WEEKEND PHOTO FUN 4-3-15-??

GREAT photo!!! Thanks for posting.......has a real 'mood' to it......any idea the street names???

 

Sorry I'm late fellas - got up really early to be out on Lake Fontana @ 0700 Hrs (70 mi away through these mountains) for a few hours of bass fishin' hosted by our office manager...

 

The beautiful D&H Alco PA's seem to come up for discussion from time to time. There is a forum member looking for a set of the R.O.W. models from the early 1990s posted on the 'WTB' forum.  Here is a nice shot of the prototype and a couple of ours from a few years ago. These are the R.O.W. models that are brass and have a high level of detail considering when they were built (by Ajin Brass in Korea). Lionel, Williams, and MTH have all produced models as an ABA set while the D&H never owned any B units. I guess as modelers/hobbyists we tend to like the familiar three unit locomotives in the PA's... 

Great photos!

 

Here is some fast fun!

Happy Easter

 

 

My beloved B&O 0-6-0 steam engine took a jump off my elevated loop, hit the table top, fell off the table, hit a "footrest" beam on the bottom of the table, then finally hit the floor. Ugly stuff although thankfully more cosmetic  than mechanical - and I can easily fix the busted up coal load, minor paint dings, etc. Still, it wasn't pretty. 

 

Since some of the mechanical issues were a bit beyond my abilities, I took my engine to my LHS this morning. I looked at my bill and saw this and had to laugh! This is the problem description - thankfully it was fixed while I waited. 

 

Tip for the future - don't lean over the controls and accidentally bump the throttle "wide open"!!!!

 

 

This was a club car from a few years ago. It's a Weaver two bay composite hopper

I picked up another WS building this week - Harrison's Hardware.  I also added a LED to the interior.

MartyE, that B&O in McKeesport is crossing 5th ave.  It only has about 100 yards or so to go then it will cross Lysle Blvd.  Then make its way past National Tube Works heading to Pittsburgh.

 

Rick

Thanks for that info.......it looks like that entire area is altered beyond anything recognizable today.  Went to Google street view and had a hard time finding anything. 

Ralph M., very hard to tell from that pic whether it is freight or passenger train. Both freight and passenger trains went thru town.  I remember when we would go thru McKeesport in the car I used to hope we would catch the train going thru town.  Don't know what speed they went but they were pretty slow.  They had to cross Lylse Blvd and 5th Ave.  Both were main roads at that time.  And 5th Ave was thru the middle of town just about.  I can remember times the train would stop and block both roads.  People would climb across the couplers.  I don't remember anyone ever getting hurt but still a stupid thing to do.

 

Rick

I did find out why it's so different..........

Same intersection.......

 

 

Also found a cool 'blog' on memories of McKeesport and 5th........

http://duquesnehunky.com/2012/...mckeesports-5th-ave/

Now that 44T is more like it. 

 

I just realized that my yardstick below - which has been around for all of my 66 years, at least - is probably a collectible, on the Yardstick Collectibles websites (there have to be some).

 

And websites devoted to it and all over eBay MAN, who woulda thunk it?

 

Here is a great grain elevator on the Hi-Rail Train Club in Griffith, Indiana.  I took this in 2013 and am anxious to get back and see all their new construction.

 

Art

Ralph M and Marty E, here's a couple more pics of McKeesport, PA.

 

McKeesport train station

 

Train going thru McKeesport.  Road on right side is 5th Ave.  Road on left side(kinda in middle of train) is Lsyle Blvd.  Building next to where train is is station.

 

Rick

Most of us have probably had someone come up and ask us about an old Lionel train. That happened to me at work this week, as a colleague brought in an "old train" from childhood. I offered her book value, or said I'd repair it for her, but she insisted it was mine to keep. No, not a 773, a more pedestrian 1654, sans tender. But, it is historic, being one of the first post-war locomotives. So, I started on the motor and got it operational. Next will be some cleaning on the exterior. I paired it with one of my tenders until I can get one more original, and it will take to the rails in conventional operation.

 

 

Here is the block of McKeesport that the B&O station sat on.....the the double track ran.......you'd be hard pressed to find any trace of the tracks, station or even tube works today......sad in a way.  My Mom grew up in that area.....lots of good hard working people made a good life there. 

