Go Look at Video of a Rarely Modeled Utah Copper Steeple Cab in HO

Tim Schwartz built this HO model of a rarely-modeled 85-ton copper-hauling GE steeple cab using 3D printing techniques. The steeple cab gets a workout with side-dump ore cars in this video. Tim's modeling can be seen on his blog on the Model Railroad Hobbyist web site, and he has made print-on-demand parts for the model available for purchase via the Shapeways 3D printing service. The ability to share a lone modeler's labor of love with lots of other model railroaders? Call that a welcome side-benefit of 21st century craftsmanship.

These locomotives were a staple of a forgotten, or at least especially neglected, category of North American electric railroads. The electric lines that serviced the gigantic copper pits of Utah operated into the eighties with a fleet of brawny GE steeple cabs. A few examples survive in museums and as monuments.

Wire Construction Begins!

Puttin' in catenary. It's a mess. No burnt fingers . . . yet. 

It's a New Year at Dunes Junction

All around the model railroading blog-o-verse, new year's resolutions seem to be in fashion. Folks are committing to making regular progress on their layouts and/or posting to their model railroad blogs. Here at Dunes Junction, we'll be adopting this strategy ourselves with an eye to making 2015 a productive year.

I've had an excellent professional year, but that's meant a lot of time on the road away from the layout and Up Dunes Junction.  My plan for my modeling and the blog is to make the blog as much a part of my model railroading the hobby as the models and the layout, and to step up progress with with my modeling.

How will this work? By doing what bloggers like Trevor Marshal at Port Rowan in 1:64 and Mike Cougill at the OST Blog do: by linking, commenting, and reflecting on other blogs and developments in the hobby, as well as their own modeling projects and ideas. Wherever I go in my professional travels, I do end up with significant free time in the evenings and an internet connection--a post or more per week shouldn't be too difficult, and it's a good way for me to stay engaged with the hobby.

But the model railroading community doesn't need another Model Railroader magazine 'Trains of Thought'-style commentary, so Up Dunes Junction will still be focused on my progress on the layout and modeling the South Shore.  Here are 2015's priority projects:

• Workbench Remediation. To pick up the pace of my progress, I first need to to do something about my workbench.  It tends to become cluttered, and thus discouraging, to progress for short stints of work when I am home from my travels.  Ken Patterson's What's Neat This Week video on Model Railroad Hobbyist's YouTube channel recently covered Ken's workbench. Ken points out that the workbench is the 'nerve center' of his model railroading, allowing us a look at the features that make for productive and enjoyable modeling. Two big points I picked up from Ken: handy vertical tool storage a short reach from the 'main stage' of his building, and smart use of high, back wall storage. I'm workin' on all of this now.

• Catenary Completion. Dunes Junction needs to start looking' electric, with a web of catenary overhead. The poles are in, all wire and solder supplies are handy--so 2015 will be the year that wire goes up over Dunes Junction.
• Island Model Works Nippon Sharyo Car(s). One car is nearing construction completion, and another kit and RDC has been procured. Much learned during that first build, but my intention is to have both cars done and ready for paint by the end of 2015.
• Nickel Plate Products Orange Pullman Heavyweights. This 37-year-old project is where it all began for my South Shore modeling. Now these venerable brass models will be brought into the 21st century, with new power trucks, lighting, DCC, and functional pantographs. Hopefully, these two models will also be ready for paint by the end of the year.
• Atlas and Bachmann GP7s. The Atlas C&O-based GP7 turned up a couple times here a few years ago, but these models are rare and crazy expensive birds. An alternative approach emerged in the form of Bachmann's B&O GP7, which apparently shares some tooling with the Atlas model. The dudes at Action Hobbies in Ontario show how to turn the B&O geep into a C&O geep, and from there it's just a stone's throw to some South Shore geeps that will put Dunes Junction squarely in the late-70s/early 80s.
• Freight car construction and weathering. I keep buying freight cars; my strategy is to simply buy the cars I see in reference photos (and my memories) of the late-70s/early 80s South Shore and Northern Indiana roads. Thrall coal gondolas, plug door box cars, coil cars, and covered hoppers are piling up, plus cabooses. Most are re-wheeled and re-couplered but all need weathering, so I plan to figure out how use all these new-fangled and awesome weathering techniques that the kids are into these days.

Ambitious? Yes, sir! But I'm looking forward to a great year for Dunes Junction, and I'm looking forward to sharing it right here on this blog.

Oh, the (Grab) Irony: Island Model Works South Shore Car Project Update

Another busy Autumn with lots of work and fun travel slowed--but didn't stop!--progress on the IMW South Shore car build. Check out some grab iron and railings that recently went on the car:

The end grabs and entrance door railings are press fittted in
for easy removal, as this car will get some serious manhandling
 when the lenses and glazing are installed.

