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 Battalion.
They're 3 inches tall and have the non-merrowed edges that are correct for US patches in WW2.
$9.00 each, postpaid WITHIN THE US ONLY
The easiest way is to pay via pay pal
That's the only online way I'll accept payment. If you want to pay via the US mail, email me about that.
I've sold eight already, so they're going fast as I didn't make many.
As of last night, I'm sold out of these patches.
Sorry, but they went much faster than I thought they would.
Thanks to all who showed interest!
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. Knee-deep in the Great Depression, most of the locals were toiling in the fields and apparently paid them little mind.
The old men who always seemed to hang around the store watched in silence until their rifles and shotguns came out of the trunks of their cars. The old men started snickering and immediately knew what was going to happen.
"I wouldn't go up there looking for those boys," the men with badges were warned, "They's all gone across the water." The old men, of course, were referring to the Great War in France. They had all served in the trenches and the locals knew that those lessons had not gone unheeded.
The rifles and shotguns were loaded in silence, and off the men with the oversized badges went, up into the hills.
Over an hour passed and the old men suddenly heard the staccato echoes of rifle fire. Lot of it. As quickly as it started, it ceased.
An hour after that, the men with the badges came back, all limping and all injured in some way. The old men noticed that none had serious wounds, which they all immediately agreed was intentional. Those boys up in the hollow had learned where to shoot someone without killing them as they'd had plenty of experience against Germans in the trenches of France just over a dozen years before.
That was just over a decade ago. the moonshine stills are mostly quiet now. You can't get the 'fixings' for them now with wartime rationing on. All the young men are off across the water again, this time for a war across both oceans. Once that gets straightened out, the old men sitting in front of Grindstaff store declare, they'll be right back at it.
The law hasn't come up here looking for moonshine stills since that day they tangled with those Great War veterans. Sometimes the highway patrol comes up the valley, but nobody is worried to see men with badges. Everyone assumes they'll get right back at it once this current war is over.
By now, many members of this forum know of my photo in the newest issue, which is a preview for an article on military railroads which will run in the fall.
I think it'll give some new ideas within the hobby, and a topic I've never seen addressed in the hobby press before in this manner.
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 distance so long as I can see the front end well) with a Solido 1/50 scale CCKW GMC 2 1/2 ton truck.
Yes, I have a REAL one; a 1944 Willys MB:
This is why the Jeeps on my layout have to be correct, with proper markings for a stateside unit.
On Saturday, I took the MB out for the first drive around town since right before the pandemic started:
Just as the pandemic started rolling (with the first lockdowns and outbreaks occurring in my state), the Jeep's fuel pump had leaks and the battery had issues once I did it's annual 'spring check' before the show season, and never got back to it as all the shows and events to which I'd drive it were cancelled for a very long time.
I'm a second generation WW2 Jeep owner, as my Dad's first car was a 1942 Ford GPW. I have two snapshots of it. Grandpa sold it out form under Dad when Dad went into the USAF in the late 50s. I'd love to know if it still exists somewhere but the serial number is lost to the family.
Now, the question might be asked; I've developed a very detailed history for the fictional 796th Railway Operating Battalion on the layout, so why not put those markings on my Jeep? That thought HAS crossed my mind but I have decided to get new markings for the public relations section of the 12th Army Group HQ, which was responsible for the transportation of civilian war correspondents (another interest of mine) from the Hotel Scribe in Paris to any place in the European Theater of Operations which had something of note going on.
I'm also going to replace the hood markings with the serial number for the Jeep personally issued by 5th Army to cartoonist Bill Mauldin. That should happen at some point this summer before the show season ends.
I'll soon need to make sure everything is cleaned and dusted off where it needs it, as it'll be on the layout tours for the 2022 National Narrow Gauge Convention in September...
@p51 posted:I'll soon need to make sure everything is cleaned and dusted off where it needs it, as it'll be on the layout tours for the 2022 National Narrow Gauge Convention in September...
I was going to get a shaving brush to do the dusting, but my father over the phone suggested a soft paintbrush (as that's what he uses to dust off the larger scale civil war artillery models he's made). So, I went down to the art supply store and got one, which was much cheaper, about $2.50.
I'm equally excited and worried about these layout visits, as I've never done anything like this before. I'm of course worried about having someone break or swipe something, but also worried that people will drive all the way to the second furthest layout from the venue, see that the layout is pretty small, then gripe that it wasn't worth the trip.
@p51 posted: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 distance so long as I can see the front end well) with a Solido 1/50 scale CCKW GMC 2 1/2 ton truck.
Yes, I have a REAL one; a 1944 Willys MB:
This is why the Jeeps on my layout have to be correct, with proper markings for a stateside unit.
On Saturday, I took the MB out for the first drive around town since right before the pandemic started:
Just as the pandemic started rolling (with the first lockdowns and outbreaks occurring in my state), the Jeep's fuel pump had leaks and the battery had issues once I did it's annual 'spring check' before the show season, and never got back to it as all the shows and events to which I'd drive it were cancelled for a very long time.
