Modeling Autumn Scenery book and Artisan Rail Media

 
Wow, I see that I haven't posted anything here since November! Yikes! Well, hope anyone reading this had a wonderful Holiday season - and Happy New Year, albeit a couple of months late!

Our new website - Artisan Rail Media - where you can order our new book! 

I have been posting - occasionally - to my Southern New England Railway Facebook group. And you're more than welcome to join the fun there. But I have an excuse for not posting things here - 

When I really get into a project I tend to dive into it, and things like Facebook and blog post updates don't take priority. In other words, I usually float from one project to another - but when I focs - I get really focused. 

For the last few months I've gotten very serious about finishing my Modeling Autumn Scenery book. I've talked about doing this book for a number of years - and have been thinking about it even longer than that! 

This is one of two possible cover photos for the book. 

I'm pleased to say that it is almost done - - to the point that it should be shipped off to the printer sometime in the next two weeks and be ready to ship shortly after that. I'm trying something new - self publishing this book. I considered doing a print on demand option but have been disappointed with the color and printing quality of that approach. 

One of the page layouts for the book. 

A scenery book - especially an autumn scenery book - where color is everything - needs to have the best looking photos possible. So, Christine and I are taking a risk and having the book printed by a print shop here in the US that specializes in short print runs. The test proofs looked great, so we're very excited about getting the book in our hands, and hopefully a LOT of yours! If nothing else we don't want to end up with a garage full of these things!

What's in the book? Essentially it's everything I've learned that I can remember about modeling autumn scenery. Here's the list of chapters: 

Chapter 1: Fall Colors

Chapter 2: Scene Composition and Planning

Chapter 3: Backdrops

Chapter 4: Landforms

Chapter 5: Vegetation and Ground Cover

Chapter 6: Background Trees

Chapter 7: Foreground Deciduous Trees

Chapter 8: Conifers

Chapter 9: The Colors of Autumn

Chapter 10: Autumn Details

Full color. (I've lost count of how many photos). 

Approx. 100 pages. 

And best of all I've been able to include some photos from other models who depict the fall on their layouts. These give some much needed variety to the book, and show how others model other parts of the fall - from early mostly green season, through the peak colors of fall, all the way to the "dead" season. I'm immensely grateful for these friends who have been so willing to contribute to the book! 

Actually, even if you model the height of summer you should be able to find some useful information in this book - just use a lot more green than I do! 

How can you get a copy? Well, we've set up a little business to sell these things (and some other products, more on that in a moment). You can get the book at the special prepublication price of $24.95 + shipping at our new web site - Artisan Rail Media. 

What about those other products? Well, for starters we have Central Vermont boxcar decals, as well as SNE "modern image" decals that we'll list for sale. But first the book must be done! 

SNE "Modern" Image Lettering

Here's the SNE "New Image" (post 1962) paint scheme as applied to first generation hood units. 

This is two of several sets of locotive lettering we've developed. And when I say "we" I mean it! This started a number of years ago with Mike Confalone's suggestion on how to arrange the "S" "N" and "E" in a link like the CN and CV lettering. 

(In short, don't try too hard - since it's almost impossible - and use the DWP approach to the same problem!) 

Bernard Kempinski and I did some initial back and forth on it - and then I asked Otto Vondrak for his help - back before he was famous and all .... (I told you this project has been going on for years!). 

The basic design is Otto's - although Bill Brilinger at PDC put the finishing touches and tweaked the logo a bit. Bill's also designed boxcar and covered hopper lettering in several different styles.

We also did some lettering for "modern" freight cars (at least more modern than my layout's era!). Here's the covered hopper version. Note the green lettering below is shown on a gray car - but the cars were delivered in yellow with green lettering.

Video Layout Update #16

 

A real short update this time - it's summer so not a lot going on in the basement - but mostly because of a project that I thought would be a piece of cake turned out to be a real menace. 

https://youtu.be/6OZuQ81UK1g

CV Wood Caboose Paint Schemes

Caboose 4012 at Montville, Conn. 

(Photos from Bob's Photos, author's collection, unless otherwise noted). 

From the early 1920s through the 1970s Central Vermont rostered two distinct types of cabooses. I should add that at some points in time and in some areas the term "van" was used to describe a caboose. My understanding is that "van" was more common on the Northern Division of the railroad, which makes some sense since it obviously originated with the Canadian National.  

The first style of caboose consisted of three cars (4050-4052). These were also the first cabooses built for the CV by an outside builder. American Car & Foundry (AC&F) delivered these cars in 1923. They featured a steel underframe with wood bodies. These were very similar in basic dimensions to the "Northeastern" caboose used by a number of railroads such as the Lehigh Valley, LNE, Western Maryland and others. The primary difference was most of this style of caboose had steel bodies, but the CV cars were wood. 

CV 4007, East New London, Conn. (Bob's Photos).

The remaining CV wood cabooses were a total of 28 cars numbered between 4000-4030. The majority of these were rebuilt from previous cabooses or wood boxcars in the St. Albans shops, but they were remarkably similar in appearance and detail. Two exceptions were 4006 and 4021  - I suspect they replaced two previous cars with the same numbers or at the very least they were extensive enough rebuilds of those two cars that the CV Car Classification sheets noted they were "built" in 1951. 

