Mike Boucher

I beg to differ about no bad beer:

Love it! Those are the engines which got me interested in British Prototype to begin with, via some Model Engineer's magazines from the 50s and 60s my father acquired when I was a teen. First one I picked up was the beginning of building a 3.5" gauge version, and I loved the lines and proportions of the engine. would love to get my hands on one of those kits. David Andrews announced he was going to do them, but that seems to be on hold right now...

Happy Birthday, Ken. Looks like you had a great day!

Hi Paul, Good luck! I'll be thinking of you!

Hi folks, Quick update to the thread... The transplant was May 9th, so I'm almost 50 days out. Thanx for all the well wishes! Still recovering, but doing much better! Up to walking about 1/2 mile day, and trying to keep busy with non-modelling stuff. But, I took some time this week to finish the GWR container flat. Before undergoing the transplant, I prepped all the parts for Slaters screw couplings and CPL tie downs, filing everything to fit and blackening the brass. Over 3 days this week, I attached these to the kit. I now consider this kit finished. The CPL tie downs were among the fiddliest things I ever worked on. Probably took 2.5 hours to get the 4 of them assembled and attached. The instructions say they should only be 1 chain link from the shackle to the hook, but even that was too long to attach to the outer most hooks on the flat, way too much slack. So, I decided to attach to the inner hooks and add 5 links of chain. Probably not prototype, but it was the best compromise. I wasn't able to get them as tight as I wanted to, but the kit looks MUCH better with them on the without! Here's where it sits now. I'm still not allowed to do any work with solvent based anything, no plastic glue nor paint. But, I can use acrylic paint, so I'll be painting up a D&S horsebox I was working on in my "home workbench" thread. I'll be updating that (hopefully soon) after that's painted up.

While the UP begins restoration on theirs, another "big boy" is returning to life... This is a 3/4" scale model, 3 1/2" gauge, built by Lindy Knight of Maine back in the early 70's (iirc). Its now owned by a friend of mine, and is being restored and returned to running condition. Here's a video of one of the test runs at the Montreal Live Steamers.

Thanx. I was thinking it was something like a GWR Macaw. I've been pondering getting a couple of Connoisseur's kits for those, so I was hoping there was a plastic kit available. Cheaper and easier to put together!

What is the long flat visible in these photos? Looks like a plastic kit, but I'm unaware of a long bogie flat in a plastic kit...

For some reason, listening to the diesel engines revving up at atout 3:15 of the video, all I could think of was the creschendo towards the end of "A Day in the Life"..

Woodsville is a great choice for a layout. I'm looking forward to seeing the progress. How many woodchip hoppers are you getting? I started kitbashing 4 of them in N, even had custom decals made, and then Bluford shops announced theirs. Still might finish mine...

Well, the treatment room is closed for quite a while. I'm at "Day -4". Day 0 is May 8th, the day I get the transplant. I checked into Boston's Brigham and Women's hospital on Friday, and I'm getting chemo to remove what's left of my immune system. The doctors have told me no modelling until further notice. Solvent fumes aren't good, and using sharp knives is also forbidden (lest a cut gets infected). I tried to bring the container flat into the room so I could attach the screw couplings and the tie down chains, but they were more through than airport security and didn't even want me to have tweezers in. With all this, it means no modeling at all. Solvent fumes - bad. Solder fumes - worse. Sanding wood - bad. Accidentally cutting my finger - bad. Keeping my sanity - optional. Thanks to all for your well wishes and support over the past few months. When I'm back modelling, I'll let you know!

A few weeks ago, I took my 9 year old son and 4 year old daughter to Scranton to see 4012. (The Big Boy is one of James' favorite engines) Its really hard to grasp how big the engine is until you actually see on in person...

And a follow up about Syracuse... This came across my facebook feed today. Look what they found under the pavement when they went to do street repairs.

Here's another vintage photo of street running... Syracuse, NY.

I liked it when they used 4884 to pull it out of the fairgrounds...

fascinating sound chip... I had wondered why they called them "Thumpers"...

Oh, and just down the street is this: That looks like a loading facility to me... Its part of the P.J. Keating facility, totally unrelated to LaFarge, IFAIK. I didn't have to ask anyone for permission for this photo, as I took it while sitting in my car on Reservoir Road.