I'm a second generation WW2 Jeep owner, as my Dad's first car was a 1942 Ford GPW. I have two snapshots of it. Grandpa sold it out form under Dad when Dad went into the USAF in the late 50s. I'd love to know if it still exists somewhere but the serial number is lost to the family.
Now, the question might be asked; I've developed a very detailed history for the fictional 796th Railway Operating Battalion on the layout, so why not put those markings on my Jeep? That thought HAS crossed my mind but I have decided to get new markings for the public relations section of the 12th Army Group HQ, which was responsible for the transportation of civilian war correspondents (another interest of mine) from the Hotel Scribe in Paris to any place in the European Theater of Operations which had something of note going on.
I'm also going to replace the hood markings with the serial number for the Jeep personally issued by 5th Army to cartoonist Bill Mauldin. That should happen at some point this summer before the show season ends.
P51 that is a great looking jeep, back in my day we had the M151A1 and M151A2, they put roll bars on them always wanted to get my hands on one, they took the roll bars off and they went to the range for weapons qual. for the USAF and the US Army. Very nice!
@Sitka posted:P51 that is a great looking jeep, back in my day we had the M151A1 and M151A2, they put roll bars on them always wanted to get my hands on one, they took the roll bars off and they went to the range for weapons qual. for the USAF and the US Army. Very nice!
I served after the Army had long before gotten rid of the Ford MUTT vehicles you describe; some Marine units had a few with full roll cages into the 90s.
When I show it at shows (it's been down for most of the summer due to brake issues that hopefully will be fixed by this weekend) or have it stopped on a drive, it never fails that some cold war vet will come up and say they drove one just like it.
The only similarities between a MB/GPW from WW2 and the 151 series is that it had a somewhat similar silhouette. It's like someone who once drove a VW Karman Ghia saying they actually drove a Porsche 911...
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 photo competition to someone who submitted three D&RGW themed photos and took all three prizes, but I already knew that for many of the attendees of these conventions, it’s ALL about the Rio Grande stuff and nothing else.
As for my own tours, I set up a table at the front door, manned by my friend Robert Scott, the best qualified to talk about the layout aside from myself. I had a double-sided flyer about the layout for future reference:
Inside the room, I didn’t see one look of disappointment (I thought I would as I know many people want to just see the biggest layouts they can).
My tours were for Thursday and Monday (yes, Labor Day). The last day, I was asked to have tours the morning after the official event was over so that anyone driving south could swing by on the way home. Oddly, several of the visitors weren’t doing that and were instead heading back to Tacoma afterward.
Though I wasn’t available for tours on Saturday, I was asked by some VIPs to come by and check things out. I was more than happy to oblige, so Johnny Graybeal (ET&WNC historian and author), George Riley (White River Publications) and Chris Lane (editor of the On30 Annual) came by. As for Johnny and Chris, I consider them to be THE two people outside my own family who’d best understand what I was trying to accomplish with my layout. I couldn’t have been happier to have them look things over, so naturally I had to take a photo to confirm they’d been there!
More photos are here from the venue, including several of the contest entries here:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/...ms/72177720301823993
I just got this in the mail today, a piece of siding off ET&WNC caboose # 505. It was removed as part of the restoration effort at the Avery County museum in Newland, NC and sent to me by the gentleman who restored the caboose:
I swear I was cackling to myself with joy from the mailbox once I realized what was inside the envelope!
And here's my own model of this caboose, made from a Deerfield River Laser kit, sitting atop part of the real thing:
I also got a piece of siding off boxcar 434 recently. Yes, they're going on the wall of the layout room!
Hi Lee, that is a neat way to preserve a bit of history and tie it to your layout/equipment. Thanks for sharing, Best, Dave
I got ANOTHER piece of ET&WNC boxcar 434 today!
A guy who visited the layout last month told me about the pieces that got sold at last years narrow gauge convention and he had a piece he wanted to send to me because the layout is that theme. I didn’t really think he’d go through with it and here comes a box today. It’s a cut rectangle almost exactly like the piece of the caboose fascia. Maybe I’ll put both in one large frame. I’m not sure yet exactly how I’ll display them but they’re going on the wall for sure!
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What? No number boards or builders plates? 🤣🤣🤣
Very cool Lee. Having real pieces of your modeled RR is beyond amazing.
Bob
When we had our house built in 2002, one IRONCLAD condition I had was one small bedroom would be mine, for my collections of various stuff and book cases for reference books.
Since then, my wife has tried countless times to use the room for all kinds of other things. I can count the number of times I've put my foot down with her on both hands and with fingers to spare. But the room was a brick wall through which her demands never passed.
Fast forward to the pandemic, when we were told we'd be permanently working from home. I have about a decade to go and my wife a few years less as she started there about 4 years before me. We have another spare bedroom from where I've been working since. She's been working at a desk in the living room and she's never liked that. I offered to switch, but she didn't want that.
