Reflections on Progress and Principle

It's Christmas Eve, 2024, somehow already.  This has been a year of intensity.  There has been some great progress but some monumental challenge, too.  

Progress on the OCS continues, and brings a great deal of satisfaction in a time when I am feeling flattened by so much.  Recent progress is getting trucks modified for car 12, and it went well, thanks to great resources by Wes Reminder again.  

Walthers makes aftermarket trucks, these being the GSC 41-N-11 models.  They are nicely done, and an even swap for the stock trucks with the Budd Lounge.  But a few changes are needed to more closely match the photos.  

Here's the changes on the left:  I modified the brake cylinders, machined flat the covered bearings and installed new exposed roller bearing caps, removed the exterior brake shoes, and installed a new level surface on the top.  I still need here to remove the vertical strut, before painting the trucks the correct CR Pullman Green color.  

Again, what a satisfying project.  The modified trucks on car 12 are on the left above, with car 27 on the right.  Between the roof changes and now the trucks for 12, it is neat to see the two together.  

A good friend of mine insists that time in your later 40's is a 'lunchpail job' - one where you wake up each day with the alarm, and go to work, then go home and do the family thing, and the drive-the-kids-to-activities thing, and deal with elderly family thing....and then crash at the end of your day only to have to do the whole damned thing again the next day, sometimes out of sheer principle.

It is hard to keep perspective.  So much we have and so much we do is only because of our good fortune, or hard work, or perseverance - or a combination of all three.  The feeling we ought to have is one of gratitude, not grind.  And yet our daily chores seem a grind, despite our best intentions.

Those chores, our volunteer activities and our lunchpail jobs have a lot in common with detail projects like this one.  No one makes you do anything, really, in your 40's.  You're the adult now, and so the motivation has to come from you.  And that is the case with work, fatherhood, husbandry, and modeling.  Sometimes you gotta just get up and get moving out of sheer principle.  It isn't always fun or rewarding, not right away; in any case it doesn't feel like something I have the energy to do.  

And here we are, Christmas Eve 2024...despite all of that.  When it isn't magic for you, that means you are the magic for those around you. 

May peace find each of us in 2025!   Merry Christmas! 

Number 401!

Somehow, I only noticed that the last post was number 400!  Hard to believe there are that many, but in any case that makes this 401 and I am grateful to have this archive available - and for all you readers who keep an eye on it.  It is a neat little niche in the OC story to have such a neat chronology of the successes and the trials, the mistakes and the learning that has all gone into this.

The next challenge is part of the growing OCS fleet, and that is to model accurately the 1994 version of car 55 - the former ATSF 'Big Dome' that was purchased from Santa Fe by Conrail in 1989 in its stainless steel glory, and repainted to the OCS green in 1993.

I need it painted - and painting over actual aluminum plating is a new challenge for me.  Stay tuned!  The first step is always to disassemble the car, so that much is ready to post here.

Best wishes as we approach Christmas and Hanukah, too, and no matter what you celebrate may peace be with you in the year to come.  

A New Adventure

There is a lot changing 'in the 40's' for me, as there seems to be for many people.  One of those things is a new interest that is growing for me in modeling passenger equipment, thanks in part to detailing up the Hickory Creek last month and also in part to the inspiration delivered by the new Rapido E8A locomotives in Conrail's executive Office Car Special paint scheme.  

Suddenly, I have a need for older passenger cars on the Onondaga Cutoff!

The fabulous research by Wes Reminder, a longtime Conrail modeler and fan of the executive train, is documented and available at his great website:  https://www.the-boring-the-adoring.com/conrail-blog

The basics are there along with Wes's spectacular modeling.  Each car on the prototype train has a whole story to it, and many were modified through the years.  I am working to emulate his work to create models for 1994 that will fit in line with the OC and with the regular operation it supports.  I will model several cars using the Walthers passenger cars available to get models that are close, and then will modify, detail, light and paint them to match prototype photos.

Walthers cars are great, and come apart with the sides as a separate molding of styrene.  When you remove the windows too, now you've got a side that is easy to strip.   

While the parts soak in 91% isopropyl alcohol, I worked on the new paint color. No one makes the correct color available for sale for custom painters, so we have to mix our own.  Here's my first try ever using TruColor paint.  This is a mixture of their Southern Green, PRR Brunswick Green, Pullman Green, and a bit of black.  

Close, but too light, by a slight margin.  So back to the drawing board.  

Too dark.  Hmmm.  A light sanding and back to the drawing board.  

Success!  At least, close enough for my eye.  

With the paint figured out I turned to detailing some of the interior of the first car.  I made the beds and painted the features to match photos I found online of the interior, or at least close enough.  I also installed lighting and replaced the wheelsets to ensure good electrical pickup.  

As you can see, I am getting into this and having fun.  It's satisfying work and will lead to a great new addition to the railroad. 

More coming, soon!

