Maybe a Flat Car Load

A look at JSSX 50 foot flatcar 11150.  This one started out as Athearn's blue-box SP model, which I painted and lettered for my shortline, and then of course weathered as well.

I'm thinking of putting a short pair of rails on the deck of the flatcar and now that the hot metal car is finished up, using that as a load load for it.

The hot metal car was a different little project for me. Overall it went pretty well, but I'm not so sure I like the look of the trip pin from the coupler.  Looking closely you'll see short lengths of safety chain dangling from the ends of this model. I brush painted the whole car with Vallejo's Rust Texture paint.

I put a couple of patches on the outside of the tank, just to show that perhaps the at some time molten metal had burned through the fire brick that would line the inside of the tank.  I've left the orange coloured piece that mimics the appearance of molten metal inside the tank, but I can't imagine that the 50 foot flat would support the weight of such a load.

I ordered some 3D printed parts from Phil's Train Layout Store in London, Ontario.  I had seen his postings on facebook, and thought I'd ask him to print some outdoor surveillance cameras for me.  I thought they might make a neat little detail for the outside of some of the industries on the layout.  They might, but I wasn't expecting them to be as small as they are. 

It also occurred to me that maybe some traffic cones might be a good detail as well, so he printed a dozen of those for me as well. They turned out quite nice, and I'll get to painting them soon. Scattered in the foreground of the photo are the surveillance cameras. Painting those white could be a bit of a challenge.

Some Street Running Views

A look down South Industrial Blvd as a day cab hauls a 53 foot trailer

A couple of TBOX's will have to get picked up by the JSSX

And sure enough, the next day the high-hood GP40 happens along

Here's another look with the 7000 on the street, with the crewman getting ready to step down

I notice all the equipment is black in this view.  I had been trying to sell the two NW cars a while ago, but had no takers.  That's fine.  They look good here.

Former CNW GP38, now a leaser engine just entering the street trackage

One of my favourite models in one of my favourite locations on the layout

On facebook this week, I happened across this interesting view of street running in Holyoke, Massachusetts. The picture really held my attention with all the details.

Looks like a CF-7

And here's a video of Susquehanna in Utica, NY, street switching at the brewery.  Includes views of the crew member throwing the switch that's hidden in the street.  Fun to see the train emerge from and then run back inside the building again.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=poynJIQobEI

I hope you do some model railroading this week.

Along the GTW Line

The GTW line here can be a fairly busy area, but on this visit there really was not a whole lot going on as far as I could tell.  Just a couple of boxcars seen along here today.  The building is the Tri-State Paper plant recycling plant.

A look at Tri-State Paper on a rather quiet day as far as rail shipments are concerned.  Looks like an AOK high cube boxcar sitting down there at Door #1.  

Bales of recycled paper are stacked up and slightly visible through the open doors.

In this look, we can also see the rail entrance gate to a scrap metals recycler

The gondola appears to be loaded with non-ferrous metals

That green LRS boxcar is sitting off-spot, likely intended for MidWest Plastics, a plastic molding industry at the next spur

I'm thought I'd also post this link to Lance Mindheim's latest YouTube posting, which I think he put up just on this past Wednesday. Lots of scenes of his Downtown Miami Spur layout, and narration by Lance as well.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RJz9tqfopLs

Oh, and one more thing (a late entry, and nothing much to do with trains)...Brian sent along this photo of one of his new neighbors.

Be careful out there Brian.

Have a good week everyone !

Hot Metal and Auto Parts

Top of the Blog for February will be this older view as a pair of GTW GP38-2's as they switch out the MidWest Plastics plant before I relocated the entire structure module. This location is where Tri-State Paper sits.  I can trade the two facilities back and forth if I want to as they're assembled on the same size footprint.  To do so takes about 5 minutes...well, maybe 10.

The Pollock hot metal car is coming along.  A bit slowly perhaps, but I have made a little progress.

I've painted most of the car.  I used a flat brush to apply Vallejo Rust texture, which due to it's gritty texture simply won't flow through an airbrush. This is 3 coats of the Rust Texture.

The tank sits just loosely on the frame. And the top ladle portion is only press-fitted into place, so it can be easily popped off and the orange "liquid metal" filler removed if desired. The brake wheels (there's one on each side) and the pins (in grey) need to be painted.  Still several more details to be added as well, plus the trucks and wheels of course.

My JBOX 86 foot auto parts car is finished up now, and here it is out on the wilds of the layout. I ran into a bit of a snag with some of the decals, but CMR Products really came through big-time for me, so it's all done now.

This detail shot at one end of the boxcar shows decals used from Microscale for the patch and lettering, PDC decals for the RailBox logo graphics, and CMR Products decals for the data

I'm really happy with the way the rust turned out.

Well, I say this car is complete now, but truth is I may very well add some graffiti to the boxcar as well. And reflective striping too.

That's about it for now.  Happy February everybody.