Post Chattanooga Update(s)!

Christine didn't think we'd sell any of the CV boxcar decals, we ended up selling out of the 1940-63 decals we brought with us! 

We're back from the National Train Show in Chattanooga and we certainly had a great time!

Christine's prize winning entry into the contest - "Hometown Crossing"

I have some other thoughts on Chattanooga that I may share at some point - after all this was the first NMRA National I've attended since 2015 so I'm bound to have some opinions. 

But in this post I want to cover two (actually three!) highlights for the Artisan Rail Media team - We were really excited to announce our second book, Modeling Civil War Railroads by Bernard Kempinski, and the other (better!) half of the Artisan Rail team took first place in the People's Choice Awad in the Arts and Crafts category with her quilt "Hometown Crossing." That makes one NMRA prize winner in the family, and it isn't me ... !!!

Modeling Civil War Railroads, Artisan Rail Media's second book!

About Bernie's book - it will be 120 pages, landscape (horizontal) format, all color (with the exception of a few b&w Civil War era prototype shots) and a ton of new line drawings, plans, and tables and charts. 

Bernie is putting the final touches on the manuscript and photography, and we are on track for a November 2026 release. Check this blog, my Southern New England Railway Facebook page, or the artisanrailmedia.com website to preorder. Look for the web site to go live for preorders sometime later this month - in the meantime we have Modeling Autumn Scenery available.  https://www.artisanrailmedia.com/

Meanwhile, just down the road from Chattanooga ...

Our youngest son Matt, who some of you may remember as a little tyke at train shows or a teenager at some of our operating sessions over the years, took time out of visiting the Atlanta Aquarium to ask his girlfriend the big question. She's a big shark fan, which makes no sense to this old sailor, but I guess it takes all kinds. 

They went to Atlanta supposedly as a birthday trip to see a whale shark - Matt had all this planned and even flew Amanda's sister in from Colorado (she's a professional photographer) to capture the moment. I have no idea how he got the shark to cooperate, but I have to give the boy credit - and Amanda's sister certainly got a great photo for them to remember the moment! 

To answer the inevitable questions:

1. She said "Yes!"

2. We absolutely ADORE her!!

Congratulations Matt and Amanda!!

Hitting the Road - Clinics, National Train Show, and Big News!

If you're going to be attending the NMRA National Convention in Chattanooga, TN next week be sure to look for me, and if you see me be sure to say hello! I'm excited to be presenting my Modeling Autumn Scenery clinc, which includes some updated information on the layout scattered in among the scenery tips. 

And, we will have a table at the National Train Show, look for Artisan Rail Media inside the Craftsman Courtyard. 

We'll have copies of Modeling Autumn Scenery available of course, as well as some of the Central Vermont boxcar decals and Southern New England Railway decals. I also hope to have a selection of Alkem Scale Models 3d printed figures - including the new transition-era train crews and civilian workers. 

We're also going to be making a majot announcement regarding the next Artisan Rail Media book project while we're at the show. 

If you can't make the trip to Tennessee don't worry, be sure to check back here the week of August 3 for all the exciting details. 

In the meantime, we might try to upload some video content from the show - sharing whatever catches my eye while I'm there. Nothing too formal, but keep your eye on the Southern New England Railway YouTube channel. 

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! 

The State of Things

Unless you're living under a rock you've likely heard all about tariffs, and the effect they're likely to have on the model railroad industry. Several companies have even combined their resources to produce THIS VIDEO. 

First things first. Tariffs are inherently political - and you don't make it non-political simply by stating it is. The primary issue in this case is the 145% "additional" tariff on imports from China - and as most modelers know the majority of model railroad product is made in China and exported to the US and Europe. 

Some claim the "major" importers of model railroad product brought this situation on themselves by not planning for a rainy day, or by sending production "off shore" in the first place. 

But the consumer - yes the "model railroader" - has some blame to shoulder here. First of all - there's no "bringing production back to the US" because it was never here in the first place. At least not product at the level of detail and finish that apparently everyone demands with their dollars. 

