third of my lungs due to my 50 years of smoking), I found it difficult to go to one local retailer who kept all the HO stuff on his second floor with only stairs for access. To overcome this, I'd make a list of what I wanted and the HO man would get the items for me. But I missed seeing all the available merchandise and, possibly, changing my selections.
Then I discovered eBay. Perusing the selections under the HO Scale, I discovered the normal number of items ran as high as 15,000! What a selection! I saw equipment and other materials I needed. With some trepidation, I ordered an used switch engine at a greatly reduced price, compared to a new version at my retail store. I was pleasantly surprised when the transaction was successfully completed and the engine was in good shape. This sure beat 35 years ago when the only way to find out what was available was to go a retailer.
eBay became a staple in my purchasing as I added another switch engine, a group of freight cars, the Woodland Scenics moonshine still mini scene, and structures including a Ramsay Journal building, two stations, one of which is freight only, an IHC bank building, W.S. Engineering structure, some figures, ballast, coal, four houses under construction, two machine shops, one with a tall chimney and adjacent shed, a built up colonial church, and a set of eight Boley like, construction vehicles.
Although postage was extra, it was usually less than my retailer's flat charge of $7.50. I save time and energy. I corresponded with the owner of the retail shop about using his freight elevator, but he never responded. I continue to shop on EBay.

The bummers
A couple of my purchases were bummers. One was a searchlight car that didn't work and the other was a crane whose threads were tangled into an unwieldy mess. As I usually purchased assortments, I got what I wanted at a price I could afford and pitched the junk. However, some junk was useful. A hopper and flat car, with mangled trucks and couplers became the basis for the coal supply for the 0 4 0 and the Docksider. Without trucks or couplers, I glued the hopper to the flatcar, cut cardboard to fit the hopper, painted the cardboard aluminum, and, with plastic supports cut from sprues, made an aluminum roof. Woodland Scenics furnished the coal and Walthers supplied the conveyor to load the coal into the hopper. I cut brick styrene sheets from Walthers for sidings. A plastic ladder is glued to one end of the hopper for personnel to check the load. This sits next to my Atlas water tower, both being adjacent to the engine house.
When another retailer decided to go out of business, I bought three Bachmann structures, the kind that interlock without plastic cement. One, the colonial mansion, is my hotel. It's not kitbashed, but it works. Two others are an apothecary and a women's specialty shop on my main thoroughfare. This one grew and now boasts the Model Power real estate office, the Interstate Shell service station, and the White Tower and White Castle restaurant, the latter two from Walthers. I have 25 structures including the Atlas water tower, signal tower, National Oil Company and adjacent Woodland Scenics diesel facility for filling up the diesels, and Kustom Kabinet sitting adjacent to the lumber yard, its source for wood. I'm about structured out and will pay more attention to trees, foliage, turf and all the good stuff to cover the Homasote.
Using lichen, earth, foliage clusters, extra coarse turf, all from Woodland Scenics, I have plenty of greenery, held down with white glue, in the proper places, usually as a dividing line between areas. There's a small woods with six trees and a foliage cluster on one end of the layout. I discovered I could assemble trees with the metal armatures and lichen using my hairspray for glue. Next to the engine house is an area with earth, five trees, lichen, and Woodland Scenics moonshine still mini scene. I have a horse running through this with a man chasing it. Telephone poles have been placed in various spots, but I had to change the placement of some as the space between the tracks was not great enough and my trains hit the poles. When I needed grass, I cut a section from a grass mat obtained from Walthers. Live and learn.
The main difference between the original Morgan Valley and the D & S is my main street with the retail stores, service station and bank. An old signal tower I obtained from EBay is now a medical office building.
Working on the structures, I sometimes came up short with the heavy clear plastic for windows. Since "necessity is the mother of invention", I began using the heavy clear plastic, like celluloid, not cellophane which is too thin, that is used for shrink wrapping. It was easy to cut and adhered with Testor's glue.

