CV Caboose 4027

CV 4027 is seen in St. Albans, Vermont yard  in July 1962. Posted with permission from Steve Mumley.

This photo was part of a group of photo I purchased from Phil Jordan decades ago at a RRHS convention. Most of the photos are VTR scenes but a few where CV. I hope to share more with you as I scan them in. This photo was taken by Steve Mumley...enjoy...George Dutka

Wordless Wednesday No. 154

October Railfan Trip - Part 3

After about a 10 minute wait this manifest came slugging up the grade with a BNSF unit in the lead.  You can really see the steepness of the grade in this photo.

Day 2 con't. - Back To Mance

by Don Janes

     After we left Oakland, Md. we decided to give Mance another kick at the can.  It continued raining off and on but since Mance was on the way home why not try it.  On our arrival we were met by Roger Snyder who informed us there were several trains in the area and that the first would be a westbound manifest.  He no sooner said this than we heard the rumble of GE units working uphill coming around the curve.  Not wanting to miss the shot by re-postioning I decided to stay right at the post office and shoot from there.  It was good thing too because this guy was really haulin" and I barely got the camera out when he was on us.  To my delight the leader was a BNSF unit that really popped on such a dreary day. 

Roger puts out his Chessie Cat pumpkin every year around Halloween.  It makes a nice prop for shooting trains from the porch.

      Not long after that train cleared an eastbound auto rack train drifted downhill by the post office.  I thought I'd try a different angle so headed east of the post office and found a mound of ballast to climb up to give me a little elevation.  No sooner had I got up there the rain started pouring down but at this point it was too late to move so I decided to bite the bullet and get a shot from there than miss it completely.  I wish now I had stayed under the porch and shot the eatbound from the spot I shot the photo above.  It seemed as though our railfanning luck was beginning to change and our enthusiasm started to return.  All we needed now was a couple of sunny days. 

After a 15 minute wait this auto rack train drifted down hill with dynamic brakes whining.  I should have stayed under the porch for this one.

     Aftere the auto rack train passed we decided to take the farm trail to the top of the field overlooking the Mance Post office.  From here we could see the "S" curve on the right leading down from Sandpatch Tunnel and around the horseshoe curve heading off to the east on the left.  Once in postion we only had to wait a few minutes until another eastbound manifest came snaking down the grade.  This train had 8 units so it made an impressive showing as it passed the post office.  To our surprise there were also two sets of two brand new commuter cars on the tail end.  I don't know where they were headed but they looked like they were for an electrified line, likely somewhere on the Northeast Corridor.  Not bad, three trains in one hour.  Once this train passed we packed up and headed back to the KOA.  Not a bad day for train watching.

This manifest sported eight units and made a nice shot with the fall colours in the background.  Sandpatch tunnel is just around the curve on the right.

Bringing up the rear were four brand new commuter cars.

Adding a little "Canadian" content.  That's the post office in the background.

  

Flea Market Finds - Part 2

A little PanPastel weathering added to the underslung charcoal heater really makes this feature pop out in the photo.  Also, note the stirrup step added beneath the left side of the door.

Commentary by Peter Mumby.............Photos by George Dutka.

Another piece of rolling stock that I picked up at the recent Woodstock Model Railroad Flea Market was a model of CN 40' insulated boxcar #290043.  An unknown modeller obviously put a lot of time and effort into the production of this car.  This type of car featured a pair of charcoal heaters mounted under the doors to protect perishable loads from freezing in the winter months, and these are distinctive features of the model.  These cars were built near the end of 1959, late in the era of the green maple leaf logo.  As a matter of fact, the batch of similar cars built Nov 1960-Feb 1961 became the first new cars to sport the CN noodle logo.

A nice prototype photo of sister car CN 290018, taken by London-area rail historian Don McQueen, appears on p. 18 of the Morning Sun book Canadian National Color Guide to Freight and Passenger Equipment.

This photo taken at the workbench provides a close-up view of how the heaters were modelled.

 The model includes an etched metal roof walk.  Before the photo was taken, I added some PanPastel weathering to the roof to help emphasize this three-dimensional feature.  A perusal of the prototype photos in the Morning Sun book points out the one discrepancy of the model - the roof should actually have an unpainted aluminum appearance.

