NH RDC Unit - N Scale

The NH RDC unit is ready to roll while the Mikado needs some detail parts added. Most are included in a separate package, but with all used equipment there always are a few missing components. On this model the handrails need to be bent and a bell added. Both units are made by Kato

Peter and I plan on building a N scale module that can be fit together. We are looking at using foam for the base this time around. Neither of us have yet worked with this material. I picked up a Kato CNR Mikado as my freight power for my section of the line. Peter has a more contemporary fleet on the go...so things will be interesting. I recently picked up a Kato NH RDC unit which I could not resist...it is used but runs great. Both units will be used on my module set in the 1950's. The scene will be set so both CNR in Southwestern Ontario and the NH in Connecticut can be visualized. I did have a thought of repainting the RDC in CNR colours, but I really like the look of the NH on it...will see what happens this winter...George Dutka

The RDC needed the air horns, mail hook and roof vents added before it could go in service. Here we see it posed on the White River Division will all available parts applied. I also gave the trucks and vents a dusting of Bragdon powders.

The vents on the roof were missing in the parts package. I made these from HO Branchline passenger car leftovers. This unit has operating marker lights which I was surprised to see.

Zubick's Scrap Metals - London, Ont.

Any car arriving for scrapping will have some sort of stencilled notice to keep it from being loaded en route.

An Industry You Can Model - Zubick's Scrap Metals
Article and photos by Peter Mumby

This week as you put out your blue boxes, you can look up and down the street and note with some satisfaction that most of your neighbours have bought into your municipality's recycling programme.  However, if you have been a homeowner for 20+ years, you know it wasn't always this way.  North Americans have been notorious with regard to filling landfills with recyclable items.  The major exception over the years has been scrap metals.

This Zubick's logo appears on trucks and bins.  The company has been extant since 1946; my visit occurred on August 05, 2015

 Since couplers cannot be painted, here is a place where a good dose of rusty weathering is justified.  Save all those "Kadee compatible" couplers as you replace them with the real thing, and you are well on the way to modelling your scrap yard!

Scrap metal has been of great value to individuals and governments - swords have been "beaten into ploughshares" (and vice versa) for hundreds of years.  Who knows - that blade you shaved with this morning could trace its heritage back to the industrial revolution!

The title of this piece might be a bit of a misnomer.  Occupying a 24-acre site in east London, Zubick's would take up a huge area even in Z scale.  It's mountains of carefully segregated material and huge pieces of equipment would have to be very selectively compressed.  Besides, the vast majority of its deliveries and shipments are by truck, so we'll concentrate on those aspects of the industry that are rail-related.  One hint to the prospective scrap yard modeller - don't make those piles of material look as rusty as they do in the model railway magazines.  Most of the material received at Zubick's is quickly resold, leaving the site within two weeks!

In business since 1946, John Zubick Ltd. is currently located at 105 Clarke Road in London, Ontario.  It has a private rail spur off the north mainline track of the CN Dundas Subdivision just west of the control point known as Frauts (m.p. 74.0).  Ten years ago, local CN freight #511 could often be seen shoving hopper cars full of railroad scrap as well as complete cars (mostly tanks) into the site by way of this spur.  Today rail car recycling is not as centralized as it once was, so this aspect of the business has been in decline.  However, there still is a significant rail component to the Zubick's operation, and this is what we'll be considering through a perusal of the accompanying photos.

There are three weigh scales on the premises.  This tower contains the equipment which records the weight of rail cars.

This Procor tank is one of two that were ready to be cut up at the time of my visit.

An interesting detail showing up throughout the yard were a variety of storage bins made from cut-up tank cars.  Now you know what to do with all those Tyco and Model Power tank cars you acquired when you first got in to the hobby!

 This mobile shear is designed to cut up rail cars at locations remote from the yard.  It is sub-lettered for subsidiary "London Rail Services."

Tank cars must have couplers incorporating both an upper and a lower shelf.  Perhaps this detail could be overlooked on a string of tank cars operating on the layout, but a stand-alone model in your scrap yard wouldn't be complete without the proper couplers!

These wheel sets will be re-sold.  There is a good market for wheel sets and side frames for 100-ton trucks.

 Not every railcar that appears in the yard will be cut up.  This reinforced box car has started a second life as a storage facility.

Here we see an ASF Ride Control truck stacked above a Barber S-2 truck; the lower truck is stamped "Dofasco."  This detail might be difficult to duplicate in 1:87!

One of the first things you notice as your approach the front gate is a collection of large sculptures made from scrap metal.  Zubick's has developed a relationship with Fanshawe College whereby certain students head off campus to create these pieces of art at the yard.

