Chris Walas.... Captin Nemo's 'Seafood & Saltwater Salvage RR'..... In the annals of Rogue County’s Railroad history, few of the many short lines hold the mystique of Captain Nemo’s. Yes, THE Captain Nemo. Few people are even aware that Nemo survived the Nautilus …ahem….misunderstanding. After losing that fantastic machine and all the treasures of his underwater kingdom, Nemo sought solace and solitude in the only place that might accept him. You guessed it, Rogue County. But the infamous submariner was not inclined to rest on his past and although he had lost the secret of the power of the universe, he could still slap together a pretty mean sub, named the Crespo after his favorite sunken island. After hearing about the numerous shipwrecks and coastal pirates of Rogue County, Nemo decided to rebuild his vast wealth by salvaging lost treasures. Unfortunately, they proved elusive and after only a few months of effort, Nemo abandoned the enterprise due to its low return. simply steamed off into the Pacific depths never to be seen from again…unless I come up with another idea. The Model Here I was almost a week away from the Big Train Show on the Queen Mary, and I had no whimsical model I thought worthy of entering in the contest! I began to panic as my mind raced to come up with an idea. Then it hit me. I had recently been discussing the real life designs for submarine trains of the 1800’s (how’s that for whimsy in the real world?). And I’m a big Jules Verne fan. What could be more natural. I happened to have the boiler from a Bachmann ten-wheeler in hand and as I picked up an Aristo-craft motor block, I was astonished at the possibilities! Like a demon possessed, I ransacked my junk boxes for parts; plastic Easter eggs some model bits A toy train cowcatcher smokestack stovepipe wheel (for the hatch) wooden walkway piece Bachmann brakes smokebox front (hatch ) sand dome (nose bulb) handrails Hmmm, not enough! PVC pipe (wheelhouse) Bits of chain AHA! A real brass anchor! Cool! A drinking straw Large grommet bits (portholes) A real seashell (light) And, yes, Yes, YES! RIVETS! RIVETS! RIVETS! Can’t do Jules Verne without rivets! I chose to use little black plastic doll eyes because, well, I already had them. Finally now I had before me the makings of a unique and futuristic (to someone in the 1800’s!) submersible locomotive! While playing “20,000 Leagues” and “The Fabulous World of Jules Verne” videos in the background, I quickly (and I mean quickly) formed the sub. I had initially planned on a propeller as the motive force, but as things came together, it just cried out for “fins”. With the deadline of the show looming over me, I abandoned my plan to drive the fins internally and decided to just attach them to the wheels. The resulting action looks particularly goofy and I was well pleased with myself for it. By this point I was realizing that a submarine locomotive required something to pull. Hmm, again with the looming deadline, I launched into an all-out buildfest! The Sea Serpent tank car is a piece of plywood for the deck, a Styrofoam form surrounded by posterboard walls (the tank). The rivets here are Mustard seeds (thanks again for the idea, Chris Brown). The Salvage Car is likewise built up from plywood, cardboard and mustard seeds. It’s filled with… well, whatever I could find! The Big Fish Car. This one has two inspirations; one is a photo of a great white shark that was caught and then wheeled around on a South Pacific Coast car and the other inspiration is Baron Munchausen’s great fish story. The fish itself was sculpted out of insulation foam. The fins are just paper! The diver was a last minute addition as “something” was still needed. I hate that feeling. The end of train device is the catch of the day. This was also one of the last things I did as the clock ticked down the remaining minutes before I had to leave for the show. I needed a last note to the train, a caboose as it were. I had the barrel, which already had a starfish and octopus on its sides, so out came the ol’ Sculpey again and Viola! A mermaid! Actually, she was the hardest thing to make! My train was done with time to spare. But, no. It looked like an engine and it looked like a train, but it didn’t look “salvagey” enough. Back to the Sculpey to make gulls, starfish, anemones, a pelican, tentacles (to come out of an old chest) and , oh yes, Nemo himself! Heavy rusty weathering, seaweed, algae (Liquid Sculpey!) brought the look of the whole train together, but my favorite thing is the salty, barnacley encrusting. I used a little sand and a little glitter mixed in a little lightly pigmented acrylic paint. It took a long time to dry, but really added a saltwater feel to it. Done! Wait, no! A flag! I have to admit I stole this idea from a movie, Carl Zeman’s Czechoslovakian film, “Baron Prasil”, which is really Baron Munchausen, the same inspiration for the big fish. Well, I know my daughters are not only getting jaded by my work, but even becoming immune to it. When my older daughter came in and first saw the completed train, her eyes bugged out and she cried, “WHOA!” My beaming pride was immediately deflated when she followed that up with, “Cool flag!” Nonetheless, I resolved to enter the contest. Still wet in several places, the train managed to catch a few eyes and my reward was seeing the little kids spot it and run over for a closer look. Fortunately, all the contest judges were corrupt (and cheap!), so… I won! I even got best of show! Hmmm, anybody got any ideas for a sequel?! Chris