October Railfan Trip - Part 2

Our first stop on day2 was Tunnelton, W.Virginia. No trains yet but a very nicely restored station and freight house.  The line in the foreground was a branchline to a coal mine in Kingwood, now a dead end spur track

Day 2 - Following the Mountain Line, B&O's Famous "WEST END"

by Don Janes

     Just as the weatherman predicted, Day 2 started out cloudy with some rain.  Our destination was the former B&O mainline between Grafton W.Virginia and Cumberland Maryland known as the"West End".  This line was a pipeline for coal trains and boasted some of the steepest grades in the Appalachians. We decided that we would shoot for trains in the middle section between M&K Jct. and Terra Alta at the summit of Cranberry Grade, the steepest grade on the line at 2.4%.  Due to a wrong turn we arrived in Tunnelton, the junction with an old coal branch and you guessed it, a tunnel which was not accessible to us. After we took a few shots of the nice old station and freight house we headed to Rowlesburg and M&K Jct.  M&K was once the base for the helper fleet and also serviced engines for other locations. At one time there were 30 diesels assigned there and it boasted a shop crew of 60 men.   Helpers worked in both directions shoving coal trains, manifest freights and passenger trains over the mountain grades.  There is an excellent article about the "West End" in Classic Trains special edition Trains of the 1960's.

      Unlike the previous day, we arrived trackside at Rowlesburg (where M&K is located) just as the gates and flashers started.  With barely enough time to get the camera ready, I jumped out of the car and got some photos of an empty coal train passing the crossing.  Rowlesburg is where Cranbeery Grade to the east ends and Cheat River Grade (2.1%) starts.  Once the train was gone we scouted out the old M&K Jct. facility, now abandoned and overgrown trees.  At one time there was a coal tower spanning four trackas and various other locomotive servicing structures.

    

This empty coal train showed up just as we arrived in town.  The weather wasn't ideal but at least we saw a train right away. 

The old Rowlesburg station and a B&O caboose are in the park.  The station once stood to the left of where the photo was taken.

The shop building is all that's left of the M&K facility, now used for MofW equipment and supplies.  The addition on the left side of the structure was added to service the diesels when they replaced steam on the West End.  The track branching to the right, now abandoned, went to Morgantown.

     Leaving M&K Jct. we headed east up the mountain to a spot called Cemetery Hill, hoping to catch more train action there.  I don't think I have ever been on so many back roads and trails in all my railfan trips.  Somehow Carl knew his way around and before long we arrived at our destination.  Again, we no sooner parked the car than we saw a set of helpers drifting down Cranberry Grade.  A few grab shots were all we had time for as he was wasting no time, likely headed down to push another train up the hill.  A short time later a Highrail truck passed us heading downgrade and the employee told us there would be another train in about 45 minutes so we decided to wait.  This line sees only a fraction of the traffic it once saw so we went with the sure bet and waited. Forty five minutes railroad time equated to about an hour and a half real time but sure enough along came another train grinding up the hill.  The helpers were the same set we saw heading down a couple of hours ago.

This set of helpers came around the curve just as we parked the car.  CSX uses almost all AC units on this line due to the steep grades.

It was still overcast but not raining when this eastbound manifest showed up.  The fall foliage was really great in this area. This part of the line once had three main tracks.

Once the power was by us we raced up the tracks and climbed up the hill to get a shot of the helpers as they passed Cemetery Hill.  The headstones add a nice touch to the photo. Some of the headstones here dated back to 1882.

     Once the train passed Cemetery Hill we jumped in the car and raced up the hill another few miles to Terra Alto, the crest of Cranberry Grade.  We figured by the slow speed of the train we could likely beat him there.  We did but not by much.  At Terra Alta the track runs right beside the street and is a good location for a shot of the train cresting the grade.  You can see from the following set of photos just how steep a 2.4% grade is.

These three shots show just how steep Cranberry Grade is.  The helpers cut off just past the overhead bridge.

       After watching the train at Terra Alta we decided to catch it at one more spot before heading back.  Carl suggested Oakland, Md. so that's where we went.  Oakland is a very nice little city with lots of tourists and street markets.  After finally getting a parking spot we headed over to the beautifully restored brick station.  All the remaining B&O stations I saw were in excellent condition and being used as other businesses today.  I decided to get a shot from the opposite side of the tracks from the station to get the train and station in the shot.  At this point it was starting to rain harder but the old style B&O block signal was green so I knew it wouldn't be long until the train arrived.  I was already wet so a little more rain wouldn't hurt me now.   Finally our train arrived and we got our shots.  It was time to grab a coffee and head back to Mance to see if we could get a few more shots there before calling it a day and return to the KOA in Connelsville.

