Boston, Concord, & Montreal Railroad

I've made some progress on the model railroad, but before I get into that, I promised in my last post that I would explain my fictional railroad, so I thought I'd take the time to do that today.  I consider it a semi-fictional railroad.  Let me explain what I mean by that.  In the mid-19th century, when small railroads were starting to consolidate into larger ones, the Boston, Concord, & Montreal railroad was formed out of several of the small railroads in Massachusetts and southern New Hampshire.  When it was formed, tracks existed between Boston and Concord (New Hampshire), and the plan was to continue building north.  The railroad built north through New Hampshire's lakes region and into the foothills of the White Mountains to a small town called Woodsville, on the Connecticut River and the border with Vermont.  They also built a branch out of Woodsville into the White Mountains which connected with the Portland and Ogdensburg, another big railroad of the day.  P&O was eventually consolidated into Maine Central, and BC&M was consolidated into Boston & Maine, and plans to continue the line to Montreal were abandoned.  Canadian Pacific built tracks south to Woodsville, so the line eventually reached Montreal, and they were used as B&M's main route to Montreal.

Boston & Maine later came under the control of the New Haven Railroad, which wanted to control the larger railroads in New England, consolidate them into one company, and electrify the important routes.  They experimented with third rail electrification near Hartford; however, it led to many accidents and the state of Connecticut banned the use of third rail electrification within its borders.  This forced the New Haven to look into overhead catenary, which at the time was only used on streetcar and interurban lines, and only with low voltage DC power.  New Haven did extensive research and developed a high voltage AC system and strung wires along part of their main line out of New York.  The tests were successful, and wires were extended to New Haven and along several branch lines.  New Haven was also responsible for stringing catenary through Boston & Maine's Hoosac Tunnel.  However, New Haven came under new management, and the plans to electrify all the busy routes in New England were dropped.

All of that being said, I am still modeling the present day.  I wanted to give some background information, which will tie in here.  My version of the BC&M is a "what-if" situation: What if the BC&M was never bought out, and survives today as a Class 2?  This led me to a few conclusions.  First is that the railroad completed their line to Montreal.  I don't know what route they were planning on building, and I don't know that the railroad itself had any plans either, so I will use the existing former CP route between Woodsville and Montreal as BC&M's main line.  The second conclusion is that for a while in the early 20th century the BC&M was under the control of New Haven.  Since I like the idea of electrification, I used this as an excuse to have catenary on my railroad.  Since the Boston to Concord corridor is fairly heavily populated, and at the time had a lot of rail traffic,then in my world the route between the two cities was electrified by New Haven, and that the wires survive today and the BC&M still uses them.  However, I don't plan on modeling today's amount of rail traffic on the line.  Today, the line barely exists between Concord and Plymouth, NH, and between Plymouth and Woodsville the tracks are gone.  There is no direct rail connection between Boston and Montreal anymore.  However, since in my world it is all run by one railroad, none of the abandonments happened, and the route is still the main line between the two cities, and therefore has much more traffic on it today.  Finally, since the area today is ripe for a commuter rail service, I will model a fictional commuter service to Montreal, which of course will also use the catenary.

However, most of that does not have to do with this model railroad, except that I am modeling a branch of the BC&M.  The branch will not be electrified, I will use diesels to run the trains.  When (if) I ever get the chance to build a basement empire, I will model a much larger BC&M and have electrification on the layout.

When we put together the maps section in our resources page, I will include a map of the BC&M for reference.  In the meantime, this scan of on old Boston and Maine timetable will give you an idea of the route I am talking about.  It is the one on the top of the page, the Canadian Pacific route to Montreal. Canadian Pacific tracks began at Woodsville.

Finally, here are a couple of paint schemes I designed for the railroad.  I used a GP38-2 and a SD40-2 to design the paint scheme, but I am not sure yet what I will use for motive power.

