Mike's Railroad Blog

Image of the Month

2012-02-06T10:13:00.000-06:00

Since this is the first Image of the Month for the year, I wanted to do something special. If you are a Southern Pacific Daylight Fan, this one is for you...

Released by the Southern Pacific RR CO in 1937 to promote the Daylight Lines on the Pacific Coast. One interesting thing I noted on the very last scene where the daylight in heading off to the sunset, notice the car diaphragm flapping in the wind, I am sure SP officials blushed over that shot...

From My Workbench

2012-01-18T13:06:00.001-06:00

Well it is a new year, and I thought I would share my latest creation the sawmill complex. This one took about 8 months to complete, it comprises of several BTS kits and the master creations sawmill I had earlier in this blog. It is now installed at the RR club I am a member of.

Shot of the rear of the sammill and fire tower

The mill pond, note the water lilies and cat tails in front of the pump house.

The plaster cloth is being used to rebuild the area that I demo'ed to introduce this module.

Just some night shots because they look cool...

Well off to the workbench to see what I can come up with on convention in June in Houston....

Need a sign?

2011-12-29T08:04:00.001-06:00

DO you need a sign for your layout, help yourself, just save these images to your computer and print them in color...

The secret to placing these on walls so they look like they were painted on is to sand the back of the printed sign so that it is almost transparent. Place the sign on the wall using a diluted white glue and using a stipple paint brush, gently push the sign into the bricks or surface of the wall. Then using a diluted paint color identical to the wall color "wash" the sign so that it blends in enough not to lose what the sign shows but makes it look like the wall surface is coming through the sign... Have fun...

Product Review - Troels Kirk DVD - Realistic color for Model Railroading

2011-12-08T12:42:00.000-06:00

Greetings,
I just received Troels Kirk's new DVD on realistic color for Model Railroading.

I really enjoyed this video because it takes a different approach towards modeling in that Troels uses broad area painting techniques and an artist approach, which includes the use of basic colors to mimic weathering and realistic modeling. These techniques produce fantastic results.

For those who do not know Troels, he is a danish artist painter, living in southern Sweden. in my opinion, Troels has one of the finest model Railroads on the planet. To view this spectacular work of art go here...

Coast Line Railroad

If you want To view the trailer for his DVD....

You can order this DVD from his website.

For the quality of the DVD, his techniques, and overall fresh approach towards modeling I give this product 5 lanterns, great job Troels!

Image of the Month

2011-10-17T14:35:00.000-05:00

As I continue to work on my layout room, (I will post pictures shortly) my modeling is at a standstill. So I post this video regarding railroad safety from the 50's. It is kind of Hokey but if you are a Southern Pacific Fan you are in for a treat. Among others there are shots of Daylight PA units, CabForwards, Black Widow F units, Halloween S units, Even a reefer string and a wigwag.... (lol only SP railroad fans would have the slightest inkling of what I am talking about) Enjoy...

Image of the Month

2011-09-30T22:22:00.000-05:00

I thought it would be cool to post a 1903 film called "the Great Train Robbery"

Of particular interest is the way they transposed the train film onto the windows in the film sets, very clever for the age. Enjoy...

Busy Times

2011-09-28T09:55:00.000-05:00

Its has been a while since the last posting, I have been neck deep into working on my layout room. Being that I live in a victorian home, nothing is easy. One major problem I have encountered is having to demo a 117 year old brick fireplace chimney. And it was massive but unfortunately it could not be saved due to cracks and such. so that is done, insulation, sheet rock, vapor barrier, and electrical (major overhaul). I will be painting this one room (of two) this weekend and then I am off to Houston for the great texas train show. Hope to see you there.

From My Workbench

2011-08-13T11:56:00.001-05:00

I am working on my Locomotive AP and thought about taking a old blue box Athearn locomotive and super detailing it. I had 3 SD-45 units, one dummy and two power units and started with them. This first one will be the dummy unit. Thus far there are a total of 133 details.

Thanks to Cannon and Company for his help in part selection...

A lot of details west and detail associates parts

This will be a Cotton Belt unit, the other two will be Southern Pacific units with elephant ears.