Here a group of the sculptures soars high over parked off-duty vehicles.

Check out this Blog - The Old Main Line Subdivision

Jim's Friendly Friday's posts features some great layouts such as Kip Grant's D&H layout, (Aug 21, 2015 post) which has been featured on the two covers above. The bottom photo of Jim Dufour's layout was featured in Friendly Friday's May 1, 2015 post. He has a few other layouts one might want to visit on his blog.

I just added to my sidebar Jim Fawcett's blog The Old Main Line Subdivision. Jim has only been blogging since April, but has been doing a great job. He has just marked his 50th post, so he has been busy. I have been following this blog the last bit and it is turning out to be a good one. These two great views are found on Jim's blog...check it out for yourself, link below or on the sidebar...George Dutka

The Old Main Line Subdivision

MVP (MOST VIEWED POST): Jim Dufour's beautiful B&M Cheshire Branch takes top honors as the most popular post on Jim Fawcett's blog.

 

Wordless Wednesday No. 145

Willimantic, Ct. - Trackplan

After Don and my photo shoot at Willimantic, Ct. this past May I thought I would dig out the map included with the CVRHS Willimantic convention data pack some years ago. I could not remember where the track that ran off into the weeds on our visit went to...it was Boston...George Dutka

Blackberry Scrapbook

A couple of CV Alco's are seen under the White River Jct. coal tower. A string of reefer are ready for sorting on the WRD.

I have been playing around once again. Here is another look at a Blackberry scrapbook app creation...George Dutka

Jim Dufour's B&M Cheshire Layout - A Second Look

Here we have a close-up view of a front porch with lots of details added on the B&M Cheshire Branch

I was going through my photos from last winters trip to New England...thought I would share a few more views of Jim's layout. I also wanted to show you the home next door to Jim's. It caught my eye as a nice possibility for a model. As it was really cold out I only took a couple of shots which will be enough to work with...George Dutka

Jim does not have to go far for insperation when building homes for his layout. I have seen this style of home throughout New England, but this was one of the better looking ones.

The side view of the home next to Jim's.

I think Barry caught me in this video clip.

Bill Badger stopped this train for me to get a quick shot of the overall scene...I wonder if that ever happened on the prototype.

I really liked this scene and the view from the side of the overhead bridge looking down into Troy, NH.

CN 40`Combination-door Boxcar

My version of the prototype built back in the 1980`s. I did add some weathering to my model since then.

CN sliding-plug combination Boxcar

When I pulled out my modern equipment I had forgot about this CN 40 foot boxcar I built decades ago. I had an article published in Canadian Railroad Modeller, T3T2 about building my model which I believe was an issue from the late 1980's or early 1990's. I thought I would give you a second look at it as there was only 15 cars in a large fleet of double door boxcars. Built in 1952, numbers 49500-495014 were used extensively for moving packaged lumber and plywood from Western Canada to Eastern USA and other Canadian markets. So this car would have been seen in New England. Able to hold 3900 cubic feet of cargo, they had a 14 foot door opening for extra large pieces. This was accomplished using an 8 foot plug door in combination with a 6 foot sliding door.

Interchange service
Built 1952.....15 cars
  Oct 1982.....15 cars
  Jan 1988......4 cars
  Oct 1988.....1 car
         1990.....0 cars

The Model
I used a Front Range #4090 double door model for this project. The car has full length ladders, steel roof walks, diagonal panel roofing, 10'6" inside heights and riveted side panels. I used the car ends as is as they look similar, but now days there are options for the proper ends.  I replaced the stirrup's with A-Line #29002 below the ladder, Grant Line #5130 stirrup's below the grabs, Detail Associates SX2202 grab irons, Kadee No. 5 couplers and #438 air hoses. All the other parts used are included in the kit. If I was building this kit today the brake wheel, roof walk and wheels would be replaced with better options.

I bent .015 piano wire operating levers and bleed rods. The boxcar was painted Floquil boxcar red and CDS CN dry transfer #215 are applied using my photos. I did add additional  decal data as seen on the prototype car. This car gives my CN fleet a bit of a different look...George Dutka

CN reclamation yard. London, Ont. Oct. 1988.

At the reclamation yard awaiting its turn with the torch. London, Ont. Oct. 1988.

CN London East yard waiting to go to the reclamation yard back in the 1980`s.

The fleet was small enough you could actually built all 15...something you can not say about other CN series.

Housatonic Railway Equipment

Two units of the Housatonic RR are tied up on Sunday morning outside the engine house. 

