I enjoyed another RPM Chicagoland meet recently. A number of Pre-Depression Era modelers (the Pirates) attended, as seen in the lead image. That’s me, down in front. Two Pirates were missing at the time of the photo shoot. It was great to catch up with this group in face-to-face conversations and enjoy meals and drinks together. It’s been nine years since a couple of us began corresponding about railroads and industries of the 1900-1930 decades. We’ve learned a great deal from our collective and advanced our individual modeling skills.
Val keeps the west end of Little Ferry yard organized.
I journeyed to metro-Philadelphia last week for the RPM Valley Forge railroad prototype modeler meet. A winter Nor’easter was threatening but passed through a couple days before the event. I arrived on Thursday afternoon to participate in an operating session that evening.
A new Rapido Trains FPA-2 gets a workout just east of San Bernardino on the Middle Tennessee Model Railroad Club’s Salt Lake Route.
Since moving to metro-Nashville several months ago, I’ve met many local model railroaders. Recently, I had a few email exchanges about weathering with a couple of modelers. Questions and answers went back and forth. After a few messages, I volunteered to lead an informal weathering demonstration.
The daily schedule has been busier than usual and work has lagged on a few projects. I just added additional detail to the hopper featured in the last post. I met Jack Spencer in 2005 and he explained how he creates and installs details made from Mylar. I’ve wanted to experiment ever since. I figured this project would make a good introduction for Mylar brake platform bracing. The retainer valve and retainer line were added before the brake platform was installed. I need to install the KD brake components on the underframe next.
John Johnson displayed many freight cars that featured custom resin cast details.
It’s been a busy week as I’ve traveled to the western Pennsylvania region to attend the RPM-East prototype modeler meet. I’ve been part of this event for over a decade and it’s great to see many modelers attend and enjoy. This year we had 206 people attending and 436 models on display. Most of the models were HO scale but there were some very nice O and N scale models to see. Friday and Saturday were filled with 37 presentations covering a wide variety of prototype and modeling topics. Seven home layouts hosted operating sessions on Thursday night.Those layouts and six more were open for a Sunday self-guided tour.
David Wilson displayed several steam locos modified from other models.
These events offer great inspiration for your next projects and often feature lots of new info to add to your knowledge base. In many ways, it’s information overload and I’m still recovering! Here’s a photo gallery to enjoy!
We will catch up with new stuff on the blog soon.
Bruce Elliott displayed a fleet of B&O cabeese.
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