Wordless Wednesday No. 174

London Reclamation Yard - 2008

Looking south of the mainline at mile marker 75 These two building are found just east of Hale St. and about a third of the way into what once was the London Reclamation Yard, April 2008.

I took these two photo while pulling out of the yard in London, Ont. on train #434. I just wanted to record what was left of the structures still standing at the Reclamation Yard. I did have the opportunity to work the Sand Pit job, which switched the Reclamation yard as the foreman and later as the engineman on occasions...this is a first look, more posts to follow shortly regarding this location...George Dutka

The ex-office building at the Reclamation Yard. April 2008 as seen from #434.

Robertson Paper Co. - Monster Modelworks Kit

The finished Monster Modelworks kit is mounted on a sheet of Gatorfoam and ready to be installed in my WRD Bellows Falls scene.

Here is the finished Robertson Paper Co. and hopefully in the near future I will fill you in on how the assembly went...enjoy...George Dutka

An Athearn trailer is found at the loading dock.

Some details are found outside the rear door.

The back wall and roofing is seen here. I added some seam tar marks and a few patches to the roof.

Bellows Falls Yard - Update

The station platform is in place but the awning is yet to be built. Seems the WRD will use it as is with a passenger train arriving in town. I think a cab was called for someone. The frt. house is also in service now.

Last weekend I had a big push to get something done in the Bellows Falls yard scene. On Friday afternoon I hooked up overhead lighting, finished the wiring and airbrushed the tracks Floquil rail brown. Saturday and Sunday I did not leave the house and got a lot done. Over 50% of the yard is ballasted with Highball cinder ballast...a mix of HO and N scale. I also got some ground cover down with a bit of static grass included. By the end of Sunday I was adding a few details. With some luck I might squeeze sometime in over Easter downstairs once again. If not it will have to wait till I get back from this years Fine Scale Model Railroad Expo in the Boston area. This year Peter Mumby is tagging along...should be fun...George Dutka

The plaster cloth is all in place and about to get a coat of earth paint.

The station platform is in place made from Gatorfoam. I used a bit of plaster cloth to tie it all together. It is painted and ready for some scenery. To outline the platform which will be removable scrap Gatorfoam is glued down.

I normally work from the rear to the front of the layout but this time I am not sure what I want to add near the wall. A stop in Bellows Falls coming or going to Boston will help me out.

This is how the scene looked like when I called it a night on Sunday evening. I actually put some rolling stock down to see how it all looks even though the ballast was not dry yet. Was nice to find out the next morning none of the rolling stock was permanently mounted.

Snapshot - March 2016

CN 1423 is off duty at the moment. I took this view while starting my shift on a local switcher on March 2, 2009 the year I retired. You can see the corner of the engine I was using.

I took this shot off the engine during my last year working, 7 years ago this month. I had just got on the engine to begin a shift on one of our local switchers. The engine is on the backway lead looking west towards London Salvage. One can see the loading magnet and two gondolas spotted. I think we normally used to spot three at a time. Note that one fence is made of old boxcar doors (next to gondolas). Peter covered the other salvage dealer in town some time ago (Zubicks). The other engine a GMD-1 was stationed in our area for awhile which I did get a chance to run on occasion. One sits up quite high with a great view from it...George Dutka

Wordless Wednesday No. 173

Proto Flat and Gondola

My finished 52'6" Proto gondola. Although it is nicely lettered and painted I don't believe this particular car style was included in the CN fleet. Rapido  has a CN  52'6" gondola car.

Two more cars got a quick makeover back in January. The Proto 2000 gondola is one of three I have in stock. The gondola and flat seen here were assembled by someone else. When I got them they both were missing a few detail parts and one end door on the gondola which I located in my stock kits. This project only took me an afternoon to finish and put  in service...George Dutka

The Proto flat model is lettered for the ONR and is seen in service on the WRD. A Tichy brake wheel was used for the missing one.

I added some scrap details to the flat as interest such as scrap lumber, wire ties and newspapers. The deck is Floquil grime, then Hunterline Weathering mix and Bragdon powders. A-Line stirrups are used.

The car sides are covered with Bragdon dark rust with dust on the trucks and bright rust on the couplers.

Better look inside. The flooring got a coat of Model Master wood followed by a wash of India ink and some Bragdon powders.

Looking inside one can see the bridge ties with a bit texture. I used Westboro ROW dirt and cinders along with Scenic Express Texture, Farm Pasture Mix.

