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

[p51]

Dude, you’re totally going to have to name me in your Will.  😉

You wouldn't believe the notebook I have with a bunch of original ET&WNC paperwork, tickets, postcards and original photos. Even ET&WNC master historian Johnny Graybeal was surprised at some of the stuff I had in that binder when I showed it to him during the Narrow Gauge convention last month.
I need to write down where a few things I own should go once I kick off, and I guess all my ET&WNC shout either go to the Avery County museum (home of the Linville depot and caboose 505) or maybe the museum in Johnson City that houses that massive ET&WNC layout in HOn3?

There was a bridge that stood near Grant Town, WV that was destroyed in a flood back in the 1980's. My stepmom has part of one of the boards from the bridge. She painted the build date and the date it was destroyed on it and has hung it on their back porch. Might be something to do with yours.

That's not a bad idea but I don't want to paint anything on it. I dearly wish it had some of the original paint but it's an interior piece, not exterior. I think I'll write on it with a pencil as to what it is and where it came from.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Don't mess with the artifact!
Make a tag and keep it with it.

[p51]

Don't mess with the artifact!
Make a tag and keep it with it.

Yeah, I was thinking of something like that. What I've been thinking of writing on the back of it in pencil as to what it is, just in case it ever gets removed from any tag or mounting and becomes a piece of wood to someone down the road with no context (and would surely be thrown away at that point).
What I'd like to do it find a way to mount it on a board with a plaque stating what it's from. And if I can ever find a good photo of 434 in service*, I'd mount it to that as well.

*as few good photos seem to have been taken of this boxcar, maybe I'd use a photo of the restored boxcar today.

[p51]

I just got this in the mail today, a piece of siding off ET&WNC caboose # 505. It was removed as part of the restoration effort at the Avery County museum in Newland, NC and sent to me by the gentleman who restored the caboose:


I swear I was cackling to myself with joy from the mailbox once I realized what was inside the envelope!

And here's my own model of this caboose, made from a Deerfield River Laser kit, sitting atop part of the real thing:

[davefoxx]

What do you think is the age of that piece of siding?  If it was really old, I would have expected more quartersawn grain.

DFF

[p51]

What do you think is the age of that piece of siding?  If it was really old, I would have expected more quartersawn grain.

I don't have a clue. I doubt it had anything added to the car later than the mid 40s, as the finish on the car looked terrible by the end of WW2. The siding, I'm told, matched all the other siding on the car, so I have no reason to believe it was added by a later owner and is original to the caboose at least at the time they stopped running at the end of 1950.

[p51]

Last night, I finally mounted original pieces of ET&WNC caboose 505 and boxcar 434 into a shadow box frame. I attached them to the back board with short wood screws screwed in from behind. I then printed out photos of each car onto cardstock and glued them in place with rubber cement. I took down some stuff that was hanging above my chalkboard and placed the finished frame there. You'd see them upon walking down the hall headed into the room.

I still have that 19” long piece of the 434, so I think I’m going to run a wire behind that to hang on the wall over the original spike I also have framed.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

I really like that! Looks great.

[mu26aeh]

Without flipping thru the pages, not sure if this was posted here or not.  Found it after @Ed Kapuscinski sent me a link for another of their videos

[p51]

Been taking more photos this weekend, and most of you know how I like recreating period photos…
Train time at the ET&WNC's grade crossing for Stoney Creek Road at Sadie, Tennessee on a sweltering August in 1943 as number 12 brings in a coal train:

[p51]

And here is the last layout shot of 2022...

[p51]

Just finished this today, a water tank made from a Bachmann On30 2-6-0 tender shell and a water plug set with some detail parts.
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You know the can-shaped filler covers those tenders come with?
I made it into a butt can for 'B' company's HQ.
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[p51]

I changed the water tank just a little. First, I moved the tank to where the drain hung over the end. I then placed a barrel underneath that spot and put a ladder adjacent to it. I then placed a bunch of Scenic Express super turf under the platform to represent where no people would tread and then likely affect of water dripping there over time.
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[southernman]

I’ve been working the Johnson City area most of the week (JC, Erwin,Piney Flats,Elizabethton). Can’t remember exactly where I was but I saw someone hauling a military jeep and trailer made me think of this thread.  I think it was on University or State of Franklin  somewhere in that area anyway.

[p51]

A couple days ago, a good friend of mine got a huge batch of letters from railroads from a guy in the 40s who wrote to railroads all over the country asking for timetables. Among them was a 1942-dated letter from the East Tennessee & Western North Carolina. Better still, it says enclosed was timetable number 119 from 1940. in an amazing coincidence, I HAVE one of those! So once Robert gave me to the letter, I had to place them side-by-side:

I’ve been working the Johnson City area most of the week (JC, Erwin,Piney Flats,Elizabethton). Can’t remember exactly where I was but I saw someone hauling a military jeep and trailer made me think of this thread.  I think it was on University or State of Franklin  somewhere in that area anyway.

There are a few in the area. My Dad's first car was a 1942 Ford GPW Jeep, which grandpa sold out from under him when he went into the USAF at the end of the 50s. God knows where it is today and I'd dearly love to know if it's still around.