HN2009: Day 3 - 7/8

Tuesday morning, up early to head to the Danbury Rail Museum, it is an hour or so bus ride before we arrive. The museum is located in the depot for Danbury. The track arrangement here is very interesting with the old yard that now houses the museum collection circled by a multi-track reversing loop. It is like something right off a model railroad really. There are also some unused tracks of the Housatonic that pass by the opposite side of the depot as well.



The museum collection is housed in a fenced in area on the old yard tracks. They opened up the gates for us and we had a guided tour of the equipment on site. Lots of interesting pieces on display, some very unique. I particularly enjoyed the MEC caboose #681 that we were able to walk through.




A Conn DOT commuter train came around the reverse loop for a crew change so I was able to get some pictures and video of the clean locomotive in a New Haven inspired paint scheme.



Pretty neat also was a refurbished PRR RPO. The inside was restored giving us a look at how the mail was handled and sorted aboard the train.




After looking around inside the depot we were taken on a short ride through the yard on a coach pulled by an SW unit. We headed out to the turntable, detrained and then took a spin on the turntable. Then it was back to the depot and onto the bus for the ride back to the convention center.



In the afternoon I checked out a few clinics before heading back to the hotel to recharge, get some dinner and get back to the convention center for the evening clinics. At 7pm I attended a slide presentation on the Bangor & Aroostock and Maine Central prototypes. Then it was time for my two clinics. First up was a look at the prototype railroads of Northern New England, followed by a look at my layout and the design process I used to incorporate 5 railroads onto 1 layout.

A note about the convention center - it is a great location for presenting clinics, but I do find the opening and closing of the rear door distracting and noisy. Before I started I propped the door open to prevent this distraction. It seemed to work out OK and there was not to much noise from the outside hallway. I guess there isn't too much you can do about people coming and going I suppose, but it would be nice if the doors worked in such a way to not be so noisy. A small nit I suppose. Otherwise the convention center is a good location, clean and modern. Very nice are the abundant displays with up-to-date information on clinics throughout as well as outside each clinic room.

HN2009: Day 2 - 7/7

An early morning departure by bus takes us to Thomaston to the RR Museum of New England, home of the Naugatuck RR. A small collection of equipment is at the station along with our train, lead by an ex-P&W U23B with a New Haven logo applied. We board for a trip up to the runaround track in Waterville and then the locomotive switches ends and we head back to the station.




Next we ran back to the shops for a walking tour to see the rest of their equipment and their new shop building. Inside they are working on various pieces getting them back into running shape.



Out in the yard area, there are many pieces of rolling stock. Particularly interesting for me is the Maine Central boxcar in its rebuilt paint scheme. Very nice!



We got back to the convention center in the afternoon and I had time to catch a clinic before going to the Op Sig room for instructions on the night's operating session. The clinic I saw was on Phil Monat's layout, how he designed it and how he rebuilt it. A good introduction before I get to see the layout on Saturday.

After heading back to the hotel to get changed, I headed east to Rhode Island to operate on Don Irace's P&W modern day layout. What a neat layout and a great one to operate. I got the yard job at Worcester and this kept me busy all night. I was pretty much on my own but I did have a coach nearby to help out and explain things as they came up. It was a great time and well run by Don and his crew. Here is a look at the Worcester yard, with Fresh Ponds yard below (run by another operator.



One last picture: Here is a shot of the dispatching panel on Don's layout. He also uses a dispatcher in Georgia to control half the layout. Wow!



Time to head back to the hotel. Early call again tomorrow as we head out to Danbury for a look at the museum there.

HN2009: Arrival - 7/6

Just got up to Hartford, having driven up this morning. About a 4 hour drive, uneventful and not too much traffic. Great weather for a drive today. In fact the weather looks pretty good all week, continuing the great weather we had this past holiday weekend in Philly. I just got settled into my hotel room and now I am going to head over to the convention center to check in and see what is going on.

Arrived at the convention center, very nice building and great place for the NMRA. I immediately ran into a few Philly and NJ Division members. Before registering I had to get to the OpSig meeting area to coordinate driving to the layout I was assigned to for the evening. Turns out Jim Dalberg and Dick Foley, regulars who I operate with on a layout back home, were assigned to the same layout, so I was able to catch a ride with them. As the layout was located about 1-1/2 hours to the south, we needed to get on the road in order to have time to stop for dinner. I quickly picked up my registration packet and we were off.

The layout is called the Boston & Maine Central and the host is Franklin Lang. The layout is nice, featuring somewhat freelanced design but using prototype B&M and MEC equipment and locations. Wide aisles and a laid back operating scheme made it easy to quickly get into the session and have fun. Here are two pictures of the overall layout.






