jeff train: Road Trips

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sunnudagur, 7. júní 2015

N&W No. 611 in Manassas

The lettering on the front wall of the tender clearly reads "Black Smoke Costs Money." Luckily the engineer treated us to a little bit of "waste."

As we were enjoying our morning coffee on the deck yesterday we heard the unmistakable "moan" of a steam whistle not far from the house. Ex-Norfolk & Western 4-8-4 no. 611 has been in Manassas since Thursday and ran a pair of excursions between Manassas and Front Royal, Va. yesterday and today.

The whistle sounded closer than the station - it was. The engine was near the grade crossing in Manassas Park where the fire department had a pumper stationed to refill the tender before she made her first run to Front Royal.

She was due back from that run around 1230, so I jumped in the car maneuvered around the hundreds of extra people in Old Town Manassas (normally on a Sunday morning it's a ghost town�) and worked my way over to the station.
I managed to get a couple of shots of the train pulling up to the station. The train actually stopped short of the platform and waited about 15 minutes for an Amtrak train.

I walked along the tracks and got close enough to the cab to hear the radio speaker - the NS pilot in the the cab called the dispatcher and confirmed they were to head just north of the station and use the crossover track there to get on the platform track and back into the station.
"We'll be running up to Manassas Ave crossing to take on water" said the NS pilot in the cab.
"Roger, understood" the dispatcher came back. Then there was a brief (5-10 second pause).
"NS Train xxx �."You need to take on WHAT????"
Guess the dispatcher forgot for a moment this was a steam locomotive.

Waiting for Amtrak. I felt for the engineer of the Amtrak train - the guy in the orange hat (and a number of other folks) kept standing between the rails of the near track.

All was well, the engine looked and sounded great - search YouTube for one of hundreds of videos and photos that have been posted -

I'd hoped I'd get lucky and one of the Amtrak "Heritage" units would be on the head end - not today.

We clearly heard the dispatcher over the radio "You need to do WHAT???"

Well worth the trip through traffic to see her in action.

miðvikudagur, 15. október 2014

Wordless Wednesday #65 - Lisle (Naperville) RPM meet

sunnudagur, 14. október 2012

Fine Scale Expo 2012

Just returned from the Fine Scale Expo in Lancaster, Pa. Overall, I had a good time - it was a fairly small show (although there were 500 registered attendees over the three days) - and it's very focused on craftsman structure kits. I overheard one gentleman complain to his wife that "For a train show, there's no trains!" Actually, the only model trains were the five or six items entered in the popular vote contest. This show isn't about trains - it's all about structures.
I arrived Friday afternoon, wandered around the dealer show and picked up a couple of items that I thought were appropriate for the layout. I also picked up a pre-production set of parts for an upcoming model of a New England mill building. The manufacturer asked me to build it and install it in the layout in time for him to have some photos of the finished model to show at the Springfield show. Since I was going to build the mill anyway, it worked out well for both of us!
I ran into George Dutka and Don Janes there - I always enjoy spending time with fellow CV modelers. As an aside, I was thrilled, and somewhat surprised, at the number of people who mentioned they follow this blog. Thanks! Nice to know someone is reading my scribbles!

Friday night I gave a hands-on clinic for 21 people - showing them how to bend and form wire tree armatures. The comments were very positive, and I enjoyed it although if I ever do that clinic again I'll change the approach slightly. We weren't able to completely finish the trees in the time allotted - and we couldn't spraypaint in the hotel and it was too dark and little too chilly outside, so the trees stopped at the "ready for final painting and leaf texture stage." I'm quite pleased at how good some of the finished trees looked, especially when you consider these were first-time efforts! Oh well, I guess you learn something every time you "premiere" a clinic.

One of the highlights of the show was the "Muskrat Ramble," and On30 layout that was built by a group of Australian modelers. It now has a permanent home in Florida, but was transported to the show and set up and running for the event.
The banquet on Saturday night was a special treat. I thought about heading out of town early, but was glad I stayed. The banquet was held at the Pennsylvania State Railroad Museum - which is right across the street from the Strasburg tourist railroad (see photo above). I got there early enough that I was able to get a few photos of the fully-restored CV 40000-series boxcar at the Strasburg, as well as some other pieces of equipment like this Rutland boxcar.

The banquet food was nothing to write home about (it was okay, but typical of such events). The setting - among the restored PRR and Conrail locomotives - couldn't be beat! After presenting the awards for each of the contest categories, the main event featured a pair of speeches by Dave Frary and Bob Mitchell, two well-known model railroaders. Mercifully, they kept their remarks brief and to the point - and were certainly entertaining.

All in all a good weekend.