GEC's Layout Progress

[Rscott417]

GEC, not sure if you've seen any of these photos but I came across this album and thought you might find it useful. <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/archiveThumbs.aspx?id=22285">http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/archiv ... x?id=22285</a><!-- m -->

[Green_Elite_Cab]

GEC, not sure if you've seen any of these photos but I came across this album and thought you might find it useful. <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/archiveThumbs.aspx?id=22285">http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/archiv ... x?id=22285</a><!-- m -->

That is a neat album. A couple questions come to mind. In a few of them, they are hauling Ex ATSF coaches. I am curious if these are the ones New Jersey bought for the CNJ, or if they are perhaps MTA/Metro North loaners? I don't know if the EL had any that they specifically owned. If they did, they didn't make it to the Conrail Era that I model.

I know at the time, NJ DOT had put in a second order for the Comet I type cars from Pullman Standard. The original group arrived 1971 with the U34CH locomotives, but its clear they felt they needed more with the 1973 order. It seems to be a very interim arrangement!

[bdw9535]

]Conrail Trailvan and/or Amtrak Mail-9/10
Another train I'm trying to build, is a Trailvan intermodal train (or an Amtrak MAIL train, which tended to look like just another Conrail Trailvan). I'm hoping to get a few more flat cars.
Another problem is the flatcars themselves. SO far, 5 of my 7 flat cars are Atlas "flush deck" flatcars. These are really nice, but its clear in photographs that many 89' flatcars are of the "channeled" variety, and most seem to be the F89-F class, as well as a few of the F89-J types.
!

Chris,

Have you looked at the Accurail 89' piggyback flats? Also Walthers Scenemaster has some 40' trailers that will fit your era..
This scan may be of interest to you, it was on the back of the instruction for the Accurail 89' flats.

Bruce

[Green_Elite_Cab]

Well, not to much more progress.

Trailvan Progress

I have managed to acquire more trains in this area. In particular, I have a whole flood of Conrail Trailvan 40' trailers, and even more UPS "drop" parcel trailers, most with a characteristic "red" border on the ends. These I can be fairly confident are "accurate" for my train, and tend to be highly visible in trains. I also picked up a set of ICG trailers and "SHOWA" smooth sided containers, which should arrive soon.

I also acquired a pair of Athearn 85' flatcars (which included some of the previously mentioned UPS trailers). That brings me up to 9 cars, still short of the 12 car minimum I'd like, but close.

The current challenge I have now is picking up the appropriate trailers and containers. In particular, some of the containers are VERY hard to identify.

I was able to easily spot most of the Walthers Smooth-sided "70s" containers on trains and ships (Athearn seems to make similar ones, but Out of Production), as well as the 18"/24" "ribbed" side containers (produced by A-Line, and Wheels of Time).

However, the really tricky containers look very similar to the modern corrugated containers. The devil is apparently in the details. These containers are also considered "ribbed", but might be more accurately described as having square corrugations, as opposed to "beveled" corrugations. Many of these "earlier" steel containers also had a flat "logo panel". I'll probably head to a hobby shop to get a closer look at the walthers ones to see if they fit.



Tropicana Orange Juice Train Progress

I'm now up to 5 Tropicana reefers, which is a little short for a unit train, but a start. In particular, I have 4 of the "1977" style and 1 "1979" style. If i'm interpretting this correctly, there will actually be a second run of 6 road numbers due out soon.

Here of course is one of the tricky parts of the hobby. I know a guy who can sell me the remaining "1979" style Tropicana numbers that I don't have, and shave off about a third of the price per car. The catch is that I have to buy them all in one sitting. These Red Caboose cars aren't break the bank expensive individually, but they add up! Go for it or not?

I will have to figure out what the remaining "1977" care numbers are that I don't have. Intermountain no longer lists these old numbers on their website. The only good thing, is that if I managed to collect these cars, I'll have a respectable 24 car unit train by the time all is said and done. This would be a roughly 15' train, which is a good size for my club's layout. In the mean time, "empty" Tropicana cars have been known to be tacked onto southbound Trailvan trains to Potomac yard, so a handful of those on the back of my TOFC train would look nice.

