Nice job Sandy. I am thinking a three car train. The CA&E fleet was mostly idle on the weekends. During WW2 the North Shore was very busy hauling soldiers and sailors on weekend leave. I have seen photo's of the CA&E cars at the Milwaukee depot. The cars had to be returned to the CA&E before the Monday rush hour. I cannot find US navy figures, I need lots of them !!
The CA&E cars are the best detail yet down to the improved minimums from Shapeways, meaning window frames etc look a lot better. There you go again another idea, I have seen the pictures of the platforms full of sailors in dress whites. Redesigned underside of 607 car, the opening under the cab [ not including the boss] is 12.1mm x 15.6mm
Large amount os sailors on leave cause the trains of the CNW and Milwaukee in addition to the North Shore to be very crowded. To a lesser extent the Milwaukee electric connected in Milwaukee and the trains to Sheboygan, Waukesha etc. were very crowded too. So US sailors in dress whites would fill a need for quite a few railroads. Sadly I can use only ONE model of the 607. If you made the single TMER&L cars.. well that's another story.
A little further on the line car. Still have to mount the pantagraph and install railings around the platform, plus extend the boards up to the radiators, then ladders. 100_0368-2 by John Moore posted Jul 28, 2020 at 7:29 PM
Well the line car is done but I am thinking about raising the pantagraph a bit more than it is. 100_0370-2 by John Moore posted Jul 29, 2020 at 12:25 PM Here it is with my B & B car which is going to get cut back some since 50 foot cars are not allowed on my layout. 100_0369-1 by John Moore posted Jul 29, 2020 at 12:25 PM The line car is modeled as a hybrid car. Capable of operating under wire or by diesel power. The radiator fans take up the middle of the roof.
I built a platform and raised the pantagraph. I also cut the platform railing down a bit. The bridge and building gang car is no longer a 50 footer now a 40 footer but I am able to keep all the details plus added top platforms to work off of. 100_0375-5 by John Moore posted Jul 29, 2020 at 5:49 PM
Looks like a proper line car to me. Remember the PRR and the Milwaukee both used ex gas electric cars as trouble shooters so a hybrid is nothing new. Looks like a neat operation John. Randy
Well I cluttered up the work platform with odds and ends and I took the B&B car and cut it back from 50 foot to 40 foot and was able to get most of the items on it back on. Another Kato 11-105 is the power under the line car and the couplers are Bandai. The line car measures out at 34 N scale feet and was built from a pair of cab units I declared surplus. It will operate on the layout with with a old boxcar and a maybe a flatcar, or the boxcar and a crew car, both consist will have a caboose. If I actually go to wire there is some concern that the B&B car may be too high. But I have the room to cut it down by a scale foot or two. 100_0377-6 by John Moore posted Jul 29, 2020 at 7:19 PM The next project in the electrification is fitting my two steeple cabs with Kato pantagrphs.
A better look at the Cream City Special. Car 420 still exists in it's rebuilt form at the Seashore trolley museum in Maine.
Very nice, your paint work is a work of art. 607 Derrick car should be with me on Tuesday. 604 Line car is progressing.
Thanks Sandy, I ordered a power unit for the 607, I hope it fit and its close enough wheelbase etc. Be neat to see it run.
Well while waiting out the Hurricane's arrival and just about nothing to do I started installing catenary masts in the village area. Stuck close to home with Covid 19 and now a hurricane that is stopping me from working in the yard took on what is supposed to be a Fall project. 100_0385-2 by John Moore posted Aug 3, 2020 at 4:31 PM Kato catenary designed for unitrack. This is double track masts in the far distance and some of the masts that I split to make single track. I have since got some single track masts.
Well one more mast to install and that marks to end of electrification on the East end of the layout. Then I build to the bridge and stop. Time to give some serious consideration to hanging wire. The electric goes across the bridge and then onto the mine spur and through the canyon to the mine. 100_0386-1 by John Moore posted Aug 4, 2020 at 5:52 AM
I don't remember you showing us the layout from this angle. I didn't realize the town was that densely populated, very impressive.
Thanks. Part of what you are viewing is the brewery and grain and hops elevations next to the stream at the West end of town along with the animal feed plant behind the brewery. The town continues up on top of the cliffs and in the backdrops behind those. I laid the rest of the catenary masts up to the bridge running to the port entrance the end of electric for now. Electrics will bring the ore loads from the mine and then run around the loads in front of the station and hook onto empties for back to the mine. Steam or diesel will hook onto the loads and take them to the port to be dumped into barges. Still have about five feet of mainline and the entire mine spur and yard to install catenary. Really thinking about installing wire after I get the roadbed restored from the placement of the masts and may make my first order of pre-made wire towards the end of August.