East Tennessee & Western North Carolina RR ("The Tweetsie") branchline in On30

[p51]

Congratulations!

Thanks!
A highly-abridged version of the online edition can be viewed here for free at: https://www.tracksidemodelrailroading.com/current-free-edition-preview/

[Lemosteam]

Thanks!
A highly-abridged version of the online edition can be viewed here for free at: https://www.tracksidemodelrailroading.com/current-free-edition-preview/

Thanks, I have also been seeing Facebook adverts for the layout on my feed!

[p51]

Before Christmas, I bought a white wood sign that was blank at a craft sotre, with the idea of making it into a RR sign for the layout. I printed out some letters on paper last night in a typeface that existed in the 30s, then transferred that to the sign, then painted over it. I was surprised how short of a time it took (just over half an hour from the blank sign).


Eventually, I’ll hit it with some sandpaper so it’ll look like it’s older than it is, but for now I need to paint to dry for some time. Here’s how it looks for now, as you walk into the room:

[p51]

I moved the (reproduction) WW2 era posted from the far wall to the entryway, facing the 'no trespassing' sign I recently aged with sandpaper.
Below that is the builder's plate from a WW2 military flatcar. It was removed from the rotting car on a siding somewhere near Arlon, Belgium in the early 2000s. My brother (now a retired USAF LtCol, but assigned to European Command at the time) bought it from the guy at a show and recently gave it to me. I had to get created with how to hang the thing!

[p51]

In an attempt to get some shots to submit for the 2019 NMRA calendar, I took these last night. Frankly, they weren't quite wheat I was hoping for. so I'll be submitting others I'd already shot, I think...

[p51]

Over the last two days, I decided to rip up the road surface on one of to grade crossings on the layout. The road surface was a work in progress that I never liked. The real road was gravel and tar, and the black surface I had just didn't look right. So, I ripped it all up, laid in fine ballast for a new surface, let that glue dry overnight and I just finished placing paint and powder highlights to look like a well-travelled but still relatively decent road surface. I even dry-brushed signs of someone having to stop quickly for a train at the crossing the past.
These shots show the progression at the same point, in order:






And finally, a side view showing the painted detail and weathering:

[p51]

More random photos with my cell last night, just for the heck of it:

[p51]

The ET&WNC decided to put sheet metal covers over the headlights on their tenders, due to the proximity of the coal load (to keep them from being crushed when the coal bunkers were filled).
It's one of the key features of the WW2-era black paint jobs that Bachmann never addressed with their excellent models in On30.
I had made some out of black styrene sheets, heated and stretched over a brass tube the diameter needed. But the styrene was really too thick and I never liked the look (the first photo shows one atop the coal pile for comparison). Over the weekend, I got some pre-made 1/2" wide brass strips and cut/shaped them over the same tube. They dropped right into place and after some simple paint work, I had covers that looked much better than the previous ones.

Getting the fit right on # 12:



After the paint is done on the same locomotive:



I have three of these locomotives but had plenty of brass left, so I made several and used only the ones that worked out best. This is #11:

[davefoxx]

Wow, I have never noticed those shields since becoming a fan of the ET&WNC in the early 1980s when Model Railroader ran the articles on the road and from 1991 when I got my copy of Mallory Hope Farrell's book, Tweetsie Country.  I need to go back and look closer at photos of the prototype!  Nice job. 

Thanks,
DFF

[p51]

Wow, I have never noticed those shields since becoming a fan of the ET&WNC in the early 1980s when Model Railroader ran the articles on the road and from 1991 when I got my copy of Mallory Hope Farrell's book, Tweetsie Country.  I need to go back and look closer at photos of the prototype! 

Thanks, there's a lot of good info on the ET&WNC since that book was written (though I still treasure the copy I got as a teen, the first RR book I bought with my own money).
You can see the covers to some degree in these shots, all taken during the war.

[davefoxx]

I sure can see that.  I just never noticed. 

Thanks,
DFF

[p51]

I still can't believe it:

Two magazines on hobby shop shelves at the same time with articles I have written; the March/April 2018 Narrow Gauge and Short Line Gazette and the 2018 On30 Annual!

[svedblen]

Congrat's! Well done.

[p51]

More random cell shots, take last night:

[p51]

The 4X4 inch negatives were marked for July 1943 in the old, dusty box.
Sid Richardson, photographer/artist for the Elizabethton Star, was taking shots of the ET&WNC Stoney Creek branch, a rare doubleheader passing through Winner, Tennessee.
Exact date is unknown: