Weekend Update 10/26/25

[rickb773]

Stratford Knights of Columbus - John Paul II Regional School - Train Show

New Jersey Southern M.R.C. has a 10'x10' N-Trak display layout set up at Saturday's Stratford, NJ train show.
Here are photos of a few of the modules:







The junk yard work shop contains a flickering blue light imitating a welder working inside





Ted Kidd, a core club member, recently passed away.

[NorthWestGN]

Finished my GN Salmo station build for now, it’ll get a few more details and a foundation when it get’s mounted into still to be built scenery…



The roof was done with a laser printed , enlarged print from a file I posted in my layout thread, trimmed and glued down then coloured with powdered black and brown chalks…

Brent

[Iain]

[ Guests cannot view attachments ]

Doing some more weathering, n-possible couplers, and detail upgrades.

Since the 'prototype' for this car was likely an Athearn blue box, I felt I could take some artistic license with it, to include PRR crown trucks and metal roofwalk.

[Dave V]

The HOn3 RGS took delivery of yet another K-27.

I already have RGS 455, but I have the version after the 1943 runaway wreck when 455 became a mud missile coming off Dallas Divide. The train had--among other carloads--Mancos coal consigned to our wartime ally, the Soviet Union. Word is the train was too heavy, and too many brake applications meant there wasn't enough pressure in the train line when it was needed, and, well... The 455 was almost unrecognizable after the wreck, and took until 1947 to be placed back in service. When she was, she sported a cut-down standard gauge cab and a cut-down standard gauge tender tank from a D&RGW standard gauge engine. The result was a one-of-a-kind ugly duckling that screams RGS resourcefulness and poverty, to wit:



But I've always preferred what RGS 455 looked like before the wreck. She was obtained from the D&RGW in a trade in 1939 for RGS ditcher #030. For the first two years, RGS 455 retained her DENVER & RIO GRANDE WESTERN lettering, but the RGS painted out the "toilet seat" Moffatt Tunnel/Royal Gorge herald. Then, in 1941, 455 emerged from Ridgway shops with the first ever application of the now-famous RGS "sunrise herald" applied not with traditional white paint, but what is surmised to be leftover aluminum Galloping Goose paint:



(Photo by Richard B. Jackson, provided to me by William Reed)

So, today I received Blackstone's #455 painted in the earlier D&RGW "Royal Gorge" scheme with--ick--a green boiler. K-27s varied quite a bit with both inboard and outboard cylinders, different pilots, tender details, etc., so I felt it important to start with the real 455. Anyway, I ran her around a bit and she runs like Balckstone...which is to say perfectly. Not sure when painting will begin, but soon enough she'll sport the RGS sunrise herald and--missing from the photo I shared but applied in 1942--her wartime "DEFENSE SUPPLIES CORPORATION" stencils.

[garethashenden]

I have been slowly working on laying track, wiring, and setting up turnout mechanisms. No individual day's work feels like enough to post, but as a whole there is progress.

[basementcalling]

I knew I wanted to use IKEA Ivar components for bench work for a new shelf style switching layout, but had been dreading the traffic on I95 to get to their store, and the tariffs impact on prices.  Earlier this week, a friend from college posted on the book of faces he was downsizing to move to a new condo, and had a ton of Ivar shelving he couldn't take.

So I drove to help him pack and load up my truck with all the Ivar I could carry in the bed of my Tacoma. He said I could toss anything I couldn't use, and the price was free.

Some times you luck into a good deal. Much better than going to Timonium today.

[ Guests cannot view attachments ]

I don't know why the photo is showing up rotated 90 degrees left. Grrr.

[craigolio1]

I started on the lighting wiring harnesses for 3716.



More in the build thread.

https://www.therailwire.net/forum/index.php?topic=59965.45

Craig.

[dandopinski]

More work on the GP40s. Added radiator fans and grills, and custom cut black decal paper for the tops of the cabs noses.

[John]

I couldn’t make timonium show this time due to family obligations, but with the help,from a friend @sizemore I finally got a WM circus scheme SD35 I purchased many years ago  on the rails.  My shell was undecorated un-numbered from the factory, so I was looking for decals, but Tim kindly offered to swap shells for one he had duplicates of. 

I used a digitrax dn147ao and a TCS nscale size keep alive.  . Runs great.  The DN147 decoders have specific pads to solder the keep alive wires. 

[LARGEdrop]

Nice detail work!!

More work on the GP40s. Added radiator fans and grills, and custom cut black decal paper for the tops of the cabs noses.

[dandopinski]

Thanks you!

[Slim Rail Mike]

Did some repair and maintenance on one of the free-mo-n module. A rail got snagged an pulled up. It obviously wasn’t soldered down right. It is now.   

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Timonium show weekend!

I heard there were a bunch of great deals to be had, but I behaved myself.

Instead, I got to do my favorite thing at a show: find a new manufacturer!

It's funny, but I had just been looking at their stuff on Etsy last week, then I'm walking along and whoa! "I recognize those!". I talked with the lady and she was awesome. Her husband got into doing it by making miniatures for wargaming and then realized the crossover potential. She said they were at Altoona too. Importantly, I talked with her about the importance of doing their military stuff "in travel configuration".

I could've easily dropped $1000 on their decorated models. They were beautiful. But I'm still digging out of the last year, so I opted for the DIY options.

Check them out: https://igmakes.com/



















I shot a photo of my V&O MoW train too, but god damn does the Cow Palace lighting suck.



After the show some friends came over for a layout visit. I ran my "parlor trick" for them: Stewartstown #10 with the @Jim Starbuck treatment.

[randgust]

More work on the GP40s. Added radiator fans and grills, and custom cut black decal paper for the tops of the cabs noses.

You can imagine how surprised I was when I saw a lashup of three of those wide cab, four window Canadian units doing industrial switching in El Dorado, AR, crossing the road in front of me - in WATCO paint, units 4010, 4005, 4020.   I'd never seen one before.

[Tad_T]

You can imagine how surprised I was when I saw a lashup of three of those wide cab, four window Canadian units doing industrial switching in El Dorado, AR, crossing the road in front of me - in WATCO paint, units 4010, 4005, 4020.   I'd never seen one before.

That would be interesting to see in El Dorado.