Weekend Update 12-14-2008

[John]

Another week has gone by. Show us what you've done.

For me, some more track and hard shell work. I also delivered modules to the B&O museum on Wednesday

[Scott Lupia]

Early February in Andover. Fresh snowfall from the night before and the morning rush hour is in its height. An Eastbound local headed for Hoboken is rushing underneath the New Jersey Cut-off at track speed. The Fairbanks Morse Trainmaster has no problem keeping schedule with the three Boonton Line cars in tow. Only the deer were on hand to witness this sight this day.

This shot was one of the many I took of this scene for the Cover of Railroad Model Craftsman when my layout was featured. I always loved this scene. It really shows what the railroad scene was all about in the 50's in Northwest New Jersey.

Scott Lupia

[up1950s]

About 1967 Atlas did a 5 axle C-Liner . Its shell resembles the CPA 20-5 which only the LIRR had , more than the CPA 24-5 which was owned by the LIRR and other roads . I picked up mine from eBay about a year ago . After giving up on a repower bash , and being that mine ran so so , I decided to modify the shell to more reflect a model than a toy . All I did was mount the pilot to the body , and added grabs and stirrups . A diaphragm buffer plate took up the rear . MT's body mounted , and a little leveling along with a horn swap and a bit of de-dishing along with a leading edge dam was needed where the horn mounts .
 
Here is the 1967 historic OEM Atlas model I started with .

 
Here is the real deal

 
Here are my results , some post modified pre paint shots are on my Picasa LIRR album .

[up1950s]

Thats a great scene Scott , you could put a hunter in orange on the hill .

[Erik W]

I’m finally back into N scale mode after many months away, first with a diversion into HOn3 with a caboose build and then into a military diorama that I just completed (see here http://therailwire.net/smf/index.php/topic,17184.0.html ).  My current project is to weather and get on the layout the handful of Micro-Trains and Trainworx D&RGW GS Gons I recently purchased.  After 2 years I finally received my corrected IMRC F7 shell so I’ll be weathering that up as well.

Erik

[SirTainly]

Wow Scott, that's a great scene! 

Richie, nice job on the C-Liner, I have a couple here I plan to tart up, hope mine turn out as well as yours.

Two weeks rolled into one here since my server was broken so I couldn't upload pictures:

Here's the start of my Z scale Christmas Decoration layout (Santa's house, Reindeer stables and the Good Elf Hotel done or started. Station and Sleigh Garage to do, then the paints, LEDs and Noch snow come out). It's a bit twee, but I'm sure it'll amuse my younger members of the family.


I lowered this last week, just awaiting some MT passenger car couplers to get that cushion underframe look. I may repaint the shell at a later date as it's thick paint and faded printing, but for the moment the aim was to correct the height.

[atsf_arizona]

One year ago, I posted this image.... since I've no time for anything new this week,
I'll share it again.

Just so all of you don't think that I am only a Santa Fe bigot....
(which I am, btw)..... here is a shot of one of my other favorite
locos, the Southern Pacific SD7/SD9 "Cadillac":



I purchased this stock Atlas SD7 N scale model off that auction site,
repaired broken Sunrise details (the 'barrel can' SP lights), then lightly
weathered with Bragdon powders and Grimy Black dry-brushed on the trucks. 

Happy Holidays, all!

[DKS]

Made a Z scale cornfield (construction is here: http://jamesriverbranch.net/project_25.htm).



Added some token interior detail on the lower level of the barn (just enough to see through the windows when the interior lights are on).



Started adding trees and greenery around the waterfall area.



Added some more light (the long strip on the left) to fill in the foreground, which was always too dark.



...and here's a before-and-after of part of the foreground to show what it does:

[up1950s]

David , that stuff is fantastic , I especially like that rock scene with the spring foliage . Reminds me of my favorite month May .

[Hyperion]

Finally finished the MP-15 (minus the windows which will have to be Krystal Klear and a broken handrail which will have to be fixed).

