Weekend Photo Fun The substitute Cat in the Hat Edition

Yes, It was snowing 38-41 degrees in Johnson City, TN, pretty huge flakes

 

Great pics, keep them coming , anybody have Trees blooming on the layouts !

ITs SPRING !

I wanted to just email you a reply but I didn't see an address for you in your profile.

 

I just bought that car at the October York.  Believe this: $10!!!!!  NIB to boot!.

 

No, I'm not ready YET to unload it.  BUT.... I'm planning on trying to sell off all my rolling stock and 9 PS2 engines in 2014.  I have tons of PGH specific stuff so I am thinking my best shot is with local PGH people.

 

If I sell stuff next year I will keep your request in mind and set it aside until I get to ask you if you are still interested.

 

- walt

 

 

 

 

 

- Mike

"Small layout...Big dreams"

Mike:

 

Very nice engine shots.

Some before and after shots of a 1909(?) Adlake "Lakeshore & Michigan Southern" railroad lantern.  I picked it up in an antique shop on Thursday and it had about 10 brushed on coats of paint from various cleanup attempts over the years.  I stripped it down to bare metal and realized that the original tin coating was gone in most places (probably why it was painted over in the first place).  I decided to spray it with some aluminum heat resistant paint and I think it came out very nicely.  Much better from what I started with anyway.

 

Here is a post-strip photo

 

And a post paint photo.  The lantern in the background is my 1944 NYC Dietz Vesta that I picked up a couple years ago when I was visiting Strasburg.  It came from an antique store as well, but in much better shape.

 

 

An interesting feature of this lantern, is that the body is stamped for the LS&MS, however the glass is a NYC globe.  From what I was reading, the NYC took over the LS&MS around 1914, so this lantern kind of shows that transition between owners.

Very nice paint job, Jake!

 

Thanks Allan.  It's not perfect, but definitely an improvement from when I bought it.

Thanks, Brian.  We're getting to a time of year where the angle of the sun gives me some decent light in the garage, which certainly helps.  

Jake Nice job on the lantern.  What did you use to stipped the paint?

 

Ralph

Ralph, to strip it I sprayed it down with easyoff heavy duty oven cleaner and let it soak overnight in a covered 5 gallon bucket.  I scrubbed it down with a plastic scrub brush in the laundry sink, dried it and then knocked the rest of the loose paint and rust off with some fine steel wool and a small brass bristled brush.  Came out pretty well, but a blasting cabinet with some sort of a soft media would have cleaned it up even better.

Jake, Thanks for the info.  I am going to try this on one of my lanterns.

Ralph thank you for ther kind remarks about my new CN Sleepers.

Rich thank you for sharing your pictures with us. I have always enjoyed seeing your layout. The CN Tunnel motor units look very cool and your elevated system is outstanding. Looking forward to the Video.

These are the two websites I got information from regarding restorations.  The one tells how to use Lye to clean the lantern.  The active ingredient in the Easy Off is basically the same thing.  It took me a few tries of soaking in easy off and scrubbing to get all the paint off.

 

http://www.railroadiana.org/la...erns_Restoration.php

http://www.jeffpolston.com/lantern.htm

 

From what I understand, they were tinned in the factory (and occasionally while in use by the RR) but once that wore off, some were painted for rust protection.  Mine had so much paint on it it was hard to tell if any was original, but I could tell that the tin had been removed or wore off before the original coat of paint was applied.  It reminded me of what a couple of our heating radiators in the house looked like before we had them bead blasted and powder coated.  80 years of paint buildup.

 

I just used the ACE hardware brand of aluminum colored heat resistant paint.  To cure it you have to bake it on (which I'm in the process of doing right now).  I lined a cardboard box with aluminum foil and put the lantern along with a heat lamp inside and baked it out on the driveway to keep the fumes away from the house.  It's cooling right now, so I'm not sure how it came out yet.

Here's a few of the hundreds of pictures I took today. The F-7s were former Alaska RR.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You don't get this on Amtrak LOL! And before anyone gets their shorts knotted over the eagle in captivity, she was rescued at 8 weeks of age 5 years ago from a fall from the nest when attacked by swarms of killer bees and had a severely broken wing. The other 2 eaglets died from the bees venom. Now she can only fly about 70 feet and couldn't survive if released. The Nature Society on the first Saturday of the month takes the eagle on board to help raise donations to keep the Animal Rescue there open.

 

 

 

 

would be nice if someone would make those F units with the Eagle. Williams would work for me.

 

Rich

Thank you and yes I do have a passion for the CN

I agree!

Here's a couple more GGD Pullmans that arrived yesterday.

 

 

With a good deal of luck, they will end up in my Santa Fe Chief consist.

 

 

Running the blue comet today. Also the newest member of the family, he has not learned yet to stay off the platform like his sister.

 

   

   

 

Haven't seen that switch tower in a while.

 

Steve C.

What IS that????

Question for Mike Caruso;Those CP rail E-7s look like the locos used in the Gene Wilder Film Silver Streak!

Funny, those were the very words I said! Short answer is, it is/was a homemade inspection car built by the Katy that was, for some reason, later acquired by the US Army. The other end has rear facing windows and spotlights.

 

Full, longer story here:

MKT Inspection Car

 

redrockbill