"One difference between pessimists and optimists is that while pessimists are more often right, optimists have far more fun."
Gobble gobble....
An UP ES44DC heading into the rail shop for repairs.
Michael
CEO- Mile-HI-RailroadPrototype: D&RGW Moffat Line 1989
Excellent layout there
Here's my almost finished project- Wheeling and Lake Erie Hi Hood GP35 104
It started life as a Santa Fe short nose unit.I added a new cannon and Company nose, moved the horn, added firecracker antennas, And painted/decaled. I still have to paint the frame, replace thr truck frames with alcos, grind down the front weight to fit the nose, and figure out how to extend the light bar into the new headlight, but, she is mostly down.
(My Model Railroad, My Rules)
These are the opinions of an under 35 , from the east end of, and modeling, the same section of the Wheeling and Lake Erie railway. As well as a freelanced road (Austinville and Dynamite City railroad).
Taken on Thanksgiving morning before a day of travel.
Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/60361449@N02/
Anthracite Modeler - YouTube
Thanks for posting the videos. I like the detail work in the mountain layout! Good stuff.
Ah..... Finally the weekend! Great start folks. Nice Shtuff!!!
I have been making more progress on the girder bridge project and have the second section almost ready to add decals. just a few more pieces of angle to get in place.
73
Ray Seneca Lake, Ontario, and Western R.R. (S.L.O.&W.) in HO
We'll get there sooner or later!
Bear,
Enjoyed the videos. The HO Mountain layout really packs in the scenery and action, no bigger than it is. I see that at least one of your track cleaning vcars was hard at work there.
Michael,
Your pic has me looking forward to the shops area on your new layout.
Jimmy,
That's an impressive looking model. Your skills are rapidly improving, as it seems like every week your pics just get better and better.
RDG Casey,
Love that depth of field, in all senses of the term as seen in your pic.
Ray,
Amazing work. Almost makes you think about using a mirror, if it's to cross a body of water, as the surface underneath, just so visitors can see all the detail.
Did some more testing, but also a lot of adjusting this week. This shot shows a train descending the last bit of the Cascade Branch to reach the junction at Tefft with the Silverton Branch. Looks peaceful now, but I spent a lot of quality time in that area this week to make it reliably possible. This area moves a lot seasonally, so can be something of a headache. I regraded the upper end of the bridge on the branch to lessen it.
Almost directly below on the Silverton just before the bridge to the right is a Shinohara turnout that is one end of the Tefft siding. I've had an intermittent dead spot for power in its middle I've fought with for several years. Finally broke down and soldered a short jumper from the pivot reivet of the points back to rail with a feeder soldered to it. Now works reliably...pheeew!
Later, caught the same train entering Silverton to turn for its trip to Durango.
The big modeling project of the week wasn't too big and almost invisible. I needed a hand brake to hold trains going southbound while the motive power switches in Purgatory. You can see the control knob, marked "B," on the fascia.
The B signs next to the ROW mark where the brake "finger" comes up to stop against the axles. A close-up of the "brake"
Mike Lehman
Urbana, IL
In the way to make a big kitbash of a Nscale laser kit from the Nscale Architect the "Long Valley Lumber" kit.
Because the backside of the building will be never seen where I plan to install the building on the layout, I build a big front wall building by using all the walls of the kit.
I also scratchbuild some custom details and will give the illusion the building is build on different level following the ground.
Two weeks ago I wrote about the "fun" of ballasting tracks. Here is the result. Almost done except the team track (left of the picture) and a small removable industrial siding (far left).
I am now looking at the "fun" of putting down the ground cover.
Guy
Modeling CNR in the 50's
Good afternoon from cloudy and mild Northeast Ohio!
Bear, nice videos of the club layout, I can't do much better myself.
Michael, nice model but too new for my era!
Jimmy, looking good on that decal work, a lot of improvement since your first attempts.
Casey, another nice picture of your great looking steamers!
Ray, that bridge is really shaping up well, wish I could do work like that!
Mike, Nice pictures and a good idea for grades, I remember Linn Westcott writing about that a long time ago.
Marc, good idea with that kit and good work on it also.
I managed to get two cars done this week, but with their size I should get extra credit!
An Athearn 86' Hi-Cube Boxcar, removed the cast on grabs and replaced with ladders to more give the car a Thrall Built look. The Green Bay and Western had 13 of theses cars acquired in 1964 & 1966, but they all ended up on the Ann Arbor in the 1970s's. Car was painted with Scalecoat II Boxcar Red and Floquil Platinum Mist Paints and then lettered with a decal set I acquired when the Dan Manlick Inventory was sold off after his death.