How many of the same people who pine longingly on the chat lists for the days of Athearn Blue Box and $25.00 diesel locomotives are the same ones who categorially rip apart a newly released SD98-7 because  it doesn't have removable blades in the windshield wipers?  

We've gotten to a point where "mass produced" plastic models have road number (not road name!) specific details. Frankly these are amazing creations and I'm shocked they sell as cheap as they do! 

Could production be brought back to the US? In theory, of course it can. But there are a ton of logistical, personnel, and financial hurdles to clear first - and most of these companies aren't built to do business any way other than their current business model. 

And even if it should happen, I doubt these domestically produced models will come with road specific details separately applied. I'll also be shocked if no one leaves a comment referencing Micro-Trains, Kadee, and/or Accurail.  All three of these companies have retained production within the U.S. for the most part. So when I say production could be returned to the U.S. I think it will be at the level of detail Accurail and Micro-Trains offer (molded on grabs, simplified brake rigging, and in the case off Accurail in kit form). Or nicely detailed models but very limited variety (as in the case of Kadee). And notice none of three offer domestically produced locomotives.

I gave some thought over the last few weeks to how this might affect the hobby as a whole, and my enjoyment of the hobby in particular. Having been in the model railroad industry I can't see anything good coming from this situation unless it's resolved quickly. Most of these companies simply don't have the resources to weather a situation where they don't have a steady flow of new product. 

We're already seeing that - Athearn is not announcing any releases for May, several companies have put shipments from China on hold, and we're starting to see warehouse "clearance" sales - an obvious effort to quickly convert inventory into cash.  These are all defensive postures and an attempt to weather the storm. Next step will be a hold on developing future releases. Without product to sell there will be no need to advertise - so the magazines - already in a tenuous situation - will loose a large percentage of their revenue. 

I don't have a crystal ball so I don't know what the timeline for this is - but it's a matter of months unless there's some resolution to this. Frankly I think we'll all be more concerned about how much everything else costs - to the point that not having a sexy new diesel to add to the stack of stuff in the closet will be the least of our worries. 

I had a feeling I'd written a blog post similar to the above - and it turns out I had - THIS ONE back in March 2020 (and we all remember that month!). 

Are tariffs the event that will finally kill the model railroad industry? There will certainly be an impact, some significant. Some model train manufacturing facilities overseas may not survive. Some model railroad companies in the US might not survive. 

So, how will this impact my enjoyment of the hobby? Honestly I don't think it impacts it at all. While the model railroad industry may evolve and change - the hobby will go on. Yes, we might lose some collectors and "retail model railroaders" to a lack of inventory and price resistance - or both. 

There's little or nothing commercially available in the RTR market suitable for modeling the Central Vermont that I don't already have, and it would take me three or four life times to build my accumulated "stash" - so I'm not worried!    

South River Modelworks Blog

Bob VanGelder, also known as "South River Model Works" is one of the most creative model railroaders I've had the pleasure of meeting. It also helps that he's a genuinely nice guy!

Bob has also been working steadily on his home layout, the HO scale South River & Millville, since he retired from making model railroad structure kits. 

The fruit of his labors is simply one of the most visually stunning miniature New England landscapes I've seen. 

To help share the layout, and his sometimes very philosophical - but always interesting - viewpoints on the hobby he's started a blog. I'll put a link to the blog in my Bloglist so you can always find it - but in the meantime here's a direct link - check it out - and be sure to tell Bob I sent you! 

https://southrivermodelworks.blogspot.com/

Putting the mill stream back together - and a farewell too soon

 After a couple of weeks of not wanting to do anything having to do with model railroading (see below) I forced myself down to the basement this weekend. After about 45 minutes of "puttering" - defined as wandering about the basement trying to figure out exactly what to do - I settled on trying to plant a structure I salvaged from my previous layout into the new river/mill scene. I have plans for another mill building alongside the upper mill pond but wanted another element between the two falls and this old BEST kit seemed to fit the bill. 

