Wordless Wednesday #28

Ken Patton photo from nerail.org - link

Great Photos on Flickr

If you have not seen this (growing) collection of photos on Flickr, its worth checking out. Great images from MA, VT, NH, ME, NY, 1970s and 1980s.

The Michael C. Bump collection on Flickr:
https://flic.kr/ps/3pz4NQ

Images have been slowly added over the past few weeks, so worth a follow if you are on Flickr (you'll get a weekly email if any new photos are uploaded).

Simple Brake Holding CP Train RS-1 on Grade

For Canadian Pacific train RS-1, a local that leaves Newport (staging), it's first assignment is to switch cars at Lyndonville, which is an industrial park with a trailing point siding leading to a few industry spurs. I have a couple of temporary tracks in Lyndonville now, but want to add some more soon.

Due to the grade of the mainline coming out of Newport and progressing all the way to St. Johnsbury, Lyndonville has the main line on a grade, while the industrial park itself is flat. What this means is that CP RS-1 passes the switch for Lyndonville park and then backs its whole train into the siding and the park. It cannot leave any part of the train on the main line due to the grade.

This has worked OK as the operator can use the whole train to switch the training sidings, and work around keeping his caboose in the right spot. I thought about adding an extra unused siding where the caboose could be dropped. But it has always bothered me that the operator switches with the whole train, even with it being a short train.

I've seen various articles and pictures of different methods to hold a train on a grade, using ground throws, levers, Tortoise machines, etc. However I did not want to invest a lot of effort into something that would be used once per op session.

While doing some switching and using a wooden skewer to separate cars at the Kadee couplers, I thought that it would be easy enough to "assign" a skewer as a brake to hold the caboose and through cars on the main, and allow the train to pull forward, back into the park to do its work and then return back out to the main to pick up the waiting through cars and caboose.

It only took 5 minutes to implement the solution and the pictures are pretty self explanatory. I doubt I am the first to think of this specific idea, and sticking something like a pin into the track is something I have seen, but I like the ease and visibility of the "Hill Brake" skewer.

The caboose for RS-1 and the 1 through car wait on the main as the locomotive and Lyndonville cars will back down to the track in front to serve the local industries.
(Eventually there will be scenery and trees between the CP mainline and the MEC mainline above and behind. The CV/LVRC track is part of hidden staging)

Looking upgrade - the skewer nicely holds the train using the the Kadee coupler of the caboose. I put a little flag on the skewer so it would be more obvious what it's purpose is!

A close up of the Hill Brake skewer. It sits off to the side of the roadbed, easily accessed. Silver Sharpie marks the location of the holding hole as well as the spot to keep the skewer.

Wordless Wednesday #21

ET & HK Ide Building

I've started work on replacing the photo mock up stand in building for the ET & HK Ide building, a signature element of the St. Johnsbury yard scene. I constructed the mock up probably 12 years ago. At first glance it does a pretty good job, but of course lacks many of the 3 dimensional details that make it look better.

Photos printed and applied over a foam core base - 2004.

An early picture when St. Johnsbury was still being built and only some of the track in place - 2004.

I have since built the nearby coal shed and the Allen Lumber building. I'll need to also complete the Caldbeck-Cosgrove building to finalize the main structures for this area.

From an op session last year, at the top of the photo, the coal shed behind the red CP boxcar, the ET&HK Ide building, the Caldbeck mock up, and final the Allen Lumber shed building. Behind are freelanced buildings for an ice distributor and a propane dealer.

Using basic dimensions provided via the MEC Yahoo group many years ago, I built up the core using plain styrene, and applied Evergreen styrene metal roofing. I built up the unique trim pieces using dimensional styrene as well as cut sections from sheet for the really wide trim. I am not building an exact replica as the building was deeper than I have space for. There is also a side extension that I am deciding if I want to include.

The unique siding material appears to be 4x8 sheets of embossed metal, giving it a brick like pattern, but clearly showing the individual panels. I found that a material produced by Laser Modeling 3 that replicates this. You can see it on their AR Gilmore Grain building here. The ET & HK Ide building does not have the pronounced overlap that the Gilmore kit displays, so I am not overlapping the pieces.

Here is an in progress picture:

Adding strips of the Laser Modeling 3 embossed panels. The top section appears to have a slightly different panel applied, although it is hard to tell for sure. I am just using V groove siding for that part as it seems to better capture the look of the prototype.

