New Camera

A Panasonic view of the White River Division with Don's new pocket camera. The photo is done on auto setting which gives limited depth of field.

Don Janes stopped by yesterday after doing some errands plus some shopping in London. His Canon pocket camera is toast and he needed a new one. He picked up a Panasonic LUMIX LF 1 camera. It is a nice and thin camera about the size of a I-phone. We took it downstairs to see what sort of model railroad photos it takes (the camera is actually mainly for his wife use) but he wants to use it on trips. Right out of the box the photos seemed to look pretty good although we did not figure out the depth of field...Don did some reading when he got home and took some additional photo. None of the photos are edited although resized to fit this blog...you get to be the camera  judge...George Dutka

Once home Don took the following photos with AV setting and proper depth of field. This is one of his newer scenes.

Yesterday's Postcard

The Central Vermont shop track on the White River Division.

I was playing around with my old Blackberry Playbook at the lake last week using some of the apps and photos I had took. Here is one I came up with. This postcard is one I actually made last year. I will share a few newer ones shortly....George Dutka

Visit by Bill Brigham

That's Bill on the left next to the White River Jct. station.

Yesterday an old friend from Vermont stopped by for a visit. Bill Brigham past CVRHS president is on his way to Michigan for a wedding and wanted to stop by for a visit and to check out the White River Division. He actually stayed in London for the night with another old friend and travel companion to New England from years ago Warren Dodgson. Warren lives only a few blocks away. A really nice visit and catch-up. Years ago I used to visit Bill at the stations along the CV he worked at as Amtrak agent...George Dutka

Summer Update

Guess it has to be the late 1960's or 1970's by the looks of this photo on the WRD. A CV freight is headed to White River Jct.

I have not been down in the basement much but I did get a few jobs completed this summer. One, my Rapido smoker and a MEC caboose. Peter Mumby stopped by on Sunday to download some photos and scan a few slide for a few upcoming posts he is planning. We made a trip down to the layout as he had not seen the modern fleet (modern to me...old to others) staged on the WRD. We counted up 40 pieces of rolling stock and 4 engines...more than I though I had. Don Janes has just finished the roadway to his rock crusher scene which looks great. He sent me 4 photos to pick from for this post...they are all so good I decided to post them all.

I am trying to get to the lake (boat) as much as I can the last couple of weeks of summer so you may find days in a row and weekends that I am away from a computer...I hope to get back to RRing again by the end of September...George Dutka

The crusher office if part of a two pack - Bar Mills utilities office. Don has done a nice job with his office. Additional posts regarding Bar Mills utility sheds are found Feb 26, 27 March 1, 5, 2015.

The crusher scene is looking good. Don had just finished the roadway this week.

Looking into the scene from near the main line.

The bridge to the right covers the hole in the wall to the White River Jct. scene.  Don has done a nice job with the roadway.

 

Last Tuesday's visit to Toronto took us from the St. Lawrence Market along the waterfront then up to Steam Whistle for a cold one before boarding the train for home. The brewery is in the far end of the old CPR John St. roundhouse. The grounds is now a museum of Canadian railway equipment. More on that later.

Wordless Wednesday No. 142

General Steel Castings Pulpwood Cars

In the White River Jct. yard two ex-D&H pulpwood cars are renumbered as MEC cars. The models are by Atlas which needed a bit of assembly, grabs and so on. The pulp loads looked too shiny and not that distinct when viewed from the sides. My loads got a wash of black water based paint which added shadows to the logs.

The current (Aug 2015) RMC has a nice article on General Steel Castings pulpwood cars. I had assembled a couple of MEC cars a few years back that I wondered about. They are painted D&H and had blackened areas with MEC added. It was interesting to see these particular cars are noted as built for the C&O in 1956 (100 cars) and at some point sold to D&H, MEC, ACL, SCL and CSXT. It appears some or all the D&H cars then went to the MEC. A thought, some transfers from D&H to MEC might have been through the Guilford era...George Dutka.

I had two other pulpwood D&H cars set aside for years...maybe it is time to get them rolling. You can see the difference in the wood loads.

As one can see there are many grabs that need to be added to the D&H black pulpwood cars.