Of course the first step was excavating the plywood and foam I'd installed a few weeks ago to make room for the structure. The result was a cavernous hole in the earth - which I promptly filled and patched with a "box" made from Gatorboard hot glued in place to the underside of the layout. The lead photo in this post shows how the building will fit into the scene. 

When the building was pried out of my old layout there was some plaster and other scenery materials that got stuck on the foundation blocks - and some of the blocks popped out. I replaced those blocks, soaked the leftover plaster with alcohol for about 10 minutes and carefully scraped it off the surface. 

I never really liked the coloration of these block so I took the opportunity to repaint them with a variety of Vallejo shades of gray and earth-tone paints. And it looks like some scenery material got on the clapboard siding at some point - I'll do something to cover that up or minimize it. 

Farewell Too Soon

Almost two years after loosing our Basset Hound Beau we once again had to say goodbye - this time to his sister Molly. You'd think this would get easier - but it never does. When we adopted these two clowns we thought Beau was the outgoing one and Molly didn't really have much of a personality. Boy were we wrong! Molly was an endless source of amusement and truly brought joy to our lives for almost 16 years. And, like her brother, she was truly a perfect dog. They never destroyed anything, obeyed every time we told them to do something, and greeted everybody who came through the door with a mixture of unabashed joy and unbridled enthusiasm! 

The photo above of Molly was taken the day our new furniture was delivered to the new house. The movers unwrapped the plastic from the ottoman and within seconds Molly decided this was her new throne. And it remained so until a year or so ago when her legs were just too weak and stiff for her to jump up there. 

When my dad was sick we made a lot of road trips to South Carolina - here's Molly on one of those trips. One stop to stretch her legs between Virginia and SC - and then she'd sleep the rest of the way. 

She was, and always will be, our sweet princess. Rest easy girl until we meet again. 

2023 Year in Review

 A quick review of 2023 on this blog. 

Total unique page views (all time) sit at 1,124,248. 

For 2023 there were 148,000 unique page views. 

There were 748 posts in 2023, and in case you're curious here are the top ten posts for last year in terms of total views:

IKEA Ivar Benchwork - User Report

Posted by CVSNE

406



A couple of upcoming projects

Posted by CVSNE

354



New Addition to the Layout - Part IV : Back on its own two (four) feet...

Posted by CVSNE

279



Farewell to the "northern" SNE

Posted by CVSNE

277



Wordless Wednesday #269 - Need to get the grass applicator going!

Posted by CVSNE

270



Canadian Pacific E8 in St. Albans

Posted by CVSNE

262



Factory painted Southern New England power (sort of ...)

Posted by CVSNE

213



A New Addition to the Layout - Part III - A New Home

Posted by CVSNE

209



Wordless Wednesday #263

Posted by CVSNE

208



Wordless Wednesday #268

Posted by CVSNE

204



As far as progress (or lack thereof!) on the layout. By far the most significant project last year was the still ongoing incorporation of the "northern SNE" section. I suppose it should be no surprise that posts about the whole process accounts for three of last year's top ten posts. 

The other major project (also still ongoing) was the structures and basic landforms for the Stafford Mills area of the layout. 

As a rule I don't make New Year's Resolutions since I rarely, if ever, keep them - but I didn't accomplish as much in the basement as I'd hoped in 2023 so I'm going to set a few broad goals so if I'm blessed enough to see the end of 2024 I'll at least feel like I've accomplished something. 

So what's ahead for 2024? 

Goal #1: Get the scenery completed on the main "loop" of the railroad - with the possible exception of the Enosburg Falls Main Street scene. I'm going to treat that as a separate project from the open country running that predominates on the rest of the layout. 

Goal #2: Finish integrating the Northern SNE section into the layout. 

As mentioned above, these two are ongoing and actually are being worked concurrently. 

