Wordless Wednesday No. 269

Springfield Show - 50th Anniversary

At the 1/87th display Honest Clare's is referring to Clare of Sylvan Scale Models. This display is built by Bill Badger.

Now that Springfield is over for another year it is time to reflect on the weekend. I only get to the show every few years...I believe it has been about 4 years since I last attended. I think the attendance was up from my last visit as many of the tables were hard to get at and lineups to purchase sometime took patience. I really enjoyed looking at all the layouts on display. I don't recall seeing this many in the past. A two foot steam engine which was steaming out front was right down my alley as I also model narrow gauge in On30". I did not find out till it was too late, the show also had three "make and take" clinics going on each day. This might have been a good place to rest my tired body. All and all it turned out to be a fun day. One thing though, I found me legs and back are not what they used to be and there was nowhere near enough benches to rest. I used the Bar Mills clinic booth  as a location I returned to on a regular basis to have a seat. I will show you what I found interesting in following posts...George Dutka

Live steam at the entrance. Boothbay Railway Village steam engine #11 usually kept at Edaville entertained steam fans.

Some of the dealers were packed with customers all day long. Here is a view of Scenic Express.

The Free-mo group advertised on the radio that they were running 11 scale miles of trackage. It was noted it took an hour to run from end to end and back. This display is made up of about 100 modules and takes about 18 hours to setup.

As one can see the Free-mo group layout stretched the length of the building. I took this photo from about the middle of the display.

Mt. Washington Clog Ry.

Wall art.

One could purchase some graffiti cars which are prototypical correct. Or if you had a car with you one could have it weathered or graffiti for $25.

Hossac Tunnel diorama at the museum's display

CNR 40' Boxcar - Updating

The finished model included some patching and a new superior door which is from a Front Range kit. The door is modeled freshly painted as a replacement.

A couple posts back I gave you a peek of a blue box kit I had updated. Here is the before, after and what I did. Captions tell the story...George Dutka

This is how the boxcar looked when I got it home. It has cut levers, wire grabs, hose bags and added stirrups. Some had fallen off but are still in the box. The roof walk was removed and grabs added for the tall ladders. The car has some over-spray in various shades. You are looking at the good side. The other side has a lot of spray blobs so it will need a lot of heavy weathering to improve the look.

The model builder had added some under-body details.

I am adding the roofwalk made from wood strips and  have just  brush painting the roof silver-gray which will look like all the paint has peeled off. The colours used are seen beside the car.

One can see the roof is looking done. After this photo was taken I added more dark staining and a bit of paint not yet peeled to the roof. On the sides I used Bragdon rust steaks along the seams and dusted the door with the same powders to flatten the original colour. Some paint out patchwork was also applied. CDS dry transfers are used to re-apply the numbering.

This is the other side. I added some rust streaks and a dark rust scrape line to hide the sins that had happened to this side. A good dose of PanPastel and Bragdon dark rust is applied. I used the original Athearn door on this side but clipped off the ugly over-scale lower claws. If I was to take the update further I would have changed out the thick upper and lower door tracks.

I changed out the brake wheel with what I had on hand, a Kadee 2025 model. I coloured it and the housing as newly installed and painted.

A look at the other side of the car and  the roof.

CNR 40' Boxcar - Prototype

Aug 1990 Peter Mumby photo.  This boxcar is in work service, note the small side door. Roof walks and tall ladders are still applied. Some repainting has happened. Note it still carries its original numbering.

Now that you saw my finished model in the last post, Peter and I had a conversation about this car at the show. Being a boxcar with an ACI label and U-1 wheel stencil applied Peter thought the tall ladders would have been shortened as many of the roof walks had been removed. This was something to consider when working on the model. Once I got home and researched photos I had, some by Peter and others I took of these cars we quickly noted that many of these old workhorses made it through their entire life with roof walk still on and with tall ladders, U-1 and ACI labels. Many of these cars arrived in the late 1980's and early 1990's in London, Ont. for scrapping and we took as many photos of the cars as we could....George Dutka

London reclamation yard George Dutka collection. Tall ladders, roof walks, ACL and U-1 labels still applied. Lot of the silver is seen on the roof.

CN Danforth yard Toronto, Ont. Warren Dodgson photographed a string of older cars. The end car has the maple leaf , May 30 1989. This would make a great model also.