She's a middle aged woman. Anyone familiar with that knows how there's no way I could change her mind.
She started demanding my work computer goes into the layout room. The foot came down as it made no sense, as there was NO room for that. The closet was filled with my stuff and nowhere else to put it but a shed out back. She said I could move stuff to the shed, and that's taken place. I removed the doors to the closet for curtains.
So starting this week, I'll be in the layout room more than ever before. These are angles you never see in my posts...
The stuff on hangers to the left will be back a little once I put more of that stuff in containers.
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and you collect militaria?
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@p51 posted:Well, since you asked, I also recently acquired this from an Army S2 switcher from WW2:
From aa WWII Army S2 ... that IS cool! I would so love to have that on my wall.
Great photos Lee, I really love all of your collections and most of all how the foot came down! It is nice to see to see there are still some strong women out there!
@CNJ Jim posted:From aa WWII Army S2 ... that IS cool! I would so love to have that on my wall.
How about this? It's from a Plymouth DDT-series four-wheel diesel switcher. Someone painted it in the past but it's either steel or iron. PM me if you're interested as it's outside the scope of my collecting, even though this is a very rare plate:
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@p51 posted:I got ANOTHER piece of ET&WNC boxcar 434 today!
It’s a cut rectangle almost exactly like the piece of the caboose fascia.
Maybe I’ll put both in one large frame. I’m not sure yet exactly how I’ll display them but they’re going on the wall for sure!
I put both these pieces of fascia into a frame, which went up right before Halloween.
This is what you see as you enter the room:
This is what it looked like before the frame went on. I printed these photos of the real cars and glued them to the backing. I then drilled shallow holes and ran wood screws through the back to secure the pieces into place:
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@p51 posted:
I work from home and I'm working from the train room starting today, with the computer in the closet for that room. If I ever mount the video camera I've been issued, THIS is what it'd see.
Lee, Looks like a great office! You lucky guy!! Hope you are able to take an occasional break and get some work done!! I reference your job work!!!
Cheers, Dave
@p51, Lee, this is great news, working from home is great, also, your office (Train Room) is great. We wish you a very Happy Thanksgiving and keep posting this beautiful pictures. Happy Railroading Everyone
Lee if I worked from home that would be great, then I wouldn't get any questions why Iam spending so much time in the train room! LOL
Great photo Lee! But I didn't know they had rail faning back then! Lol 😆
Great photos are easy (usually) with great subject matter.
Nice work Lee.
Bob
Lee that is an Amazing photo! How did you get such dark smoke?
@p51 posted:Yeah, you could say that...
I did Feldgrau.
@mike g. posted:Lee that is an Amazing photo! How did you get such dark smoke?
Thanks, Mike.
I usually shoot greater than one minute exposures, so I can add all kinds of real-time effects. The smoke is a cone covered in cotton and spray painted black. I hovered it over the stack for about 45 seconds or so.
I talk more about such things in this NMRA video: https://youtu.be/flMlzCbfxW8
I also shot this last night:
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I was reading a thread about another model railroader who was considered to be an artist who got into the hobby, and someone commented on how few actual artists are in the hobby itself.
Well, I think I might be one of them. I don't draw nearly as much as I used to because I just don't have the time to devote to it and all the other things I need to do.
Maybe you could better call me an illustrator than an artist, but I used to do stuff like this all the time:
I tried breaking into comic books in my youth and oddly got a letter stating they liked a concept I had for a WW2 comic book about a B-17 bomber crew, about 2 years after I'd submitted something to them (and I'd forgotten about it by then).
Their timing stunk, as I was going to become an Army officer a week later. Knowing now what I do about how bad that pays, I'm glad I didn't pursue that any further.
Over the years, I've been asked to design insignia for the military and related government projects. This was my favorite; done for a team I was with at Space Camp. I actually had patches made of this:
There was a time I was experimenting with different art techniques, this was a hybrid digital and ink drawing, back when almost nobody was doing things like this:
I am also a published cartoonist/. This is one of several I did for a UK magazine devoted to historical re-enacting (based on something I did with my own WW2 Jeep on several occasions):
nice work
I'm putting together a clinic for the NMRA event in Tacoma in May, and will preview it to the Olympia group next month, about military operations on model railroads. It'll be based on the article I did on the subject for OGR last year.
I decided to include a photo of myself outfitted in a historically plausible uniform of the Battalion Commanding Officer of the fictional 796th Railway Operating Battalion, into one of my slides. Everything is correct for 1943.
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@p51 posted:I'm putting together a clinic for the NMRA event in Tacoma in May, and will preview it to the Olympia group next month, about military operations on model railroads. It'll be based on the article I did on the subject for OGR last year.
I decided to include a photo of myself outfitted in a historically plausible uniform of the Battalion Commanding Officer of the fictional 796th Railway Operating Battalion, into one of my slides. Everything is correct for 1943.
waaaaay behind the line's But a good representation