This post is not meant to be a detailed history of CV cabooses - instead I thought I'd share some images that show some of the various paint schemes used on the wooden cars from the early 1920s through the 1970s. The photos will show one or two variations, but essentially there are three different schemes used on CV cabooses. 

Scheme 1: The first was all "brown" or freight car red, with "Central Vermont" spelled out in Roman lettering along the top of the side. 

AC&F Builder's Photo of CV 4050 shows off the early 1920s paint and lettering scheme. 

CV 4013, one of the home built "long" cabooses, shows off her original lettering scheme. 

Scheme 1a: The Central Vermont lettering got smaller and was on the lower portion of the carbody. See photo of 4013 below for an example of the size and placement of the Central Vermont lettering. 

Scheme 1b: Same paint scheme as Scheme 1a with "Rocket" slogan lettering. There were actually at least two different styles of Rocket lettering that I've seen photos of, one of which is shown on 4013 below. The other was a square box type logo that was centered on the car side. 

By 1939 the Central Vermont was still Railroad Roman but had gotten smaller and moved to the lower portion of the side. Some cabooses, like this one, got the flashy "Rocket" lettering. 

Scheme 2: Starting in the early 1940s paint scheme shifted from all brown to a combination of Red #11 underframe and trucks and orange body. This coincided with a shift to the "stacked Gothic" style lettering on its freight cars and cabooses. "Central" and "Vermont" were stacked above one another with the car number below.

CV 4006 shows off her then-new paint scheme of Red underframe and orange body. (Also note how dirty these cabooses got in service!) 

Scheme 2a: Shortly after the introduction of the Canadian National's "Super Continental" paint scheme the CV adopted a Maple Leaf logo. Close comparison will reveal the CV leaf had a slightly different shape than the "standard" CN leaf. The Maple Leaf was added to the cabooses with the words "Central Vermont Railway" spelled out in three lines inside the leaf. The car number also moved to a different position on the car side (usually to the left) with this lettering. 

Here's our old friend, 4013, in the post 1954 or so "Maple Leaf" scheme. By this point 4013 had received the open slat steps. A note for modelers - these are a neat detail to add to your CV caboose fleet! 

CV 4019 at Essex Junction shows how the cars weathered, but you can see tell the underframe and trucks were painted a different color than the car body. 

CV 4050, Scheme 2a (Maple Leaf) scheme. Note the placement of the car number. 

Scheme 3: Orange car bodies with black underframes and intertwined "CV". This would have first appeared in 1963 or so. The CV logo was in roughly the same position below the cupola, with the car numbers (and "CV" initials) along the lower edge of the car. The size of the car numbers on the car side also increased with this paint and lettering scheme over time. 

One note on the roof colors. Although CN vans painted in the orange scheme are documented to have had Red #11 underframes AND roofs, from photos it appears as if the CV cabooses had black roofs. While the walkways may have been orange at one point, there's plenty of photographic evidence that indicates the walks may also have been black. Perhaps it was a case of the walks being orange at first and then being repainted black with the rest of the roof. For modelers, a photo of the specific car you're modeling during your era is of course the best reference! 

 

CN F-M H16-44s on the Central Vermont

 In case you wanted to justify adding one (or more) of the new Rapido Canadian National F-Ms to your CV layout - here's an assortment of H16-44s of various types on the Central Vermont that I dug out of my slide collection. NOTE: Not all of these are the exact prototypes for the Rapido model, which is based on the phase of the H16-44 that was introduced in early 1957.

As always, thanks to the photographers (most of whom have left us) for having the foresight to point their lenses at these machines and for their willingness to share the images with the rest of us. 

If you want to learn more about H16-44s, and get a close up look at the Rapido model, I suggest checking out Hunter Hughson's Hindsight RPM clinic, which you can find on YouTube at: 

https://youtu.be/k-Wz4YXf8pc?si=9O3f2QgWTqFAk9Hy

CN H16-44 1856 and 1853. R Decker photo. Date Unknown. 

CN 2211 is the same group as the new Rapido model. R. Decker photo, 4-1957.

An interesting trio of CN diesels on the Central Vermont. D. Nelson photo. St. Albans, Vt. area. Date unknown.

A pair of CN H16-44s, led by no. 1851, cross the Connecticut River near Brattleboro, Vt. Dave Sweetland photo, August 1955. 

In case you thought the H16-44s didn't make it to the Southern Division, here CN 1851 leads a train out of East New London, Conn. Bob Decker photo, 5/22/1955

New Video: Track and Wiring Tweaks, 2

 I just posted the second of three videos in my Track and Wiring Tweaks series to my CVSNE YouTube channel. 

In this video I take a closer look at a turnout in Richford yard - what looked "in the heat of battle" (ie., during the operating session!) to be a tight gauge in the turnout that was causing the S-4 switcher to get "pinched" and stuck on the turnout. 

Checking the turnout and the locomotive with a gauge confirmed the gauge was not the issue. That particular locomotive needs it's decoder tuned a bit the track issue was easily corrected. 

You can find the video at THIS LINK. 

New Video - Track and Wiring Tweaks: 1

 I've uploaded a new video to my "CVSNE" YouTube channel detailing the process I went through troubleshooting and ultimately replacing a cantankerous turnout in my town of Berkshire. 

This is hardly in danger of winning any Academy Awards, but you might find something useful. 

You can find the video HERE. 

This is the first video showing how I'm going about correcting the issues we identified on the layout during Operating Session #1.