Wordless Wednesday No. 264

Merry Christmas from the WRD

Looks like some last minute deliveries are needed.

A Christmas wish from Don, Peter and I. We hope you enjoy the holiday season and under the tree is all the goodies your layout needs...have a safe New Years!

Athearn Express Reefer - Rust Bucket

This 50' wooden express reefer got some heavy weathering to make it stand out from the crowd. Since the only place rusty metal would be are on the doors, the roofing and sills...they got a good dose of acrylic tub paint in rust, browns and black. Some white acrylic is drybrushed down from the sign and roof hatches. Once that was done some extra PanPastel was applied to tie it all together.

I had taken this Athearn express reefer to sell at a couple of train shows last year with no luck. I was only asking five bucks and it had been PanPastel weathered. It is one of a few I have on hand for a CV milkcar kit-bash such as Bruce Douglas had done. I had blogged about that car last summer. Anyhow I spend about 30 minutes on this car with my acrylic tube paints. I did a real rust job on it. Well it never made it to anymore shows as one gentleman that was over to pick up his new layout structures (some of my extra's) noted it on my table of train show candidates last month. He gave me fifteen bucks for it...surprising what a little extra work yields...George Dutka

Edward Ozog New England Views

Newport hill Vermont.

On June 11th 2017 I posted a view at Brattleboro taken by Edward Ozog back in the 1950's. Since then I had corresponded with Edward and found out he has a site one can check out for many more great steam views of New England. Many of the views are Ed's but he has also included other photographers. I selected a few views. He also has a B&M and New Haven section. Check out the link below...George Dutka

http://sites.google.com/site/centralvermontrwylocomotives

Bellows Falls, Vermont

Bellows Falls, Vermont

CV 450 Horton Cove trestle, Montville, Ct. April 1957.

CV 706 White River Jct. 1948.

CV 472 White River Jct, 1954

 

What's in the Box - No. 28

Everything that comes in the Railway Design Associates kit box is seen here. Not a hard kit to assemble.

I finally pulled out my "New Haven," Rutland Ry. style station to build. I am doing two sides as abandoned for summer time use and the other two as in the 1950's. Only two sides can be seen at any given time in the location I planned....George Dutka

There is some clean-up to be done to the details, walls and windows.

Located in New Haven, Vermont the prototype photo was taken March 2012. This is actually the rear of the structure.

Don's completed station model on his Green Mountain Division. Don did closely follow the prototype by cutting in the train order signal. Note the cut into the roof. He also added downspouts following the actual station. Don Janes photo.

Wordless Wednesday No. 263

Green Mountain No. 305

It seems the only time I crossed path with Green Mountain #305 was on Oct. 2, 2005 at Bellows Falls, Vermont

Since I now have a model of this engine I thought I should dig out a few views that will help with any changes required. The most obvious is the headlight location. I scanned a few of my prints from that visit for you to check out...George Dutka

Abandoned Tower - Jim Sloan

The interlocking tower's roof is removable allowing one to see the mess inside the abandoned tower.

During our visit to Jim Sloan's layout I had a chance to look inside the completed Monster Model Works B&M style tower. Jim modeled it abandoned and did a really nice job of it. The interior looks like one would think an unused or abandoned tower would appear...nice work Jim...George Dutka

Monster Model Works B&M style tower.

A look at the graffiti on the end wall.

Another Mill ForThe Green Mountain Division....by Don Janes

The old stone mill finally has some scenery around it which helps it blend into the layout

An Old Mill Finds A New Home

     The old stone mill shown above has been around the green Mtn. Division a long time, one of the first structures to be place on the original layout back in the 1990's.  It's beginnings were not the traditional kit but two lone hydrocal castings  that were used as masters for RTV rubber molds. Once the molds were made I poured several copies of each wall section using hydrocal plaster and set out to cut, fit and fill the castings into many different sections to form the finished mill structure.  

    Let me backup a little and explain.  Many years ago I was in Adams, MA visiting my friend Dick Elwell's Hoosac Valley model railroad.  I was admitting a stone mill on his outstanding layout when I mentioned I would love to build a version of it for my new layout.  He said that he could give me the castings to build the mill and all I had to do was buy the Grandt Line windows that fit the window opening in the castings.  Easy I thought.  Well, not quite.  What Dick really meant (and if you know Dick you will understand) was here are two castings, go buy some RTV rubber, make some molds and pour a bunch of those castings and have at it until your mill is finished.  You see, this is just common practice for Dick to come up with a structure that he wants for his layout.  He builds lots of great kits but you would never recognize them when he is finished.  He just has a talent to create unique structures.

     Anyway, I took the castings home just wondering what to do with them. After all I didn't even know what RTV rubber was and had never made a casting.  After about $100 worth of RTV rubber and plaster I came up with the needed castings and set about to cobble up this mill.  Once the mill was finished I placed it in my old layout and it became a focal point in that area of the layout. 

