JSSX 126 is Done. Finally.

Well, here it is...finally.  My beaten up SD7 is done and lettered for my JSSX shortline.  This engine is of course weathered to look rough, but it runs really well, although it has stumbled a bit on a couple of Atlas switches.

Another trouble with it is that the clips that hold the couplers (Kadee #158's) in place are so tight that the couplers wouldn't swing side to side.  I found some old clips from an Athearn blue box GP38 and tried them, and they're a lot better, although they don't really fit perfectly either.  If anyone has had similar trouble to this and you know a proper solution, I'd really like to hear it.

Oh, and JSSX management (me) has numbered the engine 126 for my late little brother Larry's birthday. Just something I had wanted to do for a long time.

I won't get into a whole review of how things progressed with this project, but here's a picture of what things looked like as it was undecorated coming out of the box.The undecorated shell, chassis, and a bagful of parts.  I tried to count how many detail parts I put on the finished engine, and I think it was 65 separate parts.  But that's plus handrails, window glass, couplers, and decals.  And paint of course.  Seemed like it took forever to get this finished up.

So here's 126 sitting just outside of the JSSX maintenance building.  I removed the white stripes that I had originally applied along the sill and showed last week.  I've replaced them with the ones that we see here, which are just a bit more narrow than that first try.  I feel that these look a little better.

Side view among some of the stuff at my short line's terminal.

126 coming round the bend with a couple of tank cars in tow.

A view of the short end of 126 starting to earn it's keep moving those tank cars.

During a run-around before heading back to the terminal

So, that's about it for now.

Thanks for looking in, and have a good week out there.

Two or Three Things

I received a couple of packages this past week.  First, some modern type graffiti decals were in the mailbox from Circus City Decals.  I'd never used any from that supplier before.  They're look to be pretty nice decals.  I won't be using the skull part of the "ICH" decal, just 'cuz it's kind of a personal policy of mine (long story).  I'll just trim that part off.

The decal at the bottom of the picture here is made to cover pretty much the whole side of a covered hopper. But I do have to figure out which model of covered hopper it might fit best.

I also received these two new RBOX cars that I bought from another modeler through a Facebook group.Two Intermountain RBOX cars.  These two cars have maybe the goofiest couplers I've seen on a model.  All metal, they don't open, or couple.  Or at least I couldn't get them to do that.  Maybe that's why the seller wanted to sell them.  Regardless, some great weathering possibilities here for future projects.

Oh well, if you haven't gotten used to changing out couplers, then you probably haven't been in the hobby for very long.

The SD7 has steadily moved a little closer to being a "finished project.  As a reminder, here's how it looked when I started on it:

And as it sits today, painted and mostly weathered.  So far I've added over 40 of the detail parts that came with the Proto 2000 kit.  And still just a few more to go, including pilots, number boards, and reporting mark decals.

The white stripes look rather overpowering right now, but they will quiet down when I get them sprayed with some grime.  I didn't want to use yellow stripes because the other JSSX engines have white ones and I thought I'd like to keep that consistent.  The green tape on the windows is to keep clear gloss from getting on the "glass" when I spray that in preparation for some  decaling on that grey patch just below the cab windows.

That's all this time.  Happy Easter !

New GP40 arrived

Right off the top here, I'll admit to feeling kind of stupid for previously referring to my SD7 locomotive project as an SD9.  Not that I know how to tell the difference from one to the other by looking at the prototype, but SD7 is stamped pretty clearly on the Proto box.

Anyway, that assembly and weathering process continues...

In other news, despite promising myself that I don't need any more engines, I received a "new" (that is new to me) GP40 this week.  I bought this one used from our friend Brian Smith.

So here's a few looks at my new CN 9303:Clean and shiny

Running on the layout for the first time.  It arrived set up really nicely for running at slow speeds, it's going to be terrific for switching.  One thing I would like to change though is to shut the sound off kind of permanently, 'cuz I really don't like the noise.  I always think that the engines with "sound" are just too tinny sounding for my liking.  The need more of a bass sound.

CN 9303 really is too clean looking though.  I suppose I'll change that soon enough.

Also, I was really happy to see George Dutka when he stopped by for a nice visit as he was passing through Sarnia recently.  George is an awesome modeler and he brought me a gift of a couple of RMC magazines that he has had articles in this year.  In the March 2026 issue, George has a real nice article on weathering roofs, and he very kindly mentioned me in the story.  

Thanks so much George.  Always so good to see you.

Have a great week out there everybody !

