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Belchertown, MA. 23 October 1950. M Usenia photo, M. McGuirk collection. |
Wednesday, March 29, 2023
Thursday, March 23, 2023
RPM EAST 2023
I'm heading up to Youngwood, PA tomorrow to attend the Railroad Prototype Modelers Meet (for more details on the meet see http://www.hansmanns.org/rpm_east/.
I'll be premiering a new clinic - an overview of my HO scale Richford Branch, on Saturday morning.
In preparation for the clinic I got enough of the Sheldon Junction river crossing done to take a photo.
Hope to see some blog readers there - and if you're at the meet be sure to say hi!
Wednesday, March 22, 2023
Wednesday, March 15, 2023
Sunday, March 5, 2023
Missisquoi River Scene
After rewiring all the feeders last night in this section of the layout everything worked great - except on the bridge itself. After some work with the voltmeter I figured out the problem was a loose rail joiner at the point where the bridge joined the mainline. As a rule I don't like to solder rail joiners but I made an exception here. Just one more challenge in a string of issues that have made this project such a joy!
When I started working on this scene I considered doing some sort of step-by-step. Frankly I’m so sick of working on it at this point I want to just get it done!
The multi-span bridge obviously needed a pier in the center. The prototype was stone (the stone abutments by my era had been replaced with concrete ones). I started with a Chooch pier but it was not only too big it was a “challenge” to cut the resin. Are these things Kryptonite? So my poorly cut Chooch pier went into the trash and looked for another solution.
Wednesday, March 1, 2023
Sunday, February 26, 2023
Bill Welch Freight Cars
Ted Culotta is handling the late Bill Welch's modeling estate. So when I saw Ted at Timonium a few weeks ago I was thrilled when he presented me with two of Bill's completed models. They're shown here posed on the Richford Branch. Note like most of Bill's models I've seen these two are beautifully modeled - and wear pristine paint jobs.
Currently these are in a display case alongside alongside other models from friends who have passed away - including Andy Sperandeo, Richard Hendrickson, Jack Ozanich, and Dick Elwell. I'm more than a little torn - should I weather these and run them as part of the operating fleet, or leave them as Bill built them?
Wednesday, February 15, 2023
Wednesday, February 8, 2023
Thursday, February 2, 2023
Riding the Head End
I was organizing and scanning some photos when I came across this favorite (click on photo to enlarge) that I obtained from Bob's Photos years ago.
CV 2-8-0 #472 is working this local between Palmer and Monson, Mass. on a sunny March 12, 1955.
What better place for the head end brakeman to keep an eye on things that atop the coal load in the first hopper? (A D&H car for those interested in such things).
Tuesday, January 17, 2023
Modeling the October Scene - Now on Video
Progress proceeds slowly (very slowly!) on the Missisiquoi River bridge project. I'm rapidly growing to loath the Central Valley bridge kit - but at least I'm making steady, if somewhat frustrating, progress.
In the meantime, you may have noticed I've been on a bit of video kick lately - my offering today is a recording of my "Modeling the October Scene" clinic. I recorded it at my desk over the weekend and uploaded it to my YouTube channel. You can find the video by clicking on the link HERE
Ultimately I'd like to do a video step-by-step showing how I make scenery but that's currently beyond my technical abilities.
Saturday, January 14, 2023
Central Valley Bridge Assembly Tips
I want to get the scenery completed across the "front side" of the layout - that means I need to tackle two big projects on either side of the support pillar. One of these is Main Street, the second are the bridges crossing the Missisiquoi River immediately to the right of the Junction scene. I'm using Central Valley bridges for the river crossing - I put together a short video sharing some tips on assembling these somewhat finicky kits: