Weekend Photo Fun, Jan. 5 - Jan. 7, 2018

Model Railroader General Discussion (Model Railroader)
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I finished my DSS&A ex-Lackawanna caboose a couple of days back.

Here it is a little less complete when I was testing running qualities…

The kit is by Sparrows Point Division and I really enjoyed it despite a confusing moment or two in the instructions.

I built the caboose to bring up the rear on my so far very limited South

Shore modeling, represented in large part by my brace of Atlas RS-1s

I also finished this “reactor,” soon to appear in a friend’s stop motion film involving robots, bears, and scary chickens. It’s not fancy, but they are entertaining. Will post a link when it goes live.

In other RR news, next up looks to be some narrowgauge varnish. What’s everyone else working on?

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Ive got two Tichy boom cars, a crane, and a couple other kits that I’m working on…

Since 2010

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I’ll be doing another Locomotive, and maybe at least put some plywood down

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Mike: Really nice caboose. It looks like it would fit in with the STRATTON & GILLETTE caboose fleet just fine. I might need to look into tthat kit.

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I finished a boxcar for the New Jersey Western. I did not want to weather it loke this, but the decals curled a bit at the edges and I needed to cover up that error.

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Keep the photos coming!

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-Kevin

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Mike, thanks for starting us out, and a nice looking caboose, what is it doing out west?

Kevin, I would have removed the decal and started over, as I don’t believe in weathering anyway.

Nothing finished this week although I have 3 boxcars, 1 covered hopper, 1 gon, and one diesel in the decal shop in various stages of completion. Bowling and family matters have taken precedence over modeling right now.

So here is a picture from my archives and I don’t know if I have ever posted it before.

Stewart C628 & C630 with an ore train made up of Stewart G39 Ore Jimmies on the Strongsville Society of Model Railroad Engineers Club Layout.

Thanks for looking!

Rick Jesionowski

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Today I am observing my father’s 100th birthday. I got my interest in trains from him. Dad passed away at 72. Here he is on the 4-6-4 live steam locomotive he built.

Here is a 4-6-4 he brought back from Japan and gave to me when I was a teenager. It is on my current layout in this photo.

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Mike: Nice job on the caboose!

Rick(and Mike,again). Good shots of the first and last of Alco’s diesels.

Kevin: I’ve done that before,to cover up a decal that had “silvered” a bit.

Garry: Thanks for sharing the pic’s about your Dad. I have seven brothers and sisters,and on Dad’s birthday we call each other and share old stories of Dad - good memories! 'Sounds like your Dad was a great guy,too.

Here’s #462 at the little depot at Dry Creek:

Have a good weekend!

Mike

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Mike L … Interesting DSS&A models. That’s a bit far from your Rocky Mountain empire. Nice !

Kevin … Your boxcar looks great.

Rick … I like the ore train with Stwart Alcos

Mike MiddleMan … I like your #462 … Thanks for the kind remarks.

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Thanks Mike for starting off WPF for the weekend.

I have a few things going on the BRVRR. In addition to cleaning up the layout and working with the lighting, my depot project is coming along slowly. A coat of red primer to tone down the molded plastic brick looks pretty good.

I changed the livery on one of the Burlington E-7s to NYC dark gray and installed a sound decoder and speaker on/in the chassis. Next are the decals with the cigar band livery from the 60s/70s.

Garry, I know you are partial to the Burlington silver, but I need a couple more passenger locos and this is the most economical way to get them.

Keep the photos and ideas coming everyone. Thanks to you WPF is always the best thread of the week.

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Allen … Nice work on the station and the E7… Of course, I was kidding you when you recently said you would repaint CB&Q E7’s… Actually, in real life, something like that happened. Two CB&Q E8’s were sold to SCL and were then painted black. Numerous CB&Q E’s were painted BN green or Amtrak colors.

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For the past week or so I have been working on 3 more orphan kits. The Branchline HW passenger cars have not been selling as kits, so I decided it is time to asssemble then. This week I completed the first 2, and the last one is about 60% complete.

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Will be working on the layout this weekend

after finished a Wow sound Version 4 steam decoder in this 0-4-0 that runs cab forward with an oil tender in tow Here’s the video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_IjV_p6qkO0

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I wish that would have been an option.

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One problem with modelling only ficticious roadnames is that I rarely have any extra decal bits if something goes wrong. When errors happen, I just need to make the best of them.

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-Kevin

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Mike, Thanks for the WPF start, nice work on the caboose.

Middleman Mike, What an engrossing scene, nicely composed from the ground up with too much fine modeling and elements of realism to list.

