Weekend Update 9/18/11

[Philip H]

Russ gives his G-scale fingers a shot at running some N scale trains...


...and tonight's funny caption contest.

@ pic #1 - well now, I finally know what the dark side looks like . . . and its mighty bright.

@pic#2 - Ok Russ, one more time:  Tab A goes into Slot B . . . .

No modeling for me this weekend - but got the Mac Book up and running, and I have to say I like the various apps for photos.  Didn't get to do much other playing - had a fence to take down, some other things to build for the house.

I did notice a fully loaded panel track train behind Franklin's on Route 1 in Hyattsville complete with Burro crane.  Hopefully pics tonight if it hasn't moved.

[conrail98]

Nothing for me. Spent the weekend in beautiful Raleigh with a bunch of developers at a conference after taking Amtrak down and back (currently going back right now). Drinking downtown was fun. Lee, I never made it to your recommended place, passed too many other watering holes that were, um, very well "sceniced". I hear the CRHS crew kept an eye on my dad at the BBQ and kept him out of trouble, for the most part, so thanks!

Phil

[chuck geiger]

"The clouds we painted by Mr. Hoopledink, he was my 5th grade art teacher"

[davidgray1974]

Nothing for me. Spent the weekend in beautiful Raleigh with a bunch of developers at a conference after taking Amtrak down and back (currently going back right now). Drinking downtown was fun. Lee, I never made it to your recommended place, passed too many other watering holes that were, um, very well "sceniced". I hear the CRHS crew kept an eye on my dad at the BBQ and kept him out of trouble, for the most part, so thanks!

Phil

I love Raleigh and wouldn't live anywhere else.  Your right, downtown has a lot of great "sceniced" watering holes.  Which ones did you hit?

[Smike]

Wow, some really nice work by everyone again this week!

I am very close to completing a pair of Reading and Northern SD40-2's for duty on my CP D&H division around Scranton:







My best,

Jan

Awesome... love when I see someone with the home team Motive Power. I assume custom painted? They look great. Also whats cool is you can pull just about any coal car behind them, since their Anthracite export business has exploded and they use NS Top Gons, 90 ton ex CR, and they also purchased a fleet of Silver bethgons with yellow ends.

[jsoflo]

Thanks Smike!

Yes, I custom painted these, one from a mid-production Kato undecorated shell and the other I repainted a CP SD40-2 snoot after stripping the shell the best I could. I had tried using the decals from the micro scale RBMN sheets, cutting and splicing but the lettering was too long and extended too far down the long hood and I did not have all the road numbers I needed for the RBMN snoot, so I ordered a custom set for the long hood, road numbers, and website logo. The one thing I was not able to correct was the safety striping on the rear of the long hood, the stripes are too thin and there are too many of them, but I can live with it. I added sunshades to both and weathered them. On my CP D&H division (obviously set in winter) I plan to use these mostly for export coal for interchange with NS (who takes it on to Baltimore from what I have been told), and I have been putting together a fleet of NS, Conrail and RBMN coal gons. The only thing missing right now is a horn for the non-snoot unit, I just have to order one and install it.

I like the paint scheme on the SD40-2's far more than the scheme used on the SD50's for some reason, so I junked the SD50 shell and did these!
All my best,
Jan

[Smike]

Thanks Smike!

Yes, I custom painted these, one from a mid-production Kato undecorated shell and the other I repainted a CP SD40-2 snoot after stripping the shell the best I could. I had tried using the decals from the micro scale RBMN sheets, cutting and splicing but the lettering was too long and extended too far down the long hood and I did not have all the road numbers I needed for the RBMN snoot, so I ordered a custom set for the long hood, road numbers, and website logo. The one thing I was not able to correct was the safety striping on the rear of the long hood, the stripes are too thin and there are too many of them, but I can live with it. I added sunshades to both and weathered them. On my CP D&H division (obviously set in winter) I plan to use these mostly for export coal for interchange with NS (who takes it on to Baltimore from what I have been told), and I have been putting together a fleet of NS, Conrail and RBMN coal gons. The only thing missing right now is a horn for the non-snoot unit, I just have to order one and install it.

I like the paint scheme on the SD40-2's far more than the scheme used on the SD50's for some reason, so I junked the SD50 shell and did these!
All my best,
Jan

Again great job, I do agree and like the 40-2' over the SD50's they have. If you haven't seen them you can read about their expanding export ops in their newsletter, some cool photos as well. http://www.readingnorthern.com/news.shtml

When *sigh* I built a permanent layout, I will be basing it around this short line, as it connects with several class 1's, tons of different industries, while having awesome scenery to boot. I also did some bungee jumping off their Hometown High Bridge many years ago (this was before the days when you go to just about any theme park and trade 5 tickets for a jump and pyuke up all the junk food)