2023 Fund Raising auction #1: A 1901 document from the American Locomotive Company---

Well folks, this is the kickoff to our 2023 fund drive. We opened as Big Blue Train Forums on December 17, 2008 and have kept our promise of no ads and no sponsors. This is one way to help get the much-needed funds to keep us going, but a way to give something back in return. We're opening an auction with a document that is even older than me, it is a 1901 stockholders information sheet for the American Locomotive Company. It is in reasonable shape for being 122 years old, there is one tear and some fraying on the edges, but that dark line in the middle does not exist, but there is a fold line there. This photo was made by combining the photos of the top and bottom halves. It is somewhat yellowed with age and may appear a bit different in color than the photo, but it is suitable for framing It measures approximately 8 1/2" x 11 1/2". It would be a fine addition to your railroad memorabilia collection or just hanging on the wall in your train room. It has been donated to the cause by Jim Currie and we sincerely thank Jim for that.

   

Now, let’s get started. We are offering this 122 year old document to the highest bidder. Here are the bidding rules:

1. There is no minimum bid and no reserve, the highest bidder at the time the auction closes will get the car.
   
2. Please keep you bid raises in increments of at least fifty cents and preferably a dollar or more. 
   
3. You can bid publicly by posting it in this thread. This thread is for bidding only; any comments or questions should be made in this "questions" thread or  by PM to either ezdays or ngauger. Non-bid posts will be deleted from this thread.
   
4. If you want to enter an anonymous bid (just like the rich and famous do), you can PM either ezdays or ngauger and we will bid on your behalf, (we will post the bid amount, but keep your name confidential, just like at those big auction houses). You may also want to give us the maximum you would want to go and we’ll bid for you by adding fifty cents above the last bid, up the maximum that you have set, again, just like Christie’s does for the big boys.
   
5. The auction will run until February 15th, at which time we will announce the winner and ship the document to them.
   
6. The successful bidder will pay all shipping costs. It will be shipping from the US via USPS mail.
   
7. Payment can be by PayPal, check or MO. We will give the winner instructions on how and where to pay.
   

The 2023 NASCAR Fantasy Racin' League is up.......
It's absolutely FREE to join in.  It's just for fun!!!!

https://bigbluetrains.com/showthread.php?tid=9696

Here's the Place!!

We're looking forward to Daytona in 3 weeks!!  February 19th!!!!!

Reply here if you would like to join in!!!!
All you have to do is choose 3 drivers and check in to see your team's standings.

Remember this is only for bragging rights, no entry fees, no payments, no prizes!!   

The warehouse foreman is telling the conductor of WPMA-40 that they will need another 10 minutes till the car can be released.

Bruce

   

(Editor's note - started the idea for this thread in my "Rainbows in the Lehigh Valley Gorge" thread for my layout and decided to dedicate this thread to that project).

I run Conrail and Delaware & Hudson on my Lehigh Valley Gorge layout, circa August 1976.

Until last year, my typical D&H consist was two C628's and two RS36's, all in Blue Lighting stripe.  Conventional, all Alco - the D&H pretty much up until the formation of Conrail.  

A funny thing happened when Conrail was stood up - the U.S. Government wanted to at least have the appearance that there was still competition in the northeast for rail traffic after the formation of a giant amalgamation of 5 Class I railroads.  The poor little D&H was to be that competition.  The D&H was granted trackage rights from Washington D.C. up through Buffalo, given responsibility for running TOFC trains (one of the few lucrative freight packages in 1976), and given GP39-2's (Reading's last new locomotives), some GP38's from the Lehigh Valley (last power purchases by the LV), and some C420's.

Forced into this role, things got a little insane for the little D&H.  The red LV and green RR locomotives got quickly patched and immediately placed into service.  And some of those locomotives kept their original colors and initial patches for years.

I always liked the green dip paint scheme that the Reading used on their GP39-2's, and I have a deep affection for anything in LV livery.  

2 years ago I saw that Athearn was releasing some GP39-2's, and one of them was a patched Reading unit for the D&H.  I decided I had to get that one, and for Christmas last year I spent more money than I ever have on a locomotive, aided by a couple of gift certificates from my wife.

In recent months I began to get the itch to get a LV GP38 and turn it into a patched D&H.

Problem was, a lot of the LV GP38's offered out there on the used market are pretty poor representations.  However, Athearn had released a DC unit about 20 years ago, and I saw a couple for sale at what I thought was a somewhat reasonable cost.  Decided if I won the auction that I would turn it into a DCC model with the necessary D&H patching.

Won this one last week:

   

I have a Digitrax DH126P decoder that I'd like to put in it, and aside from the patching, there are a few other additions I'd like to make.  You're invited for the ride!