The Berkshire Hills Route

by Don Janes

     As George posted a while ago, we stopped in Canaan, CT. on May 31 on the way home from the 2015 Collinsville RPM meet.  We wanted to get some pictures of the old New Haven/B&M station which has been recently rebuilt after a devastating fire.  While standing on the platform we looked south and saw what we thought looked like some locomotives so while visiting the local hobby shop we inquired about our sighting.  The owner said it was the Housatonic RR shop and kindly gave us directions.  The railroad shop is located along side the mainline and across the tracks from a golf coarse.  We parked out of the way and made our way along the edge of the coarse which was pretty empty due to a dull, overcast day with rain threatening.  We managed to get quite a few shots of the equipment stored at the facility.  

     Just north of the station is a yard that had a lot of cars in it and the hobby shop owner said there was likely a train heading north up this former  New Haven RR line towards Pittsfield, MA. working the small towns along the way.  When we left Canaan to head up towards I-90 and make our way home we checked out several locations but didn't find any trains.

This was the other unit in the consist.  It appears to be an ex- Santa Fe GP-7 or 9 that went through their rebuilding program quite a few years ago.  It ended up on the Bangor and Aroostook RR before joining the Housatonic roster.

Another view of the lash-up sitting at the fuel rack.

This GP-35 looks like her front truck might be in for repairs as it is sitting on a freight car truck.  You can clearly see the bolster and traction motor blower ducts under the unit.

          The Housatonic locomotives are painted in a very attractive green and yellow scheme and for the most part seem to be well maintained.  I'm not sure what the extent of their roster is or if there are other locomotives based at other locations.  There were a couple of old NS locomotives beside the shop that were stored as a parts source to keep the Housatonic roster in running condition.  

     Along with the locomotives was a very clean caboose and an ex Pennsylvania RR baggage car.  I have to assume the baggage car is used for storage.  It is really in very good condition aside from some rust streaks and still has the original portal windows on the baggage doors.

One of my favorite locomotive is the Alco RS-3.  This unit is in great condition and looks to be in perfect working order. Closer inspection shows it has been rebuilt with an EMD engine as evidenced by the 36" fans above the radiator shutters.

Housatonic caboose 654 is in great shape.  The side windows have been blanked over to ward off vandals.  As cabooses go it is a fairly modern car

As can be seen in these photos, the two ex NS units are for parts supply to keep the other units going. 

These engines were set up for long hood forward operation as evidenced by the bell on the long hood meaning they were likely of Norfolk and Western or Southern heritage.  This would be a good unit to try to duplicate the weathering on!

The ex PRR baggage car is in pretty good shape considering its age and exposure to the elements.

Another view of the Housatonic facility.  You can just make out the Canaan station in the left of the photo.

     It was nice to finally see this little short line in person.  I had read about it and seen photos of the trains but never really knew where to find any locomotives or equipment.  Hopefully next year on our Collinsville weekend we can stop in again and see what's new in Canaan and on the Housatonic RR.  Maybe also see a train out on the road or switching in the yard.  Even though the day was a very overcast it was great to discover another of the many colourful short lines in New England.

Yesterday's Wordless Wednesday

Yesterday's photo of an ad for the Bellows Falls Co-Operative Creamery is from the collection of Jim Dufour. While visiting Jim's layout I noted a few interesting artifacts on the wall...this one was of great interest as I plan on modeling Bellows Falls. The photo shows some of the details of the creamery loading area and the fleet of trucks that I never seen before. I have already built some milk cars for the creamery and have a few other photos on hand of trucks and the building in general that I will share with you once assembled into an post....George Dutka

Wordless Wednesday No. 144

CPR Goderich, Ont. Station

Ex CPR station now a beach restaurant, Aug 29, 2015

I was in Goderich on the weekend and made it down to the CPR station. If you remember I posted about the station move a couple of years ago. Well I heard it finally opened up earlier this summer so I thought I should check it out. The station is looking really good. I did take a look at the lunch menu with many interesting offerings in the 10-20$ range. It maybe a little bit steep for a guy wanting a burger lunch ($14 with the trimmings) but the owner and staff are from the Park House in town which is an excellent place to eat...I am sure this location is also one of the better eats in town. The best part is it now is right across the road from the beach with a nice patio to have a beer...George Dutka

The interior looks really good.

Add caption

There is a really nice patio around the beach side of the restaurant.

Postcard - White River Jct.

Terry Smith shared this postcard he discovered set in the early days of railroading at White River Jct. Vermont...enjoy...George Dutka