Happy weekend to everybody.
This is the weekly thread where we share photographs of enjoyable model railroading subjects or scenes.
This week I have another new purchase to share.
This was amazing! I was looking on eBay, and I found a lot of several brass lineside structures. The price seemed reasonable. I checked on Brasstrains Dot Com, and the price was about 30% below estimated value.
The incredible part... in this lot of 10 seperate items... every single one of these was something I wanted. I do not remember purchasing a lot of mixed items like this where every single part of the lot was desirable to me.
There is a two track and four track signal bridge. A water tower and column, oil tower and column, and a beautiful sanding tower. I hope the sanding tower will be just the perfect thing to complete the scene around the Walthers Modern Coaling Tower I have.
The rivet and overlapping seam detail on the tanks looks very good to me. The ladders and level gauges also look good.
The real gem in all of this is the little crossing shanty. This thing has a footprint barely over a square inch. It is really tiny, but it looks amazing. This is going to look great guarding the double crossings on the East side of Centerville.
Sometime is just seems like...
OK, we are started out. Please share a fun photo with the group, and lets all have a great weekend.
-Kevin
Living the dream.
What a score, Kevin! In brass even. Wow. And thanks for opening the WPF
I've been busy working on various RR items, hope to get and post pix, but it's a quarter after one AM. I got a busy day tomorrow, so off to bed for now... Dan
I've got a busy weekend, heading to Maine today. Since I haven't published the time-lapse video of my recent yard build, enjoy seeing the first train coming off to the new section.
https://youtu.be/f92xhyjEm-w
Have a good weekend folks!
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
Good morning from sunny and hot Northeast Ohio!
Kevin, thanks for starting us out, nice score on the structures, the elevated switchmans tower looks just like the old Revell one!
Harrison, thanks for the video, but I can't play it for some reason.
This weeks output!
Eastern Car Works N&W H2a coal hopper kit, painted with Scalecoat II Black Paint and lettered with Greg Komar Decals. From 1948 to 1956 the N&W built 13,500 of these cars for use hauling coal, I used the 1948 paint scheme on this car and will do some others in the latter paint scheme.
Intermountain Railway 5283CF FMC Boxcar kit, painted with NP Dark Green and Silver paints and lettered with a mishmash of Herald King and Highball Graphics decals. These cars were originally ordered by the Milwaukee Road and became available to the BAR after the pullback from the West Coast by the Milwaukee. So I used the Milwaukee Decals for the CAPY and Dimensional Data and the Highball Graphics for the BAR and numbers. The BAR used these cars in paper service from the mills in Maine to the rest of the country.
Kato GP35, added detail parts like antenna, lift rings, and hood mounted bell, then painted with Scalecoat II White and Black paints and lettered with Microscale decals.
Here is an old Mckeen kit where I am removing the poorly done underframe area from the body and replacing it with a Details West Hydrocushion Underframe along with Moloco Extended coupler pockets. This is still in progress adding all the detail parts.
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, Thanks for starting the WPF with some nice brass models.
Thanks to all the contributors and viewers, have a good weekend and Happy National Petroleum Day. Regards, Peter
Harrisonheading to Maine today
If you will be in the Midcoast Area, be sure to visit Bootbay Railway Village (recently renamed Railway Village Museum). Ride the 2 foot gauge train and see the HO scale layout where I have been volunteering and posting a lot of pictures
Where History Moves You - Railway Village Museum
George In Midcoast Maine, 'bout halfway up the Rockland branch
Kevin. Thanks for starting WPF. Lovely work with the brass building etc. Well done.
Harrison. Srry but I cannot see the video.
Rick Great work with the boxcar etc. Love the color and decals.
HO- Velo. A lovely scene that is well done.
Not done anything myself. In fact a lot to catch up on.
An old scene at Clarence Dock.
David
To the world you are someone. To someone you are the world
I cannot afford the luxury of a negative thought
Rick; Nice clean work on the paint jobs. I'll never know enough about real freightcar anatomy to go into that detail.
Peter, I like the tank farm and fences, etc. it works together well.
David, you have the rain soaked ground effect down!
It's time to do something with the chrome plated looking diesel shop that I sided in the Corrugator project.
The CORRUGATOR - Model Railroader Magazine - Model Railroading, Model Trains, Reviews, Track Plans, and Forums
I painted it with a really snappy shade of flat gray (primer). The windows are Grandt Line roundhouse windows glued together in 4s. Painted them graphite over flat black primer. I glazed them with The usual clear plastic, cut to size. A NWSL Duplicutter moves that process along. I use Elmers spray adhesive to carefully glue them in. It sprays in a fine mist that does't blow out in webs like Loc-Tite's. (Spray it on the windows from the back, not the glazing!
