Scene is now Finished

The finished scene is the third version for this area on the WRD in just over 15 years and possibly the best.

About a week or so ago I finished a scene redo. I moved Cosby Coal back from the main line to the spur track removing the siding. The scratch-built ramp and dock is placed next to it and the Sylvan CN-GT tool house that was in the WRJ yard scene has been moved to along the main line. Some brass etching barb wire fence has been place along the main and also the spur...George Dutka

Cosby Coal is removed along with all the details. The trees and fence still needs to go. The valley on the right next to the faceboard got a redo also...will show you shortly.

The coal siding and some of the scenery that needs to be flattened out has been removed. At this point I was thinking "what have I done now".

A Gatorfoam drop in base is made for Cosby Coal. Cardboard contours will be covered shortly with plaster cloth.

A look down view into the scene .

My scratch-built ramp and dock has work to get done now. The banding straps are electrical tape.

A view before the section house was installed. The area looked too open. Most of my section houses seemed too large. The Sylvan model is a nice small size that can fit in almost anywhere on a layout. It works well for CN-CV-GT locations.

Roll-By Inspection

CB&Q 85117, an old AHM model, was a flea market find.  Much of the detail is overly heavy, but I thought a little weathering would make this appear less obvious.  I added some decal data ( models of this vintage lacked end lettering ), and then applied some acrylic rust hues to the roof.  PanPastels were used to tone down the sides.

By Peter Mumby.

If you railfan in an area that features an old pile trestle, you know that you'll have lots of time to set up for your shots if you hear an approaching train.  With permanent slow orders in place, you will have time to get your drone aloft and set up to photograph every piece of passing equipment that catches your interest.  That scenario could at least partially justify the shots that accompany today's post, although those antique covered hoppers look more than a bit out of place.  They must have been waybilled to a local railway museum!

The truth of the matter is that our regional NMRA-WOD group is preparing a virtual show-and-tell modelling session for the end of the month.  Members were asked to send in two or three photos of projects they have been working on over recent months.  My submissions involved these three cars that have been given a little light weathering.  Products used included acrylic paints, Vallejo rust texture, and PanPastels.

WAB 41100 is actually a car that I detailed, painted and lettered about 30 years ago.  I recently took it down off the shelf and gave it some attention in the form of acrylic paints and PanPastels.

CNA 419266 is an Intermountain car.  The roof was brush-painted with light grey dollar store acrylic paint, followed by drybrushed black and rust shades.  The sides were treated with PanPastel colourless blender, and the dark patches at the top and bottom of the side panels were made with Vallejo rust texture.

Poles, Wires and Insulators - St. Johnsbury Station

Geoff Southwood photos.

Here are a few photos and comments by Geoff Southwood that one may find interesting...George Dutka

Your posting got me looking at wires and poles!!

I was looking at some photos and noted this interesting routing of the cabling between poles across the front of the station above the shed but below the windows at St. Johnsbury VT in 1965.  Here are shots from both ends and the track side.  I think I will try modelling this in a scene that I’m creating.

Heh!! And look at the lightning arrestors on the station roof.

Enjoy

Geoff

Throwback Thursday - Spadina

Transport yourself back to the summer of 1983 and this is what you might have seen while taking in the view from Toronto's Spadina overpass.

By Peter Mumby

I am sure you can still stand on the Spadina overpass and take in impressive views of downtown Toronto.  You just won't see much of what appears in today's photo.  All the infrastructure for the CN/VIA locomotive facilities and the passenger yard has disappeared, and the city skyline has been totally altered.  In addition, all of the railway equipment visible in the photo has long since disappeared from company rosters.  We can see a trio of VIA RDCs, featuring RDC-1 #6110 at the west end.  The middle unit is still dressed in CN colours.  On the adjacent track is a string of seven steam generator cars.  Behind them is the entire group of CN RS 18M locomotives which VIA had leased for Tempo service.  Number 3154 stands at the head of the line. This lease had been terminated in June of 1983, leading to the retirement of the 6-unit fleet.  The presence of these units helps us date this photo to the summer of '83.

Wordless Wednesday No. 377

Utility Poles

The pole to the left is an Atlas altered pole I have been using. The pole to the right is my new one. I just noticed the BarMills poles had 4 insulators. I think the next batch will have 4 also.

Here is a part two to the utility poles I posted about yesterday. I have been using Atlas poles till now which have been altered a bit. I find they are a bit too small for foreground poles but work well against the backdrop. For my layout redo I am modeling a spur and single track rural main line, an area that minimal telegraph wires would be found. I took a quick look through a few of my B&M and CV books to see what one would find. Most of the minor routes had poles with 3 to 4 wires....which is what I wanted. Actually a few spots had two...George Dutka

This is taken on the busy B&M main. Note how many arms and insulators are found here. Something I don't want to emulate.

Here is the B&M line to Salem, Ma. with a pole with a cross arm with two insulator and one on the top of the pole. Three lines total.

This B&M pole has six spots but only four insulators and wires used.

Note the two insulators and lines in a B&M yard.

