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Layouts, Liked off site, S Scale, Sites of interest, This Site

Site seeing – August 28 – 1980 Frisco S Scale layout “Cheltenham”

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Tom and I have been out of contact for some time but recently reconnected on the Railway Modellers surprising best friend – “Facebook”. I’ve known Tom Potthast since my early days in Austin, Texas, since around late 1997 or early 1998, when I met him at King’s Hobby. Tom has been an S scale modeller since before I met him and pitched hard for me to choose that scale. Originally from St Louis he lives in Virginia. As I’ve noted in the title of the post he’s working on a 1980 era Frisco S scale layout. He’s not advised of a website or other online location so I’ll be posting and sharing photos of his layout here.

Site 1: Information on Tom’s layout “Cheltenham”

cheltenham_missouri

Tom told me that Cheltenham was a commuter stop, within the city limits of St Louis. The structure in the image above survived into the 1980s. The area Tom’s modeling is located between Hampton Ave. and Kingshighway. It is just a short piece of the railroad yet has plenty of switching potential.

St Louis Terminal - Zone 3 - Cheltenham Area

There is no official track plan. It was planned out using a full size mock-up before final construction began using a PDF of the area as a guide. I’ve added a section of that track diagram to show the area he’s modelling above.

Tom says that “… one day when I get my two-car-garage-like space it will include Lindenwood yard and a great deal of interchange with other roads such as the N&W (Wabash) TRRA, Manufactures Railway (Anheuser Busch), BN and Mopac.”

Site 2: Some of Tom’s S scale weathered cars

What inspired Tom to write me was the Martin Wellberg’s German Gmhs 53 weathered wagon. He supplied a few photos for me to share and promised more in the near future. RPCX 227 is the first photo showing a car that is lightly weathered.

RPCX-227_Weathered

Below is a car from the same series RPCX #101-#240. Built by Evans USRE (Blue Island, IL) in Lot 1169A of Nov 1973. Stenciled: Return to PC Sharonville, OH. These were eventually to become a part of the CNW fleet (series 540300-540436 cars) after Purina gave up the RPCX reporting mark in 1989. Image below courtesy of Steve Vincent and Railcar Photos.

The second photo shows Tom’s CO 2206. A covered hopper in CO series 2300-2374 built by General American Transportation Co. during Aug-63. I could not find a prototype photo of this car.

CO-2206_Weathered

The next photo shows DRGW 15045 a 3-bay rib-sided covered hopper in the DRGW series 15000-15149 built by Pullman-Standard, Lot 8923, in 64.

DRGW-15045_Weathered

I found a close match in DRGW 15006 in the same series on the Railcar Photos website. This photo is by Kent Charles.

Finally I’ve got a slightly wider shot showing two more covered hoppers and some of the layout and scenery.

ATSF-304227_UP-21753_Weathered

Thanks to Tom for allowing me to post his photos. Looking forward to seeing more of the layout and rolling stock and locomotives Tom. Thanks for sharing.

1:32 (Gauge 1), Acrylics, Oils, Pastel Powder, Powders, Site seeing, Sites of interest, Weathering

Site seeing – August 26 – Weathered and downright dirty

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If you’ve followed the blog for any length of time, or know me personally, you’ll know that I don’t like clean things (my personal hygiene excepted). Every model I touch ends up weathered to one degree or another. And so onto todays sites of interest.

Site 1: Dirty stuff by Martin Wellberg – A German Gmhs 53 Boxcar in scale 1 (1:32nd scale)

This is part 1 of Martin’s so far 3 part treatise on weathering this large railcar. Wait till you see the photos. That’s all I’m saying on the matter.

Site 2: This is part 2 of the weathering of said German boxcar

In part 2 there is a little more of what Martin has been up to. Drool people, just drool.

Site 3: Part 3 from above

More train eye candy as Martin gets on with the weathering on the Gmhs 53 boxcar.

Site 4: Freerails Forum posts by Martin on other large-scale rail subjects

You should not need to be a member to view the posts. Definitely to post or reply though. Lots more pictures in what is now a 6 page post by Martin and those of us following him. Not to be missed.

Here’s a taste of the work Martin is creating:

I hope you enjoy Martin’s work.

1. Small, HO Scale, Layout Design, Layouts, Site seeing, Sites of interest, Web

Site Seeing – August 23 – Wetterau Food Services

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August is the month where year 12 high school focuses on getting elder children ready to complete their schooling and head off to life or to University. This month we’ve toured possible University campuses to see what is on offer and where she can look on planning to attend next year.

Last weekend was an out-of-town visit (120km away) next weekend there’s another University visit on (only 3km away this time). All too soon she’ll be moving out and living on Campus (but don’t tell her that). Finally I’ll get my half of the train room! Anyhow – on to today’s sites of interest.

Site 1:  Wetterau Food Services

Tom Conboy’s layout’s shown in all it’s glory on the Model Railroad Hobbyist site. Tom writes on the first page: “The Wetterau Food Services Micro Layout was completed in February of 2016.  Layout planning and construction began in 2014.  I am enjoying operations on the layout, and wanted to share the steps I followed in building this micro layout here on MRH.   I  have learned quite a bit in building it, and hope you will find it informative.”