Franklin says he has only been building the layout for about 3 years and is just getting operations going on a regular basis. He is off to a great start. His layout is operated with a yard at each end and a center yard (where I was stationed). Of interest is his town of Relief, pictured below.




The session ended around 10pm, but we did have an hour and a half ride back. We nearly hit some bad traffic approaching Hartford, but using the GPS we got off and diverted around it. Then it was back to the hotel. So day one went quickly and I did not see too much of the convention or the clinics, contest room, etc. yet. Tomorrow is an early day with a trip to the RR Museum of New England and a ride on the Naugatuck RR.

HN2009 National Convention

I also want to mention that I will be at the NMRA National Convention next week up in Hartford, CT. I will be giving a couple of clinics, but mainly I plan to enjoy all that the convention has to offer. I plan to post daily entries to this blog, so check back during the week to see what is going on up in Hartford.

Unbuilt Kits Stash takes a hit

The next big project up for the layout will be removing the temporary benchwork along the far wall to put in the permanent benchwork, track and staging yards. I have a plan in mind now for that area and I am ready to start building it. But right now was not the best time to dive into this work, for a few reasons. So I found I had some time and needed some model railroading projects to work on.

Recently I went through my entire freight car and locomotive collection and looked for items I do not plan to use to donate to the NJ Division raffle at our Meets. In doing so I also took a look at my stash of unbuilt freight car kits, weeded out the donations, and with the remaining I decided to go on a building spree to get some of these things built. It was basically a no cost activity. I already bought these kits and they are just waiting to get onto the layout. Here is a picture of the stack before I started:



Over the course of about 2 weeks I finished about a dozen of these cars and got them onto the layout. I also had to get the airbrush out for a customer's project so I took advantage of that to also weather these cars. Now I really need to get the rest of the layout built as St. Johnsbury is not big enough to hold all these cars now! Here is a few of them, from Athearn, Intermountain, Branchline, Red Caboose, even an old McKean kit for TOFC flatcars and a Robins Rails kit:




So if you are looking for something to do, but reluctant to spend some money right now, be sure to look over your unbuilt kit stash. Assembling some of these is fun and not too taxing on the skill set, so it makes a nice summertime modeling activity.

The Calais Free-mo Module Project

Just a quick note that I am working on a set of Free-mo modules in the hopes of drumming up interest here in the greater NJ and PA area. I'll still work on the layout, but I do plan to get these modues up and running quickly. I'll be giving a clinic on them at the May Meet of the NJ Division. Here is a picture of what I plan to model with the modules - yes sticking with Maine Central, just moving (way) east into Maine at the end of the Calais branch.




For more on the activities of Free-mo in our area, visit the NJ Free-mo web page.

LVRC Caboose 200 Arrives!

I got home on a snowy night this week and went to the mailbox. Inside was a brown box. I grabbed it and headed back up the snow covered driveway. Shoveling would have to wait. I hurried inside to get it open. There it was, the Intermountain model of Lamoille Valley's caboose #200. Wow! It looks great and seems to have all the proper lettering and logos, even the ones up on the cupola. Really nice!!


I'll have to add a little bit of weathering and paint the trucks and couplers and then it will be ready to leave Morrisville for its trip to St. Johnsbury behind train MJ-2!

Layout Fascia

One comment from a recent posting asked me to elaborate a little on my layout's fascia. In general I use quarter-inch Birch plywood from Home Depot, sold in 2 x 4 foot sections. I hand pick through it to get non-warped good looking pieces. One side is usually better than the other. The smaller size of these pieces actually makes it easier to work with although I need more supports added to the benchwork. I cut the pieces to size to fit the area and attach them with stainless steel screws with mounting washers. These give a real nice look to to the layout and I take care to mount them evenly to help promote a professional look. After the pieces are installed I stain them with Minwax Cherry gel stain. I top that with a few coats of water-based Minwax polyurethane applied with a foam brush, lightly sanding between coats. Pictured to the right is a new piece added in Lyndonville, a section just getting started.

On the end of the peninsula I set the wood for mounting on a curve and bent the plywood around to match. I think it gives a nice complimentary look top the curve of the tracks.

