Since most of us are off today, let's get the photos going now.
Last week I finished the Frozen Christmas for the VMT.
I also finished my Standard Gauge Polar Express Baggage Car.
Our Roanoke Valley Model Railroad Club will have an open house December 3rd and 4th. We are in the basement of the Virginia Museum of Transportation. No admission charge.
Scott Smith
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OK, this week for Thanksgiving, I have something a little bit different. Those of you who are familiar with my layout are aware that I strive to accurately portray the Middle Division of the Pennsylvania Railroad between Harrisburg and Altoona. Over the years, I have taken many trips to the area to photograph the railroad as part of my research to help achieve my goal of realistic modeling.
If you saw my second post last week, you viewed a photograph of my kids standing at the grade crossing at Mattawana, PA along with a photo of the same scene on my layout. So because I’m thankful for my children (uh, most of the time…), I decided to post some more photos of our many trips that we went on when they were young. I had to dig through my files to find these, but here ya go…
First, here is a picture from 2007 at Mifflin PA with the kids standing in front of the former PRR company duplex houses. At the time, my daughter was only 4 and my son was 8. And just below that image is a photo I took last evening of the same scene as painted on my backdrop, including the house to the far right painted in two colors since apparently the owners can’t agree on what color to paint it!
Next, here’s one from about 2012 at Mapleton with the two kids watching a tank train whiz by while my best friend Mitch was doing some railfan photography…
Ok, now here are two of some highway bridges spanning the tracks. These images are ten years old. The first is the PA Route 17 bridge at Millerstown with my daughter wearing her Chessie the cat T-shirt. My son of course has on his PRR T-shirt. The second is of my son standing on the Route 35 bridge at Mifflin pointing out some bridge deck rot. The third is my model of the same bridge which is a very accurate model of the prototype. Notice the three individuals standing on the bridge. That is me, my son, and my daughter! The model girl was a blonde, but since my daughter is a brunette, I repainted her hair! Also, notice the bridge railing, then compare it to that in the second prototype photo. It was a design used by the Pennsylvania Department of Highways between about 1963 and 1968. My son too is into accuracy, so we went out and measured some we found along Route 65 near Pittsburgh. He then did a CADD drawing of it, and created it on the high school 3D printer! Also note that the three figures are standing at almost the exact same spot that my son is standing at on the prototype...
To this day, my son has trains on the brain, and here is a photo of him just a few months ago taking measurements of a PRR Stone arch bridge at Spruce Creek. Uh, he’s grown up a bit, hasn’t he?
And last but not least is my all-time favorite of the kids on one of our rail exploration/research trips. This dates back to 2012 (she was 10 and he was 14). You can see them standing behind our now classic 2000 Mustang GT convertible which I still have. It is the ultimate summertime railfan vehicle. So here they are standing by the tracks between Tuscarora and Thompsontown PA watching an eastbound train whizz by. My son is totally enthralled, but as you can clearly so, my daughter was not so thrilled! I just love this picture! Click on the photo to enlarge it and see her holding her ears and the expression on her face.
Well, that’s it for this week. Hope you all have a happy Thanksgiving!
I'm very thankful to my generous brother-in-law who gave me this present when I arrived at his home for dinner.
I'll have a nice winter project.
Running my C&O M-1 turbine and Golden Gate passenger cars during the Virginia Train Collector's train show last weekend in Midlothian, Va.
Ken
@PRRMiddleDivision posted:OK, this week for Thanksgiving, I have something a little bit different. Those of you who are familiar with my layout are aware that I strive to accurately portray the Middle Division of the Pennsylvania Railroad between Harrisburg and Altoona. Over the years, I have taken many trips to the area to photograph the railroad as part of my research to help achieve my goal of realistic modeling.
If you saw my second post last week, you viewed a photograph of my kids standing at the grade crossing at Mattawana, PA along with a photo of the same scene on my layout. So because I’m thankful for my children (uh, most of the time…), I decided to post some more photos of our many trips that we went on when they were young. I had to dig through my files to find these, but here ya go…
First, here is a picture from 2007 at Mifflin PA with the kids standing in front of the former PRR company duplex houses. At the time, my daughter was only 4 and my son was 8. And just below that image is a photo I took last evening of the same scene as painted on my backdrop, including the house to the far right painted in two colors since apparently the owners can’t agree on what color to paint it!
