Witchcraft

and sorcery! the smokebox is on with a less than legal connection which prevents the transition from being as smooth as i'd like. I have a way to get both a legal connection and smoother transition, that'll have to wait 'til I get back from Redmond.

CN Class O-18-ab WIP

Really, really rough, WIP of how I'd use the boiler posted yesterday. Works for either CN #7470 (under overhaul at Conway Scenic Railway, companion to Patrick Strawbridge's MEC 573) or GT #7475. (Both of which I plan to have decaled parts to swap out as appropriate.) Tender recycled from an old CV 0-8-0 design, so it has incorrect dimensions/proportions but the same basic shape. Not sure if I'm going to power the mains or a single truck in the tender.

Cheese Slope Humpback Boiler

I think I can pull this off...

CN 7805 Post-1954

So, I came to the conclusion Friday that I would turn the clock forward six years on my modelling era to 1955. This in turn introduces some really interesting CN steam to the CV and GT-NE and lets me model my CN Passenger equipment with this really striking 3-color scheme. Michael's son Alex beat me to it, modelling a Heavyweight coach in this scheme. Bonus from converting my Baggage-RPO and Café car to this scheme, is that I'd free up enough Olive Green for another 2-3 CN passenger cars...enough for the off-season Train No. 16-17 Portland to Montreal on the GT-NE perhaps? Power on the Ambassador in 1955 varied from the CV's short-lived ALCO RS-3s, the occasional 4-8-2, more commonly some CN 4-6-2s and there's even a mention of a mighty CN 4-8-4.

Nothing

"The Central Vermont is the railroad that started nowhere, ended nowhere, and missed every major city in between." In studying the railroads of northern New England and eastern Canada, there's a host of images of trains passing through vast expanses of nothing. At our most recent (and first) NELTC club meeting, we mentioned that nature, rather than city, served as the backdrop for most of our prototypes and we thought this could be a signature feature of the club to differentiate us from more urban dominated LUGs and LTCs. So here's my little piece of nothing I think I'll set about working on over the next few months. It will give us some blank space between scenes, distance between towns on an operating layout, and hopefully give me a prototypical backdrop to photograph my trains. Gents, let me know what you think.

Will this work?

Aside from needing supports and bracing, will this work to power a steam locomotive? I need precisely this gear ratio for something cool I have up my sleeve. I just don't know how I feel about using 8t gear at all, and especially so close to an XL Motor, especially given how high torque I tend to run things.

Grand Trunk

I can't find the O scale CDS lettering sets for CV locomotives in 1948. Talking to the folks at Ozark Miniatures, they won't be doing any printing for at least 6-months. While searching for more boxcar sets, I cam across 2 sets of GT 1948 steam locomotives in stock at a Colorado hobby store. Not realizing each had enough to do 2 locomotives, I'm now in possession of enough dry transfers to do 4 GT locomotives.

Southern Pacific Boxcar

This SP B-50-20 class boxcar is really the second in my virtual interchange series of cars and is my tribute to TBRR. I'm not sure if y'all might have more of an affinity to T&P, but I remember all kinds of SP relics in San Antonio, Austin, and along the way to Palestine. Now when you see this one in any photos of a NELTC layout, know there's a little piece of TBRR there.

Serves All Canada

@#$% me that was a pain in the...better part of a half hour just getting that logo on. Dry Transfers by CDS Lettering.

Where have you been all my life?

One of the rate limiting factors for more rolling stock for me is building trucks. One of the biggest PitAs for nice rolling trucks is having sufficient quantities of 32mm brass tube. To this day, I've been taking a hobby saw to the tube and through a long and painful process, making butchered lengths of brass work for me. On a recent trip to the hobby store to pick up more tubing, instead of my typical anti-social get my stuff and leave, I actually asked for help. Particularly if there was a better way to make quick work of my cutting. The knowledgeable woman at the counter pointed me in the direction of this handy device. A few minutes later, and I'd reduced a foot of brass tube to 2.5 boxcars worth of axles. They still need some cleaning with a needle file, but they're way nicer than I had before.

