a picture a day....

Scratch built tool shed under construction to keep the tractors in.

@p51 posted:

Just finished playing with my cell on the layout:

Spectacular photos Lee!!!  I especially like the middle one .... to me it has an old faded photograph quality.  Love the two me standing in front of the building.  Keep playing with your cell.  You are definitely on to something!

For today:  Hail Hail The Gangs All Here!  

Most of these bonafide characters congregate down at the switch tower every morning.  They're all retired from the railroad but still love to come and sit by the tracks, watch trains go by, drink coffee or pop, and tell tales from back in the day ... some of those tales are quite tall, I must tell you, but none-the-less always entertaining.  

@trumpettrain posted:

For today:  Hail Hail The Gangs All Here!  

Most of these bonafide characters congregate down at the switch tower every morning.  They're all retired from the railroad but still love to come and sit by the tracks, watch trains go by, drink coffee or pop, and tell tales from back in the day ... some of those tails are quite tall, I must tell you, but none-the-less always entertaining.  

Patrick, looks like a great group of guys. I am sure the have some whoppers to tell. But I don't think they would be any better the the stories you tell us about them!

@trumpettrain posted:

Spectacular photos Lee!!!  I especially like the middle one .... to me it has an old faded photograph quality.  Love the two me[n] standing in front of the building. 

Thanks. Like you, I place figures where it makes sense and you get an idea of what's going on and not just randomly scattered.

Latest update on the ES&I Railroad.

Ladies in their garden.

@Crazy J RR posted:

Latest update on the ES&I Railroad.

That is some excellent art work and paintings'.  The dramatic sky is very good.. clouds are very cool..... Nice looking layout'...

@Curt Henion posted:

Ladies in their garden.

Curt, that sure is a very well landscaped garden'.... Nice work indeed'...👍😀

Hey Quarter Gauger 48, it took a while to drill all of those little holes and plant everything in rows. Just like a real garden.

FOR TODAY: " It's  Saturday and a great day for a trolley ride!"

Picked up passengers from the arriving B&O train at Patsburg Union Station.

The trolley trundles over the coach yard.

The trolley glides over Patsburg Ave.  with Patsburg Union Station in background. Henry Valenski, seen standing on the corner, just got off the trolley at the elevated station ( not in view ) down the block.     He's now waiting for his date,  Mandy Mae,  to show.  The've been dating for just over 3 months now.   Once she shows up they will go to dinner and then  catch  the new movie everyone's been talking about ... Gone With The Wind at the State Theatre in Patsburg's posh Westend Neighborhood.   With the flowers he sent Mandy Mae this afternoon, plus dinner, and a romantic movie Henry is hoping he will get lucky tonight.  

As the trolley is about to enter Big Rock Tunnel the passengers get their final view of MT. Randolph in the background.  No one even notices the brand new Western Maryland BL2 exiting Easterly Tunnel on the main line below.  

Great angles, Patrick!

Curt, great looking garden. I was going to show it to the wife, but then she would want me to plant one on my layout! LOL

Patrick, what great photos and Lee is right wonderful angles. The best part is your story, to me with out your story it would just be more photos of a layout! You always make my day! Thank You!

@p51 posted:

Great angles, Patrick!

Thanks Lee!   I've learned about camera angles from you over the years .... thank you for that!  

@mike g. posted:

Curt, great looking garden. I was going to show it to the wife, but then she would want me to plant one on my layout! LOL

Patrick, what great photos and Lee is right wonderful angles. The best part is your story, to me with out your story it would just be more photos of a layout! You always make my day! Thank You!   I appreciate your enthusiasm!  Thanks so much!!

Mike G.  I appreciate your enthusiasm!  Thanks so much!

My post for the day. I realize my water is “really blue”, but as many of you have probably noticed, I tend to stray from realism on my layout a little bit. In my mind I live in a weed free, non aged, fresh paint world. Actually, if any of you have ever ventured into Colorado, you would have noticed how blue our skies are and how that blue is reflected in our large bodies of water. Not so much the streams, because they flow too fast coming down from such high altitudes. I live at 7,500 ft. elevation and the landscape is totally different at that altitude.

Curt Henion looks good brother nice job!

I found this online, taken last weekend when I was on the railroad...

The sad part is that I started right before the pandemic lockdowns started so I have never worked a train without a mask on...

Curt - I love the really "blue" water - it works for me!

I also love the "like new" Super 0 track with pristine ballast - perfect, just perfect!

Hey Don, yeah, I am pretty proud of my 56 year old Super O track.Most of the track was brand new and had never been used. The track really works well. 20 feet from the transformer and I am only losing about .1 ohm. Of course, my 275 watt ZW model R transformer is just about as old. Curt

Buladeen, TN.

Monday, June 14, 1943...