The prototype was 65 cars long, but this would be a 42' long HO scale train, minus the locomotives and caboose! (imagine how many HO locomotives you'd need to pull that train!) Thats easily more than double the longest storage track on our club layout, so I think I'll let my rivet counting half ignore this aspect

Chris,

Have you looked at the Accurail 89' piggyback flats? Also Walthers Scenemaster has some 40' trailers that will fit your era..
This scan may be of interest to you, it was on the back of the instruction for the Accurail 89' flats.

Bruce

Thank You for Posting this! (been so busy that I haven't been checking back here as much)

This sheet is actually pretty interesting! That definitely helps when it comes to selecting the proper flatcars, namely eliminating any reporting marks assoicated with the 45' trailers, which "don't exist yet".

I've definitely been scooping up the "1970s era" containers, but so far most of the trailers I've acquired are Athearn. Some of the walthers Containers look close, but I'm not sure. Its been difficult identifying company names from photographs, and its been equally hard trying to spot existing models in the backgrounds of prototype photos.

[Green_Elite_Cab]

As good as its gonna get! GP40P Paint troubles

One tricky unexpected problem I had lately is color matching the blue used on late CNJ units. It was painted as whatever the C&O and/or B&O was using in 1968, which wasn't precisely clear (reportedly, B&O controlled the CNJ, but the C&O financed these GP40Ps). True-Color paint offered a C&O/B&O Blue paint (this is the EXACT title on the jar), but that was clearly wrong! After test spraying B&O royal Blue, and C&O Enchantment blue, C&O seemed closest.

What do you think? a CNJ/NJ DOT commuter coach by Rapido is parked behind it. I tested some gloss-coat on the underframe out of sight. This deepens the blue to be even closer to the Rapido car, but it might not be necessary.




For reference, this is the engine in the True-Color paint.




New Locomotives

I have a pair of new locomotives, cheaply acquired! Both are relatively interesting in their own way.

Conrail C30-7 #6600- This one was an easy choice at a small local train show. The C30-7 was Conrail's first new Six Axle freight power. First acquired in 1977, they were first "tested" against SD40-2s to see how they would work. The prototype applied a "White Star" to the cab sides to denote a test unit. These engines roamed the early Conrail system while the railroad evaluated them. It wouldn't be unreasonable to see one wander onto the NEC at some point. While I'm fairly certain Conrail ended up purchasing far more SD40-2s, Conrail DID go back for more GE units, in the form of the C30-7A and C36-7.

Here it is new out of the box! I will have to modify the paint a little bit, as well as the marker lights. Still, the unit doesn't look to bad, and after some weathering, should look great. If the drive is comparable to my other Atlas U-boats, it should be fine. I have of course already applied the appropriate white star, but I don't have an updated photo.



Amtrak E60CP #955-

This model is interesting for a few reasons. For the most part, American GK manufactured E60s numbered and configured as "HEP" E60CHs. Apparently however, they must have made a model painted as an E60CP very briefly. It only needs a few modifications to pass as a "steam heated" E60CP.

the other way in that this model is interesting, is that the prototype #955 would eventually become E60MA #610, and the last locomotive to pull the "Broadway Limited". Coincidentally, I have a model of #610 that I built almost ten years ago. It seems I have an E60 for each era!

Having an American GK E60CP is ideal. The bachmann E60CP models had the right details, but they are not anywhere near powerful enough to pull a heavy consist of Walthers Budd and Pullman cars. They also are physically smaller than the American GK models. It appears that Bachmann might be closer to the prototype in some regards, the American GK in others. The bottom line though is that though prototypical accuracy issues are minor, the performance ones are not.

I look forward to super-powering this locomotive.

Trailvan update

I managed to snag a few extra 40' containers, including A-line 40' Ribbed containers, and an OOCL 40' smooth side by walthers. Now I just need a few 40' container chassis!

