The show at the height of atendance
Here is a photo from the show. That says enogh.
2012 Cherry Valley O Scale Show – September
Author Archives: George Losse
Regurgitated Information – The Opposite of Research
The Baldwin drawing for the walkways over the radiator openings on the AS-16’s
How many times have you heard a modeler spew something about a model, that you know to be dead wrong? And you know darn-right well they have not researched it at all, they are just regurgitating something they heard another modeler say. Did that person look at what they were talking about or did they just spit out what they were told? And once it has been repeated often enough, everyone believes it.
One of the reasons I moved some of my modeling interests away from the PRR was the number of times I heard guys comment about the Sunset H-9’s. They all said the same thing about the belpair slope. Did anybody question what research the first guy who said that looked at to make such a statement? Most guys have pointed to the line diagrams of the class. Well these drawing while they are railroad drawings are not accurate for boiler shape. Did anybody research it on their own? Did anybody look at it against photos? Nope they all regurgitate it on que, just like Pavlov’s dogs.
What I have found is that most people that tend to do this have NEVER done any research on their own. I’m not talking about opening a Morning Sun book and believing the fiction that is their captions. I’m talking about assembling a pile of photos (with dates) and looking for the details and when they change. I’m talking about digging through company records at a museum or a private collection. I’m talking about actually going out and measuring a freight car or a real building. I spent most of a day measuring and photographing the PRR GLe I found in South Amboy back in the early eighties. Or even just doing a full photo study of a car with a hundred or so images not just the three normal images in a photo study; the Three Quarter, the End View and the Broadside.
Even the best authors can miss things. Case in point, one of the Reading Myths, the after-coolers on the FT’s were put on during a shopping in 1956. In a recently published book, on page 111 that statement was printed, there was a photo on the bottom of page 112 with a 1950 date with the aftercoolers on the locomotive skirts. I first thought maybe there was a typo with the date. But most likely not, as the hand grabs were still black and the safety grabs over the windshields and on the nose are not there. Also on page 110 there was a 1954 photo with the after-coolers also.
Just because it is published does not always mean that it actually was!
So either accept what the manufacturers produce and say is right, “nobody will see it anyway” or get off you ass and do some research.
Good prototype modeling starts with good prototype information.
2012 Strasburg O Scale Show – August
Eastbound train going through Lebanon, PA
I attended the Strasburg show today. Even though it was only three weeks from the National, it appeared to be well attended. I saw a number of vendors that were not at the National. So we were not looking at the same materials on the tables that didn’t sell at the National as some had feared.
There was the typical stuff on the tables, some dealers but more guys selling off some of their extra stuff, some at bargin prices and some high prices. I did pick up a few kits and even found a box of proto48 wheelsets, but nothing big. The highlight of the day for me was Bob Jones brought me a set of pilot castings from his T-1 kit. They are a two part casting for the pilot. There are some differences but they are very close to the K-1 pilots.
Joe G. was showing off a couple of new things at his table. He had an example of the new turnouts the he has recently posted about on his site. There was a rather large crowd around the times I passed by. That and being they are gauged for O scale and not proto48, I didn’t get a good look at the new products.
For the first time in a while, I was not selling off some of my surplus models at the show. It felt good to be just a modeler in the crowd. I got to see and talk with a bunch of other modelers today instead of having my conversations interupted by other’s questions about stuff on the table.
Another nice part about not being behind a table, I didn’t have to stay at the show until the end. I got in walked around for about an hour and then my wife and I had the day to wonder through the countryside.
We started our wondering with a late breakfast at Jennie’s Diner out on RT30. I have been stopping there after the shows for a couple of year’s now. It’s a Silk City Diner built in Paterson, NJ in 1959. Love it’s look and the food is not bad either.
Then we headed up through Cornwall, PA to Lebanon, PA. I wanted to see what was left in Lebanon since studing photos from the ’50’s. The Station is there but not much else. Not one siding downtown anymore.
We worked our way east on the Reading Lebanon Valley Branch. Besides exploring Lebanon, we wondered through Prescott, Myerstown and Richland. I even got to see a couple of Norfolk Southern movements on the line.
Jennie’s Diner on Route 30
Station area Lebanon, PA
Myerstown, PA
Richland, PA
2012 O Scale National, Parsippany, NJ – The Model Contest
Michael Rahiley’s kitbashed PRR SW-9 took Second Place in the Diesel category.
For the second time at an O Scale National, I had the pleasure of traveling with one of the award winners in the modeling contest. Michael Rahiley won a Second Place award for his kitbashed PRR SW-9 (above image). He also received an Honorable Mention for his Pennsylvania RR Peddler Freight Train Cira 1957. Congrats to Michael, this was the second time one of his models won an award at an O Scale National. Which is real nice since I remember, many years ago, sitting at my kitchen table teaching him how to build Intermountain kits. He has come a long way.
When I went through the model room the modelers names were not displayed with the models. Joe G. has posted photos on this thread on the O Scale Trains Blog with images of some of the winners in the different categories. Where I had a photo of one of the winning models I added the information based on Joe’s post.
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- Caboose – 2nd. Place George Repenn Long Island RR # 14, Scratch Built
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- Structures – 3rd. Place Joe Cordaro Barlows Smokehouse, Scratch Built
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- Structures – 1st Place Joe Cordaro American Seltzer Building, Scratch Built
2012 O Scale National, Parsippany, NJ – News
A view of about half the vendor hall
The 2012 “O” Scale National convention was held at the Parsippany Hilton Convention Center, Parsippany, NJ. It was Hosted by the New York Society of Model Engineers. The convention featured over 300 dealer tables, 30 clinics, a model contest, a couple of bus tours and a number of home and club layouts.
What a difference a year makes, this year’s convention was well attended, well organized, and a good time. The NY Society were great hosts, announcing the beginning of the clinics and just being helpful. The Models on display were in a bright room. One thing that could have helped the ease of their viewing, the tables could have been a little higher like they are at a prototype modelers meet. I’ll post photo’s I took of the models tomorrow.
The availability of Proto48 parts was limited to a one dealer selling San Juan trucks, Rich Yoder selling P48 trucks and Steve Grabowski selling some loose wheelsets. That was disapointing and it teamed up with the P48 clinic being canceled because the speaker was not at the show. We missed a chance to show and talk about P48 products at this National.
There were a lot of “New” O scale items at the show as well as a lot of older models to choose from in the vendor halls. Here is a breakdown of the new stuff I saw:
Rich Yoder had pilot models of his announced ATSF Bx-3,-6 boxcars and SK-2 Stock Cars. He also had painted pilot models of his USRA 70 ton triple hoppers.
Bob Stevenson showed an updated Baldwin CNJ Double ender kit on his table. It was an upgraded version of the older LWS kit. He was also showing a C&NW 4-6-0 kit ready to ship.
Rails Unlimited had new resin models on their table of a C&O/NKP ’32 ARA Boxcar with radial roofs. They also had new MILW Road stock cars available.
Southern Car & Foundry was not at the show, but Caboose Stop Hobbies had his line of kits on the shelf including the new ATSF Bx-12 extended height boxcar, which managed to come home with me.
Key Model Imports had the pilot model for the SP AC-12. Stunning model, but thankfully not something I need for my railroad based on an estimated price around $6K.
Atlas O had some redesigned 2-rail trucks that people were talking about (shorter, more prototypical bolsters). Not something a P48 cares about, but the O scale crowd liked it.
RYM’s Bx-3 and SK-2
RYM’s ATSF SK-2 Stock Car
RYM’s Sk-2 pilot model
RYM’s Bx-3 ATSF Boxcar
RYM’s Bx-3 ATSF boxcar
RYM’s USRA 70 Ton Triples
RYM USRA 70 Ton Triple
A View inside RYM’s USRA 70 Ton Triple
Key’s AC-12
2012 Strasburg O Scale Show – April
Another Strasburg O Scale show is in the rear history books. This was a very nice show. It was their largest show so far, they added another row of tables in the firehouse and that was in spite of the fact that one of the bigger dealers had another commitment and could not attend the show. Don’t know about the attendance but it was solid most of the day and people were in a buying mood.
For me it turned out to be another milestone show. The last of over 800 feet of O scale flex track moved off my table at the show. Last year when I made the choice to move back to Proto48, I wondered how long that might take to move all that O scale flex track. Turned out to be just about a year.
Ben Brown was at the show thinning his collection down as he prepares to build a new Proto48 layout. Ben had some beautifully built cars and structures on his table that as he put it “were priced to move.” My thought was that he was selling them at a quarter of their value. In some cases they were they were beautifully built kits with full underbody detail for less then what other dealers in the show were asking for the basic kits.
