just having some, "FUN with our RailRoads"

@trumpettrain posted:

Today is a great day for a cold one!!

Not only a great day for a beer, but, also a great place!

                               hope everyone had a great holiday weekend !!

                               hope everyone is having a great weekend...

Here are some shots I took this past Friday night which morphed into early Saturday morning finishing at 3 a.m.    My intent was to enjoy my trains by entering  the train room at 11 p.m. and exit at 12 midnight.  Let me tell ya .... I had way too much fun ... well, none of us could ever overdo the fun when playing with our trains .... but I did get lost in the moment which I realized when my body said "I'm sleepy tired" at 3 a.m. LOL!   Four hours of fun in the train room being enveloped in the moment is time WELL spent.  

At 11 p.m. I pulled down from the top shelf of my locomotive closet,  my first locomotive, a 2065 Lionel Hudson ( Santa Fe style ) which I received from Santa when I was 4 years old.  I've not run this engine for several years, for I've been a purely "scale guy" for well over a decade now.   I lubed it up and set her on the track, put a few drops of smoke fluid down the stack, and off she went down the main line.  Running a little stiffly for the first minute or so, however,  as the lubricants worked into the gears she began to run as smoothly as ever.   Smoke poured from the stack!   Smelling the ozone transported me to the early chapter of my life when living was simple and sweet .... toy trains had a wonderful mystique, which invited an imagination without boundary ... and viewing Captain Kangaroo on TV was a daily morning ritual. 

As I watched that engine run lite around the layout, I began to realize the pure beauty of this 63 year little toy locomotive.  I fell in love with it all over again.... just as I loved it when I was a young kid when it did laps pulling it's five car train around the family Christmas tree.  

I began to take some photos  of the 2065 with my cell phone.  More inspiration came knocking and I began taking out some other post war locomotives and created scenes with them as well ... snapping photos all the while.... some 200 photos all in all.      Beginning with the second frame down, are some of those photos.   Oooooh!  The smell of the ozone is potently intoxicating.  It can stir my consciousness  and invigorate my imagination more so than a fine cup of coffee.   

 A few weeks ago I had fun creating this scene  while using some photo enhancement on my cell phone.  I call this scene " A hot summer day in the rail yard." 

MY POSTWAR PARADISE:  2065 Lionel Hudson, A Birney trolley, and Virginian Train Master. 

2065 Hudson takes on water.  A Lionel operating barrel car in the background.  I got the barrel car when I was in second grade. ... from Santa of course.  

2065 .. Stopping at the commuter station as a fellow views the arrival from the fire escape in background.

Patrick, so much of what you say applies to me.

As I mentioned recently on another thread, my first locomotive was also the Lionel 2065 ATSF baby Hudson, which was part of the Greenball Express  freight set I got as a Christmas present in 1954. Like your 2065, my original one runs like a charm, and so does the 2nd 2065 in mint condition I bought from my LHS about 10 days ago.

I also watched Captain Kangaroo as a child, but my favorite TV shows as a young child were the Perry Como show and Yankee baseball games.

Your photos above are beautiful in glorious autumn colors.

Speaking of coffee, you might try something I recently bought at my LHS: coffee scented MTH smoke fluid. 

Don't we all love the smell of ozone when we run our Postwar trains?

Arnold

@Arnold D. Cribari posted:

Patrick, so much of what you say applies to me.

As I mentioned recently on another thread, my first locomotive was also the Lionel 2065 ATSF baby Hudson, which was part of the Greenball Express  freight set I got as a Christmas present in 1954. Like your 2065, my original one runs like a charm, and so does the 2nd 2065 in mint condition I bought from my LHS about 10 days ago.

I also watched Captain Kangaroo as a child, but my favorite TV shows as a young child were the Perry Como show and Yankee baseball games.

Your photos above are beautiful in glorious autumn colors.

Speaking of coffee, you might try something I recently bought at my LHS: coffee scented MTH smoke fluid. 

Don't we all love the smell of ozone when we run our Postwar trains?

Arnold

Thanks Arnold for your kind compliment regarding my photos!    I'm happy to hear you are enjoying your 2065 locomotives as well   The postwar trains are quite something wonderful with a unique charm all their own.  I'm grateful to have rediscoverd their wonderfulness!    

Yes I certainly remember the Perry Como Show ... a wonderful variety show!  The 50's and 60's had many of those wonderful kinds of variety shows.... Dean Martin, Ed Sullivan, Andy Williams etc.   Music always intrigued me beginning at age 2.  I loved music of all kinds then, as I do now, and variety shows were something I viewed regularly throughout my childhood and teen years.    It was these kinds of shows that allowed me, at age 5,  to hear and see my hero and inspiration, the great Mr. Louis Armstrong.   I began playing trumpet when I was 8 years old and have been lucky enough to have made a career of music.  

My two greatest loves are: 1. Music .. 2. trains ... in that order..... as my OGR Forum moniker portrays:  "trump" ( the love of music as I express it through my trumpet ) and "train" ( for my love of toy, model, and real trains ).   Unquestionably,  music is an art form and I certainly view and practice model railroading as an art form too.  Music is my purpose, for it feeds my heart and soul.  Music is the only language which is non-verbal, allowing me to express myself through sound .. be it when playing with a symphony orchestra, chamber music group, commercial music , rock, or improvised music.    Model trains fullfil  my need to be visually creative/expressive and additionally to express my imagination through written words as here on this forum.   As I greatly enjoy sharing my love of music with others,  I also greatly enjoy sharing my love of trains by inviting people to view my layout in person, especially kids & parents,  as well as sharing photos  and information here on the OGRF.  

