Hey Dale I just found a new IM 4750 cf hopper its is Rock Island. Didn't the CNW pick up a few of the RI cars? This baby blue should weather up nicely The CNW put black patches on some of the boxcars I have seen. I have enough QA&P cars out there dont think I will miss one car lol. Will get them boxed up and headed your way in a couple days. Will also include some black patch decals for you. Dont even know why I have this RI car, had it for years, not doing me any good here, if you want to use it let me know. Thanks Dale.
Hey Tom, Never turn down...... hehe I have a couple of Acurail ACF hoppers to send your way. One Santa Fe and one CNW. The issue, I can find a number of Santa’s Fe cars patched to WAMX, but no CNWs. Those appear to all be the PS cars. If you don’t mind having a “freelance” CNW car I will be happy to do one. Here’s the deal though, I will need to get them weathered and have some graffiti put on them, so don’t get in a hurry sending yours. I believe I still have your address from the car exchange from a couple of years ago. If not, I will PM you. Thanks! Dale
Just got back from the painter. bookend SD40-2s, meet SKOL 4141 and 4153. These were painted by my friend and fellow GCMRA club member Kevin M. Kevin did a great job on these and I am proud to have them on the layout. We now have representative paint schemes of the railroads serving the port. Thanks for looking! DB
I caught these guys coming out of the port this afternoon, 4141 is one of the SKOL SDs we modeled for the POCR. Thanks for looking! D
Boy, that is just great stuff there Dale! The models and then the prototypes in action, looks like you may need more SKOL SD40-2's (never enough SD40-2's I always say). But really they are some great old work horses, and after all these years, will just some TLC, still willing to give you everything they have, every time you ask them.
Hi Tom! Way back in the 90’s when I got into MR with the kids the -2s were my go to power for big trains at the club I was in. I had BN locos than any other. There is just something about that locomotive that I like. I now have 3 of them, 2 in SKOL livery and 1 MOPAC, I enjoy all 3. They are Athearn RTR with sound. Yup, neat locomotives. Take care! D
A bit more work on the east grain complex. The conveyor is now extended to the layout edge. Unfortunately the aisle is too narrow to model the actual barge loading structure so I have to stop them there. I also toned down the gray concrete with a wash of concrete color. I also dropped a 3rd line from the high elevator to the conveyor. The large stand alone bin is tied to an elevator. Have a great rest of the weekend all!!! D
Very impressive industrial scene there Dale!!! The towering structure really is impressive! Thanks for posting Yannis
Thank you guys! Seeing what you both have done, makes that a real complement! I need to add some more supporting structure to 2 of the grain pipes then weather it and attach it to the layout. I noticed the base had warped slightly so I will screw it down. I can add the screws in opposite corners and counter-sink them to hide the heads. Once that’s done, I will add the road for the trucks to come in at the back and unload in the dump house. Or whatever you call it! We are now at a point where I want to start regularly scheduled operations sessions. I have room for 2 visitors to operate, one as engineer and one as switchman. They can alternate positions during the session. I think by bringing in 2 short trains during the session that will total around 15 cars per session. Given all the movements required, a session should go well over 2 hours. I may have to invest in a fast clock! Given my travel schedule, I hope to hold the first session in mid April. Take care all! D
For a change of pace (and this spot screamed scenery at me) I decided to put in a bit of brush and grass on the main turn into the port. I used ground foam, static grass, foam clumps, trees and grass tufts. Not a bad result for a couple of hours sprinkling and spreading! I made the turn a bit higher than the base by adding a piece of 1/2” beadboard then trimming it with a hot wire. Over the foam I added a layer of the ground attic insulation run through a blender and mixed with a bit of plaster. I spread that and mash it down to a rough layer about 1/8” thick. It dries to a rough surface texture. I paint that green with a heavy coat of laytex paint and while it still I hit it with a cover of ground foam. Tonight I wet it down and put on the water/glue mixture. Then added the other material to simulate undergrowth and weeds. Thanks for looking! D
Dale: Friscobob here ( didn't quit, just took a life-inspired sabbatical). I like what you're doing with the layout. And those SKOL Brothers really look sharp! Those locomotives are the main reason I model the '70s......that, and the ability to use Alco, Baldwin and Fairbanks-Morse switchers moving graffiti-free cars). Should you get to the point where you're doing operations, please let me know- I would love to operate on the POC! As I am still planning to build a shelf layout of my own depicting Paris, TX in the late 70s, I am always looking at what other folks do on their own shelf layouts for ideas. Plus, I have several 18" wide hollow core doors to use as bench work. Please contact me at slsf1630@yahoo.com if you're operating and have a slot open.
Hi Bob, I saw your post on the POCR thread. I would be happy to have you drop by for a visit sometime. We could even arrange a tour of the layout. You could look at how I used my hollow-core doors as a base. I also used steel shelf brackets form Walmart to support them so the only place I am using support legs is the pennensula for The west side of the channel. The SKOL units were painted for me by one of my fellow club members at GCMRA, by the name of Kevin McLarty. Nice guy and a great painter. He also has a painted loco model of the Meteor he brings in and runs sometimes. I will send you a video of it. You might visit our webpage, we are now running operations sessions at the layout on a monthly basis. The first Saturday of the month. We usually have a couple of visiting operators, so why don’t you come up for a visit? We have also opened up an Associate Membership of the club this year if you find you are interested. Did you make the Great Train Show in Tulsa this past month? We were there and ran both days. I took 2 trains for the show. A grain train with all weathered cars pulled by BNSF locos and my KCS stack train. I was able to MU 2 KCS SD 70ace units and had a BNSF unit as a DPU on the train. Again, these were weathered. The grain train got quite a bit of attention. I am attaching the short video of the Frisco Meteor for you. Hopefully we can get together sometime soon! Dale PS. It looks like it won’t let me attach the file, I will try email.
CSX utilized as gypsum bulk transfer at the port. My wife did the graffiti and I did the weathering. Thanks for looking! D
Dale, may I make arrangements to come by to see your layout sometime this weekend? I live in Broken Arrow now and we lived in Owasso 25 years before. I kept track of SKOL rail traffic in the Owasso yard for one month and will post my notes shortly, they are in storage right now. Not to long ago one of the Port of Catoosa locomotives suffered a derailment near to the main entrance to the Port. It happened on a turnout and it took a while to get it back on track. Joe
Joe Lovett, Joe, I enjoyed our visit today and I hope you got all the pictures you needed. It was fun! I visited your build thread over on Frisco.org and am pretty impressed with your project! It looks like you will pack quite a bit of railroading in about the same space I have. I will follow your progress and see how it comes together. From what I saw, you have a great start on a great layout! As I said, most Saturdays I am over at GCMRA running trains and if you want to come out, let me know. I will be sure to bring my Frisco locos over and you will be welcome to run them (they need the run time). I can use my iPhone over there and do not need a tethered throttle at the club. We had a visitor last Saturday and I turned him loose for about 2 hours running my trains with my phone. Again, thanks for coming over, I enjoyed your visit! And I’m glad we ran some locos so I could find some spots I need to work on! Take care, Dale PS. If you want, post your photos here, I want to see how they turned out.
Yes Dale, I really appreciate your hospitality!!! You have a great layout and your train room is very cool. I have several photos to share with you and the gang. It was fun. Thank You Dale, Joe
