Baron's Ridge - A return to HO Railroading With A Plank...

[John M Upton]

Experimenting with vegetation, trees and stuff.

 

Humbrol are in the dog house again, matt dark grey for this back area dried gloss again....

Edited March 31, 2022 by John M Upton
Restoring Pictures

[steve1]

Do I recognise a Matchbox Jeep pick up there?

 

steve

[John M Upton]

Hello

 

You do indeed, found in a jumble sale twenty years ago for ten pence and tarted up.  It is just about the right scale too.

 

Found another one in a dusty box in the garage the other day, will have to build another plank to park it on....

 

[John M Upton]

More trees and vegetation in place and a home made crossing sign which seems to fit.

 

That chap has been glued to the front decking of that hut for at least fifteen years on three different setups now...

Edited March 31, 2022 by John M Upton
Restoring Pictures

[John M Upton]

The scenary is being gradually added and SSW GP7 304 has finally arrived off my workbench:

Edited March 31, 2022 by John M Upton
Restoring Pictures

[John M Upton]

More greenery and an audience:

 

 

Meanwhile on the workbench, another pile of assembled parts.  There is something rather satisfying about a loco in primer...

 

Edited March 31, 2022 by John M Upton
Restoring Pictures

[shedman]

Reminds me of the CSX Stealth scheme. Trevor

[John M Upton]

Those primed bits of old Proto 2000 GP9 have finally come together:

 

And the abandoned copper mine has got a sign too:

 

Needs more vegetation to look suitably abandoned though.

 

I seem to be doing rather well with putting together bits of spare/repair Proto locos, there is an SD9 for CWRR now waiting but I need one of these:

 

Or the equivalent for a GP series will do if anyone has a spare they don't need anymore. 

[John M Upton]

Browsing Ebay a couple of weeks ago, I came across a rather wonderfully weathered old Athearn Blue Box SP Overnights 40ft box car.

 

Placing it on the stub siding as if it was cut out of a passing train and then forgotten about for many years rather suits the scene!

[John M Upton]

I can't seem to resist a bargain, especially if it is an old Athearn Blue Box oddity.  I picked this up for three quid, replaced the bogies and couplings, labelled it up for my shortline MoW Department and off it went:

 

Does this old curio have any real life prototype or is it a Athearn parts bin job?

Edited March 31, 2022 by John M Upton
Restoring Pictures

[woodenhead]

So I am thinking crane Jib in that black cradle, perhaps it has a partner wagon somewhere out in secondhandland missing a cradle for it's crane.

[woodenhead]

In fact here we go: http://www.athearn.com/Products/Default.aspx?ProdID=ATH7525

 

It's part of a set, there should be a massive crane to go with it.

[mdvle]

19 minutes ago, John M Upton said:

Does this old curio have any real life prototype or is it a Athearn parts bin job?

 

At a guess not accurate, though likely based loosely on things the real railroads did with the cranes.

[John M Upton]

I am going to remove the jib rest part (it just clips in) and fill the deck with rusty rails and bits.  I have already glazed the windows which improves it a bit.

[Chris116]

I am just wishing I could find another one of those for a suitably low price as it would go very nicely on my Harbledown Railroad layout. Failing being able to find one I think a suitable flat wagon with parts of one of my spare cabooses will do the job quite well. A very nice idea which has given me plenty to think about!

[John M Upton]

Yesterday saw a massive effort to sort out the disaster area that is my desk.  

 

Numerous demic Proto 2000 locos, mostly GP's and bits thereof were sorted through, dud bits replaced or bypassed by hardwiring and some good old fashioned bodgery:

 

The result is I now have a queue of working locos now just requiring details and paint.

 

The clearing of the clutter has allowed a Proto 2000 SP SD9 to make its way to the front of the cue:

 

Gawd knows what shade of grey that is supposed to be!  The handrails and truck side frames are also a completely different shade of grey to the rest of it so Plan A, just add SP light packages, has been ditched in favour of a full respray.

 

I also have found a nice Athearn Blue Box SW1500.  It is missing the number board part from the cab roof front edge:

 

I can probably scratch build a replacement part but if by some miracle someone has one lying around in their bits box unwanted, I am willing to take it off their hands for a suitable consideration!

 

 

 

Edited March 31, 2022 by John M Upton
Restoring Pictures

[298]

1 hour ago, John M Upton said:

I also have found a nice Athearn Blue Box SW1500.  It is missing the number board part from the cab roof front edge:

 

 

I can probably scratch build a replacement part but if by some miracle someone has one lying around in their bits box unwanted, I am willing to take it off their hands for a suitable consideration!

 

 

 

 

PM sent, on behalf of the SP SW1500 appreciation group. We can't be letting a switcher loose it's SP-ness...

Edited June 13, 2021 by 298

[Allegheny1600]

Gotta love those SW1500’s!

That Athearn “blue box” version was my very first bought new American outline model, for the huge price of £26.50 iirc! I say huge price as at that time, a typical Hornby or Lima loco was probably almost half as much again and only had an utterly rubbish mechanism whereas the Athearn had central motor, flywheels, all wheel drive and pickup, it was a revelation!

Mine was I think, 2638 LA and I painted the handrails, step fronts and so forth, I only wish I had kept it.

Clean and polish the wheels, add additional pickups, clean the mech, wire throughout and she’ll be superb.

Cheers,

John

[John M Upton]

In my previous bout of HO modelling, I had a couple of the Blue Box SW series switchers including a Kodachrome one which all benefitted from painted handrails and other refinements.  Despite the age of the model, the old Blue Box SW1500 still looks the part and will be getting some appropriate treatment.

[John M Upton]

Oh crikey, I had forgotten about this one. Just discovered at the bottom of the pile:

 

Weird motor arrangement on the chassis too.

 

Do I go for it and add it to the queue for works attention or sling it on Ebay?

Edited March 31, 2022 by John M Upton
Restoring Pictures

[Chris116]

2 minutes ago, John M Upton said:

Oh crikey, I had forgotten about this one. Just discovered at the bottom of the pile:

 

Weird motor arrangement on the chassis too.

 

Do I go for it and add it to the queue for works attention or sling it on Ebay?

Works attention is the way to go. 

[mdvle]

50 minutes ago, John M Upton said:

Oh crikey, I had forgotten about this one. Just discovered at the bottom of the pile:

 

Weird motor arrangement on the chassis too.

 

Do I go for it and add it to the queue for works attention or sling it on Ebay?

 

The SP Krauss-Maffei ML-4000 cab unit.

 

Only 6 made (3 for SP, 3 for D&RGW who after 3 years gave up on them and sold them to SP).

 

Despite the paint job the model is actually the D&RGW version apparently and was made by Rivarossi.

https://ho-scaletrains.com/ahm-k-m-ml-4000/

http://espee.railfan.net/spml4000-m.html

 

Type of thing that would seem to be made for the ScaleTrains Museum line where the higher prices could cover fewer models being sold, but may even be too niche for that.

 

[John M Upton]

Scenic wise, the plank is now largely complete, just some tidying up to do and sort out some sort of track on plank to go either end to enable running. 

 

As it was a nice day, I sent my two Alco RS-32's out for a run.

The SP one is pencilled in for some added Espee detailing at some point.

 

Up until now, SP dark grey on recent repaints had been hand painted but I found a Tamiya colour rattle can and wanted to try it out before I resprayed my SD9.

 

A guinea pig was assembled from the parts bin, a suitable ex T&NO example chosen so I didn't have to change the light show and this was the result:

The spray (Tamiya AS-27 Gunship Grey) is a really good match and I am very pleased with the finished result so this will now be my standard go to paint for this scheme.

 

The next recipient of a respray will be this Proto 2000 SD9:

The factory applied colours were so hopelessly wrong that I decided to strip it down and start again, hence the rattle can experiment. 

 

All these locos on a three foot by one foot plank means I am now planning a new slightly larger plank, an old wardrobe door will be providing the base.

 

Meanwhile, thanks to the 3D printing skills and kind generosity of a fellow RMWeb member, the Athearn Blue Box SW1500 now has a brand new number board box part:

 

It will be painted at the same time as the SD9 parts.

 

And yes, the KM-4000 is staying and will be heading into the works soon. That may get its own thread though.

Edited March 31, 2022 by John M Upton
Restoring Pictures

[John M Upton]

The SW1500 now has its new number boards and a few other refinements. 

 

The resprayed SD9 awaits reassembly:

 

The Krauss Maffei is next on the workbench, that will get its own thread I think.

Edited March 31, 2022 by John M Upton
Restoring Pictures

[John M Upton]

Well, the SD9 is back together:

 

My penchant for oddballs and one of's meant I simply had to choose the only one (or there might have been two) which had stacked names rather than single line across the top of the long hood.

 

Paint job is definitely a lot better than the dire original factory effort, all the bits are the same shade of grey for a starter...

Edited March 31, 2022 by John M Upton
Restoring Pictures