Do you see the light?

Covered Water Tank Kit

The Portland Locomotive Works covered water tank model in O scale seen at last years Model Railroad Expo. I believe this model was not released at that time...guess it is a kit  prototype model on display when I took the photo.

 A new O scale model for the W&Q Ry.

I am planning on adding a covered water tower to my W&Q Ry. module this winter. Portland Locomotive Works has such a model available now and I am hoping to pick one up this year at the Model Railroad Expo being held in Massachusetts in a few weeks...will cover this kit when I get back...George Dutka

Frt. House Chimney installed

My new Schomberg Scale Models chimney has been painted and installed on the O scale Quebec Jct. freight house. The barrels and feed bags are also details purchased from Schomberg.

I was glad to have tracked down a chimney on the internet that would look good on my freight house. Since I was ordering a chimney I decided to add on a few other items of interest to my order. The chimney and details have now been added to my O scale frt. house. The chimney was first painted with Floquil Grime. Once dry I just used various colours of Bragdon weathering powders to give it an old red colour. The two barrels, the crate on the dock and three feed bags are all from the same company. These items add greatly to the overall look...George Dutka

 Schomberg Scale Models

My new details added to the freight house.

 

Narrow Gauge Interchanging

Trevor Marshall passed along the following Maine two foot interchange details...thanks Trevor...George Dutka.

" Hi George: Great looking section house! To answer your question, the Monson RR connected with the Bangor & Aroostook. The SR&RL, the B&SR, and the WW&F connected with the MEC. The Kennebec Central had no direct connection with a standard gauge road. "

MEC Interchange - Section House

This is a great little model that takes no room at all on any layout. Mine will be added to my HOn30 C&Q Ry. interchange.

Adding a section house to your interchange

All the Maine two footers interchanged with the MEC I believe. I build a MEC section house a couple of years ago and now plan to add it to my HOn30" C&Q Ry. - MEC interchange yard. Creative Laser Design offers this structure which is an easy build. I purchased the kit at the 2011 Model Railroad Expo held in Peabody, Mass. I have done a write up on how the construction of my kit went on my White River Division blog. There is a link below to the site if you want a better look at it...George Dutka

 White River Division

The interior of this structure can be seen next to the section house. Additional photos can be found on my White River Division blog.

Sandy River Baggage Tag

I don't recall were I got this photo of a Maine narrow gauge baggage tag...I am thinking it was part of my friend's the late Jim McFarlane collection that was sold a few years back....George Dutka

Adding Evergreen Trees to the W&Q Ry.

There are three style of dollar store Christmas trees seen in this photo.

I have spent an afternoon planting trees on my On30`W&Q Ry. module last week. I did already have a few trees already scattered around the backdrop, but there needs to be a lot more. My tree planting this fall came about when I found a bag of large evergreens that I purchased a few years ago at a dollar store. These trees are actually Christmas trees intended to be used in Xmas displays. You only find them available during the holiday season.

Here we see one of the trees in the package and one out still wearing its Christmas balls. Note the tree in the package has snow frosting that is easily covered by the spray paint. The larger trees are a dollar each while smaller trees are packaged in two`s for the same price.

 The process is simple. I begin by picking off the Christmas balls from the trees then I spray bomb green one tree at a time. I use any green paint that is available to me. After spraying each tree I shake some Woodland ground foam on. Once again any shade of green I have available will do. I prefer the darker greens for both the paint and ground foam. I leave the wooden stand on while working on the trees as it is easy to handle that way. I cut them off once dry with snips. I use pop can cardboard trays to catch the paint as I paint and a second to catch the ground foam as it is poured over the trees. The foam is reused till used up. Planting the trees takes no time at all once dry the next day. Keep an eye open at the dollar stores this holiday season and you might find some interesting backdrop trees for your own layout....George

I used a few of my trees as foreground models.

The two larger trees are both dollar store finds. The smaller evergreens to the left are N scale models that got the same treatment and look fine mixed in with the larger trees near the background.

Here we see a few different dollar store trees. The smaller one at right came two to a package. If you look closely the green ground foam does vary from application to application.