Next, here’s one from about 2012 at Mapleton with the two kids watching a tank train whiz by while my best friend Mitch was doing some railfan photography…
Ok, now here are two of some highway bridges spanning the tracks. These images are ten years old. The first is the PA Route 17 bridge at Millerstown with my daughter wearing her Chessie the cat T-shirt. My son of course has on his PRR T-shirt. The second is of my son standing on the Route 35 bridge at Mifflin pointing out some bridge deck rot. The third is my model of the same bridge which is a very accurate model of the prototype. Notice the three individuals standing on the bridge. That is me, my son, and my daughter! The model girl was a blonde, but since my daughter is a brunette, I repainted her hair! Also, notice the bridge railing, then compare it to that in the second prototype photo. It was a design used by the Pennsylvania Department of Highways between about 1963 and 1968. My son too is into accuracy, so we went out and measured some we found along Route 65 near Pittsburgh. He then did a CADD drawing of it, and created it on the high school 3D printer! Also note that the three figures are standing at almost the exact same spot that my son is standing at on the prototype...
To this day, my son has trains on the brain, and here is a photo of him just a few months ago taking measurements of a PRR Stone arch bridge at Spruce Creek. Uh, he’s grown up a bit, hasn’t he?
And last but not least is my all-time favorite of the kids on one of our rail exploration/research trips. This dates back to 2012 (she was 10 and he was 14). You can see them standing behind our now classic 2000 Mustang GT convertible which I still have. It is the ultimate summertime railfan vehicle. So here they are standing by the tracks between Tuscarora and Thompsontown PA watching an eastbound train whizz by. My son is totally enthralled, but as you can clearly so, my daughter was not so thrilled! I just love this picture!
Well, that’s it for this week. Hope you all have a happy Thanksgiving!
Great pix and memories, Neal………Happy Thanksgiving!
…….and, of course, fabulous painting and modeling!
Peter
More picstures from the Virginia Train Collectors show from last weekend….
Today, I’ve been packing up my Christmas trains for our Science Museum of Virginia show this weekend…..
More pics to follow through the weekend…..
Peter
Big Six bros, we ride!
I am starting to scenic the "North 40" Meaning the four into two track main line that runs against the north wall of the layout room. The "40" comes from the length of all the tracks in feet. Yeah, that's stretching it a bit. The wall will be lined with building flats, that will not be cheek by jowl per the usual Model RR practie but will have signficant gaps between them as in real life. The front of the section will also have several similarly placed buildings. Varying the heights of the buidlings and staggering the gaps will make it less obvious that the tracks are up against the wall. Further enhacing the effect will be a row of girders flanking the tracks designed to the impression the track is elevated above ground level.
This is an end view of the section.
Which you can see is nowhere near complete. The building you see is inspired by Edward Hopper's "View from the Willlamsburg Bridge"
Here is one of the buildings that will be against the wall.
It will end at the nearest yellow tape in the above photograph
During Thanksgiving dinner, my wife got something on a doily her late grandmother had made, so she had to wash it. She didn't want it to shrink as it dries, and I said I might have something to help:
One of these rail pieces is from the White Pass and Yukon RR.
Thanksgiving 2003, we spotted these lucky turkeys in our backyard:
But in the basement, trains were running:
Just arrived home from Thanksgiving with the family. First priority was to see what’s on the Forum. Two models of recent locomotives are in this video from my archives.
Providence & Worcester GP-38-2 #2007 and GP-40-2 #3001 are MTH Premier models with PS3. I purchased #3001 (20-21020-1, MSRP $499.95) in 2019 and #2007 several years before. The video shows them running conventionally on my 12’-by-8’ layout with Boston & Maine cabooses.
The Providence & Worcester Railroad was chartered in Massachusetts and Rhode Island in 1844. It is presently a Class II railroad that operates in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut and New York. I often used to see P&W #2006 in New Haven prior to the 2016 acquisition of the Providence & Worcester Railroad by Genesee & Wyoming, Incorporated – but not since then. P&W #2006 looked like the MTH model of #2007.
MELGAR
Here's my photos for this fine weekend! Thanks Scott for getting us rolling! 
Peter Love the extended Christmas caboose, did you do it your self ?
"In my little town, I grew up believing, God has his eye on us all." Paul Simon
@PRRMiddleDivision posted:I just love this picture! Click on the photo to enlarge it and see the expression on her face.
Well, that’s it for this week. Hope you all have a happy Thanksgiving!
Neal - looks like she’s trying to plug her ears to block the noise.
@Mark V. Spadaro posted:Neal - looks like she’s trying to plug her ears to block the noise.
Indeed she was.
A 2021 Christmas Layout memory 
walt
@Putnam Division posted:Great pix and memories, Neal………Happy Thanksgiving!
…….and, of course, fabulous painting and modeling!
Peter
Thanks, Peter! I saw your group’s layout at York. It was quite impressive. I’m sorry I didn’t run into you but hope you are well and had a happy Thanksgiving.!
The Magooville town council floated a bond referendum for grade crossing improvements, but it was voted down as $1.65 was deemed far too extravagant.
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