Recent content by WVrailfan

Thanks, and Merry Christmas to you as well.

You don't think Santa has been delivering trains every Christmas for all these years, and never used his Christmas magic to take a ride on a model train once in a while? HO diorama, Walthers C&O caboose, Prieser Santa, Woodland Scenics Just Plug in building lights and cars.

Handley, WV on the St. Albans C & O Modelers HO club layout.

I have a few old, mid 60s to early 80s, brass steam locos that I would like to repower with can motors and then set up for DCC. Can anyone here recommend a good source of can motors? Thanks Jim

Talk about a barn find! Don't bother asking, the owner won't sell ;-)

Some summer morning in the early 1910s, crossing the Coal River, slowing for a stop in St. Albans, WV. You can imagine the excited kids waiting to see the steam engine, and the excited grown-ups waiting to see who is getting off the train. HO scale, aged in Paint Shop Pro.

Took an old friend to the club and ran it for the first time in about 15 years. This PFM C & O 2-8-4 is my first brass loco. It was 1981 and I was a young Sergeant in the Army stationed in W. Germany, at the time, that $250. was a hard nut to crack, but I've never been sorry.

A small diorama, 18 X 24 inches, created for Christmas card photos. The church is scratch built, the gas station is an old Woodland Scenics kit. The backdrop is a photo of snow covered hills in WV. The scene is lit with a blue flood light, with Christmas lights, smoke and moon photoshopped in.

The clear, quiet Christmas Eve is disturbed briefly as an ABA set of C&O F-7s rumble by, the crew anxious to get home to their families. Folks are arriving for the annual children's Christmas Pageant at the Episcopal Church and across the street Bill is pumping his last tank of gas for the...

I have been doing some simple kit bashing to upgrade the looks of some old Athearn baggage cars, to represent cars rebuilt by the C&O in the 1950s. The cars are close on length, but the doors are too far apart to be C&O cars. However, the main spotting feature for these cars is the newer...

I have a Walthers Sperry car I am planning to add a decoder to and was thinking of going sound. Any recommendations on something that might sound like an old Sperry car? I didn't see anything specific on the Soundtraxx site, except possibly the "Baldwin and other Diesels" since it includes...

I haven't purchased an Athearn passenger car in many years, so this may be a question that has been asked and answered before. A couple of members of my club purchased several new Athearn passenger cars. They are the same cars Athearn has been selling for decades, but of course now they are...

My first brass was a United/PFM C&O K-4 2-8-4. I purchased it as a young Spec4 in the Army back in 1980. I still have it and it still runs great. JB

I picked up some Athearn axle gears to replace the gears in a couple of PROTO GP9s I have with the common clunk, clunk, clunk sound of cracked gears. The only Athearn gears I find are sold in sets of six and labeled for SD locomotives. My question is, are they the same gears used in Athearn...

I got a couple on line, about $4.00 each. I'm sure they are not actual OEM. I am however pleasantly surprised. Plenty of volume and very clear. A little weak in the bass department, but overall, pretty darn good. At about 5mm thick they are easy to find room for. I'll be operating them at...