The main line north of Bellows Falls had single arms with 4 wires something I want to copy.

ROW Telegraph Poles

A finished pole at the Northfield Falls crossing.

Last week I worked on a few smaller details for the WRD that can be done in an afternoon. It was a rainy day and I was getting the day off from chores. I had built some BarMills telephone or ROW poles in O and HO scale a few years ago. Don't go looking at their web site for them, they were a free handout kit at a past Fine Scale Model Expo. Peter Mumby and I built mine awhile ago. I liked how they looked so I decided to copy them for other areas of the layout I am working on. I only built 8 and it looks like a second afternoon will be required sometime soon...George Dutka

My poles are made by cutting a skewer in half and using the cross bracing cut out as a jig included with the BarMills poles. Scrap stripwood is used.

The poles are painted with Hunterline stain then Floquil grime. Some PanPastel highlights are also used. For the insulators I cut the nibs that hold Tichy parts on the spurs. These are painted gloss green and glued on the poles.

Covered Hoppers

CP yard London, Ont. May 13, 2020

Here we have a group of covered hoppers clean and dirty that I though I would share with you...George Dutka

Brian Smith found this car in the St. Thomas, Ont. CN yard earlier this week.

There has been a lot of BN hoppers around town in both the CN and CP yard. CN yard London, May 6, 2020.

CN yard London May 6, 2020

A view through the fence of an ex- SOO covered hopper in the CP yard London, May 22, 2020

CP yard May 22, 2020

CP yard May 22, 2020

Reclamation Yard - London

A view along Pine Street, London, Ont. of steam power waiting their turn into the reclamation yard. July 1960. George Dutka collection.

Just an old and new view of the reclamation yard...check back later for another post...George Dutka

I shot this view looking east from the Hale St. roundabout towards what is left of the reclamation yard on Friday. The track on the right is the London yard switching lead with a stop block . At one time it ran all the way back to a storage yard at the far end of the reclamation yard. May 22, 2020.

Snapshot - May 2020

OSR March 7, 2000 at Ingersoll. I may have been working the Ingersoll  Cami CN switcher at that time.

This months Snapshot is scans of slides and prints I took in Ingersoll, Ontario. I was looking for a ramp photo from across the tracks from the station...I guess I found a lot more...George Dutka

CN  7038-7027 the power for the CN Cami Ingersoll switcher on Sept. 28th 1998. This looks like early morning when I would have showed up for the shift. We used the old section house for our office at that time. It is across the tracks from the power. The station is abandoned by then. Note the yard is full of multi's that we would switch out and run over to the Cami yard on the CPR. One can see the loading ramp next to the power.

The CN Ingersoll switcher 7038-7027 laying over on Sept 28, 1998. I would have been the engineman on that day. Note the loading ramp next to the power. It would have been made from bridge timbers. I may have taken this photo at the end of the shift.

This was the last time Peter Mumby and I got together railfanning. We had just left Gary Pemblton's home after a visit and saw the OSR heading over to the CN interchange. We hung around for the return movement. March 16, 2020.

I was able to get a second view with the OSR hi-rail posed out on the mainline by just standing back a bit and zooming out the lens.

Gotta take a last look at that Alco smoke.

Scratch-Building a Loading Ramp

The finished ramp and loading dock prior to being applied to the layout.

For my second loading ramp location I scratch-built the structure following the dimensions of Kip Grant's ramp. I used my laser kit leftovers, reject off cuts from Mt. Albert Lumber and a package of 1 by 6 boards for the decking. These deck boards are a bit thin but with hobby shops closed due to the virus I went with what I had. Since the dock is fairly small they actually look really good once finished...George Dutka

The beginning of the loading dock.

The ramp is done and the dock is about to get a deck.

The deck boards are being applied.

The loading dock began with a coat of Hunterline Creosote black. One could leave it just like this.

These are the other products I applied to the loading ramp and dock.

 A closer up view of the loading dock. Bolt castings are added around the edges.

When I built the ramp I left a bit of a gap between the boards.

Throwback Thursday - CN London Reclamation Yard, Part Five

CN 720063 was available for viewing in the plant on April 22, 1990.

By Peter Mumby.

Today we will take a second look at some of the interesting rolling stock that showed up in and around the Reclamation Plant.  Prior to being shoved into the pit, many of these cars would be staged on the south tracks of London Yard.  Pine St. paralleled the yard at this point, and nice open views were available for the interested photographer from this thoroughfare.

This will be the final installment of this current series on the Reclamation Yard.  More photos may follow in the future - if I can coerce George into doing some more scanning!

Yellow ore car CN 345063 was photographed on November 18, 1989.

CN 72928 was on view along Pine St. on August 30, 1989.  The capital "D" marked on the car side indicated it was in for demolition. The "453" notation referred to the official form that had to be submitted along with the demolition notification.

CN 198824 was awaiting its turn to be pushed into the pit on October 29, 1998.

You can see that form 453 has been submitted for car-go-rail car #9504 which was parked beside Pine St. on October 29, 1989.  I think by this date if the number 9504 was entered in a CN computer a very different unit would have been referenced.