Yes we need the Battleship Gons. Plastic would be ideal. How about a 12 pack with different numbers.
George Lasley
The The expense of doing tooling for a plastic battleship gon may not be profitable for Scott. I would think a VGN wooden caboose done for the first time in O scale would be a good seller. They have been done in HO but never O. The drawings and an article on scratch building the caboose are in Mainline Modeler. Could anyone else use some VGN wooden cabooses? They could also be painted grey for MOW or red with the WWII bond logos on them. They could have the raised number vs. painted on the side number. Some had the old staff brake wheel while others had the modern ajax. Lots of reasons for people to buy multiples to go behind the EL-2B, 2-6-6-6, 2-10-10-2, ex N&W Y-3, Tri-Plex, EL-3, and Trainmasters that have all been produced plus one day maybe the Baby Trainmasters.
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Virginian cabooses are needed, however for whatever reason cabooses for specific railroads (except PRR, SF, NYC, and UP) are hardly ever made. Brother Love scratch built my wooden VGN caboose which is nicely done.
And I repainted a Weaver N&W steel caboose into a VGN C10 caboose. Not completely accurate, but when nothing else is reasonably available....
Kohs did a C10 a couple of years ago. Probably very hard to find.
http://www.kohs.com/Caboose_Pa...s/NW_Cabs_Intro.html
Ken
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The N&W and C&O both had battleship gondolas at one time. This C&O gondola seems to be close to the the Virginian's version so if a manufacturer ever makes them they could be done in at least two road names. I believe the N&W's were an earlier type which doesn't match the Virginian's.
Ken
One of the very few films available on the Virginian. Lots of EL-2b's as well as EL-1's shown in operation in the first half of the video.
VGN steel cabooses have been done multiple times. Sunset did the N&W steel caboose that can be painted N&W or VGN. Division Point did a run of N&W/VGN cabooses painted in multiple paint schemes. Kohs did the N&W/VGN caboose and offered them in multiple paint schemes which the VGN is the hardest to find followed by the N&W blue.
Most people see the high roof handrails as the main difference but if you look at pictures you can find VGN cabooses with and without the high handrails.
The VGN wood caboose has never been done in O scale with the exception of scratch built. Overland did them in HO. Funny story, Tom Marsh sent the drawings to Korea for the pilot models. The drawings had staff style brake wheel on one end and modern ajax on the other. When he got the pilot models they had the staff style on one end of the cab and ajax on the other. Tom learned to be very very very specific about what he wanted....LOL.
kanawha posted:I found a color picture of the ex-VGN EL-C rectifier (#235) that was repainted in N&W colors. Unfortunately its in a book so I can't post it. It's blue with orange or very dark yellow lettering. The road name is spelled out in block lettering on the hood with the road number underneath. Heralds are on the side of the cab and the nose. The herald is the one with the cursive N&W within a circle. If Scott is going to do a fantasy N&W scheme EL-2b seems like it should be like the one on the EL-C.
What we also need is a fleet of affordable battleship gondolas to go with this engine as well as the earlier VGN AE 2-10-10-2. Maybe in plastic? How about it Scott?
Ken
Ill second that on Battleship gons, Ken. I’m hoping Atlas will do a run of them. I have plans from O Scale Trains Magazine to build one, but I think after parts, paint, and time of labor it would cost as much as an RTR model.
Mainline Modeler had an excellent set of plans and an article about the gons. Don't remember the date. One big problem with scratchbuilding are the trucks, i.e. The lack of.
The Arrow (N&W H S) had an article on building them in styrene. It wouldn't be a hard job, just time consuming in quantity. Again, the trucks.
George Lasley
Can you tell me the book and I will get it scanned. Scott told me if we can get him the picture he will post it.
I be interested in this one if not to expensive,
VGN64 posted:Can you tell me the book and I will get it scanned. Scott told me if we can get him the picture he will post it.
The picture of the blue N&W EL-C #235 is on page 44 of Virginian Rails 1953-1993 by Kurt Reisweber. On page 56 there is a picture of a single unit EL-B the N&W used as a pusher.
Also, in the paperback book Virginian Railway Volume 2 by Robert Liljestrand and David Sweetland on pages 22-24, there are several pictures of what I guess could be called the N&W's EL-2B paint scheme. Individual N&W style unit numbers were placed midway and just above the lower car body stripe. Also the Virginian herald on the car body side was removed although the nose herald and the Virginian road name on the side remained.
Ken
Guys.....if you are using photos of copyrighted material and posting them publicly...like the one above...it can have legal consequences for both you and OGR! You MUST get permission from the author/photographer first. If the photo and/or book/site in which the photo appears says anything about copyright, then keep this in mind.
Alan
All Virginian electrics were black with yellow trim. None were blue. The only electric that was painted after merger was VGN EL-C 135 which was damaged in a wreck at Kumis, VA. After rebuilding the engine was painted black and lettered Norfolk and Western and numbered 235. At the time no N&W diesels were blue either. The blue diesels did not appear on the N&W until about the time of the Wabash/NKP/N&W merger.
