Snapshot - March 2020

CN switching the Hamilton yard. Sept. 8, 2019. An nice mix of power to see.

Last fall I attended an old timers basketball tournament in Burlington, Ont. on Friday and Saturday. Sunday on my way home I took a sidetrip into Hamilton to see what had changed. Now CN does the switching in town and I found GO trains running through to Niagara Falls on a regular schedule...George Dutka

I was not in Hamilton all that long but caught two GO trains, one heading to Niagara Falls and one Toronto bound.

There are a nice group of bridges and raised banks that one can view what is happening in town.

Bellows Falls - WRD Update

There is a wide strip between the yard and trackage running north through town. I finally got around to detailing this area.

You saw a view of some work I had done in Bellows Falls a couple days ago...here are some more views all taken with my phones camera...George Dutka

This small BarMills shed was located at the quarry before the milk platform was installed...it is working well near the diamond.

As one might notice the switch stands still need to be installed. The small coal dealer is a FOS kit of the month structure. I will cover this one shortly. Behind it is the Rutland Ry. sand house.

I had some extra BarMills fencing that I added near the background and in front of this little ITLA structure. I had covered this laser cut kit a couple of years ago. The section shed is an updated building I picked up at a train show awhile back. It has also been covered last year in a post.

The CMW Mini Metal's high rail car is new to the layout. I got it at Springfield this year. The B&M baggage car is an old Sylvan shell I turned into at storage shed.

A drone style look at the structures I added to this small strip of land.

Night Views with William Gill

Along the old Rutland Ry. William Gill photo.

William Gill contaced me yesterday with the following comments...we connect from time to time regarding New England railfan photography. He is a wonderful night photographer and also does some modeling. His father Bill Gill is also a very good modeler and has had a few articles recently published in RMC. Check out his Facebook page with the link below...George Dutka

"Quite a while back, I saw one of your White River Division posts on E

C Crosby & Sons and have wanted to shoot there at night. Finally, with

the B&M/PAS detouring over Vermont Rail, I was able to get some shots

in on the GRMC and B&R."...Will

Trains at Night

Will caught the NECR at the Vermont-NH bridge at Windsor, Vt. This would be a very tricky shot to do as the bridge is a good distance from where Will is set up for the photo. I have no idea how he set off the lights that far away. Good work Will.

I took a similar photo during the CV days. I actually was balancing on the guard rails to get up high enough to take this photo. I could not imagine getting this photo at night. Sept. 30 1994.

 

FOS - Lowery Seafood

FOS kit of the month club.

Here is a look at how the structure looks now that it is finished. It did not take long to put this one together...George Dutka

A close up look at the weathering and paint colouring of the walls.

Once I had done all the paint and weathering I ran an AK pencil - rainmarks along each board which highlighted the edges. It adds a subtle look to the boards.

The whale weather-vane is an Alder Models detail I added to the roof. The trim is a coat of Floquil grime first then covered with a light coat of Floquil old concrete. On this kit the doors went on last. I normally model them opened up inward. I found it too hard to get them on and swinging in so the open outward.

The rear wall is pretty plane but well weathered. The kit came with a oversized chimney which I set aside for another project. I just made a smoke stack from a piece of styrene rod.

I modeled a couple of windows as broken glass. The fish sign is actually a photocopy of the sign in the plans that I just cut out and rusted up.

What's in the Box No. 40

All that is included in the kit laid out at the Kitchener train show.

The last kit I finished was another FOS kit-of-the-month. I actually began this kit at the Kitchener train show while working the WOD-NFR-NMRA Craftsman Corner. This kit has all the parts included. The instructions are not all that clear with bracing and adding corner trim to some locations. They are not shown on the plans, but easy to figure out. This one is a really nice little kit. To date I have built 6 of the 12 kits available to Canadians, now to move on to a BEST feed mill...George Dutka

 A good number of laser cut windows and doors. Some Tichy windows and barrels are also found in a small package. Some metal castings are also included.

At the Kitchener show I got most of the bracing in place...I guess I did more talking and shopping than actual work at my craftsman station.

This and That - Part Two

A look at my Bellows Falls yard as it looked on Thursday. The area between the Rutland Ry. yard and the main line finally got detailed earlier this month. First time I actually worked on the layout in a year. I spent about a week re-detailing areas that will stay as-is during a rebuild. I will give you a closer look at it shortly.

I did a "This and That" post at the beginning of the month covering items that I thought was too little for a post of its own. I have a bit of backlog of items I thought I would share so a part two is seen today...check back later there will be a second and third post. There is a lot to show you today...George Dutka

Since Peter and I were in St. Thomas visiting Brian Smith we decided to see if we could time our visit to the arrival of the OSR. This was March 13, 2020. Note the first car is CN relettered for GTW.

A better look at the GTW car. I wonder if a day will ever come when tagging is a thing of the past.

Jim Sloan squared up a sign from a photo I took and is making a sign for his layout door...kind of a neat idea.

At Trainfest back in November Don pointed out the details that Tangent offered. He has been using their uncoupling levers which he really likes. I decided to pick up a couple packages also.

