a picture a day....

For today: " Meet Mr. Willis ... the tower operator."

dmestan posted:

sidehack posted:

snaking through the industrial canyon

Ray,

I always likes how you had tracks running between buildings.  I assume this is your same layout from several years ago.

Don

Don yes my layout room has been locked up for several years but now with my retirement I am lucky enough to have the time to do whatever I please whenever. I have missed not using my creative skills, the new direction is I have installed Legacy (No Legacy engines just yet) and into 3D printing to be able to make much of what I can dream up. Have made a brewery and am now working on a hotel facade for the rear of the layout. Starting with the left side for now.

Someone said "for the most part, people don’t retire any more, they purposely just evolve."  I think this is true.

15 years ago 

BAR GP7 #63 posted:

Now thats' cool! Track modelling is most often hidden by locos and rolling stock. Nice work Johan! 

PAUL ROMANO posted:

BAR GP7 #63 posted:

Now thats' cool! Track modelling is most often hidden by locos and rolling stock. Nice work Johan! 

Paul. Thank you very much. 🤝

Johan

Another work in progress.  This car began as an Atlas undec. The decals are a mixture of my own artwork along with Microscale car data, lube plates, and aci badges. 

In reality, the cars we used to spot at Acme were PS low side 3 bay covered hoppers, but I think these fantasy cars are much sharper. 

For today: " Load of ties and a J."

"Big Blows in Green River!"

And facing the other way a couple minutes later:

It's like Christmastime chez gazer. I found another whole box of Dad's pics and these are just a couple of them. Lots more to come. 

"The Drumhead."

10-11yr old me posing with it.

I posted photos of this project on the January 3rd “weekend photo fun” thread. It is still not finished, but it is such a mess already I may not do much more to it.  When “he” arrives, my O scale cowboy will replace the current fireman...still looking for the correct spark arrestors...still looking for one headlight lens I dropped on the wood floor, and so on.  Actually, still looking for a quality GP7 with no steam boiler nor dynamics.  Frisco had a few boiler equipped GP7’s, but this MTH RailKing GP7 is really more like a GP9 with about 3x the engine room louvers to get in the way of the decal work. 

                                      Bridges-  Red & White Lines at NJ Hirailers.

                                                                  MY PHOTO

For today: " The MOW spur."

Hobo Harold enters tunnel and meets a couple of fellow travelers

          hope the hobo's got out of the way in time...

"FPAs in Butler."

FPA #4017 and her sister #4015 at the station in Butler, Pa on the point of an excursion train, c. mid-50s.

And for sure it is Butler. Zooming in:

Running around the train at the end of the outward leg:

Notice the very interesting open-side car:

I have pics of standard Mill-Gondolas on B&O excursion trains and here is a flat car with a homemade wood superstructure. My cousin Kent foreground and my uncle Glen behind/above with a movie camera....both gone many years ago.

A bad night near the crossing. Hope he was wearing a helmet! GP7 passing behind..

"RDCs to Johnstown."

C. '64-'65 the B&O did an excursion from Pittsburgh to Johnstown using a pair of their RDCs. Pittsburgh to Rockwood on the Mainline and then on the Johnstown branch through Somerset.

A familiar face:

Arrival in Johnstown:

Where we rode an electric trolley-bus across town:

And then rode the Incline to the top of the mountain:

A very neat thing about RDCs is the view out the front door:

Pic obviously taken on the Mainline. Brakeman's or Flagman's  silhouette on the right.

On the single-track Johnstown branch here. Again, probably the Brakeman's silhouette on the right. There is a door between the photographer and the Engineer and a door in front of the Engineer to enable passage through multiple cars.

RDCs were really a bit of pinnacle-technology that never was given justice in our hard World where the private automobile reigns supreme. Smooth, quiet, fast, air-conditioned and you just MU'ed as many as demand required without worrying about motive power. Powered by two 6-100 Detroit Diesels slung underneath with a quick-disconnect system they were easy to maintain.

On Edit: Thinking about it, the Engineer has to be seated in order to properly reach the throttle, brake lever and whistle cord as well as keep his foot on the deadman's-pedal so in the pics he is to the right of the center door/window. This was in the days of five man crews so that is most likely the Brakeman and Flagman seen in silhouette.

One finished product, and the start of some more cars.  Once again, these are “what if” cars from a real railroad.  

The QA&P did occasionally haul water in their own tank car from Roaring Springs, TX  but I cannot find a photo I once saw of that car.

In reality the gypsum hauling hopper would have been caked with much more gunk, but I did not want it that realistic.

This is fun!

For today: " Working the yard."

For today: " Heavy lifting."

Forgot to put this one in F E F yesterday so here it is:

At the Chicago Museum of Science&Industry a '56 Plymouth, the Pioneer Zephyr and the U 505, the only German U-Boat captured during the War. I remember viewing a movie taken by Navy people of the capture. The Captain had opened the scuttle valves but our guys shut them in time to save the boat. The Zephyr was open and I remember walking through it and looking at the Winton 201A inline-8 Diesel engine.

Permission to post this pic (taken by Sean Lamb) has been granted by Wikipedia under Creative Commons license.

The Winton 8 cylinder 201A engine was rated at 600 HP and it powered the train to an incredible 112.5 mph on one section during the maiden voyage from Denver to Chicago. The whole train weighed 104 tons.

Cab view of switch and water tower area

"Over&Under"

An excursion train drawn by Shawmut SW9s proceeding over the B&O bridge over the Allegheny River at Mosgrove, Pa:

The same train now on the Shawmut  passing under the B&O Mosgrove bridge:

The open car was kit-bashed by B&O shop guys who added a wood and steel superstructure to a B&O flatcar:

I need moar train-room wall space because some of these pics I just found really need a home there.

For today: "Monday morning in Patsburg."

cab view VO1000 switching at the REMCO pump factory 

The first of two 8000 gallon tank cars for dedicated water hauling service out of Roaring Springs, TX. 
Even though this is another one of my make-believe cars, it is based on a real QA&P tank car used for the above stated purpose. 

OK - so that realtor might have exaggerated just a little bit when she said..."Its in a really quiet neighborhood"

  Don

geysergazer posted:

"Over&Under"

An excursion train drawn by Shawmut SW9s proceeding over the B&O bridge over the Allegheny River at Mosgrove, Pa:

        

The same train now on the Shawmut  passing under the B&O Mosgrove bridge:

        

The open car was kit-bashed by B&O shop guys who added a wood and steel superstructure to a B&O flatcar:

        

I need moar train-room wall space because some of these pics I just found really need a home there.

Lew, That is neat over on the B&O and under on Shawmut.  I know where this is too.