Photo via Google Street View....

 

Great photos everyone!  Nothing new on my end except starting over.....

 

 

AMCDAVE, WOW!!!  How times have changed.  Even though I'm kinda still in that area I haven't been there in years.  That's a shame.  Well, maybe not.

 

Rick

Fantastic pics, everyone!

I love this thread.....thank you again, Scott!

 

Peter

Yesterday I attempted to chase CP 259. After 2.5 hours of waiting, I came home to chase this LL 259 instead

Today the CP 259 left, and I caught it 3 times!

Very nice.

Don

For all of you who know McKeesport, can someone comment on the Western Pennsylvania Model Railroad Museum's rendition in HO of McKeesport.  Is the station and or crossings shown in the photos here the ones  they modeled.  I grew up in Butler County and have been living here again for the last 20 years.  I have very seldom been in the Mon Valley.

Thanks!!

 

Once again, great photos everyone!!

My new RDC  Just checked with 3rd rail about scale pilot and Kadees.  They are coming soon.

A recent weathering project on the mainline blocking the ACL through train on the ACCR:

 

Hi Dave:

 

Thanks for posting this and the other photos which brought back some memories.  Attached are two more shots of that same intersection from different angles.  These photos are from Bill Volkmer’s Book “Pennsylvania Trolleys in Color, Volume III, The Pittsburgh Region.  Shown are Pittsburgh Railways PCC streetcars whose tracks along 5^th Avenue crossed those of the B&O.  That yellow and orange bus in your photo is a Pittsburgh Railways bus that replaced the streetcars in 1963.

 

I worked part-time at Cox’s Department Store on 5th Avenue while attending the McKeesport campus of Penn State.  It was a busy place then.

 

Those train tracks were a constant subject of controversy in McKeesport as discussed in this article: Click here: Local History @ tubecityonline.com

 

Bill

Agree with everyone on this one, from the National Records store front,  Hanover shoes and 1 day loans buildings and 1950's era looking signage.  Add in the late 1950's bus awaiting clearance to cross the tracks........  lots of great vintage action.

 

Mark

Here are photos of an MTH N&W Y6b I sold to a great Forum member this week.  I really like it, but felt smaller steam looks better in my small space.  I'm glad he can let it stretch it's legs.

 

The great B&O photo got me going so here is my vintage view for the evening:

 

From 1952:  San Francisco Municipal Railway Trolley#1109 on Market Street passing the Lowe's  in the summer of 1952,  complete with the new film of the week with Fred Astaire and Vera Ellen......  lots of great vintage action on the street.

 

Here is updated pic's of my K-line Western Maryland Ribbed 2 Bay Coal Hopper with coal load with new trucks from Boxcar Bill.  

I have enjoyed all the comments about the views of McKeesport.  I have lived in the Pittsburgh area my entire life.  My understanding is that the B&O tracks that sliced through the heart of McKeesport were quite a problem, especially with regard to traffic.  As a result, the B&O was rerouted onto the P&LE which ran by the edge of town (along the Monongahela River) in the early or mid 1960's (1964 I think?).  Once completed, the B&O tracks in downtown McKeesport were removed.  I assume work was  done on the P&LE as well...the bridge carrying it over the mouth of the Youghiogheny River as it spills into the Mon is of relatively modern construction given its lack of lacing bars and the prescience of oval cut outs in the girders.

I would have only have been around 8 years old at the time, and never got to that area until I started driving in 1972, but I've heard many stories about it from the old time model railroaders around here who saw it first hand. 

 

Presumably, this photo shows the removal of the tracks once the relocation was completed.

 

I thought I'd show off our new UP / SP turntable arch for anyone who didn't see it in the announcement board. These will be done with lost wax castings.

Looking forward to showing them off at York and here once I have samples.

 

My old layout with K-line Milwaukee passenger cars. Don

 

 

  Traveling companion...

Great modeling, and love the Kadee magnets! Excellent track work, and ground cover!

SOO LINE INTERMODAL SERVICE trailers on flat cars by MTH

 

 

 

 

My brother's grandson,Jaysson,sees a model train for the first time.He had to give the rubber ducks a ride on the train.

Dan