This is the old B&O station in Oakland, Md.  It was in excellent shape.

The vertical green lights meant our train was in the block so I stuck it out in the rain for a few more minutes. I'm not sure what the white light on top means.

At this point the rain was coming down quite heavy but I decided to stay out and get the train passing in front of the station. Carl kept nice and dry under the platform roof.

As the train passed, the signal turned red and we decided to head back west to Mance.

Friendly Ice Cream Fleet

Friendly restaurant booths have some interesting photos above. These are two Don and I saw while visiting.

Here we have two photos I took at Friendly's while having breakfast this spring in New England...they could make an interesting model...George Dutka

Wordless Wednesday No. 153

October Railfan Road Trip

This was our home base for four nights.  One of the rail lines we were shooting was right across the river but hidden behind the trees.

A Railfan Trip To Pennsylvania and W.Virginia, Day 1...by Don Janes

     Every year my friend Carl Massart, who live outside of Pittsburgh, PA, and I try to take a railfan trip somewhere.  I met Carl at Railfan Days at the Cass Scenic RR in W. Virginia several years ago and we have been friends ever since.  Every year since then we have taken a railfan trip somewhere in the USA.  We started out with two trips to Cajon Pass and Tehachapi Loop in California and then the next year we headed for the Powder River Basin in Wyoming to photograph coal trains on the UP and BNSF.  That trip included a trip to Crawford Hill in Nebraska where we stayed in a cabin on the Ponderosa Ranch (no joke, that was the name of it) The reason for staying on the ranch was that almost the entire Crawford Hill helper grade runs through the ranch and it allowed us full access to shoot trains without trespassing on private property.   This year we decided to stick a little closer to home and shoot CSX trains on the former B&O lines in PA and W.V.  and the old Pennsy line up to Horseshoe Curve West of Altoona, now operated by the NS. 

      We picked Connelsville, PA. as our home base and  stayed in Carl's Winnebago RV at a very nice KOA there.  I will break the trip into three or four separate posts as I get the photos edited.  This post will cover day one on the CSX Keystone Sub which runs between Cumberland Maryland and Pittsburgh, PA.  

     

You just have to know things aren't looking good when you spot a MofW truck parked on the mainline and the boys are out fixing a broken rail

     Our first stop was the Foley Overlook, a great spot overlooking a horseshoe curve on a 2% grade.  This line generally sees 25 - 30 trains in a 24 hour period.  The first night we heard a bunch of trains rolling by across the river from the campground and figured this would be a great spot with lots of trains all day.  The weather was supposed to be great so what could possibly go wrong.  Well, see that truck in the photo above, that was just a sign of how the day would turn out.  We sat at the Foley location for about 2 hours and finally a train came trough so we figured things were looking up. Wrong, that was the last train for the next 6 hours and 10 minutes.  A little something called a "work Block" was in effect.

This was the view from our perch above the tracks.  A great spot to shoot trains from either direction, if there were any trains to shoot that is. This would be the only train we would see here today.  Oh ya, the sun went in behind a big cloud just as the train rounded the bend and came into view!!!!

    We finally gave up on this spot and headed over to Mance which is located on Sandpatch grade.  At Mance there is the famous Mance Post Office which has been the subject of may railway photos over the years. We actually met the owner's brother who stays in a little caboose shaped cabin on a hill behind the post office and railfans this line regularly. His name is Roger Snyder and he has some great aerial photos on Railpictures,net. He had a scanner and some reliable contacts and informed us there were several eastbounds coming down the hill very soon so we decided to wait for them, hoping they would get there before the sun dropped down behind the mountains.  The fall colours were at their peek here and good afternoon sun would really make the photos pop.  Well, again the railway came through and as soon as the sun dropped behind the hills along came the first train since the morning.  It was an intermodal train followed very closely by a coal train.  Once that one passed the light was gone and we headed back to the RV for cocktails to drown our railfan woes and a late supper. Rain was in the forecast for tomorrow.

