F&C - GTW End Door Boxcar

The roof is getting some weathering over the acrylic gray paint that was applied. I used PanPastel raw umber shade and red iron extra dark. The AK pencil, gun metal is applied along the outside bracing and other metal parts.

I have had this car on the layout for a bit now but thought I would update the weathering a bit. I recently painted the roof gray then apply PanPastel weathering. The running boards are coated with Floquil grime followed by PanPastel raw umber shade. A few placards and AK pencil lines along the bracing and all metal parts take it a bit further. I finished the weathering with PanPastel blender applied very lightly between the outside braces to lighten up the look of the paint...George Dutka

My model before some additional weathering is applied.

Acylic paint is applied to the roof prior to PanPastels.

AK pencil is used to highlight some of the metal parts.

PanPastel blender is applied lightly between the bracing to lighten or fade the boxcar red.

Ready to roll on the WRD.  

Wordless Wednesday No. 542

 

July 2023  

Brantford Finds

What I came home with from Brantford a few weeks back.

 Although there was lots to purchase I kept my cool and picked up three items that cost me a total of $5. The chopper is a nice size to take to our WOD-NMRA workshops at train shows...for $3 it was a steal. The two Scale Rail kits are CP old resin models from years ago which have a lot of warped parts. There is enough in the box that is OK that I can use to come up with a few structures. For a $1 each nothing lost if it does not work out. The instructions says to heat the parts to bend back into shape. I will show you the parts at some point. I feel any resin kit should have bracing added as I have seen this type of warping before with finished kits in past...George Dutka  

August 2023 - More This and That!

In the current issue just out of Classic Trains there is a nice feature on the GT in Vermont. 

As the month and of course summer comes to an end here is a bit of a mix of topics before our fall railfanning and modeling season begins...George Dutka  

Cover of the current issue.

I am standing at the entrance of London Salvage on Egerton St. London while the power from a WB train inches up to the crossing. When you are running through the yard the crossing gate bonds are very close to the crossing. One has to be able to stop short allowing time for the gates to drop. Sept. 8, 2022

A cleaner looking covered hopper found this summer in the CN St. Thomas yard.

A new CP truck is at the west end of the London yard on July 4, 2023.

Two newer CP covered hoppers are seen here and below located in the CP London yard on June 1 2023.

This tunnel portal that I showed you recently is now in use to display cabooses on a shelf in my bookcase. The MEC caboose would not have been seen going through this type of tunnel but for my display all cabooses will bee seen here at some point.

This small FOS eating shack is done as a white wash using MIG white and dry brush dollar store white on the raised edges of the clapboard siding. The base coat is Hunterline weathering mix. I was working on this one a month or so ago.

Snapshot - August 2023

The London local switcher #583 is about to head out onto the Guelph Sub at London Jct. on July 4 2023. Take a look at the paint job on these two CN engines. I don't think you need a decal set to come up with this scheme.

This months snapshot is "Railfanning July 2023". I added a couple of photos from Kenneth Borg taken in Detroit...George Dutka   

 A look at the nose of this interesting paint scheme. CN 583 July 4, 2023

On the main crossing in Ingersoll there are nice flower boxes attached to the bridge over the river which can add some interest to ones photos. July 5, 2023, VIA 72

OSR handles a Cami transfer on July 5, 2023. These are ex-CP engines. I took these photos during our model RR clubs meeting at the Ingersoll VIA station. I had ventured over to the ex-CP tracks to catch the OSR.

VIA 84 from Sarnia is passing through Komoka minutes after VIA 71 had cleared. July 30, 2023

CPKC #230 passes NS at Enterprise Drive in Alan Park, Michigan. Kenneth Borg photo.

CPKC #230 is parked in front of the refurbished Michigan Central, Detroit station on July 30 2023. It is waiting for CPKC #231 to clear the tunnel. Kenneth Borg photo. When we ran from London to Flat Rock through the Windsor tunnel this station was just a shell.

VIA #71 on its way to Windsor has just entered the Chatham Sub at Komoka, Ontario. I wonder how much time these old coaches have left before they are retired.

Ballast Size?

My order of HO scale ballast looked too coarse for me so I smashed it down to size.

