At the Hemlock Train Show

Don and I viewed a nice looking three rail diorama which probably is part of a club or home layout. The detailing was very well done...George Dutka

  

Glencoe Station

Glencoe Sept 3, 2024

After seeing the Glencoe station sign last week in Michigan made me think of a recent visit there this year. I have taken a lot of train station photos lately...many are ones I had stopped at in the past but some have changed a bit. This photo I took of the Glencoe station on my way back from Don's, there is a Tim Hortons next door which is a good place for a coffee...wish it was there when I was working those jobs that came through Glencoe. We had a night job that ran there dropping off lifts which ran via St. Thomas and the Paines Sub. The station has been moved away from the tracks and totally restored. It is used for town functions. There is a CN caboose and small section shed there also but I don't remember this one as the one that stood next to the station...George Dutka    

October 2024 - Update

A CP WB freight is about to pass under the wooden Denfield Rd. bridge on Wednesday Oct. 2 2024.

A bit of an update for this month as I am traveling a bit at the beginning of the month. The month began with our railroad modeling groups railfan day at the Denfield Rd bridge where one can see both the CN and CP on the same bridge.  

I just came back from two days in Michigan were I visited with a friend did some shopping and railroad exploring. I am off today out east to places I have not visited before in Ontario and a few old railfan spots. I will be home before Thanksgiving as we have family events to take in. As you can see I will not get much modeling in till later this month...with the weather being great why not be outdoors still...George Dutka.

VIA 73 comes into view before passing under Denfield.

The gang that spent the afternoon at Denfield talking trains and taking photos. We actually saw a good amount of trains.

This was this weeks Wordless Wednesday. I should give some credit for the photo. Peter Mumby sent along this view that he got from his friend Robin Long of a train passing the Port Hope station recently with a wonderful sunset. The photo was taken by Lee Higginson.

The Hoods creamery diorama is placed about were Bill Moore will use it on his B&M layout.

Bill Moore operating his new Rapido engine on his staging tracks.

When I pulled into the Lapeer, Michigan station parking lot I was surprised to see the CN Glencoe station sign on the back of a home. Note the owner has a switch broom out back also. Once I left I drove past the front of the home to see what else decorated the home. Nothing else was found. CN Glencoe is not in Michigan but in Ontario not far from were I live on the line to Windsor and at one time a junction point with the Panes sub...not sure how the sign found a home here.

The Lapeer, Michigan station is in very good shape and is an Amtrak stop between Pt. Huron and Chicago.

More Brass

One of the two Rutland Ry. milk cars Don was willing to let go. Don Janes photos.

Don was clearing out some more of his brass collection that he has not been running for sometime now. He asked me if I might be interested...they now have a home for a bit...George Dutka  

All three models are Railworks brass.

I was unaware that the B&M built some cabooses from milk car bodies. Have to do some digging in my B&M books to follow up on this topic.

Rapido - CN NSC Combination Door Boxcar

Lightly weathered, mainly just paint fading done to the sides finds my boxcar rolling along the WRD.

I recently picked up a CN Rapido combination door boxcar. They are a nice looking model that all I had to do was add some weathering. Once a coat of flat finish is applied to the car I began with the roof. The roof got a coat of India ink and alcohol. I then applied PanPastel raw umber shade, Vallejo rust texture and AK dark rust deposits on the roof edges and seams. A simple process that makes the car look weathered even if nothing else is done to the car.

I added a few rust spots using Micron black 03 pen with the dots dragged down with a damp brush. I kept these to a minimum. The car is newer as modeled. Sides are done with PanPastel blender to fade the boxcar red a bit followed by raw umber shade near the bottom and roof edges. Paynes grey extra dark (an almost black color is applied to the door, ends and lower areas lightly. A small piece of paper is used as a placard on the door.

Trucks are painted AK winter streaking grime and the wheels are cinnamon brown with PanPastel paynes grey extra dark next to darken them up a bit.

These National Steel Car's were built in Hamilton exclusively for CN in the late 1970's. The CN cars were in revenue service until being retired in the 2000's...George Dutka

Just out of the box and looking way too glossy.

The door is lightly weathered as it is newer. As it ages the yellow forklift door bar is really rusted and beat up. This detail one has to add to the model...the only part that is not attached to the model. The edges of the doors and center areas are rusty from being hit by the forklift repeatedly leaving the paint removed and rusting. I added a paper placard also.

The roof is coated with flat finish and I have just added India ink and alcohol which gives an interesting and weathered look to the roof. In this view the roof is almost dry. The dark areas are still a bit wet. The coloring goes on dark and dries much lighter. One can leave it at just that, but I like to take it a bit further.

Some AK and Vallejo coloring and PanPastel raw umber shade are added to the roof.  

Throwback Thursday - No Train Day

 

This photo shows the east wall of the CN Rectory St roundhouse in London on April 08/90.

By Peter Mumby.

