Narrow Gauge Railbus

This years narrow gauge find at Springfield.

At this year Springfield show the boys from Maine brought down this neat little piece of Maine narrow gauge transportation. Little easier to transport I would think than the replica Maine two foot milk car seen at last years Springfield Show...George Dutka

Not sure if I would want to travel very far in there on a rainy day.

A good look at what is under the hood.

Osborn Models - O Scale Details

Peter and I each made one mile marker and a hand full of whistle posts. The extra signs and mile markers we will scatter around the yard as used junk.

On our last workday Peter Mumby arrived with two packages of O scale Osborn Model details. They are mile markers and whistle posts...something we have yet to add to our On30" modules. The whistle posts we built as included in the package. The mileposts had extra thick posts that we replaced with some bamboo BBQ sticks which looked pretty good. The whole project took us only a part of our afternoon. Once the parts are trimmed and attached with Canopy cement we tried some of my new Hunterline Cottage White. To our surprise the white did not cover at all. It appears that one needs a darker undercoating before the white begins to look like whitewash. We applied a coat of Hunterline weathering mix (the darker the stain the better the results it appears) and about 10 minutes later we coated our details in Cottage White. They looked a lot better by this point but still not white enough for us. We then dry brushed our parts with Floquil reefer white. Recently I used my cottage white stain on a Bar Mills shed, but it went over a darker base coat so all went well....I will be trying black colouring as a base coat on my next attempt at cottage white staining...stay tuned...George Dutka

Our finished mile markers and whistle posts have a nice white weathered look once we used these three colours. A learning experience.

FOS Scale Models "new" O Scale Garage

What a great looking O scale garage with all these details added.

I picked up an O scale garage for my On30" layout. I had seen the model on the FOS Scale web site and it looked really nice. In person it looked even better. There are tons of details included and signage's. I really want to give it a try and see what I can come up with building this model...stay tuned...George Dutka

A small box which holds big things.

I have never tried a FOS Scale Models kit, so I am really looking forward to this build.

A really nice display and the only O scale kit available from FOS Scale Models at the moment. I took these photo of the display at this years Springfield, Mass. model show.

HOn30" module

A small scene on a small HOn30" operating diorama.

At Springfield there was lots of Maine Two Foot to see but only one module that viewed HOn30" equipment...there may have been more but that was all I found on my travels. Here are two views I took with my pocket Canon camera. Yesterdays re-powering post is also from the same display...George Dutka

The transfer yard is seen alongside the operating module.

A Different Point of View - Powering HOn30" Trains

What's that hiding underneath that HOn30" boxcar?

While at the Springfield train show last month I came across a HOn30" layout which was running impressively smooth. When I asked if the engine had been re-powered the answer was no. He went on to explain that the engine was gutted and the gears taken out. For power the car behind the engine was hollowed out to accommodate a sweet running N scale engine that pushed the engine along. What an interesting idea. He had a number of cars which had engines hidden within...I am rethinking my HOn30 static fleet...George Dutka