His N scale model railway,
Unfinished to this day…
Is labeled P.C.
Not politically,
But “Procrastination Central”, he’d say!
–
So much on it still to do,
Each project is almost half-through…
Keeps changing direction
On theme selection,
Rearranging things as if on cue
–
HE THINKS…he’s nailed it down,
His scrap plastic pile’s quite a mound…
Rough kitbashing
Some parts go missing,
On which he won’t expound!
–
–Jonathan Caswell
With stone bridge sides still A.W.O.L.
Different arrangements call…
A short truss bridge
Adjusting a smidge,
Would work…moving back a wall!
–
Perhaps temporary trestling,
On the curve over water jostling…
Itself down a chute
Powering a mill cute,
It’s waterwheel squeaking and sploshing.
–
Pictured is a prototype truss,
From somewhere impressive to us…
A little short thing
Maybe all I can swing,
A little one may fit…just!
–
Jonathan Caswell
*(OR IS THE POET JUST BEING LAZY…?)
–
He trimmed the base of E.H.,
To fit ’round his un-built T.T…..
Using long-radius T.O.s
So steamers will run comfortably’.
–
Washington Mills Abrasive
Won’t fit on a switch back spur…
He’ll have to trim a L-H. T.O.
If he wants it to fit, as it were!
–
A simplified spur to the bakery
Allows a four-car capacity…
No room for corn syrup tank cars,
Would a diverging spur that guarantee?
–
The bridge over troubled waters—
The waters are on a slant–
Can he build a dam to prove he can
Reconfigure its cant?
–
The mills he wants to represent:
Stone, wood and brick…
Most will be pictured on back walls,
His illusion…will it stick?
–
He’s thought of a way to represent
A shed for both coal and salt…
The end of a power plant portrayed
Steam pipes carry power aloft!
–
All of this on a tiny layout
In proportion to his dreams…
With sleight of hand illusion abounds
For N scale layout schemes.
–
–Jonathan Caswell
*Mystery solved! E.H. = Engine House; T.T.= (a railroad) Turn Table…for turning locomotive around; T.O.= Turn-Out track…to switch the train to another set of rails; L-H. = Left-Hand Turnout…track diverges to the left for a straight set of rails. “Cant” = laying on an angle—not level. “N scale” = models that are 1/160-th of full size.
One weekend he was inspired
To get his train layout wired…
Rough-looking but done
Will see if trains run,
A new form of play’s been sired!
–
A bridge o’er the Mumford is out,
Waiting for a trestle no doubt…
And a river bed too
But not painted blue,
More green-black-brown comes out.
–
Operations will be by car type,
Three kinds of covered hoppers in mind…
Each has its place
And new routes to trace,
Salt, coal foodstuffs follow lines.
–
And then there’s the question of power,
A different engine every hour…?
With many road names
It’s a shame,
It’s a short line with lots of power!
–
–Jonathan Caswell
OVER-THINKING IS BAD
–
Been planning the layout for years,
Each major new idea tears…
The whole apart
Forcing restart,
Not finishing needed repairs.
–
The model train layout aging,
Has over time been changing…
As new ideas
Put the old in arrears,
That anything is done is amazing!
–
Planning for balance traffic,
It’s hard keeping everything static….
Many kinds
Of cars in mind,
Some service will be deliberately erratic.
–
He’s finalized the track
Design and won’t go back…
Getting to run
Will be more fun,
He’s got a good power pack!
–
–J0nathan Caswell
IS IT STILL NOT READY?
–
I spent an hour or two
Working on the “choo-choo”…
Rearranging track
Trying to get back
To what I’d originally thought through.
–
You know–it’s changed over time–
According to reason or rhyme…
Spurs* tend to be
Significantly
And frequently changed over time!
–
I’m going less and less “real”
There’s only so much I can steal…
And fit in my space,
Getting smaller apace,
Or at least that;s how it feels!
–
Like danging participles,**
I must simplify principles…
Nothing sticking off
The edge–for a cough
To push rolling stock away!
–
Within my imaginary scheme,
I wonder, which way is upstream…
The way I’d assume
There isn’t enough room
For the stone woolen mill of my dream?
–
There’s never enough room for everything,
My New England layout I’ve got to “wing”…***
Train switching is fine
If it’s usable some time,
Maybe then…I’ll hear the angels sing!
–Jonathan Caswell
* Spurs…spur tracks…** participles…grammatical devices in English…*** Wing, or to wing it…improvise
NOW THAT OUR MESS IS GONE…!
When our clutter was cleared away,
I kept my model train display…
It needs engineering
For better appearing,
More stable in every way.
–
I want to add another half
And add a oval-shaped path…
Continous-running
Is so becoming,
I’ll need a train schedule graph!
–
A little train staging yard
On the other side isn’t hard…
My place to fiddle
Train cars in the middle
Of trains going only so far.
–
Train switching for some is fine,
But I need a running train line…
For me it’s more fun
Watching them run
Than switching trains all the time!
–Jonathan Caswell
Image an example of a train layout… http://wolaver.org/
A CHANGE OF TRACK
Not really, it’s been re-arranged,
Frustrated with it all the same…
He put in a junction
Two legs of which function,
The third’ll be staged before the game.
–
His model railroad rarely ran,
For him it was getting bland…
He had to rethink
How in a blink
Or two, it could be exciting again!
–
Among other things, his main line,
Had a switch that was hidden all the time…
With no way to see
If a train adequately
Cleared the switch when relined.*
–
He gave up his “lapped sidings”**
Bringing to the front glad tidings…
Doing the possible,
Lessening causable
Derailments by train tracks in hiding!
–
Went back to an “older” design,
With attached industrial line…
Only one run-a-round
Was enough for a sound
Arrangement that was worth his time.
–
If only he could draw the plan,
To show you his idea grand…
When he gave up the thought
Of semi-quasi-caught,
Realization of his flash in the pan.
–Jonathan Caswell
(A picture I hadn’t seen before of the narrow gauge system at the WHITIN MACHINE WORKS…the inspiration of the original plan, but done in standard gauge, modern times…with too many influences involved!!!!)
NOTES:
* a relined switch is when the track point rails are moved to their original position so trains can run in the normal direction, back and forth, through it.
** lapped sidings are two runarounds made by a track crossover in the middle of a much longer run-around siding…making it easier for a train locomotive to run around (switch ends of the train) a shorter train, than having to travel a long way wasting time and fuel, and tying up the entire long siding so other trains can’t use it.
By the Mighty Mumford 