Union Pacific Big Boy #4014

Union Pacific recently purchased one of their Big Boy locomotives, a massive 4-8-8-4 articulated steam engine, from a park in southern California.  In late April and early May, the engine was moved from California to Cheyenne, Wyoming, for restoration.  Once restoration is complete, it will join the Challenger #3985 and the Northern #844 in Union Pacific's steam program.  While on the move, the Big Boy was put on display in various towns along the way, including Salt Lake City, UT and Ogden, UT.  I was still living in the area then, and I was able to go up to Ogden to see the engine on the day it was on display there.

The Big Boys were designed for Union Pacific's steep mountain grades between Ogden, UT and Green River, WY.  In modern days, when more horsepower is needed, more locomotives are put on the train and cables are connected between them so that one train crew can control all the locomotives from the lead locomotive.  In areas where helper engines are needed, these are put on the back of the train and usually have their own crew.  Steam engines, by nature, can't do that.  Every engine on a train has to have its own crew.  That is why, in steam days, you rarely saw doubleheaded trains.  Both engines had to have their own crew, and had to rely on whistle signals to let each other know what they were doing.  This was inconvenient, and Union Pacific didn't like doing it on their line between Green River and Ogden.

Thus the Big Boy was born.  UP wanted a locomotive that could pull a train on that line without help.  They had a 4-8-8-4 wheel arrangement, meaning they had two sets of eight driving wheels each.  They burned coal, but the 4005 was later converted to burn oil, but the conversion was poorly designed and did not work properly.  The design has been improved since then, and like the other two engines in UP's steam program, the 4014 will be converted to burn oil.  They were built by American Locomotive Company, the first twenty (4000-4019) were built in 1941 and five more (4020-4024) were built in 1944.  They earned their nickname when a worker at the ALCo plant in Schenectady, NY wrote "Big Boy" on the front of one of the engines as it was under construction.  The nickname stuck, and today that is what everyone knows this design by.  The locomotives were not in service long, as diesels began taking over shortly after they were built, and the last one ran July 21, 1959.

Below are some of the photos I shot in Ogden, for a full album visit our facebook page.

For the rest of the photos, please visit the photo album on our facebook page.  If you have not "liked" our page, search for "Ogden Brothers Trains" on facebook and you will find it.

Steven Is Back!

Hello everyone!  As many of you know, I have been living in the Salt Lake City, UT area for the past two years.  I have been there serving as a full time missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  Serving as a full time missionary takes up pretty much all your time, and while there I had no time for railfanning or model railroading or any of that, it was a hobby I had to give up for the time.  I was able to go to Ogden to see UP's 4-8-8-4 Big Boy #4014 while it was on display there on its way from Pomona, CA to Cheyenne, WY for restoration.  I took a few photos on that trip, and I will write a post about that soon.

While serving in Salt Lake City, I used Utah Transit Authority's TRAX (light rail) and FrontRunner (commuter rail) systems quite a bit, and got several photos of the trains while I was at it.  I will probably write some sort of railroad profile about UTA's rail systems, which have been growing dramatically over the past few years.  UTA has one of the cleanest and most reliable commuter/light rail systems I have seen.

I am also in the planning stages of a small switching layout, so you can expect to read posts about that as work on it progresses.  I am glad to be back and contributing to the blog once again, and I hope you enjoy what I have to say!

Photo: Union Pacific Stack Train

Steven sent me this photo of a Union Pacific stack train traveling through one of the Salt Lake City, UT, suburbs several months ago, and I have been meaning to share it. Sorry to keep you waiting!

-James

Piedmont Ghost Town

(This blog post was received recently from Steven, in a handwritten letter. The photos came shortly afterwards, after he had a chance to go take a few. All the text and photographs included are from Steven.)

Muddy Creek Campsite Marker
All Photos by Steven Ogden.

 Located in the southwest corner of Wyoming, lies a town called Piedmont, whose history is closely tied to the history of the transcontinental railroad. Piedmont was settled by the Byrne and Guild families. Mrs. Byrne and Mrs. Guild were sisters, and they named their new town after their Italian hometown, which means, "foot of the mountains." Located near the Uinta Mountains, the town is appropriately named.

