Sunday, February 23, 2014

Rush City Redo, again?

After running the current version of Rush City a few times in large shows, so I can really see how the traffic flows work, I have come to the conclusion that it is close, but just not right. Later this summer I will start another module building spree. I will be taking the current Rush City modules and cleaning them off. They will become some new scenes to compliment the Skally Line. A new Rush City will be build, using the offset module style I used for Tiller. This will allow me to get a more accurate track plan, having all of the trackage at the Horizon Mill. I will temporarily lose the Federated Co-op siding, but it will be back eventually. Here are some of the new modules I have planned:
Rush City will be 12'-6" long (my standard for 2 modules). The Rock Creek underpass will sit North of Rush City, extending the yard track out and giving a little scenic relief (yes I know I am omitting Harris, MN. I can live with that). I will be adding another module north of that, probably showing the rather bland area around Beroun, MN. Then the tracks will then pass under Hwy 61 at the end of the extended Hinckley siding.
I will also be adding some corners, I may wait a little bit and see what I have for trackage rights by the end of the summer. I may be able to go a bit bigger by them.

Sunday, February 16, 2014

Random MN Railranning Pics

This month will be a little quiet on the modeling side. I just finished a work trip that had me going from Minneapolis to Vegas to L.A. to Portland to Atlanta and back to Minneapolis, and that was the easier half of the month. So I don't go too long without a post, I thought I would share some random shots I took last time I was home.
Independent Locomotive Service in Bethel is getting a new office, er... should I say depot? It looks like construction was well underway so hopefully the office staff can stretch their wings a little in this new building.
Down on the Minnesota Commercial the late January snow slowed down the Hugo Line a little. Here, some gondolas bound for Hugo are left on the run around track at Structural Wood Products in White Bear Lake. A crew would run them North another day. The three leased high-side gondolas are a nice change from the usual low side MNNR gons.
Up in Cambridge on Feb 3rd, congestion at Northtown Yard had sidings plugged all over the Twin Cities Division as trains couldn't be processed over the NTW hump fast enough. Here we can see the SB CP manifest passing an idle BNSF SUPNTW. CP SD30C-ECO #5017 passes INDR (CEFX) SD60 #6011.
Back down in Saint Paul, a BNSF Z Train just backed out of Midway Yard onto the main. A very clean BNSF ES44C4 #7183 and BNSF C44-9W #5468 prepare to depart for Chicago.
At the same time the Z train was getting ready a nice 3 pack of MNNR power was getting ready to take the cars for BNSF interchange from the MNNR "A" Yard over to NTW. MNNR SF30B #42, MNNR B39-8E #84 and MNNR B23-7 #43 were all looking great in their new colors.

Tuesday, February 4, 2014

200th Post: Unfinished Projects!

February will be a slow month for the blog. Work has me covering a lot of ground during the shortest of months. I did want to show some progress shots on a couple "non-traditional" projects I'm working on.
The CF7 is for a friend in the MN FreemoN group. It will be an early TCWR unit. The resin parts were made by Randgust. I am modifying them heavily to match the TCWR unit. I used an Atlas GP7 long hood, the number boards are from a GP38, and the detail parts are from the normal sources. It has a ways to go yet. I'll update as I get it done.
The other long term project I've resurrected is CN Track Inspection Budd Car #1501. I filled the windows a while ago, but I finally finished adding the MbE lights and the Sandro Sinclair antennas. I made my own cut levers for this one. This one also has a long way yet to go. I need to build the pilot plates, add GPS domes, wiper boxes and more. A big boost to this project was the fact I have the decals in my possession now. Let the progress commence!