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Post by rockisland652 on Jan 26, 2014 10:56:57 GMT -8
Ah yes, it's the anniversary of Da Bears steamrolling the Patriots back in 1986. Ditka...sausage...Bears... Ah nostalgia...On that note, here is this week's update from the nadir of railroading in America: 1974. Did it ever get worse? Bad track (Yes, even on the Santa Fe) and the cashless, bankrupt old names of railroading, including my much beloved Rock Island. It wasn't all bad, unless you worked for one of those companies. However, 'tragedy + time = comedy' and some of us even look fondly on that time period of railroading. Here we see the Rock Island's brass, including RI President William Dixon and his staff, inspecting the diamonds at Joliet. The Santa Fe and ICG executives were here earlier and wondered aloud if the Rock Island had any intention of ever reconnecting their tracks. This view from the (future) tower shows the rough crossing in all its glory. Dixon commented that the track needs weathering, and the roadmaster dutifully ordered up some mud to be applied later.  Here is a ground view of the same train. The track is pure 1974 in all its glory. In the near background, you can see my wrinkly stand-in Joliet Union Station in all its 2-D glory, taped to a tap connector box to prop it up.  |
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Post by nebrzephyr on Jan 26, 2014 11:31:22 GMT -8
Tom...nice set of "diamonds".
Good looking head lights....bulbs or LED's??
Bob
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Post by rockisland652 on Jan 26, 2014 11:36:54 GMT -8
Tom...nice set of "diamonds". Good looking head lights....bulbs or LED's?? Bob The headlights and Mars lights are all Miniatronics bulbs. I am in the minority in that I still haven't found an LED setup that I like. The lights just look way too bright to my eye. Distractingly so. My Walthers F-7 is a prime example of this. The headlight is actually dimmed (F7 on the Tsunami) in the photos. |
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Post by nebrzephyr on Jan 26, 2014 11:40:44 GMT -8
Tom.....thanks for the reply. The lights do look 100% realistic. Bob
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Post by onequiknova on Jan 26, 2014 11:55:25 GMT -8
Love the UD tower shot.
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Post by jlwii2000 on Jan 26, 2014 12:26:04 GMT -8
One of my favorite things in modeling is trying to arrange consists for current events. Today, UP 4014 big boy moved from the museum grounds to the mainline. A banner was draped from the tender, and it was accompanied by an SD70M flared radiator and UP 1996 the SD70ACe SP heritage unit. So in order to model this in a photo, I swapped the coal tender top piece for an oil tender piece off another locomotive, I recreated the banner in MS paint, then shrunk it down to prototypical size, printed it, placed it on the model, and pulled out an SD70M flared radiator and the UP 1996 unit from my yard. Not the best most realistic photos ever, but it was fun to do:
Prototype: 
Model photos: 
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Post by mlehman on Jan 26, 2014 12:41:06 GMT -8
Tom, I love the stand-in station. In fact, it's so low budget, it's almost a stand-in for a stand-in  Nice looking track and that's what counts at this stage anyway.  James, Great idea for a recreation of a historic scene  I always enjoy it when I read about something happening and I just happen to have the equipment to recreate it.. Anyway, not a lot of photogenic stuff this week, as have been tuning, adjusting and setting-up for an ops session here in a couple of weeks. But I've had the chance to do a lot of railfanning, so it's better than nothing. Coupling  With the helper cut out and everything back together, a train heads south to Grants, New Mexico.  Most who've looked at my pics have seen the one entry to staging from Durango, the overpass in the background in the Durango pic above that leads to Grants and Albuquerque. I don't think anyone has seen the other end, which leads to Moab, Helper, and Provo, Utah. It's also the location for the freight brake that now lets me cut in helpers for the climb to Durango.  |
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Post by tankcarsrule on Jan 26, 2014 14:44:42 GMT -8
My contribution.  |
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Post by keystonecrossings on Jan 26, 2014 15:03:43 GMT -8
Started work on the JMRI PanelPro control panel for my main interlocking plant, LEWIS, at Lewistown, Pa...  |
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Post by TBird1958 on Jan 26, 2014 15:05:22 GMT -8
As always great work guys! I have a P2K gone with a load of plate glass.  How about a Sow's Ear, I struggle with this car, upgrade it or just sell it off  |
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jan 26, 2014 16:11:28 GMT -8
As always great work guys! I have a P2K gone with a load of plate glass. How about a Sow's Ear, I struggle with this car, upgrade it or just sell it off Your photos always remind me of Donner. |
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Post by Deleted on Jan 26, 2014 16:15:14 GMT -8
