Rainbows in the Lehigh Valley Gorge

[mr bachmann]

looking good - am I right in thinking the grain hopper covers are round/square to tell yard crews as for mineral ore's or grain for food ?

[TMo]

looking good - am I right in thinking the grain hopper covers are round/square to tell yard crews as for mineral ore's or grain for food ?

Good question!  I know that switching between commodities was discouraged with covered hoppers - they'd have to be cleaned in a lot of cases before a switch could happen.  I've heard that Conrail was not a big fan of bulk commodity movements since these freight shipments weren't the most profitable, and maybe that's in large part to the cleaning requirements. My personal experience with these was driving past quite a few at the concrete plants near my mom's house in Northampton, PA.  All of them tend to be short 2-bay (probably because of the density of what they haul), and they all tend to be "well-weathered" after experiencing concrete dust and the corrosive nitrates in the limestone.

[mr bachmann]

have done a Google on this subject and it seems grain hoppers favour long centre trough/square hatch , and none food round hatch's - but as cars get old and taken into general use things get mixed up , this could be one reason why grain companys had/have their own fleet of hoppers .

[TMo]

Interesting stuff! Things I'd never thought about, and now I know a little more. Thanks for looking into it.

[TMo]

While I'm working on layering the water in the river, I've continued to weather rolling stock and locomotives.

I've started decommissioning my fleet of 6-axle locomotives in my Delaware and Hudson stable - just like they did after getting their "freebies" from Conrail in 1976.  I have two C628's, both Stewart Hobbies models - one D&H (602), the other undecorated that I painted and added the appropriate D&H decals into 609.  I never got around to weathering these or even adding the railings or dynamic brake cylinders.   So, I could have sold each of these in their unweathered and unfinished states, but I thought maybe I could put my final stamp on each of them before I let them go to someone else.

Found a picture of 602 in 1977 (DH 602 (rrpicturearchives.net)), probably just prior to being sent to Mexico to N de M.  It's an awesome shot - just 602 all by itself shutdown and lonely, paint peeling off to show yellow primer, grime and a bit of rust.  I also found a shot taken around the same time of the other side of the loco. I decided I'd try to mimic those looks.  Pictures follow.

       

I'm going to put this locomotive up for sale soon on ebay.  Depending on what I get for it, I may donate part of the profits to Big Blue, and I'll let everyone know when it's for sale in case you'd like to own this big ugly.

[tompm]

Good looking loco. Nice job on the weathering. I am not sure I could let it go.

[TMo]

Well, I'm letting go. You are free to bid on it through ebay if you wish at https://www.ebay.com/itm/155447990443. Anything over $100 that I get for this locomotive will go to Big Blue as a donation. I don't think we have any D&H modelers, so I don't expect any of you to be in on it. But, you never know.

As Tom indicated, it's a bit like selling a child. My wife (already retired) is getting the itch to leave Maryland and only stays because I haven't retired yet. I expect when I do retire (in roughly 6 years) the drum is going to start beating to move. She wants to move south where they don't have basements. The writing is on the wall for my future in model railroading, so there's no sense in keeping stuff I'm not going to use, and if someone can enjoy running this, well that'll bring me a little joy. Things are just things and we only have them to possess for a short time.

[TMo]

One of my coal hoppers is a 40's build (either Erie or Lackawanna) that had EL logos slapped on sometime in the 60's and adopted by Conrail.  Decided this one was going to get the rust treatment.  I've decided that I'm going to a fairly standard practice for weathering:  A coat of Tamiya clear base (brushed off after drying), washes, then powders and finally an application of Dullcote.

   

[TMo]

Another basketball game won, another item weathered.  Decided this Penn Central hopper would have some spotty rust and general decriptitude.  I can't find too many good shots of these hoppers, so I'm sorta ad-libbing.

   

[TMo]

Final pours have been made on the river and other scenery projects in and around the railroad bridge can now commence.  I test fit my abutments and have to do some small adjustments. I'm glad I put that tarp under the layout, I did have some leaks.  More paint to apply before starting in on the puffball tree installation.

   

[tompm]

Todd your rivers/creeks always look great. I could never get the Realistic Water to look that good.

The hoppers came out well.

[TMo]

Gotta add some features to the water so it doesn't look like a lake, but we'll get there. Thanks for the kudos, Tom, should have been able to get to more of my open hopper fleet, but other stuff keeps getting in the way of progress.

[TMo]

Well, I'm letting go.  You are free to bid on it through ebay if you wish at https://www.ebay.com/itm/155447990443.  Anything over $100 that I get for this locomotive will go to Big Blue as a donation.  I don't think we have any D&H modelers, so I don't expect any of you to be in on it.  But, you never know.

As Tom indicated, it's a bit like selling a child.  My wife (already retired) is getting the itch to leave Maryland and only stays because I haven't retired yet.  I expect when I do retire (in roughly 6 years) the drum is going to start beating to move.  She wants to move south where they don't have basements.  The writing is on the wall for my future in model railroading, so there's no sense in keeping stuff I'm not going to use, and if someone can enjoy running this, well that'll bring me a little joy.  Things are just things and we only have them to possess for a short time.

I'm pleased to report that our own Charlie Bowyer is now the proud owner of this beast!  I'll be shipping tomorrow, and it'll stay in the Big Blue community!

[Charlie B]

Well, I'm letting go.  You are free to bid on it through ebay if you wish at https://www.ebay.com/itm/155447990443.  Anything over $100 that I get for this locomotive will go to Big Blue as a donation.  I don't think we have any D&H modelers, so I don't expect any of you to be in on it.  But, you never know.

As Tom indicated, it's a bit like selling a child.  My wife (already retired) is getting the itch to leave Maryland and only stays because I haven't retired yet.  I expect when I do retire (in roughly 6 years) the drum is going to start beating to move.  She wants to move south where they don't have basements.  The writing is on the wall for my future in model railroading, so there's no sense in keeping stuff I'm not going to use, and if someone can enjoy running this, well that'll bring me a little joy.  Things are just things and we only have them to possess for a short time.

I'm pleased to report that our own Charlie Bowyer is now the proud owner of this beast!  I'll be shipping tomorrow, and it'll stay in the Big Blue community!

I will be pleased to have it on the wilderson division. I am surprised it didn't go higher. As for moving south where there are no basements, Gary S in Texas and of course I didn't settle for no basement. I went with pole construction and Gary went conventional time to build 
Charlie

[mr bachmann]

moving to a no basement , good excuse for a garden ....... (er' railroad)