Happy weekend, we made it!
This is our favorite weekly thread where we all share our fun photographs of model railroading subjects.
This week I am sharing an exciting new purchase. I have wanted this Overland Models brass 10,000 gallon two compartment insulated tank car for a long time. Every time one had come up for sale I seemed to miss it by ten minutes or one bid.
I finally have one, and it is perfect. The little chain on the brake cylinder is even still attached.
This is one more item I can cross off of my "must buy" list.
OK... we are off to a start. I hope everyone feels welcome to share any fun photo they like.
I like to see new purchases, newly finished projects, projects in progress, your favorite layout scenes, pictures of old layouts, smiling grandkids, I love it all!
-Kevin
Living the dream.
Kevin Thanks for starting WPF. A great looking tank car. Well made.
I have not taken any pictures of the building etc. I showed last week. I did however purchased some books about my 'adopted county'.
Two books about the Border Counties Railway, built by the North British Railway.
Three books about North Eastern Railway Branch Lines in Northumberland.
David
To the world you are someone. To someone you are the world
I cannot afford the luxury of a negative thought
Good Morning folks. Friday the thirteenth, eh? No worries here, we've got trains!
Thanks for getting things up-n-runnin' Kevin
Overland models are sure gems! The ladies have their teal Tiffany boxes but we modelers sure appreciate those Kelly Green Overland containers
Glad you found some interesting books David. I, too, love books and never pass on a chance to expand my library when the opportunity presents itself.
First some electrical housekeeping. A week or two back I was running trains and having a good time when I began to notice some DCC gremlins rearing their ugly heads. We've seen this scenario in threads over at the Electronic Forum.
I was getting some overload conditions that I couldn't explain. Then I began to realize just how MANY sound decoders and lighted passenger cars I've been gradually adding to the layout.
I decided some permanent RR Amp meters were in order:
Power_V-A-meters by Edmund, on Flickr
I've since "balanced" the load between the three boosters and can now better monitor the "current events" as it were. I swapped around some power districts and everything is smooth as can be now.
Here's a peek behind the curtain:
Power_Digitrax-meters by Edmund, on Flickr
I hung the meters temporarily from those rubberized cup hooks until I decide on a permanent mounting solution. I still have the portable RRAmp meter, too. Handy little tools
Model-wise I began building a crossing signal. Not a road crossing but a railroad crossing at grade. I often see this type at junctions where railroads intersect and wanted one for some time now.
Crossing_board by Edmund, on Flickr
The semaphore parts are made by Showcase Miniatures, the lattice pole is, I recall, from Faller?
Crossing_board2 by Edmund, on Flickr
I put it in place for a trial fitting. I plan to add a pair of red LEDs at the ends and actuate it with a Hump-Yard lever/quadrant.
Crossing_board-semaphore by Edmund, on Flickr
The details and etchings are beautiful on the parts from Showcase. Eventually, this is what I'm after:
Ohio Central at Morgan Run by Craig Sanders, on Flickr
On to more great photos and contributions, fellas!
Cheers, Ed
Good morning from cloudy and hot Northeast Ohio!
Kevin, thanks for starting us out, nice find but I just can't get into brass freight cars for some reason.
David, books are always a good investment kind find out things you did not know, and some pictures to aid your modeling endevours.
Ed, interest use of meters do aid your power districts using DCC, don't have those problems with good old straight DC.
Got a little work done this week!
Branchline Railway Express Reefer kit, much different from the Walthers car, more underbody detail but one does not have to drill all the hand grab holes. Car was painted with Scalecoat II Hunter Green including the trucks and lettered with Microscale decals. REX had several hundred of these cars built in the late 40's for use delivering perishibles by passenger train speeds also used for regular shipments like newspapers, magazines etc. where speed was of the essence.