Ah yes, it's the anniversary of Da Bears steamrolling the Patriots back in 1986. Ditka...sausage...Bears... Ah nostalgia...On that note, here is this week's update from the nadir of railroading in America: 1974. Did it ever get worse? Bad track (Yes, even on the Santa Fe) and the cashless, bankrupt old names of railroading, including my much beloved Rock Island. It wasn't all bad, unless you worked for one of those companies. However, 'tragedy + time = comedy' and some of us even look fondly on that time period of railroading. Here we see the Rock Island's brass, including RI President William Dixon and his staff, inspecting the diamonds at Joliet. The Santa Fe and ICG executives were here earlier and wondered aloud if the Rock Island had any intention of ever reconnecting their tracks. This view from the (future) tower shows the rough crossing in all its glory. Dixon commented that the track needs weathering, and the roadmaster dutifully ordered up some mud to be applied later. Here is a ground view of the same train. The track is pure 1974 in all its glory. In the near background, you can see my wrinkly stand-in Joliet Union Station in all its 2-D glory, taped to a tap connector box to prop it up. Wow how different the track arrangement is in Joliet now. On your layout, does your mainline after it leaves JUS cross the on the double track lift bridge? |
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Post by rockisland652 on Jan 26, 2014 16:44:27 GMT -8
Ah yes, it's the anniversary of Da Bears steamrolling the Patriots back in 1986. Ditka...sausage...Bears... Ah nostalgia...On that note, here is this week's update from the nadir of railroading in America: 1974. Did it ever get worse? Bad track (Yes, even on the Santa Fe) and the cashless, bankrupt old names of railroading, including my much beloved Rock Island. It wasn't all bad, unless you worked for one of those companies. However, 'tragedy + time = comedy' and some of us even look fondly on that time period of railroading. Here we see the Rock Island's brass, including RI President William Dixon and his staff, inspecting the diamonds at Joliet. The Santa Fe and ICG executives were here earlier and wondered aloud if the Rock Island had any intention of ever reconnecting their tracks. This view from the (future) tower shows the rough crossing in all its glory. Dixon commented that the track needs weathering, and the roadmaster dutifully ordered up some mud to be applied later. Here is a ground view of the same train. The track is pure 1974 in all its glory. In the near background, you can see my wrinkly stand-in Joliet Union Station in all its 2-D glory, taped to a tap connector box to prop it up. Wow how different the track arrangement is in Joliet now. On your layout, does your mainline after it leaves JUS cross the on the double track lift bridge? You're right about that, Jim. Only the westbound track remains in place. The rest of the elevated right of way is a sea of old ballast, paving rock, and mud. Would it be Joliet Union Station without mud? Nope. As it is now...  Joliet is set to change once again, this time for the worse (remember the 'ETTS' principle as well as the railroaders' adage that there is no situation, no matter how terrible, that cannot get worse). The still-manned, venerable, historic tower is going away in favor of relocated CN/Amtrak tracks that will plow through the tower's location. The platforms will be relocated east of the depot, and all Metra trains will stop short of crossing the BNSF and CN (Santa Fe and GM&O) tracks. The most egregious part of this will be the complete loss of access to the current platforms at Joliet. I can understand that Warren Buffet's trains are currently inconvenienced by Metra's control of the crossing and would certainly save time (money) in trains stopped due to Metra tying up the plant fairly constantly during the day. Why keep railfans off the old platform? I'd much prefer a fence to keep railfans on the platform, rather than a fence to keep them off it. Ah, well. ETTS, I guess. Back to nostalgia... Did I include the lift bridge? Sadly, no. As you can see in the pictures, the main curves to the left westbound past the station area. The still in existence bridge 407 (the bridge is 40.7 miles west of Chicago) would be in the aisle. I thought about many ways to portray this iconic structure, but couldn't find a way to do it while preserving enough of the storage tracks that held the dummies (commuter trains) overnight. I do plan on completing the spur from the storage tracks down to Alexander Lumber, which was located in the shadow of the bridge near the river. Incredibly, though the business is long gone, the Alexander Lumber trackage is still intact today. |
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Post by TBird1958 on Jan 26, 2014 19:07:36 GMT -8
Bobby, Can't wait to see a bit more of this model, it's looking great! |
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Post by tankcarsrule on Jan 26, 2014 19:12:34 GMT -8
Bobby, Can't wait to see a bit more of this model, it's looking great! Thank you Mark. Regards, Bobby |
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Post by Canadian Atlantic on Jan 26, 2014 19:43:19 GMT -8
How about a Sow's Ear, I struggle with this car, upgrade it or just sell it off I never saw a SP car with a yellow door before. Is it for lumber or newsprint service? |
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Post by fr8kar on Jan 26, 2014 21:00:27 GMT -8