Head over and take a look through his shared build log. It is very interesting and a great looking layout. What’s not to like – a 70 tonner runs through it.

Site 2: Tom’s Model Railroad Scrapbook

This is the second of Tom’s sites where he’s shared the building of the layout.

Site 3: The Micro Model Railroad Cartel

The third site providing more information on the build of the layout in nine parts.

All great sites full of information for those interested in building a small layout and for those interested building a layout using Fome-Cor.

1:48 (US O Scale 1/4"), Acrylics, My other sites, O Scale, Oils, Pastel Powder, Powders, Scales, Weathering, Web

Modelling diversions – and why they are needed

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Image courtesy of: http://www.airplaneboneyards.com

It’s been some time since I modelled anything other than railways or railway related stuff. A couple of years ago at the local scale modelling club’s Annual Show (full disclosure I am a board member there) I purchased a cheap and cheerful 1:48 scale F-111E for very little money from one of the club members who was looking to offload it.

It has been a frustrating, and yet a strangely enjoyable process to go through building an aircraft for the first time in over 30 years. That it happens to be in the same scale as my 0 scale railway endeavours doesn’t hurt.

Work on this has been one of the reasons why I’ve been so quiet here on the HVL and Andrew’s Trains. I got into a bit of a rut and realised that I needed a break away from modelling and making trains for a bit; the joy of modelling went stale.

If you’d like to follow along with that build process and all the frustrations and pitfalls I’ve met along the way head on over to my other modelling site for the build process and what I hope will be a unique model at the end of the Boneyard Build.

Here’s what I’m aiming for as a model and diorama (although not sure about the paint scheme yet).

Image courtesy of http://www.taringa.net/

There’s a lot of weathering on these aircraft that I’ve noticed as I researched. And that I am really looking forward to.

1:48 (US O Scale 1/4"), Atlas O & HO Scale, Information, O Scale

Atlas TrainMan releases O scale 20′ ISO Containers

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As of August 5, 2016 Atlas TrainMan are shipping 20′ ISO shipping containers in 0 scale (1:48) in four paint schemes. The containers are sold as a two pack for $24.95 US. Each container livery has eight numbers (four packs of two containers); theoretically that is 32 containers available with individual numbers. Reality may depend on your location and stocks available to non-US residents.

The details from the Atlas site are as follows:

  • Scale length, width and height
  • Prototypical paint schemes & lettering
  • Non-opening doors
  • 20’ based on corrugated design with logo panels
  • Accurate painting and lettering for steel 20-foot containers
  • Two containers will fit end-to-end in the Atlas O Gunderson Twin Stack cars.
  • Eight road numbers are available per road name. Each item number is a 2-pack, with two road numbers. Four 2-packs per case

You can visit the Atlas page by clicking this link.

1:43.5 (7mm Scale), 1:48 (US O Scale 1/4"), Design Updates, HO Scale, O Scale, OO Scale (4mm:Foot), S Scale, Scales, Site seeing, Site Updates, This Site, Web

Site update: New modelling page

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Ballarat - May 2013
Ballarat – May 2013

I’m slowly working to catalogue and curate all of my railway and modelling related images. I’m doing this in part so that I can share them all with you here; also to allow me to find the photos I need for modelling when I need them.

Site update 1: Modelling Page: High Cube Shipping Containers

There are several useful resources available on the above link. These include:

  • A gallery of detail images of a 40′ HC container taken in 2013
  • A downloadable PDF for all HC containers sizes in metric and imperial should you wish to make your own (especially for the 3D printer)
  • Details of suppliers in most of the popular scales including some free through more paid resources

I hope that you find this useful for your modelling purposes. Drop me a line if you make use of any of the resources.

HO Scale, Large, Layout Design, Site seeing, Sites of interest, Web

Site Seeing – May 14 (the All American Model Railroad show issue)

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Thanks to Neil Cowie, a friend and former fellow member of the Essendon Model Railway club in Glenroy – Melbourne, I got invited down to his new club’s show today.

Site 1: US Model Railroad Club of Australia

The US Model Railroad Club of Australia are all US modellers (obviously) and model a variety of US prototype. You can find the club’s web presence on Facebook. Their show was open today, Saturday 14 May, and will be again tomorrow from 09:30 – 16:00 hours at 27 Talmage Street, Albion, Victoria. For locals it is Melways ref: 26 – F10.

The club has only been going for a relatively short time (a couple of years) but they’ve secured club rooms in an iconic (some might say landmark) building in suburban Melbourne and have made a solid start on a large HO scale club layout.

Based in the former Albion railway sub-station, one of several built around the Melbourne metropolitan railway system in the 1910s which housed large rotary converters to transform the 20,000V AC electric current supplied by the Victorian Railway’s Newport Power Station to 1500V DC to power Melbourne’s electric trains. Luckily that very building now allows them plenty of floor space.

If you get  chance tomorrow drop by and visit with Neil. Tell him that Andrew sent you. He’ll get a kick out of that I’m sure. Below is a work in progress shot of the layout.