I'm fairly pleased with how quickly I am expanding my intermodal fleet, and with how cheaply I've been able to do it. I'm used to shelling out mega-bucks for commuter cars and passenger cars, and by comparison these things don't cost me more than a few dollars. The flat cars can get expensive, but I can afford to pick up one or two in a month if one is available to me. I see no reason why I couldn't have a respectably large train by next year's open house.

I can see now why some people prefer freight modeling over passenger modelling. It adds up! especially considering the kind of railroading I am trying to replicate!

A few pictures-

Here is another new flatcar, as well as some trailers I was able to pick up for a few bucks. The UPS trailer might not be painted quite right (might need some red borders), but the prototype definitely road the rails. The flatcar is an Athearn Genesis F89F. Hopefully, another run of these will be out by September/October, and help me fill out my train. At this point, I have more trailers than I do flatcars!



Tropicana Cars- I'm hoping to get a respectable unit train of these cars at some point. Currently, only 6 road numbers our out of each type that is applicable to my modeling era. Another set of 6 each for a total of 24 cars should fill me out with an 18' train. Far shorter than the prototype, but appropriate for the club layout!



Not yet pictured in this thread, are a few of the new Walthers Amfleets. I will need to pick up a fleet of these as well. I have SEVERAL E60CHs, and these are the cars they were built to haul. At the time I model, Amfleets had flooded the Northeast Corridor, and only the LONGEST distance trains still used "Heritage" cars. Generally speaking, if a train began and ended its run on the NEC, it was equipped with Amfleet cars.

One of my new Amcoaches-



#968 with an Amcafe. When these E60s get dress up with detail parts, they look fantastic. For now though, it will have to be a little barren.



Some End-detail

[Rscott417]

The top picture definitely matched the Rapido car better but who knows, the coach might not be the right color. Color matching is my least favorite thing to do.

[cnj1524]

The GP40P looks great,I think after a little weathering & dullcote you'll be happy,I do recall that tru color was to
put out the CNJ Blue but havent seen it listed,I have or had scalecoat II custom mix CNJ blue by RBH's,they had
a limited amount of this made 30 years ago,but all in all it does look correct,from what i've seen of the rapido cars
they look alittle dark(almost NJ Dot Blue)I remember seen a GP40P in 1980,81 in newark penn station while waiting
for the silver star to goto florida,the amout of dirt and grime,you couldnt tell they were blue with silver trucks,even
the trucks were black soot,thats when I first saw a GP40P and afew years later built my first 1

[Green_Elite_Cab]

Well, looking back on my posts, there seems to quite a few things I photographed (probably for this thread), but never posted. I will change that now!

Here are a few odds and ends that I scooped up over the last 6 months or so-

NJT F7A-

This is an Intermountain sound equipped unit that was almost a steal in terms of price. Even though a few of the NJ Transit F7s were marked down, this one was WAY down, and luckily, brand new. It made an ideal engine for a small commuter train at my club's open house, since it looked and sounded better than most of my currently serviceable NJ transit locomotives. The sound is REALLY good. It requires a few minor details such as the nose mounted "gong" bell and rooftop strobes, but otherwise it looks nice.

The prototype was purchased from the Chicago North Western, as an interim solution for loss of electrified trains during the conversion of the former DL&W electrification from 3000V DC power, to 25,000V 60HZ AC power, the "planned but never implemented" power plan for the Northeast Corridor. These supplemented the U34CH locomotives, then the only other non-electrified power on the line.



Amtrak GG1 #924

I managed to snatch this GG1 for also a steal price (it helps when the Ebay start bid is $1 with no reserve). Unfortunately, this one took a hit in the mean time, and while still functional, will probably need a new pilot. MTH is a pain though, since they don't give out parts diagrams, and they don't know what parts i'm talking about. They want me to actually Email them photos of all the broken parts! Irritating indeed, considering my earlier positive experience with them!

In any event, this one has not had any of the "DCS vs DCC" issues that my first MTH GG1 had (and those were comparatively minor compared to most stories I hear). I still hear about MTH hiccups, but the GG1s seem to be OK as long as I don't try to run them with Broadway Limited Imports models, which are not readily speed matchable.

