Roger Russell’s Locomotives
Roger RussellDescription
Roger Russell’s Shay locomotive won first place at the Narrow Gauge Convention. It’s a 20 to 22 ton Jerry Hunt Shay construction of the C-28. He did all the research and development on it and sent it to his custom builder. After some more finishing by him, he brought it to the show.
The chain drive locomotive on his layout was scratch built by himself, which was a real challenge. The boiler was made from a PC tubing, the castings are O standard gauge scale, the figure is 1/32nd and he combined them all together. He looked at old photos for inspiration, combining and freelancing it so it was not an exact copy of anything. PFM sound was installed in it. It is a slick operating locomotive.
For his detailed scenes, he gets ideas from photos and tries to duplicate them in his modeling. One of his favorite detailed scenes includes a figure cutting down some trees. There was no room for a full oxen team, but he could show how loggers used to drag the logs out of the woods to a rollway ramp. Roger enjoyed building the camp at Romers Point and detailing and mixing parts to make a scene.
The ON-3 Colorado and Southern uses a different method than most modelers. In this layout, he didn’t use any plaster. Instead, he would find rock and see what he wanted to do with it in his mind. He mashed the rock up with a hammer or another rock and yellow glued it on the scene, filling it with dirt and backfill. It weighs a good amount, but Roger looks at it as using natural materials and nothing looks better than the real thing.
Your Shay locomotive won a first place award at the Narrow Gauge Convention. Tell me about this engine. It's a 20, 22-ton, it's a Jerry Hunt Shay, construction number C-28. I did all the R and D on the locomotive, how to, you know, changing things around, and I sent it off to my custom builder, and he changed things around and we brought it back here, and I did some more little finishing on it and brought it to the show, and there it is. Now, you scratch-built a chain drive locomotive, too, completely by yourself. Right. Tell me about that. Well, building the chain drive, it was a challenge. It's Silver Link, the sprockets and chain. The boiler was made from actually PC tubing, you know, for porta pipes, and the castings are O standard gauge castings, precision scale. The figure is 1/32. And you just combined it all together. I just put it all together. Yeah, I looked at some old photos. It's not based on a particular engine. You just kind of combined, freelanced it. Yes, yeah, and then we installed the sound and we installed PFM sound in it, and it's a slick little operating locomotive. Your layout has lots of highly detailed scenes that tell stories, little vignettes. How do you get the ideas for those? Again, I look at the photos. So you're kind of copying photos when you... Yes, and I have what the photo looks like, and then I try to duplicate it in the modeling. What are some of your favorite little scenes on the Backwoods? Oh, cutting down the trees. Well, I don't have room for a whole oxen team, but just to show how they use to drag the logs out of the woods to a rollway ramp, building the camp at Romers Point, and detailing all the little parts, again, mixing all the little different detail parts to make the scene. Your ON3 Colorado & Southern is built with a different method of what most of us have been using. You don't use plaster. How does that work? Well, I take the rock basically, and again, I see what I want to do, and I smash the rock up. With a hammer? Sure, a hammer or a rock upon rock, and actually, I yellow glue it on. And you're just gluing rock on? Then I fill in with dirt and backfill. It must weigh a ton. Yeah, I would say it weighs pretty good. Pretty heavy. Yeah, weighs pretty good. So you're using rock instead of plaster? Right, right, but the way I look at it, I use natural materials 'cause that's the real thing, and nothing looks better than the real product. Well, yeah, your scenery is gorgeous. It dominates the trains, and you've got large trains, S and O scale.
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