Baffled
I was baffled by the pipes on the roofs of Kustom Kabinet and W.S. Engineering. They fell through the holes in the roofs. I solved this by cementing small pieces of plastic inside the roofs and across the holes. The plastic became supports for the pipes.
As I progressed during the year 2000, I kept salivating over the layouts in Model Railroader and decided to follow the KISS principle: Keep It Strictly Simple. I am not a master craftsman nor do I have a pipeline to the nearest branch of the Federal Reserve System for money. Sometimes I wondered if the Model Railroader guys were of this planet. They would go into excruciating detail about the correct sandpaper to use while I simply picked up an emery board. When they started into removing letters and numerals from plastic models I almost laughed. Nail polish remover does it for me as it did 35 years ago.
Discovering the idea of weighting freight cars, I followed NMRA standards and those published in Model Railroader. Fishing sinkers, in 1/8 ounce increments, from K Mart and household cement worked for me. A buddy of mine, who collects guns, gave me some BB pellets. These are great for weighting cars. I cement them in place with household cement. I checked the weights with an inexpensive postal scale, another K Mart or discount store item.
Further employing the KISS principle, I stuck to plastic structures and R T R motive power and rolling stock. The exceptions were a couple of Athearn freight cars, a tank car to service National Oil company, and a special Athearn freight car celebrating the 1996 Olympic games in Atlanta which I had purchased a couple of years ago from the Show Me Lines.
My current engine roster consists of the F7, the 0 4 0, a Docksider, and two switchers. For switching among the various industries, there are several tank cars, three cabooses, a cattle car, three hoppers, and four freight cars. Parked behind the Kustom Kabinet is a flatcar with bound lumber. For passenger excursions, I have the train from the TV show, The Wild, Wild West, consisting of a Genoa and several 1880's passenger cars,
I knew about Kadee couplers but had never used them. The previous D & S had horn hooks with the simple Atlas device for uncoupling. Finding the Kadee site on the Internet, I downloaded information I needed and began to look closely at my rolling stock. Some already had the Kadees while others had horn hook. I learned the hard way when some rolling stock overturned on a curve that the two couplers were not compatible. I installed the necessary magnets on two sidings and am still experimenting. I may go back to all horn hooks. KISS.
Looking at the photos of the old layout, I realized I needed streets and something for vehicles to cross the tracks in certain locations. Memory came to my rescue with the thought that asphalt streets are really gray, not black. In an art supply store, I located a huge gray poster board which has become my streets as I cut to the desired width and length. The center lines are made with a white China marking pencil and the same procedure is used for the parking lots around my main street, the D & S headquarters building, and the White Tower restaurant. I used HO vehicles to determine the width and length of the parking spaces. I am using five toothpicks glued together, with pointed ends snapped off, and painted steel gray to simulate grade crossings but, sometimes these interfere with the couplers then I use the gray board. Some of the lumber with the Atlas lumber yard also fits for the crossings with a coat of gray paint.

Signs
As I viewed my growing number of structures, it dawned on me that something was missing--signs. I had road signs but what about the structures? Using one of my three desktop publishing programs and a black and white Laser Jet III printer, I have produced signs for most of my structures including a billboard for the headquarters building, reading "Enoch P. Nutt, President". (Say it out loud.) All structures, except for the three retail stores, carry the word, "Dinsdale", as in "Dinsdale Hotel, "Dinsdale First National Bank. Your money is safe at home", "Dinsdale Lumber and Millwork Co.", and "Dinsdale Real Estate". W. S. Engineering is "The Dinsdale Manufacturing Company". The paper signs are glued to cardboard which are then mounted on the structures using the sprues from my plastic buildings as supports. Sometimes the fit is perfect and sometimes I have to snip or file a piece. For buildings like the stations or real estate office, the sign is mounted on the building in the proper location without sprues.