Here's a quick shot I took showing some work I've been doing on a Centralia Car Shops Santa Fe caboose. As much as I love their cabooses, the brake gear and draft gear is just awful, so it had to go. I replaced the blobs on the underframe with Tichy brake gear and installed some nice Tichy brakewheels and mechanisms on the ends. I also added some Moloco cushion draft gear and Sergent couplers, replaced the trucks and added an AMB axle generator, and cut an antenna ground plane out of sheet brass. The conduit is some fine solder and the antenna itself is a Detail Associates part. I still need to add cut levers and finish up the painting, but it's getting closer to being finished.  |
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Post by wp8thsub on Jan 26, 2014 21:48:49 GMT -8
 Another track weathering and ballast project underway. |
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Post by peoriaman on Jan 27, 2014 7:30:57 GMT -8
As it is now... Minus of course the Cold Storage Warehouse which came down a few years ago... Sadly. That looked like a great building!  |
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Post by rockisland652 on Jan 27, 2014 8:26:30 GMT -8
It made a great photo backdrop for 100 years give or take. I heard that someone wanted to turn it into residences, but thought better of the idea with the sound of the clattering diamonds echoing 24/7.
It made a far better building than a parking lot.
Of course...I'm not driving in from Greater Joliet, Plainfield, Rockdale, Minooka, Morris, and Ottawa; then fighting for a parking spot at Joliet so I can ride to LaSalle Street and get to work. The lot was always full on weekdays...still is...mostly.
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bigzmn
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Post by bigzmn on Jan 27, 2014 11:26:02 GMT -8
Here's a quick shot I took showing some work I've been doing on a Centralia Car Shops Santa Fe caboose. As much as I love their cabooses, the brake gear and draft gear is just awful, so it had to go. I replaced the blobs on the underframe with Tichy brake gear and installed some nice Tichy brakewheels and mechanisms on the ends. I also added some Moloco cushion draft gear and Sergent couplers, replaced the trucks and added an AMB axle generator, and cut an antenna ground plane out of sheet brass. The conduit is some fine solder and the antenna itself is a Detail Associates part. I still need to add cut levers and finish up the painting, but it's getting closer to being finished. I've been working on one also. The version I'm working on is a little older with the black roof and the solid bearing trucks. So far I've just replaced the trucks with Tahoe Model Works Bettendorf caboose trucks, replaced the ugly cushion pockets with Moloco and installed Sergent couplers. I still have a lot of detail work to do, and I've considered starting a second one and work on both at the same time. I have a total of six of the CCS Santa Fe cabooses. My pictures are only OK since I took them with my Samsung Note II. I should take some with my DSLR. Attachments:
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Post by TBird1958 on Jan 27, 2014 12:49:31 GMT -8
How about a Sow's Ear, I struggle with this car, upgrade it or just sell it off I never saw a SP car with a yellow door before. Is it for lumber or newsprint service? As I understand it the yellow door does indicate a paper service car - which makes sense, the return trip stencil is for the St. Regis paper mill in Tacoma, Wa., it's an E&C Shops car, I'm on the fence about upgrading it. |
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Post by fr8kar on Jan 27, 2014 18:22:08 GMT -8
I've been working on one also. The version I'm working on is a little older with the black roof and the solid bearing trucks. So far I've just replaced the trucks with Tahoe Model Works Bettendorf caboose trucks, replaced the ugly cushion pockets with Moloco and installed Sergent couplers. I still have a lot of detail work to do, and I've considered starting a second one and work on both at the same time. I have a total of six of the CCS Santa Fe cabooses. My pictures are only OK since I took them with my Samsung Note II. I should take some with my DSLR. I like it! I don't know if the antenna ground plane was used on those cabooses in your era or not, but if so a scale 3' x 3' sheet of brass worked pretty well for my purposes. Also, even though I love the Moloco draft gear and the varieties of brake mechanisms Moloco offers, I highly recommend the Tichy brake gear. And not just for cabooses, but for most freight cars rolling around in the 70s and 80s. The cast reservoir is hard to beat and you have options on the brake cylinder. The AB control valve is nicely rendered, too. I just got some more of these brake kits in today, so I'll be updating my CCS UP caboose with new brake equipment in the next day or so. I hear you on the photos. I need to get a decent camera. My phone does an okay job, but I have no place with decent lighting for photography here at home. |
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Post by fr8kar on Jan 27, 2014 18:24:29 GMT -8
How about a Sow's Ear, I struggle with this car, upgrade it or just sell it off Keep it. It looks great. But if you must get rid of it, keep me in mind! |
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Post by atsfan on Jan 27, 2014 19:38:06 GMT -8
The SP boxcar looks good to me.