I'll post more pics as things progress. The next steps will be adding the loading dock, its roof and assorted doors. Painting the large block letters will also be a challenge, along with building the grain elevator chute and platform. The delivery tubes will use styrene tube already on hand. Overall I expect this will take a while, but it is good to get this structure started finally!

For reference, here are some pictures I took in 2002. You can also find many more online, and with trains actually in the pictures too! The building is still there and the yard looks a lot better now that the Vermont Railway has taken over operations of the line.

The coal shed is seen to the left of the ET & HK Ide building, and the spur track leads right into it. Up to the right is the corner of the Callback building and some add on buildings.

Trackside view. The dock roof has seen better days! To the left is the add-on section that I may include - I am reviewing different pictures to get a better idea how it looks.

This loading dock is right up to the track. I believe the elevator chutes led to below track level, although I have no pictures of that. These chutes were added later and are not in earlier photos. They were added right around my timeframe, so I will include them as they are a nice detail item.

The panel sections are evident in this shot, and the overlapping is not as pronounced as the Laser Modeling 3 kit, so I am butting the panels up to each other and not overlapping. I will pull a few seams out to match some of the wear seen on the prototype.

There is actually a historical web site for the ET & HK Ide building with some neat older photos. Check out http://etandhkide.com.

Wordless Wednesday #3

St. Johnsbury Yard Power

A few years ago I purchased a Proto 1000 of Canada CP Rail RS2. I have seen many pictures of these units holding down the switching duties in St. Johnsbury yard. I also have a few slides from my late friend Glenn Salvatore showing these in St. J circa 1980.

Glenn captured CP RS2 8403 in St. Johnsbury yard in the Fall of 1980. This view shows off some of the interesting details, like the front numberboard, extended cab window, ditch lights and radiator fan cover,

A few months back, getting ready for the initial Op Session, I finally got around to installing a DCC decoder. The space inside the cab area allowed for a speaker, so Tsunami sound it was!

Unfortunately during the Op Session, the yard crew mentioned that the RS2 just did not have enough power, or more accurately weight, to push long cuts of cars given the slight grade the loco gets to once the cut of cars gets long enough. It looks good (even without weathering and a few specific details) and sounds great, but it can't really cut it in operations, at least not by itself.

Some of this is my own doing. First of all, I imposed a grade just outside the yard as I needed the CP mainline to drop down before hitting Newport staging. In hindsight I should have kept the parallel MEC track level to avoid a grade in the same spot, and that would have helped, but maybe not completely.

I also have weighted my freight cars a little heavier than NMRA specs. A 50' boxcar comes in around 8 ounces, nearly double the spec. I enjoy the operational benefits, but once a grade is encountered, things get a lot more like the prototype and you start needing more horsepower to move tonnage. This wouldn't be an issue at a yard, but with compressed distances, that grade comes a lot sooner than on the prototype.

The third thing working against the little RS2 is my application of graphite prior to the session. There is no doubt in my mind that this has now caused a slightly slippier rail for the trains to traverse. BUT, given the benefits and much improved electrical contact, there is no way I am giving up on the graphite.

Here you see the (unweathered) CP RS2 pushing a cut of cars uphill into the yard. The yard crew would on occasion have to give an assist when the loco had more than it could handle!

I could consider doubling up locomotives for the yard job, although that is not real prototypical. The best solution would be to add more weight to the RS2, and I'll have to see what is possible.

For now I will go back to another locomotive used by the CP in St. Johnsbury yard, an Alco S2 made by Atlas. Most layout owners will agree that these heavy little switchers are great for yard operations, and can really push a cut of cars. The S2 was used by CP in St. Johnsbury in the 1960s and 1970s, but by the late 1970s and early 1980s the RS2s were more common.

This picture from RailPictures.Net shows CP S2 7098 in St. Johnsbury in May of 1975. Note the trackwork, dirt and oil, good modeling reference!

I did however have to address an issue with this locomotive. A few years ago I swapped the decoder I had in it with an MRC sound decoder. Nicely engineered, this MRC decoder drops in and has a speaker already mounted on the board. There is a small section of weight to be cut off, but nothing too significant. Unfortunately the sound quality out if this is just OK. Certainly not Tsunami.