Before the railroad came through, the area was an important stop on the California Trail. Fort Bridger, about 12 miles east of Piedmont, was the first supply point west of Fort Laramie, several hundred miles to the east. The Oregon Trail left the California Trail about 100 miles east of Fort Bridger, but many wagon trains going to Oregon continued to Fort Bridger for supplies, before turning towards Oregon. At this junction, a few miles past Fort Bridger, and close to Piedmont, Brigham Young, the leader of the first wagon train to the Salt Lake Valley, made an arrow out of rocks, pointing the way for the wagon trains following his, so they would know which way to go. There was a good camping site on the Muddy Creek, just a few miles north of Piedmont, where almost every wagon train and handcart company going to California and the Salt Lake Valley camped. Later the campsite became a Pony Express station, where the rider would exchange his tired horse for a fresh one, and keep riding.

Cabin Remains

Piedmont was settled in the mid 1860's, before the railroad came through. It served several purposes. First, it served as a base camp for the workers who built the railroad grade in preparation for the track to be laid. Since it was located near the Uinta Mountains, which had good timberland, railroad ties were made there and sent to where the track was being laid. The railroad rented Piedmont in 1868, a year before arriving at Promontory Point. Going west out of Piedmont, the railroad climbed a steep, eight mile grade, to get around the Aspen Mountains. Piedmont became a helper base, where helper locomotives were put on the rear of westbound trains, to get them over the grade.

Moses Byrne, one of the original settlers, saw some opportunity with the timberland and the railroad so close. He built charcoal kilns and began making charcoal in Piedmont. The finished charcoal was shipped by rail to the smelters in Salt Lake City, to fire the foundries there. The charcoal industry and the railroad kept the town pretty busy, and Piedmont quickly became a typical western frontier town, with a general store, hotel, train depot, and several saloons.

Charcoal Kilns in Piedmont, WY.

In early May of 1869, Thomas Durant, the Vice President of the Union Pacific Railroad, was traveling on his recently completed railroad, to Promontory Point, for the Gold Spike Ceremony, which was scheduled to take place on May 7, 1869. When his town arrived in Piedmont however, they found the track blocked by angry railroad workers. The railroad owed them over $200,000 in back wages, and they had decided they would get their money, even if it disrupted the Gold Spike Ceremony. Thomas Durant wired the railroad's headquarters for the money, and when it arrived, the disgruntled workers let him continue west. As a result, the Gold Spike Ceremony, marking the completion of the transcontinental railroad, happened three days later than planned, on May 10, 1869.

Butch Cassidy, a famous train robber, met up with some of his gang in Piedmont, in 1896. They boarded a train there and rode to Montpelier, Idaho. They robbed the bank in Montpelier, and then took the train back to Piedmont. There are two stories about the events after this. One story says that Butch Cassidy traveled by rail to New York, where he used the money to hire a lawyer for one of his friends. According to the other story, the money is still buried somewhere near Piedmont.

At the turn of the century, the railroad and the charcoal business were still what kept Piedmont alive. However, in 1901, the Union Pacific opened a tunnel through the Aspen Mountains, eliminating the steep, eight mile grade, and bypassing the town of Piedmont. With the railroad gone, there was no way to ship the charcoal to Salt Lake City, and the charcoal industry quickly fell apart. The other businesses in town soon closed their doors, with the general store closing last, in the 1940's.

Piedmont Today

Piedmont today is one of the most accessible ghost towns in the area. It is on a dirt road, but it is easy to drive because it was built on the original railroad grade. There is a monument near the road, marking the location of the former town.

Descendants of the Guild family live near Piedmont. They own a large ranch and live just a few miles south of where the town once stood. Many of the Piedmont buildings are still there, although there have been no efforts to preserve them. Many of them are on the Guild ranch. The kilns, however, have been preserved and are on public property. The cemetery, which lies south of the town site, is also accessible. The Muddy Creek campsite, where many wagon trains have spent nights, is on the county road into Piedmont, and the foundation for the Pony Express station is still visible.

The fort, at Fort Bridger, has been preserved, and is actually open for tours during the summer. Fort Bridger is probably the best place to visit, to learn more about the area, as it is still an active community and is just a few miles off Interstate 80.

