Weekend Update 2/18/24

[up1950s]

https://www.google.com/search?q=RS4-tc&tbm=isch&ved=2ahUKEwjDreP5laeEAxU8OlkFHUkOBZAQ2-cCegQIABAA&oq=RS4-tc&gs_lp=EgNpbWciBlJTNC10Y0iNclCbClimYHAAeACQAQGYAU2gAZIHqgECMTe4AQzIAQD4AQGKAgtnd3Mtd2l6LWltZ6gCAMICCBAAGIAEGLEDwgIFEAAYgATCAgoQABiABBiKBRhDwgINEAAYgAQYigUYQxixA8ICBBAAGB7CAgYQABgIGB6IBgE&sclient=img&ei=wMbKZcPNJrz05NoPyZyUgAk&bih=911&biw=1920&hl=en

https://www.thedieselshop.us/BrandX%20EndCabs.HTML

https://hawkinsrails.net/preservation/rrwx/rrwx_diesels.html

https://www.mtdemocrat.com/prospecting/railtown-1897-to-honor-veterans-with-free-train-rides-on-veterans-day/article_12c5d664-751f-578a-b00b-d35697a329b6.html

https://switchmanimages.com/collections/all/shortline?page=1

https://biglittlerr.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2012-08-09T02:26:00-04:00

https://www.nycmodeltransit.org/third-rail.htm

https://trainmuseum.org/

https://picryl.com/media/steam-mobile-crane-no-225-at-the-hillside-railway-workshops-dunedin-atlib-315003-4e351e?zoom=true

Started early so I can try to fix what Spectrum broke in my house 1/2 hour ago .

[Dave V]

Finished the snow shed for Lizard Head Pass on my HOn3 RGS.

[thomasjmdavis]

The predecessors of the RS-4-TC were built by Davenport (18 units built for the US Army), and one is pictured on p 371 of the Second Diesel Spotter's Guide. Generally similar, but lots of variations.

[Roger Holmes]

I haven't posted in over a year not because I haven't been building anything but because I hate to take photos and up load them.
When I last posted I was working on the Chicago Board of Trade Building which started as a Custom Model Railroads City Hall cut in half vertically and stacked.  Cutting all of the walls in half was a challenge since they are acrylic and prone to shattering when sawn in two.

 

The distinctive statue of Ceres, Goddess of Grain, was carved from a piece of Evergreen strip.
 





Here is the finished building on the layout at the end of LaSalle Street ready for all of the Amtrak riders and commuters arriving at the south end of Union Station to see.  Like all of my Chicago buildings this is not an exact copy but is meant to evoke the image of the actual building.

Because I can't type more than a few paragraphs without losing them in the Cloud or somewhere I will post other projects separately.

[Roger Holmes]

Part Two.  In 2022 I finished the Chicago Art Institute which was built in large part from several CMR Union Station kits.





Here is a photo of the North end of the Art Institute with the AON Building  (formerly the Standard Oil Building) to the North.



My version of the AON Building built from several CMR Waverly Tower kits.



In an unrelated project, I moved the Merchandise Mart to its proper place on the Chicago River to free up some real estate for the project in Part Three.

[Roger Holmes]

Part Three.  In 1929  The Methodist Church (now the United Methodist Church) built the Chicago Temple Building in the Loop.  The lower floors featured a 500 seat sanctuary where my cousin and his wife were married after he returned from WW II.  The upper floors house professional offices.

In 1952 the 30 seat Sky Chapel was built on the roof to honor the late patriarch of the Walgreen's family. (The now international Walgreen's chain was founded in Chicago). 



I built my Sky Chapel from a lot of Evergreen strips, brass windows from Ratio ( a British company), railings are Plastruct N scale ladders mounted horizontally plus parts from an Atlas HO church kit.



Here it is on the workbench mounted on top of a CMR Fyfe Building.



Finally, as installed on the layout across from the Picasso statue which is where to actual building is located.

[peteski]

That is some incredible structure modeling Roger!  What a great looking (and pretty accurate) city scene!  Unique to your layout.
I still remember printing out some signs for you few years back. Nice to know that I had a tiny bit of involvement in this amazing layout.   

[TrainCat2]

So that’s what you did with the rest of the Fyfe kit Roger. Very Nice. I’d love to hear how you made the arches on the top story of the DPM building.

[Roger Holmes]

Part Four.  Finally worked on something other than a building when I built a flat car load based on a photo on page 21 of Keith Kohlmann's great book, "Freight Car Loads," from MR.  The Elgin streetsweepers are from @Rasputen and decals are from a K4 EJ&E HO covered hopper sheet. All of the wheels are blocked with wooden chocks and I need to add some tie downs.

I grew up about 10 miles East of Elgin on the Milwaukee Road commuter line which passed the Elgin Watch factory.







A few more buildings on  the workbench related to the Art Institute.  I'll try not to wait another year to post!

[bigdawgks]

Finished a pair of ESM Strick trailers this week. These are nice kits, the print quality is great and they're pretty easy to clean up. The only part I found a bit tedious was applying all the decals for the marker lights. They're barely visible too in the end, so I'm not sure they're worth the struggle.

[u18b]

Richie,
I liked the train tombstone.
LOL.
Thanks.

[nkalanaga]

bigdawgks:  For vehicle marker lights I usually use a sharpened toothpick and red/orange craft paint.  Sharpen it until you get a dot the size you want, a little practice makes it easy to get about the same size every time.

Roger:  If you posts disappear while typing, have you tried typing them in Wordpad, or another text editing program, then pasting the finished post into Railwire?

[bbussey]

I was going to suggest something similar on the marker lights.  The decals are there to make things a little easier, and they are needed for the odd-shaped brake lights.  But a dab of Testors brakelight red and turn-signal yellow with a toothpic will give a comparable result as well.

[BCR 570]

Great structure work Roger!

During this past week I got the layout prepared for a return to operations.  I'll post photos from tonight's op session tomorrow but for now here is a Work Extra engaged in track cleaning:






I also made considerable progress on my CN C-424 this week, completing all of the additions to the carbody.

This front view shows the new headlight for the nose drilled out and installed, corner grab irons formed and installed, drop grab irons on the nose, and the bell and horn behind the cab:




At the rear, the rear light drilled and installed, corner grab irons formed and installed, and drop grab irons:




Cab details are next.


Tim

[Dwight in Toronto]

Roger - thanks for a wee walk down memory lane, “in miniature”.

I got transferred from Toronto to Chicago for a one year stint back in 1989/90.  Lived in a nice rental home in Elk Grove Village, and my wife and I, along with our (then 4 & 6 year old) kids spent just about every Saturday exploring the far reaches of the entire city.  Learned a lot about the architecture and what made the various buildings unique and distinct.

We enjoyed every minute of our time there, and have been back several times over the years.  Great memories.