The Hickory Creek

Modeling projects can find us just in the same way as we can discover them.  

Tom Schmieder, a close friend and fellow modeler, set up a great trip for a group of us aboard the former New York Central observation car 'Hickory Creek', a 1948-built streamlined car that was intended and used on the famous NYC 20th Century Limited train between New York City and Chicago.  The trip was the center of a memorable day where we had a great time while the car rolled on its original route from New York City up to Albany and return. 

Out of the blue, Tom presented me a model of the Hickory Creek - a beautiful brass car that had been painted and lettered to match the car in its current appearance.  Only issue, we found, was the the interior of the car was bare brass.  Tom went ahead and installed a decoder and lighting for the interior, marker lights, and rear drumhead, and challenged me with doing the interior detailing to match the car on our trip.  Challenge accepted!

I am a total newbie at interior details on passenger cars.  I ride commuter trains to work daily, I have ridden more than half of Amtrak's routes, yes - but my passenger modeling to date was a pair of Amtrak trains to which I installed lighting and figures, and exterior weathering.  

As it turns out there are companies in the hobby that do interior detail kits.  I decided for this one to try out one of the old Walthers interior kits on ebay - and it turns out it was from the 1970's!  It was intended for the Athearn blue box cars of that era.  Still, with some paint arranging we were off and running.  

The floor is styrene with some of the kid's tissue paper as a 'rug'.  The pattern is very similar in fact to the current rug in the car.  I painted seats to match photos from my time riding the car and arranged the seats in the same manner as the current layout.  

Figures came next, checking carefully for clearances and arranging figures to look natural with the lighting.  Lots of trial and error here.  

I even made a flower vase out of some foliage and an old Athearn headlight lens.  This sits on a small round table at the very back of the car on the prototype.  

This was starting to even be - dare I say it - fun!  These cars are a lot more challenging to model with the interiors and windows and lights, but without a doubt the results are impressive.  

And at night?  Oh man....Tom's lighting really is beautiful and makes this all worthwhile.

Not bad for a first try, right?  I am really excited how this is coming out.  This is opening the door to how I will also model the cars for the Conrail 'Office Car Special' - the famed OCS train.  

More to come!

An Open House on the OC

It has been some years since we have hosted an open house, and so this year we decided to make an effort to do one.  Thanks to an effort to coordinate November as Model Train Month and a website dedicated to tracking open houses, it is easy to see where different layouts in the NJ/PA/DE/MD area are open.

https://modelrailroadopenhouse.com/110924.html is a link to the page for tomorrow, Saturday November 9, and we will be open from 2p-5p.  Details are listed on the page.  We will be running trains during the open house so that visitors get to see the railroad come to life.  

Perhaps we will see you there!

A long-awaited arrival

 Thanks to efforts by Rapido Trains in conjunction with the Conrail Historical Society, HO scale Conrail modelers now have access to the dedicated locomotives of one of the most legendary of Conrail trains:  the E8A locomotives that served on the Office Car Special!

These three locomotives were of PRR and Erie lineage.  The 4022 came to Conrail from Erie Lackawanna in 1976, while both the 4020 and 4021 went from PRR to PC but then to Amtrak in 1971, and so were not on Conrail's initial roster.  In 1983, Amtrak was in need of switchers, and so organized a trade with Conrail where Amtrak would receive 4 switchers in exchange for two E units.  Conrail rebuilt all three for service on the famed Office Car Special, the 'OCS' that every Conrail fan hoped to see.  A train of customized business cars trailed them on the prototype, and custom car sides are soon to be available for those looking to create a faithful model of the train.  

For now, the engines will suffice - it's a big start on the way to doing the whole train.  The only small omission for this run is that the class lights come able to lit, but only white - when Conrail more commonly used the red.  I removed the shell and it turned out with a bit of Tamiya Clear Red enamel paint I could create the red lights.  

You can see the small red rectangles where I painted the light tubes.  Also painted was the back of the lenses in the E units.  

Now, F11 creates a scene that many Conrail guys remembered from when the OCS would overnight near their favorite spot:

While the OC will not see the OCS pass at every session, it will soon be able to see it sometimes, adding to the fun of an operating session.  We are on the way with these beautiful new E8's!

Yard Book has arrived!

 I am thrilled to announce that my second published book has arrived!  It is a thrill to hold in my hands, with a nice glossy cover full of bright colors and a beautiful layout inside.

Thanks to Kristen for the photo, with the book featured in front of the yard that inspired it.  What a pleasure!  These works are an incredible amount of work to create but really do have lasting power.  Here is hoping that this title inspires people like the books before have inspired me.  

If you'd like a copy, they are in stock now at the publisher:  https://shop.trains.com/collections/books-dvds/products/designing-operating-yards

It will also be available at stores soon and at Amazon.com.  Pete was very excited to open the package with me!

Thank you all for your support and for following along with this remarkable journey.