The Notchland Inn is right next to the Conway Scenic line in that area. Good food, good rooms, good location.

It's an easy way to get it from one point to another, just tack it in a cut of cars going that direction. As to what it is, it appears to be some type of ballasting machinery. The gons following that were likely holding replacement ties.

I know some steam excursion railroads with oil burners throw a can of sand in fairly often- perhaps every trip? Is the residue build up in an oil burning locomotive different than in a coal burning locomotive? If not, I find it surprising that the railroads would risk whatever problem there may be in sanding the firebox.

The sanding of the firebox produces black smoke because- when the sand particles are drawn through the flues they act to scrape off the carbon buildup and this is then taken out the smoke stack with the exhaust.

Quote from: rogertra on July 20, 2010, 04:52:27 PM

Quote from: sparkyjay31 on July 20, 2010, 04:29:45 PM

Quote from: rogertra on July 18, 2010, 03:06:52 PM

Quote from: Guilford Guy on July 18, 2010, 02:04:48 PM

Quote from: sparkyjay31 on July 18, 2010, 12:47:49 PM
Still no 2-6-0 mogul.  %$&()*^#@$%&**(^&&()*((&*%&%(QE

I concur.

I can't help but notice that my previous comment on the sad lack of a 2-6-0 was deleted by the powers that be.

Don't make me start a whole new post complaining....

Not complaining.  Begging!  

And pleading!
Still, there's a good chance it will be done. After enough people asked for a 45 tonner one was eventually produced. Hopefully the same will apply to a B&M 2-6-0.

Quote from: sparkyjay31 on July 18, 2010, 12:47:49 PM
Still no 2-6-0 mogul.  %$&()*^#@$%&**(^&&()*((&*%&%(QE

I concur.

I'm sure Johann will post these here as well but until that point...

http://www.trains.com/mrr/default.aspx?c=a&id=4057

Of note...

Baldwin 4-4-0s, presumably new tooling.
RS-3s,
Single Truck Birney Cars
EZ Track Turntable, for use with DC and DCC

BLI never made the 4-6-2s. They were announced but never produced. Athearn is reissuing the Light 4-6-2s in the Roundhouse line with sound and DCC.

Don't forget Louisiana Eastern... But still, are 4 schemes on 3 railroads worth it to a manufacturer? No, not really, and there is likely a brass model of the GM&O 4-6-2s out there. The K4 is a much different beast than almost every other 4-6-2 in America, and there are different types of drivers, different driver size, different cylinders and boilers, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera, that would make a GM&O 4-6-2 an entirely new tooling. The only 4-6-2 I foresee from Bachmann is a model of the Southern Railroad PS-4 since there is a large following of that locomotive.

Is 425 a reading unit? I was under the impression it came from a shortline in the south... (Louisiana Eastern?)

I could go through a long explanation on why not, but to save you time- No, they won't.

Many paint manufacturers make reading yellow and reading green. Unfortunately you won't be able to completely disguise the area where the paint came off(unless you weather the locomotive) due to minor differences between the paint Bachmann used and the paints sold commercially.

Quote from: bandmguy on July 07, 2010, 02:58:48 AM
The railroad would only use what they needed. Keeping it simple was economic.

Kind of amusing that that railroad still uses a pair of big hooks, while almost, if not all other railroads have gotten rid of them.

http://photos.nerail.org/showpic/?2010042219135126285.jpg
It's difficult to see in this picture, but there is a bunk car, 2 tool/supplies cars, the 2 big hooks and accompanying flat cars, a couple more tool/supplies cars, and another bunk car. (They combined the 2 wreck trains for this scenario)

Old Baggage Cars, troop sleepers(converted into a boxcar in this case), and coaches are often found in MOW service. Older boxcars, flatcars, and gondolas were also fairly common.

The show is just over a week away. Any predictions as to new announcements?

I haven't seen much new HO Spectrum steam from Bachmann in awhile so possibly a new locomotive in this line? (B&M Mogul! )

As for other manufacturers, BLMA has hinted at several new freight cars in HO and N, and Atlas will, with luck, be announcing more locomotives.

It looks GE, although it is shorter than the Bachmann ones and has different hood details, so an accurate model would be a fairly expensive proposition. Having said that, few will have enough knowledge of the railroad to find faults with another 45 tonner cab kitbashed atop a 45 tonner.

It looks very similar although the original cab on this critter was likely a bit shorter. From the picture you can see they took 2 cabs to build up the locomotive, likely a home job. The color differential where the door and windows have been replaced by sheet metal shows similarities in window placement to the cab placed about 3/4 of the way the original.