Been doin’ a whole lotta’ nothin’ lately in regards to modeling or working on the layout. But keeping up with the WPF & playing with the canoe I got for Christmas is bound to help me get back in the groove.

Thanks to all and regards, Peter

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Hello, Fellow Weekenders!

Thanks for getting things off the ground, Mike! Wow, the rear-end crew has a great view out of those big windows on that caboose! Looks nice.

Granite, I really like the kits Tichy produces. I’ve only built the HO models but the fit and finish is great.

You hit the trifecta there, Rick! Big Alcos, ore cars and coiled steel. Three of my favorite things! Here’s a shot I took in the Mon Valley back in '98. Look at the steel coils tossed into those gons. I’m always used to seeing them the way you have them, upright.

Hot_metal2 by Edmund, on Flickr

Glad to see your Live Steam pic. Garry[Y] I see you’re a fan of BIG buildings, too. That mill in the background is “My kind of building”!

Great photo of Dry Creek, Mike! I could just plop myself down there for a nice rest under one of those trees. Who makes the sharp-looking tall switchstands?

Good to see your work, Allan. Those Proto E units are one of my favorite engines, too. Built like tanks and you can still get them pretty reasonably.

I built one of those Branchline kits a while back myself, George. A bit of a challenge but nice results. I think I adapted Walthers trucks for them, though. The Branchline trucks didn’t track worth a hoot.

Good looking stuff, Terry. I wish I had room in my layout area for a couch.

Peter, That’s a great scene! I can just hear the lapping water and noisy gulls!

Great Stuff!

I’m starting to turn my attention to the Hulett area again. This week I got three of the four Cat D-8 crawlers assembled. The yellow one was made a few years ago but the bucket is not sitting

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Allan: That’s a neat looking wiring job on the E-7.

George: Nice job on the heavyweights.I’m not familiar with the “Blueprint Series”,so I googled it - definitely not “shake the box” kits - lots of parts there!

Terry: I enjoy the overhead shots. Very good looking layout!

Peter: What Ed said about your pic…Ditto! I hope you get your modeling mojo back soon,your street and waterfront scenes are always a highlight of WPF.

Wow,Ed! 'Looks like you’ve got enough projects going to keep WPF supplied for the rest of the year. Thanks for the kind comments about Dry Creek(the only place on the layout that has a name,as of now). The switchstand kits are made by San Juan Car Company. O scale only,but Central Valley makes similar kits in HO.

Garry and Peter: Thanks to both of you also,for the kind words.

Enjoy the rest of the weekend,and those of you in the East,stay warm and dry!

Mike

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Yes, they are more of a plastic craftsman kit. I am building them with the “optional details” from the instructions which includes full under body details like the steam line which runs between the body beams; and, except for the ends, really can not be seen. All black details on a black body.

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Thanks to everyone for their kind comments on my new caboose. Lots of really great work here again, but my time is limited so I don’t burn breakfast again. Thanks for everyone who contributes!

Rick and GARRY were wondering about the South Shore caboose. Along with the Monon, the Duluth, South Shore & Atlantic is part of my secondary tier of prototype interests. There are a few more, but these two are the only ones I model when the mood hits.

The Monon is a home state railroad that I was lucky enough to experience up close and personal. For a year, we lived across the pike (road to you non-Hoosiers) from a quarry switched by a single RS-2 on the Monon’s Maple Hill Branch that diverged from Clear Creek station just south of Bloomington to serve quarries there.

The South Shore came much later in life after my wife and I started visiting the Keewenaw area of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. Not quite Colorado, but I think that the DSS&A fits a little better visually on the layout than the Monon does. Lots of evergreens and bigger hills than in Indiana. I tend to explain such appearances as seasonal leases of motive power[;)]

For both, I wish I had room for a couple of modules, but they’d never fit in the basement[:(] Maybe someday a local module group will form. Until then I build models from time to time.

Now a bonus track, a westbound tour of the standard gauge on the Four Corners Division.

Thanks for watching.

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Nice video, Mike. Lots of dual gauge. I noticed some blue lights in the overhead. Is that for ‘night’ running?

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George,

Yes, those are blue LED rope lights, which provide the benefit of ultraviolet also. This enhances some of the highights of night lighting. Due to the mix of rare earths used to make blue LEDs, the amount of UV they produce varies, so you may have to check several sources before finding ones that are suitable.

I tend to leave the blue LEDs on whenever I have the layout powered up. I turn on the white LED strip lights when I’m actually in the room working. I’ve heard it said that blue lighting can be a useful supplement to white indoors and it does look good to my eye, just don’t have much more than word of mouth to go by on this beyond that.

Nice work on those Branchline passenger cars!