In Remembrance of “Uncle Geek”

Aaron Lawrence Stones
Feb. 21, 1982 — June 28, 2010

Our kind, loving, gentle and wonderful son, brother, uncle and friend died Monday, June 28, 2010 in his home in Denver. He was 28.

Aaron was born in Prescott, Arizona on February 21, 1982 to Larry and Margaret (Baker) Stones. He was a happy and precocious child. He loved He-Man and wearing capes of all colors.

His family settled in Longmont when he was six. He attended Niwot High School where he excelled in drama and was known for his delightful sense of humor. He received his Eagle Scout award and his Duty to God award. He also graduated from LDS Seminary with four years of perfect attendance.

Aaron always loved music and played the guitar, banjo and kazoo. He was a talented artist and enjoyed painting and drawing whenever he could.

In 2007 he married Kiyoka Tamesue. They lived happily in Denver with their dogs Petri Dish and Charlotte.

He loved all animals and found great happiness working with them.

He found a second family in his close circle of friends, who will miss his quick wit and tender ways.

Aaron was loved by his family and was adored by his nieces and nephews. Lovingly referred to as “Uncle Geek”, he spent hours coloring with crayons, building sand castles, chasing balls, stacking blocks and toting small children around on his shoulders.

Aaron will be deeply missed by his parents of Longmont, his wife of Lafayette and his five brothers and sisters: Andrea Dawson (Ben), San Clemente, CA, Mathew Stones (Andrea), Aurora, Erica Lundgreen (Richard), Aurora, Breanne Newson (Ben), Lafayette, Michael Stones (Taylor), Longmont as well as his 9 nieces and nephews.

Memorial contributions may be made in Aaron’s memory to the Longmont Humane Society, 9595 Nelson Road, Longmont, CO. 80501

Layout Construction – May 2010

Model Railroad Auction
The first part of May we attended an auction at the Ogden Union Station for a member of the Hostlers Model Railroad Club. The gentleman had unfortunately passed away and had left a large collection of equipment. The auction was held as a silent auction. There were a lot of pieces that I would have loved to won, but the other people kept bidding up the price and seemed like they wanted them more then I really needed them.

I was able to win a few thing that really interested me. First up; was an electric engine that never ran on the Milwaukee Road, but might be fun to repaint into the Milwaukee Road color scheme as a “what-if” it had. Secondly, was a set of 3 Burlington box cars painted in a special gold paint scheme. If you click on the close-up photo you can see a spelling mistake made by the company that produced the model. Here is a little history behind the model. To commemorate winning the Railway Progress Institute's Golden Freight Car award for 1966, the Burlington painted one day's output (eight cars) of overhauled XM-32 box cars gold with black lettering in December 1966 at the Burlington's freight car shop in Havelock, Nebraska. I might have not seen the incorrect spelling except for a note from the previous owner included with the box.

Heath Gypsum Plant
I figured as long as I was in the building structures mode, I would complete one more building. This building will become the gypsum plant at Heath, Montana. The plant is about 12 miles east of Lewistown on another branch line. Here is an aerial photo taken in the 60’s.

My version of the plant began as an inexpensive plastic kit purchased on eBay. The challenge is not make it look like an inexpensive kit when finished. Using a variety of paints and chalks, it is to weather the structure to give it an aged appearance. The final paint will be applied after the surrounding scenery is in place.

Fascia Construction
I finished the front of the layout with some hardboard fascia. The fascia will cover the lights on the lower level giving the layout a more finished appearance. Now to decide the color to paint it.

Another eBay Purchase
I found another treasure on eBay. This is an Athearn Trainmaster. The locomotive is unpowered and will have a sound unit added to it sometime in the future.

Layout Construction – April 2010

April was a tough month, with federal taxes and licensing for two vehicles due, there was not a lot of money left for fun. I had enough projects to get through the month without having to spend any money.

I had been working on the designs for the Lewistown station that I will eventually scratch build. It seemed like a perfect time to print out the drawings and create a mockup of the building and see how it looked on the layout. Click here to see the actual photos from an earlier post.



This also gave me the opportunity to build three building kits that I had purchased months ago. The stack yard and grain elevator will be located in Denton (Click for map). The grain bin will be part of a set to be located in Geraldine.



I also spent some time working out a 3D model of the helix that connects the lower and upper levels of the layout. The 3D model allowed me to finalize the design of the supporting structure for the helix and the swing bridges.



A close-up view of the helix and a view from the lower level heading across the bridge towards the helix.



Another view with the helix cover in place (brown panels). Are you wondering how you get out of the room with track blocking the door? The last photo should answer that question. The swing bridges have moved out of the way for the door to open.

Layout Construction – March 2010

March 11, 2010
I built the first switches for Denton. These are the east side of town from Lewistown. I also painted the foam creek bed to check the surface for imperfections from covering up the crack in the benchwork. After that had been completed I tested the bridge placement over the creek bed.

 

Next I built the removable staging for Lewistown. The staging must be removable to allow access to the short door (in the background) which leads to the crawl space/storage area under the house. In these pictures I have used various things (table, paint can, box) to test the height of the staging track. The track on the staging extension is not permanent.

March 17, 2010
The Denton area is now starting to take shape. The switches have been installed and a length of track laid on the mainline.

Here the track over the bridge has been added to complete the curve to Denton. The other photo is a test of a run over the new bridge track.

March 26, 2010
Now it is time to finish the Lewistown staging tracks. A fascia board was installed to create an area for one end of the staging table to rest on. The table is a 1” x 6” with two 1” x 2” boards for support. The small blocks allow for correct alignment of the table. On the opposite end, I added a 1” x 2” cross ways and small blocks on each wall for support. This setup allows for light weight construction and good support.

Now came the problem of how to get electrical to the staging table without a complicated connection. The answer was found while walking around Lowes looking for ideas. I had extra AC wall cables from the under-cabinet lights that I bought. Why not use those and plug the power into an AC outlet. For the outlets I used screw in light socket connectors. I removed the outside threaded cover and soldered the wires directly to brass tabs. All that was needed was to drill a round hole in the wood and glue the connector in the hole. BINGO! problem solved. As an added bonus the the plug and outlet have one side enlarged for polarization so the correct connection will always be made.

March 28, 2010
Here the final connections have been made between the benchwork and staging table. The bus bar has short wires on the top to distribute power to the addition connections. Now when it is time to get to the storage area under the house it will be a simple process of unplugging the cable and removing the table staging table.

At this point, all I needed to do was add roadbed and track. Viola! instant staging for the railroad. Well, maybe not instant.

And now for your viewing pleasure. . . . . a couple of videos!

Hostlers Railroad Festival – March 6, 2010

We attended the 21st Annual Hostlers Model Railroad Festival at the Union station in Ogden Utah. This is the largest show in the area. Always a fun event. Of particular interest was the ever changing Z scale layout in the last three photos.

We searched the vendors and various sellers for those hard to find items. Below are the items picked up at this show. A special thanks to my search team for their hard work.