Goal #3: Rough landscape (to include building mockups as appropriate) on both the paper mill and Richford yard peninsulas. 

Goal #4: Get the steam roster out of the boxes and operational. 

And I want to get the Autumn Scenery book complete, and be well on the way to getting the Rolling Stock book finished by the end of the year. 

There is another possible large project - reworking the shop area in the basement - that may come to fruition in 2024 - but that waits to be seen. 

A couple of upcoming projects

 I've been pulling together a couple of projects that I plan to offer to the model railroad community in the next few months (essentially sometime in the first half of 2024). Thought I'd mention them here in case anyone is interested. 

The first is a long planned project - decals for Central Vermont freight cars. For example, there's been several resin kits offered over the years for CV freight cars - especially the boxcars - and even a number of injection molded plastic cars (such as Accurail) that while certainly completely accurate models of CV cars are decent stand ins. The one thing the resin kits and the plastic cars have in common in that there's something (in some cases a lot of somethings!) wrong with the lettering. And to the best of my knowledge no one has ever done lettering for the "as delivered" boxcars. 

Several years ago I started working on the art work to develop more accurate CV lettering. That project frankly sputtered along for years so a few months ago I asked Bill Brillinger at PDC to pick up the ball and carry this one home. 

Last night I reviewed the final artwork for the boxcar decals. Essentially there will be three variants of this lettering. One will be the as delivered scheme for the 40,000 and 41,000-series boxcars. (the single line lettering will work for the 42,000-series cars as well). 

I also plan on a set for the post-1940 stacked Gothic lettering (with the post-1963 "pregnant tapeworm") for the 41-, 42-, and 43000 series boxcars. 

This first group of decals will be limited to the boxcar lettering for the 1920s built cars. I already have plans for a second series of decals that will include lettering for the flat cars, and MofW equipment. 

While I'm doing these mostly for my own use, I'd be glad to offer them to anyone who is interested. Please let me know in the comment section if you have any interest in these - and if so which set(s) you'd be most interested in. 

The second project are a couple of new books I've been working on. 

As many of you know, I've given my "Modeling the October Scene" clinic a number of times over the years. This book pulls together the content from that clinic, along with a lot of other items I don't have time to cover in a 45 minute clinic, into one volume. 

The second book, tentatively titled "Modeling Steam and Transition Era Rolling Stock" (I know, truly riveting!) is a compilation of modeling tips and tricks. It will address topics such as getting ready to run models truly ready for the layout, adding details to some simple kits, and more advanced projects such as mixed media and resin kits. I may even include something on scratchbuilding cars - but that remains to be seen. Finally, I plan to include chapters on painting, lettering, and weathering cars. 

I'd like to gauge potential interest in any of these projects. If you're at all interested please leave a comment in the comment section - letting me know which decal set(s) you'd be interested in, and/or which of the planned books. 

I should add that I have no idea what the cost of any of these may be at this point - for the decals I'd assume somewhere between $5-$10/set (which should include decals to letter at least a couple of boxcars). If I self-publish the books, which is my current plan (I haven't spoken to any publishers at this point) I trying to keep them around $20. None of these estimated prices include shipping of course! 

Thanks in advance! 

Great Scale Model Train Show

Just a quick update to let blog readers know I'll be selling some of my model railroad "Junque"* at the Great Scale Model Train Show in Timonium, MD this coming Saturday, October 14. 

I used to do this show once or twice a year but haven't attended as a vendor in a while. I also plan to announce an upcoming project at this show. 

I'll be in the "D" section of the South (large) Hall. 

More details on the show, including times (I'll only be there Saturday, but the show is also on Sunday), admission info, and a list of vendors, can be found on the show website HERE:

I welcome any and all blog readers to stop by my tables and say hello, even if you don't want to "liberate" any of the stuff from my basement! 

* Definition of "Junque" - (1) a fancy name for "Stuff that I no longer plan to use." Also (2) "One person's trash is another's treasure!" 

