Good morning from cold and rainy Northeast Ohio, waiting for the icy mix and then snow tonight. Russell, that is a great looking module, much larger than a standard N-Track Module, very good modeling! I managed to finish a couple of cars this week! Kadee 50' PS1 Boxcar with Slding H60 Frame, painted with Scalecoat II Reefer Orange and Black Paints, then lettered with Mask Island Decals. Car was built in 1962 and specially equipped for hauling steel products from the mills around Chicago. Tangent PRR X58 Boxcar, painted with Scalecoat II PRR Freightcar Red Paint and lettered with Herald King Decals. Car built in 1964 and was an insulated car used in general service. Thanks for looking! Rick Jesionowski
Love your boxcars Rick, especially the EJ&E one. Great work! The 'J' ran very close to our house when I was young and it still holds a special place in my heart. I had a grand view from my bedroom window. Sometime in the early '70s I took this snapshot of J boxcars on the roll in glorious black & white.
Too much stuff to keep up with everyone, great modeling and photos! It was a busy modeling week for me.. I seem to sometimes get 3-4 things going then nothing gets done, or completed I guess then all of a sudden things just come together and I have gotten several things finished. First up is a Intermountain (IM) flat car with a Cat scraper load, the car itself is a feather weight, only metal on it is the couplers and cut bars. And that won't work around this outfit, so I loads it with this die-cast scraper, using the tie downs that come with the car and a few others. It's a heavy car good for the head end now..\ Next up started with an old favorite of mine, a Blue Box Athearn flat bottom gondola, this one I kinda beat up. It started as a undec, then took an old hair dryer to it and after a few minutes, it was all beat up, gouged and just tired looking (kinda like myself). Thing is you don't want to try and heat it up all at once, take your time on the low heat setting, if it burns your fingers while holding it back off a little, this plastic gets pliable at a surprisingly low temperature. Now not beating up on the NS here by the way, Scalecoat paint, and some custom decals that needed to be used up before they got too brittle, weathered with paints and chalks. Kadee couplers and Reboxx wheels, a few ladders added, some cut bars and hand brake details. Thanks for stopping by.
I hope I have not posted this image before, so if I have I apologize for wasting space. Hope you enjoy. Carl
Since I love kits, the return of Roco Mintanks was pretty awesome. I am looking for some flat cars to make loads with them. My local hobby shop has a decent amount in stock. I got a Gama Goat and an Abrams tank. Now I just need to find the DODX 6 axle flatcars. As you can see, the Goat still needs to be painted.
Thanks for the comments and kind words. I appreciate it. Most of the tie down chains came on a sprue with the car, and I have a few of these too: https://pdc.ca/rr/catalog
Here's a tourist train on my freelance railroad. My railroad connects to the Northern Pacific at Logan, MT. This tourist train pick up passengers early to take them to Yellowstone Park. The train consists of a dome car, a B&O dining car and a club car. Passengers can get a hearty breakfast during the hour and a half ride to the park and then enjoy dinner on the way back to Logan. I have no idea where or when I got the B&O dining car, but I have always liked the B&O colors. The dining car is usually spotted on a siding next to where the dome cars is and is a fine dining restaurant but is also use on this tourist train which runs a couple of times a week.
Opening an dining car as a restaurant when it's not being used for excursions is an excellent idea. Private and corporate owners of diners should consider it. A stumbling block might be getting the town or city bureaucracy to accept the idea and issue permits.
Dining cars were extremely expensive for railroads to keep up. In my freelance world, this B&O dining car was bought and restored and is usually set out on a siding next to the passenger station and is a fine dining restaurant. The railroad worked out a deal with the owner and uses it a couple of days a week on this train to Yellowstone Park. In this photo you can see where it is usually spotted, just to the left of the RDC at the station. I have a small building that will be used for hungry folks to enter the car when it is used as the restaurant.
