North Dorset, Vt. - 2019

The station is still standing in this late March 2019 view of a southbound freight.

Dean Splittgerber sent me this nice view from North Dorset which includes the ex-station out along the highway but close enough to be include in the view with a train...thanks Dean...George Dutka 

More Graffiti - UNPX 122888

by Keith MacCauley 

Of course lots of Procor equipment gets 'tagged'. Years ago one of our pellet cars received a rather interesting form of artwork. It was parked on our inbound on the Third Line overpass in Oakville. The town called us and asked that we move it off the bridge as it was causing traffic kaos. Once we brought it into the shop it was one of the most photographed cars ever! 

April 2026 - Update

Took this photo back in 2015 with my Canon pocket camera that I just placed on the tracks. Always like how these style of photos turn out.

Not too much going on with my models as it gets warmer and work around the outside of the house has taken over, but here are a few views I scanned recently and some other stuff...George Dutka  

D&H Mechanicsville, NY 1962. Peter Mumby collection

VIA 72 passes the main road through Appin, Ont. on the Chatham Sub. on Sept. 1 2021. I pass this crossing when heading to my son's home in Dutton. Sometimes I get lucky. George Dutka photo. 

A Mini Print offering that I thought was interesting.

March 19, 2020 Pt. Stanley, Ont.

The tank car has not moved in 6 years. It looks a bit more rusty on March 25, 2026 when I stopped by once again in Pt. Stanley.

Clare Gilbert's two car models he brought to a recent breakfast. I believe these might be new offerings.

Our local club got together this month for our monthly gathering. It could be a members layout, a railfanning location or one of the favorites, breakfast which always brings out a good crowd.

Milk Platform Loading

Once trains did not run through Woodstock Vt. the milk was then picked up by Brookside by truck and hauled to Bellows Falls for processing. These photos are from around 1940. A scene one can model in an area were no tracks are found...George Dutka  

Throw Back Thursday – NAR Boxcars

NAR 050004 Belleville. Note that both doors have been repaired with 1/3 lower sections. Note also that the ‘From the Land of the Mighty Peace’ placard is missing.  

by Keith MacCauley

Included in Peter Mumby’s slide collection were several shots of NAR boxcars. Built by National Steel Car (NSC) in 1979, the nominal seventy-ton, 52’ – 8” inside length boxcars, were owned by Procor and leased to the Northern Alberta Railway. Car series was NAR 050001 – 050030 and NAR 050101 – 050170. Remarkably, the exterior colour and lettering was based on General Motors automotive paint options. Unfortunately, the beige body colour and blue colour lettering weathered rapidly, resulting in an overall rather grungy appearance. The beige was also difficult to match, resulting in a patchwork appearance following minor repairs. The lease was transferred to Canadian National Railway upon their acquisition of the Northern Alberta Railway in 1981. At the end of the lease in the early 2000’s the cars were returned to Procor and sold off.

NAR 050004 (Hamilton) Note the ‘From the Land of the Mighty Peace’ placard below the NAR logo. Note also the yellow paint patches.

NAR 050006 (London) Note the missing placard.

NAR 050006 (London) Opposite side. Note the replacement doors. Perhaps applied by BC Rail who had identical BCIT 841000 series boxcars.

NAR 050019 (London) After two years of service the paint still looks good.

NAR 050147

Wordless Wednesday No. 671

 

  

Graffiti

March 16, 2020

I had this post planned for a bit. I have been picking through my graffiti rolling stock view, which is very easy to do as almost everything has graffiti. Jim Sloan's blog on the weekend viewed some decals he purchased to do a few cars. That is not something I have done in the past as I actually don't like the looks of the artform but at some point I may give it a try...George Dutka  

Someone had a lot of paint they wanted to use up on this car, March 16, 2020

The tagger left the number clear, March 16, 2020

March 22, 2021

May 6, 2021 CP 235 west of London, Ont.

Oct 1, 2021 CN EB at Woodstock, Ont.