In some areas I am using pieces of 3/4" pine and also poplar. I selected pieces without knots. Some of these were used because they were leftover from a previous layout and I did not need more than the 6 inch height they provide. In other areas I used it to build out shelves, as evidenced here in St. Johnsbury. I recall seeing something similar on another layout years ago and thought it would be a good idea to provide some flat surfaces to put things while building, working and also during operating sessions. It has been one of the most commented on features of the layout from other modelers. It was not too hard to build but does require a little forethought to provide adequate benchwork support and clearance. Basically the shelf rests on the 1 x 2 cross pieces direclty on the L-girder, while risers wee used to support the actual yard (plywood base).

Under Morrisville, I did another long shelf like St. Johnsbury. In this picture you can see how the birch plywood simply butts up to the shelf section. It is all just built in place to fit and I add wood t the sides and behind the shelves to keep a good look to it. The shelves will be built in different areas mainly where switching activity will take place.

I have a not had any issues with the fascia and it cleans up real well if I spill some scenery material or glue on it. I know that this is a bit more effort than other styles of fascia (i.e. Masonite) but I like the look of wood and I think the Cherry color fits the theme of the layout, New England in the Fall.

As far as access, I have not built any doors or access panels in as of yet. Hidden track under the LVRC between Danville and Sheldon Jct. is basically accessed from underneath. But I may have to consider that a bit more as I get on to the areas with more hidden staging. The CV staging is probably OK because it is not close to the edge anyway. I may actually consider open areas below structures for some access. The Newport/Montreal staging is in place against the wall. If I build the fascia out far enough, i can ensure access from below and behind the fascia.

If there are any more questions, just add them in the comment section for this post.

Locomotive Projects

As mentioned earlier, I spent some time working on locomotive and car projects. This I guess was a natural follow up to all of the caboose work I did in the summer! I had some things I wanted to finish and get onto the layout for the openhouse, so I concentrated on getting these lingering projects completed.

First up I worked on the Lamoille Valley's tourist train by completing a pair of coaches and RS3 #7803. The coaches are by Hornby. I could only get them lettered so I used Solvaset to remove the lettering and then used a Microscale alphabet set to letter them. I was not sure what the LVRC used for numbers on their coaches, so I just used 1203 and 1204. These Hornby coaches are nicely detailed and with 4 wheel trucks and a shorter length they work well on the layout. They closely resemble the real coaches I have seen in pictures, although they are a little darker green than the prototypes.



To pull the train, I added 7803 to the roster. This followed the usual LVRC RS3 paint and decal process, although I decided to keep the weathering light and also paint the trucks silver. This seems to match the photos I have seen of tourist trains. I also added a Soundtraxx Alco DSD sound decoder to the locomotive, putting the mini oval speaker in the cab. It was a tight fit and I had to remove the weight over the rear truck as it interfered with the enclosure. But pulling two coaches is no problem for the unit. I am going to see if I can remove part of the weight and then reinstall it. It is nice to have some sound on the LVRC now!



I also completed a long in process locomotive project, a pair of B&M GP9s. These have a long story, starting about 7 years ago when I happened upon a pair of Front Range GP9 shells molded in blue. I immediately thought of B&M Geeps because of the blue plastic, so I bought both for $9 total. I had no idea how I was going to finish them however. Over the years I accumulated parts and such for the project but never really started it. One big obstacle was the frame, trucks and drive train. I thought maybe I could use an Atlas GP7 mechanism, but the shells did not fit. About 4 years ago I found a pair of Front Range GP9s on eBay. I quickly picked these up, although this gave me another set of shells with no frame (oh well!). With everything on hand I finally started the project, about 2 years ago.



This was very much a project like I used to do 20 years ago. Lots of Details Associates and Details West parts added. Drilling and installing wire grab irons, rebuilding the plows to better match the prototype. I'll spare you the blow by blow process as I doubt you'll be building B&M GP9s from Front Range models (why p2K has not done a B&M GP9 I cannot figure).

Of interest is that I equipped these with Lokpilot decoders and put a DSX sound-only decoder in one unit. This was a new experience. The Lokpilots are nice and run the motor quietly, not bad considering it is a 20 year old original can motor. I did have some problems programming 2 decoders in one loco. I had to use separate addresses and temporarily cut the sound decoder wire to program only the Lokpilot, but eventually I got it all working.

Another "neat" thing about this project was when, after I painted the shells and prepared for decaling I realized I only had one set of B&M Herald King decals. I was certain I had more, but no, just the one. What to do? By coincidence I had just recieved an e-mail from another modeler letting me know that HK was back in business. I called them up and ordered the same set I already had. Amazing! The new decal was exactly the same as the one I bought 25 years ago (although it cost 5 times more). This seemed to indicate to me that this project really deserved to get finished!