But the real trouble was the way the locomotive continued to deteriorate operationally. For some reason, no matter how much programming and resetting I tried, the loco would just not operate very well after a few years. Talking with another modeler he mentioned that sometimes the MRC decoders just start to go and the motor controls stop working well even though the sound is still there. That is what I was seeing.

So a quick pop open of the hood and back in goes the original decoder and out comes the MRC one. Nothing too complicated and only about 20 minutes at the work bench. And the best part is that the old decoder is already programmed from when it first resided in 7063!

That is the MRC board now removed. CP 7063 is now ready for yard duty again, repalcing the RS2. This should be good news to the St. Johnsbury yard operators at the next Op Session!

The RS2 will now get MU'd to the other RS2 I have operating on the CP local out of Newport, the RS-1 (that is not too confusing is it?).

Preparing Lyndonville for Ops

Definitely making an effort to do little on the layout each day now as I plan to hold that first Ops Session in June. I turned my attention to Lyndonville, which is where Canadian Pacific Local RS-1 will have work to do. As I am not modeling any other local towns along the CP besides St. Johnsbury, I felt it was important to at least provide a way to pickup and drop off cars here, even if I do not have my full plan in place for how the planned industries will be laid out. That way they will not just have to stay in the train. Like North Stratford, it will be more interesting once I get the rest of the track laid, but for now, it will support the basic operating scheme.

My plan for Lyndonville is as a small industrial park setting, with one track in and a few sidings to serve my industries of IGA (grocery supply), Lyndonville Building Supply, NEK Distribution (various items like appliances that transfer to truck for final delivery, and Vermont Furniture. That is what I have waybills for so far. If anything else can fit, I can look to add ti, but don;t want to overdo it either.

CP RS-1 will come south from Newport and then back its train into the industrial park (as a trailing point). The return trip, CP RS-2 will not work this as it is a facing point fot that train. CP RS-1 will switch the industry sidings as needed, and then depart for St. Johnsbury. In St. J, anything that can be dropped for the through freights 904 and 917 will be done, and any local switching in St. J will be done as well. Then the train will continue south to unmodeled towns East Ryegate and Wells River. In reality it will terminate in the south end staging designated East Deerfield. The return trip, RS-2, will use a different train from staging, made up from the previous session's RS-1.

So for now, I am lightly tacking down some Homa-Bed and flex track to allow RS-1 to drop cars and pick up cars without any local switching in Lyndonville. I need one turnout to accommodate dropping the caboose. The mainline here is on a grade, so nothing can be set out there while switching the park. Here is the start of the temporary track in the triangle shaped area designated as Lyndonville.

Homa-Bed, flex track and a simple Atlas turnout will make up Lyndonville for now. The three boxcars represent spotted cars that will be picked up (or left in place, depending on the waybill). I do not have a card card box for this location yet. Behind the CP RS10 is the CP mainline going downgrade to Newport Staging (where the boxcars go under Gilman). The hidden CV St. Albans yard track can be seen under the Tortoise (well, it will be hidden once scenery goes in), while the Maine Central is up top running through Gilman. 

Another view of Lyndonville where it splits off the CP mainline. Gilman in the background, and above that Beecher Falls, VT, which is beyond North Stratford  (unseen to the left) and served by the North Stratford Railroad (track still to be laid). I don't really have a double deck layout, but it kind of looks that way in this picture!

Getting ready for Ops

I have been busy with lots of things, including model railroading, but I have not been good about updating this blog unfortunately. Since the last posting I did attend the Springfield train show with my Free-mo module, participated in a couple Op Sessions, worked on the web site for the MER Fall 2015 Convention (DelawareValleyTurn.org), changed jobs(!), and spent some time getting the layout ready for an initial Op session.

The Springfield show was a blast and New England Free-mo does such a great job organizing the layout. My model railroading buddy Anton and I headed up Friday and spent some time railfanning at the Springfield station, catching some Amtrak trains and a CSX auto rack.

The southbound Vermonter has backed into the station while another Amtrak train  lays over before the evening rush.

The Vermonter leaves Springfield.

Then we headed over to the Expo center to set up the modules. The layout was already coming together and my Woodstown Jct. modules were added to the start of the branch line segment. In just about 2 hours we were all done and heading out for dinner. The next day started off with snow that started over night. We got the layout running, had an Op Session at 1pm, met lots of great folks and did a little shopping. No doubt the snow kept many people a way as attendance was unusually light. This made it easier to quickly walk around and then get back to the layout though.