I used a 2mm detail removal chisel from Micro Mark to remove the original molded-on grab iron and railing detail. While there was still a shadow of the original details remaining on the model, I marked the holes for drilling with an awl to eliminate any guesswork about where to drill and mount the new railings. Sanding sticks were used to finish and smooth out locations. Masking tap over the corrugations/flutes on the side protected those details from getting scraped or sanded off

For the end grabs, I could have used some pre-formed wire grabs but I wanted to try something new and craftsmanlike, so bent  I my own end grabs and railings using .015 brass wire and Micro Mark's Grab Iron Bending Gauge. (Yeah, I went on a little Micro Mark buying frenzy, which is easy to do when you're out on the road, late at night in a hotel thinking about model railroading and you have a good, reliable Internet connection . . .) Takes a little practice, but that gauge let's you make uniformly shaped grab irons of pretty much any size.

Expensive but worth it: Micro Mark wire bending gauge (top)
and 2mm chisel

The grabs and railings are press-fitted in for the moment, because there will be some more rough handling as I fit the window glazing, drill out and fit lenses for the headlights and marker lights, and I add final details such as windshield wipers and ditch lights. I also anticipate employing a plastic modeling technique to prep this model for final painting, which is to use a special primer called surfacer to find, fill, and sand any flaws--thus my avoidance of actually attaching many of the smaller details such as horns, bells, grabs, etc.

Meanwhile, another one of these IMW South Shore kits has found its way on to my workbench, along with another Walthers RDC drive. The second time around ought to be easier (and better).

From Bluford Shops, the Most Calumet Region-y Caboose Ever

So ugly, it's beautiful: Bluford Shops' new IHB Transfer Caboose. It came in while I was out on the road with work, thanks to Engine House Hobbies in Gaithersburg, Maryland. Definitely needs some appropriate enfilthening.

IHB 9211 squires the new caboose around Dunes Junction. These cabooses were painted New York Central jade green when I first got to know them back in the early 70s. And that was another thing about my home town railroads that was just weird in those kindergarten years--my picture books told me cabooses were supposed to red with cupolas and smiley faces on the ends, not big ol' porches. 

Another Heavy Electric Model Sighting! This time, the GN at the Model Railroader Magazine Site

Click through to see it...just one very good photo of HO GN Z-1 electrics under wire. Hat tip to Dave Mummery and Colin 't Hart from the Traction Model Railroading group on Facebook.

GN Z-1 electrics at Olds Jct. - Model Railroader Magazine - Model Railroading, Model Trains, Reviews, Track Plans, and Forums:



'via Blog this'

Ken Lawrence's Westchester Northern Updated

Ken Lawrence via Railroad Model
Craftsman / Hat tip to Otto Vondrak

Work has had me traveling across the country over the past couple of weeks, but thanks to resources like the Traction Model Railroading group on Facebook, I can still get some heavy electric modeling inspiration.

Otto Vondrak, Traction Model Railroading group frequent contributor and friend of heavy electric model railroading, posted his Railroad Model Craftsman article on Ken Lawrence's Westchester Northern. We posted a couple of years ago on an earlier iteration of Ken's Westchester Northern that had catenary and a freelanced New Haven flavor.

Now Ken has updated the Westchester Northern to more accurately model the New York Central's electric line, which is still in operation under the MTA/Metro North banner. That means the catenary has come down in favor of third rail. Ken deserves praise for modeling this important but often forgotten bit of electrified American railroading.

Just this once, it's okay that the catenary came down . . .

Railroad Model Craftsman - Electric Commuter Action on the Westchester Northern

'via Blog this'

Electric Trains I See Sometimes, Connecticut Edition

Metro North Commuter Yard somewhere neat Stamford, CT, snapped with my phone camera.

CSX Near the House

Another phone picture, this one a short ways from the the house in Kensington, Maryland.

Video: Peter North's Electified Virginian Exhibition Layout

A post or two ago, we covered how Peter North's electrified Virginian Railway display layout recently graced the pages of Model Railroader magazine.

Here's some video of Peter's layout taken a French model railroad show in 2012. It starts off with steam, but most of the footage shows jackshafts, a monstrous EL-2B 'Streamliner', and EL-Cs (Penn Central called them E-33s) dragging coal and general merchandise around the layout.

Almost as good as actual electric locomotives . . .

. . . are a half electric locomotive and a model electric locomotive at the Danbury Railway Museum in Danbury, Connecticut, at the end of the Metro North commuter line.

Metro North/New Haven FL9, EMD's hybrid diesel-electric/electric locomotive. The third-rail collectors on the trucks and mini-pantographs seem to have been removed, but brackets and other hardware are nonetheless present.

Looking all diesel from this angle, the FL9's EMD lines and New Haven's modernist paint scheme reek of 'Mad Men'-era styling and cool.

A New Haven EP-3 in HO! Under catenary! in a diorama at the Danbury Railway museum.

Catenary in the Past Couple of Model Railroader Magazine Issues

Model Railroader magazine (available digitally from Kalmbach, Apple, Nook, Google Play, Kindle, or Kobo online stores, in addition to news stands and hobby shops) covered two different heavy electric-themed layouts in the past couple of months. Considering that the magazine has been known to go years with nary a trolley or interurban article, let alone a mainline heavy electric, this is remarkable.

The May Model Railroader featured Brent Monahan's Pennsylvania Railroad layout, which features electrified New York city and New Jersey vistas. Brent's layout has also turned up on the Model Memories site, as his catenary was built using MM components.

Peter North's Virginian layout was mentioned here a couple of years ago when it was covered in the UK Continental Modeler, but it recently got the Model Railroader treatment in the in the July issue.  MR's photo choices downplayed the electric parts of the layout as the story was focused on the layout's small size. Nonetheless, Peter gives some good insight into his Virginian roster, and there is a good view of a Jack Shaft motor on the spread photo. This layout is apparently intended for exhibitions in the UK, and I would like to figure out how to see it at some point.

More Island Model Works South Shore Car Progress: Pilots, Steps, Pantographs, and other details

Test running what we've got done so far. Pilots and steps epoxied in--note the stirrup step and taper profile on the end of the pilot next to the steps. CustomTraxx SCTC-40 Automatic Traction Couplers and Details West 191 Leslie Air Horns test fitted, and Sommerfeldt 968 single-arm pantographs mounted. End details like the gong bells, marker lights, and grab irons have been removed to be replaced by more delicate detail parts. Those vertical railings on the sides will of course be replaced with .015" brass wire.

Test fitting and mounting the delicate looking but tough and functional Sommerfeldt 968 pantographs. They are based on a French SNCF prototype. The provided mounting screws are long and were trimmed so as not to interfere with the lighting/DCC circuit board. I ordered mine from Euro Rail Hobbies. 

Pilots under construction.  I used Evergreen dimensional styrene strips and sheet and liquid cement for strength and delicateness. The 'foundation' (bottom beam) is a big fat .060" x .080" styrenes strip joined to trapezoid-shaped .020" styrene sheet. .040" x .040" strips are going in here; a small gap will form the stirrup step that that appears about half way up the side of the pilot.

 Building up the pilots. The .040" x .040" strips have been sandwiched between the .020" sheet and .040" x .060" strips, and a stiffening bit of .040" sheet has been added. Once dry, the sandwich of sheet and .040" strips will be shaped into a taper and smoothed.

The pilots, vestibule floors and steps epoxied in place. The steps, salvaged from the Walthers RDC that provided drive components are a little short and probably should be shimmed with .040" or .060" styrene strips. Live and learn! Also, the finish on the RDC steps is not paint--it is plating, which gives that RDC model such a lovely finish. Sanding and smoothing these components yields varying layers of stainless steel and copper colors (which are quite tough, by the way) but there is black plastic underneath.

Smelling That Ozone-y Heavy Electric Railroad Smell on the Northeast Corridor

Northbound Toaster goin' fast at Odenton.

My photography project this year has been to home in on electric railroad operations on the Northeast Corridor.  There's lots of exciting stuff to see during this time of transition. AEM-7 'Toasters' and HHP-7s are on the way out, shiny new ACS-64s are on the way in, and the Acela just keeps on keepin' on.  Plus there's MARC commuter traffic.

Photographing the Northeast Corridor is a challenge.  The trains are fast and really, really quiet. As in rarely do they ever sound a horn to let you know they are near, thanks to grade separation and local noise ordinances.  My leisurely rustbelt railfanning senses, geared to grade crossing gongs, long pulls on horns, clackety track, low speeds, and jarringly loud diesel blocks, proved inadequate for my first few outings around the Corridor. 

But I've gotten better! That ozone-y burnt electric smell keeps pulling me back to the tracks. Here are some keeper images from Odenton, Maryland on the Northeast Corridor over the past couple of weeks.

Blinkin' ditch lights and looking like it just came out of an Ikea catalog, a southbound ACS-64 goin' fast at Odenton.

Keeping with the theme, Acela goin' fast (and North) 

North- and southbound MARC commuter trains running late on a weeknight stop to pose for a meet at Odenton.

HHP-7 also goin' fast.

IMW South Shore/NICTD Nippon Sharyo Drive Complete and Lookin' Official

The Island Model Works Nippon Sharyo South Shore/NICTD drive more or less complete. The IMW sideframes were sawed off their bolsters and carefully thinned with a mill file. Meanwhile, the Walthers Proto 1000 RDC plastic sideframes were trimmed down to the metal skeletons that serve as bearings and electrical pickups, and the remaining plastic also thinned down to 1 mm/.040" or so with files and sanding boards. The outer IMW and inner RDC sideframes were epoxied together, taking care to ensure perfect alignment.  1/4" x 3/4" basswood topped with a piece of K&S 3/32" brass channel support the lighting LEDs. Barely visible are holes to accept 2-56 mounting screws for mounting the body shell. A coat of Tamiya German Gray spray paint (fine texture but good old solvent based, easy to find in hobby shops) on the chassis, light supports, motor saddle, and sideframes make it look official.