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Another Athearn 86' Hi-Cube, on this one I removed the cast on grabs and replaced with wire grabs. Car was in service to the Brownstown Ford Stamping Plant, hence the BRO on the car side, plant was located on the DT&I. Painted the car with Floquil PC Green and Platinum Mist Paints and lettered with Microscale Decals.
Thanks for looking!
Rick Jesionowski
Rule 1: This is my railroad.
Rule 2: I make the rules.
Rule 3: Illuminating discussion of prototype history, equipment and operating practices is always welcome, but in the event of visitor-perceived anacronisms, detail descrepancies or operating errors, consult RULE 1!
Here are a couple shots of my latest scratchbuild project, in progress. This is the Dos Manos depot, for my 1/24th scale In-ko-pah Railroad. It's made of Sintra PVC foam board (details will be styrene). When finished it'll have Spanish tile on the roof.
If you'd like to see more, you can follow the whole step-by-step on this project in the In-ko-pah Railroad thread in this forum.
A trio of Alco RS's crossing Hammer Creek.
Good stuff as always! Thanks guys!
Not much happening on the BRVRR this holiday weekend so here is one from the archives:
A pair of Santa Fe FP-45s at the head of passenger consist pass under the Route 32 overpass to the delight of a group of rail fans.
Keep the photos and ideas coming. Thanks to you WPF is always the best thread of the week.
Remember its your railroad
Allan
Track to the BRVRR Website: http://www.brvrr.com/
Bear, Thanks for the WPF start and the moving pictures, caught a glimpse of Thomas the Tank making a run thru.
Completed the Walthers power house this week. Every model build presents it's own unique challenges, but that's part of the fun and lessons learned can be applied to the next project.
Thanks to all and regards, Peter
'Ready to start on my On3 layout.Unfortunately,that means the end of the HO. It's time to start cutting...
Mike
I hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving. ... I see another fantastic Weekend Photo Fun is under way.... Nice work, everybody !
The photo below includes a 1947 Chevy truck I built from a Sylvan kit last week. It is the smaller flatbed truck. The larger is a 1940 Chevy COE.... I made the flatbeds out of styrene for each of them.
GARRY
HEARTLAND DIVISION, CB&Q RR
EVERYWHERE LOST; WE HUSTLE OUR CABOOSE FOR YOU
Getting ready for Sunday operating session. Trains are staged and set to go!
Nice stuff everyone!!!
This week, I FINALLY finished drilling 531 holes on this piece of the kit(Titanic by Revell). I even drilled each hole to it's prototypical size! I plan to later add lights inside
Great, now I only got to do the other side....
Anyways, more on topic, I started my first scratchbuilding building using styrene.
Being a slowbuilder, I only finished cutting out the walls...
Charles
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Modeling the Santa Fe & Pennsylvania in HO
Youtube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLb3FRqukolAtnD1khrb6lQ
Instagram (where I share projects!): https://www.instagram.com/trainman440
Hi Bear and everybody! Fine work all! How many drill bits was that?!?
Sorry, I haven't been contributing much to WPF for a few weeks. I'm still waiting for the decals for the McKeen Motor Car. I'm willing to be patient a little longer but the waiting has kind of taken the wind out of my sails.
Recently I managed to score a number of Canadian Pacific box cars and flat cars on eBay for an incredible (if you are in Canada) $7.50 each including shipping. Nobody needs to see shots of basic Athearn BB freight cars so I won't bother with pictures, but I have had some fun bringing them up to standards. They were in pretty good shape to begin with, except for one caboose which was a total botch job not really worth the effort to recover it. I'll sell it to another sucker, ah em I mean customer.
I have resurrected a very old kitbash project which some of you may recall. It is a Tyco 4-6-0 which I am attempting to back date as well as add some details. I have replaced the pilot wheels and tender wheels with spoked wheel sets from NWSL. One of the things I wanted to do was relocate the motor and worm gear in order to open up the space between the boiler and the chassis. I have a picture of a really old Grand Trunk 4-6-0 which has so much space between the boiler and the drive gear that you could fly a plane through the gap! I wanted to get a similar effect with the Tyco. That lead me to move the drive axle from the front drivers to the middle drivers and move the motor back accordingly. It actually still ran quite well after the butchery! I am in the process of adding a proper round bottom to the boiler but here it is with after the drive was moved back:
Currently I am in the process of filling in the bottom of the boiler and adding plumbing, compressors, working marker lights etc. I have been studying my "Steam Locomotives" book by Linn Westcott but I doubt that I will have any of the pipes connected properly, nor do I care! Steam locomotives have lots of pipes. I'm adding lots of pipes. Sorry to the purists. I have installed an older sound decoder which I can't identify since I CA'd it printed side down in the tender. No matter, it sounds fine! Bottom line is I am having a lot of fun messing with the poor thing.
Enough of my nattering on!
Bear: I really do want to say thank you for the effort you put into this thread. It is very entertaining every week.