New England Stream Study

Okay, I get it Lego. Blue is for water. The problem is, in this part of the country, the only water that's blue is from open pit mining or swimming pools. Model railroaders have all kinds of tricks to make the water on their layout look as it does in nature. I thought I'd try the same. New England streams are these clear, shallow bodies of water inviting fly fishermen to cast their lines or passersby to jump in on a hot summer day. I thought trans clear tiles would be best, but the plates are a fraction of the cost and found in every PAB wall I've visited in the past year. I wish olive green was more common, but green works here as well. Let me know what you think. Looking to scale this for a bridge project.

ALCO RS-11 Nose

Pulled this out of the scrapyard to show Patrick how I tackled all the weird angles in the nose.

Glory Days 2015: D+1

Central Vermont Locomotive 455 on the move with a local freight. Upgraded the batteries to some energizer rechargeables rated for 730 mAh and got almost a good 2 hours out of it. Bill's GATX Geep works another freight in the opposite direction.

Glory Days 2015: D+1

Central Vermont Locomotive 455 on the move with a local freight. Upgraded the batteries to some energizer rechargeables rated for 730 mAh and got almost a good 2 hours out of it. Bill's GATX Geep works another freight in the opposite direction.

Glory Days 2015: D-3

Finished the last of my MILS modules this morning. A few of the decorative modules will just have to be green baseplates propped up to MILS height. Ran out of time, technic bricks, and well, green plates. You can see one of the modules finished this morning in this pic. Now what's the big deal with this locomotive? Surely this picture looks exactly like this one, right. That in itself is the accomplishment! Because in between the two photos, CV 455 looked more like this. So now she's back the way she was built...more or less. I've added some 1/8" white automotive pinstriping to the sides to get the white running board edges common to the Canadian National and subsidiary locomotives. More decal and detail work tomorrow.

Glory Days 2015: D-5

Glory Days 2015: D-6

Only had an hour to work on this the past two mornings, but it's starting to look alright.

Glory Days 2015: D-8

Took a bit of fiddling to figure out how to make this work with what I had on hand, but I'm on a roll now. I am a few days behind schedule, so the detail that was going to be built into the outside of the turn will have to be replaced by a cow or sheep pasture.

Glory Days 2015: D-9

MILS modules for my corner of the layout.

Glory Days 2015: D-10

Finished the R88s and a switch this morning... Almost a wordless Wednesday.

Glory Days 2015: D-11

Wow, only 11 days to go. No progress yesterday due to needing to be in to work for nursing shift change (I don't know how they do it.) Anyway, today was all about minding my business and following the instructions. Instructions provided courtesy of l-gauge.org that is. Thanks to Michael for hosting and Tony Sava for pioneering the ballasting technique. I have my quarter turn of R104 done and some of my R40. Just need to finish the R88s and rest of the 40s tomorrow. Then I can wrap up my MILS modules.

Glory Days 2015: D-13

I had a Tim "The Tool Man" Taylor moment this morning. My train worked just fine. But I wanted it to go faster, pull even more cars and last longer. Philo's page is a wealth information on Power Functions. It also shows that the components can operate up to 12V. More volts equals more speed and torque *ough ough ough* So a few components at Radio Shack later, I've got a rechargeable power source with a nominal 9.6V and ~2300mAh. Taking it out on the test track, I can't operate 601 above speed setting 4 without a high-speed derailment. Win. Gratuitous? Probably...

Glory Days 2015: D-14

Finished the front end of #601 this morning including modifications to the pilot truck to make it better withstand high speeds.Aside from some detail work. I'm going to call her done, ready for decals and pinstripes on the running boards. Also finished one vestibule end on the cafe car. The other end is causing considerable trouble as I try to marry up a half stud offset door to a SNOT wall in olive green.