Arnold, I think you and I have a lot of similarities.   I certainly hope our paths cross in the post COVID 19 future.   It would be a privilege and honor to meet you in person.  

@trumpettrain posted:

Thanks Arnold for your kind compliment regarding my photos!    I'm happy to hear you are enjoying your 2065 locomotives as well   The postwar trains are quite something wonderful with a unique charm all their own.  I'm grateful to have rediscoverd their wonderfulness!    

Yes I certainly remember the Perry Como Show ... a wonderful variety show!  The 50's and 60's had many of those wonderful kinds of variety shows.... Dean Martin, Ed Sullivan, Andy Williams etc.   Music always intrigued me beginning at age 2.  I loved music of all kinds then, as I do now, and variety shows were something I viewed regularly throughout my childhood and teen years.    It was these kinds of shows that allowed me, at age 5,  to hear and see my hero and inspiration, the great Mr. Louis Armstrong.   I began playing trumpet when I was 8 years old and have been lucky enough to have made a career of music.  

My two greatest loves are: 1. Music .. 2. trains ... in that order..... as my OGR Forum moniker portrays:  "trump" ( the love of music as I express it through my trumpet ) and "train" ( for my love of toy, model, and real trains ).   Unquestionably,  music is an art form and I certainly view and practice model railroading as an art form too.  Music is my purpose, for it feeds my heart and soul.  Music is the only language which is non-verbal, allowing me to express myself through sound .. be it when playing with a symphony orchestra, chamber music group, commercial music , rock, or improvised music.    Model trains fullfil  my need to be visually creative/expressive and additionally to express my imagination through written words as here on this forum.   As I greatly enjoy sharing my love of music with others,  I also greatly enjoy sharing my love of trains by inviting people to view my layout in person, especially kids & parents,  as well as sharing photos  and information here on the OGRF.  

Arnold, I think you and I have a lot of similarities.   I certainly hope our paths cross in the post COVID 19 future.   It would be a privilege and honor to meet you in person.  

Patrick, I would very much like to meet you too, post Covid 19.

The way you combine art forms, music and trains, reminds me of what I heard about Joni Mitchell: that she would express her creativity through songwriting and performing her songs, and oftentimes when she wasn't doing that, she would turn to painting.

Your art forms, music and trains, can similarly feed off each other, and can help you create masterpieces in both.

I also combine music and trains. My primary interest in music is in songwriting and, as you know, I enjoy O Gauge trains and my layout. Now that I have a longstanding well-settled layout, the trains are a relaxing and light form of entertainment I can enjoy doing most every day, at least for a few minutes. On the other hand, I typically only do songwriting, which for me can be very engrossing, when I'm inspired, which now may only happen a few times per year.

It is clear, Patrick, in the way you describe your passion for music and trains that you have a zest for life, and are following your bliss. IMO, that is a wonderful way to be.

Arnold

Well I remember Captain Kangaroo, Dean Martin, Ed Sullivan, Andy Williams etc. but I missed Perry Como's show.  Maybe I was too young, but also we didn't get a TV until I was well into school.  However, Perry Como was my Mum's favorite singer.  Now, Yankees Baseball was of no interest, because the Pirates never played them after the 1960 World Series until interleague play.    However, I can imagine growing up where you did, who wouldn't like seeing the Yankees winning almost all the time!  I always wondered whether Mr. Green Jeans really wore green jeans since we didn't get a color TV until several years after I was married.  

All good stuff Arnold and Pat!!!! 

Mark, Perry was on from 1948-1967. Since he was your mom’s favorite, I suspect you saw it, but just don’t remember or it was on after your bedtime. 🤪

Probably after bedtime. Mum was a stickler on that even in high school! 😄

Wiring complete!

EMD’s working hard on the grade!

not so hard on the down grade ;-)

                  some steam at sunrise...

Having re-discovered fun with postwar trains.  What beauty!!

A couple of MPC GP-9's going way too fast...!

                             sure has been nice and sunny around here lately !!

Those are some very nice outdoor photographs Brian!

          thanks Mark !!

           Weeks subway action / set-up. 5 express trains, no waiting, no stopping!

                                         Ya gotta LOVE the ALL feature!

Great pictures of fun with your railroads here on this cool thread. Happy Railroading.

This morning I had lots of fun posing these postwar gems in various positions and photographing them.  Here are some of those pics. 

Had fun yesterday running my new RS-3. 

Disney Park

A scene from the North Pole.

Back from the fishing trip.

PRR M-1 leading a long freight train.

I had fun creating these photos of pure 1950's power. 

Had fun over the weekend re-organizing the inventory under the layout.

Put these critters on the layout for a spin.
The crew in the NY Central wagon received a strong reprimand from the MOW foreman at the end of the shift.

The crew on the hand car are recovering nicely from rotator-cuff surgery.

Bob

Both will need surgery when you shut the power down.

          steam at sunset...

                            getting ready for work...

Some rush hour fun!

@briansilvermustang posted:

 

 

 

 

 

  

This is spectacular scenery IMO. Arnold

          thank you,  Arnold

Briansilvermustang, this is a great thread, very relaxed, beautiful pictures... Happy Railroading Everyone... Stay safe, stay healthy, pray continually for Our Country.