Tin Passender Car Roofs

Last night I took the time to finish the WW&F Passenger car roof. I use aluminum tape designed for air conditioning and vent work repair - I think its what most use. I use the tape to represent the tin roofs commonly used on the Maine two foot equipment. It's easy to do but time consuming. Next up is the time intensive paint shop. I'll try to finish the SR&LR Combine/Mail car first.

Still no luck getting a replacement casting for the WW&F combine from GME. It's hard to build a combine when the sides don't match up. Been about 6 months since I contacted them. Getting frustrated, might just have to cut and glue one side back together.

WW&F Coach and Tank Progress

Managed to get a little done this weekend on the GME WW&F coach and some final touches on the Portland Loco Works WW&F tank car kit.

Here's the vacuum brake and underbody detail for the coach. Glad to have this out of the way. I think the way I have it mounted will keep the brake rigging from interfering with the trucks.

End View

Side view with a test of Floquil Pullman Green. I found in the poor lighting, that it looks dark enough. My efforts with Scalecoat Burlington Green, turned out too dark. Might look nice in natural sunlight but too dark in my layout conditions.

While no information was included in the Portland Locomotive Works WW&F tank car kit regarding how the tank was held onto the car, a few calls to my father resulted in getting the original, "real" Portland drawings, which clearly showed four straps on the car. I made them out of styrene and brass wire.

Here's the car, per-paint with the straps.

Here's the tank with the first coat of paint. Looking much better. Can't wait to get it onto the car and be finished with this kit.

Op's Time and a New Loco

Today, I held another operations session at the house. Managed to get the Albion On2 module, the Arroyo On30, and the DC&L RY running at the same time. Good thing, as there were more operators than the DC&L could handle!

The DC&L ran fairly well. Despite my efforts there are still a few spots that are causing problems. Turnouts all. I may have to redo a few with the FastTracks jig. Despite my pride of originally only having one turnout built on the FastTracks jig, it is one of the few turnouts that has never given me the slightest problem. Frustrating for me but I think everyone had a good time. Mark gave the new trackwork on the mountain a thumbs up, which was encouraging.

Steve, Chris and Alexander have a three way meet at Hawley Jct. All went smoothly. Fun to have a friend from 30 years ago come and see the layout and to have my son, seven, participate.

Somehow I managed to get the new Class A Climax up and running before the meet, then forgot the address! Opps. It's a car works Class A that I picked up on Ebay for a deal. Didn't run when I got it but with a decoder and keep alive installed and some drive train work (glue on those GrandtLine gears and modifying the pickups) it runs smooth, quite and like a champ.

Next time I decide to have an operations session, I'll have to run a few more trains to pick out the trouble spots. Till then, back to Albion, I think.......