A special video for our fans

Thought I would throw together a special video for our fans in California. Hopefully this won’t drive “Mom” nuts, again.

A journey to the model railroaders “mecca”

On a recent trip to travel Colorado, I had the opportunity to visit Caboose Hobbies in Denver. This is an amazing place. Well worth the time if you are in the area. I considered it a “Mecca” for model railroaders. They have numerous long isles with almost anything you would need. You can visit their website at www.caboosehobbies.com .



I not sure who that strange person in this photo is. (Of course, I’m talking about the guy in the yellow shirt)

Just one of the many isles in the store. Here we have an entire isle of books and magazines.

They have numerous small display layouts through out the store. All of the layouts are well detailed and a pleasure to look at. We arrived on Sunday the 4th of July and the store was open for only 5 hours. We could easily have spent more time there.

Along with track and some small parts, that I have not been able to pick-up locally in Utah, I purchased a couple of cars that I have been searching for. First is this unusual paint scheme for a cylindrical covered hopper car. Here is some information I found on the car:
“One of the most unusual and eye-catching cylindrical hoppers ever seen. One side of the car is covered with a large graphic that shows exactly what the car carries: the car is in effect a billboard on wheels! The opposite remains in its standard design and color, in this case a gray potash hopper with red lettering. The car was shopped at Montreal's St Charles shops in January 1971. The special paint scheme was part of CN's visual redesign program to make the public more aware of the ever-expanding role of freight transportation in the life of all Canadians and to emphasize the quality and diversity of CN freight service. The ''rainbow'' or ''LifeSavers'' car has seven rainbow stripes and a printed chemical formula for the bulk commodity chemical it carries.”
"The chemical formulation OCN(CH2)6NCO is Hexamethylene Diisocyanate. The product is used to produce a polymer when combined with Butanediol which is a crystal. The product is used in the production of plastics. Hexamethylene Diisocyanate is also used in the production of enamel paints and gives it that hard shiny surface for a more durable finish and is used in automotive and aircraft paint."

The other car is a special paint scheme the Milwaukee Road used on a few cabooses that were used for the Building and Bridges department. Shown below is an actual photo of the car.

 
Photo by Mike Sosalla 1985