This is the "practice" unit, learned a lot from this one...

I will post updates as I go along.. until then..

Image of the Month

2011-07-29T10:25:00.001-05:00

This really bizarre locomotive is a Chesapeake & Ohio M-1 steam turbine. Proof that reality is stranger than fiction some times.

Lionel Collectors Club of America National Convention

2011-07-27T10:57:00.000-05:00

I was asked to give a clinic at the LCCA convention this week, it was really nice meeting the folks from all over the country and from other facet of the hobby. There were some really beautiful trains there as well as Lionel's traveling layout and set up.

The Lionel layouts were quite impressive.

In addition, I was invited to run some pre-war standard (reproduction) gauge trains, I had a blast, I can see the appeal of these trains were back in the early part of the last century.

I have been really busy of late with the clinics, working on my locomotive AP as well. Super detailing a couple of SD-45's has proven to be quite a challenge. I will post pictures once they are complete... until then....

3 Down 4 to Go

2011-06-18T21:21:00.001-05:00

I just received two more National Model Railroad Association Achievement Program certificates towards my Master Model Railroader Certification.

The Master Builder Structures certificate is for building 12 structures, 6 have to be scratch built, the others super details, oh, also a bridge or trestle has to be one of the structures. 6 of the 12 have to merit during judging.

The second, Association Volunteer reflects over 2 years worth of volunteer time I put into the NMRA. To date the most difficult to obtain.

Above is my MMR matrix for those remotely interested lol... Like I said, I have 4 more certificates to go. The next 2 certifications for 2011 will be NMRA Author and Master Builder Locomotives.

My goal is be have my MMR by 2012...

Thanks for all that support and continued help in my now 3 year quest. As of this date there have been only 455 Master Model Railroaders awarded worldwide been since 1961.

Back from the convention

2011-06-17T11:04:00.003-05:00

Many thanks to the folks in Lubbock for a very successful convention.
The layout tours were wonderful, clinics, food and fun for all...

I gave a set of clinics on Scratch building and learned far more than I brought to the table. At one point in the evening for drinks and social hour, I was surrounded by no less than 6 Master Model Railroaders. I am not quite sure but I believe we are up to over 37 MMR's in the Lone star Region.

With that said, and learning from the very best in the hobby, I fared pretty good this year in the contest room,

1 First place On Line Structures
1 First place Off Line Structures
1 Model was voted Most Popular by the convention attendees & finally,

1 Model won Best of Show...

I look forward to Houston in 2012!

Image of the Month

2011-05-31T22:19:00.001-05:00

With 2011 being the 150th anniversary of the Civil War I wanted to show you this strange looking figure. If you click on the image can you guess what it is? It is railroad related that is certain.

Give up? Scroll down...

It is a Sherman Necktie. If you look very closely you can see this is a railroad rail that is wrapped tightly around a tree.

from Wiki....

Sherman's neckties were a phenomenon of the American Civil War. Named after Maj. Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman of the Union Army, Sherman's neckties were railway rails destroyed by heating them until they were malleable and twisting them into loops resembling neckties, often around trees. Since the Confederacy had limited supplies of iron, and few foundries to roll the rails, this destruction was very difficult to repair. They were also called Sherman's bow ties, Sherman's hairpins or Jeff Davis hairpins.

From My Workbench

2011-05-25T09:34:00.004-05:00

This is the first posting I have had in a while, I have been totally slammed with building models for my RR club, we had a Narrow Gauge Mini Meet here in Dallas that was a total blast, and lastly prepping for the LSR convention next month. I will be giving a clinic on "Intro to scratch building structures". If anyone is interested in a pdf version of this please post a request with your email.

Anyway...I have been partnering with Bart at my railroad club to overall the lumber mill area of the layout. Bart is working the scenery aspect and I am tackling the structures.

The first was a Master Creations Lumber Mill. If you have ever built a Master Creations kit, your up for a challenge. The kits that they produced were innovative, complex, and were limited. the challenge is the instructions are little hard to follow, and from a personal viewpoint, laser cut work from the perspective of its use in siding a structure, although looks great, I prefer to use board on board. With that said, 80% of this mill is scratch built. I used the framing, details and windows from the kit however replaced just about everything else.

