The World Famous Chugger Barn Revealed!

[pennytrains]

You all know Wayne Antoniazzi!  Maybe you know him as Flintlock76.  For years we've heard about the building where he operates his toy trains but very few of us forumites have actually seen what Mr. Antoniazzi, who was recently elected president of the Virginia Train Collectors Association (he'd say drafted), calls his "Chugger Barn".  Well, I recently got to see photos of it and I'm sharing them with you!

https://link.shutterfly.com/3GFgWFD3zpb

Take it from here Mister President!

[fifedog]

We're gonna need a bigger boat, err barn! Great collection.

 

 

[Flintlock76]

That's it, my cover's blown!  

Thanks for posting Becky, and thanks for the complement Fife!

Th only thing I haven't gotten around to is putting people on the layout, it looks like a neutron bomb hit the place!  Just when I get ready to do so something tasty comes along in the way of an engine or cars and there goes the budget!  

Fife, you're right, I need a bigger barn!  And I'm really starting to hate guys with big basements!  

If anyone has any questions about the collection feel free to ask!  

[Swiss-Colorado-Lines]

Nice barn there,bud!

Nice touch that you have the passenger cars lit up on the shelves!

Paul

[York1]

Very neat display!

[Flintlock76]

Swiss-Colorado-Lines

Nice touch that you have the passenger cars lit up on the shelves!

Thanks!  I got the idea from an article in "CTT" a while back.

It looks REALLY good at night with the over head light out!

[Flintlock76]

York1

Very neat display!

 

Thanks!  In a way, I've tried to recreate a hardware store toy train display I saw decades ago as a six-year-old around Christmas time.  To say the sight of that "Wall O' Trains" made an impression on me is an understatement.  I can close my eyes and still see it!

[pennytrains]

Did you all notice the custom repainted Berkshire in Pullman green with NYO&W markings?

[Flintlock76]

 deleted

 

 

[Flintlock76]

pennytrains

Did you all notice the custom repainted Berkshire in Pullman green with NYO&W markings?

 

Thanks for calling everyone's attention to my mods Becky!  Just a slight correction.

The repainted engine's not a Berkshire, it's a Lionel 2065 Hudson I modifed into a Pacific.  I wanted to replicate a Jersey Central engine from 1929 that pulled a train contemporary with "The Blue Comet" called "The Bullet."  It ran from Jersey City to Wilkes-Barre PA and back and typically made the run in four-and-a-half hours. 

The description of the paint of the time was a vauge "olive" so I settled on Tamiya "Olive Drab 2," a lighter version of standard olive drab.  The tender decals came from Proto-Craft.  They're actually boxcar decals, engine decals are almost impossible to find in any variety but they look good on the tender so I'm happy with them.  Interestingly, I think the olive and gunmetal paints on the engine make it look huskier than the the basic black.

Now, the passenger cars with the NYO&W markings.  Thanksgiving weekend of 2019 I was in Henning's Trains in Lansdale PA and saw a used Lionel NYO&W Camelback at a VERY reasonable price that was too good to pass up!  I wanted some passenger cars to go with it but I've never seen ANY passenger cars in O gauge for the "Old and Weary," only HO versions, so I had to make my own.  I used a set of Williams cars I hadn't been able to sell at our club shows for the last several years so I figured I'd turn them into something I could use.  Again, the description of steam era NYO&W passenger cars was a vague "light olive" with no references as to markings and all I could find were some old not-so-good photos. So I picked another Tamiya light olive paint and found some decals from LBR Enterprises.  (I was surprised they had them!)  Again, I'm happy with the results I got, although applying the decals was a bit nerve-wracking, I haven't done that in years!

As far as a Berkshire is concerned since I did so well with the 2065 conversion I'm thinking of converting a Lionel 736 Berkshire into a Mikado (do-able) and doing a repaint on it.  I'll have to find a 736 in good operational condition but with a poor exterior finish, I'm not going to fool around with a pristine example.  I can wait. 

I just remembered, MTH did make some passenger cars for the O&W's premier passenger train "The Mountaineer."  Those were done in a special paint scheme for the deluxe train, but good luck finding any of THOSE.  I've never seen them anywhere. 

I'll tell you, the above exercises have given me an appreciation of the difficulties model makers like Lionel, MTH, and the others have in "Getting it right," especially with the old pre-color photography trains.  In the end they probably have to take a SWAG like I did, so it's no surprise to me now that the colors used by different manufacturers don't match sometimes.