2024 Strasburg O Scale Show – October

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Today, was the October 2024 Strasburg O Scale Show. As always, there was lots of buying and selling going on. At times the crowds thinned down, but I can say the sales from the tables were steady throughout the day.

The day was full of surprises. There are different things on the table than normal. Check out this model above. I’ve only seen a ship on a table once before in Chicago. For the Erie fans out there, three Stillwell cars together on a table.

That was nice to see, but the surprising thing was the models were on Fred Stillwell’s table. And yes he was related to the namesake of the prototype cars.

There were some very nice models including some rare like this Kohs PRR K4 with the front end throttle. Or like the Lykin’s kit-built model of a PRR X60.

There were plenty of fine models in the show. Here were some more from John Dunn’s collection.

It was a good show. My table kept me rather busy and I only got through the full show a couple of times.

It was good to see familiar faces and some new ones. There was also plenty of talk of the friends that were no longer with us.

In Memoriam: Michael Rahilly

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Michael Rahilly passed away tonight. He was my friend and we often traveled to shows together sharing a table. Above is an image of Michael behind the table enjoying selling supplies that we all needed.

Michael was also a very good modeler, having won a number of awards at the O Scale Nationals for models like what is shown below.

Most folks will remember Michael in his usual spot at the Strasburg Show across from the kitchen window on the end of the first isle. Here he is behind the table with his oldest daughter Lauren helping him during the show.

Michael was a father of three daughters, a former train conductor, a locomotive engineer, a rules examiner for NJ Transit, a fine modeler and also my friend. I will miss him.

What’s on the Workbench?

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There has been a lot going on recently, but not that much train related. My biggest project recently has been cleaning in the train room and getting the workbench cleaned off again. There is a flyer on the bench from Kadee. I do have some of their new Proto48 trucks in. I will post some photos once the workbench is cleared off.

I did get some painting done in the last month or so. My friend needed a couple of P70 under frames painted black.

While getting those painted I did manage to paint some open hoppers on the same day. A couple of RY Models fish belly twins for the Reading and behind them a pair of PSC offset hopper cars. The PSC car will be decorated for off road hopper cars.

Something was not right.

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Sorry for the site being down over the weekend. I was reviewing some things within the admin tool for the site and followed the wrong advice. Turned out that created a conflict with a plug-in, which created a fatal error on the site.

Trying to correct that took a little work. Let’s just say that now I know more about editing the database behind the site. Conflict resolved.

I’m back on track and the site is working again. It was a very frustrating couple of days. Back to modeling.

In Memoriam: Bob Heil

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I heard yesterday that Bob Heil had passed away. Bob was a fixture in the O Scale community in the East for a very long time. I first meet Bob at shows like the Timonium shows in Maryland before I knew many people in O Scale back in the 90’s.

Besides being an excellent modeler, he was also the East Coast dealer for Sunset and Golden Gate Models. He was always happy to share his knowledge with anyone who asked a question. I always enjoyed talking with him at the different shows.

He will be missed.

2024 Strasburg O Scale Show – August

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Today, was the August 2024 Strasburg O Scale Show. As always, there was lots of buying and selling going on. At times the crowds thinned down, but that just allowed more stories to be shared. I can say the sales from the tables were steady throughout the day.

I was busy between my own table and a table that had items from John Dunn’s collection. One of the surprises was a set of B&O cars built by George Stock from Walther’s kits. These cars featured interior detailing and hand painted lettering.

Rich Yoder also had brass model’s from John’s collection on multiple tables. Above is just a few of the cars. There were many other models throughout the show.

TCA Eastern Division York Train Meet – April 2024

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Today, I attended my third TCA Eastern Division York Train Meet (aka York). Do these shows hold much interest for a Proto48’er? More than I use to think. The image above shows one of the five halls. While there are very few 2 rail O Scale models on the tables, there are some. Here is a USH PRR I1 with a price of $450 on it.

Having come from the Chicago March Meet which had just over 300 tables of 2 rail O Scale and the Strasburg O Scale 2 Rail Meet with over 90 tables of 2 rail O Scale. This show is massive. They even have a shuttle bus for getting between the Halls.

The show had newly released Atlas-O models. The Atlas site had indicated that the non-powered units did not ship with last month’s powered unit shipping. But there was one of the new unpowered Reading F7’s on the tables. I will post more about these in a couple of weeks.

There were guys selling custom weathered cars at the show. This example of an Atlas-O Trainman 70 ton triple hopper wearing the as-built 1956 paint. This weathering is heavier than I prefer, YMMV.

There are a number of tables of vendors selling trucks and automobiles. These models don’t care how many or how far apart your rails are.

I saw an interesting pairing on a table a CNJ Trainmaster and a CNJ Heritage unit. Kind of a sharp contrast. I have to say that I saw examples of the later Trainmasters from Lionel and MTH which both looked very nice.