An overall look at the layout from one side. Hard to capture the whole layout in one shot though. There are two return loops at the end of the peninsulas, and one third peninsula serving as the branch line.

My Woodstown Junction module set attracts 2 generations of railroaders!

The Op Sessions I attended back home were part of a long running monthly session at my friend John Rahenkamp's CL&W layout. This is a really big layout and has about 15 or more people needed to run the 4 hour session. For more info and some recent pics, check out this page from the railroad-line forum:

http://www.railroad-line.com/discussion/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=14346&whichpage=11

On the home layout, I want to get Ops going this month, and I am also on the schedule for the Ops Callboard of the MER Fall convention in nearby Mt. Laurel. I have been busy preparing and staging freight cars, double checking waybills, testing locomotives and doing some speed matching, and most importantly developing a master schedule. This has been time consuming, but enjoyable. I have always had a plan in mind for operations, but pulling it together into a what I hope will be a workable and enjoyable schedule has been pretty fun. I have test run a few of the trains as well and posted some photos of that on a newly started thread on the railroad-line forum:

http://www.railroad-line.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=44172

In getting ready, I had to make some decisions on what to finish now and what to leave be in order to get sessions started. A good example is the track in North Stratford. This area has never progressed past the benchwork stage, but I really wanted to include at least the MEC YT-1/TY-2 train as that interchanges with St. Johnsbury and affects cars in other trains. So what I decided was to just temporarily lay some flex track to hold an already staged TY-2.

The MECs pair of RS11s will handle TY-2/YT-1 on the layout. Here is the train staged on temporary flex track, ready to head down to St. Johnsbury.

 The job will be more fun once some more track is in place in North Stratford, but for now it will still be a nice little job. One thing that is kind of cool is the need to run around the train in Crawfords in order to reverse direction and head to St. J. I ran the train to try this out and it works well. Here is a pic of the locos after running around the train, pulling the caboose off, and then going back to get the train cars to reassemble onto the caboose.

TY-2 at Crawfords, running around the train in order to head to St. J.

I did finally get a master schedule done, although I still have to work out a few loco assignments. I also have to finish staging a few trains, like the CV ones. Almost there though!

This will at least be a starting point for the first session. We'll see how far we get and what does and does not work. Now to finish up a few more things, and put a date in the calendar to get trains rolling.

I still want to do some modeling though, so I have been doing a little weathering and flat finish on some of the locomotives that will be on duty. Here are a few getting their windows masked prior to the weathering. One of the newest additions is the B&M Bicentennial unit, #200. Pretty cool paint scheme. Probably didn't venture up the Conn River main line often, if at all, but I could't resist this loco!

Facing point switching

We have a local Conrail (Shared Assets, so it is still Conrail, shared by CSX and NS) branch nearby that runs out of Camden's Pavonia yard towards Mt. Holly. It is former PRR and then Penn Central, and it used to go further east, and was called the Pemberton branch. It even featured passenger service including RDCs into the 1970s, and when the line went to Fort Dix, featured troop trains during WWII.

Back to the present day, the line sees trains pretty much every weekday. And as pointed out by Lance Mindheim in various articles and clinics, not every industry is switched every day. There are a couple of different industries that receive different car types, so sometimes it is easy to tell what will be switched just by looking at the manifest of the freight train.

One thing that is interesting is how I have seen the crew operate facing point sidings. Although there is a run around further down the line, the local does not always make it all the way there based on industries that need to be switched. One of these is a paper company that receives a number of boxcars from the northeast, Canada and the upper midwest. Sometimes the train is only switching this one industry in a day's work.

I have seen the train with 2 locomotives on the head end work a facing point siding by stopping short of the siding, separating the lead unit from the train and pulling it into the siding. Then the second unit with the train pulls past the siding. The lead unit backs out onto the main track and is able to work the train from the rear, pulling the cars in the siding and respotting cars as necessary. This includes putting some cars back that have not yet been unloaded, and spotting cars at specific delivery doors. All of this has been covered by Lance various times, and it is good info to use when designing, building and operating your layout. It takes a bit of time for the crew to switch a single siding. A lot of times on a model railroad, we simply pickup what is there and drop off what we have. On the prototype it is much more complicated and time consuming, but if you like to operate, a lot of fun.