Kevin Smith sent me this photo of WRJ looking south from the station. Look at the big loads on the baggage wagons...if you overloaded yours on the layout it would look silly. Some of the distant details and structures can be seen far off along the wye.

While visiting Brian Smith a few weeks back Ron McCormick another modeler in our round robin club mentioned a CP Rail caboose  Jim Sloan weathered for him. A few days later he sent me these two photo. Jim you did a great job.

The other side of Ron's caboose that Jim Sloan weathered.

This 1959 photo taken on Dundas St. London views a garage that is next to the CN-CP interchange spur. At one time some of the local filling stations also included a diner or lunch counter....kind of a neat thing to model. I did a post on Flanagans a while back and one can see it in the background. Oh by the way in Parkhill, Ont. they just finished a gas station lunch counter rebuild. One can find Clare Gilbert of Sylvan Models there on occasion grabbing a bite. Just look for his antique pickup truck in the parking lot.

This photo came to me from Bruce Douglas this week. It appears this safety inspection car was spotted in the Brantford, Ont. yard on March 21, 2020 by James Gardiner.

A Paul Dunn photo that is undated but the lettering on the side mentions rebuilt 9-39 and 8-54 having other work being done. Bob Bowes collection. Note this car has grabs along the right side while car below has ladders attached.

This car was built in 11-1929 and this photos must be after 3-59 as noted on the car. Paul Dunn photo, Bob Bowes collection.

The Cornfield is Planted!

Don had started this farm scene before heading to Arizona at the end of December. It is looking really good now.

Don arrived back home in Canada from Arizona a week ago today. By Monday he was sending photos of projects completed on the Green Mountain Route. 14 day self isolation will be good for his layout. As one can see from the photos he is well ahead of local area farmers...the corn is all planted...George Dutka

Don has been collection corn packages for about three years now and they all got used.

Throwback Thursday - Not a Railfan Photo

The CN shop tracks at Rectory St. in London were still in use at the time this photo was taken in the late 1980s.

By Peter Mumby.

Today's photo features CN GP40-2LW number 9575.  It was built as a member of CN class GF -430c by General Motors Diesel in 1972.  In this late 1980s view it is resting in the shop area at Rectory St. in London, Ontario.

Railfan locomotive photos tend to be front 3/4 wedge shots.  This one definitely does not fit that classification.  I would, however, think of this as a modeller's shot because of all the interesting details that are apparent on the rear of the locomotive.  Note the flat rear pilot and the striping arrangement of its paint work.  The position of the re-rail frog and the style of coupler cut lever show up well in the photo.  As well, a number of details help distinguish this GMD-built unit from its EMD-built counterparts.  The shape of the step handrails is dictated by the vertical, rather than sloped, steps.  Number boards are lacking, and the back-up light is definitely not of the familiar double horizontal type found on most US-built GM products of the era.  The GP40-2 units built in London for CN featured this single back-up light, although units 9668-9677, purchased used from GO Transit, had been built with double vertical lights.

Wordless Wednesday No. 369

CN RS-18's - St. Albans

CN RS's at St. Albans undated sent to me by John Hajnosz.

John Hajnosz asked me a question around the time the announcement for the Rapido RS's happened...did they come down to St. Albans at any point. I could not remember seeing a photo of any there but thought they would have in CN power mixes. Sure enough a few months later John found a view of two at St. A...George Dutka

Sign of the times

I found this on-line a couple of days ago and thought I would share it with you...boy how true it is. I have no problem with isolation...George Dutka

Scenes from WRJ

An undated view of a B&M boxcar on the siding at the farmers co-op WRJ.

A B&M F unit heads around the wye in WRJ during August 1949. The movement began at the roundhouse and is heading to the station to power a southbound train. Why I am showing you this photo is I never see much of the structures next to the wye. In this view a neat looking tall garage is seen in the background. I am not sure if it is attached to the home or just next to it.

Berlin Mills Railway - Boxcars

Two ex-Berlin Mills Railway boxcars in route on the WRD.

Two more of the weathered rolling stock I picked up at Kitchener from Jeff. These two fit in nicely with my modern era fleet and are very nicely weathered...George Dutka

This car is patched out and now on the SLR roster. This is the cleaner side of the car.

My second car is another patched out numbering, but this time for the Green Mountain Ry. Both are really nicely done.

The Back Alley - A Second Look

A FOS sign is turned into a bill board on the roof. Some vents and stacks add more interest. A BEST pigeon is added to the roof also.

Here are a few more views of my back alley structure. More to come as the scene begins to falls into place...George Dutka

On the left side of the building is a gap I could not fill or seal. I decided to run a conduit along it and add an electrical meter to the mix. A second conduit is added.

Here is a look at how this alley might transpire. The garage to the left Jim Sloan assembled for me using two images printed on heavy paper. The doors and windows on the top layer is cut out to make it appear more three dimensional. A fence is seen to the right which will tie in a couple of DPM structures that will be rooming houses rear walls.