The only thing this GG1 really needs is some High Intakes. Technically, I should eliminate the "as built" intakes, but to do so would be a major project, and I don't think that the correct decals are readily available for ANY Amtrak GG1. Repainting the model would be difficult enough even if I had the decals! Fortunately, the prototype 924 didn't have any other tricky details like the foot holes added to many GG1s. The Die-cast body of the MTH and BLI GG1s probably do not lend themselves to that sort of modification easily.



Conrail American Crane

This is a neat powered crane. Really the only problem with it, is that the boom reel broke. the end of the Reel had a slot in it, which sheered apart for some reason. I attempted to swap the reel around, but this lead to the string overlapping and binding on the body shell. This prevents the easy movement of the boom up and down.

I would either need to unwind the threads from the reel, detach or cut them and swap those as well, or i would need to glue a screw or something in place to engage the provided tool. Fixing the hook may also be a problem but some surgeons thread was recommended, and that might do the trick if I can find some (local places didn't have it).

This thing sure sounds loud when it runs, but its still pretty neat.



40' Boxcars

I also picked these up a few months ago. Pictured is a Kadee PS-1 40' CNJ Boxcar. Or is it? Though difficult to see in the photo, all the dates indicate this car actually belongs to Conrail. Indeed, several such CNJ cars lasted into the early 80s before being retired, probably the last of their kind in revenue service.

Behind it was an "eh" walthers 40' Conrail inulated boxcar, patched out from Penn Central. The main problem is that this car is marked up as an X56, which were indeed 40' insulated boxcars that Conrail did maintain for a while. The X56 however, is much closer to the dimensions of the CNJ car! Atlas now produces a Penn Central car that is much closer to the X56 than this Walthers car is. I'm not sure anything like the Walthers car survived to Conrail.

Several LV 40' boxcars did make it to Conrail, and those I'd like to model at some point. Reportedly, a few of Conrail's customers still had freight doors spaced for 40' cars, which necessitated some remain in service. One or two show up in the old photos from time to time, so its not entirely unreasonable to have a few, though the late 70s and early 80s would definitely be the end of the road for most.

The Detail and spring trucks on the Kadee car are amazing! It has run fairly reliable too, so I am pleased.



AEM7s

Back in November, a couple AEM7s in the Phase IV "Northeast Direct" scheme appeared briefly, including the relatively rare #910, which was factory painted with a more accurate gray than the original run of these models. At this point, i'm about three models shy of owning at least one of every AEM7 number offered by atlas (prior to the newly announced run of course). I only require Amtrak 901, and MARC 4900 and 4902. In the case of the latter MARC units, though models of MARC cars aren't common, both were loaned to NJ transit for testing prior to purchasing the ALP44, and to Amtrak during the holiday rushes.

In any event, this is the scheme I most remember as a kid. I only remember a few Phase III AEM7s, and now of course, everything is in Phase V paint.



Speaking of AEM7s, though I know I've posted this elsewhere, I also acquired a Marklin RC4, painted as Amtrak X995. These Swedish locomotives are the "base" from which the AEM7 was derived. The "Americanized" version was built by EMD, and was bigger, heavier and more "crash resistant". This engine did a couple months of test runs in the late 70s before returning to Sweden. As history has shown, the locomotive was a success, and the AEM7s quickly replaced both the aging GG1s and reduced the role of the tempermental E60s.

Here, RC4 X995 is paired with AEM7 #911. there will be challenges in making the locomotive DC compatible (it is an AC track engine), but it doesn't yet seem impossible.



CNJ/NJ DOT commuter coaches, ex-KCS

I was pretty excited when I got these cars, but I don't think I posted any clear pictures of them (though the are always hanging around in recent photos!). These are the fantastic Rapido cars from their supercontinental line.

They aren't perfect for these cars, but they are close enough. The only real problem is that these cars lack a window on the non-vestibule end, but they otherwise capture the look fairly well, and in reality, there are no other RTR CNJ/NJDOT (or any other NJ DOT commuter cars for that matter) that are readily available. All others need either a patching (Jersey builder cars), or need to be built from kits with varying degrees of mind numbing insanity.

