White River Jct Station - Model

My rendition of the WRJ station. Modeling the station in a 2' by 6' area requires resizing the plans.

I took a few photos to go along with an article I just completed for the next CVRHS Ambassador. It is regarding how I modeled my WRJ station. I won't get into details here as to what I did but here are a few photos that view the station...George Dutka 

The station was built in three parts. The center section is close to the prototype size. If more room becomes available I can build the other portions larger. Also the middle section can be reversed to view the B&M side without changing the freight doors on the larger portion of the platform.

The B&M side of White River Jct. station.

A view taken with my phone set on the layout the other day.

Snapshot - June 2021

CN 397 westbound from Toronto to Sarnia included military commemorative unit 3233 in the  three unit consist on Memorial Day, May 31, 2021. CN 397 had just completed a re-crew at Watford West on the Strathroy Sub. A slow pull by at First School Road gave me an up close photo option.

On Memorial Day (last Monday) it was a ho-hum day trackside with nothing actually passing by me. It was more cloud than sun while hanging around the Komoka detector. VIA 72 did pass but no CP WB that morning. I heard dispatcher call CN 397 telling the crew they would be re-crewed at Watford West. The train appeared a few minutes later at a good speed. To my surprise the middle unit was a CN military tribute unit as seen in my photos. I decided to head to Watford West for a better shot and a good look as the train would stop and pull slowly at the crossing. On to the freeway 402 then back on Kerwood Rd. I could see it had not gone across the crossing here yet so a quick trip into Kerwood for a shot. The gates just started as I crossed the crossing. A couple of shots there and once the train cleared off to Watford West. I got my best look and views at Watford West as the train pulled slowly over the crossing. 

It was nice for my first encounter with a military tribute unit  to be on Memorial Day. CN 397 later in the day arrived in Pt. Huron Michigan for a run west on the GT...George Dutka

CN 397 at the Komoka hot box detector just west of London on May 31 2021.

At the Komoka hot box detector.

A crew change took place at Watford West with a puller crew arriving from Sarnia.

 

White River Junction - Coal Tower Scene

A pair of Geep's are ready to roll. The GT unit is a blue box Athearn dummy that has a good amount of details added back in the 1980's or early 1990's. The CV engine is a detailed Front Range model. Note the string of CNR 40' boxcars that will be lifted shortly. The coal tower remains but unused.

It is well beyond the steam era in this view on the WRD. A pair of geep's are ready to go on another run over the layout. This is from a group of photos that were staged for a MR article sent in 3 years ago. This view was not included with the article...waiting patiently for what becomes of the feature...George Dutka   

GMD Recollections - Switching at the North Side.

 

CP SD40-2F number 9015 is being shoved back through the main gates to the GMD plant on February 19, 1989.  This rear view makes it quite apparent how the "red barn" nickname came to be applied to these units.

By Peter Mumby.

Oxford Street East runs along the north side of the GMD plant.  Both of today's photos were taken looking north across the street.  The main gate to the plant is behind the camera.  If a locomotive was to be switched from one erecting bay to another, it had to be pulled out to the street before being shoved back into the building.  The track nearest to the camera continues across the road towards a connection with the CN (later, GEXR) Guelph Subdivision.  If you look carefully, you can see that the track the switcher is occupying features multiple gauges, allowing for the testing of the many narrow gauge export locomotives produced at the plant.

After the 9015 has been relocated, we get a chance to inspect the plant switcher in its Diesel Division paint scheme. 

Wordless Wednesday No. 427

 

    

Service Station - Bellows Falls

March 30, 2016 Bellows Falls, Vermont

Kevin Smith sent me some more information regarding the service station located behind Robertson Paper in Bellows Falls, Vermont that I thought you might be interested in. I posted about this location on May 8, 2016...George Dutka

The gas station was known as Ross's Garage. It was originally a Mobil station under the ownership of John & Patty Ross. Son Johnny & daughter Angie worked there pumping gas. John was a talented mechanic. In his spare time, he built (from scratch) a beautiful Super Modified race car. Despite the exterior appearance (it always looked that way), inside was immaculately clean & organized. The entire time I lived in Bellows Falls, I bought gas there & all my vehicles were serviced there, including tires. GMRC had a gas & service account with John as well. After moving to AZ, anytime I came back for visits, I'd gas up the rental car there & check up on the family. By then, Mobil had gone away, but the biz was going strong. Last visit, Fall of 2020, the building appeared vacant...Kevin Smith.

