New Book!

Now available through Amazon.

I began this book back in 2000 which was to be just plans and drawings with photos on front and rear cover. It was about half done when I seemed to have got away from it for about 20 years. How time flies.  

About 2024 I saw Lance Mindheim was publishing books through Amazon. I purchased a couple and they looked really good. I contacted Lance for some advice regarding the book I began so long ago. The comments were all positive. I began working on the book once again but with photos and a focus. I still had a lot of content for this "Modeling New England Railroads" book although some had been diverted away to RMC and CARM over the years. 

I had plugged a New England Book to RMC but Otto wanted a more general book which what was then published under my name.

Working on the book again there was a bit of struggles though with scanned drawing and photo sizes. From the scanner to what I saw when test printing the word document saw the scale size change. Even more when loaded to Amazon. It did not want to accept some images at all so about 8 pages had to be removed. The rest of the drawings are either right on for size or close. 

Content includes ball signals  some plans and sketches, structures such as the B&M WRJ yard office, Bellows Falls freight house built by Don Janes and updated and on my layout, B&M style station and a number more. Also three caboose models and a handful of New England freight cars are covered. Milk cars and creameries make up a chapter. Some of my Maine narrow gauge is covered. My ideas of coloring B&M and Rutland structures are included and snapshots of my WRD layout. At the back there is my tips on paints, stains and powders. 96 pages total.

The book is now available through Amazon for $26.00 US. I tried to keep the price as low as possible as I am more about getting the information out than the profit...George Dutka

Throw Back Thursday - Procor Built Plastic Pellet Cars

by Keith MacCauley  

Burgeoning plastics production in the 1970’s drove the demand for large volume AAR Class ‘LO’ covered hopper cars. Existing import duties and taxes compelled Procor to design and build their own plastic pellet covered hopper car. Visually a clone of the exterior ribbed Pullman Standard 5,800 cu. ft. car, the Oakville built car was nonetheless distinct, and featured functionally improved ‘TOGGLE-LOCK’ pneumatic outlet gates. Following a one car prototype built in 1976, Procor Oakville (Ontario) would subsequently manufacture some 1,600 pellet cars, a portion of which were built as sale cars for Dow Chemical (DCLX) and Union Carbide (UNCX). During a frenzied tank car build period in 1980/1981 Procor would share their design drawings with National Steel Car (NSC) who supplied some 200 plus LO’s marked with DCLX, UNCX and UNPX reporting marks. While larger volume/higher GRL LO’s have largely usurped the home built cars, several dozen UNPX LO’s soldier on in plastics transport as originally envisioned. As testament to their durability, many more continue in the service of subsequent new owners; both with plastic pellet payloads and in some cases bulk commodities having been modified with gravity outlet gates. As the ultimate honour, the Procor built plastic pellet car has been replicated in H.O. Scale!   

Wordless Wednesday No. 673

 

Rotterdam Jct. NY. April 28 2026 

New England Power

July 1969 Bangor, Maine. Peter Mumby collection.

These two photos are scans I did of Peter Mumby's slides. He did not take the photo but are from his collection. No names on the views...George Dutka  

Bangor, Maine, 1981. Peter Mumby Collection.

Interesting Weathering

CN London yard.

I saw this car being shoved into the yard on April 11, 2026 on train 509. Lots of rust steaking and product streaking on this car. The numbering is patched and painted but lots of steaking overtop now. Even the graffiti is hardly noticeable through the weathering. The reflective striping is also weathered in the middle of the car although clean on the ends...George Dutka  

April "This and That"

I spent a day this week with Don Janes picking up stuff he ordered at Otter Valley and ITLA. We had not been together since last fall. Don and Nick at his workbench which is his mother in laws old dining room table which was altered for more height. 

Just a bit about what I have been up to and what I have seen. I am heading to New England to attend the Rutland Railroad Historical Society Convention next weekend. It was the late 1990's the last time I attended. Not sure who I will know there these days, but it will be fun...George Dutka 

Nick's workbench when he is not laser cutting kits he has a nice surface for getting some modeling done.

I was painting my trucks the other day for a Proto CP paper car. I used Vallejo rust texture on the side frames and wheels on one side as seen above and cinnamon brown for the wheel faces on the other side as seen below. One car two looks.

