5/17/2016
RPI Op Session
Just One Look
I shot 23K with the 1086 at three locations later into the overnight, ending up in Afton, NY of all places! Over five hours drive away from home in Hinesburg. It was around 2 a.m. and I was not liking the locations I had come down here to shoot 23k within. What to do? I opted to head back north toward the train I wanted to shoot to look around Bainbridge, the next town north of Afton. In railfan circles this is not considered to be the best idea in this situation, as you are “inviting” the train you want to shoot to suddenly appear as you drive back towards it. Bainbridge is less than ten miles away, so I take rte. 7 leaving Afton and do not make the time consuming drive going back out to the Interstate. This move likely saved me from missing the attached photo!
I had visited Bainbridge years ago, remembered the D&H station and more importantly, how to find it at night! Pulling into the parking lot across from the station I was reminded of the lyrics to the hit song.......”Just One Look”, made popular by Doris Troy and more recently Linda Ronstadt.................”Just one look, that’s all it took yeah, just one look”. Here were the ingredients for a night photo, location shown by the town offices sign on the ex-D&H station, the American flag flying and the main line up close, ensuring no mistake on the viewers part what the subject is. Very similar to Elm St. crossing in Hoosick Falls! The only restriction I had to work around was a sign to my immediate left limiting the angle I had available to include the station canopy with.
So I go about setting up the lighting, have maybe five flash units in place when I hear an air horn off to the north of town! Jeesome Crow! They are here I thought to myself. I drag the stepladder out of the rear of the Civic, making a considerable racket with unused light stands tossed around in the process. Spot the stepladder next to the sign with the tiny Ricoh GR already around my neck. A couple test shots look promising! I walk over and move my mark up closer, then return to the car to grab another already assembled flash unit/light stand and place it third or fourth down the line of flashes in the parking lot to the right. Now 23K is obviously close by, in town, whistling for grade crossings. The air horn blasts are close together, indicating they might be moving faster than when I shot them earlier and they were going by slowly. Another test shot atop the stepladder with the adjusted lighting looks surprisingly good!
I can hear the diesels, but can not see headlights looking up the track maybe 1/8 mi. to a curve............. then the crossing signals activate directly behind me! An “eyebrow raiser” for sure! I know what this implies, and think to myself..........OH,OH! LOL! Headlight glow appears as another grade crossing is whistled for, lighting up the curve and I fire off the lighting to alert the crew. Around the curve comes 23K in the form of 1086s headlights! Handholding the Ricoh GR, I’m watching the level indicator on the rear and glancing at the approaching 1086 with my mark seen above the camera across the tracks and again think.......OH,OH, as 1086 quickly descends into the scene, its engineer whistling for the crossing behind me! I know enough to press the shutter release when 1086s pilot plow is “around” my mark, at this speed, close is good enough! Then the power is by me, containers rolling by. Up atop the stepladder is a smiling Gary looking at this image! Shot in Bainbridge, NY on April 13, 2016 at 03:00. Please enjoy! Comments are welcomed.
All The Best In 2016;
Gary Knapp
4/19/2016
Build a Static Grass Applicator
I wanted a static grass applicator, $40 or $130??! I built one for five dollars and 30 minutes of work! Here's the article Build a Static Grass Applicator for Model Train Scenery It works great, see my results above!
Enjoy,
Rob D
Model Spike Drums
These metal spike barrels were prevalent in the '80's after the ones contained in wooden barrels were used up. Grandt Line N scale oil barrels can be used but a more accurate, cheap and time effective way is to use Evergreen Styrene 1/8" tubing. I simply cut the pieces 2' (scale) tall, thinned the walls to a more protypical thickness, filled the bottoms with Squadron putty and painted them appropriately.
Prototype example from Bellows Falls.
Enjoy,
Wayne Sittner
3/29/2016
Progress Report Photos
Above is my version of the bridge over Lake Memphremagog in Newport, Vermont. It's no where the what the real bridge looks like, but I like this one better!
Enjoy, Rob
3/23/2016
Doug Dederick- Great Northern RR Kalispell Division
Hudson- Berkshire Division visited the N Scale Great Northern RR Kalispell Division of Doug Dederick's basement empire. The amount of progress that has been made is impressive. New track work, new scenery, new structures - and operating sessions have all been the goal of Doug's endeavors as he looks toward hosting at the HBD PACEMAKER Convention in September.
New Company, Scale Trains
Relive the Golden Years of model railroading with Kit Classics™ freight car kits. When you assemble these simple kits, you’ll rediscover fond memories of power packs, sectional track, shake-the-box kits, and dreams of creating your own model railroad empire.super-detail parts are available separately.
As part of the ScaleTrains Kit Classics freight car series, the Evans 5100 cf Boxcar is designed to be affordable, easy-to-assemble, and rugged for years of enjoyment.
Features
- Multiple road numbers
- Separately applied handbrake wheel
- Finely cast underbody and brake system
- ASF Ride Control Trucks
- Machined metal wheels
- Body-mounted semi-scale Type E knuckle couplers
- Replacement parts available
- Minimum radius 18”
Introduced during the late 1960s, the Evans 5100 Cubic Foot (cf) Insulated Double-Plug-Door Boxcar was created to meet the growing demands of shippers. Heavy interior insulation and optional internal load restraints led to the Association of American Railroads (AAR) classification of "RBL” - Refrigerator, Bunkerless, equipped with Load restraining equipment. These cars were designed to protect cargo from the elements and extreme temperature swings without the use of mechanical refrigeration or heating equipment.
