Wordless Wednesday No. 529

 

     

Burlington Junction Museum

ex-CNR station moved and used as a museum. I visited it during the fall of 2019.

I had stopped by the old CN Burlington West station which is now a museum back in the fall of 2019. I noted it has an open house once a month through the good weather. I think I my stop by there once again and see what has changed...it was an enjoyable visit the first time around...George Dutka  

They have a nice collection of railway memorabilia there.

New England Boxcars

These two New England boxcars I picked up a few years back that have been nicely detailed and weathered. They are my learning tool as I want to see if I can accomplish some of the effects...enjoy...George Dutka    

On each car one side has graffiti while the other side is just rusty.

Hobby Lobby

The paint colors I picked up and the brushes I though would work the best. I think the bill was just over 8 dollars for all.

While in Port Huron Michigan I stopped in at Hobby Lobby to look for some new weathering brushes. These was lots to choose from and at a good price. I noted they carry styrene, canopy cement some AK weathering products, glues and decal setting solutions. So well worth a stop.     

I have been getting away from craft paint but there was a few colors I was told to try out so these I picked up plus a few more. Anita's paint I think was 65 cents while the others were under a dollar...so well priced if the tones don't work out...George Dutka

Visiting Bill Moore

Bill built a diner out of  an unused B&M coach. I really like how it turned out.

On Wednesday I drove to Imlay City Michigan to visit one of my New England modeling friends Bill Moore. It has been years since we last saw each other. It actually was a two day trip as I wanted to spend sometime looking around Pt Huron...the last time I was by the GTW yard was on my last run before retirement in 2009. 

Bill models the CV, B&M and Rutland in New England. One of his key scenes is WRJ which he mentioned needing to build the station and out building. This became a breezed when Bill acquired Marty McGuirk's WRJ station, ball signal and Twin State Fruit structure. Marty had just switched modeling locations. I had mentioned this to Bill, I said who knows Marty may not need the structure's which was the case. Bill's daughter lives near Marty so they arranged a pick-up. The trackwork is still in progress at WRJ but the structure locations are now set.

Bill has operating sessions a few times a year which Don Janes has actually attended before covid. I believe he posted about it a few years back...use the search drive to find the post.

More on Bill's modeling and my visit later...George Dutka

Marty's WRJ station

An overhead view of the WRJ CV side of the station. One will be able to view both sides of the station as operator's need to work the two different zones.

The ball signal in a location Bill was thinking of.

Bill and I had a good discussion regarding his card system that has worked well for years.

BarMills - Lighthouse

BarMills display at Springfield. This light house is also offered in their Christmas kit.

I just began working on the light house I purchased in Springfield for my waterfront scene. A gray spray can coating was applied to all the resin castings. From there it is MIG paints and AK and Vallejo stains...George Dutka  

Working on the base at the moment. The lighthouse got MIG Rail Center white with a wash of india ink and alcohol. I will dry brush more white on shortly. Most of the products seen behind the rock base is being used on the rocks.

The rock outcrop is getting close to finished. I glued a bit of Scenic Express blends in some of the rock grooves as mossy texture. Now to finish the tower.

SS Keewatin On The Move

The SS Keewatin is heading south in the St. Clair River past Sarnia, ON

An Old Canadian Pacific Ship Finds A New Home....by Don Janes

     On April 26, 2023 the retired steamship SS Keewatin was towed past Sarnia, ON on her way to to her new home at the Marine Museum Of The Great Lakes in Kingston, ON.  My good friend Andy Greenlees informed me that she would be passing by Sarnia around noon so I arranged to meet Andy and Clare Gilbert at the Bluewater bridge to witness this historic old ship passing Sarnia for what is likely the last time.  She had been docked at Port McNicoll on Georgian Bay, her old port of call,  since June 23, 2012. That was the 100th anniversary of the date that the ship started working out of that port.  She had sailed  between Port McNicoll and Port Arthur/Fort William, ON on Lake Superior carrying passengers until 1965 then freight only until 1967 when she was finally retired.  Here is a link to an  excellent article about the ship's history and future.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Keewatin

The above photos were taken at Port McNicoll in June 2017 when she was on display and open as a museum

The Keewatin is on the far left waiting for ship traffic to clear in Lake Huron so she can enter the
 St. Clair River

Here we can see the Keewatin making the turn from Lake Huron to the St. Clair River.  The rear tug was just added for the trip down the river for stabilization.

The ship and tugs are just entering the St. Clair River. The lighthouse in Port Huron, Mich. can be seen in the background

The above photos show the entire ship and a closeup of the bow and stern sections. Note the classic CPR smoke stack colours.

The Keewatin passes under the Blue Water bridge for what is likely the last time.  The first time she would have passed Sarnia in about 1908, before the fist Bluewater Bridge (foreground) was built 

Wordless Wednesday No 528

 
       

Pelton Tower coming down

I found it interesting that the tower had a metal roof that might have been copper by the looks of the patina.

The Pelton tower was taken down on November 26th 1991. You will see how mine was completed shortly...George Dutka   

ITLA Two Story Brick Utility Building - Interlocking Tower

The walls went together extremely well. I painted the roof so that once done it will resemble a weathered copper patina.

