This is the thread where modelers can present their finished projects, projects under construction and various layout photographs.
Completed this Atlas Evans 52’6" gondola this week, car was painted with Scalecoat II NP Dark Green and lettered with Highball Graphics decals. Car was built in 1980 and used in general service on the Maine Central.
Exactrail Evans (Early Version) 5277CF Boxcar Kit, added the Henessey Door Openers and A-Line Sill Steps. Car was painted with a mixture of Scalecoat II Big Sky Blue, Reefer White and BN Green paints then lettered with Herald King Decals. One of the many IPD cars of the late 70’s period. The St. Lawrence Railroad ended up with over 4,000 of the IPD cars by 1979 and this for a 13 mile railroad, when the IPD scheme was made irrelavant by the Staggers act all these small railroads were swamped with returned cars and the were eventually sold off to other railroads for a pittance.
Another view of my Rapido FA-2’s on the Strongsville OH club layout.
I sure enjoy looking at the nice freight cars kits you always custom paint and decal.
Your Railroad Club looks like a lot of fun from the picture. Nice rock formations.
A couple of pictures of the viaduct bridge I’m almost finished with. It needs all the trim as I ordered an embossed styrene sheet from The hobby shop.
Hopefully the trim on the inside of the upper walls will bury the opaqueness. A piece of foam still needs to be added under the two short legs in the rear view.
Keep the pictures coming guys as they’re always enjoyed[Y]
Rick: Great job on the Maine Central gondola car. Dark green and beige (buff, khaki, light yellow, etc.) is one of those color combinations that has a handsome look to it. I do not have any custom decals printed in beige. I wonder if I can use a set of MAINE CENTRAL decals and create a private roadname from them.
Fiddler: Your stone viaduct looks great. Nice project. It is good to see new work on people’s layouts.
David: Your new wagons are wonderful. The scene they are posed in is perfect for showing them off.
I have nothing new to share, but here is a picture of one of my favorite buildings that will get a location of prominence on the new layout.
Rick: Thanks for the kickoff again. Always enjoy seeing your excellent car projects.
Track Fiddler: That’s an impressive layout section you show. Exciting stage.
David: Very nice scene plus cool new rolling stock.
Kevin: Good job on the lumber business structure.
I thought I had rounded out my loco fleet pretty well, having many types of UP locos. I came across a thread showing RDCs and investigated. No, UP did not have any to my knowledge. But they apparently borrowed this NP RDC-2 to try it out. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.
I enjoy conversions to DCC and sound and had not done one in quite some time, so enjoyed doing this Proto 1000 RDC-2 that I acquired. I utilized some of the circuit board traces (track and motor) and used the board as the floor of the 13x18mm CUI speaker enclosure. The dome allowed for a nice size enclosure, which helps the sound quality. The bulbs were replaced with 5MM LEDs.
The RDC has 8-wheel pickup with just the front truck powered (by a lightweight drive train; i.e., a very thin flywheel to worm gear thingy). It ran a bit jerky at low speed but the BEMF auto-tuning with the LokSound Select Micro CV54 did the trick and it runs nicely. It is a nice product.
The control center on my switching layout is up and running to accomodate DC or DCC. On the edge of the layout are two brackets holding the remote control for lighting, a metal strip for my Rix uncoupling tool, the DPDT center off switch for power routing and the PCP for my new NCE PowerCab. On the shelf is my trusty MRC Tech II power pack, NCE PowerCab, NCE EB1 v1.1 circuit breaker with home-made dust cover and a power switch for the PowerCab. So far so good…
All-in-all an exciting start to the weekend thread!
TF, that viaduct looks fantastic.
David, definitely interested in those wagons and a great looking setup.
Not much going on for me - not having a layout will do that but it allows me to focus my time on things that will eventually go onto a layout. I pulled my IHC 650 ton coal bunker off the shelf and touched up the paint some and I’m looking at adding some chain and pullies to the side chutes and LEDs for lighting, so I’m waiting on more micro chain and LEDs and resistors. Still haven’t worked out how to power LEDs that isn’t some conveluted or expensive system though.
And a new addition to the roster - I just recieved a second hand BLI MT-73 in the mail just a few days ago. For some reason, the smoke unit fan would activate with each chuff and was very audible (almost like a squeak), so I removed the smoke unit and fan entirely. The photo is from after oiling/greasing of the gears and I hadn’t put the brake shoes back on.
I wish I could find some recordings of MT-73s, I’d like to figure out what the whistle would be and there isn’t a lot of information out there. I’m not sure if BLIs deep whistle is appropriate for it. Might get a Tsunami or TCS in the future. A very handsome locomotive- called the ‘Sports Model’ by its designer A. H. Fetters I’ve learned!
Lastly, this is cheating because I haven’t recieved it yet but its due in Tuesday, which is closer to this weekend than next so…
From across the pond I ordered a OO gauge Oxford Rails Dean Goods 0-6-0 in Railway Operating Division’ kahki and Boche Buster railgun, with DCC and sound.
I’d like to do a WWI diorama, maybe with a narrow guage trench railway t
That looks great! I’m not sure where I’d run the railgun myself but the price was right and it looks very impressive. Even on the shelf or in a siding waiting to go to the front I think I’ll just be happy to have it. I hope to aquire a few of Bachmann’s Parrot flats as I have some Airfix Mark I tank models that need transportation too.
