Dawn at Montpelier Jct. - 1990

I took this photo at dawn June 12, 1990. In just over an hour the morning NB Montrealer would be stopping at the Montpelier Jct. station. Normally I would visit with the Amtrak agent who is a friend of mine, Bill Brigham. We would have a chance to catch up before the train arrived. He actually stays over at the station as he needs to be there for the evening SB. At times I have woke him up when I arrive so early. I was then in my 30's and could do these type of things, but today I don't remember the last time I took night shots....George Dutka

 

CV 7919 - Bachmann Model

 

I took this photo of my CV Bachmann DCC-Sound Alco switcher when I had a barn and pumpkin patch scene included on the layout. Date is April 2013 prior to me changing the layout to point to point operations.  I have a few newer builds from last summer to show you next week.

  

BAR - Boxcar

 

BAR 11099 is seen at Hawthorne, NJ in 1928. This car was built 6-11 and is from the Sirman collection, Bob Bowes copy.

Chalk marks near and on the door.

I enlarged the lower left side of the car which as some chalk marks also.  

Throwback Thursday - Rusty Red

AA 1276 was photographed at Owosso, Michigan on September05, 1993.

By Peter Mumby.  

Back in September of 1993 I travelled with a group of local railfans to see Pere Marquette 2-8-4 number 1225 under steam at Owosso, Michigan.  (See the post “PM 1225” of April 16, 2020 for more on this locomotive.) Viewing live steam is always an event, but I had almost as much interest in checking the back lots for old examples of rolling stock.  Today’s photo illustrates one of those finds.  Although the car number is somewhat indistinct, it appears to be 1276, which would make it part of the 1200-1399 series, a PS-built product of 1958.  These cars, with their 8’ 6-panel doors, were in service until 1983, so apparently this example had been gathering rust for at least ten years before I caught up with it.

Wordless Wednesday No. 472

 

   

Hopper Line - Stone Shed

My version of the Hopper Line stone structure set into my HOn30" scene. Most of the coloring was done with Floquil stains and paints that I was using back in the 1980's. 

I had mentioned a Hopper Line kit (manufactured in Sarnia in the 1980's) that Geoff Southwood was going to build...wonder if he finished it yet. Anyhow I found a slide that I scanned of my model taken in 1984. It was a nice cast plaster and wood kit. I sold it decades ago but now wish I held onto it...George Dutka  

Geoff's kit out of the packaging.

MEC Caboose

 

Another cropped view taken back in 2013 on Peter Mumby's and I photo session on the WRD. This MEC caboose I painted and lettered to follow a prototype photo    

Collinsville 2014

Earlier this month Kip Grant sent a group of us a photo he took 10 years ago at the Collinsville RPM in 2014. We were all chatting model railroad stuff when Kip decided to snap a photo. In the photo are from left to right, me, Don Janes, Neil Scholfield, Mike Confalone sitting and Wayne Sittner.

Don and I  stopped in a couple of day before at Wayne's to view his wonderful layout which has been featured in the modeling press over the years. Wayne is an artist and it really shows on his layout. I don't recall if we covered that visit but will have to see what views I took that day.

Thought you would like to know a bit more about the MEC model seen a couple of weeks back. My friend, also good friend's with Peter Mumby and Don Janes, Luc Sabourin commented on the MEC boxcars model. The model was once Luc's and inspired by the Peter Mumby's photo. Luc had Mike Confalone who is viewed above and models the Allagash Railroad weathered and repainted the cars bottom. A really nice job...George Dutka   

Peter Mumby brought over some of his New England models for our photo session in 2013. This car was originally done for Luc by Mike.

The other side of the same car.

Newport, Vt. - 1972

Kenneth Borg passed along to me this CP classic he received from Bill Clynes...George Dutka

CP 8401 RS-2 Newport Switcher putting caboose on rear of northbound. Ice House upper left on shore of South Bay Lake Memphremagog. Main Line track from Wells River on right.

Photographed by Bruce Nelson, August 25, 1972.  

Throwback Thursday - CN London Office Tower.

A Pandrol  Jackson rail grinding train was passing the CN London office tower on January 28, 1995.

By Peter Mumby.

