Marcel and Mike Share Stories

Marcel's Pics and Stories

Marcel has sent our way a handful of images with captions for our January entertainment.

I must say that Marcel is a man after my own heart.  Why, check out the first image in this entry.

Yes we see a wonderful tandem of Boston and Maine Geeps about to take a train out for a run!

The lead unit is a GP9 in the McGinnis "Bluebird" scheme introduced in 1957.  The president's wife was instrumental in this "new look" both on the B&M and the New Haven when he was president there.  The second unit is a GP7 painted in the classic "Minute Man" scheme.

These are Marcel's words my way,  "At the time that I visited the Open house I didn't know of your favorite Road the B&M. I don't know why I took the shots of those locos but you must have been on my shoulder whispering in my ear." 

Marcel goes on to say, "Hello Mike. When I was driving home to Ottawa last spring I managed to catch the open house at RLD Hobbies in Albion Illinois."

Marcel adds, "I had brought my CN RDC with me and ran it on the layout."

" I will send a group of photos that I took of the operations."

"Garden scale enthusiasts from all over the U.S. gather to share stories and equipment much the same as we do at the OVGRS."

And, like our group with our umbrellas that protect us from the sun more than the rain, we spot canopies down here.

Marcel discovers something most interesting right beside the railroad empire.  I'll let Marcel explain. "Right across the road is a marijuana grow farm apparently owned by a group including some Canadian people."   

"RLD is on the right and weed on the left!  LOL!"

That's quite the set-up, Marcel!

Marcel continues, "Robbie Dascotte owner of RLD. Great guy, good friend, very knowledgeable."

Elevated track.

Staging area.

Love the steamer!

Thanks so much Marcel for sharing these great looking images with us!  My turn to share a few pics and stories.

Mike's Latest Builds

As you know, a few years ago Dispatcher Doug asked me to build some O-Scale machines for him.  When the machines were done, they begged to have a home to house them.  So, a scratchbuilt machine shop came into existence.  When the shop was complete, it desired a diorama to showcase the outside environs with their multitude details.  As that diorama was under construction, the scene asked for some nearby neighbours to create a larger setting illustrating a small rural Ontario town.  What emerged from these dreams is an expansive diorama separated into four segments; the machine shop, the station, the general store and a freight shed/team track.  All of this is very much "in progress" as I type this.

With the lovely trackwork Doug had laid down, we decided to have a team track on the fourth module.  This team track would allow us to park an O-Scale freight car.  Doug and I pondered either a boxcar or a gondola.  The gon won out and Doug found a very old Labelle kit on-line.

I have built tons of model railroad kits out of plastic in HO scale, but never an old-style wooden one like this.  The kit came "without" trucks and couplers, so I have borrowed them from the "one" O-Scale car I own, a Maine Central 40' boxcar. The car resides alongside a number of other cars in various scales in my crew lounge which I use as a teaching tool when young children and non-model railroad visitors come to see my layout.  On the model, the truss roads are made of nylon and all other piping is made from leftover old guitar strings I save each time I change them on my many guitars.

I've placed a load of coal in the car.  Eventually I will create a load out of styrofoam, paint the surface black and then sprinkle a much smaller amount of coal on top to simulate a full load.  It would appear the farmer with the team of horses is either delivering milk to town or taking empty cans back home.  As mentioned before, the scene is still very much under construction.

We spot the REO Box Truck at the machine shop and a buckboard wagon in the foreground (slightly out of focus) while the gondola resides in front of the station purchased from the estate of our good friend, the late Peter Nesbitt.

The schematic diagram is exactly "half-size" so for my modelling needs, all I have to do is take the measurement on the sheet and "double it" when working on the model.

The rub-on stencils are sixty years old!  Yikes!  But they stood up fairly well during application and weathering with washes.  However, some touch-ups were needed.

The acrylic Folk Art "Parchment" colour matched very well.

The finished model.

Yes, I painted and weathered those black plastic trucks early on in the build!

Every now and then I would take a break from the workbench and "stage" the gondola on the still unfinished diorama sections.

I really enjoyed this build.  Even though it was a kit build, it felt more and more like a scratchbuild in many ways.  This was a nice one-week modelling project that was very rewarding.

Just before the gondola build I had fun making these two fun looking "early 1900's" models, a buckboard wagon and a buggy.  I loved bringing these two puppies to life along with the farmer's wagon, so much so, that I recommended to Doug that we purchase one more wagon and one more team of horses.  Doug recommended a "work wagon" to receive coal trackside at the team track and freight shed which he is currently building.  I look forward to that project over the next week.

To see more of these builds you can visit my "Craftsman Structures" blog at the following address.  You may have to copy and paste it into your computer's browser.

https://craftsmanstructures.blogspot.com/

If you have a project on the go on your workbench, feel free to send along some images and captions and I'll create a blog entry on your behalf.

I trust everyone is staying safe and healthy throughout this colder time of the year!

All the best, Mike Hamer, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada