Once Again — Time For Weekend Photo Fun!
All Are Welcome!
Here is an opportunity to showcase any recent project, what's on your workbench or layout progress, or just a favorite photo of your model railroad..
APRIL already!
Please feel free to post any model railroad related photos here — past or present. This is a place to share photos of your layout, equipment or current project, completed or in progress.
I have lots of irons in the fire this week.
A while back I was working on the drive for a brass model of a New York Central DES-3 tri-power locomotive. I had adapted a motor and universals from a Proto FA-1 which helped considerably but I still wasn't satisfied with the roughness of the gear towers and axle gearing.
DES-3_gear by Edmund, on Flickr
As luck would have it, an identical chassis came up on eBay and I bought it for a very reasonable price. This gave me some parts to play with.
DES-3_gear-3 by Edmund, on Flickr
I decided that the trucks and drive line from a Broadway Limited SW-9 were the solution. The axle centers were identical and sideframes pretty close.
Some nibbling of the floor and re-calculating the truck centers, plus installing new truck bolsters and I'm on my way.
DES-3_gear-2 by Edmund, on Flickr
There was a discussion about the NYC's Mercury that ran variously between Cleveland, Detroit and Chicago. Thak caused me to recall some car body parts that another eBay seller had and I made an offer on them. So, yet another project for the passenger car department
Mercury-1 by Edmund, on Flickr
I have some Walthers cars that are not busy at the moment. These will soon contribute their floors and trucks to the project. The Custom Brass cars even have the cast aluminum Mercury emblems on them
Mercury by Edmund, on Flickr
Fun Stuff! On to more excellent contributions, folks!
Cheers, Ed
Good morning
Thanks for opening WPF Ed. I don't have anything far enough along to be a contributor this week but I'll be following along. Say hi to billy for me, I like that kid
TF
Good morning from Sunny and Cool Northeast Ohio!
Thanks for starting us out, I have to do a similar conversion with an Atlas S4 chassis to put in an old Alco Models T-6 where the drive sucks.
Got a couple of cars done this week!
Branchline 50' AAR Boxcar kit, which I am using to sort of replicate the Lot 968-B NYC Boxcars 1700 of which were rebuilt from 4 lots of 1944 AAR 40' Boxcars, I made a new side sill, lowered the brake gear and filling in all the holes for the high brake gear and ladders and substituted a 10' YSD Door along with new door guides. Painted with Floquil PC Green and lettered with a couple of different Microscale Sets.
Next a Tangent Scale Models Bethlehem Steel Gondola Kit, painted with Scalecoat II Black Paint and lettered with Herald King decals. Load was installed that I had purchased on E-Bay.
Since I did another PC car this week, I pull and old PC powered train from the archives, SD45's with a grain train made up of NYC, PRR and PC Covered Hoppers.
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!
Did not have a lot of modelling time this week, but I gave this one a spin for fun!
Simon
20200323_213008 on Flickr" alt="" />
Ed, thanks for starting the weekend on a good note. I love passenger cars.
Rick, great work on the boxcars and gondola.
Simon, that's a fun-looking train to take for a run.
My favorite train is my N Scale City of Los Angeles. I rode this when I was about 10 years-old.
I'm just getting my station installed on the line. It's got some dirty places on it, and I still need to plug up some light leaks. I'm not sure yet how I will handle the passenger deck next to the tracks. I also have some people to add. Maybe next week.
Most of us have a lot of time this weekend, whether we want it or not. Hope we get a lot of good photos!
York1 John
Ed .... Thanks for opening up Weekend Photo Fun ....... You and Rick do a good job of representing the Buckeye State. ... Your brass locomotive project is interesting. Brass pasesenger cars look goood.
Rick .... Evidently, Photobucket is screwing up your photos. Sad. You alwys post good stuff.
Simon ... Nice phto of the Aerotrain .
John York 1 ..... Very nice photo of the City of LA.
..
Below is a track maintenance shed in Prairie View.
GARRY
HEARTLAND DIVISION, CB&Q RR
EVERYWHERE LOST; WE HUSTLE OUR CABOOSE FOR YOU
Happy weekend, all!
Ed: I love the boxcabs. As a kid I watched from my Manhattan 215th St apartment window as the NYC trains ran down the Bronx side of the Harlem River into downtown. Neat locos.
Rick: Nifty freight cars. Gondolas with loads are my favorites.
John: We were in N.O. area '69 - '83 when the "bag-heads" Saints fans were the majority. We moved to Houston, where the Oilers then defined underperformance. Anyway, I like the station. A kit I presume?
Garry: That's a cool maintenance scene. Nice attention to the details.