The doors are graphite too. The wires hanging down power slow gearhead-motors that roll them up and down at a nice slow speed. The foundation concrete color is Rustoleum Driftwood. I'll get more pictures when it's back up on the layout pretty soon. That my WPF. Dan
Harrison: I also cannot see your video this week.
Rick: That BAR boxcar looks great. I appreciate you sharing the significance of the dimensional data harvested from a different decal set. That was interesting. I like the GP35, but then, I like all GP35s. When the SGRR was in N scale set in 1968, I had many of Kato's GP35s. It is a great looking locomotive. Also, I like the pictures you shared of the project in process at your workbench. That is great stuff.
Peter: I like your storage tank scene. The rust on the furthermost left tank looks perfect.
George: If I make it all the way to Maine, Boothbay is a must-see.
David: You scene this week sure captures the look of a heavy industrial site. Great modeling.
Dan: The gray paint sure made the building look a lot better. I have a NWSL duplicutter, but I have not used it yet. I bought it after I finished the projects it would have been useful for, and then have not needed it since.
I have a second new purchase to share this week. This one just arrived in the mail. A pair of Hallmark EMC FT diesels (I think the FT diesels dated to EMC).
These were listed on eBay, and bidding had stalled out at $100.00 when I found them. The description did not say whether or not they ran, and these old Hallmark brass diesels are notoriously known as very poor runners. I had a Hallmark GP9 that I traded away because it was a mechanical junk heap.
I saw this note in one of the pictures, and it gave me a touch of hope for these models. I decided to go for it and take a risk on them.
I won the auction for only $130.00 including tax and shipping. That seemed more than reasonable to me.
When they arrived, I looked through the side screen, and sure enough, there is an Overland can motor and flywheel inside of the body on the cab unit.
That chicken-wire screen and internal bracing looks really good to me.
I put the model on a test track, it runs, and it runs good. It does not run like a Stewart/Kato F unit, but it is evenly on par with an Athearn Blue Box model. Since I have a few Athearn Blue Box locomotives in the fleet, this will be just fine.
What a great suprise. I never dared to hope that these would run so well. Only the A unit is powered, but since I will not be able to run long trains, that makes no difference to me.
The nose contour looks to be a small bit off. To me it looks more like a mid-production E unit than an FT.
The contour is just fine with me. I am happy that it looks a little different from the F3s and F7s. It makes them seem a bit older. I might try to modify the headlight bezel to change the appearance just a bit more.
The exhaust stacks look great, and the dynamic brake resistor grids are acceptable.
Someone already built a new insulating drawbar in between the cab and booster units. That saves me some work. It looks like they also made the distance between the two units better.
These ran through my 22" radius S curves on the test track with no problems at all.
I am thrilled with how this purchase turned out. I see no cosmetic problems with either of the two units, and it does not look like I will need to do any real work at all other than paint.
Im telling you...
Let's see if this works?
I'll be back...
busy with the grandkids
Thanks for starting us off in this Last Weekend of August WPF, Kevin!
Nice score indeed on all those brass accessories. I paid $80 at a train show for that four-track signal bridge alone! I wonder if that crossing tower is similar to the one Broadway Limited once offered? It has a brighter brass look which their unpainted ones had.
You have some great models there, Rick! I remember seeing those GP35s at Collinwood when they were still brand new!
That's a nice tank farm, Peter. In honor of National Petroleum day I'll have some petroleum jelly on my toast this morning
You sure do capture the rough-n-tumble look of the coal wagons, David. Very nice modeling!
Your structure is really looking sharp, Dan. Nothing beats the look of individual panels applied as carefully as you have them. Some corrugated buildings used an asbestos product, Transite, that looks similar to the rolled metal but is, of course, much like cement board.
Your FTs are another great score, Kevin. I wonder if you would want to replicate some of the inner workings? Walthers has the plastic EMD 567 and generator that might go into the B unit and maybe you could cut up one to fit the A if the motor is in the way? There were also filters and sheet metal ducting behind the screening.
I've been sorting through my roster of New York Central Pacemaker box cars and weeding out the old blue-box examples since I've replaced most of them with Intermountain or Trix models.
This is probably a contemptible act but... awaiting their ignominious end, out they go!
Bluebox_Pacemaker by Edmund, on Flickr
Another little project cropped up when I was evaluating some older steam on the roster. One of my early Broadway Limited I1sa engines still had the ancient QSI decoder in it which had to go.
BLI_PRR_QSI-tender by Edmund, on Flickr
I replaced the cheap speakers with some nice Panasonic ones that sound wonderful by comparison. So, while sorting out the wiring I couldn't figure out why I wasn't getting any continuity from the left set of drivers (all 5!) to the JST plug under the cab.
It took some doing to disassemble the boiler from the frame, then remove the motor in order to take the ashpan off to expose this PC board.
