Weekly Photo Fun - May 9th-15th

[nachoman]

No. 4 leaving town with a passenger train.

[faraway]

Serving industry in the morning


ps. The Athearn MP15AC is a former SOO bandit after an extensive cleaning session awaiting some more MILW decals to be a real MILW switcher again.

[JaBear]

Gidday Bernhard, I don't know if the ice hatch latches are the same or similar to those shown in your "White Swan" reefer project, if so it would appear from this photo that the fine detail was not lost in the painting process. Hoorah!!!
Nice work everyone.
Cheers, the Bear.

[modelsof1900]

Hallo Bear, thanks.

No, I did not make changes on the roof and if looking a second time, so you can see that details are a bit larger - just original Atlas. And so my friend Joerg did not make color corrections on roof.
Only things which we did rework were underbody (complete new details), the door hardware, all stirrups (replaced) and details on end sides. And, I never have written that before, the bodies were lowered 1,5 mm or 0.06" ~ 1/16". Cars are looking better now, simple a bit lowered over rails.

[ray_m]

WC&T #717 on the Bradshaw Mountain Railroad.

[Lester Perry]

I haven't posted the local paper for a long time. There is an interesting article in it so I thought I woul share it.

[doctorwayne]

Now that's an imaginative conversion of a Reading locomotive. Nicely done, Ray!

[ray_m]

Now that's an imaginative conversion of a Reading locomotive. Nicely done, Ray!

Thanks Wayne, But I can't take credit for building the #717. It was a gift from a good friend. The WC&T was Jim Marksberry's N scale model railroad.
I rebuilt the drive and improved the electrical pickup.

[doctorwayne]

Here's a look at a recent visitor to Port Maitland:










The model is a non-powered OO scale kit from Rosebud Kitmaster, and represents an LMS (London Midland and Scottish Railway) Beyer-Garratt. The owner of my nearby LHS recently purchased a train collector's estate, and among the myriad of goodies was included two of these kits, both unbuilt and new-in-box. Supposedly this loco was offered for only one year before the company was sold, and while many other locos from Kitmaster were re-released, this one never was, making it somewhat of a collectors item.
I was asked to build one kit, with instructions to letter it for the TH&B, and to number it one above the TH&B's two ex-NYC Hudsons, 501 and 502. I was also told to weather it heavily, something yet to be done. Paint is a combination of Floquil, Polly Scale, Humbrol, and Testors, and the lettering is from Aberdeen Shops.

Wayne

[cn nutbar]

Excellent work Doc---that locomotive looks amazing in the TH&B livery.I'll bet it would have made quite a sight working the Kinnear yard .Peter at the LHS is going to be very pleased.

[switcher1]

Somewhat out of place, a 4mm loco with buffers on an American 3.5mm layout....

[Green_Elite_Cab]

Shiny new Amtrak 606.... one of the new ACS-64 Electrics. This used to be an E60MA number.



This (Angry face!) will soon be the new face of the Northeast Corridor-



ACS64 cab



Right next to it was this E8, in its original PRR number. This unit was at one time Amtrak 498, and then most recognizably, Conrail 4020, one of the Office Car Special E8s. Now it is back to PRR, though with HEP and dynamic brakes.



Goofing off in the Theater car!



ALP46 #4648



ALP46 cab



ALP45DP #4511, a Duel powered locomotive similar in Idea to the FL9, but with overhead catenary pick up instead of third rail. It also appears to have two small diesel engines in it, similar to the "Genset" locomotives out there. This thing is pretty big and its black upper body just disappears in most pictures.



ALP45DP cab-



Inside the cab of an NJ Transit Bi-level push-pull cab car.





An Acela Express Trainset was also open for tours.



Dissappointingly, the Atlantic City Line trains north from Cherry Hill to 30th Street were cancelled, so we had to take the free bus they offered (except we already had tickets for the train...). I neglected to take pictures in the morning, but it was a typical mix of GP40PH-2Bs, such as #4210. I did grab a video of #4210, but I will post it all later.

On the way out though, I was able to snap a poor shot of Amtrak 931 (i might be able to get good screenshots from a film of it I took). This locomotive and the ones like it will be amongst the first to go when the rest of the ACS64s start appearing en masse. #931 is an AEM7 "DC", unrebuilt and increasingly unreliable.

#931 was delivered to Amtrak in 1981, 33 years ago, the same year the AEM7s pushed the GG1s out of service.





At the Cherry Hill NJT station, the trains were lined up fro the trip south, including this 21 year old P40DC, #4802, ex Amtrak 810. Four P40DCs were purchased in 2007 for the "Atlantic City Express" (ACEs) train, a train that was almost direct from New York to Atlantic city with specially rebuilt (and expensive) Comet Bi-level cars. The most interesting part of this train was that it used an ALP44 electric on one end, and the P40DC on the other, so that it didn't have to change power between electric and diesel on the NEC. The train has been discontinued. I don't know what became of the special parlor and bar cars.



A second train, headed by P40DC #4801, ex Amtrak #808, waits just next to the rail bridge over Route 70, to the south of the station. I assume it is empty and waiting.



Comet V cab cars seem to be on the head ends of all single level push-pull trains these days. a collection of older NJ Transit coaches make up the rest of the consist. In the background, the "Cherry Hill Race Track" used to stand. In the PRR days, there were many special trains here and even a special horse car unloading track.

I took a film at this location as the train departed, I'll have to see if I can embed it.



After the train department, a pair of work equipment became visible.



The signal shows Medium Clear.

[doctorwayne]

Somewhat out of place, a 4mm loco with buffers on an American 3.5mm layout....

Not as much as you might think, though. Kitmaster states that it's designed to run (well, if the big 0-5-0 in-the-sky deigns to give it a push) on OO or HO track. It's not too fond of the guard rails on Atlas and Shinohara turnouts, though. As you can see, I've installed Kadee couplers, talgo-style, on both ends, and its tractive effort of 45,600lbs is just slightly less than the 48,000 of the Grand Valley's Consolidations.
If the 60103 could tour North American and Australia, I see no reason why the 503 couldn't make a little jaunt into Lowbanks, situated in southern Ontario...in Canada, eh?

The original decals for this model were beyond recovery, so the store owner opted to have it lettered for the TH&B. I used to paint TH&B diesels for another hobby shop, and once remarked that TH&B fans would buy anything if it were lettered for TH&B - they bought over six dozen versions of those that I painted, and I've seen modern HO locos (don't know the proper designation) done in TH&B paint that looked pretty plausible - probably more than this steamer, I suppose, but it is, after all, meant to be an in-store conversation piece.

Wayne

[e-paw]

Hay Doc,, your last pics made me pull out an engine that has been stored away for years. I have been interested in the Beyer-Garratt design since I first stumbled on them. I think I built this one when I was 13 or 14 years old. I still have it ,and it still runs. Only the rear engine is powered.

   

   

   

   

[BR60103]

Wayne:
When Kitmaster exited railway production, my friend wrote to them. He got a letter back headed "Rosebud -- the world's most beautiful doll".

Kitmaster moulds went to Airfix who modified and re-shot a few of them. I think they went to Mainline who bought Airfix. Another English train maker (Dapol) went over there and after seeing a couple of moulds smashed for scrap, purchased all that were left.
Some of them still soldier on. I believe that the coaches were so popular that the moulds wore out and the last ones (still as Kitmaster) had very ragged edges and parting lines.

The scale is OO (4mm-1') but the gauge is HO. The flanges in those days were pretty thick.