Good morning from cloudy and mild Northeast Ohio! Got some work done this week, while tending to my recovering wife this past couple of weeks. 50' Branchline AAR Double Door Boxcar kit, lowered the ladders and brake gear to show a rebuilt car and new A-Line sill steps instead of the plastic ones. Car was painted with Scalecoat II Black and lettered with decals from Bill Mosteller. This was one of a group of cars the NF&D (Owned by the N&W) got from NKP in a mixed bag of ACF & GATC cars. This car came about has there was a thread in the MFCL Group on these cars, and I had to build one. Exactrail PS 4427 CF Covered Hopper Kit, painted with Scalecoat II UP Hopper Gray paint and lettered with Microscale Decals. Car was in grain service on the Northern Pacific, I finally finished off a sheet of Microscale Decals with this car. An old club shot of New Haven C-425 and U25B on a mixed freight, it was not often the C-425 led as engineers preferred the ride of the U25B to a C-425. But I like the classification lights on the top of the cab to show! Thanks for looking! Rick Jesionowski
An Union Pacific mixed train departing Kathy's Springs one warm afternoon on my DC layout. (This depot is modeled after the long-gone Palm Springs CA Southern Pacific depot.)
While researching the Texas Chief, I discovered a feeder train that I never really new existed before. ATSF 115/116 was the Dallas to Gainesville / Gainesville to Dallas section that connected to the Texas Chief. During normal operations, ATSF 115/116 was it’s own train from Dallas to Gainesville and from Gainesville to Dallas. During these times it functioned as a feeder/connection for the Texas Chief. During holidays, sometimes in the Summer, and other times of high demand, ATSF 115/116 became ATSF 215/216 and functioned as the Second Section of the Texas Chief and with an expanded consist, ran from Dallas to Chicago. I do not currently have the equipment to model ATSF 215/216. So, this is currently my representation of ATSF 115/116. The power is ATSF 12L & 12A, Life-Like # 7346 E6A & E6B. The baggage car is ATSF 3444, Kato # 106-1603-A. The Coach Section is ATSF 3070, Bachmann # 14751, and ATSF 3088, Kato # 106-1604-B. The Sleeper is ATSF 1617 Pine Arroyo, Kato # 106-1604-D. I hope that you find this representation of ATSF Train # 115/116 at least informative, if not enjoyable.