Atlas/Kato C424 where I added the lift rings, carved off the cast grabs and installed new wire grabs, removed the fuel tank bulges and made a new piece to cover the holes left over, painted with Scalecoat II Wabash Blue and Silver paints then lettered with Microscale Decals. The Wabash received 6 C424's that the NdeM railroad could not take for some reason and the Wabash got them for a song. The were relegated to being B Units as all the instruction plates were in Spanish and therefore the flag herald was not put on the nose nore the upper level pin striping. When the N&W got the units after the merger they changed out the plates and the units were in general use. As far as I know these were the only Wabash units with Dynamic Brakes.
I took my new B Unit to the club and added a Kato GP35 and Stewart/Kato U25b to a general freight and ran it for a while. One of the club members noted he had never seen so many Wabash Freight cars.
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!
Kevin ..... The brass model tank car looks great.
Ed ..... "current events" .... I get it... Ha Ha ... I'm impressed ith your electronics.
Rick .... The REX reefer and the Wabash Alco are beautiful !
.....
Here is an old photo in the early days on my layout. My Prairie View scene was one of the first scenes on my layout. I still did not have DCC. The two locomotives (GP20 and U28B) are with Hobbytown drives and could pull big trains. After changing to DCC, I sold these engines. Now, the most modern Burlington engines on my layout are SD24's
GARRY
HEARTLAND DIVISION, CB&Q RR
EVERYWHERE LOST; WE HUSTLE OUR CABOOSE FOR YOU
Kevin - Thanks for starting off WPF. The tank car is a good looking model.
David - Looks like you will be doing some reading. Local history is always interesting.
Ed - Cool stuff. Much more complex than my simple BRVRR would need. I like the RR crossing signal. I don't think I evers saw one before. If I did, I didn't know what it was.
Rick - The REA car looks good. I can remember going to the RR station to the REA office, with my dad to ship his work to the Chicago office. This was back in the 50's, long before E-mail, UPS, FEDEX or any of the other current shippers. Love the Wabash blue. A good looking train photo.
Garry - Good looking photo as always. I would be afraid to post photos of the BRVRR in the early days. Not much happening here on the BRVRR. For some reason my Autistic grandson has been pulling this grain box car apart and running just the chasis as a flat car. A few drops of Aleene's Tacky Glue should cure the problem.
Just for fun. One of my favorite photos from the BRVRR.
Keep the photos and ideas coming guys. 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/
dti406Nice find but I just can't get into brass freight cars for some reason.
I buy brass freight train cars for basically one of three reasons:
1) It is an unusual prototype that is otherwise unavailable.
This would be like the very early Pullman Standard welded boxcars, the BAR ventilated/heated boxcar, or the ATSF BX-3 boxcar.
2) It is only available as a very difficult to assemble kit.
These are mainly covered hopper cars. I think I have four or five different types of brass covered hoppers. I have built one resin covered hopper kit, and I think I have a couple more, but I find them tasking to assemble.
3) Tank cars.
Brass tank cars are just more durable. I have five LL Proto 2000 8,000 gallon tank cars upgraded with metal grab irons, but they are still a bit fidly/fragile for me. Keep in mind, I have trouble controlling my right hand, so durability is a bit more of a concern for me.
Also, there is all kinds of variety available in brass tank car models. I still hope to get a PRB 12,000 gallon ATSF fuel car.
I get that the detail on brass freight car models is lacking compared to resin kits, but I can accept this in the above categories.
I have at least three times as much brass rolling stock as I do brass locomotives.
Thanks for starting another weekend photo thread, Kevin. I'm glad you found something you really wanted and waited for.
David, I'm glad you also found something that you really wanted.
Ed, that will be a nice crossing signal when you finish.
Rick, I really like that REA boxcar.
Garry, that's another nice photo of how well your background meets the layout and it's difficult to tell where one starts and the other ends. Nice work.
Allan, that's a nice photo of passenger cars at night. I really like passenger car models.