Oct 28, 2020

Oct. 28 2020

CV Boxcar

CV41147 in October, 1966. Alan Irwin photo  

Another view of an Alan Irwin boxcar, freshly painted and lettered with the big noodle...George Dutka 

Green Mountain Division - Don Janes Photo

Don posted this view recently of his CV train out on the layout. Happy Easter to all from the White River Division crew...George Dutka  

Bruce Douglas

Jan. 7, 2011 Bruce looks on at the GEXR in Goderich. Photo by his good friend Gord Taylor. At one time Bruce lived in Goderich.

My long time friend Bruce Douglas age 82, passed this past week. We had been friends for over 40 years. Bruce was also a New England modeler and railfan that I used to get together with. Bruce also was a life member of the NMRA and once had a article published on how to model a MEC milk car in the model press. He worked in graphic design for newspapers in his working years and did a lot of neat RR printed things for different groups such as flyers and so on. He also for a number of years designed decals he needed for his model trucks. The last few years I could count on a few e-mails a week full of neat ship and railroad photos and topics. I already miss him a lot...George Dutka

Bruce made his own St. J truck decals in a number of scales. This is one of them he applied on a trailer he gifted me years ago.

Back in the 1980's when no milk cars were available other than brass he made his own milk cars such as this one from a Trains Miniature model. He gifted it to my a few years back. He modeled this one as seen in a photo he had of one of the Erie cars that only received a B&M logo, no paint. Not sure if it ever ran on the B&M or was storage.

Bruce began modeling scale trucks as he got older. Many of these he made his own decals for.

Bruce operating his layout when he was maybe 27. He modeled the St. J&LC in later years.

Bruce's favorite book. He did a paste up of it at one time.

Bruce put this together for me after my book came out a couple of years back. 

At White River Jct. Station.

Train time at the WRJ station. The units are just out of the box back then.

A view from 2013 or 13 years ago. The units are all new and shiny on the layout. They would of course be weathered and flat finish applied. Actually one of the Bachmann RS-3's would receive a couple coats of Rapido Proto Paint flat haze. The CPR E-8 is a Proto model which I replaced recently with a Rapido offering...George Dutka  

Throw Back Thursday – UNPX Aluminum Covered Hopper Cars

by Keith MacCauley 

Sodium chlorate is a chemical salt primarily used in the bleaching of pulp as part of paper making. Given its corrosive nature, transport of sodium chlorate has special requirements, mostly related to compatible materials. In addition to tank cars, Procor also designed and manufactured specialty freight cars. A first attempt at transporting sodium chlorate in smaller 2,900 cu. ft. steel covered hopper cars proved unsuccessful. Despite having protected coated (painted) interiors, over time, corrosion progressed to the point whereby the roofs were unsafe to walk on. Changing the material of construction to aluminum solved the corrosion problem. Collaborating with Alcan and Canadian National Railway’s freight car engineering group a design based on the lightweight aluminum CNWX grain car was created. Further to an initial build of twenty cars (UNPX 120500 – 120519) Procor would go on to assemble fleet of some 1,300 aluminum bodied covered hopper cars. It is said that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Two other well-known builders would produce clones of the Procor designed sodium chlorate hauler; albeit with varying degrees of success.  

Wordless Wednesday No. 670

 

  

 

St. J Double Door Boxcar

SJL 3005 double door boxcar during 1963. Peter Mumby collection.

Another view from the Peter Mumby collection. This one is a slide I scanned last year...George Dutka  

Waterloo Region Model Railway Club - 2026

Just in the door of the layout room a train was waiting for a meet with a 40 car train.

On Saturday I attended the Kitchener model layout tour. It was the 42nd time this has happened. I did not get to too many of the layouts. Just a couple I always liked to see and the hall where there are a few setup as my starting point. It has been 3 years since I last visited the Waterloo Region Model Railway club who model the CP around Sudbury. They have been working hard on the top level. I saw a lot of nicely weathered pieces of rolling stock and a nice number of trains running that appeared to be at least 40 car trains...here are some of my photos...George Dutka 

One of the nicely weathered cars seen on the layout.

The yard at Sudbury is all hand throw switches as seen here.

The pulpwood loading facilities is painted on the wall with some loads being placed in the future in front.

The paperwork. 

I really like the airbrush station setup just outside the layout room.

The upper level is coming along.

They seem to have a member with an artist touch that can paint a city scene in the Sudbury area of the layout. It is coming along well I think.