I’ll bet by the time Blackstone stuff gets imported twice, first to the US, then to New Zealand, it does get a might pricey. You’re correct in assessing the real value is in your time and it’s not as easy to put the correct value on it – at least the first time you build anything. Partly it’s because there is entertainment value in the build itself, whether kit or scratch, as some will say that it’s not a job, only entertainment – and they want to charge you accordingly
Obviously, by the time you’ve built two dozen of the same car, the entertainment value is fading fast. [:P]
Heck, it’s a lot like w**k!
And that’s where RTR really has a place. It frees me up to build what I want rather than what I must. Cars done in quantity by the Rio Grande are generally well-covered by Blackstone, They’re even coming out with a 30’ reefer next year. The rest I can enjoy building at my own pace.
The car with the black drums for water is a combination kitchen/shower car. It’s twin with the matching windows is the sleeper. The dainty little one is the foreman’s office and day room. I need to get them lettered to make that clear, but don’t have the ones I need for these on hand.
Great stuff again this week guys. You never cease to amaze me.
Here is something a little different from the BRVRR this week.I spent last weekend with relatives in lower Michigan, one of whom is a O-scale model railroader.
Here is a photo of Michael Giersch’s Brickton Rail Transfer layout. Only just begun in a new train room, the O-Scale layout is intended primarily as a showcase for his collection of Lionel and Marx locomotives and rolling stock.
Mike even has a version of my first model locomotive a Marx B&O F3.
Keep the photos and ideas coming everyone. You always make WPF the best thread of the week.
Bear, Thanks for opening the WPF, nice flatcar! During car-float operation research I saw that a NYC harbor railroad provided a bit of shelter and safety for the crew by adding a small shanty and railing to one of their idler flatcars.
Mike L. I agree with your RTR sentiments. “So many freight cars, so little time,” in that vein Tony Koester’s article, Tick, tick, tick… in the Oct. MRR hit home with me.
Allan, Your photo brought back fond memories of the Marx train that ran around our family Christmas tree when I was a kid, the old alum. tinsel sure did spark when it fell on the tracks accidently on purpose.
Ahhhhhhh! The weekend, and with it my favorite thread. Looks like some great stuff again this time. Do wish some of you would stop posting protoype photos… LOL
I have little by little making some progress on the part of the layout under construction at the moment. Got some plaster cloth put in place on the fill and the hillsides:
Added a couple coats of dilluted joint compound to build up the area ( I start with the consistency of cake batter, then add a couple more coats with it dilluted to about the consistency of pancake batter):
Overview shot of the area:
The stub end track in the center will service a dairy yet to be built…
Gidday Peter, the little bit of research that I have done on the Detroit River and Great Lakes ferry operations have not shown any thing like that. The closest I’ve seen is a pre 64 photo of a Canadian National S3 with a idler flat with a yellow painted hand rail and diagonal yellow and black panels underneath at one end. perhaps they breed them tough in those parts. Actually some of the idler flats looked fairly “ropey” with broken or no wooden decks at all.
Thats a great looking back drop.
Yes, so many projects and so little time, not sure if I’ve got my piorities right at times.[sigh] [(-D]