 

BarMills Cigar Corner - Building Flat

My newest building flat placed into the back alley scene I built last year. I used most of the signs included but did change out one to a wholesale grocers.

The first structure that I completed from BarMills Cigar Corner is the building flat. I have already posted the finished model photos and what is in the box. Here is some under construction views...George Dutka 

The basic construction is done. One sees the building flat is not a true flat...it has some depth to it.

The flat does not have any backing included. I used some available card stock on my kits back.

Brick mortar is applied to some areas of the wall. I used car primer brown for the basic wall color. The concrete is done with gray and white acrylic dollar store paints. 

The brick work is toned down with two tones of PanPastel's.

The wood structure is attached to the main and the signage is next to be applied.

Here is how the building flat when I thought I was finished. The brick mortar stood out a bit more than I wanted it to. I went over these areas with more PanPastel browns and all is well. The lead photo is the finished look. The power meter is from an ITLA kit.

CN 149 Komoka Detector

CN 149 westbound between the detector and Frank Lane "A" frame wooden bridge on May 25, 2021. I used a slate filter which takes most of the color out of the photo making it almost B&W.

Railfanning is getting more difficult with our grand-kids home schooling during lock-down and yes grandparents are the school teachers most days now.

As it turned out this day both express container trains CN 148 and 149 passed each other at Komoka which would not have made for a nice shot. I was stationed just east of Komoka on the Strathroy Sub. at the detector with the "A" frame Frank Lane bridge in the background. It was already humid out shortly after 9am making telephoto shooting a bit of a problem with haze not to mention the shadows from the overgrowth. I played around using the computer filters the other day to change the tone of the photo...enjoy...George

Weathering and Painting

I really like using these tones of Anita's acrylic paints on my structures. They are a great value which I purchased at Hobby Lobby in Pt. Huron, Michigan a few years ago. They are a great deal when on sale for way under a dollar a bottle. From left to right they are charcoal, woodsy smoke, bark brown, rusty red, earth brown and rainy day gray.

A few views of some of the paints and powders I use on my models. I am trying to stay away from the smelly stuff as much as possible...George Dutka  

If one is going to only purchase one weathering powder product this four pack of Bragdon powders is the one to consider. I think I have shown you this before but it is my go-to weathering. I can't remember a project that this plastic box has not been on the workbench for. Oh that is the front section of the BarMills building flat.

Dollarama located here in Ontario has a nice line of large bottles of Acylic paint for a dollar. These are my go-to bottles.

O.V.Hooker - Calling it Done

CV 4551 is just pulling down to the south end of Waterbury Yard to do some switching. The hopper will be spotted at the coal dealer in the background.

 A New Scene For Waterbury....by Don Janes

     A few weeks ago I shared some photos of the O.V. Hooker structure I built for my Waterbury, Vt. scene.  At that time I had just finished the structure and placed it in the layout.  Over the last  couple of weeks I worked on finishing the surrounding scenery and adding some more details.  I think I can just about call the scene finished.  You will note I said just about since we all know there are always a few more details that one can add to "finish" a scene.  

     This was a very challenging kit to build but I thoroughly enjoyed the build.  I have always loved building SRMW kits but unfortunately this is the last one I had to build and since Bob retired a few years ago there will be no more new ones so if I want to get another I will have to look around at sites such as eBay to see if I can find another one.  At this point I don't really have any more room for any more large structures unless I pull an existing building out and add a new one. I did add an old auto repair shop at the end of the road to add a little more interest.  I believe it is a modified Pikestuff kit i did years ago. 

     So, here are a few photos of the finished structure placed into the layout.   

I added a small drainage ditch between the road and the tracks.

A few shots of the structure. 

This small auto repair shop is where all the locals go to get their vehicles fixed

One final shot of 4551 working at Waterbury

GMD Recollections - Birds of a Feather

ATSF 4030 was one of 40 standard cab GP60 units built for Santa Fe.  It was being exercised on the GMD test track on July 31, 1989.

By Peter Mumby.