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Post by onequiknova on Jan 27, 2014 20:40:51 GMT -8
A day late, but not worth it's own thread. I built this strange looking nose today. This will become RI GP9 1322, which had it's wrecked nose replaced with this peculiar looking nose built from an SP GP35 nose. It differs from other high hoods since it keeps the slight slope of a standard GP35 low nose on top. It's built, in part with a Cannon blank long hood end and roof stock. It's ugly, but I like ugly. The Prototype was sold to CNW and kept this ugly nose until sometime around 2000, when the existing nose was finally chopped.   |
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Post by Deleted on Jan 27, 2014 21:28:47 GMT -8
A day late, but not worth it's own thread. I built this strange looking nose today. This will become RI GP9 1322, which had it's wrecked nose replaced with this peculiar looking nose built from an SP GP35 nose. It differs from other high hoods since it keeps the slight slope of a standard GP35 low nose on top. It's built, in part with a Cannon blank long hood end and roof stock. It's ugly, but I like ugly. The Prototype was sold to CNW and kept this ugly nose until sometime around 2000, when the existing nose was finally chopped. As Cheap and Nothing Wasted 4551  |
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Post by rockisland652 on Jan 28, 2014 7:37:25 GMT -8
A day late, but not worth it's own thread. I built this strange looking nose today. This will become RI GP9 1322, which had it's wrecked nose replaced with this peculiar looking nose built from an SP GP35 nose. It differs from other high hoods since it keeps the slight slope of a standard GP35 low nose on top. It's built, in part with a Cannon blank long hood end and roof stock. It's ugly, but I like ugly. The Prototype was sold to CNW and kept this ugly nose until sometime around 2000, when the existing nose was finally chopped. Man, the Crandall Cab E units didn't have a complete monopoly on ugly. This unit proves that! Good choice for a unique build. |
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Post by rockisland652 on Jan 28, 2014 7:38:53 GMT -8
As Cheap and Nothing Wasted 4551 Sheesh. Even shiny new paint can't hide the ugly on that one! |
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bigzmn
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Post by bigzmn on Jan 29, 2014 20:44:14 GMT -8
I've been working on one also. The version I'm working on is a little older with the black roof and the solid bearing trucks. So far I've just replaced the trucks with Tahoe Model Works Bettendorf caboose trucks, replaced the ugly cushion pockets with Moloco and installed Sergent couplers. I still have a lot of detail work to do, and I've considered starting a second one and work on both at the same time. I have a total of six of the CCS Santa Fe cabooses. My pictures are only OK since I took them with my Samsung Note II. I should take some with my DSLR. I like it! I don't know if the antenna ground plane was used on those cabooses in your era or not, but if so a scale 3' x 3' sheet of brass worked pretty well for my purposes. Also, even though I love the Moloco draft gear and the varieties of brake mechanisms Moloco offers, I highly recommend the Tichy brake gear. And not just for cabooses, but for most freight cars rolling around in the 70s and 80s. The cast reservoir is hard to beat and you have options on the brake cylinder. The AB control valve is nicely rendered, too. I just got some more of these brake kits in today, so I'll be updating my CCS UP caboose with new brake equipment in the next day or so. I hear you on the photos. I need to get a decent camera. My phone does an okay job, but I have no place with decent lighting for photography here at home. I do need ground planes, they are on the list of things to add. I don't have any of the Tichy brake gear sets. I do have some Details West sets, I was going to use those since I have them on hand and I'm currently unemployed. Are you going to do anything about the smoke jack? I don't know of any correct Santa Fe ones being made. I have a package of Athearn smoke jacks for the work caboose. They are not correct either, but they are "more" correct and do look better. Chris Z.  |
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