My dad was a VGN brakeman. He was on the first run of an EL-2B to Roanoke and the first run of a EL-C aka "Rectifier."
Tom
When you combine diesel fumes, black paint and sun it made look blue especially with ectachrome film. The myth of blue Virginian diesels was expanded by Lionel releasing engines painted blue with yellow lettering. Then N&W/VGN should be black with gold lettering. I was just with a friend who remembers seeing the one unit EL2 and he said it had N&W steam style number on the end of the unit.
Tom Marshall posted:All Virginian electrics were black with yellow trim. None were blue. The only electric that was painted after merger was VGN EL-C 135 which was damaged in a wreck at Kumis, VA. After rebuilding the engine was painted black and lettered Norfolk and Western and numbered 235. At the time no N&W diesels were blue either. The blue diesels did not appear on the N&W until about the time of the Wabash/NKP/N&W merger.
Tom
In the picture of the #235 EL-C in N&W paint, 235 is sitting in front of two black and yellow original paint EL-C's and beside a string of black hopper cars. The picture's date is March, 1961. Unless the black paint on the 235 weathered to blue at an incredible rate or there is some strange thing going on with the dye in the picture that only affects 235 and no other black painted engine or hopper cars, 235 is painted Pevler blue.
Ken
Herman Pevler was still with the Wabash at that time. All N&W power at the time was black except for the red passenger GP9s.
Tom
Guys.....if you are using photos of copyrighted material and posting them publicly...like the one above...it can have legal consequences for both you and OGR! You MUST get permission from the author/photographer first. If the photo and/or book/site in which the photo appears says anything about copyright, then keep this in mind.
And even repeating them in the next post can be problematic. Why not eliminate that mindless button that allows repetition of nested posts so we do not have to scroll through the same posts and photos multiple times?
Why is posting these photos an issue ? The posters are not making a profit on the pictures. They are merely copying something already out there for the public to see.
I don't profess to know much about copyright infringement. Maybe someone smarter than I can explain it.
Dan Padova posted:Why is posting these photos an issue ?
Because it's not legal?
The posters are not making a profit on the pictures. They are merely copying something already out there for the public to see.
Not relevant.
I don't profess to know much about copyright infringement. Maybe someone smarter than I can explain it.
Very few really understand copyright law and there is considerable doubt about those numbers. I recall Sam Clemens stating that only God could explain it. I can't type for the number hours to explain it at even a basic level. It's easier to just accept that using something that doesn't belong to you is wrong w/o actually getting their permission.
Back on the subject: I sure could use some of these illusive photos of an EL-2b with N&W on the front. I was under the impression that this actually never happened.
Scott - China
This was discussed in the past six months or so on the Virginian Railway Yahoo Group. The only photo of a N&W lettered EL-2B was the result of darkroom wizardry by the N&W photographers in Roanoke.
Tom M
Virginian Yahoo Group doesn't make it so when you have people that say they saw it in real life. Unless you have written documentation it's hard to argue. If people want it painted that way and can put enough orders together for Scott to do it then go for it.
Scott I can't find my copy of Virginian Rails 1953-1993 so I've got another on the way and will ge you scans as soon as it arrives.
My Dad started braking for the Virginian in 1947. He quit the NW in 1977 to work for the FRA. He spent many trips on electrics between Mullens and Roanoke along with Hill Runs from Mullens to Clarks Gap.
There were eight houses on the street I grew up on in Mullens. Seven were ex-VGN railroaders. Dad had me on a rectifier at one or two months of age at Elmore yard office. I was on an EL-2B in 1962 shortly before the electrification ended. I have never heard a VGN man who has seen a blue VGN electric or diesel for that matter. I have never seen a VGN document mentioning blue locos either. I have seen lettering diagrams that do list black. Diagrams for the EL-2Bs were in Mainline Modeler years ago. The late Lloyd Lewis, author of several Virginian books and son of a VGN man as well, was very adamant about no blue VGN electrics or diesels. While I was too you to know what I was seeing, Lloyd did photograph them in there last few years.
Color films of the day can do funny things.
Tom M
Tom, I agree with you 100% that there was never a blue VGN diesel or electric. I've seen company drawings and color designations and never seen a blue VGN power unit. I have seen lots of pictures and slides that the engines have that blue look due to the mixture of fading, diesel fumes(including on electrics), coal dust and the film used. Supporting documentation proves that VGN and N&W hadn't painted anything blue at that point. People will look at coal cars and say they look black while the engines look blue, well odds are the hoppers were painted with a different black paint and weren't exposed to as many diesel fumes. Imagine an electric sitting next to a FM and the fumes sticking to the electric.
Also we are dealing with the EL-2B.........the EL-C is a different subject not being manufactured by Sunset.
I heard an interesting story by one of the retired employees of Mullens Shop where the electrics were maintained. The EL-3A, Squareheads, were painted on a regular basis usually by the same man. His craft was a carpenter. The EL-Cs and EL-2Bs only had wreck damaged painted, never the complete unit except for the 135/235 which went into the Roanoke River at Kumis, VA. All units were brush painted.
