Weekend Update 11/6/22

[ednadolski]

This Pillsbury hopper has been waiting on awhile for some weathering so I decided to give it a go. I didn't find any prototype pictures of this one so I kind of winged it. I went a little heavier on it since it'll be a part of my potash fleet and they get roughed up quickly. I'm not 100% happy with the graffiti so I'll probably tone those down a smidge.

Nicely done!  I esp. like the rust tones and the fade on the lettering.

Agreed, MS decal tags tend to look sort of "fresh".  A bit of fade mix and a few splotches of the body color to make them look worn can help.

Ed

[Cajonpassfan]

Cajonpassfan:  I assume that the dormitory car would have the window blinds drawn, as anybody in it would probably be trying to sleep.  If so, add the blinds, which will keep people from seeing the interior, then add as much weight as you like.   Stick-on auto wheel weights fit very nicely in N scale passenger cars, and as long as the car doesn't have an interior, it should hold several ounces.

@nkalanaga that the crew may want to be sleeping when off would never have occurred to me, what I call thinking out of the box! Thanks for the suggestion!
Otto

[mu26aeh]

Paint shop is back open.  A certain group of railfans may grumble when these are finished, but I whip up what the customer wants.  Besides, a certain paint scheme was revealed recently that was fairly well received from what I saw.

[squirrelhunter]

So the Morning Sun MP freight and passenger equipment guide has 2 good color photos of the MP homebuilt express boxcars on page 9.

The MP's De Soto shops turned out 50 of these cars in 1962.they were 70'1" cars with two 9' Superior aluminum foors. The car bodies were Jenks Blue, the roofs and doors unpained aluminum. The only lettering was an MP buzzsaw in the middle of the car and the car number at one end. You could use the Microscale early Jenks blue diesel decal set to do these cars. They rode on GSC trucks like the MTL REA express reefers do. The MPHS had an article in their magaizne with a little more detail, but these cars were built for storage mail and USPS paid by the linear foot moved, so MP built a car optimized for it- 5040 ft cubic capacity, with a weight capacity of 30 tons.

[wm3798]

Sorta still the weekend...


Built the C&O Canal along the valley floor last night.  More pics in the Engineering Reports.
Lee

[RockGp40]

https://www.carloadexpress.com/railroads/delmarva-central-railroad/

I interchange with these guys all of the time from their west side. My part time employer, the MDDE, wanted this trackage when NS wanted to sub it out. Our bid was second to Carload Express. Interesting photo too as this is obviously pre-2018 and post December 2016 (when they got the contract from NS to run the Delmarva Secondary). Those loads were precast by a customer on the now defunct Bay Coast railroad. The trackage Bay Coast ran on has mostly been pulled and railbanked.

[OldEastRR]

Catwhiskers RULE, NATO! Nice work!

I'm getting ready for an upcoming op session, after a loooong pause. Finding lots of things to fix. Pic of the First Street Yard (Los Angeles staging) below,  Catwhiskers included. Also my westbound Los Angeles Limited just above Cajon Station, with an annoying habit of derailing the MT Pullman (in use as a crew dormitory car on the head end). Anyone with ideas how and where to add weight?
Fun stuff,
Otto

See you got the freight house done --- looks really good.