The 3 rail Trainmasters almost looks like a better starting point than a Sunset brass model. Both were nicely painted, just have to fix the pilots and convert them. Not sure I really want to add another project to the list for models out of my era.

This was an interesting car on a table. Way too modern for me, but it is amazing what they are producing in the 3 rail world.

This was my third time attending a York show. I had dismissed this show in the past. Now I look forward to it. I didn’t buy a lot, couple of freight cars, a couple of automobiles, and some tools. It was a great day not to be at work and see some friends in the halls.

2024 Strasburg O Scale Show – April

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Today, was the April 2024 Strasburg O Scale Show. As always there were lots of buying and selling going on as well as a lot of stories being shared. Sometimes I think these events are really an excuse to hang out with some friends for a few hours on a Saturday and enjoy some models as well tell some stories.

I didn’t get as much of a chance to get around to all the tables. I was covering a table selling off some of John Dunn’s collection. I was helping finding new homes for some nicely built kits and Kit-bashes that John had collected.

Ken Kime did a demonstration on using a static grass applicator to flock the trees and ground cover.

John Wubble, owner of The All Nation Line had an interesting drive on his table. It was an underbody for a Gas Car. He also had a bunch of drive component part available. Glad to see the line growing since they bought it.

Finally, I wanted to end with an image that makes me laugh. Atlas O just announced re-releasing the old Weaver 2-8-0 Baldwin consolidation. There was a lot of talk online about how wonderful this is with a release price of $799.99. I wonder how well they willl do against the Weaver models that regularly show up at the shows?

2024 Chicago Show – On the Tables

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The show always starts with high hopes. We all have things on our “Have-to-Have” and “Want-to-Have” lists. We always hope one of those models turns up on a table for us to buy.

I have a number of those models that I’m on the look out for, this show did not have any of my “Have-to-Have” models, but it did have a lot of really nice models available. I thought I’d share a few that that I saw at the show.

Bill Yancey had this nicely built SC&F kit built up on his table for sale with Protocraft Proto48 trucks for less than the kit originally cost. That one came home with me.

Bill also had some really nice structures on his table.

Not my era for modeling but this was on Bill Davis’ tables.

The Pacific Limited 1932 Seaboard car was also on Bill’s tables. There were three additional examples of this model on other tables at the show.

I’m not a big fan of the cement canister cars, most were in dedicated service and would not be seen on other roads. Bill Davis had this pair of Parri built cars. They were not the only example of the Parri built cars at the show. They did look nice.

Jim Canter had another example of a the cars this one imported by RY Models.

Greg Stone had some nice cars on his table also.

Tom Mapes had two sets of Key PRR models. An AA set of E8’s and an ABA set of E7’s. Those models made it all the way to late Sunday morning. While I was talking to Tom around the end of the show, the E8’s went to a new home.

There were a number of models in the show for us East Coast modelers. This example of the Golden Gate B&O Columbian set for example. A few years ago, when I was considering modeling the Reading line in NJ, I would have gone after this set.

Dan Mason had a nice OMI CNJ caboose on his table.

There were a total of three Westside PRR H6sb’s in the room. This one was the cleanest one, a little tarnished. I had one of these but sold it back at the O Scale National in NJ. They are a really nice model.

There were a pair of Pecos River Brass Contrail GP-15’s on Dave Vaughn’s tables.

There were even some Reading models in the room.

The nice thing about the show is there is always more stuff to look at than you can imagine.

2024 Chicago Show – New Models

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Just returned from the 2024 Chicago O Scale Show. Another great show!

There were some new models from various manufacturers at this show, as well as a host of used models. Here are some of the new models I saw at the show.

Twin Star Cars / Modern Era O Scale
Ross Dando had a sample of a Rock Island rebuilt USRA box car. The car looks great and should be released later this year. I’m looking forward to this kit!

Ross also had samples of the car that are available through the other side of his business Modern Era O Scale.

Southern Car & Foundry
Jon Cagle from Southern Car & Foundry had the last of his inventory of previously released models on his table maybe a half dozen kits at the beginning of the show. He also had samples of a possible car to be released later this year. We saw the casting for a Northern Pacific composite box car.

Jon was also showing samples of the masters of two different tank cars. One a two compartment car and the other a single compartment car.

Rails Unlimited
Ted Schnepf had a UP 50 foot composite UP A-40-1 boxcar. While I think this is a great looking car, it was retired by my modeling period.

I was interested in the “PS-0” ends as he labeled them. They are a Pullman Standard end that was used on a few different car. They developed the casting for the CGW kit-bask project car. These were also used on a class of B&O boxcars.

Lambert Locomotive Works
Dylan Lambert had available on Dave Vaughn’s table a couple of recent 3D printed cars. The PRR “Ore Jenny” Class G39 and the modern center beam cars. Dylan really needs be at this show next year if he really wants to produce models for the O Scale market.