Some RBOX's on the Layout

Work continues (still slowly) on my SD9. Maybe more on that one next time.  In the meantime, here are a few looks at some RBOX's that have been out and about on the layout.

RBOX 31224 sitting off-spot just outside of the paper recycler.

RBOX 31856 has some sealant on the roof seams.

RBOX 31916 in a nice view of the roof

RBOX 37073.  (actually, I just sold this one)

And a couple of 60 foot ABOX cars as well...

ABOX 51114 at Tri-State Paper.

ABOX 51091 sitting on South Industrial Blvd. some time ago.

Have a good week everyone.  Spring is finally here.  Yay.

A Little SD7 Progress

Work continues on my ex-SP ex-Willamette & Pacific SD7 that the JSSX acquired.  Being an undecorated kit locomotive, I'm finding it a bit tricky doing the painting and installing the parts, but as I chip away at it progress is made.  Here's the inspiration photo of the prototype.

I know my model will not turn out exactly like the prototype (Richard Gibson photo), but hopefully it will at the least be an interesting and plausible, well-worn addition to the JSSX fleet.

Here's a few photos of my progress:

I've painted the area including the grilles in white, similar to what the W&P did. I know it looks quite stark here, but the eventual weathering will take care of that.

I tried putting the wide white stripe below the dynamic brake where the Willamette & Pacific lettering is located, but thought it looked horrible, so the JSSX has painted over the stripe with black. Maybe a shade of grey different from the body colour would be better.

As for the parts, on the roof so far I've installed 6 fans, 2 horns, the cooling piping assembly, and 13 eyebolts.

I've got the SP "wings" on the nose.  I used Microscale decals for those.  I carefully cut them out, lightly sprayed them with the grey paint that I used on the shell, and then sprayed with the same SP Scarlet that I used on the nose, and yet the colour doesn't quite match the nose.  I'll still need to paint the trucks and fuel tank in grey.

That's about it so far on the SD9.  I did some switching on the layout this week, so I thought I'd show this one picture from that.

Moscow, Camden & San Augustine boxcar spotted at the rail dock.  I don't know what they make or do in this place, but it gets kind of tricky to get the boxcar in there with a run around in the street followed by a switch back that involves pulling cars out from the neighboring industry.

Happy March Break everybody !

 

This and That

 Just going to show a few looks from around the layout

Sure appears that this one-time Gulf station has probably seen better days. I kind of kitbashed the kit by boarding up the windows, left a couple of them open, and added the graffiti scribbles.  For the roof, I cut a piece of cardstock to fit and took that piece outside to burn the hole at the back edge of it. I forget the name of the kit manufacturer, but I believe they've gone out of business.

A glimpse inside Door #2 at Tri-State Paper reveals bales of recycle paper ready to ship out.  I searched online for photos of paper bales, and printed a few out. They're pasted onto some pieces of styrene and I set them into place by the dock door before I put the roof on the building.

Here comes JSSX 815 on it's way to do some switching over on the South Industrial spur

A couple of FBOX's spotted on the South Industrial.

That undecorated SD9 that I started working on a couple of weeks ago is progressing slowly.  We can see here that I've got it painted, the 6 rooftop fans are installed, and a few of the other parts are painted and ready to install as well. I've also made up that short length of chain link fence that will go on the layout.

That'll be all for now.  Happy Daylight Savings Time everybody.

The Sweep Returns Onto the Layout

Spent a few minutes out railfanning around the layout this week, and caught the old CN Sweep on a little switching run.

I kitbashed this engine several years ago.  It's an old Athearn blue box switcher frame, motor and cab, with an Athearn blue box GP9 long hood.  Not absolutely perfect, but I put new wheels on it a couple of years ago and it runs really well.  The lights are led's that I had installed at Pete's Trains in London, Ontario.

Here's just a few looks at my SWeep 7104 at work:Running light as it passes behind the transload area on the JSSX

Side view of 7104 at the same location as the first photo

I like this view beneath the Gratiot overpass, with an auto parts train passing by in the background

7104 as it has just picked up Railbox car at the Grey Warehouse

This is actually an older picture, taken beneath the Gratiot overpass

Have a nice week out there.

Undecorated SD7 Project

Something that I'm intending to be chipping away at for a while is this Proto 2000 undecorated SD7 model that I dug out of the storage cupboard a couple of days ago.  The intention will be to letter it for the JSSX.

There's the shell, the chassis and motor, and a sealed baggie that's full with a lot of detail parts that came with the Proto kit.  Quite a set of instructions came with it too.

I bought these items from Otter Valley a couple of months ago with this engine in mind.  I thought I'd get two of the ESU basic style decoders because I figured it cant hurt to keep a spare around, right?

