a picture a day....

A little night time activity at the N. Main Street station waiting for the local...

Another summer's day comes to an end at the Grindstaff store at Sadie, TN...

My little town . Old time memories here.

That is awesome Farmerjohn. I really like the effect the curved street gives the look of the town scene.

Hey Lee, looks like the scene from the movie Second Hand Lions. Great job!

@farmerjohn

John:

Your layout never ceases to impress me. The realism in your your town scene is GREAT.

For years, I have been on a quest for the perfect city sidewalk. What did you use for your sidewalks? Also, what color/s do you use for paint to look like concrete?

Again, Bravo on your layout and keep the photos coming.

@farmerjohn posted:

My little town . Old time memories here.

"In my little town, I grew up believing . . . "

Paul Simon's wonderful song.

@Curt Henion posted:

Hey Lee, looks like the scene from the movie Second Hand Lions. Great job!

Thanks!

Meanwhile, down a "B" Company, another duty day is going just at the First Sergeant wants it.

Farmer John and P51 Lee -  your photos are nothing short of stunning!! WOW!!!!!!

FOR TODAY:  The Sunday Drive.   Back in the 1950s it was quite popular to take an afternoon  drive out into the country, smell the fresh air, and take in the bucolic beauty.  So today in memorializing this relaxing tradition;  we all pile into a 1950 Mercury 4 door sedan, winding  those windows down as  Dad cranks up that big ol straight eight.  Dad reves the engine before he puts her into gear.  Carefully he backs out of the driveway and heads down Maple Ave.  After stopping at the stop sign he hangs a left onto Main.  Being mindful to stay within the speed limit while in the city limits, Dad tromps on the gas as we cross the city line.  

About 7 - 10 minutes out of town we are crusinin up Mountain Rd.  In the distance we see farmer, Amos Moses,  on his tractor doing some plowing.   "Wow!  Farmers don't ever get a day off.  Always somethin to be done on the farm. " Mom chimes in with " that's right dear."  Dad replies " At least he's his own boss.  He doesn't have to take orders from no boss."  Of course Dad has never met Ida Moses, the farmer's wife.  

Dad swings a hard left onto Pasturegate Lane.  Through the front windshield I see railroad tracks and of course this excites me!  I think to myself ... " Will I see any trains today?"  Not too many trains seem to run on Sunday afternoon out here in the country ... but one never knows ... railroads are unpredictable.  My hopes are high!    

It's not long before we come across this old abandon spur.  At least it certainly looks abandon to me.  I ask Dad if we can stop and get out of the car to check it out.  Dad replies " See that sign?" then continues to answer his own question with " Railroad property keep out.  That means no we can't check it out."  He does pull off to the side of the road for a few minutes so I can get a good gander.  

Later driving along, we see these deer grazing trackside.  Really pretty flowers,  cows,  and a dilapidated old barn are off in the distance.

We make a brief visit to Uncle Slim and Aunt Grace's house.  They are surprised to see us!  Uncle Slim says "Grace saw you a drivin up the lane and she's a puttin on some coffee.  Won't you all stay for a bit?"  Cousins Helen Mae and Rosemarie are glad to see us too!  Dad and Mom decide to stay for an hour or so.  I'm glad to see family!  Uncle Slim works for the railroad and he's always got lots of great stories to tell.  

After we leave Uncle Slim and Grace's house, we come across these MOW workers.  Since there's no car or truck around I figure they are all staying overnight in that old caboose.  

Later as we pull up to stop at a grade crossing we spot this raccoon.  He looks like a king right at home on top of his castle!  

WOW!  If we'd got to the grade crossing a little sooner, we would have been able to see this entire freight train instead of just the tail end.  Darn!!   Mom says " Look at that scare crow! I think I'll make one for our front porch for Halloween." Dad chimes in with " Yeah that farmer would probably let you have that one.  From the looks of that crow sittin up there on its' shoulder that scare crow is not doing its' job effectively.  I'll bet that farmer will fire him."  We all chuckled upon hearing that.  

Well this is our last grade crossing before gettin back to the city.  As I said earlier, " railroads are unpredictable."  We pull up to the grade crossing just in time for this 13 car Ma & Pa freight train to cross. I count the cars ...  four boxcars, 3 empty gondolas, 2 covered hoppers, 1 flat car loaded  with lumber, two  50 ton hoppers loaded with coal.  Oh yes, and one caboose ... so that make 14 cars!  

Well here we are back in town. Dad makes a right onto Maple off  Main.  No sooner I think about how great some soft serve ice cream would taste right now, Mom says " Dear, let's stop at the Dairy Castle before going home."  Dad nods in agreement.  I just love these Sunday drives!  I wonder where our drive will take us next Sunday?  

@trumpettrain posted:

Farmer John and P51 Lee -  your photos are nothing short of stunning!!

As are yours. I very much like your posts as they always come with a really neat story.

Morning all, it been quite a few days that I have been on here. I see nothing has changed. Still great photos and stories to go with them! I wish I had something to share, but I haven't even been in the train room yet after our trip.

Hope everyone has a great week and finds more photos!