Lately I have noticed that the crew has arrived with a locomotive on each end of the train. This eliminates the need to separate the locomotives once at the facing point siding. Here is a picture I took recently as the train stopped in Maple Shade across the street from a Wawa (a local convenience store in our area) to grab lunch before getting busy switching further down the line.

The 4 man crew has exited the train to pick up lunch before continuing work further down the line.

A quick look at the boxcars on this train, and the fact that the train is 6 cars in length, confirmed that they only needed to switch the facing point paper company siding this day.

I find this interesting as I have been looking at how to operate 2 locations on my layout that have facing point turnouts in regards to the locals that will switch them. Lyndonville along the CP and Johnson, the talc mill along the LVRC, both not only have facing point sidings, and are also complicated by coming off the mainline which is on a grade.

This earlier work in progress photo shows the siding at Johnson. The yellow LVRC loco is downgrade. Operationally, this siding would be getting cars out of Morrisville, upgrade and along the track at the bottom left of the photo. A local would therefore approach this siding head on, a facing point switch to be worked.

A model railroad solution would be to add a run around off the main, or as part of the siding itself. Sometimes that is prototypical, but usually not. It is interesting that when the paper company located along this CR branch in the 1990s, the railroad built the siding but did not build anything extra such as a run around track to make switching easier. They knew there were ways to accomplish the task without building more track.

Another solution is the out and back turn local train that only works trailing point switches on the way out, and then trailing point on the way back (which were previously facing point). Sometimes that is how Conrail switches this siding, just going right past it on the way out, and then switching it on the way back towards Camden. That doesn't work for me for perfectly as I do not model the portion of the line where the Canadian Pacific turn around would occur.

For example on the CP, the local originates out of Newport, which is staging on my layout, runs to Wells River, also staging on my layout, then turns back for the return trip. I could get around this by first operating the return train coming back from Wells River before modeling a different local train in staging that would then switch Lyndonville as a trailing point siding. It would work, and best represents what the prototype did. The oddity would be modeling 2 different versions of the local.

Another way around this might be to do some active staging during the session to put the locomotives and caboose on opposites ends while in staging, and then have the train operated later in the session. This would preserve the locomotives and cars of the original local turn, and I could drop and add some cars within staging representing work done off the visible layout before returning. However this would require someone to actually do this during a session.

But another option is to look at what the Conrail local is doing and use 2 locomotives operating independently on my local. Either of the 2 methods would work well, and with DCC it is easy to duplicate. In my era, it would have been more likely to split the locomotives at the siding instead of having one at each end of the train.

Another advantage is that this method eliminates problems with the mainline on the grade. For example, if it is switched as a trailing point siding, I cannot leave anything on the main without some sort of braking system for the cars left on the main. Even the caboose would have to be switched into the siding complex, which does not seem too prototypical (outside of needing to clear the mainline for through freights). By having the locomotive proceed past the switch (and go downgrade), the locomotive will provide the necessary "anchor" to hold cars on the main while the switching work is done.

I can't say I have decided yet on how I think it will be best to operate these 2 locations. All these methods will work, and I can certainly try each of them out to see how it goes with the operators. The key thing is that by looking at the prototype, I found another solution that could be employed.

One last picture of a car in this train, a Maine Central boxcar, albeit in Pan Am paint. Somewhere under there is the Harvest Gold and green pine tree. Occasionally I have seen some older paint schemes on boxcars for the paper company, but that is getting more scarce nowadays.

MEC 31786, FMC 5272cf XP boxcar, series 31750-31899, built 1978.

DVD Review: Rails Along the River - WRJ to St. J

Just finished up watching the DVD "Rails Along The River: White River Jct. to St. Johnsbury, VT" from Tell-Tale productions. I picked this up along with part 2 "St. J to Newport" at the Springfield show. (Have not watched part 2 yet). Here is my impressions of the video (I have no affiliation with the producer).

Pretty good overview of the line from south to north. Some period photos help explain the importance of this line in earlier times. Footage mainly from the 2000's, with some CP Rail RS18 footage from the early 1990s. Includes current VTR Washington County ops, as well as predecessor Iron Roads’ Northern Vermont RR from the first half of the last decade. “Side trips” to the Claremont Concord, Lamoille Valley (including snow plows and covered RR bridges) and Conway Scenic’s ex-MEC MountainDivision (including a steam excursion) are nice extras that flesh out railroading in this area. Video includes freights as well as some passenger excursions.