I plugged one of the decoders into the engine, and set it on the programming track beside the JSSX maintenance shed. 

Once programmed, I ran the SD7 around that layout looking just like this for about 20 minutes or so.  It ran really nicely in that trial run.

Here's a look at the inspiration for what I've got in mind for my model.

I'm hoping that the model turns out to look something like this.  I won't be including the orange P&W logo, that's for sure, and the bright white band below the dynamic brake blister won't have the Willamette & Pacific printed on it either.  And I'm also unsure about that light package.

I've got what's left of some old Microscale decals that I think I can use  for the SP "wings" on the front of the short hood.

I'll try to post progress as I go along, but I expect that this is going to take me a while.  Wish me luck.

Have a good week.  Do some modeling.

Upgrade to an Industrial Building

When I put together this industrial building a few years ago, my idea at that time was for it to represent some random industry that had closed down and been left abandoned.  To try to make it look that way, I broke all the window panes out of it (something like 2200 individual panes in total).

It's made up of parts from three of the Walther's "Roberts Printing" kits

Anyway, it didn't take long for me to start thinking back then that it was kind of a waste to not use a spur that could be used to create boxcar traffic in and out.  And so, I began telling myself that maybe just the main floor could be somebody's warehouse and then I'd be able to rotate box cars in and out. So then I covered over the first floor window sections with "steel" siding.

That was a few years ago, and I've decided recently to somewhat change up the appearance of the building by covering over all of the windows with siding that I cut from Evergreen styrene.  I test fit each piece as I went along.  There were a few that I had to file a bit to get them to fit into the window recesses. I honestly don't know what the Evergreen part number is that I used. I painted the "steel panels" with Krylon Camo Brown spray paint and simply press fitted  each one into place.

So here's a few looks at what kept me occupied this week...

The building as it was until this week.

And as it now stands with all of the windows covered over.

A 3/4 view showing the siding panels now installed in the building.  I'm happy with how it's turned out, and the siding panels can be easily removed if or when I ever decide to go back to the broken window look.

That's it for now.  Have a good weekend.

E & C Shops Boxcar

Here's an old E&C Shops boxcar that I picked up at a train show 2 years ago or so, and I've finally gotten around to doing some weathering on it.  Or, I should say that I got around to putting it together and weathering it.  This one is from back when having a model meant doing some assembly after purchase.A view of the pre-assembled pieces.  A few things about this one are that the metal weight was too long to fit on the bottom floor inside the boxcar so I cut it and installed it in 2 pieces and the wheels that came with it are plastic.  When I clipped the brake from the sprue, it went flying off somewhere, and I've never seen it since. Oh, and the plastic body had curved or warped itself inward so the roof that was supposed to be simply press-fitted continually popped off.

So, I cut the metal weight and centered it on the floor of the car, ordered replacement wheels because I didn't have any, found a brake piece that was close enough in my random parts box, and glued the roof in place.  Other than that, things went rather smoothly.

The picture's a little dark, but here's the assembled boxcar as it looked to begin with.  Not much in the way of details on the doors.

The Ashley, Drew and Northern operated over 40-some miles in Arkansas, was acquired by Georgia-Pacific, so I'm assuming they hauled lumber.  The pine tree logo on the sides would also be a clue to that

I had this photo filed away of a similar model done by Norm Madore to use as influence over what mine might become.

Norm Madore photo

I liked that Norm's model had faded to a blue tone, so I tried to do that to mine as well. Green is made up of blue and yellow, and the yellow would fade away first leaving the bluish colour. That's how I think it would work.  I don't think I quite got there, but pressed forward anyway.I masked over the white doors.

So here's the one side after it's been beaten up a bit.  Burnt Sienna and Burnt Umber for the rust.  It turned out darker than I think I wanted it to.

And skipping ahead now, my ADN boxcar has made it out onto the rails...

I'd kind of like to patch the reporting marks, but not sure yet which reporting marks might be appropriate for this boxcar.

Sure is one beaten-up looking boxcar as it rolls by in a train.

A look at the B-end.  If I ever find the brake wheel that flew off (slim chance at best) I'll take this one off and put the right one on.  I also have added the brake line to the model.

Looks like it should be in the scrap yard where the gondola in the foreground is.  The car really did go from the original green to blue though.  I had faded it first with the beige coloured concrete gray that I like to use, and then just a really light layer of very thin light Craftsmart blue which made all the difference.

Spotted at Door #1 at Tri-State Paper.

That's all for now.  Stay warm out there.