Weekend Update 10/24/10

[up1950s]

Show and tell time again

[up1950s]

Starting to turn the handsome but inaccurate Bachmann UP 2-8-0 , into a good enough prototypically correct UP 535 as it was in 1957 .
 

 

[John]

Looking good .. are you putting in the sunroof on the cab?


For me, spending some time building Traincat signals and wiring in SE8Cs

[up1950s]

Looking good .. are you putting in the sunroof on the cab?


For me, spending some time building Traincat signals and wiring in SE8Cs

Thanks John , yes , and other things .

[davefoxx]

This week, I decided that it's time to build a new hollow core door layout.  To do it justice, my plan is to model a short line, which should be easier to replicate plausibly on a HCD.  Since I used to live in North Carolina and have always had an affection for railroads of the southeastern U.S., that area became my focus.  I picked up a copy of Kalmbach's magazine, "Locomotives," several days ago and inside was a several-page-long article on the Aberdeen & Rockfish RR.  Riddle solved.

The A&R matches my goals perfectly, because most of the locomotives it uses today were purchased in the 1960s, so I can model from the late '60s through the present day, using the same locomotives, if I ignore certain details that changed over the years, such as ditch lights.  The A&R interchanges with NS (ex-SOU) and CSX (ex-SBD, exx-SAL and exx-ACL), among a couple of other short lines, so I can use a lot of rolling stock that I already have on hand.  At this point, I'm thinking of focusing on the early 1980s, so I can use my SBD and SCL rolling stock and locos in interchange.  I also found a Southern B23-7 in my collection that has hardly ever been out of the box and can now find use.  Nice.

This was also made easy by Atlas, who has produced two GP38s and one GP7 in the last few years decorated in A&R colors.  Scrounging on the internet, I finally found them.  The operating department received its first locomotive on the property yesterday:



Also on order are another GP38 (#400), GP7 (#205), a boxcar and two gons.  That should get a reasonable sized fleet, including many freight cars I already own, for a HCD layout.  Next up, research, track planning, and building the table.

Have a great week,
Dave Foxx

[Dave V]

No modeling for me this weekend.

I'm sitting at the gate at Omaha Epply Airfield on my way to Ft Walton Beach, FL to find a new home for the Juniata Division.  And the family.  In that order.

[DKS]

No modeling for me this week; too much real life to deal with at the moment. I did however make the decision to build a small rail-serviced factory; inspiration came from the one below, which is the B.S.A. Works in Birmingham, U.K. The architectural style is called "Model Factory" and it's a perfect example of many thousands of very similar structures built in the early 20th Century all over the world. I chose this one because it was small and interesting yet generic, and I was able to obtain a high-res image of it for study courtesy of the kind folks at Made In Birmingham (http://www.madeinbirmingham.org).



More details on the "Model Factory" architectural style:

http://industryinform.wordpress.com/2009/09/24/2-3-over-here-the-“model”-factory-and-influence-from-the-usa/

More images and details on the modeling project: http://jamesriverbranch.net/project_26.htm

[up1950s]

No modeling for me this weekend.

I'm sitting at the gate at Omaha Epply Airfield on my way to Ft Walton Beach, FL to find a new home for the Juniata Division.  And the family.  In that order.

Wow , that was then just a whiplash stay in Nebraska . The beer bottle half full is winter is coming and I have yet to see snow on a Alligator .

[Dave V]

@Richie, two and a half years is about par.  My tours have ranged from 20 months to 2.5 years.  I expect roughly 2.5 years in FL.

[Sokramiketes]

RPM-Naperville was this weekend.  MiNi Modutrak setup along side the HO Modutrak layout in the display room.




I did put a few passenger trains on display:



Back to front, ATSF Fast Mail, UP/Milw City of Los Angeles, ATSF combined Super Chief-El Capitan, and ATSF San Francisco Chief in honor of Chuck's Giants.

[BCR 570]

I have been painting new benchwork each day this past week - almost done.


Meanwhile, Engine 632 now has working ditch lights as well as independent front and rear headlights:




Next up is final details, handrails, touch up paint and weathering.


Tim

[Puddington]

No modeling...no sleep...no beer...little food..........family..who ? It's just working on the municipal campaign of my candidate. Monday's the election. Tuesday is sleep....................

[daniel_leavitt2000]

Elections on Monday? 

We still have two more weeks of stupid campaign commercials here.

[Bob Bufkin]

Not the commercials which bother me but all those roadside signs polluting the landscape which never seem to be taken down after elections.

[Puddington]

Elections on Monday? 

We still have two more weeks of stupid campaign commercials here.

Municipal elections across Ontario.....the "minor league" morons... the mid level should be in the next year (Province) and heaven knows when the major league knuckleheads will call an election (I have developed a significant distain for political types.......oops, I am one !)