Photo(s) of the Week: North Temple Station

This week I got several emails from Steven, containing a description of the construction at Utah Transit Authority's new North Temple station.  The station recently opened for the FrontRunner line, and will eventually serve as a transfer point between FrontRunner, the Salt Lake City commuter rail, and TRAX, the Salt Lake City light rail system.  The new North Temple station is located just a short distance north of Salt Lake Central station, and is served by both Ogden and Provo line FrontRunner trains.  TRAX service will begin at the completion of the new airport line, which is scheduled to open later this year (See the UTA website for more information.).

Steven mentioned that, since the opening of the Provo line, most FrontRunner trains operate the entire distance, between Ogden and Provo, with only a few going into service or out of service in Salt Lake City.  He said that trains that either start or end service in Salt Lake City serve both stations, regardless of which line they are operating on.

Besides the airport line, UTA is currently working to extend the TRAX system south, to Draper, and building a streetcar line through the Sugarhouse area of downtown Salt Lake City.  Both projects are also expected to open later this year.  For information on all current UTA projects, please see their Frontlines 2015 website.

Besides just a description of the happenings in Salt Lake City, Steven also sent along several photographs he took at the new North Temple station.  Currently, only the FrontRunner portion of the station is in service, as the TRAX line is not yet open.

Northbound train arriving at the North Temple station.  Photo by Steven Ogden.

Southbound train departing the North Temple station.  Photo by Steven Ogden.

Northbound train approaching the North Temple station, from Grant Tower and Salt Lake Central.  Photo by Steven Ogden.

For those that are unaware, Steven is currently serving a two-year mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, based in Salt Lake City.  He has used the FrontRunner several times to travel between the offices, in Salt Lake City, and the area in which he currently serves.  While time does not allow him to contribute to the blog regularly, he still takes photographs and keeps everyone at home updated on his activities, and as seen above, the local railroads.

Goodbye

I've been really busy lately, which is why I haven't been posting on here much anymore, so let me give you a little update.  My model railroad, which there never really was much of, has been dismantled and disposed of.  The Lakes Region Model Railroad had to be taken down and is back in storage.  I have been busy with some other things, and I have not had time to work on other modeling projects at all.  To make a long story short, I won't be posting on the blog anymore.  I am leaving this week for Salt Lake City.  I will be spending two years there, and I won't have access to the internet or any free time to work on modeling anyway.  Of course, this means some big changes to the blog, which James will tell you more about in another post.  However, if the blog is still being read when I get back in two years, I will be back on here to post stuff again.  But in the mean time, goodbye for now.

Photo of the Week: 4/27/2012

Today's photo of the week goes back to my trip in July.  I have a whole lot of photos from that trip that I haven't shared, but don't worry, I'm not going to bombard you with them now!  Towards the end of the trip, I woke up one morning with the sunrise out my coach window over southern New Mexico. Around breakfast time, the Sunset Limited crossed the Rio Grande and into Texas.  There is a very short segment of Texas where the Rio Grande borders New Mexico and not Mexico, and that is where the train crosses the river.  Shortly after crossing into Texas, the train makes a stop in El Paso:



There are a few places in this area where the train is a few feet from the river and the Mexican border.  The Mexican city of Ciudad Juarez, directly across the river from El Paso, is a much different looking city.  I won't go into the details or start an opinion war about immigration by comparing the two, but it was certainly interesting to see the two cities side by side.  I did not go over the Ciudad Juarez, I stayed near the train station, which is the brick building with the tower in the right side of the photo.

Legos and Model Railroading

When I'm decaling a car, I find it a little annoying when I have finished one side of the car and I have to wait for the decals to dry before I can decal the other side of the car.  This is not a problem when I am decaling a whole fleet at once, because I can then go and decal the other cars, and by the time I am finished doing that, the first one is ready.  However, with only one or two cars, you are left with some down time between decaling the sides.  I fixed this problem today with legos.

