Weekend Update - 08/16/2009

[skytop35]

Very Nice! Can you share more photos of the engine house?

Here's another. It's not completely finished, still need to work on the roof and add more clutter to the scene.

[Philip H]

And yet you almost don't notice the difference between the unpainted styrene doors and the slightly weathered walls.  Nice work!

[ednadolski]

"Z" is BNSF's symbol for the highest-priority of intermodel, not necessarily a UPS load (though it's a safe bet there's some on there).  "Q" is the symbol for Guaranteed intermodal, and "P" the symbol for Premium intermodal.

Would you have a link or any other info on the BNSF designations?  (or UP for that matter)

It would be nice for me to figure out what I should be calling my trains 

Thanks,
Ed

[wm3798]

It's structures like that that make me wonder why some people fear scratch building.  There's probably less than $10 worth of material there, yet it looks like a million bucks.  Outstanding work.

Lee

[ednadolski]

Here's another. It's not completely finished, still need to work on the roof and add more clutter to the scene.

wow, that is really well done!  Nice work!

[wcfn100]

Very Nice! Can you share more photos of the engine house?

Here's another. It's not completely finished, still need to work on the roof and add more clutter to the scene.

It seems odd that the roof slopes to the front over the doors.  Even with gutters and such, I don't know that I've ever seen that before.

Awesome job on the engine house.


Jason

[tom mann]

It seems odd that the roof slopes to the front over the doors.  Even with gutters and such, I don't know that I've ever seen that before.

Ed's exploding Farmhouse!

[cv_acr]

Started on an ex-RBOX CN paper-service car:

Based on: http://www.rr-fallenflags.org/cn/cna412443agd.jpg (yeah, the rib spacing/count is wrong, but i'll live.)

Hiroe, the car in your prototype photo is a Pullman-Standard, the model is an ACF - but CN actually did have some that were ACF built. CN had a couple of sub series in the 412xxx range with cars built by P-S, ACF, FMC, Berwick etc.

(None of the 5 photos on the link below are in RBOX paint, but these are all ex-RBOX)
http://freight.railfan.ca/cgi-bin/search.pl?display=short&keywords=CNA+412665-412764

[Hyperion]

"Z" is BNSF's symbol for the highest-priority of intermodel, not necessarily a UPS load (though it's a safe bet there's some on there).  "Q" is the symbol for Guaranteed intermodal, and "P" the symbol for Premium intermodal.

Would you have a link or any other info on the BNSF designations?  (or UP for that matter)

It would be nice for me to figure out what I should be calling my trains  

Thanks,
Ed

No linkage, but I can describe BNSF's Train ID methodology to you:

BNSF's IDs consist of an initial letter designating the train "type" followed by the "symbol" that is 2 x 3-character station abbreviations that give the origin and destination of the train.  So, for example, the "Z CHIBAR" would be a high-priority intermodal between Chicago and Barstow.  We usually pronounce the train names phoenetically, so "H KCKBAR" is the "Kick-Bar".

A  Amtrak
B  Bare-Tables
C  Loaded Coal
E  Empty Coal
F  Foreign Detour over BNSF
G  Loaded Grain
H  High-Priority Manifest
J  Hi-Val/Hi-Wide Special
L  Local
M  Normal-Priority Manifest
P  Premium Intermodal
Q  Guaranteed Intermodal
S  Intermodal Stack
U  Unit (except Coal or Grain)
V  Vehicles
X  Empty Grain
Y  Yard
Z  Highest-Priority Intermodal

Providing you an accurate listing of all 3-character station abbreviations would be... well, a lot of stations.  Probably 75% of the time it's simply the first 3-letters of the station name.  But there's a lot of times it's not.  "KCK" for example, would be a popular one on the BNSF, and it stands for Argentine, KS (Kansas City, KS).  If you have some specific station names in mind for trains running on your layout, I'd be happy to give you the station symbols we use.

