Jim Harr’s fleet of nicely weathered and detailed EL units.
Well it is, er.. was, that time of year again. The New England / Northeast Prototype Modelers Meet has come and gone, seemingly without a hitch, and with lots of excellent modeling on display.
Ric Hamiltons Sweep, CN #7101.
I arrived pretty late on Friday due to a lack of sleep the night before, so I missed the unveiling of Atlas’ new masterpiece (which I’m sure you’ve all seen by now), but I took a good look at it once I arrived. It’ll make for a very nice RTR locomotive, but like all other RTR products, doesn’t hold up to the Railflyer offering. Which is fine, it’s a different market, for different types of modelers, part of me wonders if this release will cut into Railflyers sales, but I’m fairly certain that the folks who would purchase the Atlas unit, wouldn’t have bought Railflyers and vice-versa.
Alex Conta’s unfathomably huge assortment of SD70’s.
There were a lot of clinics offered, but I only went to three, my own, on the Seattle and North Coast (which I’ll be uploading to this site eventually), Alex Conta’s presentation on the EMD SD70’s (you can see a sampling of his models above), and Mike Confalone’s regarding his Woodsville Terminal Railroad, an excellent proto-freelance railroad you’ve probably seen before.
Some excellently weathered boxcars by John Terry.
It’s finished! Eric Williams’ Milwaukee C5a Consolidation #1232.
Eric Williams’ scratchbuilt O scale Milwaukee boxcar. An absolutely fantastic model.
I was pleased to see that Eric had finally finished his C5a, it looks great. As it turns out, I’ve been seeing this locomotive at the show for three years now, and have only just realized that its prototype was the longtime Milwaukee power on the Olympic Peninsula branch. I even have a photo of it and had been wondering how exactly to go about building it. Eric also has apparently defected to O scale. He had two Milwaukee boxcars on display, one was a kit (can’t remember whose though) and the other was scratchbuilt.
Dennis Lipperts Geep.
Some weathered rolling stock by Butch Eyler (note the Sergent couplers).
Two of Butch Eyler’s beautifully faded warbonnets (exactly the way they should be :-).
If you remember my post from last years meet, Butch Eyler had a nicely done boxcar. This year he had lots of models, all weathered and detailed to the point one felt genuinely sorry for them. I know they were realistic because they were all sitting on top of prototype photo’s.
Alex Stroshanes’ F40PH with a scale coupler pocket by Railflyer.
An assortment of Pennsy steam power by Neil Gage.
A well detailed lobster boat by Roger Moreau.
Tom Murray’s turbo train pauses for a photo on Fran Richards layout.
This year I visited 2 layouts (as opposed to 1 last year). The first was Fran Richards, where Tom Murray gave me the throttle for his Turbo Train, so’s I could take it for a spin.
A section of John Sacerdote’s layout, currently under construction.
Next we drove over to John Sacerdote’s layout, an incredibly complex route designed for prototypical operation featuring 100% handlaid track. Both layouts were neat to see, and it was nice to be able to actually run a train. It was a good show this year, lots of interesting people to talk to and cool things to see. I enjoy this show, because it represents the culmination of my modeling year, and presents a chance to take stock of what I’ve accomplished and think about what I have left to do. For now, that means taking a few months off as I move to a new apartment which will give me a chance to organize my workbench and really develop a plan for my modeling.
Chris
MILEPOST 15 
Hi,
Do you have contact details for Ric Hamilton? I’d like to get in touch with him re the Sweep 🙂 I want to build one too!
Cheers,
Colin
Hi Colin,
You can find Ric’s e-mail address, as well as a page about how he built the Sweep, on his website:
http://home.xcountry.tv/~r.hamilton/
– Chris
Wow, thanks for the super-fast response!
The sweep isn’t too hard, just time. and some parts. Email me and I will be glad to help you out.
Ric
Chris,
I just discovered your blog….very well done. Also, thanks for the nice comments on my models.
Eric
I would love to contact both John Terry and Butch Eyler to ask them about the fantastic weathering job they do to their models. How do I obtain their e-mail addresses?
Also, where does one go (I’m on LI in Nassau but near NYC) to find good rolling stock that can be modeled by taking photographs in an area that is accessible so no trespassing or entering private property is necessary? Any yards near a highway or public access areas?
Hi Mike,
I spoke with Butch at the meet and I think he gave me his e-mail address, but I’ve looked through my noted and can’t seem to find it. He did comment on a post about a year ago, so there’s a chance he’ll see this.
I didn’t speak with John Terry.
I don’t know where you would go to photograph rolling stock in the NYC area, but if you are up for a drive, Pan Am’s East Deerfield yard is always a good bet as you can get many different angles from the public bridge that crosses the yard throat at the west end. I’d ask around on some of the forums for locations nearer to you, NERails might be a good one.
– Chris
– Chris
Great site, I will be back. Well done