GTW SD40-3: Part One

Well I figure its time for another blog post, as its been a couple weeks since the last one.  This will be the first official update on my SD40 project.  Before I get into it, I have to admit, not very much has been done since I acquired the unit at the Truro show last fall.

The SD40 has been bathing in alcohol since November at my parent's house, and to be honest, aside from a couple visits of taking a toothbrush to it, nothing else has been done.  However, in the past few days, with the help of other modellers, I have begun doing research on what detail parts I will need in order to turn the soon to be undecorated SD40 into a GTW SD40-3.

Below, I have included some photos of the unit before and after.  Aside from that, theres not much to say...

The former SD40 shell fully painted (not by me).

The majority of the paint stripped off of the SD40.

The next post regarding the SD40 will hopefully show the entirety of the paint stripped off of it, with some detail parts added.

- Caleb

UMG Module: Part One

Its been just shy of two months since my last blog post...its time for a new one!

I have not given up my plans of building a layout, rather where I am unsure of exactly what I want to model, I figured I'd do the next best thing and get to work on a module for the UMG, (a local group made up of members from the maritime provinces and Quebec).

I was unsure of what to build and floated various ideas around in my head before finally coming up with what I wanted to model.  There is no rules which state that a member HAS to model an area 100% prototypically, as freelancing is allowed.  However, I wanted the challenge to model prototypically and decided upon the Suburban Propane facility located in Milford, New Hampshire which is no longer serviced by rail.

I have included a photo below of the general area which I will be modelling.  Clearly, the red/maroon line shows where the current tracks lie.

For those that don't know, this is classified as the Hillsboro Branch, currently owned by Pan Am Railways to Wilton, NH, and state owned from Wilton to Bennington.  The Milford-Bennington shortline runs on this trackage from the quarry in South Lyndeborough to Granite State Concrete, located approximately a mile to the right, or railway east of the above photo.  The Milford-Bennington Railway runs from late spring to early fall making two to three rounds trips each day.  Pan Am has only one customer this far up the line, Hendrix Wire, which receives plastic pellet hoppers once a week.  It should also be noted that track speed at best on the branch is 5-10 MPH, with some locations that have restrictions of 3 MPH.

Suburban Propane last received cars in 2006, and did not receive them all that long before then.  So here this spur sits empty now, having not seen any traffic since 2006...a whopping eleven years, but in the future,  they may receive cars again, no one knows for sure...

With the history of Suburban Propane, and a short snippet of the Hillsboro Branch, I will now include an early photo of what the module looked like having just received cork.

Since this photo was taken, there have been quite a few additions...which will be mentioned in another blog post, stay tuned!

Caleb