Bob: there is always room for your comments...they have been an invaluable resource to this modeler. Rich: I have seen your posts removed because you mentioned another manufacturer's products...is this against the rules? If so, I do understand as the cost of maintaining this excellent website/forum falls on Bachmann Trains. I guess this is the first time I have run into a removal for that purpose. C'est la vie.
Back on topic...has anyone seen those new Bachmann logging cars? The flat car with the stationary steam engine (I think it is called a "skidder") really interests me and would fit in nicely on my layout. Logging, and its related industries, were "major players" in upstate New York communities during the 19th century. Hmm, I might have to come up with a small sawmill.
Mentioning logging reminded me that cider mills were frequently found in communities throughout the Hudson Valley. I remember, as a kid, taking a tour through a local cider mill (sadly, it was torn down for a strip mall). It should be pointed out that the two major industries of the time were milk processing/shipping, and the transport of coal (in the 1860s through the 1880s much of this material was hand-shoveled onto and off gondolas...they produced MEN in those days). The old Bachmann gondolas make a good stand-in for these "coal" cars. I like to lightly sand off the road names (usually either U.P.R.R. or C.P.R.R.) then take a rather coarse file to "distress" the wooden side boards. When everything looks pleasantly "used", I then repaint the entire car...keep in mind most 19th century rolling stock was garbed in rather drab colors. After painting I then add my N.D.& C. lettering with either decals or dry transfer lettering. With a simple (relatively) change in couplers and wheel sets your have a rather nice model. While a gondola didn't carry much - it didn't take too many of them to tax the tractive power of an American 4-4-0...one of the reasons that the Consolidation came on the scene so fast.
Keep smiling,
Ray
Back on topic...has anyone seen those new Bachmann logging cars? The flat car with the stationary steam engine (I think it is called a "skidder") really interests me and would fit in nicely on my layout. Logging, and its related industries, were "major players" in upstate New York communities during the 19th century. Hmm, I might have to come up with a small sawmill.
Mentioning logging reminded me that cider mills were frequently found in communities throughout the Hudson Valley. I remember, as a kid, taking a tour through a local cider mill (sadly, it was torn down for a strip mall). It should be pointed out that the two major industries of the time were milk processing/shipping, and the transport of coal (in the 1860s through the 1880s much of this material was hand-shoveled onto and off gondolas...they produced MEN in those days). The old Bachmann gondolas make a good stand-in for these "coal" cars. I like to lightly sand off the road names (usually either U.P.R.R. or C.P.R.R.) then take a rather coarse file to "distress" the wooden side boards. When everything looks pleasantly "used", I then repaint the entire car...keep in mind most 19th century rolling stock was garbed in rather drab colors. After painting I then add my N.D.& C. lettering with either decals or dry transfer lettering. With a simple (relatively) change in couplers and wheel sets your have a rather nice model. While a gondola didn't carry much - it didn't take too many of them to tax the tractive power of an American 4-4-0...one of the reasons that the Consolidation came on the scene so fast.
Keep smiling,
Ray