Snapshot - May 2019

St. Thomas, Ont. 1987

Here we have the old section shed found in St. Thomas, Ontario during the C&O era. It was located just east of the large trestle that took the railroad over to the yard. The C&O had a large shop in town but the yard was built outside of town across a large valley. I actually measured this structure and published the plans in the NFR-WOD Dispatcher back in 1987. It looks a lot like a boxcar  with car ends but is way too long. Might be a mix of a couple of cars...George Dutka

Throwback Thursday - CASO Headquarters

On June 26, 1987, a westbound CSX special rests in front of the massive CASO station in St Thomas, Ontario.

By Peter Mumby.

The edifice in the background of this photo is the historic CASO station in downtown St Thomas, Ontario.  It served as a passenger station into the early Amtrack era, but its principal role over the years was to provide division point offices for the Canada Southern Railway, the MC/NYC/PC/CR property which constituted a short cut across Southwestern Ontario between Detroit and Niagara Falls.  For years, the C&O exercised trackage rights east of St Thomas on the CASO, with trains swinging south onto their own track just west of the station.  By the time of this photo, however, east-west C&O trackage had been abandoned, so the train would stay on CASO rails until it connected with the branch which headed towards Sarnia.  Today, the majority of the CASO trackage has been abandoned, with current owners CN/CP only interested in the Windsor and Niagara Falls portions of the route.

On the June 1987 day of this photo the still-intact CASO line was playing host to CSX extra 6830 West.  Stretched out behind the two visible cabooses were the several coaches of an Employee Safety Special.

Wordless Wednesday No. 331

Eric Mumby Photo

Bordens - Schenevus, NY

By the look of the roof I wonder if the structure is still standing. Sept. 28 1990.

I followed the D&H back in 1990 from Albany south to Bighamton, NY. Warren Dodgson was along for the ride. We stopped at each station recording what we found still standing and actually caught a couple of trains...here is a view of the creamery and sign at Schenevus, NY...George Dutka

Was nice to see this old metal milk sign.

At the Lake

Keene B&M shops in background 1900.

My boat went in on Thursday and with no internet at our area of the marina (I don't seem to get away from my boat when there...being unplugged while I am there is quite nice) posting is hit and miss. Some problems with my prop shaft, letting water in the boat has kept me down below trying to slow the flow. I did get it fixed before I came home...could have had it fixed the first day but that would not be any fun when the beer is flowing also. With the better weather arriving posts will be a bit thin at times. I have a few Throwback Thursdays on file from Peter and a nice group of almost finished posts that will take me through the end of June.

Don and I are away beginning Wednesday to attend the New England RPM in Connecticut. We will fill you in on how things went. We hope to get in a bit of railfanning if the rain stays away...stay tuned...George Dutka

An older view of the WRD...thinking I took this photo about 2007 or 2008 well before the rebuild.

If you are modeling the WRJ station and it is 1993 some of the walls are painted. Matt Flynn photo Sept. 19 1993.

Another overall look at my Accurail PTM boxcar.

CV at Northfield, Ma. - 1973

CV 4927 NB at Northfield, Ma. Aug 28, 1973 Bruce Nelson photo.

A neat 1973 overhead view taken from the bridge just north of the van hop heading back to Brattleboro...George Dutka

Throwback Thursday - Leased Units on the Havelock Sub

HLCX 4407 leads a string of loaded hoppers up the grade out of the 3M plant on August 14, 1998.  This facility was located a short distance east of CP's Havelock yard.

By Peter Mumby.

Home road locomotives (in this case, exemplified by CP 8250) are definitely in the minority in this set of power.  HLCX 4407 has combined with HLCX 4290 and another HATX locomotive to haul covered hoppers loaded with roofing granules and open hoppers full of trap rock out of the 3M facility east of Havelock. 

Leased units certainly were not unusual on CP at this time.  Most of them were EMD products, drawn from the used locomotive pool in the US.  A bit unusual, then, was HLCX 4290, a GMD GP40-2(W) originally constructed as CN 9640.  This particular unit continued to be a denizen of Ontario as it was later transformed into Huron Central Railway 3010.

The CP Havelock Subdivision is still active today, although the 3M  plant is now closed and the trackage shown in this photo has been out of service for at least 15 years.  Ironically, roofing granules are still transported by train in this area, although the product is now trucked from the Madoc area to a transloading facility in the Havelock yard.

Wordless Wednesday No. 330

 Goderich, Ont. 1996

A Saturday Change of Plans

The SP Clovis branch is well underway at Pierre Oliver's home.

On Saturday the day started out rainy and cool so my trip to the lake was put off till Sunday. My wife's good friend was in town also from Edmonton...meaning she was gone for the day. A quick call to Peter and the two of us began another adventure.

Our first top was the outskirts of London (Lambeth) to visit our modeling friend Mark who has some serious health issues. We thought he could use a bit of a cheering up. He is a master at DCC and had finished an engine of mine. From there we headed to St. Thomas to visit our friend Jeff at Railway City Hobbies. Jeff has an extensive selection of AK paints and I was after another shade of rust. We headed to the back where the consignment shelvings are packed. There is an large collection of $5.00 models and $50 engines...mostly Athearn blue box models. You really have to look through each box as some are assembled with Kadees and a few with steel wheels. In the mix there are a few custom finished models. We both came away with a nice group of rolling stock and an ex-D&H painted CP engine that has been totally detailed. More on that one later. The rolling stock although Athearn blue box covered hoppers are all custom painted and detailed by The Hopper Shop, Toledo, Ohio. Peter and I found them very appealing. So much so I don't advise you go there looking for any.

Part way through our visit at Railway City Hobbies Pierre Oliver aka  Elgin Car Shops - Custom Model Assembly and Finishing came in looking for some paint. He was spending the day working on his layout and was nice enough to invite Peter and I over for a visit. I had not been to his new place yet. Peter and I had a nice visit with Pierre checking out his awesome workshop and layout. The layout is coming along really well with a few areas already finished. It was nice to see the layout in person. Now having visited the layout the photos I have seen on Pierre's blog are in perspective. I really liked how his track plan allows for lots of space between towns and we are looking forward to seeing the layout once further along.

As always we took a drive by the CN yard but nothing was happening. We did get some nice shots of a covered hopper rust bucket...George Dutka

Pierre explains to Peter what is envisioned for this area of the layout.

The area Pierre is leaning on is what he was working on when we arrived for our visit to the Southern Pacific in 1951.

A look at some of the many reefers required to service the customers along the line.

Pierre has some nice plans and photos to work from so he can emulate as much as possible of the branchline.

A look at the workbench and some of Pierre's long weekend projects almost completed. Peter Mumby photo.

Pierre and I discuss AK paints and a few others that Pierre uses to get all those great finishes. Peter Mumby photo.

It is about two weeks away and Pierre (Yarmouth Model Works) has the boxes almost packed for this years New England RPM meet. Don and I will be there also and will be taking a good look at his kits.

B&M ex-Troop Sleeper

My Walthers B&M baggage car is seen in the Bellows Falls yard. I darkened the roof with a light overcoat of black. The sides are lightly weathered with Bragdon powders.

One piece of rolling stock I have for B&M passenger operations is an ex-troop sleeper. I think this Walthers model is a nice addition to my fleet. I purchased and assembled it back in 2008...George Dutka

I reduced this plan down from a 32" by 10" original for a data pack I published about 20 years ago. I used this for placement of grabs.

I cropped a photos which shows an ex-troop sleeper during 1968 in use on the B&M wreck train at East Deerfield, Ma.

I had posted this photo before. The photo did not have any details marked on it.

This car came lettered although handrails needed to be attached. I used my plans for the proper handrail locations. The step under the door needed to be moved from the right side to the left. I used Kadee true scale couplers.

Rust Bucket No. 1

I thought this was a neat looking rust covered car that one could model. Both sides are in similar condition. GTW138311.

The younger crowd seem to like modeling what they see today making for some really neat looking models. I can see what they find appealing and have at times tried to emulate what I see also. So from time to time I hope to show you some rusty rolling stock that might be good candidates for contemporary modelers to recreate. Here we have a covered hopper Peter and I came across while we visited the CP yard in Woodstock, Ontario this year...I really liked how this one looked...George Dutka

Note it still has its ACI label. The only thing new about this car is the reflective tape applied.

The car ends still show a good amount of blue paint. CP yard, Woodstock March 9, 2019

Portland Terminal Boxcar - Updated

Ready to roll on the WRD. Some PanPastel grays had been added during the May 2018 facelift.

I posted about my updates to this Accurail model back on July 15, 2016. Last May I played around with the cars weathering using some acrylics. I painted the roof walk a Model Master wood and rusted up the roof and some of the metal supports. It seemed OK but not exactly what I wanted. This May I had it back on my workbench for some AK paint weathering. I was just trying out a few new products I recently purchased which I think I like...George Dutka

I originally cut off the ladders and added wire grabs such as the prototype. The paint was touched up with Floquil mix of Brunswick green and Reading green.

Some original weathering given to the roof back in 2016.

The boxcar door was darkened and metal rusted using AK products. I used rust effects on the metal and wooden wash on the wooden portions of the door. The seams of the siding is highlighted with a sharp pencil in random locations. The Kadee trip pins are also clipped. The ends of the knuckles are touched with a silver marker giving the look of a well used and worn coupler.

Some PanPastel grays had been added during the May 2018 facelift. I left the sides as-is just highlighting the door. Thinking I may still repaint the trucks shortly.

Last May I painted the roof walks Model Master wood which I decided to highlight better this time around with some pencil lead between the boards. The roofing got AK weathered rust wash which I think makes the roof look a lot better than in the 2016 photo.

I touched a few spots on the roof ribs and the door metal bracing with a silver magic marker.

Proto Double Door Boxcar - CNR

My newest arrival on the WRD.

I picked up this partly weathered CN boxcar at a train show a few years ago. On the table all kits were $2.50 (finished models were $5.00 what a deal) . This one had some interesting weathering applied by the modeler. Not sure why he weathered only the body and under frame. I was wondering if I could blend in what he had done with so may new details still to be added. It has sat around for a bit till I figured it all out. Did I get it right...George Dutka

This is how the boxcar looked when I got it home. Some weathered and some still new. It appears someone was trying to add a wooden floor but did not do it right so the doors will be modeled closed.

The car matched what I found in photos.

The doors are installed along with the trucks. I changed out the ladders using some Canadian prototype ladders I purchased from the Bob Bowes collection...nice to have a small bag of these when required.

The car is all together and ready for weathering.

I left one door as it had been replaced or repainted. The other door along with ladders, stirrups, grabs and brake wheel is weathered using Vallejo rust texture. Some PanPastels are also used. On the roof some burnt sienna was used for rust spots.

One of the first thing I did to the car was add the wheels and couplers. The wheels and trucks I decided to take off and paint using Camo Coat (Home Hardware) dark brown which I like better than using their dark olive colouring. When I first added the trucks to the model I was only going to give them a dirty wash and a bit of powders.Another option for wheels and trucks is Princess Auto steel spray bomb. I will be trying this on my next project.

I think the car turned out good and I feel my weathering blended in well with what the original modeler was doing.

I added a few chalk marks to the sides after all the weathering was done...an afterthought. I was able to hide the decal to some degree, next time I will add them before weathering.

Rolling Stock - A Look at Some Old Projects

A Tichy kit which became a D&H model back in 2012.

The next 5-6 days will focus on rolling stock, model and prototype. To begin  with we have here a look at some of my old projects. I was going through my photo files looking for a particular view and thought I would show you some of my past projects. Some cars I have posted about others have yet to make the grade...enjoy...George Dutka

An Atlas model I was working on a number of years ago. It is an updated Branchline model. The finished Branchline model is seen in the background. I am thinking this style of kit might be a great candidate for adding National Scale Car details to.

Peter and I worked on a box full of shells using detail parts we had on hand to come up with some nice looking models. This is one of Peter's finished models.

Our finished shells.

Here is what I began with for the model viewed above including a prototype photo to work from.

A F&C 36' boxcar model I built a few years back. It is seen here in regular service on the WRD. I like using as many shorter cars as I can which makes my trains appear longer, which is nice on a smaller size layout.

My finished Tichy kit.

This Rutland RPO car is not an exact replica but a model that John Blatherwick lettered back in the 1980's. I purchased it from his estate about a decade ago. John was a New England modeler living in Toronto. I added new grabs, better stirrups and a coat of Floquil grimy black to the roof. The sides had a bit of weathering already that I touched up. I think John blocked some of the windows at some point.

Details added and ready for paint. This is one of the shells Peter and I worked on a number of years ago.