This is Dick Elwell's mill. It was this structure that inspired me to try to build one for myself.

The outlined are in white shows the original two castings I started with to build the mill

Here is the mill in its new location on the new layout. As you can see it is quite a large structure.

Another view of the mill on it's own little island at the end of the room

This view shows the boiler room end of the mill with its coal supply.  The office on the end was made from a  hydrocal brick section on the bottom and scribed siding on the top.  The stairs and windows are Grandt Line parts

Here we see a B&M switcher spotting a boxcar for loading.  The retaining wall is made from a plaster casting of a stone wall and the fence is from Central Valley.

A Wabash hopper loaded with coal for the mill's boiler house is spotted at the coal unloading pit. From here it will be trucked to the coal pile at the other end of the building.

An overall shot of the mill. The brick section in the middle is a modified DPM plastic building kit. The tall smokestack is from Sylvan Scale Models.

This view from the other end of the mill shows the Bar Mills water tower and coal dump.  The trees in the background are Scenic Express Supertrees.

The brick woodworking shop is a building which was part of South River Model Works "Lamson & Goodson" kit.

    Looking back this was a fun project that provided a unique mill for my layout.  It has yet to be named.  If you take in any layout tours in New England I would bet you will find some variation of these two castings on quite a few layouts. By the way I still have the molds and lots of hydrocal if anyone wants to "have at it".

Tichy Kit Complete

The finished model with a PanPastel weathering job. The door is actually black but I made it look distressed with Bragdon rust and dust. The door on one side is modeled open with some scrap paper, banding and a skid.

Peter and I each began working on the same Tichy kit back in the spring. When summer arrived we each decided to continue on our own. The kits were by then built and painted...all that was needed was decals applied and some weathering. The car sides are suppose to be a silvery colour. I painted them a mix of Floquil old silver with some concrete added. The PanPastel gray also helped toning it down even more. My car did not get the decals applied till this fall and the weathering a few weeks ago. Once Peter's car is done I will show you how it looks also...George Dutka

On the layout the car looks great but in photos I found the roof looked just too weathered. I toned it down a bit with a light coat of Floquil grimy black.

The toned down roof.

A look at the weathered door and the scrap found inside the finished model. I also added a bit of chain to the brake piston below.

A Wintery Vermonter - 2017

SB Vermonter at Bethel, Vermont Dec. 13, 2017 Kevin Burkholder photo

Here are two really nice views of a wintery looking Vermonter southbound in Vermont. Kevin Burkholder has captured a couple of interesting angles most of us can not get from high above. His photos normally show up on RailPictures.Net. Thanks Kevin for allowing me to share these photos on this blog...George Dutka

SB Vermonter at Bellows Falls, Vermont Dec. 11, 2017 Kevin Burkholder photo. Kevin notes this tunnel is 166 years old.

CP - Denfield Side Road

CP eastbound at Denfield side road Oct 19, 2000.

This is a follow-up to yesterdays Wordless Wednesday. Back during the fall of 2000 I spent an afternoon track side on the Denfield overpass watching for CN and CPR movements. At this location the two railroads parallel each other. These are a few of my slide that have been scanned from that day...George Dutka

Wordless Wednesday No. 262

Visting Menards

Menards train section in Pt. Huron. Many of the offerings can be ordered on-line.

I don't know if you have seen the ads over the past few years from Menards in RMC and MR. On the weekend we spent a night with friends in Michigan shopping eating and so on. On our way home we stopped at Menards builders supply store in Pt. Huron. Menards is kind of like Lowe's and Home Depot but with a lot more. At Christmas they have a train section which is well stocked with Lionel Trains and structures in O and HO. Most of what I saw during over visit was O scale. Most of the buildings on display had their lights on and vents and so on working. I did not see any of the vehicles they offer. Sorry about my photos as I took them with my pocket camera which needed the flash for anything to turn out...George Dutka

The structure displays are all lighted and mostly O scale.

A look down the shelves.

The end display to a long isle of train cars and buildings.

Snapshot - December 2017

VIA no. 72 approaching Komoka, Ontario.

Now that winter is setting in here is a photo I took in B&W back on February 12, 1991 framed by a snow fence. A typical train of the era with snow fences one would see. I don't recall in recent years seeing many snow fences in this area around Komoka. Back then I took a lot of B&W photos, developing them myself in my home made darkroom...George Dutka

Water Tank Cleanup

I recently cleaned up a kind of rough looking water tank. Someone had assembled it using household tube silicone that would be used around windows and doors. It was a real mess. The good thing was it came off pretty well. Once I removed the ugly base and silicone I painted the parts with Walmart dollar spray-bomb flat black. From there the rest was done with PanPastels...George Dutka

The ugly base was removed and one can see the silicone gooped around the bottom of the tank.

After painting the model black PanPastels are used to complete the project.

This project was completed from beginning to what one sees here in just over an hour. As I don't need another tank, this model was sold to a gentleman that needed one for his layout.