Snapshot - Aug 2015

My view of a nice new CN engine leading a morning eastbound towards London, Ont.

On Saturday I was on my way home taking my usual route which takes me over the CPR and CNR tracks just west of London. It is kind of a back way home down River Rd. through Kilworth. To my surprise Peter Mumby was standing at the crossing with his scanner. Not being in a hurry I pull over and had a bit of a visit. Peter was allowing himself 15 minutes at this location as he was headed to Hamilton to take in a CFL game later in the day with his son. I took one last look down the track before I left and there was a headlight heading our way. I quick trip to the car for a camera while Peter sets up his video camera and we both got a similar shot. To our surprise the eastbound had a brand new shiny unit on the lead. It has been a long time since I saw a shiny new engine on the lead...so well worth the Saturday track side visit. Oh by the way Peter blew his 15 minutes by at least 15 minutes...George Dutka

Peter Mumby's view of the eastbound. Although we both are standing in the same general area we each caught a different view. I was using a Canon telephoto zoom lens while Peter was using the stock Canon zoom lens.

Union - Pearson Express, Toronto, Ont.

The UP Express is seen from one of the very few openings just outside of the Toronto Skywalk.

My wife and I went to Toronto, Ont. by train on Tuesday...the main reason was the St. Lawrence market but I did sneak away for a few photos of the new Union Pearson Express service. It runs every 15 minutes out of Union Station to Pearson Airport. The run is 25 minutes long with additional stops at Bloor and Weston. Service is 7 days a week from 530am till 1am. I was told 5 sets of equipment are required for the service to work.  I found it hard to find a good spot to get a great photo of the train around Union station with all the glass walkways in your way...shooting through the glass is not great. When the train leaves the station one can wait around for the next train to arrive in about  5 minutes...they must pass each other not far west of Union station which would make for an interesting view...have yet to visit the other stations. At Union Station, UP Express re-built a separate station on the Toronto Skywalk not far from VIA and GO connections. At Pearson airport the train arrives beside the Link Train at Terminal 1...George Dutka

Looking from the Toronto Skywalk one can see an arriving UP Express train.

Looking through the station window one can see the lead end of the just arrived UP Express with a GO train arriving at Union Station in the background.

UP Express has just arrived at Union. A change of ends and off this train goes once again. The best light for this shot is mornings. Many areas in the afternoon are shaded.

UP Express passes under Blue Jays Way which leads to the dome and CN tower.

Looking into the newly finished UP Express Union station. As you can see there are many employees...at the moment they outnumber the passengers.

This billboard is seen by passengers arriving Union Station.

This is looking inside the station, east to west. The glass walls are actually opening doorways that passengers board through.

New Haven 10 Window Smoker-Coach

NH smoker-coach is put into service on the White River Division after a few added details and paint.

This spring I picked up a Rapido NH 10 window smoker-coach. It is a great model that could go into service as is but I want it to look similar to my other coaches in appearance. The model comes with a partial skirt or without skirting in three numbers each. Mine has partial skirting. The model also comes with the proper roof vents over the smoking lounge. On my model I began by taking off the roof and added the batteries for the interior lighting. The roof, trucks and underframe got a coat of Floquil grimy black. I added a few passenger as I do with all my coaches followed by interior shades made from paper bags. The blinds are at various heights. The trucks and roof are applied and it is ready to roll...George Dutka

The roof and trucks are removed from the coach for painting. Grimy black takes away the shine from the roofing and trucks. Some chalk weathering will add to the final look. I have done this with all my Rapido coaches and baggage cars.

Two more passengers are ready for painting. One can see through the windows how much more interest passengers add to the coach.

Passengers are added to the interior. Some are Woodland Scenics while others are painted metal castings. Note the shine is gone from the roof with a more weathered look. Floquil grimy black is my go-to colour for roofing.

The paper shades are partly installed with a section still to go. The smoker section will get longer blinds.

Wordless Wednesday no. 141

White River Jct. Yardmaster's Fax

This Fax is the B&M yardmaster's copy of train #390's consisit for Nov. 13, 1978 arriving WRJ. I found this document while measuring up the yard office in the 1990's. Note. the destinations of the railcars...George Dutka

Jim Dufour's Layout - B&M Cheshire Branch

A B&M local is seen in the siding at Webb, NH.

