Much of this train goes back to 1964 when my brother gave me a Lone Star Treble 0 Lectric trainset for Christmas. The Locomotives and cars have come a long way since then with many modification and a few cars have been added over the years. Three of the coaches were given Santa Fe paint jobs in the 1980s. However it is now painted up in the spirit of the 60s, 70s and 8os when you did not necessarily get to choose a prototypically accurate paint scheme on a prototypically accurate piece of rolling stock. Many of us were happy to get anything that rolled and had a great time in spite of all the inaccuracies. Lone Star F units: These originally came with rubber band drive. They had two speeds. Stop and notch 8. Re-powered with Life Like GP20 mechanisms. Truck side frames and hook&loop couplers are resin copies from the original locomotive trucks. These were grafted onto the Life Like trucks. DCC decoders added. Only the lead locomotive has an LED headlight. Arnold Rapido RPO car: These shorty streamlined N Scale cars were patterned after the Athern HO “Blue Box” streamlined cars. This one had to be heated and un-warped to correct most of the hump back state it developed over the years. I added a Baggage compartment and blanked out some windows. I added replica Lone Star trucks with Microtrain wheels and painted it in UP colors. About the only thing prototype about it is the car number, 5813, which UP assigned to one of their 8 wheeled baggage/postal cars. Scratch built Baggage Car: Back in the 80s there were hardly any N Scale, non-brass, light weight head end cars. I think Atlas/Rivarossi had a baggage-dorm and there were a few RPO cars. So I had to make my own for my Santa Fe passenger train. The roof was made from a strip cut from a PVC pipe. The sides were made up from Evergreen Styrene Sheet and strips. The floor was made from Plastruct sheet. Modified Con Cor trucks with Lone Star couplers and Micotrain wheels. UP had no cars that looked anything like this but the number 5639, which I gave it, is for a smooth side light weight baggage car. Modified Lone Star Coach: When I repainted this car to Santa Fe in the 80s, I milled out the end windows and the bolster column between them at each end. The trucks were then attached directly to the new floor that I created as well as under body details. I added diaphragms at the ends as well as wire grabs on the ends and the roof. Replica Lone Star trucks with Microtrain wheels. When I returned it to Union Pacific paint, I gave it the UP coach number 5416. Stock Lone Star Coach: I bought this last month at a train show. I used it to make RTV molds to cast the replica trucks that were slightly modified to hold Microtrain wheels. I repainted it to match the other cars and gave it the UP coach number 5403. I did mount larger name boards to hold the UNION PACIFIC lettering. You can see the blanked out windows that hide the interior bolster columns that extend up to the roof. Modified Lone Star Coaches: Coaches 5414 and 5407 have the same modifications as 5416 above. 5414 started out as a dome coach but in the conversion to the Santa Fe, the dome was removed and the hole in the roof plugged. If I ever find the clear plastic dome insert that I squirreled away somewhere, I will punch out the resin plug and reinstall the dome. Observation Car: The UP did not run many boat tail observation cars. They preferred the blunt end types. However one of the few that they had was named the SUN VALLEY. This model is another of the Arnold Rapido streamlined shorty car derived from the HO Athern Blue Box cars. Replica trucks but with phosphor bronze side frame inserts and Kato wheel sets to obtain all wheel electrical pickup to drive the LED marker and tail lights.
Good morning from mostly sunny and cool Northeast Ohio! Got a couple of cars done this week. First up another Stewart 14 Panel Hopper car, painted with Scalecoat II Black Paint and lettered with decals that Brian Banna allowed me to purchase from his supplier. The NYC in the late 50's was on a program to purchase more 70 ton hoppers replacing worn out 50 ton hoppers. This is the 3rd car I have finished and I have 5 more to go. Next up a Details West combo door boxcar painted with Scalecoat II ATSF Mineral Red, Black and Silver Paints then lettered with Herald King decals. The Details West car was about only correct for this class of UP boxcars. A pair of Intermountain NYC F3's with a general freight running on the Strongsville Club layout which will be open this weekend along with Historical Society Grounds. Thanks for looking! Rick Jesionowski
The new freight terminal on the club layout is in place. They're not even open for business yet and someone's already forgotten to set the landing gear on their trailer
Quite a train sized rework that looks pretty sharp. I had a tyco loco that would do stop or notch 8 myself. Fairbanks loco? More sharp cars. Interesting transfer terminal. Now we gotta' jack that trailer.
My first still photograph's with the new tripod I bought. Still a lot to learn, but much better as opposed to me holding it steady or trying too First attempt: Second attempt: I guess I should have raised it above the track, but I'll take it for a start. I should have bought the tripod a long time ago! I should just get better at it, I hope? Like the out of focus on first one or is it dept of field? Use to kind of be into photography 100 years ago Forgot the little bit I did know. Used to be able to roll the film on the developing canister in the dark, pretty quick back in the day. Back in the film days in the 70's & 80's Who knew digital was coming at that time, not me?
It's always better when you're photographing at or about at track level, to get the "person on the street" view. I have a sweet spot for the camera on the layout, in the middle of the road, to get my photos. A few pointers: Get that f ratio up as far as it goes, like f/16 or f/22 or higher. That will give you a much better depth of field (like pinhole cameras) but it will lengthen exposure times. Some of the photos I take are stopped way down to f/27 or even f/32, but the exposure time can be up to 6 to 8 seconds. I use a remote shutter release or the camera's self-timer to prevent the jitters that can blur images as surely as handheld photos. I didn't either, though my interest in astronomy should have tickled some neurons at the time. I bought my first film camera in the early 90's, a Ricoh KR-5. That served faithfully until I bought my DSLR, a Pentax K-100D, in 2007, that I still have and use. It's about as solid as a GP9. But in the 70's? I was quite happy with playing with my trains. And watching (and learning from) my Dad the lifelong shutterbug. He started photography about 1950 and stuck with it until his last day sixteen years ago. Dad taught me everything I know.
If my iPhone 13 has f stops I don't know how to use it yet. At this point in time I have no need for a real digital camera, but who knows what the future might hold. But think my iPhone will be fine for what I want to do. Just quick photo's and videos!
Amen to all of that! Ah, the memories, the smell of the stop bath, the stains on the apron, the dim red light.....
A meet between the 2511 with a drag freight, and a C&NW short run, And, the wife had a sparkle in her eye when she saw this purty thing.....