Though typically assigned to Raritan Valley Line trains to Phillipsburg, these would on occasion end up on Jersey Shore bound Bayhead trains. Either way, these cars are perfect matches for my ex CNJ GP40P and passenger equipped GP7s.

The prototypes were the "last" streamlined passenger cars built by Pullman Standard in 1965, made for KCS. These were the "newest" cars in CNJ service, being only about only a few years old when they were purchased by the state of New Jersey in the early to mid 1970s. As in the paint on the GP40Ps, the C&O influence over the CNJ was very obvious in its passenger equipment of that era.



The missing window should be just about where that CNJ logo is. Car sides for these cars exist, but I'm not about to go strip off these sides just to be "prototypically accurate".



Number Shuffled GG1

As mentioned earlier, my MTH GG1s didn't play nice with my BLI units. This GG1 started out as my Conrail 4867. Since few GG1s ran freight by themselves in their last days (Conrail always had one more GG1 than necessary in case of failure), I decided this wouldn't do. A friend of mine commented that the sound in the MTH unit was much more like the passenger geared sound he remembered for these units.

I decided to make this on an NJ DOT GG1, and chose #4872 as the "earliest" NJ DOT GG1. this was also convenient since it didn't have any side steps or high intakes to deal with.

I later acquired a new Broadway limited GG1 to bring my Conrail roster back up to three units. My only regret was renumbering it to be 4867 like before. While 4867 did tough it out to the end, the roof had an interesting modification to it that I can't find much information on. I suppose its not obvious in most pictures, but it is there. When I got my Amtrak Dispatcher sheet, it listed several GG1 powered freight trains, any of which would be viable for my modeling time period. 4867 wasn't among them that day, but I know it lasted into November 1979. In the future at least, if I choose to get more, I'll know what to number them!


One major thing missing from this GG1, as well as its sister # 4883, is the "N.J. DEPT. OF TRAN. OWNER" white lettering, found underneath the "right hand" road number of all NJ DOT/NJ Transit GG1s. No decal exists for this, and I may have to piece it together with letters (which is a nightmare!). I'm hoping someone can help me with decals.

Otherwise, these NJ DOT GG1s would be good to go.



NJ DOT Line up

This is an older shot (the GP40P is at least partially painted now), but at least here, I have a fairly representative fleet of all NJ DOT locomotive types (in fact, two of each except for the GP40P) used on the "Newark" division (Ex PRR and CNJ lines), where I model. The only pain is finishing these models off! I have no idea when they will all get done. The coaches are another nightmare I haven't tackled yet. It will be difficult to represent the underbody properly. Even so, its nice to have these unique units!

[Green_Elite_Cab]

The GP40P looks great,I think after a little weathering & dullcote you'll be happy,I do recall that tru color was to
put out the CNJ Blue but havent seen it listed,I have or had scalecoat II custom mix CNJ blue by RBH's,they had
a limited amount of this made 30 years ago,but all in all it does look correct,from what i've seen of the rapido cars
they look alittle dark(almost NJ Dot Blue)I remember seen a GP40P in 1980,81 in newark penn station while waiting
for the silver star to goto florida,the amout of dirt and grime,you couldnt tell they were blue with silver trucks,even
the trucks were black soot,thats when I first saw a GP40P and afew years later built my first 1

I figure I'll never get it exactly right, but this is so much closer than any other paint I've tried, so I'm satisfied. The scalecoat sounds nice, except I understand that it had nearly NO shelf life.

Now, the really curious part is the truck color. Indeed, many CNJ GP40Ps did have Silver trucks, at least initially. However, I have a published paint diagram that actually specifies blue trucks. They might have figured that Silver wasn't such a great idea after all.

That said, its clear that the lower portion of these engines became so dirty that it almost doesn't matter, because the only thing anyone can see on them is dirt!

Its clear that i'll probably have to do some sort of weathering to really capture the look of these engines. In fact, I think I need to get to weather most of my equipment. Everything is slightly too clean....