Chris Wright a New England modeler from the St. Catherines area had a table at the Woodstock train show last Sunday. I seem to always pick up something from him.

If you like graffiti there was a young gentleman that would do your car while you wait for $10. 

I scanned this Peter Mumby photo after having a chuckle. Thought this might make an interesting model to add to your layout. A CP work train in London, Ontario brings along all the luxuries of home. Feb. 11, 1990.

Athearn Blue Box Geep's

These older Athearn blue box geep's I feel still hold their own today with a bit of weathering and extra details.

For the longest time Athearn blue box GP-9's were the way to go for us modeling local power and lines such as the GT New England and CV. I posted this photo of my two Geep's on Facebook which got a lot of attention. Thought I would share them with you. They are basic units that I detailed to follow the prototype to some degree, then painted and decaled. The last bit is the weathering. The lead unit I got from Peter Mumby which was partly done when I got it...George Dutka 

Railfanning Kingston!

VIA WB April 16, 2026

I was away last week and part of the weekend to Kingston to watch my grandson play in a OHL feeder tournament. He is a goalie and the top three team from each area were there to participate. Their team was not ranked but finished in the top 4 teams in Ontario by beating the top team in the province in overtime. 

While in Kingston I had time to go to the Kingston VIA station at least once a day for maybe an hour. One day I even had some sun. I had not been to Kingston in decades so I looked forward to the visit. The station looks almost new not what I remember, but very nice. The location is nice for taking photos, wide open. There is an overpass at each end of the scene which if I return I might try taking photos from as the view while driving overtop looks interesting. It is a bit of a walk from the station and I did not have the time on this visit. Here is a bit of what I saw...George Dutka

CN WB April 18, 2026 at East end of platform.

VIA EB heads out of town in Kingston, Ont. while a WB waits it's turn at the station. April 17, 2026

An EB VIA arrives in Kingston, Ontario April 17, 2026

April 17, 2026 looking over from track 2 platform.

Kingston, April 17, 2026

CN WB at the station April 17, 2026.

VIA WB April 16, 2026

Throw Back Thursday – Orange Bands on Tank Cars

by Keith MacCauley 

Orange banding was a mid-1980's initiative by Canadian regulators to provide quick visual indication of pressure type tank cars (pressure type cars typically transport more hazardous/volatile commodities). Rumor of the day suggested that a Canadian Government official observed this warning symbol while vacationing in Europe and thought that it would be a good idea back home. The theory was that at the scene of a derailment, emergency responders would be able to quickly establish which tank cars were transporting more hazardous materials. Under C.T.C. (Canadian Transport Commission, now known as Transport Canada) Regulation 79.100-21(h), all pressure type tank cars transporting Class 2 gases were required to equipped with a full length 12” wide orange band located approximately center of the car by July 1, 1990. Class 2 is regulatory grouping of compressed gases; i.e. commodities that are only liquid under pressure; chlorine, liquefied petroleum gases (LPG) and anhydrous ammonia are examples of Class 2 commodities. All eligible Canadian service tank cars, regardless of ownership, were required to comply. US Department of Transport (DOT) regulators did not adopt a similar requirement, and furthermore expected un-banded US cars to be allowed to operate in Canada under a mechanism known as ‘reciprocity’ (reciprocity is a regulatory mechanism whereby each country agrees to abide by certain selected rules of the other – thus a US un-banded car could operate in Canada or a Canadian banded car would be acceptable in the US). Given the regulatory confusion, lack of US support and widespread shipper resistance, the Canada only, requirement was ultimately dropped; but not until after several hundred cars had been ‘banded’. Part of the overall opposition to the orange band was that if a fire was part of the calamity, the visual indicator could be lost.  

Wordless Wednesday No. 672

 

 

Green Mountain Division - Railfan Type Shot

Don Janes took this photo on his Green Mountain Division layout which has a railfanning type of view to it. As Ian Stronach commented recently it looks like a real view. Great work Don and nice to see it as a Front End Friday viewing. Now for us to get to New England and see what we see this year...without the rain though...George Dutka  

Snapshot - April 2026

KC units are in full view at the CPKC yard in London, Ontario on April 8, 2026

This months Snapshot views the CPKC yard in London, Ontario. The sun came out while on my way home from old timers basketball so I stopped by. Unfortunately one can not get great shots from the gate but this is what I could see from behind the fence and at the gate...George Dutka