Hey everyone, it’s that time of the week again; Weekend photo fun. For those of you who are regular contributers, you know what to do. For those who are new here- WPF is a thread that a member starts on either thursday night or Friday morning, to show off what we have been working on, or will be working on. For example, my project this week was another Wheeling locomotive, SD40-3 3068. I primered the former MRL unit, airbrushed it, decaled, and applied decals.
I model the units I’ve seen, as well as the freight I’ve seen. I’m probably working all weekend, so I’ll work through it, and wait for the supplies to start my scratchbuilding project- a torn down P&WV station that stood at Bruceton until 2015.
So enough on my project…let’s see what everyone else is or has been working on.
Just a teaser, at Boothbay we just received a Walthers Plymouth switcher. Still in the box, will check it out on my layout tomorrrow. It’s a tiny critter; makes a 44 tonner look big in comparison.
Thanks for starting things off,Jimmy.Having grown up(and old) in the heart of Rio Grande country,I like that paint scheme with the speed lettering!
'Still at work in the yard.Next step is to turn that pink foam on the left into a scenic’d lift out section. The right side is going to hold a turntable and roundhouse…I hope:
I also put up another strip of track lighting over the coal tower/sand house area - it had been in the shade 'til now:
George, Saw the tiny swicther at the NTS back in July. It is impressive, but hoping it can pull like the prototype – at least one car![;)]
Things are looking better and brighter, Mike. [tup][Y]
Been doing some maintenance, but also found the time to drag out an old project, my Bachmann 1:20.3 Shay. I modded it with the nice heavy new metal trucks a few years back, but it’s been sitting under the layout since. Badly needed a dusting to start with. Then I had some nice Silverton RR dry transfers to letter it with, but the darn things have dried out so I think I’m outta luck on that.
Taking advanatage of some of my newly acquired RC knowledge, I’ve figured out a way to convert it to onboard battery power myself and save a lots of hassle running outdoors. Looks to be under $100. No sound yet, as that’s the better part of $200. Got some stuff ordered, will update as things develop.
Thanks for setting up the WPF this weekend, Jimmy! You are indeed the Wheeling expert here! Very nice paint job [Y]
Those Walthers Plymouth switchers really seem to be a hit, George. I’m anxious to hear your impressions. Did you get the sound with keep-alive version?
Nice progress, Mike! That coaling tower certainly deserves to be in the spotlight, all right. A real work of art [Y]
Well, I’m concentrating on this wye area at the approach to Union Station. Allow me to back up a couple of weeks and show a photo with the “Post Office Annex” in place above the loading tracks…
Well, I now have the second track in place and while I was doing that I figured that I might as well replace the last three “power-routing” turnouts I have here. I have held off on finishing up this area of “no-man’s land” and figured now is the time!
In the lower-left you can see the end of a passenger platform that I shortened and I have a mock-up of what will be a “subway” ramp for the electric trucks to carry mail to and from the trains to the post office. Off to the right I have a roadway ramp for highway trucks to access the building.
I picked up some RIX wrought iron bridge sections that I will use to make a roadway around the perimeter of the main building.
The other end of the roadway will tee into an existing elevated roadway I have here:
Kitbashing and creating urban scenes is one of the
Thanks for starting WPF. Nice paint and decal job!
Mike,
How are you going to reach back into that scene on the left to do the work? It looks like a long reach.
George,
I’ll bet my critter is smaller!?! It will pull at least two cars as long as they run freely. I wouldn’t let the guys at the club try to pull any more. The wheels were already slipping a bit.
Here are my latest contributions to my roundhouse project. Some of the machines will end up in my machine shop too:
I’m still waiting for some detail parts, and I have several more large tools to build but they will mostly go into the machine shop.
Things are coming along nicely in your ‘Post Office’ scene Ed!
Resin can be a bit of a pain to work with. Some of the castings are very poor quality and I question the value of the kits when so much clean up is required. I think your solution is great. Maybe you can use the resin flatbed as a platform somewhere.
Jimmy, nice job on the W&LE engine, as many times as I have crossed the trackage here in Northeast Ohio, don’t recall seeing one.
Mike (CO). Is that the Campbell Coaling Tower, it sure looks good.
