SWEET! The water, shrubs, and trees look great, and the gray smoke and white steam are nice touches, too. I don't know much about steam locos...It looks like the cab is beside the boiler on this one. Would you post a little more info on this type of loco, please?
I've started a new ship--a WWII Light Cruiser. I got the skeleton of the hull built today: Many thanks to Bill Bittner for additional plans and his molds!
Wow...! Russ, is that helium car still in service? The last helium cars I saw were 40 years ago at NASA's Mississippi Test Facility. They were brought in by Southern to support test firing of the Saturn rockets.
Check this picture with the smoky Alco's from Richard Percy's Espee Modeler's website. There are helium cars just beyond the engines. This is the first picture I have ever seen of the helium cars in service.
I like the "seasonal" Dunkin Donuts Cup on the building in front of the church! I like the idea of a scrap yard! It looks good so far. And everyone else: Great work!
So much good stuff on here, makes my little project look a bit insignificant :tb-biggrin: but it's been fun making rocks - getting ready to pour some resin when the weather improves. They don't recommend cool, damp days. Hopefully it'll end up resembling a New England stream - something close to a city. Planning to have concrete retaining walls along part of the banks, and some city buildings in the background, roads and a bridge or two. Occasional snow, too. Mike
Actually, since one of the last times I was in Amarillo, Texas- they used to ship helium out of there in such cars. One is on display at a museum there.
Dave - This type of locomotive was known as a camelback, or Mother Hubbard. It's design was developed during the 2nd half of the 19th century, with examples continuing in use up through the early 1950's. The design utilized a wider than normal firebox designed to burn a coal mining waste produce known as culm. Culm looked more like black dirt, as compared with the lump coal usually associated with use on steam locomotives. Being a waste product, using culm saved the RRs a great deal of money in their yearly operation. However, the extra-wide firebox left no room for the cab in its normal rear position, so it was moved up astride the boiler. The fireman rode alone at the rear of the engine, standing on the footplate and protected only a small roof off the back of the firebox and a chain on either side between the loco and tender. The crew locations were thus very dangerous. Should a rod fail on the loco, it could completely destroy the engineer's cab. Likewise, sitting immediately next to the boiler, the engineer suffered greatly from the heat in summer, causing many engineers to perch themselves on the armrest with half their bodies outside the cab! There are numerous stories of engineers and fireman falling off camelbacks at speed - without one or the other of the crew realizing the other was missing until the engine either ran through several scheduled stops, or lost steam pressure! As a result of these dangers, in the 1920's construction of new camelbacks was prohibited. However, the ruling allowed existing engines to continue to operate until their retirement, so some lasted into the mid 1950's. NYW&B
So, I've never had image posting work out correctly, but I've started a small n scale 2x4 layout that uses a loop, and then a passing area that includes part of one of the plans from 101 track plans for the center -- I've got 2 more turnouts to purchase before track work will be complete, and then i can start on scenery -- max car length is 40' and turns are 9.5 inch minimum.
