The Day Before Springfield Show

It appears the Ft. Erie, Ontario station will be offered as a model shortly.

I spent some of yesterday railfanning, checking out how the setup was going at the train show and out to dinner at the Outback in Springfield West with the gang...George Dutka 

Lots of layouts being assembled.

Scenic Express. Lot of work to assemble their display.

Rapido booth is coming together well mid day.

The gang at the Outback.

Thst's Ian Stronach next to me.

Oh that is Robin on the right all the way over from England. At the end of the night he made a toast to the King.

A Stop at Utica, NY

A WB approaches the station in Utica, NY on Jan 22, 2025. Note the old abandoned tower.

On my way to Springfield on Wednesday afternoon I stopped at Utica, NY. Not a lot happening in town but I did see one WB which came into the picture while I was near the station...George Dutka  

The Adirondack power was running.

Throwback Thursday - On Company Service

CN 43053 was spotted at Komoka on April 17, 1994.

By Peter Mumby.  

Company service box cars often feature a variety of extra details that make them interesting modelling candidates.  Photographed in 1994, CN 43053 still retained its roofwalks as built in 7/44.  A short stack also appears on the roof.  The small lettering to the left of the door states

“Engineering Department

  Generator Clothes Drying”

A step has been added below the sliding door and the electrical conduit on the left side leads to a step light.  An additional electrical conduit appears on the end of the car.

Wordless Wednesday No. 611

 

     

Heading to Springfield!

This ITLA kit is well underway. I wanted to have it part built before heading to Springfield.

Well it has been a couple of years since I last was at Springfield. This year I am there both days at the ITLA booth working on a back alley building flat scene, a kit that will be offered shortly by ITLA. The kit I have it a test run kit that I am assembling without instructions and some missing parts...good this is a test build first, customers don't want to look for parts not included. There are 5 building flat structures to the kit. I have got a good start on the kit this past week as there might be more talking and shopping at the show than actual building. The basics are all done but there is a lot of painting and detailing to be done at the show, and to show anyone that asks.

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.

Snow Day

 

My sister sent me this photo taken in 1978 of a winter we have not seen in a long time here in Southwestern Ontario. Think if is from the London Free Press. Check out the drift being cleaned out in front of the train. I did not get any of the details but not something I want to come across on a train.  

Rapido - PRR and B&O Cars

Out on the WRD layout.

I finished my two Rapido boxcars, PRR X23 boxcar and B&O FGE R7 reefer last month. They both just required painting the wheels, flat finish and light weathering. The B&O reefer would have been fairly new as it was refurbished and painted in 1954...George Dutka   

Great looking cars which add a bit of variation to my freight car fleet.

 

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!

CN 539418

Built by Eastern Car Company (ECC) in January of 1956. Aside from a repaint into the 1961 'CN' scheme, appears to be unmodified since construction. Note the ACI label and white dot (non approved wheels). The car appears to be employed as a storage container for the Stuart Street Yard; chalked 'TOOL CAR GANG #1'.  Once a common practice, seemingly retired rolling stock is no longer employed for such service.

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. 

Throwback Thursday - Serves All Canada

 

CN 72616 was present in a line of company service equipment at Komoka, Ontario on April 17, 1994.

By Peter Mumby.

The CN noodle logo was introduced in January of 1961.  That means that, by the time this company service boxcar was photographed in 1994, the green leaf logo was more than thirty years out of date.  Even the slogan no longer applied, since by the end of the 1980s CN had withdrawn from both Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland.  Somehow a slogan like “Serves Eight Out of Ten Canadian Provinces” just wouldn’t cut it.  As modellers, however, we can appreciate the opportunity to incorporate outmoded paint schemes into a relatively modern setting.  

Wordless Wednesday No. 610

 

       

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.  

CV 8081

CV 8081 appears to be freshly painted with the safety first shop sign attached up top. I have an Atlas model of this unit which looks no were this clean. One can read about it in the current Jan 2025 RMC.

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

Snapshot - January 2025

CNR 86 is one of a few of this class. It is preserved out front of the Fairground weekend market. It sure looks frosty today. Others from this group are at Palmerston, North Conway NH and Strasburg, Pa. I did not take a good look at the engine but I was just told the engine received a new coat of paint back in the fall.

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        

January 2025 - Update

This view of GP9 CV 4927 is from my son Peter's collection. Several years ago Peter was able to collect several hundred slides on-line through eBay (some he saved from the trash bin!). Not much information is found on the slide. Fortunately, the slide had the date and location included, but no identity of the photographer...Keith MacCauley. 

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. 

I was having a stayover with grandkids yesterday and later in the day headed to Michigan for my grandson's hockey tournament. His is the goalie for the London Junior Knights...so no time for posts or even checking e-mails yesterday. Today I am at the Best Western Warren in Detroit. I hope to be home tomorrow.

I will be at the Springfield Show this year both days. More on that shortly. Posts that week might be thin as I will take a few days travelling and railfanning. 

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

I still have this model in it's original box...my plans were to eventually finish her as #49. Don Valentine from Vermont switched out the tender for me so I could build my model closer to St. J&LC #49...Bruce Douglas.

The new Ingersoll, Ont. web camera which watches the CN mainline caught a couple ex-B&M covered hoppers on Dec 16, 2024.

Before Christmas I helped Peter Mumby move his new freezer into its new location which required us to remove a section of his workbench. There was a lot still under the workbench which we moved before the freezer fit into its new home. Peter gave me a box of this and that spray paints which was under the workbench. Much has been around for a bit but this one can really goes back. Do you remember large size Floquil spray cans?

Another boxcar getting some weathering. I added some AK rust streaks over the gray acrylic I applied...I think it will add to the final effect. I also used rust streaks on the wheels overtop Vallejo rust texture, then some powders.

Rutland power drifts past the WRD Bellows Falls station platform.

VIA 84 the Sarnia to Toronto train is east of Komoka approaching the hot box detector at Pulham Road on the north track. January 6, 2025 was a heavy overcast day just like the rest of them this month, but the photo turned out pretty good I feel.

Throwback Thursday - A Home Away From Home

CP 412536 was photographed at Woodstock, Ontario on September 11, 1994.

By Peter Mumby.

CP 412536 posed for its portrait on September 11, 1994.  The car’s primary role is 

indicated by the words

“SLEEPER

  WORK-SHOP”

as stencilled on the lower right side.  Note the roof-mounted water tank

and the words

“WATER

  ONLY”

to the left of the sliding door.  The car still has its roof walk, probably to permit

access to this tank.  A stack mounted close to this tank would seem to imply an

interior heater.  

Wordless Wednesday No. 609

 
       

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.

The only serious accident to involve the Flying Yankee occurred on January 19, 1945 in Walpole, NH. Ice was reported as the cause that derailed the train. The train left the tracks running into a  freight house. Fortunately, no one was seriously hurt. The nose of car A was crumpled and the frame was bent...George Dutka  

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.

Attached are photos of a UNPX covered hopper car that may have been leased to 3M at one time. If not, identical cars from the same series (UNPX 121700 - 121764) were leased to 3M. Not sure how many were leased to 3M at one time.

Bit of a funny story. We had some issues with the partition sheets between the compartments. On occasion a weld seam would fail and granules could bleed from one compartment to the next. 3M really didn't like mixed colours!

A bit of research turns up that UNPX 121744 was indeed leased to 3M at one time.