Alton Junction
Once again, I am a poor substitute for Kevin, but I thought that I would step up and start this weekly thread in his absence.
As Kevin would say, I am looking forward to seeing everyone's photographs this weekend. This thread can always be counted on to be the best of the week.
Rich
Thanks for starting WPF.
Not much has been done on the layout with Dawn getting Covid and I having a bad chest infection.
Therefore some old pictures.
I do like the overgrown look.
IMG_5893 by David Harrison, on Flickr
IMG_5870 by David Harrison, on Flickr
IMG_5694 by David Harrison, on Flickr
David
To the world you are someone. To someone you are the world
I cannot afford the luxury of a negative thought
Good morning from cloudy, cool and rainy Northeast Ohio!
Rich Ohio, thanks for taking Kevin's place and after Ed's last post I hope things are getting better in Cape Coral. My Brother-in-Law lived in Cape Coral, they found his body in his home on 10/1, it was not hurricane related and the police are investigating nothing yet.
David, old picture are always welcome, I spot something new everytime I look at them, great work on your layout, I hope you and your wife get better soon.
Speaking of health, after I finished my last Cardiac Rehab on Wednesday, my wife tripped on the sidewalk and managed to mash up the ligaments in her hand and wrist after the ER X-ray showed no broken bones. Have an appointment with our favorite orthopedic surgeon next week.
With all this got some cars done this week.
Finished the 14th and final Anderson's Pseudo Covered Hopper from a Tichy Kit. These were ex-Wabash Coal Hoppers fitted with extensions and tarp covers so ship grain from the Anderson's Maumee elevators to the export docks at the Port of Toledo. Car was painted with Scalecoat II Silver Paint (with a hint of Green Paint) and then lettered with kit supplied decals.
Next a Front Range boxcar kit, where I widened the door to take a 9' Plug Door, removed the existing sill and fashioned a new sill from Evergreen Plastic, used a much better detailed Branchline Diagonal Panel roof in place of the kit roof and substituted A-Line Sill steps for the kit supplied plastic ones. Car was painted with an 80/20 mixture of Scalecoat II ATSF Red and Reefer Orange and lettered with Herald King Decals. The SLSF acquired these cars from Chicago Freight Car for use at the Memphis, TN Kelloggs plant. The SLSF at the time painted cars in different colors for the service they were assigned to accounting for these Red/Orange cars. They returned these cars to CFC about the same time the DT&I received very similar cars.
Finally, took my new Rapido PA-1's to the club last week along with my Broadway Limited Train. Had a great time with them, they ran superbly.
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!
Thanks for starting things off for WPF, Rich It was certainly good news to see Kevin getting things squared away after such a setback.
I really admire your "overgrown" scenes, David. There is much to see in every one.
Great cars there, Rick. I don't ever recall seeing a Frisco plug door in that color. Pretty neat! I hope your wife mends quickly. My wife took a spill about two years ago after slipping on some damp mud while closing up the chicken coop. She was sore and out of commission for about two weeks.
I haven't tackled too many modeling jobs this week but I did recieve a new Pennsylvania E6 to haul some of my older PRR varnish:
PRR_E6-threequarter by Edmund, on Flickr
Overall a pretty decent engine and it pulls surprisingly well. It had no troubles with seven cars up a 1.5% grade.
PRR_E6-tower by Edmund, on Flickr
I wanted an engine that was a little fancier than the run of the mill DGLE so I opted for the Lindberg-era passenger striping on the 460.
PRR_E6-shop by Edmund, on Flickr
PRR_E6-curve by Edmund, on Flickr
Lets hope there are some more contributors coming along?
Cheers, Ed
Well I dont have much anything for this week that is new. I have been working on the track plan and bench work design. So i dug into the archive a little for a few past project
First is an old 4-4-2Slightly larger than Ed's. it is lionel large scale. That had a reputation for going nowhere fast. or leaving a parts trail. I got one cheap and was curious as to why hey ran so bad. New gear box build maybe? nope Lionel secured the motor with a loose zip tie. Tha answerWas to build a craddle. stopped that problem. runs reliably. sad part, Lionel used the same motor as LGB uses. Here it has a fresh paint coat after all the work was done.
This one was a scratch build that appeared in Garen railways in 98. It has littterally traveled the world since. Canada, Europe, portugal, southern US now here. This pic was the pre rebuild. It lost the orginal tender in its travel and got a really bad out of scale whalt back. which was almost totally scrapped and now has a more fitting tender.
And here is a kit build box cab from G.A.L. Based loosely on CNJ1000. I should finish that one. Should finish thwe shark nose and ML4000s too. All 1:29 scale pieces. Maybe i can have something more recent and new next week
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
Only pic i can find as it was being pinted
HSnae
Nice pics so far everyone
When I made this chip pile, I wanted it to be as big and impressive as I could get it.
Well, fine, except on a model railroad it WOULD be nice to be able to see the TRAINS, right? I was tired of finding myself standing on a small step ladder to see what the trains were doing on the other side of it. Layout level is 4' 10" from the floor to ground level.
So, since thankfully I hadn't bonded it to the layout by blending all its edges in yet, off it came, and I tore the hardshell-chip layer off of the foam and carved it down considerably.
Heres a look at it with some chunks of the hardshell showing the difference in height.
Progress will be posted.
Also, I've been chipping away at this heavily modified (internally) Keystone 44 tonner. Got couplers on it and did some switching. More later on that too...
Thanks everyone for the photos so far. Dan
Evenin Railfans) Here's one (of 6) coming across the desk. Although the weekend caught up with me a little too quick this week, I havent totally finished this first one yet.
Take a close look (if it isnt already obvious aside from my horrific photography). This isnt your 'typical' model. Heres the story.....
