B&O Freight House, Wheeling, W. Va. Image from the Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, HAER WVA, 35-WHEEL, 4
Recent Internet searches have led me to a new string of customers that were served by the Wheeling Freight Terminal. It seems wrong to call these the product of a search as I actually just stumbled into related details. Note the tall buildings in the background of the image above. These structures constituted a block that all had docks along the tail track that accessed the team yard. I had wondered about these buildings before, but there was little info at hand when the layout was being designed in 2012. Click on any image here to review a larger size.
On December 1, 2014, a few modelers from across the country began to build HO scale models of the Southern SU, 36-foot, double-sheathed box cars. Models by Funaro & Camerlengo and Westerfield were used in this group build.
Ray Breyer sent along his build updates though December and approved sharing them here on the blog. I hope to share a couple more of these builds very soon. Here are Ray’s thoughts and processes for his Southern SU box car build. Click on any image here to review a larger size.
A switcher works a string of cars at the freight house.
New Year’s Eve is a time when many people assess the last twelve months and look ahead to the next year. Goals are set and promises are often made. Let’s take a look around the blog and the hobby room to see what has happened in 2014.
I like a year end reviewing as the number of projects and activities often surprises me. While I did not make as many blog posts as in 2013, I kept pretty busy with my layout and Mike’s layout in Las Cruces. I attended at least one operating session a month and I finally hosted a few sessions on the B&O Wheeling Freight Terminal. These become more satisfying each time and are a major reason why other projects keep moving along.
I’ve also been attending the monthly meetings of our local NMRA division, the Roadrunner Division. It’s been fun to interact with the other members and share tips and techniques. I’ve brought back at least one new idea from each of the meetings. I also traveled back to Pennsylvania last spring for the Valley Forge Railroad Prototype Modelers meet. It was great to see a bunch of old friends, take in presentation details, and operate on a couple of the layouts open for the event.
I won’t offer up my plans for 2015, but I do have three major projects and goals that I hope to achieve. Details will be shared here, of course. I also look forward to attending the RPM East event near Pittsburgh in late March, as well as the June NMRA Rocky Mountain Region convention in suburban Denver, CO. I’m most certain there will be more operating session details shared here, as well as freight car kit builds, and weathering factory output.
I hope you have set a few goals for the New Year. Railroad modeling becomes more enjoyable as we meet new challenges.
Thanks for stopping by. Your questions and comments can be posted below. Please follow the instructions so your comment comes through. All comments are reviewed and approved before they appear.
While it is not Spring yet, we did reset the clocks for Daylight Savings Time over the weekend and that adds anticipation for the upcoming season change. There are several Railroad Prototype Modeler events in the next few months for modelers to become inspired to move your model efforts forward. Here are the events!
I strongly recommend attending one of these events to learn more about the prototype and new techniques to use on your model building. I’ll be attending the Valley Forge event and giving a presentation on the B&O Wheeling Freight Terminal prototype and layout update. I hope to see you there!
Blog Update
All of the blog posts here have been updated so all images appear again. There was a small coding problem that occurred with a software upgrade. It took a little while to figure out the problem and then some extra time to make the individual corrections, but that work has been completed and new posts are on the way soon!
Building models using a minimum of commercial parts or set directions is often referred to as scratchbuilding. Anyone who is building a model railroad that closely follows a specific prototype location will need to scratchbuild a number of structures to capture the look and feel of the real place. In some cases, commercial models can be modified and altered to represent an actual structure but those instances are infrequent. Scratchbuilding has challenged many model railroaders over the years. The fear of failing or messing up a project inhibits many modelers. I think all model railroaders should attempt at least one scratchbuilt structure. I recently finished two small buildings and learned new skills in the process. Click on any image here to review a large size. Let’s take a look at one of these projects.
