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After a successful day filming a video tour for Hennepin Overland club yesterday, I had to have some fun with my collection. I've been wanting to do a rainbow lineup for a long time but didn't have the chance.
I'm also starting scenery work! I'm doing touchups on a few spots of our branch line, as well as finishing our lumber mill area. Our layout has been pretty stagnant on scenery for many years. These are my first attempts with model railroad scenery and not 1/35mm scenery so there's a slight curve for me. Fortunately my club is loaded with supplies.
The flock and dirty ballast beside the rock face recently replaced naked paint.
Thanks, Alcomotive. That big brute has quickly become one of my favorites. I'm dying to get it rolling beside my Little Joe, as likely happened way back when in Montana!
In the meantime I finished this video up last night. The four Soo GP9's were loaned to me so that I might buy them. As much as I love a quartet of 567 prime movers I think I'll only get two.
This is hardly a glamour shot, but the same day I filmed that video I just posted, a North Metro clubber sold me this P2K GN SD9. I've been after a Big Sky Blue SD9 for some time, so this ol girl is a welcome addition to my collection. I love the old high-hoods, and Big Sky Blue!
My KCS locomotives put in some labor on ops moves the other night. The leader is an Intermountain, the trailing is a Genesis. I definitely need a third loco, and these two definitely need to put on some weight! They just barely managed to get a 30-car train up our helix.
Steam Saturday for me this past weekend. I also got a nice Milwaukee Road Pentrex DVD the other night, presently working on some photography ideas inspired by it.
Back again with photos from the last weekend. I got my Beer Line F's running nicely. I swear I'm doing actual modeling behind the scenes. I painted a bunch of flatcar decks for North Metro club when I wasn't rolling.
I also recently got a Pentrex DVD, three volumes of Milwaukee Road in Montana. Near the end of Vol. 3, an MN&S Thrall-door shows up on a steel bridge on the St. Paul Pass.
WELL HECK! I have an MN&S Thrall-Door, and I have access to a sweet steel bridge! I had to play with some perspective and lighting. It's eerily close.
Video, video, video lately. I've done two for my personal channel since my last posting. I was getting requests to spotlight my C&NW stuff in a video, and I'm a sucker for the old high-hoods so I paired them up with my two SOO GP9's for this.
I did a special for New Year's, intending to run this big 2,300ft train on both of my club layouts, but due to lots of traffic on the second layout I opted to not drag the big monster out. Another time, hopefully.
Finally, I snapped this money shot on North Metro last weekend. CMStP&P Mikado #8690 peeking out of the trees around the Cambridge Sub. Working on a steam trains video for this club.
I've been working on my BN stuff, making tweaks and changes. Here's three of my five power sets. I still have two more sets to solidify until I'm done with BN.
I've learned that it was very common for Milwaukee trains to have pusher helpers in a few spots around the Twin Cities. So now for me, this means some ops trains I run at North Metro will end up with a little extra power on the severe grades, one being this analogue for Short Line Hill.
So this is new. A bunch of the MN FreeMo guys have been subtly trying to get me into their group. Finally, I couldn't resist this module. $40 for the module as is, with bridge and track included. The wiring needs to be done, though.
And my last buy for my Hill Lines stuff.
As for actual modeling, I've been busy with small projects. I rescued these two lumber loads from the garbage. Their previous owner decided they were causing him problems and just threw them away. Well, I know how expensive these things can be so I rescued them and have since repainted them (The last guy got his spray weathering all over them).
And yesterday I spent most of the day tuning up the circus train I bought a couple months ago. I'll be test running it this weekend.
I also got this custom painted Blue Box switcher shell. Currently weighing my options for it. I'm wondering if I can make it fit a Proto or Walthers chassis, or if I can fit a Genesis motor on the switcher chassis I have already. Either way I need to get it a pair of flexicoil trucks.
Also I had the honor of getting this consist back in action. This is a custom painted Hennepin Overland club passenger train, with three Genesis F7's for power on a rake of Walthers passenger cars. Good running train and very striking.
I've finally settled on a prototype location for my module. Thank to some help from the Minnesota Historical Society, I found this image taken of Webster, MN in 1971. That's Milwaukee's Farmington-Mankato line which crosses over the highway.
Webster area, 1951. Milwaukee Road F-M line crosses the grid from north-east to south-west.