I'm on a roll with attacking scenery. Current effort is adding ground layers, up to bushes. Different areas are in different stages. Will come back with more details after the first pass. No hurry, as the track went down in 2012!
20200403_132455 by Paul Ahrens, on Flickr
20200403_132424 by Paul Ahrens, on Flickr
20200403_132358 by Paul Ahrens, on Flickr
Paul
Modeling HO with a transition era UP bent
Ed: Thank you for opening up Weekend Photo Fun for us all. I had a brass diesel that ran very poorly, it was an Oriental Models NW2 I think. I bought a Kato NW2 to replace the drive, but just kept the Kato model and sold the Oriental Models unit. I don't remember why I was having trouble making it work.
John: Everyone is welcome to tag along for Weekend Photo Fun. Enjoy the ride.
Rick: I like the lettering on the PC boxcar. Normally black lettering on green does not look very good, but the shade of the PC green makes it work. Nice job!
Simon: I cannot see your photo f the Aerotrain.
John: The City Of Los Angeles is a handsome train.
Garry: That is a great looking model of a Fairmont Speeder. It is a pleasing scene as well.
Paul: The scenery effort is looking good!
I have four new boxcars for the DAWDLE AND DELAY to share this week. These are all built from the same 10 foot high Intermountain kit. These join my growing D&D fleet of 2 PS-1 40 footers and a 50' Auto Box. The heralds and lettering are on opposite sides of this boxcar as they are on the PS-1s.
The D&D interchange fleet is coming along now... stay tuned for even more in the future.
Please keep the fun photographs and modeling coming along this weekend. I love this thread.
-Kevin
Living the dream.
peahrensWe were in N.O. area '69 - '83 when the "bag-heads" Saints fans were the majority. We moved to Houston, where the Oilers then defined underperformance. Anyway, I like the station. A kit I presume?
While I didn't wear a bag over my head, some people who sat near me in the dome did. Those were years that losing almost became the cause for attending the games -- to see how bad we were going to play this week.
The station's windows and doors are from Tichy, the rest is scratchbuilt. Thanks.
Your layout is impressive. I love UP. It looks like you have an A B A diesel setup there. I like that!
Kevin, is the Dawdle and Delay a subsidiary of SGRR?
with all the great work here I almost hesitate to add my mediocre efforts but fortunately I have no shame. This is the power station progress shot. The wires are not in yet but the rest is mocked up "good enough". I'd like to knock enough of this out that I can put the layout together enough to clean track and run a bit next week. Thanks to the rest of you for being an inspiration. J.R.
goodenuffthumbnail by J.R. Mitchell, on Flickr
GMTRacingwith all the great work here I almost hesitate to add my mediocre efforts
Your powerhouse look's great !!!!
I have to "confess" ...... I Cheated..... I have been fiddling with my workcar all week long . Sorry, I just couldn't wait for this thread to come back for the weekend.
My progress so far....
Got the side's assembled.
Got some paint on a few of the detail part's . Grandit line gondola part's ...
And in the above picture, MDC undercar tool box's
Found some "random" truck's in my "pile-O-part's".
Got the water tank hatches and headlight mounted.
Let's see how far I can get before Sunday night.
Rust...... It's a good thing !
Well working from home has some of advantages. I got alot done in the hours I would normally be commuting.
I realized that operationally there was a crossover missing whe coming into the main yard on the layout. This mostly is for passenger trains that have to pass through to get to Union station. There was no way to get from the siding to Union station and of course the area where it is needed was on a curve.
Time to break out the pencil and paper and make a curve on curve crossover. Turnout is scratchbuilt from PC ties and code 100 rail (matches the rest of layout, long story) First thing was to make a rubbing of the in place rails. This sets the radii of the two tracks. Second is trace in the over all crossover tracks. From point to point it is aproximately 27 inches. I used a piece of cork roadbed to draw the crossover track. Next was to layout all the ties. I drew them with a ruler and pencil. I then attached the template to a piece of foamcore board. on top of the template I laid down double side photo tape.
The PC ties were then set in place on top of the double sided tape.
Rails were then laid on top of the ties. I absolutely love my fast track point forming tool and stock aid. they make switch building so much easier.
Last thing is to install the rest of the ties. These ones are basswood.
And finally gets installed. Right now the frogs are dead until I get either tortoise machines installed or hook up a hex frog juicer.
Total Project time: 5 hours and 30 minutes
I also did some scenery work near the refinery. Dozers are laying pipe.
Also installed some chainlink fence and pipeline pig launcher.
Colorado Front Range Railroad: http://www.coloradofrontrangerr.com/
JR: The powerhouse looks very good.
Timmy: I love the project car, and I might copy it one day.
Renegade: That is am impressive piece of trackwork. I will never attempt anything like that.