So if your up for a real challenge, try a Master Creations kit, you will have an unique structure.

The second structure is a BTS log dump, if your familiar with logging operations you know that these were used to remove the logs from the railroad car and dump them into a log pond. These ponds were staging areas for log to be fed into the mill using the log flume you see above.

BTS kits are really great, actually BTS is the same company as Master Creations. There kits are some of the best on the market today and reasonably priced as well. This was a fun kit and took about a weekend.

Well I am off to finish up my contest models for the convention. After that I will start with more logging "stuff".

Here is the BTS Website if your interested in some really cool and innovative product.

5000 hits

2011-04-13T16:49:00.002-05:00

I just wanted to say thanks to everyone that visits my corner of the web, I have met some really nice people out there in cyberland.

5000 hits is really appreciated.

I am still prepping for this years Lone Star Region Convention in Lubbock and look forward to seeing some of you there... here is the link...

LSR NMRA CAPROCK EXPRESS CONVENTION
June 9th - 12th 2011

Image of the Month

2011-03-24T15:03:00.004-05:00

Its been a long month, and I have been on the workbench building a sawmill for the club layout. However in celebration of my wife taking me to the circus tonight, I offer a rather interesting photograph from a forgotten era when the circus' traveled by train. Yes, Ringling still does, but it is not the spectacle it once was. Just admire the artwork on the side of the baggage car...

I will be back next month with more interesting tidbits and railroad stuff...

From My workbench

2011-02-20T18:29:00.011-06:00

My last two structures are now complete for my Structures Achievement Program Certificate for my Master Model Railroad Certification, the first was a trestle I built 30 years ago. The second is called "a simple garage" is is based off a 1930's garage shop and is scratch built. It was a lot of fun to build.
It is board on board construction on the sides and back with framed front covered with cambell's corrugated metal siding.

The automobile is from my weathering clinic and fits quite well in the overall scene.

The interior is complete with everything you see, I included the vector cut tools, door panels and other details. See my vendor write up below for more information.

Overall I have learned a great deal from the 12 structures that were required for this AP, I think my skills have increased a great deal. I want to thank everyone for their help at the LSR, Jerry, Duane, Larry, Charlie, David, Bill, Tom, MMR's many, and too many to list and each one, absolutely talented modelers.

I think I am going to tackle the Locomotive AP next, it should be an experience...

Image of the Month

2011-02-20T18:23:00.003-06:00

Southern Pacific Roadroad

Southern Pacific RR brakeman Harry Martin smelling a tiger lily found beside tracks w. engineer Jimmy Belote waiting his turn, during regulation cooling-off stop between Sacramento and Reno.

Taken in 1942 by Life Magazine regarding Railroads at War, I really like the contrast in this photo.

From My WorkBench

2011-01-15T20:27:00.010-06:00

Here is the latest scratch built structure completed. It is Virginia's 5 and Dime. I really wanted to pull out all the stops on this one. The 100s of details and 100s of hours paid off I hope. This was a real challenge but I learned a great deal and hope you enjoy it...

The screen doors were salvaged from Christmas ribbon, I used the peeled paint method from Chuck Doan.

The interior was the most challenging aspect of this build, each of the 100s of cans, box, products
and misc items were scratch built using product packaging that do not exceed 1944. The counter tops and contents are scratch as well as the fan assembly and library latter
systems.

This structure is dated June 7th 1944 per the newspapers on near the cash register.
This was a lot of fun to build, I have 2 remaining structures to complete to finish my structures AP certification. Stay tuned for these new models, one of which is a automobile garage.

Product Review - Vector Cut

2011-01-08T07:54:00.008-06:00

I am always amazed at what the laser has brought to the table regarding detail possibilities in model railroading. We have never enjoyed this level of detail before, particularly in HO.

So while building my latest scratch built structure, a HO automobile garage, (will post pictures later this month so stay tuned), I found a Vendor that has some outstanding laser cut details that I think you will enjoy.

Vector Cut

Dave at Vector Cut offers N-HO-O scale details, craftsman kits, and even model ship accessories as well. I personally ordered the tools and automobile parts that you will see on the website. The shipping was fast, free, Dave was very personable, and the parts were AMAZING as far as quality.