Mike L: I sure like shays, reminds me of riding behind one at Central City, CO.
George: Resin kits are not that bad, just different, especially using CA instead of liquid cement for assembly.
Dave: That will be some repair shop with all those tools.
Bear: With our club layout down due to wall repairs we missed our annul Christmas show, hope yours goes well.
With nothing done again this week, as the washing machine went belly up and scrambling around getting a new one. I will pull an old picture out of the archives.
Athearn DT&I GP38-2’s with an auto parts train!
George,
I resin kit I built from a Rail Yard Models X79 kit:
Various under construction shots.
The finished car, these were used for transporting cereal from the Kelloggs Plant in Battle Creek, MI.
Mike: Size does matter! Even in a picture,the heft of that shay is evident.I’d like to give that scale a try,but I don’t think the dogs would respect the right-of-way.
Ed: Looks like you’ve got a lot on your plate(or bench,or layout).Nice “during” shots - looking forward to more as you progress.
Dave: Your vices and machines are terrific.Should make for a very impressive roundhouse/shop area! Here’s an earlier shot of the coal tower area.The space outlined in yellow is where the liftout section will be.I’ll have to reach in from the next room to remove it,but it gives me a roughly 2’x3’ opening if I need to get back there.I’ve spent a bit of time making sure the track and switches are bulletproof,so I shouldn’t have to be back there often.
I like the posters,Bear. The black and white shot would make a great “stand alone” photo.
Rick: Your usual outstanding work on your kits. The shots I’ve seen of your club layout look very good,I’d love to see more of it.
Thanks to all who commented on the coal tower - It is a Raggs to Riches kit(so is the sand house).Great kits,but no longer made,and hard to find.They also come with the most comprehensive instruction manuals I’ve ever seen.
Yes, it’s big, but it’s still narrow. LGB track scales out to 36" gauge in 1:20.3 scale.
Sure wish I could make the train show[:(]
Rick,
Yeah, they do look good in Colorado, but they were comparatively rare there. The Argentine Central and Gilpin Tram had most of them, right near Central City and the Georgetown Loop (but I think the Shays are gone in the Loop’s management chnage a few years back IIRC). I gonna let this one stand-in for the Shay that worked on the Silverton RR briefly. There may have been a handful of others pass through, but not as many as it would seem at first blush give the terrain being pretty well suited to their operation.
Mike,
It’s a monster, takes both hands to lift it. The new trucks probably added several pounds alone. I’ve got about 140’ of track and 9 turnouts, just need to plan for some imposing hills so I can really get her barking when she heads up grade once I can afford a sound card.
Neglect has caused these PRR gons to fail all rail inspections. Very unusual for the PRR. Time to get these bad boys unloaded and into the shop for some updates.
I am a bit later that I had planned with my Plymouth post, the real world got in the way again.
I am very impressed with this small switcher. This is what it looks like
It is 22 ft over the footboards, and weighs 3.65 oz on my digital scale.
The decoder is a Soundtrax non-sound decoder with a Keep-Alive module. Right out of the box, it ran well on DCC; I picked a place on my layout that has a few #6 turnouts with non-powered frogs. It went over these with no problems. The top speed seems a bit fast for the type of loco it is. I tried to see how many cars it would pull; my cars are all free rolling with metal wheels and NMRA weight. After adding 5 boxcars, a 3 dome tank car and a plate C covered hopper, it pulled and pushed the whole lot with no problems
The last thing I tested was the Keep Alive. I covered one rail with masking tape for about 4 feet, and ran it over and back. ON the first run there was no difference in speed at the end. I reversed and ran it back, and, while it was still running smothly, it did take a small increase in speed when it hit the powered track again. When I took it off the track, the headlight stayed in for about a minute
I really like the photo of the auto parts train. You should share some of those at ARF too. I’m working on a Ford FAST auto parts train from what I understand originated on the DT&I. I’ve got several Exactrail Greenville 60’ cars in DT&I, N&W and WP, as well as ExactRail P-S waffle 60 footers in UP, ATSF and DT&I, and a gaggle of 86’ footer from Athearn and Walthers.
I wish Walthers would offer the black N&W 86’ cars as those were really common on the Ford FAST.