Tasks: 

1)  Remove the DC-related hardware
2)  Add the decoder for motor control
3)  Add LED's for the front and rear lights
4)  Paint over the LV logos on the front and rear diamonds and long hood
5)  Add a "7" in front of the road number on the cab
6)  Redo the road numbers on the top of the cabs at both ends
7)  Add a plow
8)  Add MU hoses
9)  Weather the whole locomotive

I made some purchases.  LV decals (for the "7"), D&H patch decals (GP39-specific, but I think they can work just fine for what I want to use them for).  Also rooted through my stock and pulled out a snow plow, the decoder, the wiring harness, and the MU hoses.

The end result will be something very close to this: RailPictures.Net Photo: D&H 7324 Delaware & Hudson EMD GP38-2 at Enola, Pennsylvania by George W. Hamlin

Stay tuned for some progress and pictures.

anyone here assembled a DPM series 2 kit , if so were you shocked to find that the separate doors and windows were a scale 12 or 13 inches thick , just cant  live with the glazing that far back so i modified some Tichy windows to fit openings but could not find doors that would work so i set doors up in mill and took mullins down to 2 inches, improved looks. ant one else had this problem with the series 2 kits?
Jim

Over the years I have taken several photos of rail and track work so I think it is time to share them. Todd is weathering his rail on his track and I thought these photos would be of interest to other people. I find it easier to caption with edits so standby while I finish the post. Charlie 
This is a picture of the rail on the KJR and the ballast is about 9 years old. Notice the rust from the rail and tie plates is also running onto the stone.      This one shows the general track and the rust that ocurs. This is class one track, good for 10 MPH freight and 15MPH passenger.      The next 2 show 130 pound (per yard) Pennsylvania Standard rail rolled in 1928. The slashes indicate the month        

A C40-8 leads a Conrail coal train passing through Chestnut Neck.

Bruce

   

OK folks; let me give it to you straight up. We started Big Blue over 14 years ago when we broke free of what was once The Gauge, and eventually, Zealot which quickly became riddled with ads. We did so with the promise that we would never allow advertising nor take on a sponsor, and so far, we’ve lived up to those promises. There is nothing that will ever make that change, so keep that in mind.
 
We’ve supported Big Blue all these years from out-of-pocket when necessary, donations, sales of contributed train gear and by holding auctions. We’ve been successful enough to keep things running and so Mikey and I kind of let things ride as they were, not that we were flush with cash, but because we don’t like leaning on our members when we could get by with what we had. Well, our renewal just came up and we had to empty the treasury to keep us going, literally. Our costs went up a good 10% and so we are at best, broke. We have reached the bottom of the cookie jar, only a few crumbs left!
 
Membership has dwindled over the years as it has throughout most forums, but there are still enough people here interested in what Big Blue has to offer to continue running. We have a lot of wonderful information here and some very talented modelers eager to help, no membership fees for anyone, but it’s no surprise, GoDaddy and the Internet folks just won’t give us a free ride regardless.
 
Where are we going with this? I’m sure you can guess; we have a year to get our treasury back up so when the bills come due, we can pay them. If we can’t make the rent, we’re going to be thrown out on the street without delay. Big Blue will cease to exist and all this valuable information will be lost, and we don’t want that to happen.
 
Out-and-out donations are super, and are always very much appreciated, but we like to give back too when we can, so we’re going to try to open a fund drive all through this year and do our best to make it a fun fund drive. That might include:

• Holding auctions
  
• Holding sales of donated items
  
• Just regular cash donations
  
• Holding someone hostage for ransom (won’t happen)
  
• Buying lottery tickets with the last remaining few bucks we do have (can’t happen)
  
• And lastly, some bright ideas coming from our loyal members (needs to happen!)
  

• Got some duplicate pieces of gear that you’d like to donate that we can either sell or auction off?
  
• Have any memorabilia lying around that it’s time to let go of?
  
• Would you be interested in decorating a car with the Big Blue logo so we can auction it off?
  
• Would you be interested in bidding on this or anything else if we were to hold auctions?
  
• Can you suggest what we could auction, such as prototype (collectable) items, or books?
  
• Want to buy in as a partner? (Just kidding)
  

Been a while since I did any woodworking worth posting, but I bought a gun a while back that needed a new stock added. I could buy many different ones starting at around $50 up to several hundred, then another $50 would get me the required adapter ring to fit it to my gun. I've been wanting a new bandsaw since I sold mine during a move years ago, so this was my chance. Bought one for $160 and I had some scrap maple and everything else I needed so what a delight to get something practical done. Here's the whole project in one post:

Cut the blank on the bandsaw, note the pencil line. I cut the blank in two so I could cut the tapers and basic shape with the saw.

   

After cutting the basic shape on the bandsaw, I glued the parts back together, then sanded it smooth with a belt sander. I used a circle cutter and a Dremel tool to cut the groove that fit on the end of the gun in place of the adapter.

   
   

I spray painted the wood stock black to match the gun

   

Here it is attached to the end of the gun. Added a rubber butt pad to cushion any recoil.

   

So, for a little bit over the cost of the stock and adapter, I wound up with that plus a bandsaw, and had fun building it.