Weekend Photo Fun 11-15-13-??

Wow Scott you found some of us night owl's still up.

Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend.

The newest beer reefer from MTH

LI work cars for the MP-15...

Happy weekend to all!

A few shots from around the station:

Going home after a hard day's work.

This is the one photo I took from those that appeared in the recent OGR Magazine feature.

NS Dash-9 9716 splits the Pennsy signals on the old Middle Division w/ eastbound 20T -

New postwar pickup of the week - 6825 flatcar w/ bridge -

2026 leads set 1453WS from 1949 past a 445 switch tower -

Added a couple more shelves in the train room -

Cuteness Overload -

Week 4's activities towards creating 2013 Christmas layout memories!

-walt

Walt, looks like things are shaping up nicely!  Can't wait to see some pix of the completed layout with some tinplate on it! 

Here are some pix from last Sunday's Greenberg show in Monroeville, PA:

Here are the Lionel (left) and MTH (right) NS-PRR Heritage cabin cars:

Andy

Have a great weekend everyone!

These two guys need to trade houses and cut their drive times.

My Disney Toy Story rebuild from a few months back. I rebuilt the cab and tender.

Just need to build the other cars now......wish I could have gotten a few of those $5 coaches from last Saturday's Lionel event. 

Bill, I always appreciate it when you post photos of the spectacular Elliotte Refinery.

Last week, John Sethian asked a question regarding a "rack" of crossarms just to the left of my new NS Heritage PRR unit.  I had no photos of to post of the trackside detail to post at the time, but I shot off a few yesterday, so now I can answer the question.

What you were seeing was a line pole installation designed to span waterways.  I have photos of the prototype (which I will try to locate and post later).  I studied them for a long time before I finally figured out what was going on.  Basically, the pole line was installed as a suspension bridge.  On the end "towers", two upright poles were used, and the crossarms were mounted low on the uprights, with crossbracing mounted above.  Three sets of anchor wires were used to resist the pull of the suspended section.

Two crossarm assemblies were suspended from the suspension wires that spanned the creek.  These carried both the usual communication wires attached to the insulators as well as two heavier co-axial cables attached below the crossarms.

I scratchbuilt the entire structure using Weaver line pole kits and, Evergreen styrene strips, gray thread, and twine dyed black.

I never saw the real intallation which was torn down my Conrail in the 1980's, and figured I would never get to see a real one.  I was proven wrong when my son and I rode the California Zephyr out west.  My son who shares my model railroading interest started yelling out to me as we crossed a dry stream bed where the line poles crossed the chasm by means of an installation very similar to the one I modeled on the layout.  Eventually, we saw 3 or 4 or these, and it was very gratifying to see that my modeling assumptions made on the basis of some old phtographs was correct.

So John, that is the story of what you saw in the photos last week.

I caught this old timer pulling switching duty in Sioux City Ia.

"Walt, looks like things are shaping up nicely!  Can't wait to see some pix of the completed layout with some tinplate on it!  "

Andy, ditto!!!!

- walt

Walt, have you secured your inventory of tinplate trains yet? Curious to know what you will be running on your 2013 Edition of your Christmas layout.

Happy weekend everyone!

RayMarion

The photos are great this week! Not a clinker in the bunch.

Christopher, I agree about the cuteness overload.

Neal, your pole line makes me want to violate the Commandment not to covet my neighbor's goods.  That's the signature of your railroad.  Ten more merits will be awarded to your personal record.

Neal

Thanks for taking the time to answer my question.  I now understand what's going on! I am always amazed at some of the engineering solutions the railroads came up with to solve problems. And of course, exquisite modeling on your part!

John 

Steve

Nice Gon.  What is the origin of those weeds to the left of the gondola?

Put some leds from Evan Designs in the North Pole Express' crack streamliner, "The Reindeer," observation car:

Pete

Hi John.

What is the origin of those weeds to the left of the gondola?

I have been know to modify fish tank plants, LOL!

They are plastic and snapped onto a plastic (10"x10" ?) frame sheet.

Each one can be removed, cut, painted and planted anywhere.

Side Track called me last night and said my tin-plate Christmas Freight set just arrived.  They are going to test it and then ship it.

thanks for asking

- walt

Walt is that a Rum and Coke I see there while your setting up your layout!

Glad to see you are enjoying yourself! 

Here are some shots of the Broadway limited overhead my small town.

Brian, Thank you so much for the kind words. Alan Graziano really out did himself on the Oil Refinery and he accented it with all the lights. Good thing Alan also built the coal mine and Power generating station to help keep the operating expenses reasonable.

Thanks again Brian, Bill

Here is one of my all time favorite pictures. It is scanned from a National Geographic add. I don't recall the date or issue but I think it was the late 1940's.

I would love to find a print of the original art used for the add. Does any one recognize it or know who the artist was?

Enjoy!

Sam

Walt Looks great! will you be able to post a video when completed?

James  

My first contribution to weekend photo fun. I have a certified Crappy Basement Layout. Dual Oil Tanks, Furnace, Water Heater within 5 feet of my place of solitude and HD TV.

Here are some more shots showing what me and the kids refer to as "Chunk O' Scenery".  These are large pieces of laminated pink foam, carved and rasped to shape, then taken to the workshop for application of ground foam.  Here's a photo of my daughter Caroline holding one, then the same piece installed on the layout.  Some are much larger than this, but she was not around when I shot the photos, and I was anxious to get it installed, so you'll have to settle for this fairly small chunk.  I'll try to post more photos of a bigger "Chunk O' Scenery later.

One nice thing about this concept is that we lay chunks portraying slopes on their sides while adding the landscaping materials.  This prevents the diluted glue solution from washing away the ground foam and creating gullies.

After a break for the Veterans Day Holiday, the paint crew resumed work on the Hale Gate Bridge. The job is taking some time, but they do only have O-gauge brushes.

I see these gondolas all the time from the LIRR on the Babylon branch heading past Hillside into Jamaica. I would love to have a couple of them!

Can we see the switch? This looks interesting.

Hey Walt.  I think I see where you get the motivation to do the layout!  Is it our old pal "Sam Adams" in the glass?   Looking good buddy!

Happy weekend , weathered Lionel Steam shovel