York1Kevin, is the Dawdle and Delay a subsidiary of SGRR?
John: No, it is another Class A line that shares my fantasy world. My layout will include an interchange track with the DAWDLE AND DELAY.
I acquired a couple dozen of D&D decal sets in a lot of miscellaneous model railroad "leftovers" I purchased in a single large lot. I started a thread about it on here because I was so excited. I think I called it "I scored a touchdown on ebay" or something like that.
The D&D decals were quite a surprise to find in a pile of junk.
Great work all
Ed: How difficult is it to do conversion work on Brass?
Rick: Who made those SD's? They look really good
Simon: Nice lighting on that
John: Have you thought about putting blinds on some of the windows? That would block light, and look really nice
Gary: Track work looks pretty great.
Paul: That roadway looks good, what did you use?
Kevin: Nice looking cars
JR: The weathering on the powerplant looks pretty spot on.
Timmy: I LOVE a scratchbuilt project
Renegade: I'm thinking about starting to build my own switches. Overall, how difficult do you think it is?
Here's what I have gotten done, not much but it was needed. I put in a nice long (7 Walthers coil cars) passing siding/dropp off siding.
The operating scheme is, the Wheeling (coming east from Rook yard) Drops off the coil cars(anything else for the URR as well), and then continues on its' way. Then the URR gets permission from WE Dispatcher 'ROOK' to access the Wheeling main, and then shoves the coils up to Union rails. Eventually,I want to put some more rail up there to actually give another operator something to do on the "Union turn". The WE rail will curve out of the picture on a 1% grade east, to Bruceton (Under planning and construction).
(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).
Jimmy_BraumPaul: That roadway looks good, what did you use?
For the roadway, I first tried Woodland Scenics Smooth-It, which I had used on my grandson's layout. On mine, it cracked on the first section, where perhaps I had put it on too thin, so I scraped it up and tried Durham's Rock Hard Water Putty, which I would use again. The topping is Woodland Scenics asphault black, which has a nice consistency. EDIT: Adding some photos.
IMG_4890 by Paul Ahrens, on Flickr
IMG_5042 by Paul Ahrens, on Flickr
IMG_4905 by Paul Ahrens, on Flickr
IMG_4904 by Paul Ahrens, on Flickr
IMG_5096 by Paul Ahrens, on Flickr
IMG_5149 by Paul Ahrens, on Flickr
IMG_5153 by Paul Ahrens, on Flickr
peahrens Jimmy_Braum Paul: That roadway looks good, what did you use? For the roadway, I first tried Woodland Scenics Smooth-It, which I had used on my grandson's layout. On mine, it cracked on the first section, where perhaps I had put it on too thin, so I scraped it up and tried Durham's Rock Hard Water Putty, which I would use again. The topping is Woodland Scenics asphault black, which has a nice consistency.
Jimmy_Braum Paul: That roadway looks good, what did you use?
For the roadway, I first tried Woodland Scenics Smooth-It, which I had used on my grandson's layout. On mine, it cracked on the first section, where perhaps I had put it on too thin, so I scraped it up and tried Durham's Rock Hard Water Putty, which I would use again. The topping is Woodland Scenics asphault black, which has a nice consistency.
Curious, because I used Smooth-it and I had good luck with it. Of course with PA roads, potholes and cracks increase the realism imo.
Another item to share...a minor improvement. My icehouse just seemed too darn tall for the space. So I took the risk of taking it to the small bandsaw, which it barely slid through. It went through not quite square, so it also encountered the bench belt sander. The good news is that it did not come apart...well glued. The improvement is small but just seems better...the background and background buildings are yet to be re-installed.
20200404_092409 by Paul Ahrens, on Flickr
20200404_100908 by Paul Ahrens, on Flickr
Ed, Thanks for the WPF start-up, Gosh, the brass sure is beautiful.
snjroy, Wowee! gotta' be a ton-o-fun running a train that has so much 50s GM styling written all over it.
Renegade1c, Ahh, hydrocarbons are in the air, and nice turnout work.
A bit of before and after.
Thanks to all the contributors and viewers, have a good and safe weekend, regards, Peter
Jimmy_Braum Renegade: I'm thinking about starting to build my own switches. Overall, how difficult do you think it is?
To be honest i only do scratchbuilt turnouts in places i know using a commercial turnout just wont cut it. I save it for specialty work only. I use peco and shinohara for the most part but only have maybe 4 custom switches on the layout.
Ed,thanks for getting things started - another great turnout for WPF this week!
Paul and John,you've got me missing my old UP themed layout:
In the present(but set around 1940),453 spots some drop-bottom gons at the coal tower...
and 497 waits for a train of loaded high side gons to pass:
Have a safe weekend,and keep posting!