I've had another week of no layout work. I'll include a photo of one of my first N scratch-built efforts. I know it's been in WPF before, but I just don't have many photos. After I finish some outdoor projects, I'll try to take a few more layout photos.
York1 John
I'm just about done reworking a Bachmann N scale 2-8-0 Consolidation. I wanted to model a small Southern Pacific engine that had an oil tender instead of coal as available oil tenders are very few in N scale. For this project the coal load was removed and a oil "tank" (top and sides only) was then made from Evergreen plastic scraps plus some other items. After this part was painted the tender was then re-lettered for SP. Photos of the engine before I started weathering the loco are in last weeks WPF (Aug 6-8).
Since then I've painted/highlighted some details such as the hand railings and weathered the loco. Pan pastels as well as some acrylic paints were used for weathering:
Astute observers will notice that one of the tender trucks has derailed.... I better add some scale 2 x 4's on the tender deck for rerailing.
A few other things I still need to do:
The original Bachmann engine has a nonoperational coupler on the front of the engine. I'm looking to see how I can add one that works. It may have to be an oversized McHenry N scale coupler (like the one on the tender) if I can't use a Micro Trains coupler. I also want to add engineer figures in the cab. Finally I would like to add a rear facing headlight on the back of the tender, however it may just have to be cosmetic.
All in all, I'm rather pleased with how this project has been coming.
Jeff B
Good weekend all, I am in quite the whirlwind of things. A lot of it model train related. I will share what I can when I can, but for now enjoy my latest unboxing/layout video.
https://youtu.be/3dBvUpOVi3o
Harrison
Homeschooler living In upstate NY a.k.a Northern NY.
Modeling the D&H in 1978.
Route of the famous "Montreal Limited"
My YouTube
David: It is good that you found the collection of books you were looking for. That looks like a good bit of reading.
Ed: I really enjoyed the in-process pictures of your new crossing signal. I did not know about these. I have a double crossing planned that might need one.
Rick: Your REA boxcar looks espcially good this week. I was not aware of the Branchline kit for this style of car.
Garry: I do not think I will ever get tired of seeing pictures of your layout. I am discovering more and more photographs I have of equipment I no longer own. These pictures do bring back memories.
Allan: Your photograph of the your passenger train at night is very noice. One of my nieces has an autistic son, and in spite of my experiences from being around him, I do not have any suggestions. When he decides something should be a certain way, that is how it is going to be.
John: Nothing wrong with re-sharing a favorite photograph. That is a nice one.
Jeff: The oil tender conversion turned out very good. I cannot tell it is a modification. Your weathering looks good to me. I do not remember ever installing a functional front coupler on one of my N scale locomotives. I post pictures sometimes with derailed train cars as well. I try to avoid it, but it still happens.
Harrison: I watched your video. I have no suggestion for the coupler problem on the long flatcar. I think I subscribed to your channel.
I shared this picture earlier in the diner. It is from 1996. This picture is the bedroom in our small duplex. I had to fit my model building desk and small HO layout into the bedroom.
On the right side of the picture is my model building desk. All my hobby books, paints, supplies, plastic Plano tool box, Evergreen strip plastic, etc. are on display there.
There is an N scale Walthers Red Wing Milling Company that I painted orange on the shelves. This was for N scale SGRR layout number 3, but it was never installed on the layout. That layout was gone by the time this picture was taken. I wonder how long I held onto that building?
On the left is the real surprise in the picture. That is the first HO scale STRATTON AND GILLETTE layout underneath the clear plastic drop cloth. It looks like trees, scenery, and the backdrop are already done. I guess I built it faster than I remember.
The layout floated out from the wall with no visible support underneath. This was done with five 1/2" steel rods welded to 1/8" bar stock that were screwed into the wall studs. It looked really good.
Hopefully I will find some more good pictures of this layout to share.
Sorry for the gray censorship box. I was wearing shorty shorts that were way too tight. Nobody wants to see that.
gmpullmanOverland models are sure gems! The ladies have their teal Tiffany boxes but we modelers sure appreciate those Kelly Green Overland containers
This one came in a black replacement box from BrassTrains.
