Taking Inventory

Happy new year!  Hope everyone had a good Christmas, or whichever holiday you celebrate.  After no posts in the past month and a bit, I'm back!  Life has been busy with preparations for Christmas and the holiday season, and I have decided that I will begin the new year with a post of a spreadsheet, showing what I own by way of rolling stock and motive power.

If you're into stats, then this post is most definitely for you!  You may notice that my reporting marks are in alphabetical order so I can find my cars and locomotives easily...and I'm a tad OCD, CDO, (the OCD way of spelling OCD ;)) One thing I noticed as I was taking inventory of my entire fleet is that I have way less rolling stock than I thought...I guess that means that I can buy more? :)  The following charts are sorted by Rolling Stock, (above) and Motive Power, (below).

I won't say anymore, and let the inventory do the rest of the talking, enjoy!

Reporting Marks:	Road Number:	Type:	Manufacturer:
B&O	480000	Boxcar	Unknown
BN	625571	Centre Beam	Walthers
C&O	3178	Wide Vision Caboose	Athearn BB
CCBX	400151	23, 500 Gallon Tanker	Atlas
CGTX	22320	Tanker	Unknown
CN	322660	Coal Hopper	Unknown
CN	377275	Cylindrical Covered Hopper	Intermountain
CN	377324	Cylindrical Covered Hopper	Intermountain
CN	370018	56’ Center-Flow Hopper	Bachmann
CN	78934	30’ Wood Caboose	Walthers
CN	873603	Woodchip Hopper	Walthers
CN	873640	Woodchip Hopper w/ Load	Walthers
CNA	553756	Combination Door Box	Athearn RTR
CNWX	109487	55’ ACF Center-Flow Hopper	Athearn BB
CP	330939	52’ Mill Gondola w/ Load	Athearn RTR
CPWX	604301	Cylindrical Covered Hopper	Bachmann
CPWX	606691	Cylindrical Covered Hopper	Intermountain
DTTX	56000	48’ Well	Athearn
DTTX	56147	48' Well	Athearn
DTTX	56174	48’ Well	Athearn
DTTX	655299	53’ Well Car	Walthers
GATX	71731	19 000 Gallon Tanker	Intermountain
GN	171021	Cylindrical Covered Hopper	Atlas
IC	533046	Gunderson 50’ Hi-Cube Box	Walthers
ICG	700706	Thrall 89’ Tri-Level Autorack	Walthers
MEC	6627	40’ Box	Athearn BB
MILW	92115	52’ Mill Gondola	Athearn RTR
MLLX	97277	64’  Pellet Covered Hopper	Walthers
MOBX	14277	23 500 Gallon Tanker	Atlas
NAPA	8008	40' Box	Model Power
NIRX	16523	Mechanical Reefer	Golden Spike
NS	456724	Gunderson 50’ Hi-Cube Box	Walthers
RAIX	6489	23 000 Gallon Tanker	Walthers
RG	1500	36’ Wide Vision Caboose	Bachmann
SP	226379	Double Door Box	Unknown
T&NO	41531	Gondola	Unknown
USLX	3015	Double Door Box	Atlas
USLX	50241	56' Thrall All-Door Box	Walthers
UTLX	125036	13 000 Gallon Acid Tanker	Athearn RTR
WC	24071	50’ Box	Athearn
WC	38000	Logging Rack	Walthers
WH	9011	Cylindrical Covered Hopper	Intermountain
Undecorated	Undecorated	40’ Gondola	Unknown
Undecorated	Undecorated	40' Gondola	Unknown
Undecorated	Undecorated	48’ Mill Gondola	Unknown
Undecorated	Undecorated	Extended Woodchip	Unknown
Undecorated	Undecorated	Ore	Tichy
Undecorated	Undecorated	Flat w/Rail	Unknown

Reporting Marks:	Road Number:	Type:	Manufacturer:
CN	D-250	RDC	Proto 1000
CN	2514	C44-9W	Athearn BB
CN	5610	SD70i	Athearn Genesis
CN	7707	SW1500	Athearn BB
CN	9719	GP60M	Athearn RTR
NS	6775	SD60M	Proto 2000
SF	307	F-9	Bachmann
Undecorated	Undecorated	SD40	Athearn
Undecorated	Undecorated	GP9	MRC
UP	6344	SD60M	Proto 2000
VIA	6444	F40PH	Walthers

- Caleb

First Time Kit Construction

Having done some previous boxcar kits before, but never seriously, I decided it was time to do a real kit project, and do it the "right way".  I bought this kit a few years ago at Maritime Hobbies & Crafts for a mere $10.00, and figured it was time to stop moving the box around with all the parts in it without assembling it.