OK, today I stopped by LaFarge North America in Lunenburg, MA. Went to the office and the two guys inside got a chuckle of out someone walking in to take pictures so a guy in England can make a model of it for his model railroad. When I said you can even get a model trackmobile that runs, they couldn't quite believe it. So they let me walk around the outside, unsupervised, taking pictures for 5 or 10 minutes. Here's some of what I got... Overview of the facility, looking from the south back towards the buildings, and way in the background the track curves to the east to meet the mainline. I didn't ask what the difference between the two building is, but it seems obvious that they store two different materials. The office is in the open door on the 2nd floor of the building furthest left/west. And turning 180 degrees, the track comes to a rather unimpressive end... The south side of the cinderblock office building, and the silos. I'll call these the West silos for future reference) Note the picnic table and propane BBQ grill in front of the office. Closer pic of the two unloading bays. Note the structure next to the truck to the left. More on that later... The truck was just exiting from under the silos (between the office and the unloading bay) when I was arriving. Closeup of the west unloading bay, with the trackmobile and 3 hopper cars. The man in the green shirt entering the building is the site manager. The other man I spoke with was wearing a hard hat, hearing protection, and a high-visibility vest. The South and East sides of the other building. (East silos). note that there isn't a truck dock under the silos for this building. I don't know if trucks back in through that large overhead door and are loaded inside, of if the piping above the center track between the two buildings is used to load product from these silo to the single truck dock. And another view of the two unloading bays The north side of the east silos And the west silos from the same spot. Note the two distinctly different styles of covered hopper. Adds variety to the rolling stock you can use for delivery, and if someone questions you about it, whip out a copy of this picture and prove yourself right! The "yard". Note the reporting marks on those covered hoppers. "LAFX": LaFarge North America has their own fleet of covered hoppers. Notice there are at least 3 different styles of covered hopper there. All seemed to be 2 bay hoppers. Also note in the photo with the trackmobile, the reporting marks on the hopper being unloaded is GACX. So, its perfectly reasonable to have "non-LaFarge" hoppers delivered to this plant on your model RR. That structure I mentioned earlier? There are two of them, this one is way against the western edge of the property. It seemed identical to the other one closer to the tracks. And since the truck was leaving, I got to see what they were for. The truck driver climbed up the steps, and lowered that cage down over the top of the truck. That gave him both a walkway out to the top of the truck and a safety cage so he could shut the hatch(es) that were opened while loading the truck. There was a sign at the top of the steps that said, paraphrasing, if the safety cage didn't surround the hatch, go back down the stairs and reposition the truck. Interesting aspect of the plant which would really add to the "atmosphere" of the facility if modeled, even though its not part of the operating scheme. Another element of atmosphere, saw this guy wandering around scrounging for food... And yes, he's inside the fence. Deer also wouldn't be too surprising around the edges of the woods. Three ran across the street in front of me in town later that evening Having seen the facility, I would make this guess as to how it operated. Loaded hopper cars are delivered in the center track. The plant employees use the trackmobile to pull 2 or 3 cars (depending on which silo they were going to) to the end of the track, and then push them into the unloading bays. The bays seemed to only be able to handle 1 car at a time, so as each car is unloaded, they reposition the cars. Once those 2-3 cars are unloaded, the trackmobile would push them down to the far end of the "yard". So, the outer two tracks are storage tracks for the empties. Lather, rinse, and repeat. I'm assuming that when the loaded cars are dropped off, the local would also pick up the empties off the outer two tracks. I'm guessing the local which does the switching is based out of the Fitchburg yards (a few miles to the west) instead of Ayer (a few miles to the east). This is based on the fact that I've seen plenty of covered hoppers sitting in Fitchburg, while Ayer seems to be mostly intermodal/autorack traffic at this point, not that that matters on the model railroad. I took about 30 photos total. If you want all the originals (also much larger, 3200 x 2400 instead of 800 x 600) let me know and I can send a zip of them via email... Hope this helps.

Today on the way home from work, I stopped into Lafarge in Lunenburg. No one was there, and there were a ton of "no trespassing" signs. I knocked on the office door, but no one answered, so I didn't take any pictures. One thing I could see from the gate, which you can't see in the Google earth photo, is they have a trackmobile there for switching the cars. I did look like a very interesting small industry to model. I'll try tomorrow morning on the way to work...

If you want photos of this one, let me know and I'll see what I can do. Its only about 5 miles from my house...

This pic just came across the "abandoned rails" group I'm a member of on facebook. Seemed appropriate here... B&O work train passing through Wheeling Station, up 17th Street. February 1957. Photo by J.J. Young

hasn't David Andrews announced he's going to do a bunch of LMS 2-6-4 tank variants? I'm hoping he'll do the 3 cyl version myself, as thats the loco that got me interested in British prototype...

That looks awesome! I REALLY want one of those kits now, just need to stop buying other stuff and save some $$$... Anyone care to explain to me how the couplings work? I don't see a hook, chain, or anything other than what looks like a pivoted buffer...

Yesterday morning the weather was in the low 40's, with a forecast of winds and rain in the afternoon, with colder weather on Sunday and the temps dropping even further by Monday AM, Seeing a short window, I took the opportunity to weather the completed wagons. Here are the results: The MR cattle van: Not too happy with the roof here, I wiped the water based paint off several times while it was still wet because it didn't look right, and eventually came out like this. To me, it looks "skunkish", where there are two darker streaks on either side of the centerline, which is about the same tone as the edges. I think it needs to be a darker in the middle, so the middle is darkest and edges lightest. Couldn't get it looking right with the airbrush, so I might try some brush applied washes, drybrushing, or weathering powders. The GWR Fruit van, showing lighter weathering on the roof… The GWR open wagon, both the sides and looking down at the dirty floor… All 3 of these are now officially moved to the "finished" list. Still have one to complete: the GWR container flat. Weathering is done, but the I found the trader I couldn't recall: CPL products. I've had a conversation via email with Pat, and he's expecting my check for some shackles to hold down the container. When they arrive I'll permanently attach the container. That's all for now. I still don't have a definitive date for the transplant, and I'm curious to see what restrictions on modeling I'll be under. Doubt I'll be able to solder due to the fumes, and the fumes from the solvent glues are probably going to be verboten as well. I suspect there will be a while where my only work will be in designing stuff. Hopefully I'll be able to get some work done in the 7 days I'll be in the hospital before the actual transplant... I still have a few projects to finish "in the treatment room", and a few still waiting in the pile...

While I'm not a huge fan of the Southern, those Adams Radials are a very handsome loco, especially in that paint scheme... Nice work. (for the record, I also like N class moguls and Schools 4-4-0s...) Now for the question: Is the boiler white metal too, or its is rolled brass?