Thanks Kevin. One more video this weekend, this one featuring some live steam trains, a layout (which I will have more on later) and some real life trains.
https://youtu.be/I0PaP8KHmkk
I have the answer to the flat car. I had a similar problem with a passenger car. I took two small pieces of styrene just a little taller (like .010) than the shaft of the drawbar there. Glued to the underside at each side with a .15 strene strip glued to each one. creating a u shape bracket that holds up the coupler shaft but does not impede the swing. I will find and take a pic of the car tomorrow for clarification.
Shane
A pessimist sees a dark tunnel
An optimist sees the light at the end of the tunnel
A realist sees a frieght train
An engineer sees three idiots standing on the tracks stairing blankly in space
Good stuff, everyone. This is where the momentum is!
I dressed up about 75 trees since last visit. The ones on the lower panel are Super Trees seafoam twigs. The upper ones on the bench are those sage brush ones from last week.
On the seafoam, I soaked a bunch in water over night and hung weights on them to straighten them up some. Helped some. They were painted with ACE "Nutmeg" to brown them up from that greenish yellow look. I used LockTite spray adhesive on some, but switched to hairspray for a better affect for fixing the leaves on.
On the sage trees, I strung and teased out poly fiber amongst the branches, shot the poly fiber also with that Nutmeg brown, and used hairspray to stick the leaves to the fiber.
There are still quite a few sage and bitterbrush armatures left to treat. They are generally smaller than this batch of bigger trees. I got a gallon bag of Super Leaves, and I'm glad I did. Dan
Kevin, Thanks for opening the WPF with a snazzy tank car.
Rick, Like your REA reefer, brings back memories of the ol' familiar green with red triangle trucks while I manned an LTL freight door in 73'-74'.
Dan, Wow! A tree factory, looking forward to seeing the forest.
Venga! Venga! Venga! The 76th Vuelta a Espana begins today.
Thanks to all the contributors and viewers, have a good and safe weekend, regards, Peter
Cool scene, Peter. Figures always seem to look better in multiples.
Kevin, if I could get myself motivated to paint and decal rolling stock like you do, I'd buy brass too!
Is that Didi ?
A pair of Baldwins ready for service on in Clackamas and Milwaukie on the Mt Hood RR.
Don; Prez, CEO or whatever of the Wishram, Oregon and Western RR
Harrison: Everytime I see a live steam video it does a little to rekindle that interest of mine. Apparently I was logged into my daughter's YouTube account when I subscribed to your channel. She called me today about it.
Dan: That was a lot of progress you made on the trees this week. Nice work.
Peter: I love your bike race scenes. Everytime you share one I need to find the devil-fan. He was out in the open in this one.
Toad: Those Baldwin switchers certainly look ready to go to work.
NVSRR Harrison I have the answer to the flat car. I had a similar problem with a passenger car. I took two small pieces of styrene just a little taller (like .010) than the shaft of the drawbar there. Glued to the underside at each side with a .15 strene strip glued to each one. creating a u shape bracket that holds up the coupler shaft but does not impede the swing. I will find and take a pic of the car tomorrow for clarification. Shane
Thanks! I think I understand the concept you are talking about, but a picture would be awesome!
York1Is that Didi ?
Thanks John, yeah, that's Didi! Or at least my nearly 20 year old rendition of him. Saw he was at the 2020 Tour, but not sure about this year.
Kevin, Thanks. Recently recovered the bike race photo and forgot El Diablo was in the shot.
Dan, Thanks. I agree that multiple figures do look good, but a solitary figure can sometimes be effective.
Thanks again to everyone and enjoy your Sunday, Regards, Peter
The weekend is coming to a close.
Thank you to everyone that contributed and/or commented this week.
I will see you all back for a new edition in a few days.