From the air

Here’s a photo I nearly forgot about. I took this from a Southwest flight into Pittsburgh in March 2017 as I traveled to the RPM-East meet. As you can see, the weather cooperated for a nice look over the Ohio River Valley. This is just downriver from Wheeling, W. Va., and where the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad crossed the Ohio River. Click on any image here to review a larger size.

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Reading composite mill gondola


There is great satisfaction in completing a freight car kit that was started nearly a decade ago. This Reading composite mill gondola was recently decaled and weathered. Funaro & Camerlengo produces this HO scale resin kit with decals for Reading or Central of New Jersey owners. The kit supplied Reading decals reflected a late steam era presentation. As I model 1926, this gondola has been used in an undecorated state for awhile. Click on any image here to review a larger size.

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Couplers


A train needs couplers in order to stay together to move the freight down the rails. Our model trains need functioning couplers to successfully complete a similar task. People frequently ask me what couplers are used on the HO scale Wheeling Freight Terminal. Since I just replaced couplers on several models, it seemed like a moment to share in a blog post. Click on any image here to review a larger size.

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Southern Pacific A-50-5 automobile box car

Late in 2015 I realized I had several HO scale resin freight car kits that were proper for my 1926 modeling era, but the kits lacked decals that reflected the lettering in use then. This realization downgraded quite a few freight cars on the kit build list. Sometime in the summer of 2016, I stumbled onto a company that produced decals for the Southern Pacific A-50-5 automobile box car that included the as-built lettering. The discovery prompted moving a Funaro & Camerlengo kit into the top of my to-build list.

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