There's also up to 4 characters that are used after the symbol, but they're generally only for dispatcher or system use and you really start getting into the minutiae to describe how those all work.  As long as you've got the "M CHIBAR" part down you've got 95% of the real-life practical usage, only for paperwork purposes do we get more specific than that.  There's a section number right after the symbol but that would take couple pages to describe how they work, as they mean completely different things for each train type.  Then there's a couple numbers that tell when a train origined in a yard or what sequence of train a unit train is (coal trains are numbered sequentially over a year).  That's how you keep the "H KCKBAR" straight even though there may be 6 or more of them out there running on the system at once, since every one will have a different symbol by date it left Argentine.  

So the actual full symbol of a train would be something like "H KCKBAR9 16A".   That tells you that it's a high-priority manifest train, travelling Argentine to Barstow, with a time-critical load, departed on the 16th of the month, to be scheduled with highest priority.

[Hiroe]

Started on an ex-RBOX CN paper-service car:
Based on: http://www.rr-fallenflags.org/cn/cna412443agd.jpg (yeah, the rib spacing/count is wrong, but i'll live.)

Hiroe, the car in your prototype photo is a Pullman-Standard, the model is an ACF - but CN actually did have some that were ACF built. CN had a couple of sub series in the 412xxx range with cars built by P-S, ACF, FMC, Berwick etc.

(None of the 5 photos on the link below are in RBOX paint, but these are all ex-RBOX)
http://freight.railfan.ca/cgi-bin/search.pl?display=short&keywords=CNA+412665-412764

......Durp.

If i had known CN had some EX-Rbox ACF cars, you can bet i'd have gone in that direction. Oh well, good thing i only got one side done. (P-S cars do exist in O, but they're tough to find still in kit form.)

[Ian MacMillan]

Just some concrete and rock work for me. Also got a bunch more track down but now I have run out....damn

I need to add the bridge shoes and the backer to the shelf for the shoes and then install the bridge


The start of some rockwork.

[Philip H]

LOVE the reatining wall graphiti!

[Roger Holmes]

I have seen Skytop Bill Denton's modules in person and they are fantastic, particularily the ground cover (of course not overlooking the great scratchbuilt structures).

Tom Mann--Thank goodness that wall section is a photograph.  I know that you are great at weathering but it was sensory overload to think that you had created that wall from scratch.

Hyperion--Nice tutorial on the naming of trains.  You know there is a musical totally based on the naming of CATS.   Hmmmmm, maybe a project for my upcoming retirement

Ian-Nice graffiti, Mr. Policeman ;D

Me--I've spent two weeks putting Amtrak decals on two Kato RDC's after converting to DCC.  That's how slow my modeling has been this summer.  Perhaps I'll have photos by Fall.

[GaryHinshaw]

The modeling on display here is truly inspiring.

oakcreekco, if I get bored I'll get in touch.    As it stands, I wish there were 48 hours per day!

Tim, the Interstate trailer is a stock Deluxe 53' trailer that is still readily available.  If you're looking to do a different prototype, Microscale has set 60-4234, but it's currently out of stock.  Your own trailer work is top notch, BTW.   

Mike, definitely modern (bring on those GEVO's!).  The only question in my mind is whether I'll stick to ~2009 or change with the times -- probably the latter.  Unlike Z, there are a lot of good trailers in N now -- the biggest gap in the modern fleet is anything UPS.  I wish they'd get over their trademark restrictions.

Hiroe, it's N scale.  Thanks.

Hyperion, great tutorial.  What would the "Kaiser Hauler" coil steel train be classified as?  A normal manifest?

I'll post something in the detailing section with a few more photos so I don't forget what I did.  Thanks for the feedback.

-gfh

[Hyperion]

Hyperion, great tutorial.  What would the "Kaiser Hauler" coil steel train be classified as?  A normal manifest?

Guess it depends on what you call the "Kaiser Hauler", as I'm not entirely certain what you mean.

When running mixed to/from Barstow, the train is IDd as an M-train.  It's the M-BARKAI (symbols aren't technically hyphenated in the system, but they're often typed with one).  

But when the steel is running as a solid Unit train to Pittsburg (I think that's where it was going, been a while since I've been in Barstow for an extended time), those get the "U" symbol.  That's the U-KAIPIT.