The 16' wide door opening made loading and unloading easier plus the closed double-plug-doors created a smooth, sealed opening inside the car. In addition, these cars included cushioned underframes so they were popular with shippers of delicate items like canned goods, bottled products and foodstuffs. Shippers of finished lumber such as wood veneers also found these cars useful to protect their delicate products while in transit. The Evans 5100 cf Boxcar helped prevent warpage and other damage that would be possible when shipped via plain boxcars or flatcars.
Developed from builder blueprints and extensive photo documentation, this freight car kit represents a typical Evans-built 5100 cubic foot RBL boxcar or USRE "clone". "Clones" were built in USRE facilities to Evans specs. Lasting from the late 1960s well into the 2000s, the Evans 5100 cf Boxcar has served a variety of railroads and private owners. On your layout, they will be at home servicing industries including canneries, beverage bottlers or distributors, food distributors, lumber mills, and lumber distributors. They can also be used as "bridge" traffic between originating and destination railroads. In short, these cars could be found on nearly every railroad in North America during their lifetime.
Op Session At Brad's
March 3rd we had a nice little Op Session at Brad Peterson's Southern Adirondack. I worked the Round Lake Paper job.
3/01/2016
Lehigh Valley Gondola 33308
I had the good fortune to find myself in JP's Trains & Hobbies last Thursday (Latham, NY) where I discovered and bought this model. While I don't jump on many of the newer (high priced) offerings, when I see ones this accurate, I consider them a must have.
Tangent has included a detailed history of these Bethlehem Steel built cars from their original construction date in 1952 to their ultimate demise in the mid-eighties. They offer the model in the original scheme: product number 10918 (01-06) and in the 1973 repaint scheme 19911 (13-16). Something for your era whatever it is!
As with many of the newer companies this offering comes with complete under-frame detail, cut-levers and separate grab irons, etc. It even has the load tie-downs along the top cord and, of course, accurate truck side-frames.
I chose to get the 1970's version since I had already built a fairly accurate early version many years ago. Remembering what it took to build that car (photo 4) I consider this model from Tangent to be a bargain! Photo 5 is from a slide I took in Port Jervis 4/81 when this car was about at the end of it's useful life.
Note: I scrap steel load is my own fabrication (see my how-to in RMC 8/2013)
Wayne Sittner
Savannah & Atlanta Heritage
The Savannah & Atlanta Heritage engine made two appearances on Pan Am Southern (PAS) in February. The first visit the unique engine trailed in the power consist of 22K and counterpart 23K going to and from Ayer, MA. Last Saturday morning though, the unit made a surprise return onto PAS leading the same two trains! I watched reported internet sightings on Sunday afternoon regarding 23Ks progress in getting its train ready to depart westbound, as 23K normally makes a “middle of the night” appearance on the PAS west end where I planned to catch it. True to form, 23K was reported through Shirley, MA., just west of Ayer around 18:30. I figured around eight hours over to the Hoosick Falls area.
Arriving after the two and a half hour drive down around midnight thirty, I checked out a location I was interested in at Hoosick, didn't like it enough to ignore Hoosick Falls though, and drove back into the Falls! I picked a location shown to me by Cully, just south of the Elm St. crossing and as I was setting up the signal down at the south end of town changed from green to red, indicating either something was coming, or the Dispatcher had lined the route for something coming! Either way definitely this was a promising sign. The weather overnight? Very windy, from the south, featuring temps in the mid-forties with clear skies! Hard to believe this night marked the last gasp for February! No evidence to be found of snow! But............no complaints from me! It could easily be well below zero air temperature with a wind from the north this time of year! Once the lighting set up was completed, I had around a ninety minute wait before I heard a nice melodic air horn way off in the distance!
Once they went past the detector south of town the long pause before the detector reported no defects gave evidence of a long train length, a dead give away for 23K which has been very long lately when I have seen them. Single containers and trailers on flat cars comprise the trains consist which is operated between Ayer, MA. and Chicago in partnership with Norfolk Southern, (NS) hence the appearance of the NS Heritage locomotives on PAS from time to time! Not long after 23K cleared the detector headlights were gleaming down the grade south of town! Once the cab was in sight I fired off the lights for the crews benefit and tried framing up the shot handholding the GR as 23K blew for the series of grade crossings encountered coming towards me through Hoosick Falls. As the 1056 passed over Center St. just below me, I watched looking over the top of the GR as its pilot plow reached my mark, the lights did their thing, and the reflected red and white nose decal jumped out at me from the black paint! Success!
After a waiting period for the long consist to clear I got down off the stepladder to inspect the shot more closely and liked what I saw! What a treat to capture images of “one of a kind” members of the Heritage Fleet! I was going to start picking up the equipment when I noticed the signal south of town stayed red? This must mean 11R is coming I concluded as the two trains normally are seen close together this time of night, or........it could be the empty Grain Train returning from Ayer also! In any event, I waited to see what cometh, and was glad I did. Shot in Hoosick Falls, NY on February 29, 2016 at 03:38. Please enjoy! Comments are welcomed. Thanks to Cully for the location!
All The Best In 2016;
Gary Knapp
Mark Oliviere's D&H
Here's a few pictures of some of Mark's work. If your going to have a "beer train" you better have the Burgers, Beer & Q crew on board!
Rob D
Modern Yardmaster
Rob D
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