Well its happened again, another weekend filled with trains is over and its back to work, school, or honey do lists. Lets see how we all did first. That little "puff" of cool air I wrote about on Friday was more like a cold blast on Saturday morning. Winds were 17-25 MPH out of the NW when I started up Jess the Railfan Jeep at 5:00AM. There was no way the side windows or doors were going to be removed! I met my railfan buddy at his place in Bloomington, got the ever essential cup of coffee at a nearby gas station and set our sights on Galesburg Illinois to catch the Nebraska Zephyr. We scoped out some surrounding towns and tried to find some picture worthy locations. My goal was to get a picture of the Zephyr near a CB&Q station or other artifact. While driving along I came about one of those CB&Q wooden overpasses, and as luck would have it, a place to set up a camera. We pulled over and about an hour later I got the following picture. Probably one of my favorite pictures of the day. Other railfans saw Jess so they stopped and used the same location but everyone assumed the line and there was no issues. Brian and I ended up catching the Zephyr three more times that day as well as some BNSF and NS freight, some cool stations and many neat small towns. In the end, a great day of railfaning, swapping stories, eating Caseys General Store donuts and even some off road in Jess. I'll post more pictures as the day goes one for those interested. After trains it was Soccer on Saturday night, followed by Sunday afternoon, then some rest and working on the many pictures I had taken on Saturday. Now its time to start work on T-Trak modules. So how about you? Did you get all that you had set out to do? Did scenery supplies come in so you could get some scenery work in? How about set ups at local or not so local shows? Maybe track work or detailing was in your list, how did you do? Tell us how you did this weekend with pictures if you have them. We'll come back and do it all over again on Friday the 28th. Until then... ​High Greens!
Last week in the hotel room I completely detailed two GP7's and an F7A. I didn't get any actual modeling done this weekend. Just tore the room apart looking for my Cal Scale detail kit for my Atlas RS32. I did not find it, by the way. I brought 3 more GP7's to detail this week, so I will have a big batch of GP7's to primer and paint this coming weekend. I also have a Walthers Mather Stock Car kit that I was originally not going to assemble, but changed my mind. (B&O returned there Mather Stock cars to the leaser in 1961/62, I model 1968/69... oh well, close enough.)
Yes! The slow boat from Europe finally showed up at my LHS with the Silflor static grass. This is 4mm and 6mm grass, while Woodland Scenics only has short 2mm stuff. I've put it down in a couple of places, but now I'm waiting for the glue to set up so I can add some flocking and trees before taking pictures. I sat down and added the grabs to another F7A, also. With some experience, it went more smoothly than the last one. I've got one more to go, which will probably happen next week, and then I'll decal the pair. Here's a before-and-after using the one I finished last week and the one that's in the shop now. Pat, I've got a couple of those Mather stock cars that I built from kits. They are really nice models, and I think they're worth stretching the truth a little bit for. And Jim, may I complement you on a fine photo?
Speaking of Silflor.....I have just started to use it. Nialing it down can be a challenge but I like the effect.
Jim, your photo of the Zephyr is beautiful. The only thing that would have made it outstanding is if it was of B&M's Flying Yankee...:wink:
I tried my hand at weathering with 20 box cars. Many are over-done but by the end I was getting a more subtle effect. I have a long ways to go both in developing the skills and in weathering the fleet...300+ more cars and 30+ more locos to do in 10 months...but I am really happy with how much better the layout looks already when weathered cars, even these early attempts, are on it. Have a great week... md
On the way to see these at the draft horse show in Sandpoint ID : Two brown Clydesdales and two black Clydesdales pulling the log wheel . Team is from Ft Steele Heritage Park Canada. the logs are choked to the cross bar and the horses skid em to the landing , the teamster rides on top on a platform. I have more pics and a couple of videos of the 6 up teams hauling freight ... We caught these at a siding in Sandpoint : To keep from crossing an active track and trying not to tresspass , this is the best my litte camera could do . Paul
I was operating my clubs T-Trak layout with the new yard I built over the last few months. The show in the Firehouse in Mahopac NY was small and sparsely attended, but we had a good time. We were able to have a 14' X 10' U shaped layout with two trains running on each main. After the show I had the members of my club who attended the show come to my home and helped me raise my layout from 42" from the floor to 48" high. Elevating the layout higher makes quite a bit of difference when viewing it.
@ Mark Dance, I like your weathering. SUbtle enough NOT to overwhelm the cars, but noticable enough to be believed. Tom Mann would be proud. @paperkite, Really nice finds! With all the hose reel on the bottom of the tank car I am wondering if it's a weed sprayer or a fire car. For me - a slow weekend. I helped a local N scaler break in his new, railfanning oriented shelf layout, added a few more metal wheelsets to some cars, and started doing some flatcar loads to rehab a couple of old school Atlas N scale flats.
Mark, the shot of the GN car I caught ... nothing subtle about that weathering .... heavy weathering still a possibliity. Philip :The tanker with the hose reels , I did not see a pump but it appears to have the words "fire car" just to the left of the ladder , not sure if there is hose reel/s on the other side though ( being white , it could have dangerous chemicals in it ) .Gravity - air preasure feed for weed kill would work but not fire fighthing . I fought many a track side blaze that BN trains started and you to have pump preasure to fight them. Retsignalmtr: great looking start for your switching road , although I found that too many switches make me cross eyed ...