The GP60 was the final four axle road switcher model ("Geep") produced by General Motors.  This locomotive was produced over the years 1985-1994.  Southern Pacific placed the largest order, acquiring 195 copies of the standard cab version.  Fully 95 of these were lettered for subsidiary Cotton Belt (SSW).  Santa Fe (ATSF) went for the variety pack, which consisted of 40 standard cab units, 23 GP60B models, and 63 of the wide cab GP60M type.  Today's photos feature two examples from near the middle of the production run. 

SP 9753 was being checked out on the test track on June 19, 1991.

 

Wordless Wednesday No. 426

 

 

What's in the Box No. 49

The difference between ITLA kits and many of the other manufacturers is the engineering, no plastic or metal...all the parts and details are made of wood and fit together perfectly.

Albany Manufacturing by ITLA was their Albany Fine Scale Expo kit back in 2018. It can be built as a building flat or a full structure. It is one of their smaller industrial structures but really neat and can fit in a lot of tight spots. There is a ton of details on each wall and I would suggest it to be used as a forefront feature...George Dutka

All the sheeting is well labeled so no guessing. Note the pallets are laid out so one assembles them before removing.

Loading dock roofing and skirting is on a separate sheet.

The walls have a lot of details in them. Plaster, brick and exposed re-bar in crumbled wall sections add to the look. Once completed there are leftover details and pieces for future builds. The instruction sheet is not seen in these photos but the color photos really help locate the detail locations and their final look.

May Calendar

CN WB 397 May 10, 2021

Bruce Douglas sends out a monthly calendar he makes up. This month he used one of my railfan photos taken on the Strathroy Sub. at the Komoka area hot box detector...George Dutka  

BarMills Building Flat Completed

My new BarMills kit was a nice build that has no difficult features to construct.

I decided to skip from "what is in the box" to the finished model. I will show you some construction photos later...enjoy...George Dutka 

The new building flat is just placed in my back alley scene. It will find a new home shortly once a few more buildings are completed to make a scene.

I left enough foreground in the back alley scene so I can stage structures and vehicles for photo shoots.

The BarMills kit is not a true building flat. As one can see there is some depth to this structure which is nice to have especially if placed on an angle.

Railfan - Tom Nelligan

CP 937 is about to depart north from St Johnsbury. This train is destined for Windsor, Ontario on Aug 6, 1967.

If you are a fan of New England railroading I am sure you have seen Tom Nelligan's photo work back in the 1970's and 1980's. He also has published a number of books on New England subjects. As a Canadian when he published a book on VIA I had to get it as I love how he composes his photos. I had corresponded over the past couple of years with Tom for permission to post his photos on this blog and for more information. He has a lot of knowledge about New England. I was surprised to find out through an e-mail thread began by Jim Dufour that Tom had passed away at age 70 on April 9, 2021. 

It appears that Tom had been battling cancer for the past two years. His major contributions to on-line rail photo sites now makes sense. It had been a long time since I had seen any of Tom's work then about 2017 one could find photos everywhere. One site has almost 1200 photos. I think this is great that he put in the effort to share so much of his work. I think we can all learn from this as we age. Maybe we should begin looking through what photos we have and begin posting some of the good stuff...because if we don't our kids will just file it somewhere, most likely the landfill and computer files deleted. Tom was a big minor league baseball fan, maybe we all can hoist a drink in Tom's honor while watching a game...George Dutka

This was a venture into Canadian Railroads by Tom.

One of my favourite books offered by Tom Nelligan.

The NH has been gone for three years when Tom took this photo of PC 33 at Walpole, Ma, The station was built in 1883. The train is headed to Franklin in May 1972.

The Montrealer is pulling down for its station stop in St. Albans, Vermont. A crew change will take place here. The Canadian crew is seen in the foreground on Sept 28, 1979.

Westboro - Freight House

The area at Westboro that the freight house resides is small. The siding is actually just a staged location on the dock side although cars can be spotted on the other side...on the shop track.

 A few more views of my BEST freight shed in use at my Westboro location. One can build your own using the now available Motrak kit...George Dutka  

I detailed my freight shed platform. In hindsight I should have modeled the doors open for more interest.

It is kind of nice to know that additional freight sheds are available if required from Motrak...although my next version might be a scratch-built version.

A lot of Aberdeen Car Shops crates are added to the Classic Metal models truck, platform and boxcar. I also added one of the crate sides to the truck for a logo. This fall scene sure views a lot of Canadian furnaces and water heaters that will be greatly appreciated as the climate changes.