Incidentally, I'm pretty sure I purchased Amtrak 968 from you a few years ago!

[Green_Elite_Cab]

A few more pictures of stuff I've picked up-

Amtrak E60CP #955-

Though the shell isn't a perfect match, adding the steam generator details is probably good enough to make this one stand out as an E60CP (as opposed to the more common E60CH). There are some other differences on the roof, but I'm not sure its worth the effort to do on a model that is already painted.

These supplemented the GG1s on long haul trains, since many of the "heritage" fleet of cars was still steam heated. However, Amtrak saw HEP as the future, and so only a handful of the E60s were built as steam heat equipped "E60CPs". These were stored as steam-heated passenger consists were converted to HEP in the late 70s through the early 80s. Many of these stored E60CPs would trade in their boilers for HEP when they were converted to E60MAs in the mid to late 80s.





Burlington Northern Insulated boxcar

This is a neat Details West kit. It does seem very close to insulated boxcars in this car's number range, and I'm sure the detail discrepancies are minor. I'm always on the look out for insulated boxcars since they match my Magic Pan Bakery industry on my layout. The BN paint scheme is a plus, I've always liked it.



Penn Central X54 class insulated boxcar-

This one is more like it! Walthers offers a 40' plug door boxcar that is painted up as an X54, but is definitely not the right shape for one! The Atlas model is MUCH closer. There are really only small detail differences. The molded on detail is probably the only thing holding this model back, especially when it comes to "modernizing" the car. I did remove the roof walks, however.

As I understand it, the prototype X54s were some of the last 40' cars. Many of these survived into Conrail, and I've seen a few photos of these still in full Penn Central paint up until a few years ago. Apparently, they were necessary for some industries that had 40' door spacing.



Penn Central 862B Double Door boxcar-

This one was a special edition sold by the Penn Central Technical & Historical Society. Reportedly, it almost perfect matches a prototype PC car. Can't complain with that! This is an Atlas car, apparently originally a Branchline kit. Its based on a New York Central prototype. Double Door Boxcars are the way to go with the trains I model, as these were frequently used to haul automobile parts, a major commodity being shipped under the wire to the now long gone Ford plant in Metuchen, and the GM plant in Linden.



Penn Central MUs

I haven't posted to many pictures of these. I got the MP54 sometime this summer, and I've been trying to find more with little luck. They are available online, but I'm holding off on ordering them.





Also, I have my Arrow I #100. I need to replace this pantograph with the Walthers Proto Metroliner one for consistency, but it should be otherwise good to go. I'll probably also renumber it into the 500 series at some point.



Conrail Cabooses

In the meantime, I've felt the need to do projects I could actually reasonably expect to complete. One of the "holes" in my roster has been cabooses. Having moved "back in time", I forgot that cabooses were still required on the trains of my time period. I really only had one serviceable Conrail caboose, a Walthers model representing an N-12 bay window type. I had an N5C that had also seen better days.

I decided to change that! My plan is to get a caboose from each of the "component" roads of Conrail. Fortunately, many of these models are cheap.

In addition to those photographed below, I'm expecting two ex-New York Central caboose kits, an N6A transfer caboose and an N7 bay window type. A rather dilapidated N6A sits near my house in Mount Holly (a failed frozen yogurt stand, apparently), and an N7A used to be parked in front of a local McDonalds until it was mysteriously trucked away last year ago (I did not see it scrapped). The N7 was one of the more major Conrail caboose classes, so it definitely warrants attention!

There are a few more cabooses I'm looking at, but I'll stick with just these for now.

N5

This is a stock Bowser N5 kit, went together fairly easily. I used the "Laserkit" windows instead of the stock Bowser windows, which so far looks really good (sometimes, I can't tell the window is still there!). I also plan to install window frame kits by Wrightrak, which will further enhance the appearance of this caboose. Some handrails will finish it off.

This was a ubiquitous PRR design.