I must say this was much more complicated than using locomotives produced in the last 10 years or so. I think we (or at least me) have started to really take for granted the amount of details and the quality of locomotives produced now. They tend to really be ready to run and only need weathering to get them on the layout.

One other locomotive to note (there were a couple others, but they are still in progress: MEC 564, LVRC 7802). With the pending release of the Intermountain U18Bs (April it looks like as of now), I ended up with some undecorated Atlas U23Bs that now will not get converted to U18Bs. What to do? Well, looking through my decal collection, I have a few sets of Herald King Lehigh Valley locos. I always liked this scheme. I also get a chance to operate on a layout that includes some LV trains and routes. So I decided it would be fun to do something different and give me a loco that I could take to the other layout on occasion. LV 512 is the result. I am happy how it came out. I made the weathering heavy but the engine is not too beat up as some prototype photos show. I also added a GE sound unit to this. The speaker was a challenge, but I got a mini oval with enclosure into the cab. It is fun to operate and gives a different sound then the rest of my locos. I could probably theorize that the Lamoille Valley leased a Conrail ex-LV U23B for a short period to help keep trains running on my layout...

Happy Holidays!

Happy Holidays to everyone out there. Here is a photo I staged on the layout for the season. Enjoy:

Busy Fall

I have not posted anything since my return from the NER Syracuse convention but that was not because I have not been busy. I hosted an open house on November 22nd and in preparation for that I did a lot of projects and worked quite a bit on the layout. I'll get you up to date on what I've been doing and also discuss what is in the works for this winter.

First, I wanted to make some changes to the layout area, to give it a more finished look now that I completed the other half of the basement (non-railroad family room). So time was spent working on curtains to hang below the benchwork and to install carpeting. I really have enjoyed having this in place as it makes the area so much nicer looking and the carpet feels great under the feet.



The skirting was made from material we purchased and then sewn into panels by my wife. They are all 44" wide, so it is easy to get in where needed. They are attached with clothespins glued to the back of the fascia boards. It is also easy to disconnect the panels at a few clothespins and pull the material back to work without actually removing a whole section. The skirting does a good job of hiding the support legs and the shelving that holds layout supplies and kits. This makes it much more attractive for visitors. I am very happy with the results.



The carpet I installed is made up of 20" square tiles sold in a box by Home Depot. They are ready to lay down onto the concrete floor and include padding. They don't move when put in place but are easily lifted and moved if needed. Installation went real quick and works well for a layout as I only need to carpet the open areas, not under the layout. The squares extend under the skirting a few inches. I can remove sections if I am really doing some dirty work and want to protect them from damage. Here is a look at a section with unfinished benchwork so you can better see how they are placed onto the floor:



These were the main room enhancements. In my next posts, I'll show you some of the locomotive projects I completed as well as some scenery and detailing work done in Hardwick.

NER Syracuse Day 3

Saturday here and the weather has stayed cloudy with the threat of rain. We got some tips about a lot of CSX westbound traffic moving on Saturday mornings, so we are going to head out and see what we can find before going to the hotel for some clinics and more layouts this afternoon. More to come later today.



LATER: So we spent quite a few hours at an area just west of DeWitt yard watching the trains. It was probably a little lighter today than a weekday, but still plenty of trains for us. We were able to catch the usual CSX power as wel as an Amtrak train. But UP power on one train and BNSF on another was a real treat for us. Mostly I shot video, but here are a few pictures I got whil etrying to juggle the camera and the camcorder at the same time.





A couple trains were manifest freights and I was able to see some older MEC and B&M cars (not the Guiolford versions, but the 1970's schemes. Also going by was this neat Ontario Northland car in original paint plus a CV blue boxcar. You can see it has been relettered for FEC.





After this extended railfan session, we were able to get to a couple of layouts and another interesting hobby shop. Brian Curry's N scale layout was terrific and really shows that great modeling looks great regardless of the scale. The video I took could have easily been an HO or O scale layout if you did not know better,

Now it is off to the banquet to wrap up festivities. I'll post a wrap up entry tomorrow.

NER Syracuse Day 2

Friday starts off cloudy with rain threatening. I registered late for this convention so I am not doing any of the prototype tours this year. Instead the focus will be clinics, layouts and railfanning. After breakfast in the Hampton Inn lobby (got to love that free breakfast buffet they all have!) we headed over to the Holiday Inn convention hotel to get registered. A contingent of NJ Division modelers was found wandering the area (PJ, Bruce B. and Bob P.) and we traded notes on what was seen so far.

