Just finished this yesterday, a water tank made from a Bachmann On30 2-6-0 tender shell and a water plug set with some other detail parts.
The nozzle for the locomotives on the far side, facing away from the people looking at the layout.
Been taking more photos this weekend, and most of you know how I like recreating period photos…
Train time at the ET&WNC's grade crossing for Stoney Creek Road at Sadie, Tennessee on a sweltering August in 1943 as number 12 brings in a coal train:
I'll be 53 at the end of the month and anyone my age knows the word "Flak" but none of the teachers at the school in their 30s and none of the kids had ever heard it in any context.
As for the floppy icon, kids are shocked to find that their keyboards still have a 'shift' and 'tab' buttons once...
I was giving a lecture on the 8th Air Force bomber crews for schoolkids last week and I didn't realize the use of "Flak" as a normal word meaning to someone giving you grief over something was no longer in use in any context.
When I was young, people used it all the time, with so many kids not...
Last night, I finally mounted original pieces of ET&WNC caboose 505 and boxcar 434 into a shadow box frame. I attached them to the back board with short wood screws screwed in from behind. I then printed out photos of each car onto cardstock and glued them in place with rubber cement. I took...
Just got this in the mail today, from Aviator headwear in the UK, custom made. I've been wanting a good 'crusher cap' since the 80s and now I finally have one!
This was the most expensive hat I've ever bought but it was worth every penny.
The insignia is an original private purchase...
The National Narrow Gauge Convention officially ended Sunday, but there were tours scheduled for me and a few other layouts yesterday morning. Once the last visitor left after 2PM yesterday, I was DONE and had a great time. The only thing I was slightly disappointed at was losing in the model...
I have WW2 Jeeps on the layout, I think at least 4 of them on the layout normally at any one time:
One is hidden in the trees in a far background; no visitors have noticed it yet. It's a 1/48 scale Ford GPW (yes, I CAN tell the difference between a Ford and a Willys Jeep even at a...
Recently, I scored a 1930 Model A made by Brooklyn. Normally they're expensive models (over $100 retail) but I snagged this one for around 40 bucks with postage. For what you pay in retail, they're not worth the extra money, IMHO. Other than no plastic parts other than the wheels, they're no...
I am aware of that, but during WW2, moonshining along Stoney Creek came to an utter halt in the area. Nobody could get the stuff they need to make 'shine, and most of the able-bodied men were either 'across the water' or working in the twin rayon mills in Elizabethton.
The funny thing is that...
The story has long been told and is known by all the locals:
One fall morning, the revenuers and some deputies for the local Sherriff came to bust up the still for the Richardsons and Ensors. They pulled up in their cars at the Grindstaff store at the base of Hurley Hollow at Sadie, Tennessee...
Does anyone know if this vendor still exists? I emailed them several times saying I want to order a crusher but haven't gotten any response. I searched online and found many posts they'd made in various forums but none that I could find made since the pandemic started...
The patches are finally here and ready to go!
I only made one run (and not a great deal of them), so once they're gone, that's IT, for what must be the only model railroad fictional Army railroad unit patches ever made.
Each will come with a history of the (fictional) 796th Railway Operating...
I have placed the order for some of the 796th ROB patches and they should be here next week. I'm trying to figure out how much to sell them for, but let me know if you're interest in one:
They will be 3 inches high.
I'm quite sure these are the only military railway unit patches in the model...
I've decided to make patches of the 796th ROB insignia. I am very aware that Battalion-level units almost never had their own shoulder patches either during WW2 or at any point, but so many people have asked if I'll make them.
This is the digital scan of my insignia.
The patches will be 3"...
I've been asked several times to explain my fictional railway unit insignia. So, I created the 'official' history of the unit's time along Stoney Creek:
“The Stump Jumpers”
A history of the 796th Railway Operating Battalion, US Army
Compiled by the US Army Center of Military History, Fort...
Over the weekend, I painted this re-creation of my fictional Railway Operating Battalion insignia:
Today I'll do whatever touchup is needed, then hit it with some dull coat. I'm not sure how I'll hang it. Maybe Velcro as it doesn't weight much as it's a piece of Masonite around ten inches tall.
Let's be honest with each other. How silly do mainstream 30s/40s hats appear to be for most 'average' people today?
Very much, I'd think. Heck, there was a question on "Family Feud" on what a guy could wear to turn a woman off and fedora was an answer!
I guess when you consider what any of us...
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