FOR TODAY:  " It's Monday morning and these fellas at the MOW camp are definitely back to work!  No question about that.

Cylinders on the Pere Marquette #1225 in the shop,  I took this picture in 2015 .

Patrick you're Sunday drives are wonderful.

Randy. Thanks for the comments on my little town. I used 1 quarter inch sandply it is a soft plywood. Painted it with Krylon Glacier grey. Scribed the cracks and joints with a blunt screwdriver. Ill put a wash of India Ink and rubbing alcohol  when it's all finished.

@farmerjohn posted:

Randy. Thanks for the comments on my little town. I used 1 quarter inch sandply it is a soft plywood. Painted it with Krylon Glacier grey. Scribed the cracks and joints with a blunt screwdriver. Ill put a wash of India Ink and rubbing alcohol  when it's all finished.

@farmerjohn

John:

Thank you for your kind reply with the explanation of your side walks. Some times, the best things are simple. What is your ratio of India ink to running alcohol?

FOR TODAY:  The crew change.

Great photos Patrick, I also love the Sunday drive!

John, what a wonderful town, Everytime I see your layout it gives me more ideas.

I hope everyone is doing well and having a great week!

There were a series of color shots taken on the ET&WNC sometime around 1940 or 1941, the rights for which to even make a print were insanely expensive. Some Australian guy on eBay has been offering prints of them in A4 format (a little longer than a normal US sheet of paper). I bit the bullet and ordered most he had available.

I got them yesterday and last night, I trimmed most of them down to 8X10, and hung a few in the layout room. These are shots I've never seen before in a good format.

One replaced a bad jpeg image, above some builder plates:

Another replaced a shot of a caboose, above the train memo board:

Two others are flanking a print of a John Krause photo of the final run of the Tweetsie at Hampton, one I think was somewhere near Cranberry NC and the other is in the Doe River Gorge (as is the b/w shot to the right of it, purchased from another eBay vendor before the pandemic)

I still need a place for the bottom right one, taken at the water tank in Elizabethton:

I really like this one from the Doe River Gorge, near Hampton, TN. I've stood at this very spot:

@farmerjohn posted:

Randy. Thanks for the comments on my little town. I used 1 quarter inch sandply it is a soft plywood. Painted it with Krylon Glacier grey. Scribed the cracks and joints with a blunt screwdriver. Ill put a wash of India Ink and rubbing alcohol  when it's all finished.

John who makes the corner building on the end?

Ron

Ron.

The buildings on both ends of my little town street are woodland scenics. I bought them from Menards when the handled them several years ago. The big thing with them I had to put my own lights in them. I've added lights to all the buildings and put floors in them and even separate rooms for lighting effects. A lot of fun but a lot of time also.The lights make a town and really bring a layout to life. Thanks for asking. Farmerjohn.

FOR TODAY:  The industrial area of town on Thursday morning.

Not my photo of course but I'd love to recreate this someday in O scale.

This is the covered bridge across the Doe River just outside of Hampton, TN, probably taken in the fall of 1940.

Yesterday, at Evaline, WA:

FOR TODAY:  Friday morning play time!  

Hey Patrick,

Great photo!

Maybe you could record yourself playing "Struttin with some Barbecue" and add it to a video which strolls around all of your great little suburban scenes!  That would be really cool.

Mannyrock

Hauling some expensive lumber through Bozeman, MT...worth its weight in gold today...

FOR TODAY:  There's that kid Chucky on his bicycle again hanging out at his favorite place ... the railroad tracks.   He's checking out the Ma & Pa milk train on the far track.  

Chucky wants to know what is in that big crate!

@trumpettrain posted:

FOR TODAY:  There's that kid Chucky on his bicycle again hanging out at his favorite place ... the railroad tracks.   He's checking out the Ma & Pa milk train on the far track.  

Patrick, great scene...reminds me of all the observing I did as a kid down by the tracks...nice bike too...!

@Capetrainman posted:

Patrick, great scene...reminds me of all the observing I did as a kid down by the tracks...nice bike too...!

Good point, Paul!!  It reminds me of my red bicycle growing up.  It did not have a headlight or one of those flat trays over the rear fender to carry things on however.  Gee, maybe it doesn't remind me of mine so much!    At least they both were red! 

@Mark Boyce posted:

Chucky wants to know what is in that big crate!

I think the name on the crate reads " Pandora ".  LOL!  

@Capetrainman posted:

Patrick, great scene...reminds me of all the observing I did as a kid down by the tracks...nice bike too...!

Thanks so much Paul!  Glad the scene brought back some fond memories.

Night Trains

@trumpettrain posted:

I think the name on the crate reads " Pandora ".  LOL!  

LOL I hope Chucky knows about Pandora’s Box!  LOL

Bozeman yard at sundown...

Bozeman yard the following morning...

@Capetrainman posted:

Bozeman yard the following morning...

Seen that also! We were there 2 weeks ago!

Caught a light power move at Napavine:

And this train comes through every day sometimes with nothing but SD40-2s on point and I decided to try make this look more like a shot from several years ago:

While we're on the Bozeman theme, Mike, did u c this one when you were there??