Some inspiration for weathering. Brantford, Ont. Sept 17, 1991 George Dutka photo

CNR Athearn Blue Box 40' Boxcar

The completed updated and weathered CNR model between two more of my Woodstock finds which are rust buckets without graffiti.

At the recent Woodstock train show I picked up this blue box Athearn boxcar built and detailed. It was a nice looking build, but the weathering had heavy over-spray with lots of paint blobs on one side. A nice candidate to turn into a later era CN addition. For $5.00 it was well worth the effort which took a couple of short afternoons to complete...more on this car shortly...George Dutka

Off to Springfield

Posts will be as time permits over the next few days as I am away railfanning and taking in the Springfield, Ma. show...George Dutka

Wordless Wednesday No. 268

ITLA Kit Now Installed.

My building flat installed at the rear of my scene. Don Janes photo.

My ITLA kit is now located in the rear of my Bellows Crossing scene. Don Janes was over last week for a visit and took a few photos trying out his new lens...George Dutka

One, Two, Three its Down

Rock Island -  Morris, Illinois 1953

Here is a group of photos I found interesting...hope that train cleared before he pushed the handle down...George Dutka

Snapshot - January 2018

OSR switching the St. Thomas yard on Dec 27, 2017.

This months snapshot is a visit by Peter and I to St. Thomas, Ont. Once we finished photographing Brian Smith's layout he mentioned that OSR might be in town by now and worth a trip over to the yard. It was around noon and sure enough as we passed the Kettle Creek trestle at the west end of the yard the two covered wagons had a cut of cars over the bridge. It was tricky getting down into the park below as December was a really snowy month, but Peter's mini van got us through the stuff...enjoy the views...George Dutka

In the St. Thomas yard OSR switches with cars on both ends.

Backing into the yard.

CP Cabooses in SWO

CP 508 near Milton, Ont. Dec. 17, 1989. George Dutka collection

Here is a group of CP caboose photos I have taken or from my collection. I did a bit of scanning a couple of months ago and thought I would share these with you...George Dutka

Jan. 6 1990, London, Ont. George Dutka photo

Nov. 1989 Agincourt yard Toronto. George Dutka photo

Agincourt yard Toronto, Nov. 1989 George Dutka photo

St. Thomas, Ont. March 15. 1990. George Dutka photo

London, Ont. June 27, 1990. George Dutka photo

B&M Shop - Billerica

A cab salvaged from scrapped New Haven RDC-3 128 is ready to be grafted onto collision damaged Boston & Maine RDC-1 6117 at the B&M's Billerica shop. April 1971 Ton Nelligan photo

Tom Nelligan allowed me to share this photo with you of a chop job that was going to be done at Billerica, Ma....George Dutka

Wordless Wednesday No. 267

A CP Rust Bucket

An overhead view of my new acquisition.

I purchased this covered hopper this fall at the Kitchener train show from Chris Wright. It is a really nicely weathered car. Not sure why Chris wanted to unload it (maybe something to do with the new Rapido offerings out now) as he models CP through Northern New England into Maine...but I am happy to have it. I recall Chris telling me a solution which is actually real rust was painted on the car...George Dutka

A view of both sides of this interesting looking covered hopper.

GTW Operations on the WRD

A updated Athearn switcher is leading a caboose hop over the White River Division.

Here are a few views of Peter's GTW engine collection out on the WRD with my caboose...enjoy...George Dutka

A more modern looking engine...not sure if this one, in this paint scheme ever saw a caboose.

GTW crossing the White River.

Fall New England Visit

A look into the shop area of Rigby yard in South Portland, Maine Oct. 13, 2017.

Although this was a non-railfan road trip through New England this past fall with my wife, she was OK with a few stops if only for a short time. Here are a few views from our October trip...enjoy...George Dutka

At Rigby yard one could find some second hand CSX engines now numbered for PanAm but with MEC lettering.

An up close look Oct. 13, 2017.

A quick stop at NECR yard in Palmer, Ma. finds two units on layover, Oct. 14 2017.

This NECR engine is still in its original colours...at least for now. Palmer, Mass. Oct. 14, 2017.

I took a good group of photos of this NECR engine parked out front of the White River Jct. station on Oct. 11, 2017. I really like how it is weathered and it might become a project at some point.

A look at the cab out front of the WRJ station.

Ghosting on NECR 437