East Deerfield - Load

Back track in East Deerfield, Ma. January 25, 2015

Here we have two full loads of logs resting on a back track in East Deerfield, Ma. Not sure why it is tucked away here but I am sure it will not be for long. A neat load to model I would think...George Dutka

Repainting a Container

The CN logo is actually bolted on to the container. Paris, Ont. March 6, 2016.

On the way home from Copetown I stopped in at a few locations...delaying the inevitable painting I performed at the kids house during the afternoon. Since my last visit here a few years ago the storage container next to the Paris Jct. section house got an upgrade...kind of neat...George Dutka

Bellows Falls Freight House

Mounted on Gatorfoam and ready to be dropped into the Bellows Falls scene on the WRD. An end view was seen in last weeks Wordless Wednesday.

I finally got the Bellows Falls freight house mounted on a sheet of Gatorfoam. Don Janes built this structure and used it for many years on his Green Mountain Route. In his rebuild it became excess leading to me acquiring it for my BF scene. It is very well built and weathered. All I did was add a ton of details to the platform, inside the open doors and around the perimeter...George Dutka

I added a lot of details along with a BEST Models casting black cat. The mail sack on the dolly is also by BEST.

More details. Note the nice weathering job Don did to the siding. I added a few signs to the walls.

The far end wall is just full of weeds along the base.

Wordless Wednesday No. 172

Hemmings - Bennington, Vt.

Andy and I stopped by this neat service and news store last January (2015) on our way home from Springfield. A nice place to get your fuel.

If you are traveling through Bennington, Vt. you might want to stop and check out Hemmings. A gas station it is but once inside you step back in time with views, antiques and memorabilia...some you can purchase...a stop worth making if you are a car buff...George Dutka

A look from the roadway.

Guess you can figure this one out.

Some of what one will see inside.

Heavily Weathered - Covered Hoppers

A group of well weathered equipment on display at this years Copetown Show.

At the Copetown Show there was some nicely weathered equipment on display for all to see. I did not get the gentleman's name but he sure did a nice job weathering his engines and rolling stock fleet. I did question him about how he did these hoppers. He mentioned using acrylic dollar store paint goop'd up in layers. Very effective...George Dutka

These cars are really heavily weathered, but have been done effectively.

This view shows the paint that has been goop'd up over and around the hatches.

The Ontario Southland Ry. - Woodstock, Ontario

The OSR waits for a signal to enter Woodstock while a crew member sets the switches. Today's engines are 1620 and 182.

Last Sunday  I stopped by the CP yard in Woodstock, Ont. The Ontario Southland Ry. was working the yard during my short visit...George Dutka

The OSR pulls a cut of tri-levels past the station and across a crossing just east of the station.

Creative Laser Design - Milt's in N scale

Milt's is now a Cheese House which went together well for an N scale kit.

What's in the box No. 20 gave one a first look at Milt's Woodwork CLD kit. Since then I finished off Gary's kit which he originally assembled the main structure and painted. I added the corner trim, windows, doors, roofing, concrete base and platforms. All went together well other than the trim did not cover the corner notches of the walls. I added 1x2" trim to all corner trim and under the roof angles to clean this up a bit. Grimy black is applied on the roof followed by some powders which also was applied to the walls and concrete base. The wood platform was given a coat of Hunterline stain followed by a coat of Floquil grime...George Dutka

The trim was coloured with AV paint. The chimney included in the kit is just a block of wood. I used some leftover Monster Models laser cut corner brick from my Bellows Falls paper co. kit. It works good for N scale.

I added some signs at the doors and some interior details which was actually just leftover scraps from the kit. A bumper post was added to help save the concrete wall from getting hit by trucks backing up to the door.

The crates are bits of wood painted Model Masters wood colour. I added some boards and N scale newspaper's. A thin box of craft cheese papers lean against the crates. The boards against the walls are leftover 1x2" trim pieces.

Gary lettered the painted walls before he gave me the kit to finish. The base was painted Floquil concrete then weathered with Bragdon powders.

I added the Milt's Woodworking sign included with the kit to the under body to reflect the heritage of the kit.

S Scale Workshop - Copetown 2016

A nice looking CN caboose next to the main line. There are numerous industries along the line.

At this years Copetown show the feature layout was a nice presentation by the S Scale Workshop. I had my pocket Canon camera with me and got a few half decent shots...it was hard to take many photos in the crowd that gathered around the layout during my visit...George Dutka

An overall look from the return loop.

The other loop was the staging yard.

RDC time with a really nice looking model.

One could find a really nice fleet of trucks along the roadways.

Another of the many trucks found around the layout. Guessing it is a 1939 version as per the plate.

Always need a interlocking tower on a layout.