Weekend Update 6-15-2008

[John]

Happy Fathers Day!

I finally have all the track in on the new addition. Yesterday I spent a few hours dropping and soldering feeders every few feet, and wiring for block detection.

Today, I will spend with my Son, a couple of Corona's and a few steaks on the BBQ

[Puddington]

I just played trains..........

It doesn't run anymore....... not since sometime in the 1960's..... yet when it did no one ever gave it a second thought....It was a secondary train, officially called "train 22". It ran from the Okanagan Valley, through the Kettle Valley and eventually into Vancouver. The locals dubbed it "The Okanagan Rattler"....or sometimes just the "okie"..... maybe in deference to the odd mixture of equipment; the less than mainline track it traversed and the backwater scenes that it aforded one.....
The Okie is a product of my imagination; but many "okies" ran all over Canada on secondary lines and performed valuable; if not unspectacular duties.....

My "Okie" will have an eclectic mixture of equipment; and as I was having some fun just runing trains, I put together my first "okie"....



"Wow".... modern power.... often the "okie" will run with a C Liner or FA1... maybe even a 16-44..... whatever can be found....(I finally gave my IMRC FP7 a spin..... works as one would expect...)



Older than the crew members.... together, this baggage - express is rocking across the rails......



A combine... that's different..... added at Puddington Valley it will head to Vancouver for the first time in along time......



Two smoothside coaches; relatively new to boot......must be headed for Vancouver to be used on class 1 trains..usually we see older heavyweights...............



A business car; actually being used to host a group of potash executives having been switched in Calgary and added to the Okie in Penticton ends our consist...... bye bye Okie, see you on the return trip !

[TrainCat2]

Worked on my latest caboose, SP C-30-6 Bay Window on Fri eve and Sat.



Now I'll spend the rest of the day with the family that is coming over.

[3rdrail]

Slowly plugging away on my swing bridge. Have got all the parts for the bases cut out, now have to scribe lines on all of them representing timbers. Have gotten the ends done.

Finally got the last car I had been seeking on eBay yesterday. Five days priority mail from North Dakota.

No photos, been busy scanning and adding prototype photos to Picasa.

[DKS]

Built a little 8" x 10" diorama so I had a decent setting for shooting rolling stock and structures. Made use of my proof-of-concept handlaid code 25 test track.



Needs vegetation--will become the test bed for a static grass applicator.

[bobcat]

Not much train wise, just got my new Fox Valley Trinity RD-4 NS hoppers, 24 in all from Chuck this week and I changed the wheels out for metal ones.

Outside of trains, I participated in the NYAPT Suffolk County School Bus Safety Road-eo yesterday and took rookie of the year and first place overall. Now I have to go to Albany in July and compete in the State Road-eo.

[wm3798]

I had planned to work on the house, scraping paint and getting yet another of my 33 windows prepped for paint... Then the postman came...
Skip Barber had contacted me a couple of weeks ago about some surplus hoppers he had, and made me an offer that was hard to refuse.  But I had no idea he was talking about 42 55 ton cars!!  (Thanks Skip!)

Well, when that package arrived, any other plans I had went right out the window.  I quickly surveyed the decal supply, and found I had enough steam era WM decals to do 5 hoppers in the old round herald.  Out came the giant can of Oxide Red, and what had been Norfolk Southern quickly became fodder for the car shops at Elkins.



I used ancient and venerable Northeast Decal sets I've had in my possession for over 20 years.  A little schpritz of decal finish and they were as good as new!  One mistake I made was to apply the Dullcote out on the porch... it was pretty humid last night, and the paint hadn't fully cured.  A couple of weathering washes will fix that white haze.  Although, it did give me a good "fade coat" to start with.

Once completed I pulled out the handful of steam era rolling stock I have and staged a little "Photo Freight"...  A little manipulation of the color balance, and it's the fabulous '50's again!











This is a little preview of our proposed "Steam Night"...
Have a great Father's Day everyone...

Lee

[davefoxx]

This is a little preview of our proposed "Steam Night"...

Darn, Lee!  You're making me seriously consider the Walthers C&O Berkshire on sale at Kleins.

Dave

[Iain]

Lee, you ruined perfectly good NS hoppers with WM paint?

Then again, I already have all the road numbers currently available.

[Bob Bufkin]

Lee:

How close is the Athern Challenger to the WM's?  I know it was used mainly for helper service but wouldn't a Challenger look great with a bunch of those hoppers behind?

Bob

[wm3798]

Actually, it was the 900's that were used for helpers between Port Covington and Hanover on the Dutch Line.  The Challengers (1200 series) were used in main line service on the Connellsville Sub and between Hagerstown and Cumberland.  While they weren't the powerful pullers that the 1100 Decapods and 1400 Potomacs were, they were race horses.

If the Athearn is similar to the old Rivarossi model, it's pretty close to the WM's, although it will require a nose job to really look the part.  Here's a Rivarossi I converted for the WMRHS layout in Union Bridge...



I added the vertical air tanks and the radiator behind the headlight, and reworked the grab irons.  I also added the plow pilot.  The Rivarossi model was offered in WM paint, so I didn't have to do much beyond the smokebox, although there are some other reworks that could be done to really nail the WM version.

Yeah, too bad I have zero use for NS hoppers... But I'll be thinking of you, Iain, with each pass of the Oxide Red paint ;D.

Lee

[cv_acr]

Was feeling kinda bored yesterday, so I went down to the model club with my camera and tripod.

[TrainCat2]

Nice Wagontop Chris.

[cv_acr]

Nice Wagontop Chris.

Can't really take the credit for it, but thanks.  CP rented a lot of oddball power in the 70s and 80s, and that F-unit was modelled after one that was photographed on the CPR in the 70s.

None of the power in the photos was actually built by me, I just took the picture.

[wm3798]

Since I more or less had today all to myself, I started my next hopper project with thanks again to Skip.

Like the WM, I have endeavored to rebuild some 55 Ton Hoppers into 70T capacity cars. During the 1960's, the WM shops at Elkins rebuilt and enlarged hundreds of hopper cars to increase efficiency. On the left is the original 55 T car, and on the right is the rebuild in progress.

Based on the process I'm using, it'll take three cars to net two completed cars.  I figure I have the stamina to do 10, and if I work two at a time, it shouldn't be too bad.  I'll post a tutorial when I have some time to pull it together.  This was a one-off "proof of concept" project.


This is as far as I got.  Unfortunately, my luck on scavenging decals ran out.  Roland... Expect an e-mail shortly!

Lee