The railway action in today's photo features a Pandrol Jackson rail grinding train piloted by unit RMS 13.  Prominent in the background to the left of this train is the 9-storey CN London office tower.  Over the years I have taken many railfan photos with this structure as a backdrop.  According to our friend Chris, who used to work in this building, the top floor was occupied by a Business Development bank, three floors were taken up by Bell Canada, and the rest was devoted to offices belonging to various CN departments.  Chris worked in the Engineering Department which shared the eighth floor with Freight Sales.  The CN passenger station and restaurant (later taken over by Via Rail Canada) shared the main floor with the employees' Credit Union and the office of the London "K" dispatcher.  CTC electrical equipment and paper storage took up much of the basement.  The CN employees who worked out of this tower were responsible for Southwestern Ontario operations between Niagara Falls and Windsor, north to Owen Sound, and east to Milton.  As conditions changed and technological advances permitted employees to work remotely,  more and more offices in the building were closed.  As can be seen in this 1995-vintage photo, several of the floors appear to be unused.  Within the next couple of years the decision was made to dismantle the structure.  After a fair bit of preliminary work the building was brought down by an implosion which was triggered at 09:20 on February 04, 2001.  I suspect that clean-up crews had to deal with a fair amount of asbestos.  The site of the former tower is now occupied by a modern Via train station.  

Wordless Wednesday No. 471

 

    

CV 8081

 

CV 8081 is throwing up a bit of smoke. Photo by Theodore W. Bossert.

Here we have a view of CV 8081 working the yard in St Albans during 1973. It appears the paint job is well worn by this time...George Dutka    

London - Top End

March 16 2024 at CN East London yard. 

Yesterday I was in East London at the Saturday market which is near CN London East. Once done shopping the sun was out a short bit...I had brought my camera along. No power at the yard office so a quick trip to the top end of the yard (east end) I found three sets of power. Local yard 582 was switching while it appears one of the BN units is now being used here in town. Of course it is not working and a larger than normal shop staff...probably all from Sarnia are working hard to get it running. Way back in the distance one sees the power for train 434 which is the London to Toronto (Mac Yard) train...not a bad find for a gloomy day that I did not plan on...George Dutka 

Looks like a lot of head scratching happening here. Note the number board...you don't have to be good at decaling to follow the prototype.

C&O Caboose in Canada

Bob Bowes copy, Patterson-George Collection.

This view of C&O caboose A-306 in London, Philips St. 1957-4-27 was to be London and Port Stanley C-3...George Dutka      

CP 4200

One of Peter Mumby's models is posed approaching the crossing at Northfield Falls. This engine is straight DC, so as long as we kept the track dead we could get a few nice views of the engine on the layout. 

I caught Peter getting ready to photograph a CN freight just coming off the causeway which is a duck under and drop-in module. Peter had brought along these models also.

Throwback Thursday - In Search of a Home

 

GTW 77137 was on display at the museum in Smiths Falls, Ontario on August 18, 1993.

By Peter Mumby.  

GTW 77137 has spent a lot of time kicking around various museums in Southern Ontario.  I first photographed it in the mid-1970s at Harbourfront in Toronto. We next met up in the early 1990s at the railway museum in Smiths Falls, the location of today's photo.  Subsequently it moved to the Elgin County Railway Museum in St. Thomas, where it seems to have finally found its permanent home.

Wordless Wednesday No. 470

 

  

WRD 2004

The track is all down and working. I actually ran trains for a year before beginning on any scenery. I wanted to make sure it all ran well. The short CV train has my Atlas Alco 8081 with my early version of a CV caboose using a Walthers model. I later put a proper cupola on the model. Some plaster scenery is done but there was a lot still to be done. 

A view of my layout in the early stages of construction back in 2004. In the foreground is the drop in causeway. I took this as a slide which I edited the colors a bit as it was really yellow originally...George Dutka

Hindsight 20/20 Flyer

 

Time once again for a day of detailed modeling presentations...are you going to be there...George Dutka  

Another CN Clothes Dry Boxcar

This car which is used to dry workman's clothing is seen with an end door and windows. Some of the equipment found inside are seen through the open door. Peter Mumby photo.

Peter Mumby prepared a Throwback Thursday awhile back of a CN clothing dryer car. Well he has another view in his collection with the door open...George Dutka  

March 2024 - Update

NH Providence yard May 1970 Ken Patton Photo.

A bit of this and that. I have not been doing any modeling in the past 6 months. Between my wife's health and my hip replacement time and motivation has slipped by. I actually could not get down the stairs to the basement for 6 weeks. I hope to visit a couple of train shows and layout tours during the next two months that might get me motivated and take my mind off other things.

I wanted to mention that if you find some of the photos on this blog not as clear as expected the reason is the last few years I have had to reduce the Pixels size drastically to stay within the boundary of the blog provider. One get so much space and I have used that up years ago. I have found that if my photo sizes are below 600 (I am using 590 as my size) it works. The issue is the quality suffers. If I want to post larger photos I would have to pay a monthly fee. As I am only doing this as a hobby, passing along to you what models I have completed, places I have railfanned and things learned through the hobby I don't feel I want to incur any expenses. If you see something on the blog you would like to see larger, e-mail me and I can send you a copy.  