BLI_JST_socket by Edmund, on Flickr
Further poking with a continuity meter I narrowed down the problem to that blackened screw there. BLI mounts this board to a boss which is coated in the olive-green lacquer they cover the whole frame with. It seems to be a perfect insulator!
Now with a Tsunami2 and those speakers, and dependable pickup I have a beautiful, smooth runner!
The only layout work I did was fill in between the rails with some planking on the other side of the roundhouse where I was working last week:
Shop-track-b4 by Edmund, on Flickr
(HEY, Kevin — there's a pair of those 567s sitting by the diesel shop)
Shop-track by Edmund, on Flickr
PRR_HH1 by Edmund, on Flickr
Not that I need any more vehicles but, I saw this model of the Freedom Rider's Greyhound and decided I needed it
Freedom_Riders by Edmund, on Flickr
Well, I've taken up more than my share of the space here —
On to more great photos and goodies!
Cheers, Ed
Ed,
Thanks for fixing Harrison's video. That was a lot of horn blaring in a 15 second video! First trains running are great milestones.
Good fix on the BLI locomotive. I might have had a harder time tracking that one down myself. I have a couple of those Walhers 567 engines around somewhere.
Everything is "somewhere" right now. I am going to have one hard time sorting everything out when I am able to start unpacking.
Thank you, Ed. I've seen that corrugated board you're taking about at the Eugene Oregon old ex SP shop. Wasn't sure what it was but figured asbestos. A local short line is now using that shop.
Hey, if your gonna toss those BB cars, toss em my way!
Edited in, from the Eugene shop:
Its bolted on...or at least sizable screws.
My building represents metal though, with plenty of bent ones to prove it!
Nice pictures of your shop too, by the way! Dan
Lots of very nice work in this thread this week.
Here is a shot of my brass 4-6-0 kit bash. I used a Spectrum chassis with a Westside Sierra Brass shell. Runs good, looks good.
Here are some brass passenger cars Kevin might enjoy:
They have been painted since this shot was taken
Have fun,
Guy
see stuff at: the Willoughby Line Site
SeeYou190Good fix on the BLI locomotive. I might have had a harder time tracking that one down myself.
Thanks I really enjoy a success story now and then. Last night I got the decoder "dialed in" and ran that fifteen year-old engine for a good two hours straight. No hiccups and the drive was as smooth as melted butter!
SeeYou190I have a couple of those Walhers 567 engines around somewhere.
Too bad this Overland 567 is sold out
https://www.brasstrains.com/classic/Product/Detail/053590/HO-Brass-Model-Train-OMI-3501-1-EMD-Prime-Mover-Factory-Painted
Southgate 2 I've seen that corrugated board you're taking about at the Eugene Oregon old ex SP shop. Wasn't sure what it was but figured asbestos. A local short line is now using that shop. Hey, if your gonna toss those BB cars, toss em my way!
We had a cooling tower sheathed in that stuff, Transite . The truss rods and bracing were all loose and sagging, the fan was a little out of balance. In the bright sunlight you could see the airborne dust caused by the overlapping joints blowing into the atmosphere aided by a ten foot diameter fan. Oh boy!
More weathering ideas. I believe Noch makes a clear corrugated sheet and I've tinted some with Testors window tint to give it this green-look:
IMG_0930 by Edmund, on Flickr
When I weed out more surplus cars I'll give you a shout
Regards, Ed
gmpullmanToo bad this Overland 567 is sold out
I don't see it being worth that price, but as someone who has actually touched a wrench to one of these, that is a pretty good representation of what is underneath the rocker cover.
been a little while since I posted but much got donee on this rainy day.
Aquired pieces:
G&D drovers This postwar 4-6-4 which needs cleaning.And these two Herzog 52' mill gons. the left one is Athearn while the right is Atlas.
Projects:
Slapover ballast car-Atlas
CVi Reading combine from Bethleham car works kit. They are nice kits. This one will be in a new job as a yard office.
Eastern car works which was a bit fiddly because the side were warped. painted for MOW service where it is relegated. Quick built this wall piece that still needs railings. It is an abandonded siding to an abandoned coal dealer.
Finished the paint and decal of this FM. it is a postwar piece. The shell was an ebay find that had been stripped SO I did it up as a Reading unit. Never could figure why they never did a Reading or SF unit when they went for colorful. Advertising thing for the kids really. Yes the green roof is not there, I did it in the style that lionel would have done it and they would have left the green off the roof as they duid the maroon on the LAckawana version. Still need to over haul the motor and electrical. Finally cut the clear lexan to start setting the elevated,
I have one more but decided it will be a seperate thread because of suggestions for rust effects ttype question.
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
SeeYou190I don't see it being worth that price,
Too recent for use in an FT anyway
gmpullman I wonder if that crossing tower is similar to the one Broadway Limited once offered? It has a brighter brass look which their unpainted ones had.
