Joe Norris’ entries
Editor’s note: These photographs are of Joe Norris’ entries into the model contest held in at
our Train Show in December. We asked Joe to write a few comments about the barn.
Joe Norris: My layouts are small and reflect small-time operations. This stable is part of a saw mill and logging
complex served by a short- line branch of the ET&WNC in the years from 1890-1910. The controlling
company requires a place to stable the horses that drag the timber from the surrounding mountains
to the saw mill for processing. (It is of interest that few models of logging operations include
facilities for care of the horses.) The Internet provided photos and drawings of stables of this
era, both interior and exterior, and I freely adapted features from several photos to design this
model. It is entirely scratchbuilt, including the strip wood, and is constructed board-by-broad
throughout. The 'tin' roof is made from aluminum foil, etched lightly in spent ferric chloride
solution and finished with a light white wash.
Editor: These photographs are of Joe Norris’ entry into the model contest held in at out Train
Show in December. We also asked Joe to write a few comments about the box car.
Joe Norris: I model in HOn30, a scale for which few commercial kits are available therefore it is necessary
to scratch build most rolling stock. This box car was patterned after a drawing of a two-foot scale box car
in the Narrow Gauge and Short Line Gazette which I rescaled for HOn30. (HOn30 dimensions for rolling stock
are about 0.7 the dimensions of HO.) Car details, with the exception of trucks and couplers (N scale
components), must be hand made. Wood parts were all cut from a piece of 2 X 4 stud material. This is one of
nine cars I have scratch built to date and the second to earn a Merit Award.
Editor: We are especially grateful to Paul K. Voelker, editor of The Southerner, the magazine published by and for the Southeastern Region, NMRA, for all of the wonderful photographs used in this issue.