Richford Branch in the Press

About a year ago I was contacted by Peter Bowen, the editor of the Roundhouse, the British Region of the NMRA's excellent magazine. Peter was interested in an article on my HO scale Richford Branch. Once I got a scene or two to the point where I felt it could be photographed without embarrassment, I sent him an article. I was thrilled to see it appear in the May/June 2023 issue. I should mention this same issue includes articles by two other Americans, Gerry Leone and Tom Johnson. 

For the record, this represents the first time my current layout has appeared "in print" and the first article I've had in a printed magazine since an article in a 2015 issue of Model Railroader. 

Second Section Podcast

 I appeared on the Second Section Podcast last night. Essentially I presented a "walking tour" of the Richford Branch layout as it exists, with some modeling tips and techniques thrown in. 

Thanks to Mike and Andy for having me - I truly enjoyed it although it was somewhat of a struggle to get out of bed and into the office this morning. 

If you were on the live show and asked a question that I didn't answer feel free to ask in the comment section here. (I purposely did not look at the chat while I was presenting). 

And if you missed the live show you can find it on You Tube on the Second Section Podcast channel.

Click HERE for a direct link.  

While there be sure to check out their other wonderful interviews and subscribe! 

 

Around the Layout Podcast

 

A few weeks ago I had the wonderful experience of being interviewed by Ray Arnott for his excellent "Around the Layout" audio podcast. For the record, Around the Layout is one my favorite model railroading podcasts (followed very closely by Second Section and Crossing Gate) - so I was thrilled when Ray asked me to appear on his show! 

We talked about my early days in the hobby, some of my experiences in model railroading publishing and of course my adventures in layout building, culminating with my current layout. 

If you've got a little more than an hour to waste listening to my ramblings, you can find the podcast here:

Podcasts — Around The Layout Podcast

Or search for "Around the Layout" on your favorite podcast app. 

12th Anniversary of this Blog!

December 17th marked the 12th anniversary of this blog. In keeping with what has become a blog anniversary tradition, here are a few numbers, going back to December 2012*, first month I actually took notice of these statistics! For some reason I didn't do a post last year, so there's no 11th anniversary stats! 

I started this blog to create a diary of sorts that would document the building, rebuilding and operating my home layout. As of today, there's a total of 975,845 unique page views! That's an increase of 163,365 since the 10th anniversary post - roughly 81,700 a year for 2021 and 2022. 

As I noted two years ago, that's not as many new views per year as prior years, but while blog traffic isn't increasing much, it's remained fairly stable. 

Here are the top ten  posts from the past 12 months (you can find these by entering the post title in the search box to the right of your screen):

That's enough looking back - looking forward what do I plan for the coming year? 

First of all, I'm really going to make a concerted effort to upload videos to my YouTube channel on a regular basis. Two things have gotten in the way of video uploads in the past year - first of all I was really focused on getting several aspects of the layout complete. I also wanted to avoid a string of videos (and blog updates for that matter) that featured benchwork shots and nothing else! Secondly, and more importantly, I needed to work through the mechanics of doing decent videos. While my videography is far from perfect, I think have it at a point where it's at least watchable! So look for more videos in the coming year. 

And you can find my channel by searching YouTube for "CVSNE" or simply clicking the link HERE. 

What's the plan for the layout itself in 2023? 

I'd like to get some additional "open country" scenery completed - that includes finishing the river crossing area. Work is already well along with literally dozens of pieces of Central Valley girders covering my modeling desk! 

The other big planned project for 2023 is to upgrade/update, and complete a myriad of locomotive projects. So look for blog posts (and perhaps videos!) on getting some of those key players out of their boxes and onto the track! 

I'm continually surprised, thrilled, and more than a little humbled at how many people follow (and I hope enjoy!)  my various corners of the model railroad internet. 

In the meantime please accept Christine's and my wishes for a Merry Christmas and Happy and Healthy New Year!