Ben like many O scale modelers who have finished O scale layouts, had said that if they started over again that he would build their new layout in proto48, but he is the only one that I have known, that has actually done it. He has started a new layout in a new location and is modeling in Proto48.
Most of the usual suspects were at the show, and it was good to see them again. I do have to say that there were some new faces in the crowd. The HO modeler that was asking about O scale at the recent RPM meet was at the show buying O scale models.
I left the camera in the car when I first arrived, I thought I’d have some slow time to go back out and get it. I was wrong, so I don’t have any photos of the show to share.
2012 Railroad Prototype Modelers Meet – Valley Forge
The 2012 Railroad Prototype Modelers Valley Forge took place this weekend. The show was located in Malvern, PA and was sponsered by the Philadelphia Division NMRA/MER. They had 47 clinicians and 50 clinics, layout tours and operating sessions scheduled over the three days of the event. There was also a couple of rooms for vender sales.
As always, one of the highlights of the event is the model room. A place to share models, both finished and under construction, with follow modelers. The event is usually dominated by HO modelers but there is a growing number of O scale models being shown in the room. A few years ago, I was one of two O scale modelers in the room, this years event had seven other modelers displaying O scale models.
I gave a presentation on “Modeling Reading Open Hoppers 1948-1956” during the meet. I had a full room in attendance and everything seemed to go rather smoothly. Thank you to all who attended.
One nice thing that grew out of the presentation, while attending another clinic the clinician, who had attended my clinic, turned to me to ask what O scale models would best represent the cars being talked about in his presentation.
As I was headed out on Saturday night an HO modeler that I’ve known for over twenty years mentioned that he really like the O scale displayed in the modeling room, stating that he could at least see all the details. I mentioned that there is an O scale show coming up in a couple of weeks in Strasburg, PA. He asked me to send the information so he could check out the O scale at the show.
A personal highlight for me was being able to sit down again with Bill Schaumberg for lunch again. Back in the 80’s, when I was drawing for RMC on a regular basis, we would get together about once a month when I’d deliver that month’s drawings. We often went out for lunch and great conversations about the hobby, the projects we were working on, or just what was happening in our lives. It was nice to do that again this weekend.
Reading N1sd P48 Driver Conversion – Part II
I cut off the steel tire from the Sunset drivers. It was a simple matter of cutting most of the way through the tire. This was done slowly and I kept checking my depth so that I did not cut through the tire and into the driver center. Next I inserted a screw driver into the slot. Give a little twist and the tire breaks free and there is no damage to the driver center.
Matt Forsyth, made the suggestions for this procedure and it worked great! Thank you!
This is the second time I’ve used a hacksaw on an O scale model. I have to say, it is a bit unsettling at first. But the after the first couple drivers, the rest of the 16 drivers went quickly and without trouble.
Next step new tires…..
Sunset 3-rail driver clamped in the vise
Using the Hack Saw to cut the tire.
The cut is not all the way through the tire.
Insert a screw driver into the slot and twist. The tire will break free.
I did the same thing to the blind drivers. You can see the crack in the tire.
Here they all are, Tires and Centers separated.
Prototype: Reading #1633 at Tamaqua, PA
Reading 1633 at Tamaqua
Detail of poling car
There was a question over on the Reading Modeler site about the Reading Poling cars so I thought I’d post this image. It was scaned from a small print, but it shows the poling car working on the back of 1633. It appears to be built from a Tender frame. It has Tender trucks under it still. The side boards are similiar to the configuration of the steps behind the pilot beams on steam locomotives, only they have a long board attached to the length of them.
I’ve changed my mind a couple of time on which hill I was going to model. If I had stayed with Tamaqua to Mahanoy Tunnel this would have been at the top of the “to build” list. I’ve seen this in many of the yard photos from the top of the hill.
Reading N1sd P48 Driver Conversion
Sunset 3 rail drivers pulled from a Y-3
I started working on the first of my N1 projects this past week. I have a pair of the Sunset Y-3’s to use as the start of the model. One is a two rail locomotive and the other is a three rail locomotive. Both need to be converted to Proto48 but their conversion is different because they are starting from different places.
I started working on the three rail model first, mostly because it was out of the box and sitting on my shelf.
I pulled the three rail drivers out of the model’s frame. Boy they are really fat tires on there.
Pressing the Driver centers off the axels
The driver centers were pressed off the axels. I also pressed out the pins at the same time.
Driver centers pressed off the axels
Here is my set of 3-rail driver centers all pressed off the axels and ready for the next step, the hack saw.