Along the travels of time I have come across these, or atleast seen/heard of them. Im sure most of you older fogies have aswell. Never gave them much thought till the other day when i was fishing on the 'Bay' and came across this ad.
Very simple idea, grab an HO scale size block of wood close to 40' scale feet long and glue some 'pre-printed' sides and ends to it. Stick a couple trucks under it, toss in a couple of Kadees, a few details if wanted and your off and running.
Never gave this form of 'model' a second thought when we have the likes of Athearn, Accurail, MDC and all the rest. Then I got to rethinking that thinking part. Maybe it would be fun to do...... just to do, ya know? So i 'won the bid' and recieved 6 printed/unlettered yellow reefer sides with red ends. Very nice printing on cardstock.
Now all i need is 6 blocks of wood. WAIT just a minute..... 30 minutes of design work on the puter, a couple hours of printing and voila - Reefer Madness! No wood here. One of the many advantages to 3D printing.... POOF - there it is! POOF there it is! (hate that song).
All the add ons are the standard i put with my 3d stuff - Kadee #5s, Proto 33" wheels, some love from Tichy in the form of brass wire grabs and braking. The rest of the details I made myself. Alas not added yet - sorry.
Without further adieu, heres a half done mock-up....
This was a quick and fun job (arent they all?). Easy to do because the behind the scenes work requires no real special setup or serious detail work like usual. Being that, the shell was actually printed 'upside down' compared to normal printing. This allowed me to design in features like the old 'Plastruct' building models I had as a kid. No glue needed. The walls would stick together and hold using plastic wedge-like prongs.
The walls and ends on these models work the same way. I glued them however because rolling stock is handled, buildings are not. As said, the details remain (paint drying as I type this) and Ive been thinking of using dry transfer deals on these if I can find some I like.
Am curious to use 'wet-slide' decals just to see how they would work but I am leary since the sides are just printed cardstock. Essentialy..... paper. Which doesnt do well when wetted. This part is still in the thinking stage. I could always seal the car first then decal it. We will see.
Since I have gotten these I have since learned there are many, many more available. I was only under the impression the yellow unlettered was all that were made. They make all kinds of these! Reasonably priced too.
All in all, a fun project ive never done before. And am open to trying it some more maybe with some of the other offerings. Very simple to do, cheap, and the final product isnt all that bad. Its no 'Exact-Rail' or even Accurail for that matter. But looks decent enough to grace a few rails now and then.
Thanks for watching!
Douglas #2
Rich, Thanks for the WPF opening.
Riding a motorcycle in go-go boots is steeped in 'Madison Ave.'
Thanks to all the contributors and viewers. Have a good weekend and a Happy National Ride a Motorcycle Day. Regards, Peter
Thank you to everyone that has contributed so far. We are off to a great start!
Rick: Thank you for starting us out. Yes, things are getting better down here.
David: I love the overgrown look of some portions of your layout, especially in close up photographs.
Rick: Sad to hear about your Brother-In-Law. Wow, 14 of the Anderson canvas topped hopper cars. That has been an effort. Glad to hear your Rapido PAs are running great. They sure look good in the picture you posted.
Ed: The PRR Atlantic has a better look to it than any other 4-4-2 I know of. It just looks like it means business. I like it better than the K4 Pacific. A local modeler built a live steam version in 7-1/2" gauge.
Shane: Thank you for ahring that excellent modelling work. Really great stuff.
Dan: Good job in the "haircut" for the chip pile. I was bidding on one of the Keystone 44 ton locomotives when the hurricane hit. It sold for only $42.00, not to me.
Douglas #2: I like the 3D printed reefer project. Interesting story, and I thank you for typing it all up. Typing here is frustrating because every time they power up a new section the computer restarts!
Peter: That yellow newspaper machine in your picture is an amazingly well executed detail. Great picture.
I have a picture this week that is really no fun at all.
Here is the process of sorting out and reboxing everything from the storage locker.
-Photograph by Kevin Parson
I have filled 47 Small Home Depot boxes so far. This has been quite a lot of work.
Let's all keep the good stuff and helpful responses coming. I am looking forward to it all.
-Kevin
Living the dream.
Hey, Kevin, great to see you back! I hope that your picture indicates that at least your train stuff made it through the storm intact. As well as you and your loved ones, of course.
Someone got a steal on that 44 tonner. I've picked up a couple for about that plus shipping, but early on, I paid a LOT more. And factoring inflation ant their MSRP, I still did well. I don't know why they've gotton so cheap! Dan
Southgate 2 I hope that your picture indicates that at least your train stuff made it through the storm intact.
Dan: All the stuff at home was OK. I also had a 5 by 10 storage locker where I was storing stuff during the remodel. It looks like wind-driven-rainwater got into the A/C ductwork. My unit was on the bottom floor where the duct came down and teed off. Some water got into it from there.
Only four boxes recieved any damage. The worst were the two up top right where the water dripped in. There was very little water intrusion overall, and it barely puddled on the floor.
Of course, the boxes up top were the lightest ones. That is where I had put the scratch-built buidings I had salvaged from deceased model railroaders in this area. I was planning to use these buildings on the new layout as a tribute to them. Some of these models had been featured in Model Railroader or Great Model Railroads.
It truly saddens me they were destroyed. I also feel a bit guilty because I assured some widows these would have a new life.
Most everything on the bottom layer was packaged in heavy duty 17 gallon plastic totes, No water got into these.
I just got this little bobber today. thought it would b e a fun rebuild to save thing. turns out to be excellent from the start. just a little repaint to refresh
A better shot
shane
The finally got railings. still needs electrical work. and decoders. two of many in line for electrical and decals
SHane