N5C

I've had this kit for a while, but it was always very "dilapidated" itself. I acquired it second hand, and it was every bit as dilapidated as any of the surviving prototypes probably are! Sagging couplers, loose/missing steps and windows, busted up end posts. It also had plastic wheels, a no-no for club running.

I purchased another set of laser-kit windows to replace the missing ones. I also replaced the remaining Bowser steps with brass one by Cal-scale. These brass steps are much closer to the prototype's later configuration. Wright track makes a kit for the window frames for these as well.

As it turns out, this may be a complicated situation. I cannot find any prototype photos of 23000 during 1979. There were still plenty of cabooses in the "original" configuration as the bowser kit, but starting around the early 80s, and possible late 70s, many of these cabooses started having their windows blanked or rebuilt. It certainly left Penn Central with all its windows in their original configuration. I'll have to dig, but the wrightrak window frame kit comes with the appropriate blanks and plates, so if I change my mind, it can be done.

I might need to get a second N5C, as Bowser's other Conrail road number, 23174, is one I've personally worked with in Pemberton when the trains were still there. This one I found pictures of, and I know was in its original configuration when I model (though it was later modified).

Another undeniably PRR cabin car.



N5G

This is the Athearn Northeastern caboose, based on the upgraded MDC caboose. It is supposed to represent an ex Lehigh-Valley caboose, but it does not do a great job. While I can overlook the lack of some of the prototype specific details, the main flaw of this caboose is that it is over-sized for HO scale. It towers over most other cabooses. Apparently, the extra height is in the roof, which arches too high. Its enough that it makes the caboose feel out of place on a train, which is a shame because its an otherwise nice model. I just wish I noticed this in the hobby shop before I picked it up.

In any case, I'll go with the Lifelike/Walthers Proto center cupola caboose. Though based more on a Reading prototype, it appears to better capture the feel of this wide-spread class of caboose.



N8

The last "bowser" caboose (yet another PRR cabin car), was an N8. This kit was a little frustrating, and I may have to go back to it. the instructions for the brake wheel weren't particularly clear. Also, there may be laser cut windows for this caboose as well. I left the roof loose on all the bowser kits, so I can work on the interior. This kit included parts to model the brake rigging, but apparently not a lot of thought was put into how the car would operated when "rigged" up.

That said, with its separately applied handrails, this caboose does look a little better than the prior bowser cabooses.

These appear to be the last "PRR" class of cabin car, built in the mid 50s.





N12

The N12 was a Penn Central class of caboose, apparently spiritually based on the New York Central N7 class. This class of caboose would itself be the base of Conrail's N21 caboose, the only class of caboose bought new by Conrail. Not surprisingly, the other road number of this model offered by Walthers is marked as an N21.

Not a lot else to say on this model, its basically been my ONLY regularly used caboose. Indeed, the wear on this caboose is obvious, and its definitely been crashed into a few times by club members who were not paying attention. I think if I can straight out the ends, it will be just fine however.



N20

This atlas model looks pretty good. The only flaw was one missing grab iron. I'm unclear if I lost it, or if it simply wasn't in the pack. Its not obvious however.

These were Conrail's only extended vision cabooses, Reading Company prototype. The Atlas model is an excellent match for this type. Apparently, the Athearn one is a different prototype.

One thing I found interesting, is that the N20 and the N12 appeared almost identical in body construction and style, with the only major differences being the viewing platform (cupola vs bay windows) and window arrangement. Not surprisingly, both were constructed at about the same time (1970-1971) by the International Car Company.




Last but not least....

This is my first serious Trolley car, one of the Kawaski LRVs bought in 1980 for SEPTA's subway-surface routes into and out of center city Philadelphia. Unfortunately, I broke the plastic trolley pole, but I'll pick up an operating metal one instead. I plan to power this car at some point. I might even light it if I get brave.

[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!

[Mr Fixit]

Wow GEC, so many things to keep track of, its making my head hurt.
I still reckon training your spider to solder up your catenary would be good.
Happy Easter to you and your family.

Mark

[Green_Elite_Cab]

Wow GEC, so many things to keep track of, its making my head hurt.

