1374 Progress

As I wait for an email back from the decal guy, I made some progress on some other small things. Some things worked, some need to be re-worked. I added J&J etched metal ladders on the rear of the unit. That was good. The tool box side of the weights (by the fuel tank) I like how this side turned out. I might remove a little metal from the frame later.

The rack side of the fuel tank, I need to do more material removal here and add the posts for hanging parts from. Hopefully next week I have a little time to work on it.

Hopefully by the end of Thanksgiving weekend I'll have some progress on two of my other project engines to show you (SCXY GP9 1363 and ILSX SD40T-2 203).

Minnesota Bound

Some shots from around town...
MNNR B23-7 #40 works the Fridley Line by Locke Park.BNSF GP39E 2901 and BNSF GP38-2 2264 hold up at Interstate waiting for clearance into Northtown Yard.

SOO (CP) GP38-2 4410 works the CP line in Redwing. She's faded, but still working hard.

BNSF C44-9Ws 5275, 4828 and 5287 blast a grain train by University.

1374 Update

After some time away from home I was able to get some things done on my SD9. I got the appropriate fans installed, paint mostly done, mild weathering, sand hatches, cut levers, mu hoses, wipers and train lines installed. I need to get the decals made, rear ladders installed and get the mods made to the fuel tank so you can tell its DM&IR past.

ILSX 1374

My latest project is an ex-DM&IR #155, ILSX #1374 chopped nose SD9. I've gotten some of the details on and the cab is mostly done. This one has a mix of BLMA, Miniatures by Eric, Atlas and J&J details. I cleared off the pilots after these photos and will get the cut levers mounted this afternoon.Here you can see the prototype in this Robert Garton photo taken in Ross, ND. The paint scheme is Soo Line inspired and I may use the earlier ILS badging on the long hood.

M&D Junction Overview

Pogopod,
per you request and overhead of M&D. I still have a lot of work to do in this section. As you can see I follow the David Barrow "domino" design for layout construction. That way the masses stay out of the house. I'll probably finish the ground cover next weekend and I'm still waiting for the backdrop to be printed.

202 is Done!

I can move on to my next project. 202 is done. I fixed the front plow details and got the weathering done. Check it out...

Southern MN / Iowa

If you ever have a chance (or are forced) to drive from Mankato, MN to Omaha, NE bring a camera. The roads are lined with some of my favorite things: trains and grain elevators.
Just south of Worthington, MN I caught Minnesota Southern (ex-ILSX) MSWY GP7 1379 and GP9 1365 waiting to get clearance onto the UP mainline. Just a little further north and you can see two more ex-ILSX units at Huron Bio-Energy.
Along Hwy. 60 you'll see plenty of elevators, quire a few are owned by New Vision, this one is just a little north of Mountain Lake, MN.
One of the highest capacity elevators on the line is the shuttle loader in Alton, Iowa. The steel building with the white roof is covered grain storage.