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Valley Forge RPM – 2016

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– GE E44’s by Drew McCann on display under scratchbuilt catenary.

I’ve been attending the New England/Northeast RPM Meet in Connecticut since 2007, but in that time haven’t been to any of the numerous other RPM meets that are held regularly across the country.  I like these events because they have a heavy focus on modeling and there is often a lot of really excellent work on display.

So, this past weekend I tagged along with some friends who were going to the Valley Forge RPM Meet in Malvern, PA.  The model room wasn’t huge, but there was some stuff I hadn’t seen before and I managed to take quite a few photos. There were also a lot of clinics on the schedule, but I only made it to Andy Rubbo’s talk on the construction of his impressive Pennsy Northeast Corridor layout.

We also hit up some hobby shops and managed to get trackside in both New Jersey and Pennsylvania.  I haven’t looked at those photos yet, but if they’re any good I’ll post them here or on Facebook.  It’ll be the usual NS/CSX/Amtrak stuff, but I did see one interesting thing 😉

Model photos are below the cut. Enjoy!

Chris

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Washington State – June 2015

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A northbound Union Pacific stack train with marine containers from APL, K-Line, Hapag-Lloyd and others rolls through Sunnyside Park on June 07, 2015.

I attended a work conference in Texas last spring and since I was already halfway across the country I decided that I’d might as well just keep heading west and spend some time visiting family and traipsing about the Pacific Northwest.

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Workbench Reorganization

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My new under-layout workbench. Where everything is organized and within easy reach.

I didn’t do much modeling over the summer.  I’d been increasingly dissatisfied with my little workshop and storage system.  A big issue was the fact that I never seemed to have the correct paint, detail part, styrene thickness, etc. when I needed it.  Earlier I had begun a process to list everything I thought I should have “in stock” but while I was prepared to spend the money for all this new stuff, I had nowhere to put it.

With that in mind, I made a few changes…

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New England/Northeast RPM Meet – 2015

One of the freight cars Dave Oppedisano had on display showcasing his weathering techniques.

I was in Collinsville, CT this weekend for the New England/Northeast RPM Meet.  As always it was a good time though there seemed to be fewer models this year than last.  Not sure what that’s about, but it is what it is.  The models that were on display however were of the quality I’ve come to expect from the attendees of this meet.  I especially enjoyed the two presentations Brian Banna gave about building his MoPac SD40-2 and GP35 and was glad to get the chance to see some of his work in person.

If you haven’t attended before, consider it for next year.  I have no interest in New England (or even east coast) prototypes, but I always find a lot of variety in the model room and have conversations that introduce me to new ideas and new skills to make my modeling better.

I took a lot of photo’s this year, check them out below the cut. Please let me know if I attributed anything incorrectly or misspelled any names.

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Turnout Motors

The four assembled and tested Mole Switch Machines for the staging yard.
The four assembled and tested Mole switch machines that will be buried in the staging yard.

Work has been progressing quickly on the removable staging yard I’m building for one end of my layout, and a few weeks ago I had reached the point where I needed to get the turnout motors installed. I’m using Proto:87 Stores, Mole Switch Machines which I’ve mounted on two sheets of .080” styrene sheet. This assembly sits in a notched hole in the foam baseboard, invisible from the top, but accessible from below. Continue reading “Turnout Motors”

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Gunderson Twin-Stack – Part 1

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Three of five cars have been completed on the A-Line Gunderson Twin-Stack set I’m building. Clearly I need a bigger photo backdrop…

I was looking back through my old posts and realized that I’d never written about the intermodal cars I’ve been building off-and-on for the last few years.  I recently started working on them again and though I’ve posted a lot of grab shots to Facebook, I figured it was about time I wrote a little something as well. Continue reading “Gunderson Twin-Stack – Part 1”

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Amherst Railway Society Railroad Hobby Show – 2015

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Rapido’s upcoming Amtrak F40PH on display at the Amherst Railway Society’s Railroad Hobby Show.

This past weekend I attended the Amherst Railway Society’s Railroad Hobby Show at the Eastern States Exposition in West Springfield, MA. The RHS is the largest (in terms of square footage) model railroad related event in North America.  Most years it’s a pretty chaotic scene.  This year opening day coincided with a major snowstorm so apart from the harrowing drive there, it was pretty relaxed.  I didn’t hear the final attendance numbers, but they were definitely low.  I spent the weekend at the New England/Northeast RPM booth displaying some models and generally just hanging around.  I did manage to wander around a bit though and have included some photos below the cut.

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