Glory Days 2015: D-16

One of the things I learned with last year's event is that I need to do rigorous testing earlier in the build. Very agile development in philosophy. With today's test I discovered that my pilot trucks cannot withstand high speeds. I also found some other minor tweaks were needed in the connection to the tender and that the main drivers tend to slip on the ME models curves. On the positive side, this will run at good speed with the full weight of the train behind it and the locomotive design is lightweight and durable, having survived several high-speed derailments (#455 by contrast is rather explodey.) The far curve is R104, the near curve is R88.

Glory Days 2015: D-16

My wife and daughter made me LEGO gummies for my birthday! Spent some time last night reassembling CV #455, my 2-8-0. It did not survive the return trip from Chicago in April. I'm having some trouble figuring out where everything goes. It looks right, but there's a lot of extra parts...

Glory Days 2015: D-17

Just need to do the underside on Canadian National 7806, A ME-73-B-1 class mail express car. 7806 and her sister 7805 spent almost all of their service lives carrying mail on the Ambassador. They are signature cars for this train both on the CV portion from White River Jct north and the B&M portion from White River Jct south to Boston. In the foreground is a shot of it on the cover of the CVRHS magazine, the Ambassador, sporting the sharp post-1954 CN 3-tone scheme. Also, overexposed olive green 1x1s look lime-green.

Glory Days 2015: D-18

Just need to finish up the nose end, the piping and the tender.

Glory Days 2015: D-19

Huh...it actually is starting to look like a real U-1-a.

Glory Days 2015: D-21

I was channeling Matt C and Cale this morning. I put the sides on the B&M trucks just like the design for the OB lightweight trucks Matt designed. Then, I flipped it over and gave it a fully detailed prototypical underside. Had parts for two of the four doors. 3 weeks to go!

Glory Days 2015: D-22

Parts came! The NH coach-smoker is done except for the sides of the trucks and the 45 double slope corners on the roof. The B&M coach needs the doors, underside details, truck sides, and a few more pieces of roof.

Glory Days 2015: D-23

Parts for the OB coaches and to finish up the CN cars were delayed, but should be here today. I've taken the opportunity to focus in on getting #601 up and running. I added the engineer side rods and drive gear and spent some time making sure it was smooth running. Then, I set to putting together the cab. The trick for this one is the slanted windows (thanks to Nate who I believe came up with the solution for Nate and Cale's Challenger Challenge) and then having the 1x3x1 curved slope roof at a half plate offset to smoothly transition to the 1x2 45 slopes with cutout. Good progress. Shouldn't be long now.

Glory Days 2015: D-25

No D-26 picture. I spent yesterday cleaning and organizing as well. I figure one picture of random bricks and boxes was enough. Not a lot of time this morning but I was able to get the other mail door on my CN Baggage-RPO and pick away at a few details on the B&M coach. Hopefully there's a big bricklink order waiting for me at home today. :)

Glory Days 2015: D-27

Yeah... So I spent the morning cleaning up my work area and sorting parts. 2.5 hours later, and i probably need another morning. On the upside, I probably found about $10 worth of parts I needed but couldn't find. I just plugged them in here and there where I could.

Glory Days 2015: D-28

It works! R40 curves and voltage between 6.5 and 7. Still need to add #601 to the front and a bit more bricks on the cars, but I think I can pull this off.

Glory Days 2015: D-29

Didn't have as much time this morning because of an early meeting at work. Managed to get the roof for the B&M coach built, added the AC vents to both OB cars. Then I started on underside details of all the passenger cars. It became pretty apparent to me today that I may have to spend a morning sorting LEGOs and reorganizing my work area. I spent a lot of time digging for parts. I hate to lose a morning to that, but I think it will make my work more efficient in the long run.