 

1. Small, 1:48 (US O Scale 1/4"), Layout Design, O Scale, Site seeing, Sites of interest, Switching, Web

Site Seeing – April 18 – Small O scale layouts 7

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I know that I said that this month was all about O scale layouts that fit within the 8′ x 2′ display footprint. With the addition of a fiddle yard or other means to stage trains I feel that today’s idea should work quite well for those interested in a slightly larger area US style switching layout.

Site 1: Midland Ohio, in O scale (from RM Web)

Originally Nick Palette was intending to build an O scale version of Shortliner Jack’s Box Street yard. Plan below:

After some thought and playing around Nick instead decided to use another plan, the Fort Smith Railroad. In mostly the same space. The track plan is below:

Nick who’s username on the RMWeb community is Northpoint, has been building this layout for some time now. While the Fort Smith layout plan is over the size of most of the layouts so far this April, I feel that within the context of the layout styles presented so far and with some reworking of the siding length to shrink the layout we are still within the bounds of the size of layout I envisioned.

Head on over to the RM Web link above to look through the layout build. First thought watch the video of Nick’s first operating session to whet your appetite.

1. Small, 1:43.5 (7mm Scale), 1:48 (US O Scale 1/4"), Australia, Layouts, O Scale, Operations, Proto 48, Site seeing, Sites of interest, Switching, UK, Web

Site Seeing – April 11 – Small O scale layouts 6

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Whether you model the US, UK, Australian, Canadian, South American or European scene one thing that O scale requires is imagination. As much as I would like to have a very large garden and shed layout, the reality is that is not going to happen due to constraints with money and time. I have not enough of either and so the scope of what I model has to be within my reach, simple to achieve and quick to build and ready to a credible level of detail and where possible use what I have to hand. On to today’s site of interest.

Site 1: Pick Purse Halt O scale in 9′ by 2′  by Richard and Sue Andrews

When space is tight using imagination allows you to find and define the layout’s place within the wider railway network; Pick Purse Halt does this admirably. Let’s take a look at the track plan first and see why.

Pick Purse Halt’s track plan

On first look, there’s not much to the track plan. One turnout and a couple of sidings. The layout portrays a small passenger halt along a GWR Country branch. So we’re set in time during the 1930s with steam railmotors and Auto Coaches on passenger work and pannier tanks working the freight trains. Let’s assume though that the line did not close during the 1960s and the Beeching cuts; where would that take us?

Single car DMUs such as RDCs, Gloucester RC&W Class 122 Bubble Cars, Tokyo abounds with types, as does Europe and I think you may now get the idea. All we’ve talked about though is the passenger service on the through line. There is also the short freight passing by and reversing into the sidings. Or coming in direct from stage left; this is where the operational potential of the layout really comes into its own.

The freight area can be worked differently in many ways both visually and conceptually:

  • As described in the plan for UK mid-1930s
  • As a factory dock during the 1950s through the 1970s and 1980s
  • As a simple team track arrangement for literally any time you like
  • As a small transload point with a Y and a platform for unloading two rail cars by pallet truck and forklift

As a small layout Pick Purse Halt punches way above its weight. So much to be done with the design and the scenic treatment depending on the era and location you model. Your choice could come down to using what you have on hand to set the location.

With controlled lines of sight, and the feeling of the rest of the railway just beyond the board, this could well prove to be the best idea of the month.

Like this post and comment if you find it useful or would like further information; if you’ve not already subscribed to keep up to date you can do so now using the link at the top of the post.

1. Small, 1:43.5 (7mm Scale), Inglenook, Layout Design, Layouts, O Scale, Site seeing, Sites of interest, UK, Web

Site Seeing – April 9 – Small O scale layouts 5

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While tooling around the Broadford MRC’s site looking for information on Glen Bogle mentioned earlier this month I found our next contestant for a small O scale layout well within the reach of anyone interested in the larger scale.

Site 1: Chard Creamery O gauge  8′ by 2′ (Richard and Sue Andrews)

Chard Creamery layout (8′ x 2′) – Richard and Sue Andrews

When it came time to build a new layout Richard Andrew’s thoughts turned to his boyhood memories of the S&D Railway to Basinbridge Milk Factory. Andrew says that “as I love small shunting layouts I decided to see if I could build a O Gauge layout representing a milk factory with either a river or as it turns out a canal running beside it in a 4′ x 22″ wide baseboard”.

With mock ups made Andrew decided he could put three tracks on the board without turnouts to give a loading/unloading bay for the milk, a centre road for coal and other goods, and a front siding which went to another loading/unloading bay for dry goods, butter, cheese, etc. He stresses that the layout is not a copy of Basinbridge, and chose to make the buildings of similar but freelance design.

Chard Creamery – O Gauge in a small space

The name Chard came about because of the canal that used to run from Taunton to Chard. While that canal is now long gone and Andrew had a Skytrex Barge built and painted in need of a home this seemed the ideal situation.

Skytrex Building Flats fill in the background while all main buildings are scratchbuilt out of card with a Slater’s brick overlay. The pub scene replaced a former building now relegated to the background and helps to block the view of the fiddle yard.