The problem is not that the wet decals will fall off the car if you turn it over, it is that if anything, such as the desk you are working on, touches the wet decals, it can mess them up.  I fixed this by building a device out of legos that touches the car only on the top and bottom edges, which are very unlikely to be decalled, so any decals on that side of the car can dry upside down while you work on the side that is facing up.

This device holds most types of rolling stock.  I built it around a box car, but it can also hold just about anything else.  I wouldn't try putting a flat car in it, and I would be careful with a tank car because there is a chance it might hit the decals on those.

I am not going to go into a long explanation about how to build this.  A similar device could probably be made out of styrene or wood, but I just thought legos would be easiest for this project.  Instead I will share my photos and you can study them to see how it works so you can build your own out of whatever material you like.

A box car in the device.

The walls of the device are high enough to prevent the car from being bumped out.

The device only touches the car's top and bottom edges, making it safe to flip a car over with wet decals to work on the other side.

Detail of the device without a car in it.

Photo of the Week: 4/13/2012

Today I'm sharing another photo from my pre-digital days. About three years ago, James and our sister were going to college in Utah, and I took a week and rode the train out there to visit them. While I was there, James and I decided to ride the UTA line to Ogden, which at the time was less than a year old. We took the trolley line from Sandy to Salt Lake City, where we transfered to the FrontRunner train to Ogden. This is a photo of the train in Salt Lake City before we left.

Most of the fleet consists of Bombardier bilevels and MP36 diesels painted in this paint scheme. They also bought some Comet cars from New Jersey Transit, which were basically rebuilt from the wheels up, and put into service. They ride like brand new cars, but the seats still have the state seal of New Jersey on the upholstery. Since I took this photo, two of the MP36s have been sold to MBTA, where they are running now.

UTA has also announced recently that the line to Provo would be opening towards the end of this year, instead of the previously expected 2015. Provo is south of Salt Lake City, about as far away as Ogden to the north. Since I was last out there, the trolley system has opened two new lines, and more are still under construction. There are other plans to expand the FrontRunner service as well, although I don't know the details on that.

So far, every project that UTA has done have been completed ahead of schedule and under budget. Whatever they are doing, I think other transit agencies need to learn a thing or two!

Some Big Changes

Lately I've made a few changes in my train room. I actually don't have a dedicated train room, just an otherwise empty area that I use to work on my trains. I had a small 2 foot by 12 foot layout in that space, but the reason I've never really talked about it on here is because there has never been anything to talk about. Recently I decided it was a waste of space and I tore it down.

One of the biggest things preventing me from tearing it down for a while was that I had a bunch of modeling supplies underneath the layout and I had no other home for them. I wasn't sure I'd be able to find a home either. So before I tore down the layout, I cleaned and organized everything underneath. I put all the tools in a toolbox and found a home for that. I have two rolling cabinets with modeling supplies in them and cleaned them out. Supplies directly related to building a model railroad, such as track and foliage and wire, got put into plastic bins which are now in my closet. The rolling cabinets were then filled with other modeling supplies, such as paint, styrene, and decals. I had a big box full of code 100 track, but where I don't use code 100 and most of it wasn't any good, I threw it all out. Finally, I have two small bookshelves where most of my trains are stored, and I left those where they were. I then tore down the layout and got rid of the tables.

This leaves me with a big open space. I am not giving up on modeling, I am just changing my focus. Since I have no layout at home, I am going to focus on building my fleet of rolling stock and locomotives for when I do have a layout. This means I am going to use the space for a workbench. I already have one workbench where I assemble kits and do repair work on my models. I am going to keep that one and use it for kit assembly and such, and I am building a second bench that will have a built in test track, and will be used for decoder installation and other electrical work. The two workbenches, the two rolling cabinets, and the two bookshelves as well as a third that I need to get, will occupy the now empty space where my layout used to be. I still have a display case, and that will stay where it is.

The workbench I am building will be a pretty nice one, if I say so myself. I found a cheap desk for sale, and I am modifying it for my needs. It will certainly not be pretty, but it will be functional. The top surface will be where I do my work, and I will have a roll-out test track, similar to computer desks with roll-out keyboards, so that I can test the things I am working on without needing more space dedicated for a test track. The test track will be able to run both DC and DCC locomotives, and it will also be a fully functional programming track. When that workbench is finished, I'll write a blog post about it, focusing on the electrical work powering it.

