January 21st- The Sue Line Crew- Part 8

Post date: Jan 22, 2016 2:45:21 PM

This week we will conclude thee review of the Sue Line Crew. Last, but hopefully not least, is-

RICHARD KAMM

Richard Kamm has been in love with trains since he was about 5 years old or for about 63 years. Richard Kamm started with an O-scale layout built by his grandfather, Albert G. Kamm in Hartford Connecticut, in 1952. After his parents moved to Arkansas, Richard Kamm began to play with HO-scale trains and later Richard Kamm and his brother Robert Kamm began a model railroad layout in half of a building behind their home.

Richard Kamm later left high school in 1963, graduated from Memphis State University with a degree in Biology and Chemistry in 1967, graduated from the University of Tennessee Medical Units with a Ph.D. in Experimental Pathology in 1970, and graduated with an M.D. degree from Louisiana State University School of Medicine in Shreveport in 1973, and finished his residency in Anatomic and Clinical Pathology in 1976.

Richard Kamm began to build the Sue Line Railroad, first as an N-scale 4 x 8 ft. layout in Shreveport, Louisiana, then converting back to HO-scale when he moved across the Red River to Bossier City, Louisiana. At that time, Richard Kamm met Mose Crews and the Sue Line grew from an L-shaped railroad that shared a 5 x 15 ft. utility room with a washer, dryer and freezer to a railroad that filled a two car garage.

Richard Kamm then moved back across the Red River to the Shreveport-Blanchard, Louisiana area when he now resides. Bossier City had been hit by a tornado shortly before the move. The Sue Line Railroad originally occupied a 24 x 24 ft. building and later a 12 x 24 ft expansion occurred. When adding a second 12 x 24 ft. expansion, disaster hit and a rainstorm hit destroying much of the railroad. Undaunted, the Sue Line Crew undertook the completion of this expansion along with a 24 x 24 ft. storage area and a 48 x 26 ft second story where the railroad moved with work room, railroad storage room, crew room, kitchen, restroom and dispatchers office on the first floor and well as two family storage rooms. Later a 16 x 48 ft. expansion was added upstairs bring the Sue Line Railroad to a 48 x 42 ft. size.

Richard Kamm has been married to his understanding and supportive wife Martha Sue Kamm for 18 years. Richard Kamm suffered a significant automobile accident in December 2014, and is no longer practicing medicine.  Richard Kamm loves time with his wife, his grandchildren and the Sue Line Railroad.

Milestones in the development of the Sue Line have been the downstairs expansions, the move upstairs, the development and installation of RailCommand by CVP (thanks to Keith Gutierrez), the use of the RailOps car routing system, the conversion of the Sue Line to DCC using EasyDCC also by CVP (again thanks to Keith Gutierrez), the installation of the signal system using components from R-R CirKits (thanks to Dick Bronson), and the exploration of the RailPro system by Ring Engineering (thanks Tim), the installation of the digital fast clock with control of LED RGBW light strips by Iowa Scaled Engineering (thanks Nathan), and the use of LED lighting (thanks to David Colvin, Dillon Stokes, and Craig Pearson).

Richard Kamm reports “I enjoy the interactions of the members of the Sue Line Crew. Thursday nights are my ‘therapy sessions’ in which there is time to relax, enjoy operating trains and enjoy the fellow members of the Sue Line Crew”.  Richard Kamm notes that each member of the Sue Line Crew has special talents and abilities and that the sum of the group is definitely greater that the individuals in the group. At 68 years of age, Richard Kamm looks back a the many wonderful friends he has met through the hobby and states “The railroad and I truly stand on ‘the shoulders of giants’ and ‘everything I have is stolen from someone else”. I his in his will that as long as 3 or more people are interested in operating the Sue Line Railroad that it shall remain open.

Had he lived, today would have been my father's, Roger Francis "Joe" Kamm, birthday- 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!

 SUE LINE RAILROAD

President & CEO:      Sue Kamm

Trainmaster:              Richard Kamm                        

Offices:                      6805 N. Park Drive     Shreveport, Louisiana 71107

e-mail:                       pathman@kamm.us

Car Routing:              RailOp

Control System:         EasyDCC via Radio Throttles (T5000E) and WiThrottle and RailPro by Ring Engineering

Size:                           48 x 42 feet single deck true walk around

Scale:                          HO

Communication:        FRS Radios using channels 10 (mainline) and 13 (yards)

Website:                     sueline.kamm.us  with links to YouTube, Google Plus and Facebook

Layout:                       Over 10 scale miles of mainline, three major yards and four industrial switching areas. Featured are through trains, locals, and turns. Railroad runs from Shreveport, Louisiana to Alexandria, Louisiana (about 90 miles) with connections to Kansas City and St. Louis on the north and New Orleans via Baton Rouge as well as Houston, Texas via Beaumont, Texas on the south. All mainline train movements are dispatcher controlled via CTC panel and trackside signals. Train orders are used on E-Branch. Radio communication is used for track and time. Train assignments via digital message board. Car routing is done real time via dispatcher (traffic control) using RailOp program.

Crew positions:

One-                Dispatcher and Traffic control.

Three-             Yardmasters at Shreveport, Ginnings and Terminal Master at Riverfront Yard.                     

Four-               Industrial Yards switchers Shreveport Public Belt in Keithville, Dorcheat and Lake Bistineau (DLB) in Maryville (a/k/a MOP), Marshall and East Texas (MET) in Sue City ( a/k/a SCO) and local switcher in North Park. 

Six -                Mainline engineers

Richard Kamm- the man and his hobby.