I recently got my order of ballast from Arizona Rock & Mineral. My order was for yard mix and cinders in HO scale. They offer ballast in all scales and more tones than one can think of. I found the ballast to be a bit large although my test ballasting on Gatorfoam revealed it to be suitable. I just like mine to be finer looking ballast. So I did to what I have done to some larger ballast in the past...I smashed it with a auto body hammer on a piece of steel. The size looks a lot better now, at least to me. More testing is required...George Dutka 

 and

The smashed ballast on the left. In future I probably will purchase N scale ballast to mix in with the HO scale ballast. Maybe a mix of 2 parts N to 1 HO. Some experimenting will be required.

Throwback Thursday - Line-Up at Spadina

This is a mid-80s view taken from the Spadina overpass in downtown Toronto.

By Peter Mumby.

This mid-1980s view features RDC 6209 and mates along with a group of steam generator cars at Spadina shops in downtown Toronto.  It is interesting to note how much of this equipment still wears the colours of CN, its previous owner.  A similar shot involving a line of Tempo locomotives was presented in the post of May 28, 2020.   

Wordless Wednesday No. 541

 

July 10 2023 CP Pontypool, Ontario   

Blog Posts

I finished this diorama a couple of weeks back before my life was turned upside down. It has been waiting completion since 2012. It is a Hunterline portal that I built during a WOD make and take that year.

My wife has been in the hospital since Wednesday as her cancer has returned and the outlook is not looking great. She is having surgery tomorrow to shrink a head tumor. I will not be posting much over the next while as I am at the hospital. When I am home and have energy left I will put some posts up...George Dutka

This is how the diorama looked for a decade.

BNSF in Brantford

CN Brantford yard Saturday Aug. 12 2023.

On Saturday while visiting Brantford on August 12, 2023 I found a Burlington Northern GP38-2 in the original BN green. It is working the local jobs all the days other than Saturday where it lays over by the VIA station. It appears BN and CN have a power use deficit that has BN trying to correct with units on loan. How long this engine will be seen in SWO is unclear but neat to see...George Dutka    

Jim Sloan noted that the the number  on the number board are not straight...something a modeler would notice quickly.

VIA 72 arriving at Brantford.

VIA 72 actually stopped west of the station as the VIA station is being refurbished and the platform out front is off limits.

Throwback Thursday - Westbound at Hyde Park

Via 6789 is guiding train 71 through Hyde Park on January 08/89. 

By Peter Mumby.  

Via 6789 is guiding its westbound train through Hyde Park.  Just ahead of the locomotive is the turnout leading to the Hyde Park spur.  The unit's lead truck is currently on the west switch of the crossover ( note the reduced amount of ballast between the ties at this point ).  The shed on the south side of the right of way is for the convenience of a switch tender/operator who might periodically be assigned to this location in the event that one of the tracks is blocked to the east.  The temporary train order signal is turned away from the tracks, indicating that all is clear on this particular day.

Wordless Wednesday No. 540

 

July 9 2023  

  

CPR Snowplow Kit

 A CPR Snowplow Kit From Bedarail

     

The completed snowplow rests at the WRJ engine terminal

     Recently I purchased a 3D printed Canadian Pacific Eastern Snowplow kit from Bedarail.  I had seen some of David Bedard's work ( the owner of Bedarail) on Facebook and discovered he had a web site and sold various CPR cabooses, snowplows and a depressed flat car and also now some CNR snowplows including a double ended plow.  I decided to give a CP plow a try and ordered the kit.  I recently finished it and am very pleased with the end result.

     The kit consists of several major sections including the plow section, the rear body, wings, roof, cupola and roof and a rear floor piece.  There are also a couple of sprues with 3D printed parts such as smokestacks, horns, brake wheel, air tanks, headlight bracket and a few more small parts. Overall the parts are very well printed with lots of details and the pieces also fit together very well.  

     The wings are held in place by  tiny magnets and can be opened in two different positions or left closed.  Since the wings are only held in place by the magnets they can be easily removed if need be.  A very clever way to do this.

     As kits go, this is very spartan when it comes to various detail parts like grab irons, wire, stirrup steps etc. and these parts must be supplied by the modeler.  There were no instructions so I had to find as many photos of the prototype as I could to work from.  So, that being said I wouldn't consider it a kit for the beginner but anyone with some experience in kit building will have no problem building it and most people have a lot of the required parts on hand anyway.  I ordered a set of Blackcat decals to letter this plow.

     Overall it was a fun experience and I just might try a CNR plow next.  Hopefully Bedarail will expand their line of kits with other hard to find models of Canadian equipment.  

Here you can see the wings held in the open position by the magnets

A couple of shots of the rear end of the plow

I painted my plow to represent how it might have looked in the 1950's