Douglas van Veelen

Douglas van Veelen wrote a series of three volumes entitled Civil Engineering for Outdoor Railroads.

Letter to Editor

The following appeared in The Crier, 11 February 2009:

My name is Douglas van Veelen. Mom and Dad moved us out to Dunwoody, GA in 1968. I graduated from Dunwoody Elementary in 1968 and from Peachtree High in 1973. I do recall when all three section houses were still standing. I also recall the pasture on Ashford-Dunwoody Road and the concrete bridge over nothing where Perimeter Mall and I-285 would eventually be built.

I graduated from Georgia Institute of Technology with degrees in Electrical Engineering and Civil Engineering (both 1980). I get my interest in railroading and in history from my mother (Doris). Her family had 13 members work for the Pennsylvania Railroad and its successors between 1910 and 1984.

I have been a faculty member for the ATE & Instrumentation Conference and the Test Engineering Conference. Articles I have written include "Civil Engineering for Live Steam Railroads", "Computerizing an Atlas 6” Lathe" and "Using In-Circuit Testers for Functional Testing". I have published the books “Civil Engineering for Outdoor Railroads Volume 1” and “The Gainesville Midland and Her Sister Short Lines.”

I have been asked to form the Dunwoody Railroad Museum. I have been working on long term plans. I am now announcing some of the ideas. At the moment, I have placed some railroad museum and train ride brochures from across the country in the Dunwoody Chamber of Commerce, the 1881 Roswell Railroad section house on Chamblee-Dunwoody road.

I will be arranging to be at the section house on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 11:00AM to 1:00PM in case anyone would like to come by and visit.

The sort of Railroad Museum I would like to build would be more of a hands-on railroad learning center. I will have historical artifacts for sure. However, I think an organization with hands-on classes/seminars would draw people back to the museum more often.

In keeping with this idea, my first project is to consider building a modular portable layout of the Roswell Railroad in HO scale for display at places such as Perimeter Mall and the local Railroad Shows. Once we have a permanent building, I would build a permanent layout that some modules can be connected to. I would like to have classes/seminars on model railroad module construction. This would allow participants to learn carpentry, electronics, painting and model building. I would also hope to provide an on-going group based on Live Steam railroad models.

Live Steam is a section of the railroad hobby that a few choose because they want to build riding models or are machinists. This will require a metal shop. It might be done in conjunction with either Peachtree High or Georgia Perimeter College. This would let the participants learn actual metal working skills for the future. I have made several patterns and had them cast in aluminum at an East Point foundry.

I would also like to offer visits to schools to discuss railroading from the usual history to the use of mathematics in metal working.

If a permanent building site is found and layout(s) are built, sponsorships from model railroad manufacturers might help to pay for the displays.

If anyone is interested in helping out, please let me know. Messages can be left at the section house.

Thanks.

Douglas van Veelen

Obituary

From Woodstock Funeral Home:

Douglas Edgar Van Veelen was born on November 14, 1955 and passed away on March 11, 2018 in Acworth, Georgia.

Bibliography

• "Civil Engineering for Outdoor Railroads, Volume I", Douglas van Veelen, AuthorHouse, 2005
• "Civil Engineering for Outdoor Railroads, Volume II", Douglas van Veelen, AuthorHouse, see Archive.org
• "Civil Engineering for Outdoor Railroads, Volume III", Douglas van Veelen, AuthorHouse
• "The Gainesville Midland and Her Sister Short Lines", Douglas van Veelen, AuthorHouse, April 19, 2006
• "Tie Spacing and Significant Digits", DiscoverLiveSteam

External Links

• "Civil Engineering for Outdoor Railroads", Chaski.org