GARRY
HEARTLAND DIVISION, CB&Q RR
EVERYWHERE LOST; WE HUSTLE OUR CABOOSE FOR YOU
Hello Tom, and thanks for the remarks.
The F3's in the 4-unit set are Proto 1000. Yes, the Mrs. Hippy River Bridge is made mostly from Walthers double track bridges. You may have recognized the smaller spans are Atlas single track bridges side-by-side. The bridge piers and abutmentts were made from 1/4" plywood plus a few scrap pieces of wood. The bridge ties are all homemade from oak and the rail is handlaid on the bridges. The combined length of the four spans is four feet. I just resurfaced the "water" with Modge Podge and acrylic paints.
Garry: Thanks for the pics! I especially like that last shot with the barn & windmill in the background. Super great job with the backdrop in that area as well! Thanks for sharing and hope to see more.
Matt
Garry--
GREAT layout!!! Of course, being a Rio Grande fan, I have a soft spot in my heart for Burlington, as they were a major connector to Rio Grande via their Denver and C&S lines. But I like the Burlington just for itself, because they always seemed to do everything RIGHT!!, and their equipment and locos had a way of really attracting attention. Handsome steamers, and REALLY handsome F-3 diesels (my favorite 'covered wagons') with that simple but really handsome silver and red paint scheme. Speaking of the F-3's, who's the Mfgr?
I really like your Mrs. Hippy bridge--are those the Walthers double-track through-trusses? Really nice work--how did you make the abutments and piers?
Thanks for the tour. Just a personal thought--when I was in Amarillo TX during the 'sixties, I was near both the Santa Fe and Fort Worth and Denver main lines. Santa Fe had about three times the traffic, but I always looked forward to those eight or so flashing 'silver' Burlington/FW&D freights--and of course the Texas Zephyr--because they just looked so RIGHT traveling over those high plains.
Tom
Tom View my layout photos! http://s299.photobucket.com/albums/mm310/TWhite-014/Rio%20Grande%20Yuba%20River%20Sub One can NEVER have too many Articulateds!
That's all.
I thought some of you would like seeing operations.
My layout is a fictional division of the old Burlington Route. The layout is not complete, but the sections that are "done" have scenery and industries. I operate trains along the completed sections, and here's a sampling of the operations.
The Burlington dieselized its "covered wagons" in three or four unit sets manufactured by EMD. A cab on each end allowed each 3-unit or 4-unit locomotive set to be operated without turning in terminals which contributed to cost reductions.
In this sequence of pictures, you can see four F3 units hauling an eastbound train through Prairie View and across the Mrs. Hippy River. Upon arrival at Blackhawk, an Alco S2 removes a company service tank car from the train and adds two empty covered gondolas from an arriving westbound train.
The train continues with cars consigned to the steel mill down the branch line to Milton. Most of the carloads in this train are coal for the coke oven in Milton. The steel mill has some Baldwin switchers, and it is evident through the grime and the patch paint job that the units were formerly owned by SP and by GN. The steel mill switchers take these cars into the steel mill. Carloads of steel for an eastbound train are hauled uphill along with empty coal and ore cars for a westbound tran.
The F3's travel back into Blackhawk with just the caboose ("way car" to use Burlington's terminology). The Alco S2 builds a train of empty hoppers, empty ore cars, and empty stock cars. Late in the day, they will haul a westbound train from Blackhawk. The westbound train can be seen with the F3's crossing westward over the Mrs. Hippy River and into Prairie View.
Some short passenger trains are also in operation and can be seen in some of the photos.