Snapshot Sunday - #23

Scan of a Polaroid from my second layout in 1974. The Montana Central & Southern.

Snapshot Sunday - #22

The Lewistown“Bulldog”
Engine No. 5900 and its twin, No. 5901, are unique among all the diesels operated by the Milwaukee Road. These two engines were the only completely railroad-built diesels to serve on the Milwaukee. Both engines were designed as combination engine-baggage cars. Approximately 85 feet long, the front 35 feet were used for the operators' cab, power equipment, and steam boilers; the rear portion of the engine was for baggage. No. 5900 and No. 5901 were rated at 1,000 horsepower and each was capable of pulling up to five passenger cars at a maximum speed of 75 mph. Both engines were retired in January 1961.

Photo from MILWAUKEE ROAD IN MONTANA Facebook page: Bill Abel

By mid-June 1948, 5901 was out of the shops, and for a while it pulled the Milwaukee – Berlin trains, 30 and 35. 5901 was soon transferred to trains 117 and 118 between Harlowtown and Great Falls, Montana remaining on that job until the trains were discontinued in August 1954. When the northern Montana passenger service ceased, 5901 returned to the Midwest for duty on trains 157 and 158 between La Crosse, WI. and Austin, MN.

Layout Update - #27

“The Hottest Brand Going”… in Denton anyway!
For a long time I have had a blank spot along the front of the layout in Denton. I placed a concrete pad with the intention of building a gas station sometime in the future. Well, I guess the future finally arrived. I purchased a J.L. Innovative McLeod Super Service kit years ago with idea of using it in Denton. I guess the thing that has always held me back was the fact that is considered a “craftsman” kit. I was never sure if my skill level was up to the task. So with some trepidation I jumped into it hoping that I would not screw it up to bad. Well after several weeks of work the project is finally done. Some mistakes were made along the way, but nothing that couldn’t be covered up with paint, glue or weathering. There was one major booboo that I could not correct. The back wall of the garage that faces completely away from the viewer was installed upside down. Do’h! Thankfully it is in an area that would require the viewer to insert their head into the layout at an odd position to see it. So as long as I keep my mouth shut no one will know!

In the bottom right photo “Old Bill” had better watch what he does with that pipe or Clyde will finally need to buy a new car!

Snapshot Sunday - #21

A view of the Belt Creek Trestle

This photo and some upcoming photo are from the John W. Barriger III National Railroad Library posted on Flickr. This collection contains thousands of photos from over 70 railroads from across the United States. It is an amazing collection! Visit the Barriger Collection @ http://www.flickr.com/photos/barrigerlibrary/sets/

Snapshot Sunday - #20 (Actually more than a snapshot)

Could it be? A rusted old hulk of a streamlined Hiawatha steam engine left in some farmers field only to be recently discovered?

Unfortunately the answer is NO.

While searching the internet for images related to the Milwaukee Road, I came across this photo. I had the same thoughts as above. Why hasn’t someone started a preservation project for this? How could such an important engine in Milwaukee Road history be left in a field to rot? After some further investigation, I discovered the following information:

It was built in the Milwaukee Shops as a parade truck in 1941 for the American Legion Convention in Milwaukee, using the styling of the class A Atlantics.

It is still sad that it will probably never be resurrected, but a fascinating find just the same. To learn more about this piece of history you can click on the links below.

http://www.coffeedrome.com/hiawatha2.html

http://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/MILW/conversations/topics/28357

Sunday Snapshot - #19

A pair of ”Little Joes” in the Harlowton shop tracks.

Layout Update - #26

The stock yard at Geraldine update
I finished painting and blending the stock yard into the scenery at Geraldine.

The photo below on the left is from a previous post after completing the stock yard to give you a reference to how it looks now. The basic layer of painting is a dry brush of a gray-brown craft paint to give the wood an aged look. When more of the surrounding scenery is completed, I’ll add grass and other vegetation to complete the scene. An Atlas street light was also added to the scene for those early morning unloading by the truck ramp.

Next I’m back to the Denton area of the layout to complete another structure there.  Until next time!

Snapshot Sunday - #18

Little Joe E75 photographed in Harlowton Yard in the late 70’s

Snapshot Sunday - #17

An unidentified tunnel on the line from Lewistown to Great Falls

This photo and some upcoming photo are from the John W. Barriger III National Railroad Library posted on Flickr. This collection contains thousands of photos from over 70 railroads from across the United States. It is an amazing collection! Visit the Barriger Collection @ http://www.flickr.com/photos/barrigerlibrary/sets/

Layout Update - #25

Geraldine Depot Update #3
The depot is completed for now. I say for now because there is always something more to do. I like to study these photos and see where improvements can be made. Touch up paint here or there, additional weathering, fill a bad gap, you get the idea. It is interesting what you don’t see until after a photo is taken and studied.

On this project I did not have enough pre-made shingles for the roof. Rather than ordering or buying from the local hobby shop, I decided it was time to make my own. I have done this on other structures in the past, but found a great time saver in the pre-made variety. For this roof, I wanted to push it a little farther then I had done in the past. The shingles were given a random texture as to their size and condition. That meant cutting more angles for individual shingles and a wider gap in between. For the gap defining each shingle, I took a #11 blade and snapped the point off. This allowed for a wider separation between shingles. The it was simply a matter of doing some angle cuts from these gaps to give the shingles a more aged look. The color of the paper I used looks like your standard shopping bag or card board light brown.

The Milwaukee Road in this area I’m modeling had green shingles on their roofs. To get an approximation of that color required some trial and error. As an art student we were taught to create illustrations by using markers. This was before computers were common place and you had to learn illustration. I still have a large selection of these markers that were purchased during my college days. It is amazing that most of these work after 35 years! For the shingle color, I choose an olive style green and randomly went back over the sheet with several colors of gray to add variety to the overall appearance. Creating shingles this way took more time, but I really feel the end result is worth it.

Click on a photo to enlarge the view.