This is the story of Robert L. Briggs-- a pioneer member of the Eastbay Model Engineers Society when it was located in Emeryville, CA. Bob was the Chief Electrician for the Oakland Antioch & Eastern O-scale trolley line which fit in with the 2-rail boys on a 130 x 75 foot layout. My story tells of Bob's exploits in dealing with Control, Power Supplies, Signaling, Routing, Interlocking: All in the days when modern electronics and solid-state devices were unavailable ! My story shows what CAN be done if you put your mind to it ! Hope you enjoy it !
Ken Shattock
Federal Way, WA.
"Bob" was the late Husband of well-known senior citizen "Doras Briggs", NARP member and Amtrak 'Station Host' at Emeryville, CA...
Bob held an EE-degree from his college days but was an insurance man for CSAA in his professional career.
Because certain individuals "tore apart, changed, and or ruined" complex wiring installations in Emeryville without consulting "Bob", he and Doras left the club and never returned. It was really a tragic loss for EBMES having lost an extremely talented member...
I had visited Bob's own version of the "Oakland, Antioch & Eastern" trolley system that he had built in his basement a few times previously.. I managed to persuade Bob to host an "Operation" night-- after not agreeing right away, I was able to eventually persuade him to do it.. A date was set and several of us carpooled to the Briggs' home...
Technical note:
In Photos # 2 and # 8, you can catch a glimpse of a standard rotary telephone dial on the control board. This was for Bob's "Dial-a-Train" system ...
I'll give you a possible scenario:
You have several visitors running trains on Bob's layout during an Operating Session. If Bob activates the "automatic" train system, then one or two other trains start up and give all you guys a challenge.
Then, if we REALLY want to get crazy, an operator sitting at a particular position that also contains a rotary dial,
can dial a three-digit code, push a matching key, and yet another train leaves the marshalling yard on its own and away it goes..
All this time, switches (turnouts) automatically change,
signals change color, manual and auto trains are competing with all of you, and we have a very complex form of "O-scale traction modeling and operation" at its finest hour !!
You might dial "023" and a Key System interurban takes off and runs for a while.. Someone else dials "039" while paying attention to their own train and a 5-car SN train goes out on the mainline for a jaunt..
And on and on it went, far into the night...
It was IMPOSSIBLE to have a WRECK on Bob's layout-- everything had "autospeed" control, everything was interlocked with CTC and wayside signals. Whoever got to a diversion route first, had priority.. Auto-trains would pull into a Station and sit for three minutes before resuming their trip. Other auto-trains may stop at that Station or another, but for only two minutes...
"Bob" was an unbelievable guy. He had absolutely meticulous
notes in big binders of every circuit, every facet, every idea, every "everything" drawn out in COLOR PENCIL..
Hundreds of pages...
Bob's house was also wired for sound. His Hi-Fi/Stereo installation with multiple tape and record players was really something. Cables running thru the house of every size and purpose.. A very large ORGAN in the living room--
a DOORBELL that played music when pushed and which you thought would never quit.
A "BLUE" light that would LIGHT near the toaster in the Kitchen to alert you that the MAILMAN had been!
Yes folks-- this was Eastbay's "BOB BRIGGS" .. It is truly sad he has been gone for years and taken all this knowledge with him. Many thanks to him and Doras for a great visit.
May he rest in eternal peace !!
The following notes are a "KEY" to the NINE photos displayed !!
All photos courtesy of Ken Shattock (KRK) ... (Photos taken about 1973 !!)
Photo 1. L to R... EBMES member 'Bruce Kleinschmidt' and
"Bob Briggs" --Wizard of Control...
Photo 2. Bruce Kleinschmidt in Yard area..
Photo 3. "Black Box" seen in distant left is walkaround control unit; Yard control board to the right with choice of selecting "A", "B", "C", or "D" power supplies...
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Photo 4. Individual power supply units for EACH train.
In the small circle area you can barely see a motorized rheostat for speed control..
Photo 5. This Interurban car would travel around the layout from time to time and be controlled by an "invisible motorman".. It would give you, the Operator, a challenge to run your own train being ever mindful of this guy that might creep up on you somewhere unexpectedly.. (grin)
Photo 6. Main relay panel for "ROUTING CONTROL" ...
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Photo 7. "Train Control Interlocking Relays" ...
Contains approximately 3600 solder connections...
This is part of the "Brains" for Bob's layout...
Photo 8. ex-Member Bruce Kleinschmidt in Yard area again.
Photo 9. One of Bob's heavy-duty O-scale box motors ...
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