On the way to this years Springfield, Mass. train show Andy and I dropped by to see Jim Dufour's B&M Cheshire Branch . He occasionally has an open house the Friday before the Springfield show. Jim's layout has been documented through youtube videos in the past and more recently on TrainMaster.TV.

Jim's layout is a slice of the Cheshire Branch, Circa 1947-1951. He models 5 consecutive stations. They are State Line, Fitzwilliam, Troy, Webb and Joslin. In a recent B&M Bulletin, Volume XXIX, No. 1 has two really nice article on the Cheshire that might be worth reading if interested in this line. The Cheshire Branch running from South Ashburnham, Mass. to Bellows Falls, Vt. just after WWII was a very busy single track line. Here are a few views from our visit to Jim's layout I took with my pocket Canon camera...George Dutka

Bill Badger is in control of the lone freight train this January day. I don't see any paperwork in his hands...I am glad he had the main track all to himself.

On our visit Barry Silverthron of TrainMaster.TV was filming Jim's open house. Jim has his back to both of us...I wonder why. As you can see I was filming Barry also. No hiding from the camera's that day...I think there are views of Andy and I in that segment.

Andy checks "the Troy ledges"out, a newly finished location.

B&M 2730 is at Webb, NH on the Cheshire Branch. I really love the great job Jim has done with his static grass.

A view of Golding-Keene a local company that mined feldspar, the main ingredient in Bon Ami cleaner.

The feldspar was trucked to this siding in dump trucks and stored in these two silos. One silo loaded boxcars while the other was setup for loading hoppers. Interesting how Jim can model such a scene and not crowd the others in a smaller basement.

A early era pickup truck is being loaded at the J M Parker mill.

CV Wooden Caboose

An early era view of a row of Central Vermont cabooses at a unknown location.

I picked up this print (which is a tiny old print) at Collinsville from Bob's photo for a few bucks. It was in a group of originals for sale. Many are of poor quality and not useful for his print business, although this one looked pretty good to me especially after scanning and editing. The print quality looks old so it could be the original print made from a negative years ago. Nothing was marked on the back. I think this one is worth sharing with CV fans...George Dutka

Rapido FPA-4 - CNR 6767

A single CNR FPA-4 heads a Canada bound passenger train over Bellows Crossing diamond on the WRD.

In May my new Rapido DCC with sound FPA-4 arrived via Don Janes. Actually Don got us a deal on two engines if purchased together. I picked number 6767 as this was an engine I had seen running as a single unit through Vermont in books and photos. What a great sounding engine it turned out to be and something one might consider if modeling an earlier area....George Dutka

CNR #6767 rests upon a few published photos of the prototype engine in Vermont.

CNR 6767 and 6770 are in Essex Jct.Vermont running around the train in July 1962. These units will handle the Girl Scout Jamboree crowd back north. The CV handled 6 special passenger trains to Essex Jct. handling 2,639 girl scouts during July 18-19. The girls are headed to Button Bay 22 miles away. On July 30-31, 1962 6 trains arrived once again handling 10-21 coaches each. George Dutka collection.

The girl scout train is heading north through St. Albans, Vermont with CNR 6767 on the lead and 6770 trailing. I purchased these photos from Jeff English at the Rutland Railroad Historical Society 1998 Convention held in Chatham, NY. It surprises me what one will find attending these type of meets. The Jamboree photo group included eight images. More views can be found in the Ambassador, Vol 8, No. 3.

Wordless Wednesday No. 140

NH FL9 - Willimantic, Ct.

FL9 in Willimantic, Ct. Oct. 11 2010.

Connecticut Eastern Railroad Museum NH FL9

Following Don's post I looked back through my photos from a visit to the Connecticut Eastern Railroad Museum in Willimantic, Ct. and found a few shot of NH FL9 #2023 that I took in 2010. This locomotive was built in 1960 as #2057 and rebuilt and renumbered #2023 in 1985. The museum received the engine from Connecticut DOT in 2003. Unfortunately on our visit to Willimantic in May the museum was closed...so a second look will have to wait for another time...George Dutka

Engineman's seat and controls.

The fireman's side and a sad looking cooler.

Typical GM controls of the era.