The Delaware & Hudson Champlain Division, part 2: LDE’s

Layout Design Elements I knew I wanted to model the D&H from Plattsburgh to Rouses Point, NY in the 1970’s, but to model it I had to take Scenes and Tracks, known as Layout Design Elements, or LDEs, and fit them together. I started with Plattsburgh yard. The yard is a cross between Bluff Point […]

Layout Photos(and what setting I used)

I took some photos of my layout today, using 1/8, auto ISO and F29 on a tripod. D&H #7312 sits on the engine track in Plattsburgh. The northbound WR-2 crosses the Rt. 9 overpass… and passes the RW-2, with borrowed CN power. More photos soon. -Harrison

Workin’ on the Railroad: Forest, Logging, and Lights.

Gideon and I have been working on an Adirondack forest diorama for a history project. We didn’t have room for a logging camp, so we included a small line shack and loggers cutting down trees. An old Bachmann 4-4-0 sets the scene. Gideon and I have made a lot of trees for the diorama. Got a 4 ft […]

Random Recap #23(I think?)

A Covered Hopper sits in Vermont Railway’s Burlington Yard.

Scratchbuilding a Transfer Caboose, Part 3: Putting it Together

Sorry, it’s been a long time since I updated this, I have made a lot of progress. I made the roof out of cardstock, painted it black, and glued it on. the decks on either end are cardstock as well. The handrails are wire and stripwood. The handrails aren’t done yet, waiting for glue to […]

Random Recap #21

Yesterday, we were stopped on Margaret street in Plattsburgh by the northbound Adirondack, and to my suprise- two locomotives! P42DC’s #2 and #104!

NY City Suburbs, Part 2: Tarrytown Station

After the freight had passed, we headed over the Tappan Zee bridge to Tarrytown. As we arrived at the Tarrytown station, a local train was leaving. We got parked and headed down to the platform for a Metro North express. As we waited, singing rails got me and Gideon to our tripods as an Amtrak […]

NY City Suburbs, Part 1: CSX River Sub

A recent trip to Tarrytown, NY provided some railfanning opportunity. Since I frequently pass through Albany, NY, I focused on farther south, where I rarely go. The first stop was Saugerties, NY, but as the highway crossed the CSX river sub, a hot auto train passed under us. We stopped anyway, but no trains were […]

Scratchbuilding a Tranfer Caboose, Part 2: Painting the Body

After the assembled body was completely dry, I washed it and applied Testors Flat Red. Two coats were enough. I found to get minimal brush marks, I brushed most of the paint on a paper towel. Next, I will be building the roof. -Harrison

Scratchbuilding a Transfer Caboose, Part 1: the Body

I saw that another blogger was scratchbuilding a caboose, and I thought building a caboose would be fun. I decided to build a transfer caboose, similar to the one in the June 2010 model railroader(the online MR archives are open to everyone for a limited time, click here). I started with a caboose platform from […]

George Bissell’s Adirondack Railroad

I recently visited George Bissell’s spectacular Model railroads. One is O scale(Not Lionel) and one HO. George Bissell’s Adirondack Railroad is a freelanced layout based on the D&H and Santa Fe. I was very impressed with the flawless trackwork and wiring. Layout Owner and Builder: George Bissell Scale: HO(87:1) Size: 11×32 ft plus 4×18 staging Prototype: […]

Railfanning the P-1

May 12th, 1978 It was a cool friday morning, as I turned my ’74 impala off of Rt. 9 into the “railfan parking lot”, I readied my Kodak for action. A Nathan K-horn in the distance caused me to get ready. D&H GP38-2 #7312, Ex LV, came into view with a Bad order boxcar from […]

Workin’ on the Railroad: Trackwork and Wiring

This week I moved the Rouses Point yard ladder farther south to increase car capacity. The Georgia Pacific shipping warehouse can now ship by truck and train. Gideon and I “kitbashed” an F7A by fitting a Bachmann shell to a Kato drive and installing a DCC decoder. I installed a “facia” made out of matboard. […]