Another discovery was Micro Mark with its miniature tools. I purchased a set of screw drivers, two pairs of tweezers and two "helping hands", large clips mounted on a base to hold a work in progress with a magnifying glass. A master craftsman I am not, but I can handle a tool.
A bummer from eBay turned into another possibility. I thought I was buying some ready made sidewalks but the flat styrene pieces were for walls. So I cut the pieces with my Atlas saw, to size, snapped them, filed the edges, and had my sidewalks.
My former layout had been in my basement, with plenty of room and my works pace had been an old flat top desk. I didn't have that luxury now. I took a folding occasional teak table, covered it with newspaper, and used this as a workspace for painting and other jobs. To assemble my structures, I put cardboard down on the surface of my large executive desk and go from there.
As the goodies and tools began piling up, I emptied three drawers in my bedroom bureau and starting putting the tweezers, screw drivers, pliers, scissors, awl, knives, Atlas saw, and goodies away from my sight. An interlocking plastic three drawer set from Kmart nestles under the layout for more storage.
After a summer hiatus, viewing the D & S every day, as it nudged my bed, I decided to subscribe to Model Railroader. I thought about buying some extra handkerchiefs for salivating at the photos but decided I had enough. Those pretty pictures of those oh-so-perfect layouts always made me jealous but the ads let me know the latest products.
I discovered several article sources from Model Railroader and Ehobbies. I downloaded one on ballasting, another on scenery, and a third on weighting cars.

Christmas train
As the holiday season of 2000 approached, I became interested in a Christmas train. They began popping up on eBay. I checked one local retailer who said he had one for about one hundred and twenty dollars. On eBay, I purchased a complete train, with an 0 4 OT that ran, for seventeen bucks then sprang for a flat car with the Nativity scene for another seventeen. That particular retailer appears to favor the Manufacturer's Suggested Retail Price, a practice not followed by many retailers today.
In the spring of 2001, I began to apply ballast since most of my structures were in place. My first attempt, using Woodland Scenics ballast and the 50/50 mixture of white glue and water, was a disaster. I placed the ballast with a one inch paint brush but some of the ballast became glued to the inside of the rails. I had to carefully scrape several segments away from the rails since my locomotives were stalling where the ballast was glued to the rails. My second attempt, using a denture brush to place the ballast was more successful. The ballast stayed where it was supposed to be between the ties.
As I progressed, I realized that, based on photos and ads in Model Railroader, I needed people. My previous layout had only a few but I wanted a good populace on the reincarnated D & S. Preiser hit like a comet and there is now a wedding party on a red "carpet" in the church, a graveyard behind and to the side of the church, with tombstones and two visitors, mechanics in and around the Shell station, diners and tables in the White Castle restaurant, and construction workers intermingled with vehicles at the three houses under construction. People walk on the sidewalks, and a small, fenced park, adjacent to the Dinsdale Storage & Warehouse Company, contains people on benches and a telephone booth. Workers carry loads at the freight station. When some bases either fell off or were solid plastic, I cut the solid plastic away then cut clear plastic from leftover "windows" or other clear plastic packaging, used Testor's to mount the plastic to the feet, and the figures now appear to be walking on whatever surface they are on.
Vehicles are noticeable, particularly on the main street, with cars, a tractor trailer, a wrecker, trucks, antique cars, and a fire truck. The Shell station has three cars in for repair and its own gasoline truck. Cars can be seen on the road to the church that passes the houses under construction, the Dinsdale Machinery Company and the Dinsdale Manufacturing Company.
The Dinsdale and Southern is complete but needs electrifying since I still have the two billboards, three street lamps, and structures that need lights. All the switches are manual. But it's mine, all mine, full of fun, creativity and frustrations.
Oh yeah. The name, "Dinsdale" goes back over 65 years to three kids playing in a backyard with pieces of wood and old bricks creating the mythical town of "Dinsdale".