Also, a little update on the Lakes Region Model Railroad. Chris and I have not had time to work on it lately, because of the cruise in February and because we both have been getting more hours at work recently. However, his grandparents come home from Florida in two weeks, and the layout has to be back in storage by then. They are planning on selling the house this summer, so we will not be able to use that space again, so the layout is once again being stored indefinitely.

Photo of the Week: 3/30/2012

Usually, I share photos I've taken with my digital cameras, because they are on my computer and easy to share. Recently, however, I've been digging through my photos that I shot on film, and I thought I'd share one today. If you read this blog regularly, you probably know I go to Long Island fairly frequently to visit my family there. I haven't driven there in a few years, and the last time I did, I made a few stops along the way, including this spot in Connecticut, where this photo is taken:

This is Niantic. The train does not stop here, but whizzes past the crescent shaped shoreline on a gentle curve. I had seen the spot from the train, and I wanted to take a look around. The beach is small, but there is a path along the railroad track, where I shot this photo. Behind me, the tracks cross a drawbridge over an inlet to a small harbor, which is on the other side of the tracks. Currently, this whole area is a mess of construction, the drawbridge is being replaced and the beach and boardwalk area have all been turned into construction staging. I really don't know much about the project except for what I've seen from the train, but it looks like they are also building a new boardwalk, so the town will get something in return when the project is completed. The project was started shortly after this photo was taken in August of 2009, and I don't know when the project will be finished.

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Photo of the Week: 3/23/2012

A while ago, I mentioned that I rarely see trains on the Hillsboro Branch, out of Nashua, and I would love to railfan the line sometime. Recently, however, I was driving around town and happened to see a train on the Hillsboro Branch. Armed with my camera and some free time, I followed it back to Nashua Yard. I still didn't get to railfan much beyond what I talked about last time, but at least the train was more than just a light engine!

Here the train is pictured crossing Main Street in Nashua. Most of the crossings on this line are not protected, and someone has to get out of the cab and wave a red flag at all the crossings. Most people still drive through the crossing anyway, until the train blocks their way.

The locomotive is a GP40 painted for Pan Am Railways, the operator of the line. It has B&M reporting marks, but it is not an ex-Boston & Maine engine. Boston & Maine had a small fleet of GP40-2s, numbered 300-317, but Guilford, Pan Am's predecessor, sold those off many years ago. These GP40s came from Conrail, originally purchased by Penn Central for the Boston & Albany line, B&M's direct competitor across Massachusetts.

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Product Review: Walthers Pullman-Standard 64-Seat Coach

Back in 2006, Walthers came out with a model of a Long Island Railroad 28-1 heavyweight parlor car, and I wanted one. However, I didn't buy one, saying I would wait until they came out with another run. It's been 6 years, and they haven't done that yet. First they went out of stock on the Walthers website, then they disappeared from ebay and discount train websites, and the pile of them at the train store I go to on Long Island slowly got smaller and smaller until they disappeared there too. It's been a few years since I've seen one now, and at this point I'll buy the first one I come across. When Walthers announced a model of Long Island Pullman-Standard coaches, I knew I would have a very small amount of time to get my hands on one. I never pre-ordered one, and as soon as they were delivered they went out of stock. However, I was on Long Island recently, and the train store there had three of them, and I am now the proud owner of one, which sits proudly in my display case.

This model may be out of stock, but I am going to review it anyway. Other paint schemes are still in stock, and they are identical models except for the paint scheme applied to them. I'm not breaking our rule against reviewing out of production models, I'm only bending it.

This model is a great example of all the newest and best features of Walthers passenger cars. In past years, their passenger cars were great, but recently, the quality has gotten better. This car has all the staples of a typical Walthers car, with an accurate paint scheme, a full set of number decals, working diaphragms, a fully detailed interior, Proto-MAX knuckle couplers, and free rolling trucks. However, this car also features a chrome-plated exterior to give it a metallic shine, and all the wire grab irons come factory applied and painted where applicable, saving the modeler the trouble of installing and losing them himself.