Anton and I decided to get some railfanning in before the weather turned bad. This worked well as most layouts did not open until the afternoon anyway. We headed over to Solvay yard where the CSX interchanges with the Finger Lakes Railway. Lots of big industry here such as Crucible Steel, a paperboard mfgr. and several chemical industry receivers. We scoped out the entire area and watched the ex-CR FGLK Quality diesel do some switching, but by now some rain started to fall. It was still early so we decided our best bet was to take advantage of overhead shelter and do our railfanning at the Syracuse Transportation Center, shooting trains from the Amtrak platform. We were quickly rewarded with a CSX train already passing by as we ascended to the platform. Next up was an Amtrak commuter train (Buffalo-Albany). While this was in the station a westbound CSX passed by. We quickly got our cameras repositioned to catch the train.

Listening to the scanner was fun too. There was some back and forth between the ND dispatcher and a work train trying to get track time to do their work. The scanner was vital too to find out when trains were coming of course. Both an eastbound and westbound train were in the area and sure enough the headlight of the eastbound was soon upon us. However the westbound track was now showing a green signal. As luck would have it both trains would be passing right in front of us. I did my best to get a still shot of the eastbound before switching to video to get the westbound.



The scanner talk died off, so we decided to get lunch and head to another trackside location to eat and wait for more trains. As luck would have it we missed two trains while trying to find a suitable spot to park trackside. The first "train" that passed us by was this CSX track car:

Later the Amtrak Maple Leaf snuck up on us but I was still able to grab a shot:



It was then time for some layouts and we headed off to see a nice Pennsy layout featuring Horseshoe Curve. Now, coming from an area outside Philadelphia you might think the last thing that I'd want to go see is a PRR layout. There are plenty back home, so PRR is not high on my must-see list. But this layout was really great. The wharf scene alone was easily 8' x 12' and was incredibly detailed. In fact all the areas were great like this and we were really happy with our decision to visit this layout. (This layout was recently featured in RMC).

We also made a stop a Central Hobby Supply to exchange some money for hobby items and then went to visit a new developing layout that featured many of the areas we have been railfanning. Dewitt Yard, Solvay, CSX, Finger Lakes, it was all here. We could find the places where we stood trackside to take pictures. It will be nice to see how this layout develops once scenery and structures are added.

Back at the convention hotel, we checked out a couple of clinics, including Earl Smallshaw talking about a new section he has finished on his classic layout (one of the structures was scratchbuilt 55 years ago!). A clinic on using photos for backdrops was interesting and made me think about some areas I might be able to incorporate some photos onto the layout. There was time for one more local layout, an N scale D&H, before calling it a night.

NER Syracuse Day 1

Like last year, I am at the Fall NER Convention and will be posting what is going on here to my blog, at least once a day, maybe more. Day 1 (Thursday) is the drive up to Syracuse NY. I have not been this far west for an NER convention yet (furthest before was Utica, so the area is new to me.

CP Rail modeler Anton M. is joining me for this year's pilgrimage. We made our way into Syracuse by mid-afternoon. We were pacing an NYS&W train along I-81, but were unsuccessful in getting off in time to set up and get a picture. We did get to a good location but just as the engines were passing by. The train was moving! Once in Syracuse proper, we decided to check out the railfanning opportunities and headed towards the west end of the area near Solvay yard. Using the July Railfan & Railroad magazine we found an overpass and a road that put us trackside just east of Solvay yard. I got the scanner set up and soon we heard an Amtrak train approaching and it was quickly upon us. This was quickly followed by a CSX intermodal train. It was pretty easy to figure things out by having the R&R map with CP locations identified. It has been a while since I was able to do some real railfanning where there was a good density of trains and this was fun!



Next we tried to find where the NYS&W moves through Syracuse, and although we did, it was easy to get lost and stuck in downtown traffic. Eventually we maneuvered to CP 286 on the CSX just west of DeWitt yard. We found a good location trackside and were rewarded with a train right away. The scanner picked up notes from the Dispatcher about a train moving from track 2 to track 8 and we were able to see the switches being thrown to do this. Soon the train was snaking through switches and moving past us. The dispatcher was talking to another train with 5 cars for Solvay and soon that too was going past us.



We finished up by scouting out the DeWitt yard area to be prepared for more railfanning later in the weekend. Near the east end we found a god spot to watch as the yard switchers worked a cut of cars using a GP40-2 and a GP38-2.



As it was getting late we decided to head over to the hotel and get checked in. We are not at the convention hotel (it was full when I tried to book), but just down the road at the Hampton Inn. After getting checked in, we looked over the layout book and had time to visit a couple of layouts and get some dinner before calling it a day.

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.