I think that's it. I checked the pictures of the BLI models, and it matches up to mine as far as I can tell.
All the other pieces in the lot are from NJ International, and have the original boxes.
The Tell-Tales are especially nice looking. I am very impressed with those.
gmpullmanToo recent for use in an FT anyway
I thought the FT diesels used a 567 series engine.
SeeYou190I thought the FT diesels used a 567 series engine.
Yes, correct. 567 and 567-A. I was going by the horizontal exhaust manifold whereas the FT, of course, had four individual stacks. Not sure what the Overland model represents, looks like it has a turbo, maybe a 567-D3a like in a GP-35?
I saw an Overland prime mover like that on ebay buy it now for almost double that price. Cool, but not that cool. Walthers ones suit me fine.
Well, in my push to get scenery to an acceptable level, my goal for this weeks WPF was to get this shop presentable, painted and back in it's place. I think I started back in on it wednesday. A few more trees behind the roundhouse fills in the corner now. It looks a bit sterile here, but a bunch of details around; figures, vehicles, parts, junk will liven it up. I wish I painted the windows and doors a more imaginative color, but I ain't changing it. The roundhouse of course is far from finished, but the ground is all covered and what shows is to scale.
Now I can sit back here and enjoy everyone elses work, and scores. Dan
gmpullman Not sure what the Overland model represents, looks like it has a turbo, maybe a 567-D3a like in a GP-35?
I have no idea. I do not know any of the ins-and-outs of the locomotive engine models.
I am thinking the part circled in red is the outlet from the exhaust connector.
Did the engines used in the FTs have collectors between each four cylinders? They could not have been turbocharged, correct?
There was a time when I really wanted the brass model of the Cummins KV-50 with two stage turbocharging, but is was way out of my price range. This model is much better detailed, but it is 1/18 scale.
Thanks for the information.
Guy, the locomotive looks great, but that water tower is fantastic! I'd like to see those painted brass passenger cars.
Harrison, I finally got to view your little video. Those first runs are gratifying. I'd blow the horn too!
Thanks, Ed. Let not the freightcars have the ignominious end, even if they are BB (for which I have a soft spot). I can see them running out a few more miles after some simple upgrades. Dan
SeeYou190I am thinking the part circled in red is the outlet from the exhaust connector.
Yes, indeed. A spotting feature of the GP35 was that rectangular, grille, exhaust "box".
SeeYou190They could not have been turbocharged, correct?
Right, they used a mechanical-drive Roots Blower.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EMD_567
Here's why Overland probably tooled-up for that EMD power plant:
https://brasstrains.com/Classic/Product/Detail/035508/HO-OMI-7033-1-Overland-EMD-GP35-Diesel-Demonstrator-1964
Even between the E7 and E8 there was a distinct sound of the "bark" of the exhaust, the E7 using individual outlets whereas the E8s, much like the F7s, combined cylinders into a common exhaust (as the Walthers model mimicks) muffler and then vented them through the roof in the "twin" stacks. Same with most Geeps.
Really interesting developments. I have a few "turbo" GP30s and SD45s with sound decoders and the turbo whine can play havoc with normal hearing after a while. I keep those engines at a very reduced sound level. But I DO like the effect
As you know, Diesels gotta breathe!
As much as I admire the EMD power plants, Alco sure had the better-looking service reps
Alco_Nasa by Edmund, on Flickr
gmpullman SeeYou190 Good fix on the BLI locomotive. I might have had a harder time tracking that one down myself. Thanks I really enjoy a success story now and then. Last night I got the decoder "dialed in" and ran that fifteen year-old engine for a good two hours straight. No hiccups and the drive was as smooth as melted butter!
SeeYou190 Good fix on the BLI locomotive. I might have had a harder time tracking that one down myself.
Yes that is a good fix. I had the same problem with my BLI K-4 and disassembled it and found the same problem. I thought I had it fixed but the problem returned and I couldn't remember where the problem had been. Now I remember and should have no problem fixing it again, hopefully for keeps this time.
Dan, Really neat structure and the operating doors are a nice touch. Been awhile since doing a foundry structure with thin corrugated alum siding, tedious work, but IMO well worth the effort.
Ed, Maybe chase that jelly with a shot of Squibbs mineral oil. As always, liking your posts, especially the 'hound' bus and ALCO engine with crankcase explosion door. Your mention of 'Transite' has me remembering my daze working in refinery compressor houses that were sheathed in just such a material.
Thanks again to all the contributors and viewers, have a good and safe week ahead. Regards, Peter
HO-VeloThanks again to all the contributors and viewers, have a good and safe week ahead. Regards, Peter
This did turn out to be a good edition of Weekend Photo Fun. Thank you to everyone that shared a photograph (or many).
I will be back next week, and I promise... no more pictures of new brass models, at least for one week.