The car weighs in at 6.35 ounces, a little short of the NMRA recommended 7 ounces for this car. However, if it is run with identical passenger cars, the weight should not be a problem as long as all the cars are the same weight. The trucks are free rolling, but a little graphite on the end of the axles goes a long way with all Walthers passenger cars. The interior is correct for cars of other paint schemes; however, the Long Island rebuilt these cars to carry 144 passengers, so the interior is not correct for this particular paint scheme. The car features full underbody details, and because of this Walthers recommends not running the car on any curves tighter than 24" radius.

Overall, I like this car. It is a great model of a Long Island passenger car, and I am glad I added it to my collection. I wish I had the money to buy all three they had in the store, but it is an expensive car, and where I don't model the Long Island Railroad, it really is not worth having more than one. If I did model the Long Island, I would most likely not model the era this car ran in. However, it still looks great in the display case, and I can use it as a private car on the end of an Amtrak train.

Manufacturer: Walthers

Price: $69.98

Available Road Names: Louisville & Nashville, New York Central, Northern Pacific

Photo of the Week: 3/16/2012

Today I am sharing one of James's photos from Alaska. He had the opportunity to work there for two summers, driving tour busses out of Anchorage. As part of the job, he often met the passenger trains, to either bring people to or from the train on whatever tour they were doing. He has some good shots of the Alaska Railroad, and I thought I'd share one today. I have never been to Alaska, although I have always wanted to go there. It is a very beautiful state, and I'm sure the photos I've seen don't even do it justice. Anyway, here is today's photo:

James included the following caption with this photo:

August 29, 2009, It is 10:51pm, and the sun is still setting behind the Glacier Discovery Train, which has returned to Anchorage from Whittier and Grandview. Later in the evening the train will be moved to the coach yard for cleaning and servicing to get ready for the same trip the next day.

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Photo of the Week: 3/3/2012

Today I thought I'd share a photo from James's neck of the woods. When I was out there in July, James at one point had been assigned on a westbound train to Forsyth, where he spent the night, and came back the next day on an eastbound M train. I came up with the idea of chasing his train back to Glendive, but by then it was too late to drive to Forsyth to meet the train. I instead drove to Miles City, about halfway but a little closer to Forsyth, and chased the train from there to Glendive. I got there in time to see some other trains go by before his train came through, and this photo is one of them.

This is a westbound coal train, heading towards Forsyth. I had seen it on my drive from Glendive to Miles City, and knew I'd see it go through town as well. James had told me there was an eastbound coal train ahead of his M train, so I knew I had some time to kill before he got there. The side track you see in the photo is not a complete passing siding anymore, so trains can't meet here. The coal train was waiting at the next siding to the west, and James's M train was beyond that. After James's train came through, I drove to Terry, and actually beat the coal train there. There is a siding there, and I got to see a grain train meeting James's train there. Finally I drove to a crossing outside of Glendive and met James's train there, but the coal train ahead of him had already pulled into town by then. Overall, it was a pretty fun trip, and thanks to James's radio scanner, I was able to keep track of what was going on!

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Product Review: Smalltown USA Structures

A while ago I bought a brick storefront for Main Street on the Lakes Region Model Railroad. The structure was made by Smalltown USA, a division of Rix Products, the company that also makes the Pikestuff corrugated metal buildings that I like. The structure is still on my workbench because it still needs detailing, but I feel that it is complete enough to write a review of it. My structure, Marcee's Flowers, is a small structure, but Smalltown USA also has some larger structures to choose from, and all of their structures fit the "Main Street" theme.

I assembled the structure following the kit's instructions almost exactly. The first thing I did was look over the pieces and make sure they were all there. The ends of the wall pieces were molded with a slight angle, which needed to be filed down. I used 200 grit sandpaper to do this, and touched it up with a needle file. I also added bracing using square styrene tube from Evergreen Scale Models, to give the joints extra strength.

