The Turtle Creek Central got a good deal on a used caboose. They decided to go with a new image. This Black & Yellow scheme looks just about right!
Dale Thats is some really great stuff there, really enjoy your weathering on those hoppers. I might have to try to get to weather one for me .
Paul, Looks like the TCC is coming right along. I enjoy the private road names and resurrected ones as well.
Finally got this DRGW SD45 # 5323 done today, added a bunch of details to Athearn RTR Loco re numbered it. The first photo shows it on the MRR, the rest show outside on a spool. Please forgive the horribly out of scale building and other details in the back, but I wanted to see with natural sunlight, to get and idea of how it would look. Thanks for stopping by
I'm going to need about 4 or 5 bridges on the layout I'm building. Here's a Central Valley, 200' double track job I'm working on. I've been working on this in the AM for about 30 minutes or so before getting ready for work. Chipping away at it.
Tom (and anyone else who wants to read this) The Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad purchased a total of 26 SD45's from EMD in two orders. The first was for ten in 1967, numbered from 5315 to 5324. These were delivered with the small lettering. These first ten were also delivered with the low mount brakes on the trucks. The second order, delivered in 1968, numbered 16 units, 5325 to 5340. These were also delivered in the small lettering, and hight mount brakes. Through-out their history most were out fitted with the high-mount brakes. in 1968, the Rio Grande along with Union Pacific began serving the Ksiser Steel with a joint D&RGW/UP coal train. Six of the Rio Grande unites received UP's cab-signal system. (#5326, 5327,5328 and 5336, 5337, 5338.) In September of 1968 SD45 #5337 was the first to receive the Stacked Rio Grande logo. Not all the SD45's in the Grande's barn received the new look. The official D&RGW Historical Society http://www.drgw.org/data/diesel/sd45.htm shows which units received the large lettering. SD45 #5315, 5322, 5326, 5327, 5328, 5329, 5331, 5333*, 5334, 5336, 5337, 5338, and 5340. The rest were retired with the small lettering, most in original paint. Most of these 3600 Horse Power units worked for the Rio Grande UP system from 1967 until they retired from 1994-1997. Numbers 5327, 5337 & 5338 were rebuilt as Southern Pacific SD40-2s 8680, 8682, and 8684 respectively in 1994 by Boise Locomotive Works. Several others were rebuilt for the CP as SD40M-2s. *SD45 5333 was wrecked in Crater, Colorado on Christmas 1968. When she was rebuilt, she received the stacked Rio Grande lettering on her flanks. This was also the only SD45 to receive on the nose a Grande Gold rectangle with a Black stacked Rio Grande. All other Grande units with the large lettering received the Black rectangle with the Grande Gold stacked Rio Grande. bibliography: Rio Grande Diesels a pictoral history Vol. 2 Joseph A. Strapac Rio Grande Modeling and Historical Society web site Just some information.
Thanks to all, and yes Dale there is some awesome modeling agoin on over here. Paul, thanks for the history, I skinned my knuckles working on a few of these in Denver at the Burnham shops when I worked there. Another thing about DRGW SD45's is they had water spray nozzles, that sprayed water onto the Radiators to try and cool these things down, due mainly to the tunnels, there was a separate water tank on them for that, I dont know if they were installed on every RG SD45's or not.
For me, I did not get a lot done this week, but here is some in progress work. I finished building a Walther 4427CF (Low Hip) PS Covered Hopper kit, replaced the roofwalk with a Plano metal roofwalk, Plano Brake Platform and replaced a couple of sill steps with A-Line versions along with the main air line hung under the side of the car. I use the Walther's cars as standins for the Bethlehem built cars of almost the same size, this will end up being painted and decaled for the Ann Arbor cars they leased from Chicago Freight Car (CRDX). The start of the decal work on the M&StL RS-1, even when they standardized on a paint scheme, they were still all a little bit different. This one will not have the white stripe on the cab, when I do a second one it will have that stripe. Thanks for looking! Rick Jesionowski
Somewhat, gloss finish, usually Scalecoat II paint which is already glossy, but I still have my Champ Decal-Set left, and use a diluted version of it first and then the strong stuff if it does not snuggle down over seams and rivits right away. I then wash the model with warm water to remove any trace of the decal setting solution left on the model, and then Testors Dull coat. Rick Jesionowski
I am so glad someone picked up the Scalecoat line of paints, they are certainly the paints I prefer as well.
I need a workbench. Currently I use a folding TV table with a cafeteria tray. Actually, I need a big transparent box with holes in the sides for gloves. Every time I work on a project, some tiny essential part goes "sproing!" and I have to crawl on my hands and knees with a small dust brush to find it.
I have found the light on my iPhone comes in very handy at times! It doesn't help that the carpet in the train room is the exact color of most thing model railroad! On the pie chart, there needs to be a second one titled time I spend dreaming of what this thing will look like when finished. You will just need one color!
Tom, Very nice re-lettering and treatment of D&RGW SD45 #5323. I see you've added the extra lines on the truck side frames, something I've never seen done in model form before - great attention to detail. BTW, what decals did you use for re-numbering that Athearn SD45? They look to be a pretty good match to the orange color. Paul, That's a pretty thorough treatment of the D&RGW SD45 fleet. I've nearly worn out my copy of Joesph Strapac's Rio Grande Diesels Vol 1 & 2 which I bought back when I lived in Texas in 1985 - I still keep both copies close at hand. Much later when Shade Tree books came out with volume 3, I added it too. Great info on cabooses and passenger cars, even though it's titled Rio Grande Diesels : Volume 3!!! A correction to the above, all of the first order were delivered with low mount brake cylinders, except for the last SD45 in the series, #5324, which, from memory, Joseph Strapac mentioned was delivered with high mount brake cylinders: In fact even Athearn replicated that detail on their model of #5324 - it differs from #5317 and 5319 in that it has the high mount brake cylinders. As you can see in your photo, the model has them (I have all of the available SD45 road numbers from Athearn too!) I've been hoping Athearn would run more small herald SD45's since we already have 6 numbers from them in the large herald. Since fully half of the fleet were small herald, it would be great if they did more of those. If I had to choose candidates, I'd go for #5325, 5330 and 5335, all small herald and all high mount brake cylinders. As an alternative if Athearn never does them, one could scavage additional past runs of #5324 (which has the high mount brake sideframes) and just re-number them and add the appropriate lower profile snow plow. Cheers, Jim Fitch
DougL, I feel your pain. Problem for me is I have no space for a workbench either - I have a townhouse currently with a basement yes, but the largest room in the basement is 10x18' and I claimed it for the layout. I think my wife would put her foot down on claiming space in the other room, what she calls the "wife den"It's hard to do any work on models because of no workbench space. I have a small drafting table I slide underneath I use for some thing but it's not the best for sure. I hope to move into a place with a bit more layout space and a corner to have desk for building kits etc.
