GEC's Layout Progress

[Green_Elite_Cab]

Though I was trying to resist it, I ended up going to "The World's Greatest Hobby" show in Edison, NJ this past Sunday. I made sure though, to focus on things I could use. If I'm going to blow my month's modeling budget, I'm gonna make it count!

Tropicana Juice Train

My biggest jump was with my Tropicana Juice Train. I found the remaining first run 1977 era cars I needed, and I found two more of the 1979 cars (one of which is ordered in, and will be here in a week).

I only require the following Red Caboose 1979 era cars- 532, 540, and 584. If you see these in a hobby shop some place (and they have the correct "Orange Juice" spelling, NOT the "Orance Juige" cars), PLEASE let me know. I'm hoping to be more proactive with the next run of cars and order them through my hobby shop all at once, and pick them up a few at a time.

Here is a photo of the 1979 scheme car-




Incidentally, I just got another batch of slides digitized, so one of the shots was at North Elizabeth (the station my modules will represent), where the Tropicana Juice Train was going by. The rear E44A is #4457, the same as my model! I also have an extra black and blue E44A, so I can "kinda sort" remake this picture. The Tropicana car in the background is the 1977 version of the scheme.





Trailvan Train

My Kibri 40' containers arrived earlier this week. They aren't absolutely perfect, the "logo" panel is raised instead of recessed, and they come in molded plastic, unpainted. That said, they do have the "square corrugated" design style of the late 70s era, and so the minor issues can be ignored. Given a coat of paint and some era-appropriate decals, they'll fit right in. Since they came as a 6-pack, I'm set for these containers.

This prototype Evergreen container was built in 1978, and is typical of the kind I've been looking for. Notice the corrugations are not beveled, but square. Somewhat unsurprisingly, the overwelming majority of HO containers are of the more modern, "beveled" type.




At the train show, I managed to scoop up a few more cheap containers loose, including a perfect 20 footer (square corrugations, recesses panels, better details). I wish I knew the make (will post pictures later), since perhaps they have a 40' model. At the very least, I could get more, chop them up, and make 40 foot container molds.

I also found a few Herpa- Promotex Container Chassis. These looked pretty close to ones i'd seen photos of from my time period. I suspect there will be some trouble with these, they don't seem universally compatible. I plan to fix that, but it might take some work. I will replace the pins with one compatible with the trailer hitches on my flat cars. I'll also try to drill holes so that the Walthers 70s era containers can sit on them (if i'm lucky, they will "plug in").


The only thing I didn't find that I was looking for at that show was some of the Atlas Flush-deck flatcars. The TTAX ones (as displayed in the diagram posted above) can accept containers, so I could use a few more of these configured in that way. Fortunately, BLMA F89J cars are still available, and another run of Athearn Genesis F89F cars will be available this September.

I'm banking on appropriate flatcars being available in the near future.

I find this shiny new trailer at the hobby shop. In fact, on the way home the other night, I saw one of these on the road, though lacking the ATSF lettering. The rib pattern was unmistakable. Every once in a while, I will see an old railroad trailer around.




Amfleet Consist

One train I've been neglecting is the run of the mill Amtrak NEC consist. This was usually an E60CH, or a GG1 with a generator car, hauling several Amfleet I cars.

I have noticed though, that the cars I'm specifically looking for (Walthers Proto Amfleet I, Phase I, "Single Arrow" logo) are not showing up on Ebay or hobby shop shelves, or even at train shows. My guess is that these are not popular, and so I've begun ordering them while they are still available. Otherwise, I run the risk of them becoming scarce before I can assemble the appropriate consists.

In order to do my "one hour" of NEC trains, I need at least three Amfleet consists, including trains like "The Patriot", "The Colonial" , and the "Evening Liberty Express". These trains ranged in size from short 5 car trains, to 10 cars on peak runs. I'm not sure its practical to build an enormous fleet of such cars (though I may try), but I think picking up a few cars a month isn't such a bad idea.

towards that end, I did recently acquire from my hobby shop 2 new Amfleet I coaches, and I have another pair of Amfleet I coaches on order with them. That will complete "one" consist. I hope that by the end of this year, I might have at least the beginning of a second consist.

Currently, the only major challenge is the lack of any "Amclub" decals. The "Amcafe" cars actually have several different versions:

- 56 coach-seat Amcafe
- 28 coach-seat, 18 parlor-seat Amclub
- 33 Parlor-seat Amclub
- 28 coach-seat 32 table-seat "Amdinette"

The Walthers Proto model is technically configured as an AmCafe, and those are the only decals they offer. However, most of those differences are internal, while the exterior body shell is identical. The interior is concealed by shaded windows, unless of course the car is lighted.

Though the car comes shipped blank, they do not offer Amclub or Amdinette decals or road numbers that are compatible with the Phase I cars. I still numbered one of my cars as an Amclub, but unfortunately I cannot find any other "amclub" decals. It doesn't help that these would be white, so they are difficult to custom print.

Amclubs seemed to be included in most consists, so this will be a challenge to overcome.

Tangent X58

This is another car I've wanted. RBL type boxcars aren't necessarily rare, but it was difficult to identify which car types were compatible for my era. the X58 is one that I could be confident with. I had a Southern Railway Blue-box X58, but it frequently shows its age (those coupler tabs don't stick like they used to, needs more screws!). I had planned to pick up one of the Railyard Models X58 kits, but the day I went to order one was literally the day after they closed their doors permanently.

Perhaps though, I lucked out. Tangent has produced these cars with an excellent amount of detail. These actually cost less than the Railyard kits did, while probably looking at least as good (if not better, hard to match a factory paint job!).

I spotted an X58 for sale at this past train show, and I scooped it up. Their Conrail version was a "1987" model, but the Penn Central one will work for me. Indeed, there are photos of recently active X58s still in full Penn Central paint, so this one can slide. I'm thinking about patching it, or getting one of the "unmarked" cars and using that.

Either way, there has been quite an "influx" of PC worms on my layout lately (several boxcars, MU cars, trailers, not to mention PC styled Metroliners). While its definitely appropriate, I suppose I must have overlooked these cars for Conrail ones. In reality, I probably do need more PC black and green on my layout (though I assume my GG1s and E44s are enough for now).




The lettering is REALLY sharp! In fact, anything fuzzy in the photos is just the camera shaking.







Conrail N5G, ex-LV

I picked up a Proto 2k Center cupola caboose, and this is MUCH closer to the dimension of these "northeastern" cabooses. According to the Lehigh Valley Modeler's website, these caboose are cross between Reading Company and Western Maryland Prototypes.

That said, they are at least, dimensionaly accurate. I might renumber this one as a Reading, but I could try to modify the ends to have portholes, as was a common LV prototype. If I drill a circular hole, I might be able to use the N5C window frames from Wright Track to "mask" the edges and make it look good. Its something to think about.

In the mean time, it makes another excellent addition to my caboose collection. At least now I am no longer under-equipped. The real question will be, which caboose should I use on a given train?

SO far though, this caboose has had some bad luck. It fell to the concrete within an hour of me owning it. It landed on the smoke jack, which protected the rest of the body of the caboose, but cracked the spark arrester off. I managed to glue this back on, but the accelerator fogged the windows!

Here is where I got lucky. I have a set of "Novus" polishing compounds, 1, 2, and 3. I popped the windows out of the cupola, and pulled the shell from the interior (the windows are flush with the inside wall).

I polished with Novus 2 as per the instructions, and then cleaned with Novus 1. The fogging is totally gone!

I can't guarantee it will work with all fogged plastic, but as you can see in these photos, it is not foggy or distorted anymore!