Still working on my NTRAK module for 1951 Stafford. A historic photo from about that time. And a little history behind the town of Stafford. Known as Stafford’s Point in 1853, it was the destination for the first regularly scheduled railroad train to run in Texas, on September 7th of that year. The train had left Harrisburg, just south east of Houston along Buffalo Bayou. The Buffalo Bayou, Brazos and Colorado Railway Company had been chartered by the Texas Legislature on February 11, 1850 and construction had began in 1851. The BBB&C was the second railroad to be built west of the Mississippi River and one of the first to adopt the 4 foot 8 1/2 inch gauge standard in the United States. The railroad built through Stafford and continued on to Alleyton, on the east bank of the Colorado River across from Columbus, Texas. That was as far as the tracks made it before the Civil War. After the war the railroad became the Galveston, Harrisburg and San Antonio Railroad and eventually became part of the Southern Pacific. Therefore the railroad tracks built through Stafford were the very first laid down on what became the future Southern Pacific Railroad.
Good morning from cloudy and mild Northeast Ohio! Here is what I accomplished this week! First, another PRR G39 Ore Jenny, painted with Scalecoat II Black paint and lettered with Middle Division decals. This brings the fleet up to 46 cars. Next up an Intermountain ART Reefer kit, painted with Scalecoat II Reefer Yellow, Boxcar Red and Black Paint, then lettered with Champ Decals. ART was formed by the MP and Wabash to bring produce from Texas, Arkansas, and Oklahoma to the Midwest and Eastern cities. Also did another prepainted Bowser PRR H21a hopper car kit, I did dullcoat the car to remove most of the shine from the paint. Last week our club had an op session, I used my new Rapido RS-11's on the Mallet Creek loco, they ran superbly and I had a lot of fun with running the local. Thanks for looking! Rick Jesionowski
Stafford looks very realistic. Great history info too. Excellent car building. (@dti406, I copied your reefer to my reference pic file. Check is in the mail.) I really like those RS-11's.
Beginnings of a new layout rise from the ashes (well, OK, from storage at any rate.) The old Michigan Right Coast module is now standing again after standing on end in a corner since the Blue Water Modular Club disbanded in 2009. This will be the Huron Central's eastern terminus at Port Erehwon (on Michigan's right coast- where else?) Although the hotel and the general store have taken some major damage and need repair, all the original structures will return along with expansion to include a grain elevator, warehouse, metal fabricator, car ferry slip and an engine terminal as well as the eventual disappearance of the blue styrofoam desert.
Two new Tangent Scale Models PS 40' Mini Hy-Cube Boxcars...one from Patrick at Three Notch Rail Freelance Trains and one from Chris at HOME SHOPS LLC. Have a great weekend! -Bob T.
I have had these 2 cabooses for well over 10 years. They are Overland Brass cabooses, painted with Scalecoat and lettered with Microscale decals and a few I made up myself. There are 32 separate decals on the steps on each of these. D&RGW 01504 D&RGW 01524 Until I did a little research, I never knew there were so many Red strips on this series of Rio Grande Cabooses. I still need to add the brake pipe hoses, cut bars, weather and I am gonna try using glass for the windows, which is gonna be a challenge. Thanks for stopping by.
Hi Jim, Yessir they will not need any additional weight added, should be able to shove with a couple SD's without shoving it off the tracks. I should add that the Brass trucks had great details, but I used Atlas caboose trucks with axle generators added where appropriate, they roll better, less shorting issues and they are at least as good in the details.
I like keeping the original brass trucks on my brass cabooses, they don't roll very well and at op sessions they help keep the cars from rolling down grade! Rick Jesionowski
Something I've wanted to see in miniature for a long time, an SD40-2 at the head of a long string of Trinity 4750 hoppers. A view I remember when I first got a car and could go see mainline trains on my own. 7127 is from Scale Trains and has been updated to the mid 1990s. B30-7A 4077 is a RailPower shell on an Athearn drive and 7828 is 20some year old Blue Box. The Trinity hoppers are from Walthers. As I was trying to edit the photo, I couldn't get the white balance right. I used a halogen light and set the camera to incandecent but it wasn't right. This bit of scenery is about 17 years old and I think the dust and fading has changed the colors. Googling scenery refresh now....
Helicopters and a Refinery. Someone please send a crew over to lower my back drop. Apparently I am too lazy to do it Oops someone stole the entire gas station on the right too...my bad! All they left was an LED light So much for me framing a picture correctly