Ever thought of having HO Scale hotdogs, hamburgers, and donuts? Well he has got them!...So when you get a chance surf his site. When your there, check out his Gallery, talk about talent! The diorama's are simply, as they say now "off the hook".

For the impeccable quality of work, clever design (3 dimensional automobile doors), great service, and fast shipment, I highly recommend Vector Cut Details with 5 lanterns....

Image of the Month

2011-01-03T13:17:00.005-06:00

Lets start off 2011 with a really cool video regarding troop trains during WWII.
You all know by now that I model WWII era railroading so this is just what the doctor ordered...

Vintage footage of Military Transport by Railroad is somewhat rare, the War Department at the time was reluctant to film such moves due to the military security could be compromised. This movie appears to have been released in 1943.

Image of the Month

2010-12-24T09:03:00.003-06:00

Merry Christmas

-Mike

From My Workbench

2010-12-19T15:57:00.013-06:00

As the plans that I posted suggests, I have completed 3 of the 6 scratch built structures required for my Master Model Railroader Structure Certificate. For more information check out the plans that were used in an earlier post... And here they are;

Southern Pacific Main Line Tender Oil Storage Tank.

Completely scratch built using a PVC pipe union believe it or not.
I covered the union with plascticstruct, constructed the legs painted
and weathered.

The Pumphouse... complete with interior....

These were real challenges particularly in the interiors, in this case
everything is built from scratch with the exception of the steam

engine (click on all of these pics for larger view).

Grizzly Flats Station.... (this was a lot of fun)... really tested my skills and almost an exact recreation of the South Pacific RR in Ann Arbor California around 1943. The interior is complete right down to the toilet paper roll and newspapers, the world war II theme is seen throughout.

The roof rafters alone consumed well over 200 nut bolt washer castings. I went a step beyond and added conduit and electrical boxes and switches, also the interior is lit with 5 0603 LEDs

This was a fun set of structures, hopefully if all goes well I will have the remaining 3 structures completed by this time next month...

Top 50 List

2010-12-13T19:56:00.002-06:00

I was very pleased to have my blog named a "50 Best Blogs for Train Enthusiasts” at http://onlineengineeringdegrees.org/50-best-blogs-for-train-enthusiasts/ A list generated by Edgar Lovett. It was really cool to be listed among some really amazing blogs. If you get a chance check out the list that he has offer, but I warn you, there is tons of Railroad related sites that you will spend days looking through...

Thanks Edgar, I am humbled...

I Have Been Busy

2010-11-22T14:47:00.007-06:00

Greetings all,

I tell you what, I have been really busy of late, doing clinics for the local divisions, doing train shows in Fort Worth and Houston and to top it off, building scratch built structures for my Master Model Railroad Structure Certificate.

I wanted to post some of the plans that I have been working on, as soon as I get the models judged I will post pictures here.

The first structure I have completed is South Pacific Coast RR Station based off some plans I found in the Narrow Gauge Gazette. Due to copyright, I dont want to post the plans but the model came out really nice, again once I get it judged I will post pictures of it.

The second is a main line oil tank that I designed myself, being that I model Southern Pacific, I needed to have a oiling facility and pump house to store and deliver tender fuel oil to my locomotive fleet.
Here is the plan for the tank...

This model is now completed and ready for judging...

The third (of six) structures that I need to scratch build is a pump house that will be paired up with the tank shown above. The plans are from Railroad structures and estimates by John Wilson Orrock, 1918. This book I found to be an AMAZING compilation of structures and other railroad plans, I highly recommend it and it is free and available on Google Books.

Here is the plan as it appeared in the book;

I translated this into a scale plan using Excel and built the model, or should I say I am building the model using these plans...I hope to have this model completed in the next couple of weeks so watch for the December posting for the finished models.

I just wanted to also give a shout out to Scotty Mason whom I met while doing the Houston Show, he is a genuinely good dude and it was a real pleasure chatting with him.

Thats it for now, thanks for being understanding this last month or so and I will talk to you soon, have a great thanksgiving.

- Mike