Probably everyone who has been shooting railfan photos for a few years has experienced what could be referred to as a No Train Day, or NTD.  This is a day when you spend a couple of hours trackside at some of your regular haunts but fail to encounter a single train.  Possibly, out of boredom or frustration, you then focus your camera on structures, signals, or track work - features that might not normally capture much of your attention.  When you review the resulting images several years (or decades) later, you may find that you are glad that they were added to your collection as memory aids to a railway scene that is constantly evolving.

I suspect that April 08, 1990 was such an NTD for me.  While checking some scenes from the early 1990s I found that I had photographed both the CN and CP roundhouses in London on that day.  While a portion of the CP roundhouse at Quebec St remains today, the turntable is long gone.  The CN roundhouse at Rectory St suffered a fire in January of 1992 and was demolished shortly thereafter.  Today a large indoor soccer facility stands on this lot.  Don’t necessarily wait for an  NTD - just get those photos while you can!  

This view of the CP London roundhouse was taken from the Quebec St overpass.

Wordless Wednesday No. 597

 

Pt Hope Station Sunset 

South River Model Works

I noted Marty mention on his Central Vermont Railway blog that Bob VanGelder of South River Modelworks now has a blog. One may want to check it out. Bob has a very nice layout. Don and I visited him and his layout in the spring and he has completed a lot since our last visit. Link is below and also on my sidebar...George Dutka

https://southrivermodelworks.blogspot.com/

Maine & Western Ry.

Note the misty looking background which really adds to the scene.

The only layout that Don and I was able to visit during the Rochester, NY NER convention was the Maine & Western Ry. which was on our way home. Gordon Spalty has built a transition era New England line which runs through Crawford Notch. He has done a wonderful job on the layout and I was really impressed with the backdrop that he had painted to appear misty. The autumn scenes are 90% completed and he is using NCE system for operations. Many of the structures are scratch-built...George Dutka  

A creamery is also found on the layout near the foreground.

Pulpwood loading

The curved structure and street.

Gordon shows Don his scratch-built curved structure similar to some seen in New England.

Milk cans being loaded on the ramp at the creamery.

Another view of the backdrop.

Heading to the notch.

MEC Caboose

The roof which has a green tone is covered with PanPastel raw umber shade which takes away from the overall clean green look.

The Northeastern cabooses were once offered by Lifelike - Proto in MEC paint. I picked one up this spring from Chris Wright who was reducing his New England rolling stock. I did a bit of weathering and rusting it up a bit....George Dutka   

A better view of the conductor on the end platform. Vallejo rust texture is added to the seams. PanPastel blender is applied to the sides fading the orange down a bit and raw umber shade is along the bottom edges.

B&M WRJ Yard Office

 

This view from around 1970 of the B&M yard office in WRJ shows an already worn wall lacking of paint similar to when I viewed in the 1990's. Note the basement door was already boarded up at this time. I am assuming the structure was still being used at that time. Dwight Smith photo....George Dutka

Conductor - All aboard!

All set to go!

On almost all my cabooses you will find a brakeman or conductor on the end platform. It just adds a bit more interest when the train passes by you on the White River Division...George Dutka   

September 2024 - This and That

Brian Smith hiked about 30 minutes into the bush to take this photo of two steam engines found in Maine near the border with New Brunswick. Brian mentioned if you have a boat you can get to this location better. 

A bit of a mix of photos for you to view including what we saw last week at Rochester...George Dutka  

Terry Nixon took this photo back in August 2024 of a CP train crossing Frank Lane. On the train was another of those ex-B&M covered hoppers.

A view from the 1960's or 1970's of the engine I mentioned a week ago in Springbank park. Bruce Douglas passed this one along.

Rochester and Southern seen from the airport entrance. It appears they have a neat looking yard tower, unfortunately this is the closest we could get.

Looking down from the crossing we could see the local switcher working in front of the tower. There is more of the yard south of the tower that is visible from the Airport cellular use parking log.

The Fairport viewing platform and caboose in late afternoon. Railfanning here for lighting is better later in the day.

I did do some wandering around through town. There is a storage facility across the track where I took this photo in the morning.

The old Fairport NY electric line station. This line is a walking bike trail now at this end of town.

The Rochester Amtrak station looked different to me from what I saw in the past. As it turns out this is a new station built in 2017.

Throwback Thursday - Pinafore Park Railway

Locomotive number 3 is stopped with its passenger car at the station in Pinafore Park on May 27, 1990.

By Peter Mumby.

Pinafore Park is a large municipal green space located in St. Thomas, Ontario.  Between 1964 and 1997 the Pinafore Park Railway operated in a segment of this park.  The railway consisted of a loop of 42 inch gauge track, along with an engine house and service area. Three locomotives were on the roster. Numbers 1 and 2 were 0-4-0T steam locos previously operated by the Huntsville and Lake of Bays Railway. Number 3 was a GE 25-ton diesel originally owned by Bowater Newfoundland Ltd. 

Here is my “souvenir ticket” dating back to late May in 1990.