Oh, don't worry. Absolutely nothing ever gets done! My brain broke down long ago!

On a serious note, I do think this is one of my main troubles. I can handle multiple things, but I tend to take on too many projects. By the time I start feeling burned out, I've already gone too far.

For example, I was trying to focus on putting up my catenary yesterday, so I was doing all the prep work, sketching out the "scale" plans to make sure everything fit the way it should (and it did, a lucky break! No further research required). Somehow though, I ended up putting decals on my GP40P.

I frequently feel motivated to work on my railroad, but a busy day ends up being spent making minor progress to several projects, instead of finishing any one project.

I find it very frustrating.

I still reckon training your spider to solder up your catenary would be good.
Happy Easter to you and your family.

Mark

It appears training the spider was a mistake. It developed sentience and now it freed the other arachnids in my room to start a revolution. Its been a few sleepless nights, and I keep my Bug-A-Salt close.

<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.bugasalt.com/">http://www.bugasalt.com/</a><!-- m -->

Other than that, things are fine.


Happy Easter to you too!

[cnj1524]

See OJ Link <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.modeltrainstuff.com/Red-Caboose-Tropicana-Juice-Train-Box-Cars-in-HO-and-N-S-s/3404.htm">http://www.modeltrainstuff.com/Red-Cabo ... s/3404.htm</a><!-- m -->

[Green_Elite_Cab]

Some Recent Progress-

Orange Juice Train

Thanks for the link!

Those Misspelled cars are everywhere. Apparently, the Chinese do not have English spell check, and I had to twice return a Tropicana car because of the misspelling, although the "last" attempt, I actually got the right spelling and paid less than half the MSRP for the car, so maybe I got lucky!

I'm down to just needing three more cars in the 1979 series- 532, 540, and 584. If you happen to spot these, and the word "Orange Juice" is correctly spelled (not Orance Juige), let me know! Hopefully, when the new run of these cars comes out, I'll be able to snatch them up quickly! 24 cars would make a decent Unit train for a model railroad.


Trailvan Progress

I've picked up a few new flat cars, trailers and containers.

Thank you Bruce for the additional Flat cars and trailers!


In the flat car department, I have managed to swipe a pair of athearn Genesis F89Fs for a steal price, though one had the same road number as another I had. I suspect careful application of black paint will transform my doubled #153228 into #153223. If that fails, I have some TTX decals on order with the LHS.

I also managed to acquire three more Atlas Flush-deck TTAX flatcars, and two new F89Js by BLMA, which are also nice cars. They don't seem ultra common in the Trailvan photos I have, but they are there.

In addition to some locomotives, Bruce ( bdw9535) gave me a few of the old Athearn flat cars undecorated, as well as a pair of 45' trailers, in N&W and Southern (interesting pairing!). These are based on the flush deck types like the Atlas model, but are shortened to 85'. My plan is to try and find the "F85B" class bodies, since the flatcar kits are Identical apart from their decks. Might make an interesting project! I'm also exploring some of the other 85' classes of flat cars.


New GP35s

The main purchase was a pair of new GP35s, undecorated. I plan to model Ex-Reading Company 3640, and ex-Erie Lackawanna 3660.

The 3640 was a no brainer for me, since this GP35 was the only such locomotive to be painted in Reading's last paint scheme, all Dark Green with Chevrons. Only the GP40-2s, GP39s, and a few switchers received this paint out of the factory.




Ex-EL 3660 was a little more luck. I referred to my Amtrak New York Division Dispatcher sheet, to see which GP35s might have been running on the NEC on the day of June 3, 1979. It appears that 3660 was the ONLY GP35 on the Northeast Corridor that day, sandwiched between a B23-7 and a U25B on a freight at night.

Fortunately, 3660 was patched "well", and doesn't offer any painting challenges. The only major detail that stands out, is the different inertial air filter hatch on the roof of the EL units, but Cannon makes this part easy.



In the future, I'm looking to find a B23-7, and maybe do a few PC-patched and Conrail Blue GP38s and GP40s, but thats a long ways off.