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.
Over the last few months I’ve finished detailing the Gunderson Twin-Stacks. This last bit of work focused primarily on the trucks, couplers and end walkways though I made a few modifications elsewhere as well. Continue reading
The progress thus far on one of the two BNSF SD40-2's that I'm scratchbuilding.
I’ve been slowly but steadily plugging away on the two scratch-built locomotives I posted about back in May. I’m at the point now where most of the major challenges, such as gear tower clearance, coupler mounting, etc. have been solved and I can begin to focus more on the aesthetic side of the model. The last major hurdle will involve the nano LED’s for the ditch and step lights that I need to wire up and attach to the model so that the leads will be sandwiched under the treadplate. That process will likely begin after the holidays. Select images and info are past the cut. A full gallery is available on my Pbase site. Continue reading
Union Pacific SD70ACe #8574 leads a southbound K-Line train through Vancouver, WA on July 12, 2011
I went home for a family wedding in July and was able to take some extra time to do a circuit through the state on a railfanning junket. I spent a little time around Steilacoom, then headed south to meet up with my friend Tom in Vancouver. Next we drove east through the gorge for 2 days before booking it north to Leavenworth and spending 2 days on Stevens Pass. Saw lots of trains, and had some pretty terrific weather. The full gallery of images can be found on my new! PBase site: http://www.pbase.com/cslemp/washington_state__july_2011.
– Chris
I’ve been waiting all my life (and very patiently I might add) for a high quality HO SD40-2 with the correct bolster spacing. The Kato models come close, but it’s hard to find undecs and I’ve come to discover that they aren’t terribly easy to modify. Railflyer is another option, but their models are at least another year away and I need something to keep my busy now… So, I’ve started scratchbuilding my own. Continue reading
Last September, for the first time in nearly two years, I was finally able to make my first trip back home to Washington State. My time was primarily spent visiting friends and relatives, but I did manage to get in a couple of days on Stevens Pass and a few afternoons along the tracks in Steilacoom. The shot above is the only train I managed to catch on the pass, but as trains go, it was a rather impressive one. Continue reading
