I received a sad email today notifying me of the passing of long time O scale modeler Lee Stabb.
I couple of years ago I had the pleasure of visiting Lee at his home to purchase a model from him. He was a great host and gave me a tour of his layout which filled the second story over the very large garage. We never did find the models I had come over to purchase, but I did purchase a different locomotive from him that day.
Here are some views of his layout. Including a few of the Reading N-1’s that were built from the IHB 0-8-0. I saw at least four on the layout that day.
It was always nice to talk with Lee at the trains shows, I will miss him.
Today was the Spring Strasburg O Scale Show. Rich Yoder and John Dunn put on another fine show. I was busy most of the day helping my friend on his table but did get around the show to see some of the models.
There was a far amount of nice models for the Reading Modeler. I saw a pair of Weaver Crusader locomotives and one set of cars. Still think I should have brought that passenger car set home with me. That would have pushed me towards modeling the Reading as it ran through New Jersey. I have to say I’ve been leaning that way a lot lately.
There was also a nice Overland Reading T-1 on a table. Lots of other things to look at also.
The 2017 Cleveland O Scale show was yesterday. It was another fine show.
Bill Davis had new brass Erie freight cars at the show. Also on his table was a very nice model but from a Gem RDG 0-6-0. They did not look this nice when they were imported. Someone did some upgrades to this model.
This past Saturday was the Spring Strasburg O Scale Show. Rich Yoder and John Dunn put on another fine show. The had over 90+ tables of O Scale materials for sale and they had 111 people through the door, not counting the vendors.
Terry Terrance gave demonstrations on 3D printing. He had a $200 machine and was making a phone booth as the demonstration piece. Rather then have this set up like a clinic Terry kept demonstrating the machine over the coarse of the show. Guys would sit in and ask questions while the machine kept working. This was set up just across from where we were set up so I got to see the crowd that sat in at different times during the morning. There was a nice steady flow of people all morning interested in find out more about the whole process.
From a modeling update, there were a number of interesting models at the show. There were Pacific Limited, Keystone, Precision Scale, as well as Yoder freight cars on the tables. Also there was a nice selection of both high end and regular guy locomotive models at the show. Something for every budget.
For the Reading Co. modeler, there was a Weaver G1 and a couple of SGL G3’s. There was also number of Reading diesels in both the 60’s Green and Yellow second generation paint and the olive green of the first generation locomotives.
In looking at older posts about the shows I noticed that I hardly ever put images of the people that make up the shows. Time to change that, so here are Bill Nesbitt and Buzz Burnley, first photo; Mac (Michael Macewan) second photo; and Carl Jackson, third photo.
Just returned from the 2017 Chicago O Scale Show. All I can say is the show gets better every year. There were many new models at this show as well as a host of used models and those from estate sales.
Some of the new models were on Bill Davis’ tables. He had three new Single Track 139′ Lattice Truss bridges with two on display. One was straight and the other two skewed left and right. They don’t fit my modeling area but they were very nice.
American Scale Models also had more variations of the Erie cars he has been importing.
Norm Buckhart of Protocraft had production samples of two new Greenville Gondolas on his table. These looked really nice. They should be available later in year.
Ted Schnepf of Rails Unlimited had a new resin stock car kit of a CB&Q stock car. The car is available as either a built up body (you add the details) or a flat kit.
Two new kits were on Marvin’s tables. First up was the Southern Car and Foundry New Sand Springs RY Co. kit. It is a beautifully cast model of a prototype that had four cars on the roster in 1952 (my modeling period). I wanted to support our manufacturers but the chance of ever seeing one of four cars out of over 700,000 boxcars on the rails in 1952. SC&F is talking about doing the composite car of this design. If they do I will be ordering that car.
The second new car was the Glacier Park Models AC&F GS Gondola. I did not get back in time to pick-up one of the new gondolas before they sold out what was on the table, I will get one, I’ll just have to order it.
I did get to attend one of the clinics, Lee Turner filled the room with people who wanted to hear about how he paints and weathers models. He was great, sharing lots of good advice from his experiences. My only wish was that it was longer. Lee is very generous in sharing his knowledge and skills.
I’ll post more on the layout tours and the trip later this week.
Yesterday, the Cleveland O Scale Show was held in Kirkland, OH. Sam Shumaker continues to put on a fine show. This one was no different.
There was a fine selection of new and used models for all price ranges. The show was well attended and had over 100 tables sold.
Even in Cleveland there was something of intrest for a Reading modeler. A Gem B8 Camelback, clean and looking as nice as the day it was imported 40+ years ago. Thankfully, someone else took it off the table at the beginning of the show. It was priced low enough that it almost made me stray from my 1952 modeling period and buy a model of a prototype that was retired in 1948.
It was very nice to see Jay Williams and Bob’s Photos at this show. We don’t always see them at an O scale show. I made it a point to bring home some photos for future projects from both of them.
I did have a funny thing happen at Jay William’s table. I was going through a pile of photos of freight cars when I saw an image in the pile that I recognized. It was an image of an H21a. I know the photo because the negative has been in my collection since the eighties. I turned the print over and sure enough it was written on the back “Image from the Collection of George Losse” in my hand writing. It is a small world.
On Saturday, I was at the October Strasburg O Scale Show in Lancaster County, PA. It was a beautiful Fall day, not even a distant memory of the Summer Show’s HEAT.
This show was missing a number of the regular dealers. I was told, some had family commitments and some had health issues keeping them from the show. Still, Rich and John put on a great show with just a few less tables. The crowd was steady all day.
I did take care of some business at the show. Carl Jackson returned my Weaver G1 mechanism back to me with the drivers converted to Proto48. I gave him the mechanism at the Strasburg August show and he returned it finished at the October show, about two months later. I’m still waiting for my T-1 drivers from another machinist for over two years now. Not only was Carl quick with the conversion but it looks great also. I’ll have more to say and post about the G1 locomotive this Winter.
For the Reading fan, there was a pair of Reading N1’s built from the old IHB 0-8-0’s (see above photo). While there were neat models they did have some inaccuracies. Considering when they were built, they did look nice. There were also number of Reading switchers on the tables at the show.
All in all, a good selection of models to choose from and a nice show.
Well, I had an image for this post…. but it must have melted.
On Saturday, I was at the August Strasburg O Scale Show and it was HOT in Lancaster County, PA.
Now if you remember the April Show, they had a little snow in the morning. Well we could have used some of that in Saturday. Even with the heat, it was a good show as always. They had 100 tables sold for the show and the show was well attended.
For the Reading fan, there was an SGL G-3 in the room and a Weaver G-1. There was also a Weaver Crusader locomotive and cars in the room. Also a couple of Reading switchers on the tables at the show. There was lot of brass models for those into that and a fare amount of parts for different projects.
I did something different for me at this show. Rather then just by a car on the table, the seller was looking to trade his car for another. Turns out, I had an extra model of what he was looking for, a few minutes conversation later, he set this car to the side and we’ll exchange the cars at the next show. That should work out nicely.
I did pass along my Weaver G-1 mechanism to Carl Jackson, so he could convert it’s drivers to Proto48 for me. He was even thinking he might be able to get it back to me by the next Strasburg Show. That would be great!
Kind of wished I’d sent my T-1 drivers to Carl. It’s been over two years since they went out and no word about when they might be ready yet.
Recently noticed that Microscale Decals has re-issued the O Scale Reading Open Hopper car decal. This has been out of stock at Microscale since about 2009. This is a really nice decal, much more accurate then any other brand that’s been offered.
Also recently back in stock are the B&O E and F unit decals for the early paint schemes.
The seven SGL cars after I installed the Protocraft trucks.
A couple of years ago I picked up a 3-rail seven car set of the SGL Reading coaches for a very good price. It turns out that Protocraft had imported a General Casting Corps 41-N passenger truck which is what is under them. So it looked like the conversion would be rather simple.
Well, nothing is ever as simple as it might first appear. I test fit one set of trucks under a car and thought the car might be sitting a little high. Thinking I had to modify the 3-rail bolsters under the cars the project ground to a screeching halt. The box with the seven pairs of trucks sat on a shelf right next to the cars for a while (it sat long enough for me to have to dust off their roofs as I worked on them).
I just finished a cleaning project in my train-room, well I’m still still cleaning some parts of the room. So lets just say I cleaned a spot to put my old drafting table back in the train-room. Now, I can work on projects on a much wider area. Feeling inspired, I pulled one of the cars down and set it on top of the trucks again. I never did actually attach the trucks to the car. My thought was that I would figure out how much I would have to mill the bolster down to bring the cars down.
I wasn’t exactly sure how much that was so, out came the books. First couple of images were close but it was hard to tell. So, I went through the images I had on the computer. Again the car looked like it did in the photos. Cool, maybe I didn’t have to mill the bolsters after all.
The Precision Scale Company bolster screws fit nicely into the SGL bolsters and they actually fit the Protocraft trucks also. So, it was a simple matter of attaching the trucks using the Precision bolster screws and springs.
Next up for these cars is fitting couplers onto them. Since, they started out as 3-rail cars they don’t have any coupler mounting pads on them.
The original 3-rail truck screws in the bolster boss.Protocraft General Casting Corps 41-N passenger truck inverted next to the precision Scale truck bolster screw and spring.Close up view to compare to the prototype photo below it.One of the prototype cars later in their service life in West Trenton, NJ.