All the best everyone!
Dave
I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!
Wow!
What a great representation of all your work, everyone!
Bear, thanks again for opening another episode of extended WPF. I hope you all enjoyed the Holiday and the long weekend for those of you who celebrate.
Turkey? Who needs turkey. Some fine Filet Mignon has arrived in the U.S. from New Zealand! Thanks for sharing, Bear!
There are lots of fine contributions here, as usual.
Jimmy, your 104 looks great and reminds me of the time I got to ride behind her sister, the 103, on a trip from Orrville, OH to Carnegie, PA.
That's the 103 right in front of me.
You can see more here:
https://picasaweb.google.com/109773316301072016218/LewisClarkOnTheWheeling
Marc, you are making a fine looking building there, I love to kitbash structures the way you are doing.
The ballast looks great, Guy. Once you're in the right frame of mind to do the ballasting, it ain't so bad. I actually enjoy it!
Rick, Those Hi-cubes look like they're ready for Motor Yard in Macedonia!
Your Pennsy photos are always a pleasure to see, Grampy.
Allan's scene is pretty sharp, too.
Peter, that's among the most skillful work I have seen on that brick work and the concrete foundation! The roof detail is outstanding as well!
I just started another project that has been on the shelf for a while. It all began when I found a few Pennsy MP-54s at a closeout price so I scooped them up figuring I would use the motorized chassis and power some of the MP-54 coaches that I have. The MP-54 RPOs didn't run very long and the PRR got rid of them pretty quickly.
This gave me an idea to kit-bash a "tower car" which was used for maintenance of the catenary in the electrified zone. Well, all the diagrams and photos of tower cars had used a gas-electric "doodlebug" as the primary vehicle. I figured, why not an MP-54... close enough.
Then I came across this photo showing what appears to be a tower car made from an MP-54!
Credit: Collection of John C. LaRue
So, getting the miter box and Zona saw out I came up with this...
It is strictly in it's preliminary stages but you get the idea. I'll have to scratch the working tower platform and do a little filling around the cupola, shoot some PRR M-of-W yellow on the carbody and apply decals.
The cupola from a Bowser N5c cabin car is a nearly perfect fit once I modified the roof.
These were pretty specialized M of W cars. The pantograph was there to ground the catenary not to propel the car. The catenary would have been dead, anyway. The cupola was used by crews to inspect the overhead structure.
Good Stuff here, folkes!
Keep up the nice work! Ed
JaBear: I didnt break any drill bits, but I did use one till the tip turned flat..
Another great WPF,with a little bit of everything..Thanks to all of you.
JaBear: Thanks for the kind words - it was tough to make that first cut. I had my morning cup of coffee while enjoying several of your videos. Other than wanting a "Chama-ish" yard,I haven't got much of a track plan yet.Several scenes in your club's mountain railroad are giving me ideas. Also,though it's not my cup of tea,I enjoyed the OO "Britishness" video - when I was a kid,beautifully done layouts like that seemed magical(still do).
Thanks again,and thanks to all for your contributions.
I believe I'm going to have to start posting on Fridays! There is just so much great projects and modeling skills going on, that I'm having a hard time remembering all the members names that are contributing such fine skills and models.....so cudo's, to You all!
Me? I've been busier than a ''cat covering up poop''.
Some of You may remember My transload kitbash started months ago and during that time, many other things took precedent, like outside work on My house.LOL. Well I am back at it....finally decided what to do with the empty corner backdrop. Those of You who have ever been to Chicago, may know of downtown lower Wacker drive by the river...I am attempting to create such a scene, but without the river. Instead of vehicle traffic, My double track mainline will be there and a mountain vehicle tunnel along side of business district background buildings, like Merchants row, kit bashed.
The piece You see is the primary backdrop, which was designed to be removable in one piece, which it is, weighs less than 10Lbs, made out of 1/2 ply and 1/2x3/4 parting stop, glued and screwed. It justs lifts out, no need to glue or screw it down. The black portion on the backdrop, will be where the concrete rectangular support will be that is in one of the pic's with the supports for the street section and over the tracks. I am also designing that, so it is also removable. The wood started out as a 1x8 piece of pine, that I cut to size on a 10 inch table saw and 4'' and 2'' inch table saw. That is sandwiched between two pieces of illustration board glued with wood glue....it is extremely strong...more so than any styrene, which will bend, unless very thick, which runs into $$$. Hopefully next WPF, I will be able to show part of the street put in. Lot of testing and measuring...working from what I have in My mind. LOL
In My spare time....He' He'...Alloy Forms Autocar constructor tractor, cast metal tri-axle dump trailer and Oregon Rail crossing flasher kits. I've learned some new inaudible words with them.
Take Care, All.
Frank