Skip to main content

People

I bought a set of miners on eBay, manufacturer unknown, and finally got around to painting a few of them today. These two are my favorites. They still need some detail work, especially their faces, but I'm pretty happy so far.











Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Side-Tracked

The other day, as my wife and I were rearranging some furniture in the living room, she made the comment that it might be fun to put a small train display on a side table where she normally displays some potted plants. She had in mind my Lockwood & San Emigdio On30 diorama, which she's watched me work on the last several months -- but of course, the suggestion got me thinking in other directions. Since the purpose, at least in part, will be to entertain the grandkids when they come to visit, it makes sense to have a continuous lap. Since the tabletop is only about 25 by 54 inches, that limits me to a 10 or maybe 11 inch radius, a bit more if I overlap the tabletop a few inches. I'm thinking On30, so that's too tight for any of the equipment I currently own. There are some people doing wonderful work in On30 building mini- and micro-layouts with these kinds of curves and smaller, using the Bachmann 0-4-0 and 0-4-2 Porters, Davenport gas-mechanicals, and other small switc...
Post a Comment
Read more

Track Planning for the B&V

Designing a model railroad layout is always a tradeoff between many factors -- ratio of track to scenery, switching vs. mainline running, point-to-point or continuous running -- but most of all, what will fit in the available space. As I think about starting a new B&V, I've been contemplating what appeals to me, personally. I've designed and built a dozen or so layouts of all sizes and configurations, and helped design, built, and operate on club layouts and friends' layouts, so I have a pretty good sense of what I like. That doesn't mean that what I like is "right" or "better" than someone else's preference. You do you, I do me. Not what an article in a model railroad magazine, much less a Facebook post, says is the best way to do things. That said, when I am operating my own layout, I like seeing trains run through reasonably realistic scenery BUT I don't find it satisfying watching them go around in circles (again, I'm not judging ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Another B&V Out There?

Doing some online research, I discovered a reference to another model Bakersfield & Ventura. This one was a track plan published in the Model Railroad Planning annual in 2016. I immediately ordered a copy, which I received yesterday. The other B&V was designed by Bryon Henderson, and built by Larry Kedes. The concept is similar to the John Armstrong San Joaquin & Southwestern track plan in his book, 20 Custom Designed Track Plans. It assumes a route from Ventura, following the real-life Ojai branch of the Southern Pacific, then continuing north along the route of Highway 33 -- different routing than what I am assuming based on my research. Because the owner wanted connections with the Union Pacific as well as AT&SF and SP, the concept also assumes that UP acquired an early, real-life shortline that ran from LA to Santa Monica, then also gained control of the Hueneme, Malibu and Port Los Angeles through Malibu to Oxnard. The track plan is focused on the coastal portion ...
Post a Comment
Read more