Decided to weather it a bit.  The first weathering I'd done in at least 5 years.  Thought it looked decent.  But the camera is oh so cruel.  The sheen will die down (the dullcote was pretty fresh), but... still.  Not even remotely as good in pictures as I was hoping.

EDIT:  The brown pilot is some sort of trick of lighting.

[Scott Lupia]

Great looking engines.  The detailing is very nice on all of the engines. 

Wow, Z-scale corn rows.  The cut stone wall next to the tunnel portal looks really nice.

Lots of really nice work here.  Thanks for showing it.

Scott Lupia

[Puddington]

Very nice work everyone - I've got a wack of those 1967 C liners.... makes me wonder what kind of evil could be wrought upon them......

Finished a rather pedestian GN BSB 48 seat coach.....



Am about 1/2 done the "Crossley Lake" Ranch Coffee shoppe car - should be ready for next week... I hope...

Finhsed weathering an A-B set of B.N. F9's....Picked these up a few years ago for a song and had them kicking around. Run not bad for Hallmark units and will be ok to lead a BN-GN-NP-CBQ-SP&S "rainbow" consist of passenger varnish.....



Here's a profile comparison with the IM F7.....



I also got surprised by my wonderful wife with a deal she got - the Lionel "Pensylvania Flyer" set (4-4-2 Atlantic loco) and the "Polar Express" set (2-8-4 Berkshire) - only run one year. Got them for a song from a fellow teacher.... like 20% of the list.... we set those up under the Xmas tree today and watched our five year old run a mixed consist at warp speed......great fun !

[DKS]

David , that stuff is fantastic , I especially like that rock scene with the spring foliage . Reminds me of my favorite month May .

Thank you! Late May/early June was indeed my target, and the trees are bright green, but not as bright as in that photo--my pocket camera really goes nuts on greens. This is a better rendition, taken with a DSLR:



800 x 1200 pixel version here: http://jamesriverbranch.net/images/081211_193514_1200M.jpg

The cut stone wall next to the tunnel portal looks really nice.

That's Chooch N scale random stone wall, the old version from decades back. The portal itself is carved out of the same stuff.

Here's a better-focused shot of the cornfield--the angle plus Helicon Focus makes it look really short.

[wm3798]

All the chatter about cab signals got me Jonesin' for some details... so I hacked up some Evergreen stock and made these...

This is Bob Bufkin's GP-30.  The box is a little crude, but it looks okay from 10,000 feet.  I also did one for my PC GP-30:


While I was rummaging around in the scrap box looking for the right dimension strip for the signal boxes, I stumbled across this...



I painted this a million years ago, but finally got around to putting some Rivarossi passenger trucks and MT couplers on it. It's an old Trix fluted coach of no fixed prototype. I painted it to match WM 1700, which I hope to do one day...

Lee

[James Costello]

Spent some time looking at utilising space in the study for a shelf layout:



Just working on the options - haven't gotten to the pros and cons yet.

Option A is what I started my thoughts on, based on one of the trackplan supplements from MR years ago called 5 Compact Track Plans, which featured a HO switching layout called The Pike City Belt Line. I've always thought it had a lot of variety and could be converted to N without too many problems.



Added an extra leg along the 6'8" wall for an intermodal yard, which I'd like to include.

Here's some of the other options:
http://www.trainboard.com/railimages/showgallery.php/cat/1481

I don't think I have the space for continuous running and I'm prepared to hold off on my desires to run long trains over the Tehachapis until I have space for the dream layout. I'd rather have a realistic and enjoyable switching layout that will keep me entertained until then. This layout could be incorporated into this, so I'm thinking of having the layout based somewhere on Espee's I-5 corridor, such as Fresno or Portland, which both had smallish intermodal facilities. I'd like to interchange with the California Northern too, so some artistic license may be required....we'll see how it goes. The dark orange areas are 12" wide with 6" increments in light orange and yellow to look as space requirements. I'd like to keep to a 24" min isle width and a max 24" layout width.

Thoughts?