A little sparse on commentary about the trains themselves, but it does include some historical interviews about certain areas throughout the video that go beyond a normal train video, kind of like a Ken Burns documentary at times. Cuts to a topo map at each town are a nice touch as they help you see where the rail line is in relation to the Connecticut River and other towns. Action from all seasons gives one a good feel for the area. I wish they spent a little more time on certain train segments (like switching at the customers) and a little less run-by shots.

Some trains were filmed the whole length of the line, so you see the same train in a run-by multiple times in different locations which starts to get old after a while. Also, you sometimes want a little more of a shot, or a less zoomed in view, like when the train plows snow through a grade crossing, which is not as dramatic because it is zoomed in and you don’t see the snow bank getting blasted at the road. I did like some of the shots of buildings, stations and right-of-way intermixed with the train footage as it really helps with ideas for scenery and structures on a model railroad.

Coming in at 100 minute (with a 10 minute bonus feature and 10 minutes of ads for other titles), the DVD sells for $25 (I got mine for $19.95 at the show). Overall 3.5 out of 5 boxcars. Good video quality and good camerawork. Could have moved along a little faster and perhaps been just 75 minutes in length. But a good deal ($25 includes shipping and tax) and certainly a good look at something different than a lot of today’s videos that feature big trains from just the big railroads. More info:www.railroadvideodvd.com

Caboose Work

I have been in a caboose state of mind lately. Having gotten a few new cabooses over the past year, I decided to round them all up and do some basic upgrades to make them ready for the layout. As I received these, I pretty much just took them out of the box and put out them out there to test run, so they were all still a little shiny and such. They looked a little out of place in relation to my other weathered rolling stock and locomotives.

I started by bringing them all together and taking stock of what I have. I also looked through books and on the Internet for relevant pictures to see what I might need to do as far as details and weathering. One great book is Cabins, Crummies and Hacks: Vol. 1 covering the northeast. Lots of great photos there.



One of the main things I do with all freight cars is to paint the trucks and wheels with rust and grimy black. If nothing else, this (to me) seems to impart the most realism into the model. I use a brush to paint the wheel faces rust and the trucks grimy black. Usually this is enough as the rust dries dark enough to look pretty good. If it is too bright a hit it with a light coat of grimy black. I also take the opportunity to check the gauge of the wheelsets against the NMRA gauge to make sure they are accurate.

I also installed Kadee #58 scale size couplers. I have decided to try to standardize on these, concentrating on locomotives and cabooses first as these are usually most noticeable. Many of the models have the Accumate couplers which I have not really liked to much, in appearance or in operation.

The final standard upgrade i did to all cars is to install coupler cut levers. I use Detail Associates part #FC-6215 for this. I drill the #80 hole for the eye bolt and run the lever through it. I glue the end to the bottom of the coupler box making sure it does not interfere with operation of the coupler. Once dry I painted the lever with grimy black. A small detail to be sure, but it is neat when your eye picks up the bent wire ends of the lever as the train rolls by.

My roster has three B&M cabooses now, with the addition of 2 new Intermountain ones in B&M blue. These are really nice and pretty accurate based on photos I have looked at on-line. For my time period one of the important items to add are the consolidated lube plates an the U-1 wheel stencils (yellow dots). I used Microscale decals to add this to the models, right onto the existing glossy surface. The photos helped me find the proper placement of these items on the models. I checked the weight on these cars. Coming in at 2.5 oz. these cars are a little light (should be 3 oz.). I did not find an easy way to get the body off the underframe and did not want to risk damaging the details. So I will have to see how these perform and add weight later if necessary. The painting, couplers and cut levers finished up these B&M cabooses.




I also have a Athearn RTR caboose, #C23. The Caboose book actually had a great shot of C23, which shows the Athearn paint job is pretty accurate although the model is just close. I took care of the trucks and added the decals to match the photo.

My MEC caboose fleet has been built using the Atlas releases from the past few years. The first release was the wide cupola #670. I unfortunately only picked up one of these when they came out. I should have looked to see if additional road numbers were released, or picked up more and changed the numbers. So far Atlas has not done another release of wide cupola cabooses in MEC paint, although the MEC did have 13 others (numbers 640-645, 651-654 and 670-672). Perhaps another wide cupola caboose will be a future release coming up?