I am not finished with the structure yet but I thought I would show you what it looks like at this point. The main build took a short afternoon and I am now painting the walls and details prior to installation of the stairway. I decided to name mine Delray after a tower on the GTW I passed by on my way to Flat Rock when we used to run down there.   

The corner brick dovetail joints had a bit of a gap between some of them. I ran some canopy cement down these joints. I just put some on my finger and rubbed it in were it needed filling. Once dry it coated well with the paint I was using.

The coloring of the bricks will be the same as found on Delray. I also photocopied the original signs from my GTW book that will be used on the structure.

Wall coloring was done using Tru-color spray cans. First I applied matte dark red brick followed by a very light coat of matte RR tie brown while still wet...George Dutka 

Mortar mix is randomly applied to the walls. There will be more paint applied and weathering powders - PanPastels before it is all done. The concrete is Anita's Rainy day grey acrylic paints.

I found it would be easier to just paint all the details on the sheeting before detaching other than the doors which is a two part assembly. Windows are MIG Rail Center white and stairs are AK dark rust deposits then AK rust steaks.

I repainted a few bricks uisng dark grey Rail Center AMMO-MIG paint. It was more of a dry brush over certain areas to catch a few bricks at a time. The AK slimy grime dark is added to the bottom layer of bricks.

What's in the Box No. 54

This is a smaller structure that can work as a group build and will fit anywhere on a layout.

I have an interlocking tower offered by ITLA which was inspired by one in Windsor, Ontario called Pelton. It was on the NYC-Conrail-CN Caso sub. I had gone by it many times but by that time it had been closed. Today it is gone. This is a neat little kit that goes together really well and the basic construction takes a short afternoon. Most of the time working on the kit was painting, weathering and detailing the model...George Dutka   

The details are very fine and easy to remove. I painted mine on the sheet before removing them.

The plans are easy to follow if one actually needs them. I just used the photos to locate were everything goes.

B&M Springfield Roundhouse Site

While I was at the Springfield train show I made a trip over to the train station to see the work done inside. The last time I was at the station it was in disrepair. It looks great now. But what I am looking at today is the site of the B&M roundhouse site. I was following the tracks near the river when I noted a B&M logo that has almost faded away on a railroad bridge. When I looked toward the river I realized I was looking at some old railroad structures. A quick trip over and through the open gate put me infront of what I believe was the site of the B&M shop. Not a lot left and in other uses today I realize how this area once was...George Dutka     

Building the MEC Section Shed

One window was boarded up a weathered Guilford sign is applied and some boards are pulled up. One can have a peek at the leftovers found inside the collapsed door

Here is a look at the construction, paint and weathering of my MEC style section shed...George Dutka

All the walls and parts are laid out ready for assembly. The wall corners will be all leftovers from other projects. 

I had placed the door as part open before I decided to model it as fallen in. Luckly the glue had not dried yet.

The roof is about to go on this structure. I made it from cardstock. Note I did add some bracing to the interior walls. Inside and out the walls began with a coating of Hunterline weathering mix.

I always have a supply of boards to add as detail or board up windows. The green tones found on the wall are a mix of tru-color MEC green and PanPastel green. The structure did not need a lot as I wanted the gray tone and some raw weathered wood to be showing through. I added nail holes once all the powders were applied.  

The area that will not have any tarpaper roofing got some paint weathering. More will be done with PanPastels once the roofing is applied.

A Helper Engine on the WRD

CV passenger heading to WRJ.

I teamed up my Athearn CN B unit with another Athearn unit...CV GR17 4928 which is set up for passenger service. It is getting a workout heading north and south over the White River on the WRD...George Dutka  

Southbound with Bellows Falls not that far away.

Wordless Wednesday No. 527

 

       

Athearn B Unit

 

An Athearn B unit that was detailed back in the 1970's or early 1980's from my father in laws collection.

My father in law passed about a year and a half ago. Now that my mother in law passed also we are cleaning out the house. I was to take all his railroad collection which I did. He had some equipment that I already had but nice and some that is dated. 

I showed a bit of what he had to Peter Mumby mentioning I was thinking of selling off some of his older Athearn engines. He suggested I hang onto the B unit as it was well detailed but not well painted and decaled. I then thought it could make a good candidate to practice some weathering on.

The decals were not set well on the engine which I covered again with setting solution. There was a gloss coat applied, but so light and uneven that the setting solution did work on the decals. There was a couple small spots that one can still see if you look closely.

I added a flat finish then a coat of alcohol and India ink to the roof. From there I used acrylics to add a flaking edges followed by a dusting of PanPastel raw umber shade and Bragdon rust and soot. Some of the shades were lightly dusted on the sides. 

I should mention that the wheels are painted cinnamon brown and the trucks and lower frame area has AK rust wash and Vallejo rust texture applied before a light dusting of PanPastel colorless blender.

I think it looks a lot better than when I first pulled the engine out of the box...George Dutka

The engine before I began.

MIG polished metal was dusted on the grill while PanPastel colorless blender went on the trucks. The roof is well worn looking.

A well worn looking B unit. One can see there was a lot of details originally applied to the model.