I enjoy interesting liveries and the anchor is very cool! These wagons were purchased in support of the Medway Queen Preservation Society you mentioned? I think that is fantastic, wish we’d see more of that for US freight, custom decorated pieces with sales going for a cause. There’s a few I can think of already: the T1 Trust or the Western Maryland Scenic RR and their 2-6-6-2. Purchase an HO boxcar or Something similar decorated in support and the proceeds go to the restoration or conservation or building efforts.
While searching on YouTube for something else, I stumbled across this 1961 series of Lionel commercials. I didn’t realize Lionel was into HO that early and that they had action cars for HO like they did for their O27 line. It also includes commercials for Lionel hobby kits that had nothing to do with railroading. I didn’t know Lionel did that either.
Rick- Great looking stuff as always! I really like that blue boxcar and the shot of the FAs at the club!
TF- Nice work on your bridges! One thing I can learn from you is patience. You take your time and it shows. Looks great! Cant wait to see it with scenery!
David- I really like those short wagons! Thats one thing thats alwasy stuck out to me in european trains is how short the cars are! Looks really nice.
Kevin- My favorite type of industry! Thats a good looking lumber shed, I hope mine looks that good when its done!
Paul- Thats a great looking RDC! Nice job on the DCC conversion. I’ve never heard of them till I joined this forum and now it seems everyone has one!
Bill- Your setup is a lot cleaner than mine! Looks great!
Mike- That coal bunker looks old and dirty…I love it! Looks super realistic! Never seen that UP steamer before. Good looking model.
Rich- I like the station!
Scott- Love the shot of the E6! I have a soft spot for CNW passenger trains
Harrison- Nice work on the flatcar! Ive always admired scratch built cars!
John- Thats a cool commercial!
This week I checked 3 boxes on my must have list:
CNW GP15
SOO FP7 in the Maroon and Gold scheme
SOO Line 40’ Trailers
Its been a while since Jack has been featured, and he has grown quite a bit. Here he is getting in the way of the CNW crew switching out corn syrup hoppers at the bakery.
Thought I’d stop by WPF to see what’s new since I posted yesterday. It looks like we got plenty more goodies here.
Thanks for the compliments guys, always appreciated[swg]
I don’t know why but I’ve always been a big fan of short rolling stock. I love 70 ton ore cars and two bay centrifugal hoppers. I sure like those container wagon cars David. A bobber caboose would look great behind those.
I’m glad you like the millwork building Kevin. I gathered some ideas from it for when I scratch build my lumber mill.
I can appreciate your understanding of the RDC Paul. I don’t have a clue about stuff like that yet but your layout sure looks great in it’s setting.
I have that exact MRC Tech ll power pack as well Bill. I like the pulse feature for adding momentum. I’m glad I did not purchase the MRC Tech 6 yet as I have heard a lot of guys talking up the NCE Power Cab here. If you don’t mind me asking, what advantages does it have over the Tech 6?
I sure like that 650 ton coal bunker Mike. The old metal look you did on the weathering job looks very convincing[Y] I would have to agree that big cannon military car is a cool piece to have. The scratch built one you built is really cool too David.
Great job on the station rich, I like that one[Y]
That CNW E6 looks like it belongs on your layout Scott. Great looking scene.
The scratch-built flat car sure is coming along Harrison[Y] Evergreen styrene? What color are you planning on painting it?
I enjoyed the Lionel commercial with the retractable roof missile cars John. The Addams Family never had it so good with their layout[(-D] A few of those sure would keep a guy busy doing repairs.
Great looking layout scenes Ringo! Does the grass grow on your layout? You made it look like it does. I thought perhaps you had a model riding lawn mower as it sure looks convincing[Y]
The trailer is neat! Nice score on the new recruits. I’m a big fan of Chicago Northwestern and Soo line as I have a few in my roster. Milwaukee Road too.
I like Helper Cat. It goes without saying you sure are a tolerant pet owner. What’s your cat’s name? Is kitty gentle up there and respectful of your layout or do you have to fix a few things from time to time? I’m just kinda curious[:)]
Thanks for the well appreciated compliment Ringo. You put a great big smile on my face[:)]
Jack is his name and being a jack-youknowwhat is his game! Hes pretty tame around the trains. When we first addopted him, we set up a small loop with cheap engines and cars for him to get used too. Now he just wants to be around me.
He tried to jump up once, but it’s too high and he just ran into the side of it and fell down. He does not try it anymore. Now he just meows and looks at me and ill set him up there to hang out with me.
He usually just watches the trains as they pass. Bushes occasionally go missing but I’ll find them by his bed. Maybe hes building his own layout? When he gets in the way I just honk at him and hell move his paw to let the train pass.
Thanks for the comments on my grass, it was my first attempt!
I’d forgotten how in Lionel and American Flyer a section of track could bridge from one trestle bent to the next without any support under the ties. Totally unrealistic but that’s how it was done with the toy trains. I had an American Flyer over and under figure-8 that used that arrangement.
Just came across this great story about musician Neil Young and how he was able to use his massive Lionel layout to interact with his son who has cerebral palsy. It looks like it is from 2013.
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