Mike
middlemanPaul and John,you've got me missing my old UP themed layout:
Mike, I like the small grass tufts in your photos. Can you advise how to do that? Are they static grass, purchased as tufts, etc...?
Hi Paul,
Those are pre-made tufts.Several companies make them.I bought most of them from Scenic Express,and some from MB Klein. They come in many different shades and several different heights. They come on a thin plastic backing,and peel off easily with tweezers. I dip the bases of the tufts in Woodland Scenics Foam Paste before placing them on the layout.
Your scenery work is coming along very nicely.
First of all thanks for all the nice comments on my modeling!
Simon: Love the train, that was the first train set I wanted back in the 50's, but I got an AC Gilbert set instead.
John: That is a good looking station, the modeling was well executed.
Garry: That is a scene I have never seen before, looks good along with the ones from last week.
Paul: Your scenery is looking good, on a store layout we built back in the 80's we used the AMI instant roadbed for roads, but it is no longer available.
Kevin: A lot of work completed this week, decaling does take a lot of time to do properly.
JR: Not mediocre at all the power station looks great!
Timmy: That is a lot of work that should turn out well.
Renegade: What can I say beautifull track work!
Jimmy: Your layout is really coming along. (The SD's are KATOS w/added detail, then painted and decaled).
Peter: Great weathering, I like the effect but not something I care about.
Middleman Mike: Layout is looking good with wonderful scenery.
Now for a picture of my workbench. A pair of Caboose's that I just finished painting that will go with my Ann Arbor and Wabash FA-2's which should be arriving in the near future. Also in the background another Canadian Wheat Board Covered Hopper and to the left an Exactrail PS4427 that will soon be painted.
Freight Cars Travel Far.....
A few of us forum members at The Weathering Shop/The Rust Bucket have elected to send some of our rolling stock to each other for photography in various settings. So far, these cars have been in 2 locations in California and 1 in Nevada. They'll be headed to Ohio soon, for more pics before being on display at the St Louis RPM in July.
The boxcar on the left is from Ohio and the boxcar on the right is from Australia. The pics are on my diorama in Southern Nevada (Las Vegas)
This one, the boxcar on the left is from the United Kingdom and the boxcar on the right is from Southern California.
This cool little hopper in the middle is from California and the hopper on the left is from Ohio and the boxcar on the right is mine.
Terry
Inspired by Addiction
See more on my YouTube Channel
I added a coupla photos to my layout build thread. I keep forgetting about WPF. Dang! I suppose it's because I never had much to contribute.
Robert
LINK to SNSR Blog
Wow ! .... What a great Week End Photo Fun ! Lots of posts !
Thanks to Paul, Kevin, Jimmy, Rick, Mel, and anyone I missed for commenting on my photo.
I already commented on posts before mine.
Paul ... Your work with scenery and roadway is great.
Kevin .... D&D boscars are nice looking. Clever name.
JR .... The power house looks nice.
Timmy .... Your work car project looks fun.
Renegade..... I'm impressed with your track laying project.
Jimmy .... Your layout progress is outstanding.
Peter .... The GN hoppers are very nicely weatherd.
Mike Middleman .... I like your old UP layout. The narrow guage layout is beautiful.
Rick .... Your caboose project looks good.
Mel .... Your crossing and your culvert look good.
Terry .... That is quite a group of weathered freight cars.
Robert .... The bridge is fantastic.
Robert, I looked through some of your excellent photos. Great work.
You may have answered this on you site, but what did you use for your roadway, and what did you use to mark or stripe the roads? It is amazing, and something I would like to try.
Robert: A good looking bridge. I particularly like the model of a USCG 210' Cutter (I think) below the bridge. I was stationed on the VIGOROUS 627 back in the late 70's long before the stack(s) were relocated.
Photos of CG ships is not something you see often, regardless of venue.
Thanks.
Remember its your railroad
Allan
Track to the BRVRR Website: http://www.brvrr.com/
Thanks to everyone who contributed and participated in the first WPF of April, 2020!
Jimmy_BraumEd: How difficult is it to do conversion work on Brass?
Seems like no two projects are the same, Jimmy. Sometimes, such as with some steam locomotives, a good cleaning and lube is all that is needed to restore smooth operation. Other times a new motor and gear boxes from a supplier such as NWSL is required.
The main thing I did with this NYC oil-electric was remove the trucks from a working Broadway Limited SW9 and fit them to this frame. Longer drive shafts and universals will be needed and I'm using a larger motor with flywheels that I pulled from a Proto 2000 FA-1.
What really helps is to have a stock of "spare parts" which I have accumulated over the past forty years.
Great stuff everyone! 'til next week