CHTT Waffle Boxcar

Here, JSSX GP38-2 #508 (ex Florida East Coast) has coupled onto that 50 foot Chattahoochie Industrial waffle sided boxcar, shortly before delivering it to the local printing plant.  The JSSX yard is made up of the interchange track that the geep is occupying, the adjacent storage track, and in the foreground, the runaround track.  I used blue decal film to "paint out" the FEC hurricane logo, but now I kind of wish I'd left it visible.

The high-cube boxcars in the background are in the GT yard, which is separated from that of the JSSX by a roadway, fencing, and a line of telephone poles.

A better view of the CIRR boxcar. I picked this up used at a train show, at the time thinking it was a Roundhouse car (it came in a Roundhouse box) but have since been told it was made by Walthers.  I did the weathering with burnt sienna water-mixable oil colours.  Hard to see here, but I used PanPastels on the roof.

Wordless Wednesday #002

Weathered a couple of gondolas for fellow modeler Ron McCormick over the past couple of weeks.  This former BCOL gondola has been sold and re-lettered to his BCR.  Patching the reporting marks was done by painting flat black over the "OL" and adding the "R", albeit in a different letter size. The gon started out in a bright but deep green colour, which I've flattened down to near black. I've left a few panels in a weathered green to look as though they've been re-painted at some time.

The 2nd gondola has been beaten down with rust and dirt from it's original bright GTW blue.  Then, some of the grime has been removed, allowing just a bit of the blue to show through, hopefully to somewhat simulate that perhaps for some reason a couple of panels have been washed using high pressure water jetting. This gondola would fit in nicely with the other GTW cars I have on my layout. If I had a scrap yard on my railroad (hmmm), I'd probably make Ron an offer to purchase his car!

The 2 gondolas together. The wheels and trucks have been weathered too, although they show better in the first 2 pictures than they do here.

These "drone view" pictures show the weathering I've done inside the gondolas. The insides are rusty, but too clean, so just for good measure, I've made a couple of drop-in false floors for them as well. The drop-ins are rusted, but feature some leftover dirt, a few rusted metal scraps and a bit of gravel from previous ladings.  Now Ron can decide which way he'd like the insides to appear.

JSSX yard engine 1317 is working on the left, and to the right a GT train is moving down the main track, ditch lights on, with 11 cars. A few years ago, I read a suggestion about train lengths that I thought made sense on a layout the size of mine. The idea I've put into practice is to limit train length to two cars per axle of engine power. The layout is not very big, so this "rule" feels "about right", and actually helps to enhance operation in some instances, as it forces me to think through some switching jobs beforehand.

Looks like 1317 is pulling a couple of covered hoppers out of the JSSX yard.  They are likely headed for storage somewhere, as the grain mill on the railway was recently sold (and removed).  Management has yet to decide what to do with these two cars and two other covered hoppers which are all lettered JSSX.  The gondola is loaded with new railway ties for the shortline.

 Wordless Wednesday #001

The ditch lights from GT SD38-2 illuminate the B-end of Chattahoochee Industrial boxcar 2637 as it is transferred over to the JSSX.  Loaded with rolls of paper, the waffle-sided boxcar will be spotted the next day at the local printing plant.

I had the ditch lights installed just recently as part of a program of upgrades to my locomotive fleet. I'm really pleased with the difference they make to the appearance of the engines on my layout.

With switcher 1317 sitting idle, GP38-2 #508 has just left the JSSX engine shed and is rolling under the overhead sand hopper on it's way out to pick up a short cut of cars that have just come in from the GT.  The sand hopper was acquired from friend Luc Sabourin's BRAR railroad.  Soon, the 508 will be temporarily removed from service to have LED ditch lights added below the front walkway.

This SW 1200 was given to me by Bruce Peachey long ago, as an undecorated Proto 2000 model.  After the model sat in my storage cupboard for several years, I finally asked Sean Steele if he would take it, a box full of Juneco parts that I accumulated, and a decoder and put it all together for me.  I  also asked that he paint it for me as CN 1317, but without the CN logo on the hood.  Sean certainly did an outstanding job.  The idea was that the JSSX had purchased the locomotive from CN, and as such, it now sees regular service on the short local trains for which the JSSX is known.  One of these days I'll have to get around to adding wipers and mu hoses.

The JSSX operates as a local railway, serving half a dozen industrial customers,and interchanging with the Grand Trunk. For locomotive power, JSSX is currently using a previously owned GP38-2 (ex FEC) and SW 1200 (ex CN).  A variety of leased locomotives are commonly seen on the railway as well.