White River Division
Welcome, follow along with George Dutka in his journal which documents the additions and future thoughts for the HO scale White River Division model railroad and to his continuing historical New England railroad research. The White River Division is now in its 17th modeler's season. The "modeler's season" runs from November to April each year. Inspiration comes from the Boston and Maine, Rutland and Central Vermont Railway during the 1950's with additional posts by Don Janes and Peter Mumby.
Tuesday, 21 January 2025
Heading to Springfield!
This ITLA kit is well underway. I wanted to have it part built before heading to Springfield. |
So if you are at the show stop by ITLA booth and say hello and check out the kit I am working on and of course all the other ITLA offerings. If you don't see me stop by later as I can only sit so long in the chairs they provide...I won't wander too far away though. I will be staying close by the ITLA booth on Saturday as I am connecting with a few friends through the day. The outer buildings I will check out on Sunday.
I will be off on my trip beginning Wednesday so posts might be thin for a bit...George Dutka
The parts and mock-up builds that Nick dropped off about a week ago. |
The kit gives you the option of cutting down the structure sizes to get a staggered look to the buildings. I began by painting and weathering the base which is modeled as concrete. |
This side of the wall shows there once was something attached. The structures can be placed in any order. For now this wall is hidden. |
The garbage bins, cans and skids are all ITLA details. There is a really nice sign package that gives you some options. |
Monday, 20 January 2025
Snow Day
Sunday, 19 January 2025
Rapido - PRR and B&O Cars
Out on the WRD layout. |
Great looking cars which add a bit of variation to my freight car fleet. |
Saturday, 18 January 2025
CN 539418
Keith MacCauley sent me a short bio and a short post...welcome aboard Keith...George Dutka
I have worked for some 30+ years in the Procor Ltd. Fleet Engineering group. As information, Procor is the Canadian arm of Union Tank Car, part of the Marmon Group of companies owned by Berkshire Hathaway. The Procor portfolio of equipment is comprised of some 30,000 tank and specialty freight cars. My wife says that I'm the only person she knows that turned a hobby into a lifelong career!
Friday, 17 January 2025
Rapido - PRR X23 Boxcar and B&O FGE R7 Reefer
The paint fail effect is done lightly on this car. One can see the PanPastels are applied on one side of the roof already. The wood running boards are left looking unpainted. |
Here we have my two Rapido cars being weathered. As mentioned before they are done lightly which did not take me much time to complete. Flat finish is applied first to help hold the PanPastels. The wheels and trucks are painted Vallejo rust texture. Roof is painted acrylic Craftsmart Graphite followed by PanPastel raw umber shade and red iron oxide shade. Running boards are Folkart barnwood acylic paint with a coating of PanPastel raw umber shade...George Dutka
The PanPastel colors used on the sides. I did add some chalk marks first. I had some meat reefer chalk marks I used on the B&O reefer. Placards are also added once weathering is done. |
The completed cars. The sides are really lightly weathered and the roofs too. |
Out and about. |
Thursday, 16 January 2025
Throwback Thursday - Serves All Canada
CN 72616 was present in a line of company service equipment at Komoka, Ontario on April 17, 1994. |
Wednesday, 15 January 2025
Tuesday, 14 January 2025
Cheshire Wreck
When I posted the photos and information that Ken Borg sent me last week there was a location error. I had a few followers send me a note. Kevin Smith sent me this follow-up photo and a note from Scott Whitney. I shortened the note a bit...George Dutka
As for the location, the accident happened at Walpole proper, just north of the depot. The thing here is this, the section crew was there that day. They may have been out cleaning the switches before the arrival of 5506. The train would have been travelling at track speed, 5506 did not stop at Walpole. The official blame was "on ice" but I know better. I firmly believe the section crew left the house track switch misaligned sending 6000 into the spur. It hit the derail and although usually designed to not derail. Inbound 6000 at that speed popped over the outside of the rail anyway.
The train hit a building on the right which appears to have ice blocks scattered around. Maybe an ice house before coming to rest in the freight house. I'm positive the train is on the house track, not the main, as is so commonly discussed. The good old boys blamed ice but they are covering for each other...SJW.
Monday, 13 January 2025
CV 8081
Keith MacCauley passed along another CV photo. This time it is a view taken by Bruce Curry who was involved with the CVRHS and RRHS back in the 1990's. Here is Keith's comments. Oh and by the way thanks to all that stopped by to check out the blog yesterday...it was a record day of 3265 visits...George Dutka
You mentioned CV S-4 CV 8081 a past post. Attached is a photo of CV 8081 from my sons Peter's collection. The photographer is BP Curry of Ottawa based on the photograph. The following information is from a recent Facebook Fallen Flag Railroads post.
CV8081 was built 9/1955, retired/sold to K&L Feeds 12/1987 then donated to the Connecticut Eastern Railroad Museum in 1997...Keith
Sunday, 12 January 2025
Snapshot - January 2025
A second post for today. Out and about this morning to the fair ground market. I took a photo of the CNR steam engine out front which looked frosty today. Also caught VIA 84, the Sarnia to Toronto EB via Kitchener and Stratford at London Jct....George Dutka
VIA 84 crossing Rectory St. has a frosty nose today. |
VIA 84 EB at London Jct departing the Dundas Sub onto the Guelph Sub. |
Weathered!
A couple of view at the South Simcoe Ry. on Oct. 6, 2024 of what prototype equipment looks like after years of neglect and weathering. Any chance you can do this on a model...George Dutka
Saturday, 11 January 2025
January 2025 - Update
First off Keith MacCauley might send me posts from time to time which will help me fill in when I am running short of material or away. I will let Keith introduce himself shortly.
Franklin, Ct. was a busy spot on the CV southern division mainly because of a large mill complex. I visited this location while still being switched by the CV. I have slides of the CV switching there somewhere in my collection. At one time the mill owned CV 8081 as their plant switcher. Today CV 8081 is on display at Willimantic, Ct...George Dutka
The new Ingersoll, Ont. web camera which watches the CN mainline caught a couple ex-B&M covered hoppers on Dec 16, 2024. |
Rutland power drifts past the WRD Bellows Falls station platform. |
Thursday, 9 January 2025
Throwback Thursday - A Home Away From Home
CP 412536 was photographed at Woodstock, Ontario on September 11, 1994. |
Wednesday, 8 January 2025
Tuesday, 7 January 2025
Flying Yankee
Car A is seen in for repairs following its derailment near Bellows Falls, Vt. Thanks Ken Borg for sending me the photo and the notes. |
Monday, 6 January 2025
3M Roofing Granules Covered Hoppers
The following was sent to me by Keith MacCauley...George Dutka
I thought you might be interested in the type of covered hopper car 3M used for roofing granules that Peter mentioned in his recent Throwback Thursday blog post regarding Havelock.
Sunday, 5 January 2025
Green Mountain Division
A nicely weathered Rapido engine heads out from the WRJ yard on the GMD. |
Saturday, 4 January 2025
CP Storage Boxcar
CP storage boxcar. I believe this is somewhere out in Western Canada. Les Walsh photo. |
Friday, 3 January 2025
Pola Relay Boxes
I like how the second two turned out. |
All four in a group photo. The first two I posted about in early December. |