CraigZ

I'm a big fan of Trainmaster Models in Buford, Georgia. Scott is a high level RPM modeler and thus 'gets it' when I get a bit esoteric. Been reserving new stuff from him for a while, haven't gotten caught short yet. Another fellow I've been dealing with is http://www.bnm-hobbies.com/store/ mostly because he's willing to stock undecorated freight cars and freight car parts...easy to deal with. Just got my first order from Toy Train Heaven - seems packed well and shipped pretty fast. I've not done much with MB Klein lately given that I can't make a hard reservation for new stuff and that they've munged up their webpage and made it hard to search by manufacturer...harrumph!

One White Duck/0^10 = Nothing At All - Jethro Tull

Unlit till needed exists over here in the states...been used for years, for example, on ex Atlantic Coast Line routes and recently installed locally here (much to my regret). Anyway, any further updates on the 70012's fate? Curious and all that...

Some more info on 70012 from 31 January: http://www.cargolaw.com/2011nightmare_GE.Class70.html including photos and a link to a Youtube video of the loading operations at Port Erie. They were shipped from GE on heavy duty flats....

So in other words Westerns definitely...how about a Kestrel? Can't remember when it came along...

Tony, looks like a pretty sure thing at least for Saturday...Friday a firm maybe. Depends on if I can get away from the office here.

A very rare beast...when I shot that one in 1999 it was one of a dozen left. I chased it that day over to Durham, NC as it ran the Durham & Southern local out of Apex.

Ooops...I left out one small detail - that was on a Chessie motor ...the year predated CSX liveries by a couple of years. Seaboard System paint was beginning to show in some numbers. Here's a few of my photos only vaguely related to the topic at hand...the first is from 1987, that transitional era from Chessie/Seaboard System into CSX. It's Train Q470 (Hamlet NC to Rocky Mount NC) northbound on the old Atlantic Coast Line at Selma, NC with a typical doggie breakfast of power - a Chessie GP40-2, a Family Lines/SCL GP16, a Seaboard System U18B, another Family Lines GP16, and what looks to be a Western Rwy of Alabama GP40. The second is from 1999 and is of one of a handful of Chessie-painted motors left on CSX coupled to an ex Chessie GP40-2. I like this one because of the old reporting marks coming through...at that point CSX was running the GP40s until they broke something expensive, at which point they'd retire the unit. For some reason many of the older GP40s never got the mail slots. And this 1999 photo is of an ex RF&P GP40-2 - easy to pick out with no dynamic brakes. And the original CSX paint scheme from August 1986 - applied to only 11 engines from May thru August 1986...frankly I rather liked it. Photo by Warren Calloway, my collection. And then, my favorite transition era photo. In March 1987 a friend and I blundered into this rock train south of Apex, NC...grabbed a shot, turned around and drove at somewhat illegal speeds to the Haw River bridge at Moncure, NC...old US highway 1 parallels the railroad bridge nicely, yielding this photo. I had to speed as this was on the old Seaboard Air Line main line which was still rated for 60 mph for freights. I recall the train being a rattletrap collection of old coal hoppers loaded with ballast, banging and rattling and squeaking and leaving a trail of granite dust as it roared by. Darn nice train!

Sorry for the late reply - have been down in Florida most of the week. But yes, they're on both sides. Somewhere around here I have a detail photo I took of one of these battery boxes...sometime around 1983 or 1984. It's stenciled with something about don't service the batteries as they're some sort of trial battery. Lord only knows where that photo is now.... And the work on the GP38-2 captures it nicely...

There is one difference between the model and the prototype - the distinctive Chessie mail slot battery box doors. Look at late Chessie and CSX ex-Chessie locomotives...nearly all of them have the mail slot and the 4229 indeed had them. Heck, the D&RGW SD50s were tagged on to a Chessie order and they have the mail slots. Cannon makes that part but I think it would be easier to modify the existing shell to make the slot rather than trying to remove the door from the shell.

http://www.ehattons.com/StockDetail.aspx?SID=33375 - makes it pretty clear. Now to decide...cancel order or not?

I dug mine out last night to chip it. It ran well out of the box but had a click which proved to be a stray bit of plastic on the back of one of the wheels making the wheel wiper jump. I am unimpressed by the circuit board with its lack of headroom for the chip plug and disturbed by the excessive wire under the hood. And the thermonuclear headcode lighting, oh my! Mine now has black tape over the LEDs. Now to fit Kadee couplers and see how it pulls...

The Man Who Sold The World - David Bowie

Easy Hearts - Whiskeytown

Here's a car done with them - evidently he started with a welded car and decaled all the rivets. I've seen some photos of other cars done with them and I've been amazed by the quality.

Now The Night Is Here - Paul Weller

The Only One I Know - The Charlatans

Chelsea Girls - Velvet Underground

In Every Dream Home A Heartache - Roxy Music

My Woman From Tokyo - Deep Purple

Under Your Breath - Whiskeytown

That's Good - Devo