CVRHS Editor of the Ambassador Steve Horsley has quit. So till they find another editor CVRHS president Laz and I are working on issues. So for the next little while I might find myself back downstairs running my photo scanner. It has been actually fun as I am looking at slides I have not seen in 25-30 years. I will share a few with you along the way. 

I got out on March 5th for the first time since the beginning of January railfanning...although it was only taking photos in CN yard London, it was nice to be out and about. Last month my friend Andy took me to the O gauge club in town for our local modeling group get together. I have some photos included here. Well I guess I may have taken in some activities over the winter...George Dutka

I took this photo of my group of Rapido hoppers which shows difference in coloring. The one on the left is CN with light weathering and the two on the right are CV just out of the box. All three are colored the same with a brown-red tone more to the orange side. The darker LV hopper is more a dark brown-maroon tone. Rapido has tried to follow what was applied to a specific car.

At the London O Gauge Club one of the scenes being modeled is St. Mary's Ontario on the CN. This station has been 3-D printed. A wonderful looking model.

The St. Mary's town stone water tank has also be modeled in O scale. Once again another 3-D printed model.

O scale road power at the London O Scale Club. 

The London yard job #582 is being worked by an engine which looks like it is ready for a face lift. March 5, 2024

I am standing next to the main line in WRJ at mile marker 14 which is about the middle of the B&M yard. Some of the abandoned B&M structures are seen in the background. May 4, 2000

MEC Boxcar - Repaints

Peter Mumby's model collection has a boxcar someone repainted following the practice seen in yesterdays post. He just did not take it as far. Was this were the paint went that would have finished the other car?

After Peter Mumby's post yesterday, MEC repaint, I had to dig through my photo files back to a time Peter and I held a contemporary photo shoot on the WRD. I remember Peter bringing over a MEC boxcar that he had purchased that someone had repainted probably following a photo he had of such a car. Although not exactly the same as yesterdays post it shows one that there must have been more boxcars painted at the same time. 

Oh by the way checking my files I thought it was only a few years back that we took those photos, but it was 2013 when we spent the afternoon moving the layout forward in time...George Dutka 

Throwback Thursday - A Quart Short?

MEC 31856 was on an eastbound CP freight train at Quebec St yard in London, Ontario on September 11, 1993.

By Peter Mumby.

Maine Central 31856 was a 5272 cubic foot box car belonging to series 31750-31899 which had been built by FMC in 1978.  It had left the factory handsomely decorated in MEC Harvest Yellow paint with Pine Green herald and lettering.  After 15 years of service its appearance had been altered to that shown in today's photo.  The non-repainted panels on the right side of the car beg a few questions.  Was this omission intentional, perhaps to avoid redoing the consolidated data stencil?  Or, had the shop staff simply run out of paint?  What did the other side look like?  Is this a car you would like to model for your layout?  For years I have enjoyed models of cars with paint that is faded, peeling, or patched, but I personally find this one a little too atypical.  What is your opinion?  

Wordless Wednesday No 569

 

    

North Conway NH Night Photo Session

 

I was in North Conway NH for railfan days almost 30 years ago now. This was the Saturday night setup for the night photo secession which was fun to participate in We had a few chances to shoot the scene as they walked us through what was going to happen...George Dutka    

Brian Smith's Mill

The roadside of the mill has a bit of a sandy looking roadway with grass growing up between the tire tracks. The roofing was done using construction paper which was spray bombed gray with light sanding to wear it down a little. A weight scale is included in the scene. 

Yesterday you saw the abandoned trackage today some overall views of the mill scene which is a drop-in style diorama...George Dutka

 What was once the rail side view of the mill. Products still can move from the mill through the open end doors by truck or if your era is older by buggy.

Another look at the abandoned trackage from higher up. One does not always have to model trackage. It is nice to have a few spots on a layout which have a bit of history.

Weathering Tracks and Ties

I hand laid the ties on this abandoned bit of trackage for the mill. The ties are scored with a hobby knife then stained with Hunterline weathering mix. I added some rust were the tie plates once were in place and a few spike holes. The tie plates seen scattered around are from Monster Model Works. Static grass, a bit of dirt and Highball cinders are used as ballast and scenery.

I built this small diorama for Brian Smith using his mill building. I completed it for him a number of years ago. I was going through my photos the other day and found some close up views of the trackage...George Dutka 

A second look at the abandoned trackage at the base of the mill. A neat little scene to be added to Brian's layout at some point.

CV Caboose in Vermont

I think this caboose was used as a food shack at one time. 

I came across this ex-CV caboose I think in Chester, Vermont but am not sure back in 2011. It still looked in good shape. I have not been back there since then so not sure if it still survives...George Dutka