Getting Dirty

I have in the past done a few weathered pieces of rolling stock, but I have not been happy with many of them. This is mainly because I went to far in doing weathering.

Over Christmas I came across an Utube video on weathering when viewing a layout video. So I looked for more. Some were good, some where hard to watch because of the video quality. After reading the article on weathering Canadian Grain hoppers in January issue of RMC, I started working on a few of my older Blue Box pieces of rolling stock.

This is a covered hopper before anything is done to it. The second picture show what it looks like with a couple coats of white wash, some chalk power and dull coat. The trucks and wheels were also weathered. This show a car early in its life.

This shows another car near the end of its life. Rust has started on the body of the car. The car also has had the new owners marking added.

These are a couple of gons I have finished. They are not a shiny red anymore.

The more I do, the better I will get at it. I hope....

The one thing I have learned is to look at pictures of the real car if you can to see how Mother Nature did it. There are many sites one can use to find this information.

Until next time

Doug

Something is going on

The Train Crews have noticed heavy equipment working on the old Quarry lands between Dogwood and bridge over the White River.

Operating Session Jan 17

The WRS had it first operating session in 2010 on Sunday afternoon. This change allowed a few operator to attend.

The Train Schedule was changed for this session. The 202/203 now serves Dogwood only, while at Dogwood, it does all the switching during the day. Also 101N now stops at Roseton instead of Dogwood to allow the 202 to arrive at Dogwood and begin switching. The 102 S now stops at Roseton as well as Dogwood. The 103 N now stops at Dogwood as well as Roseton. The 104N only stops at Roseton. Note all 100 series trains stop at White River Paper Company.

For the session, David and Jeff manned the White River Paper Company Switcher, Glenn operated the 202/203 Local serving Dogwood, Pierre operated the Roseton Switcher and Wayne operated the 100 series trains with a pair of MEC RS11. I had Yard duty.



Pierre and Wayne reviewing the new paper work .... Glen busy at Dogwood



David and Jeff at the paper mill .... Wayne waiting for clearance to Dogwood

The new changes improved the train flow, but in the next few weeks I am going to have to operate a few of the jobs and time myself to adjust to the schedule for the 100 series trains.

We all had fun, and that is the most important part.

The WRS maintenance crews will be busy for the next few weeks dealing with a few small issues that raised during the session, which happens when you have not operated in six weeks.

later

Doug

Another Year in the Books

The White River Southern (WRS) has finished its third year and is about to start Year Four. There were a couple major changes this year. The first was the change between Roseton and Dogwood, where Junction and the Blue Ridge Branch were removed. This will allow for changes in the railroad this year. The second is a change in operations. Up to this year the WRS operated as a branch line from the Yard. Starting in mid year, operations changed into operations between two yards. The South yard has not been connection yet, but operations reflect that it is there. Instead of three locals, there are now two locals and four mainline trains (two in each direction).

Crew members have been added, but also few have left. Also there were a few visiting Engineers this year.

Looking back to the reasons I started the WRS, some of the items have been addressed. I have spend more time understanding my Digitrax and Decoder Pro systems and how to use them. There is still many more things to learn, but for now the basics are covered. Operations have been developing over the years, some of the Crew thinks I change the operating instructions each session. Have found what works and what does not and made adjustments. It is getting closer to the final product.
The one item that has not developed, is the work on the scenery on the layout. This is mainly because, I can not stop changing the layout. And this will not end for another year or two. But I am hoping to this year to spend a little time on working on some of the new buildings that will be required. Also there are a couple areas that will not be changing, so I am hoping to work on these areas.

Now that is the yearly update, it is time to get back to getting the railroad ready for the next session.

thanks

Doug