The walls are molded as one piece each, so the doors and window frames and sills are all molded in place. I left the walls the color they were molded in, but I carefully brush painted the door and window trim with Polly Scale CSX Blue to make them stand out. If you are feeling ambitious, you could also paint the sills gray to simulate stone, but I am not that good with a paintbrush. I also simulated mortar by rubbing spackle over the wall pieces and rubbing off the excess, leaving white lines between the bricks.

The kit came with window inserts and signs. They simply glue in from behind the window opening. They have signs printed on them, and the windows are blacked out. Since I wanted to change the name of the store and add an interior, I discarded these and instead glued plastic overhead projector sheets behind the window openings to simulate clear glass in the windows. I plan on printing custom signs and gluing them into place as well.

The kit comes with a surprising amount of details, considering its simplicity. It was easy to assemble and looks great. If it weren't for my wanted to add an interior and lighting and new signs, I could have had this whole kit assembled and on my layout in an afternoon. Best of all, the kit was only $13.98, and Smalltown USA has many similar kits to make a full Main Street scene easy and affordable. I will definitely be buying more of these in the future.

Photo of the Week: 2/24/2012

As you probably noticed, James and I were both away on vacation during the first part of February. Once I returned, I was quite busy for a while, and I have not been able to do any writing on the blog because of that. The vacation was a cruise, so I did not get many rail photos during the week. However, the cruise left from Florida, and I took Amtrak's Silver Meteor to get to the ship before the cruise and to get home after the cruise. As much as I love trains, I was more excited about the cruise, and I didn't get many rail photos, but I did manage to snap this one as we raced past the Auto Train facility in Sanford, FL:

Auto Train was started as a private company in 1971 to carry people, and their automobiles, between Lorton, VA, and Sanford, FL. It was very successful, and the company quickly looked into expanding service. A second route opened in 1974, connecting Louisville, KY with Sanford. However, this route was not as successful, and was closed three years later. Despite its popularity, however, Auto Train was forced to shut down in 1981, a result of several major derailments costing the company more money than it had. Two years later, in 1983, Amtrak started up its own version of this successful train, and has been running it ever since. Today, it is one of Amtrak's most popular trains, because it gives people the easiness of taking the train somewhere instead of driving, but also giving passengers their own car once they get to their destination.

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Product Review: MTH 40' PS-1 Box Car

I walked into my hobby shop to buy some styrene, and I saw a display of MTH box cars in B&M blue, which would fit well in the Lakes Region Model Railroad. I walked out with a slightly emptier pocket than I had planned on, as well as my first MTH car, which I will review today. My car is B&M 74007, a 40 foot PS-1 box car. I was impressed with the car before I even took it out of the box.

Appearance:

The paint is very smooth and the logos and lettering is very crisp. All the lettering is legible. The car features raised rivet details and weld lines on the sides. The doors open and close easily. The car has an interior, but the floor is covered by a bare metal weight. The ladders and other side details are plastic and molded into the side of the car. The car has a full underbody, including a full set of separately applied brake rigging.

Operation:

The car looks good, but runs better. The wheels are the most free-rolling wheels I have ever seen, I thought my desk was level until I set this car on it! The car comes with Kadee #58 couplers. It weighs in at 3.52 ounces, which is only slightly lower than the NMRA recommended 3.75 ounces for the car's length.

I have to admit I was a little disappointed. I had heard nothing but excellent things about MTH products up to this point. The free-rolling wheels and the brake rigging are both excellent, but I was expecting separately applied wire ladders and grab irons and see through etched metal walkways, both of which would better reflect the car's $19.95 price tag. I do think it is a good car despite these letdowns, I just think it is a little overpriced. I would buy another one if the price were lower.

Manufacturer: MTH

Price: $19.95 each

Available roadnames: Baltimore & Ohio, Bessemer & Lake Erie, Boston & Maine, Chesapeake & Ohio, Great Northern, Milwaukee Road, New Haven, New York Central, Norfolk & Western, Northern Pacific, Pennsylvania, Santa Fe, Southern, Southern Pacific, Union Pacific, Western Maryland.