Well to be blunt, I understood why the price was listed at what it was.  As I began to piece the tank halves together...well I got quite frustrated but was determined to get through it.  The halves were slightly warped, enough so that it took more than just CA to cement the two together.  After multiple attempts, my wonderful wife suggested I use elastics, as she must've sensed I was getting close to taking a hammer to the darned thing, and it worked well!

My wife's brilliant idea of using elastics to hold the tanker halves together.

The rest of the assembly was not too difficult, and the two photos below show the almost car on my module.  All that is missing in these photos is the stirrups...

The tanker assembled minus the stirrups.

The CN SD70i coupled up to the RAIX tanker, again, complete minus the stirrups.

I saved the stirrups for last, as mentioned above, and I know why.  What an absolute royal pain in the butt.  Needless to say, the car has three of the four stirrups on now.  I say three and not four, because yesterday as I took one last peek at it before storing it away...one of the stirrups snapped off.  Before it goes into service, she needs a heavy dose of weathering along the top, and the final stirrup added.

Overall I enjoyed this kit, and like always, learned lots!

On another side note, this is my second post within the past seven days, possibly a positive sign of things to come!

- Caleb

39th Annual Truro Model Train Show

On October 15, 2016, the 39th annual model train show was held in Truro, NS.  Since I haven't attended since my senior year in high school, I figured it was time to make a return!

I began planning the day a few weeks in advance to maximize railfanning opportunities as they came my way en route to the show.  Of course, as always, I did catch a few trains, but the sun DID NOT cooperate for many of the shots and I had to settle for mediocre overcast run-of-the-mill photos.

At any rate, I arrived at the show around 1045, almost two hours after the show and started, and knowing that there was no VIA 15, this meant that no more trains would be around until 1630 or so in the afternoon...or so I thought.

At the show, I met a lot of model railroaders that I have been friends with on Facebook for quite some time now, and it was nice to meet so many of you in person! (You know who you are if you're reading this ;) )  I actually ended up talking to way more people than taking many photos which is a first for me, but not a bad thing at all, as I gleaned a great amount of information from many experienced modellers, and even some who are at the same level as me currently, its all a continuous learning process :)

Onto the photos though, the first order of business was to capture a couple shots of Ronald Grandmaison's Restigouche Pulp & Paper module.  I had seen this particular module of Ronald's before, but not since the lighting was added, which added another whole atmosphere of realism.

Restigouche Pulp & Paper, take one.

Restigouche Pulp & Paper, take two.

After taking in the UMG's setup, I decided to meander around and "shop" a bit.  At the end of the day, I left the show with four items; an SD40, (which is currently receiving an alcohol bath), a plastic pellets covered hopper, a CGTX tanker, and an Atlas Code 83 right hand switch.

I decided to take in a few more layouts too, as the end of the day drew closer and I realized how few photos I had taken so I snapped Tim Hayman's excellently weathered GP40-2W.

Tim Hayman's CN GP40-2W.

And then here are a few shots of general operations plus a glimpse of what the show looked like.

CN 3210 idles in the siding.

Seeing double CP on the UMG's layout.

A unique looking GT locomotive poses for a photo before continuing on.

Nearing the end of the day at the NSCC.

That about wraps it up.  I headed to Stewiacke to shoot VIA 14, but due to CN A407 going into emergency just west of Truro, that delayed 14 for a few hours, and long story short, the train didn't even arrive in Truro until dusk.  With that thought far behind me, I headed for home!  Below is the photo of what I left the show with, displayed on my home module, (switch not pictured).

SD40, CGTX tanker, MLLX covered hopper.

- Caleb