Glory Days 2015: D-30

Did as much as I could on the NH coach-smoker today. A few more details, got it mounted up on the trucks. Just waiting on parts. I then turned my attention to the B&M coach. Not much here except assembling the trucks and steps and laying on the floors for the vestibules. It's parts will be here early next week with the remainder of the NH parts. Thanks again to Matt C. who worked out the Osgood Bradley lightweight truck design for these coaches. I'm trying to get all 4 cars road-worthy for testing this weekend. I want to make sure #601 can pull this and get a feel for how fast and how long. Based on Matt and Cale's use of dual PF train motors and similarly constructed passenger cars, I don't have too much to worry about. However, I'm not one to leave things up to chance, and I've engineered a little surprise...

Osgood Bradley NH Coach-Smoker (Partial Skirts)

Uploaded to show Matt

Glory Days 2015: D-31

It probably doesn\'t look like much happened from the photo. More work on the NH Coach-Smoker. I decided with all the large windows on this model, it really needed an interior. This end has the smoking lounge, the other has the bathrooms. Also completed the vestibules, most of the doors, and the skirts. Just waiting on a few parts to finish the doors, roof, and blue chairs for the coach section. CrispyBassist My hats off to you for having built several New Haven passenger cars in Dark Green. This will be my one and only (though incidentally, my 4th New Haven car.) For anyone just tuning in to this photostream, the Ambassador is the train being built in the next 30 days, minus the B&M Baggage smoker at the head end.

Glory Days 2015: D-32

Here's this morning's progress on the Ambassador. A New Haven Osgood Bradley 84-seat lightweight coach-smoker nears completion while the chassis of it's Boston and Maine coach counterpart awaits parts. Many classic train sets died to bring you the New Haven car. I'm going to try and post a progress picture once a day until the event.

Workbench Shot

I haven't posted anything in a while. I've got about a month to have the Ambassador ready for Glory Days of the Railroad.

MILS Yard

Not much, but it's a start to a small switching layout in my office or part of a larger NELTC layout.

CV #601 WIP

Pistons and Valve gear fully functional.

Chicago Meetup

Got to meet up with Matt C tonight, hit the Lego store, drag him to some vendor parties, and check out some trains. Also got to reunite RYT102 and 103. This lineup is close to prototypical for New London, CT in the 1950s. We would have run trains, but both forgot to bring IR remotes. Tony, RYT102 is even more awesome in person.

The last of her kind

Had a short amount of time before I caught a flight, so I did what any rational person would do. Goto the Shelburne Museum and get a selfie in front of the sole surviving Central Vermont steam locomotive, #220. I had never seen her before, but there's a dedicated crew doing a nice job keeping her varnish ready.

She's a keeper

After wrestling with what to do with my AAR1937 boxcars, I ultimately decided to keep the ones I'd completed and letter them up. This one just needs a few more details to be done. I almost have more New Haven rolling stock than CV right now...

M-3-a Cab Rebuild

Decided to remove the windows entirely since I'm going with a detailed cab. I also wanted to work in space for a fireman and engineer. Here's the result.

M-3-a Cab Rebuild

This is a surprisingly sturdy method for holding everything together...

M-3-a Haul Test

6xAAA NiMH Rayovac cheapos fully charged. I wanted to forgo some of the additional weight I had planned to hide in the cab in order to include cab details. However, I was worried that I wouldn't have the traction to pull a B&L mixed train. I decided to test that out. Looks like it will pull 3 freight and a passenger car with pretty decent speed. Not sure how long the battery will last, but for purposes of my layout it should be fine. Sadly my AAR1937 and postwar boxcars are anachronistic for the B&L so I'm considering scrapping or selling them. The truss rod coach will also get scrapped to build the truss rod combine.

CV M-3-a #455 WIP

How am I doing here? The valve gear are finalized and this thing runs beautifully. Now I'm trying to get the appearance just right while working in some durability. Constructive criticism very much appreciated at this stage. Here's a reference of the exact locomotive working the Burlington and Lamoille branch in the era I'm modeling: #455 on the Cambridge Jct. turntable