The photographs all look great, Lee!  I see the gent in the light suit is looking at his 1943 version of the smart phone.

FOR TODAY:  Tales from the Mountain Division:  

Hobo Harry lives a solitary life.  He's made good friends with nature and lives primarily along the tracks.  Harry claims that the tracks and the trains that run along them are his TV.  

Here's Poindexter, the exclusive rail fan.  He's kind of a snob in that he only likes large steam locomotives and streamlined diesels.  Caught here on camera he's turning his back on a Docksider.  He wants nothing to do with such a "ridiculous little engine."

Every spring season folks from all over come to climb the challenging rock cliff alongside Big Rock Tunnel.  Here we see Edgar, Tater, and Benson nearing the top of the rock cliff.  This trio of guys are all roommates at Patsburg University aka: PU home of the Skunks.  

MOW camp at milepost 56.   That's Jake standing on the back deck of a work caboose. Jake is the MOW Dept. tool foreman and has been working for the Free State Junction Railway for 23 years.  He's looking away from the occupied outhouse because Billy Bob never closes the door.  Billy Bob always mumbles something about "ventilation" whenever he's asked to close the door.  That Billy Bob is a genuine piece of work for sure!

This train called "The Mighty Logger" heads southeast across the Bollman Bridge.  

Hey trumptrain, I love the names you give to all of your people. All fun and kidding aside, your layout is spectacular. Curt

My other garden alongside the Hereford pasture.

@Curt Henion posted:

Hey trumptrain, I love the names you give to all of your people. All fun and kidding aside, your layout is spectacular. Curt

Thanks so much Curt!  I really enjoy your layout scenes as well.   Btw - your reference Hereford in your recent post.  Would you by any chance be a fellow Marylander?

No, Patrick, I grew up in Michigan on a farm north of Battle Creek. I had Hereford cattle and was a member of The American Hereford Association. I was an FFA member in High School and showed my Hereford cattle at local and State Shows.

Pat, thank you for introducing us to some of the folk!!

Curt, the farm is looking great!  I grew up next to a farm in Pennsylvania, but he had all Holsteins and hogs.

Hey Mark, I had Herefords, but my summer job was milking the neighbors 44 Holsteins. What a great way for a kid to grow up.Picture of my Champion Hereford Heifer in 1967.

@Curt Henion posted:

Hey Mark, I had Herefords, but my summer job was milking the neighbors 44 Holsteins. What a great way for a kid to grow up.Picture of my Champion Hereford Heifer in 1967.

Great shot Curt'... I bet you won more than a few trophies for that Champion'.... Nice history and memories of your youth'....

@Curt Henion posted:

Ladies in their garden.

Curt, great looking garden with hard-working attendants! Mine are working the night shift, in spite of the party going on in the parking lot of the door company...

@Curt Henion posted:

Hey Mark, I had Herefords, but my summer job was milking the neighbors 44 Holsteins. What a great way for a kid to grow up.Picture of my Champion Hereford Heifer in 1967.

Gee, you and I looked a lot alike back in ‘67.

Hey Mark, we both like trains, so we are probably long lost cousins.

Hey Mark, at least you kept your hair.

FOR TODAY:  It's 1941 and the mainline is abuzz both night and day with traffic for the war effort.  A brand new Washington Terminal ALCO RS1 is about to head east as a B&O 4-6-4, stopped for a red signal, brings a troop train west bound.   That's Buzzie Beavers dragging the pallet.

Hey Paul, Capetrainman, looks like we have relatives. The Preiser #65341 O scale Hay Harvesters is a nice set, really life like. I don’t see a lot of companies carrying that brand anymore or they are out of stock. Are they getting that hard to find? Curt

My locomotive repair shop. It is not done. I have to detail the interior with machinery, some parts laying around, and some more people. Probably should install some ventilators on the roof to get the smoke out.I noticed the interior lighting shines thru the brick exterior, so I need some black out paper behind the bricks.

Crazy J RR, Wow, very nice layout, and I love the Storm Sounds, so neat. I have their talking water tower, but need to get that one. Thank you for the video, it’s very interesting. Everyone, your pictures are amazing, the scenes so neatly scenicked, Wow.  Happy Railroading Everyone

Excellent as always, Larry!!

@Curt Henion posted:

Hey Paul, Capetrainman, looks like we have relatives. The Preiser #65341 O scale Hay Harvesters is a nice set, really life like. I don’t see a lot of companies carrying that brand anymore or they are out of stock. Are they getting that hard to find? Curt

Hi curt...the Preiser O scale do seem to be getting harder to find, and Preiser itself isn't releasing any new O scale figures that I've seen.  I wonder if the prices from Germany are simply getting too high?   The selection of HO from them is huge...they seem to go where the sales volume is, I guess...HO over O Gauge