Atlas has since released two runs of standard cupola cabooses in MEC paint. Numbers 656 and 659 came first and have green cupolas. Then 657 and 658 were released in a different lettering scheme with yellow cupolas. Somehow I picked up an extra 656 model, so I used Walthers Solvaset on a q-tip to remove the numbering on the sides and ends and then used Microscale decals from set 87-903 to renumber it to 655 (which I have a picture of in the same paint scheme). I'm not sure of all the standard cupola cabooses the MEC had, but I only have found pictures of 655-659, so I might have all of them covered.

I should point out that none of these is 100% accurate as a MEC caboose model. The MEC caboose have varying windows and none of the steps are correct (the MEC had 3 while the models have 2). I can live with these discrepancies. Other modelers may want to address filling in the extra window(s), although paint matching to hide the work might be tough. And I believe Moloco makes a part to replace the steps with proper, more detailed 3 steps. It is just a question of how much of a project you want to make it.

For each of these I did the usual truck painting, KD #58 couplers and cut levers. These models already had the lube plates, so it was just a matter of adding the U-1 stencils, using prototype photos as a guide. I also checked the weight on each of these. They are just about correct. Being 5 inches long, the NMRA recommended weight is 3.5 oz. and these came in at 3.4, close enough!


I also simulated the end flasher on these caboose by cutting a piece of clear acrylic rod (Plastruct 92031), gluing it to the end and putting a spot of Tamiya Red Clear gloss paint (#X-27) on the end. This does enough to capture the look of the flasher. I also installed sinclair short antennas to the roofs and hit them with Polly Scale MEC green.

I did notice a problem with the first standard cupola release (656 and 659). These wobble very easily and rock side to side unprototypically. I compared these to the later release which does not exhibit this problem. What I found is that Atlas has molded 2 stabilizing pins into the truck bolster to keep the caboose from rocking. On the earlier release, these pins are not as long as the later release. So Atlas fixed this problem between releases. My fix was to also install longer stabilizing pins using styrene strip, sanded to match the angle of the bolster and glued to the other truck bolster to help stabilize the caboose. I made them a little long and then filed them until the trucks attached and pivoted OK while still keeping the caboose stabilized.

On the 670 wide cupola caboose, I finished up a project I planned to do a while back. While watching videos at one point, I noticed the flashing red beacon on the back of the caboose as the train passed by. I see these on the MEC caboose in the photos as well. I had already picked up a Miniatronics flasher with red LED and Tomar contact wipers. With everyting on hand, I decided to complete the project now. I will be writing this up for the MER Local newsletter and will probably publish the details on my web site. For now, here is a picture of the caboose done and ready for reassembly.



The caboose with the flasher looks pretty neat on the track. There is a little more resistance and less free rolling with the wheels having contact wipers, but this does not seem to be a big deal. It will look nice on the end of the train during the open house in November.




I also have an Athearn recent release of MEC #661. this is neat in that it has the covered window. I limited my work on this to painting the trucks and replacing the couplers.

Not addressed right now are my older pair of Proto 2000 NE style caboose models. I have never liked the orange paint on these - it just looks too orange and not like MEC paint. I am thinking about removing the lettering and masking off the green areas, then airbrushing some MEC harvest gold onto the model. If it looks good, I will then re-letter it. I'll cover that in a future post.


Moving onto the Canadian Pacific, I acquired a couple of the Atlas Trainman "C&O Style" cabooses. Again, these are most likely not 100% accurate for the CP Rail cabooses they represent, nor do they have the level of detail of the other cabooses, but I am OK with them for my layout right now. I added the U-1 stencil above the existing lube plate and also took care of painting the trucks and swapping the couplers for #58s. The rest of the model looks OK, especially for a $12 price tag! Maybe later I will look into a more accurate modern caboose for CP Rail, getting appropriate input from me CP modeling buddy Anton.


My last two caboose to be worked on are the True-Line Trains Central Vermont wooden cabooses. While these do have the CV noodle logo, I am not 100% sure they would have been in use on the Richford Branch in 1980. No matter, my modeler's license allows me to use these models on my layout! For these I added the lube plates, U-1 stencils and painted the trucks. I decided to leave the installed couplers as these are a scale size metal spring coupler that looks pretty good. I'll see how they working operation and replace if necessary.

Now all my caboose models are ready for final weathering. I'll use an airbrush to hit them all with dust and some diluted grimy black. Then I will finish up with some Bragdon chalks for soot, dust and rust.