This is the famous Mance Post Office.  It ceased being a post office in the 1950's and is now privately owned.

Another view of the Mance Post Office. No trains so may as well take a bunch of shots of that. Note the small caboose shaped cabin on the top of the hill to the right of the post office.  The owner and his brother built and live in that while railfanning in the area.

Finally, a train. With the sun setting fast behind the hills this was about the only available angle with any light left to shoot an eastbound.  This was an intermodal train heading toward Cumberland, MD.

The next trai was a coal train. At this point the light was almost gone but as you can see the fall colours were pretty nice.

Once the engines were past Carl was in the car and at the crossing impatiently waiting to get on the road for our 90 minute drive back to the campground.  Funny, we waited eight hours for these three trains and now he's in a hurry!!!

CNR Stock Car - Westerfield Model

A new addition to the White River Division fleet.

As mentioned by Peter we got a great deal on three Westerfield stock car kits that are custom built. A partly built model I purchased a few years back might be finished earlier than anticipated with this new model as inspiration and for inspection. I am thinking of turning my under construction car into a contemporary tie car...a last use for many of these old cars...George Dutka

This part built kit has already got a new styrene roof walk. The under body details came added. I just need trucks, couplers, stirrups and grab irons attached before paint can be applied.

Year Five Begins

A view with my more modern CV equipment in a scene from 2010. This location is now totally updated.

Today is the start of the fifth year as a blogger. Modeling for me this fall has been next to nothing. Home renovations are taking up most of my time. Actually at the moment we are away for some down time in Florida. We began a week ago following the Atlantic coast line through places we have never visited before such as Myrtle Beach, Hilton Head and so on. I have a backlog of material on hand to post, so the blog will still see activity from the sunny south. Peter Mumby has helped me out lately with some interesting posts to help keep topics new and moving along. Don Janes has just got home from a railfan trip with some interesting photos. I hope to keep posting about my layout and modeling while away and will be back in full swing modeling for the winter before the end of the month.

Sometime within the next two or three months I will hit 1,000 posts. To start off this posting year I went through my older layout photos and picked a few as a look back to some scenes and equipment that have disappeared or have been updated....George Dutka

A CV train heads into WRJ yard on the WRD during 2009. A reflection of the caboose can be seen in the water below. This scene was my drop in module which is now a thing of the past.

This 2009 scene out front of the White River Jct. station has changed. The station is now turned around viewing the B&M side and the staging (programming) track in the foreground is now moved to the main yard as the carman's rip track.

 The view below is from Oct. 2013 with the program track removed and the Westboro lead in the planning stage. I soldered a few lengths of flex track together to figure out what I needed to cut out for the plywood road bed. The station was removed for preservation...guess I don't think much about the passengers during the construction process.

This scene is from January this year. Peter Mumby brought over some i's to photograph. Note the headlights are extinguished. This is not in the WRD rule book for waiting at the diamond it is because they are DC engines sitting on DCC tracks.

Flea Market Finds - CNR, CPR Stock Cars

The three recent acquisitions are now posed on the WRD layout.  A nice photo of similar car CP 273576 graces the rear cover of the recent Morning Sun Books release, Canadian Pacific Color Guide to Freight and Passenger Equipment, Volume 2.

Commentary by Peter Mumby...............Photos by George Dutka

George and I attended the Woodstock Model Railroad Flea Market in mid-October.  While I was setting up my tables, George acted as a one-man reconnoitering party, searching out the deals in the vicinity.  He soon beckoned me to a nearby table where he had found three Westerfield Fowler stock cars.  According to a sticker on each box, they had been expertly assembled by John Morris of Railway Model Services of Winnipeg, Manitoba.  Now, George and I enjoy assembling and detailing rolling stock as much as the next modeller, but we are not averse to acquiring nicely-done cars from other sources.  It is especially nice when you are able to identify the builder.  At any rate, the purchase was made, and George decided to keep one of the CN cars, leaving me with one CN car and one CP car.  At an earlier show George had picked up a similar car in a semi-completed form, so this will probably provide him with the impetus needed to finish it off.  Watch for a future post on the topic!

Here we see the three new cars on the workbench.  The only change I have made to this point is the addition of a little PanPastel weathering on the lower sides and ends.  Note that each model shows differences in doors, roofs, and ends.

George's CNR stock car with box and John's stamp.