Category: Industries and Action
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Advertising Brochure for WREX and the Y&H
About the modified cabooses in the photo below: The top one was built by joining two Mantua bobbers, the center one has a semi-streamline cupola, and the bottom one has an enlarged cupola. This photo resulted because the management of the Yardley and Hillton Railroad and the management of the Western Railway Equipment Experimenters…
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Last Day on the B&O
I was remembering an interesting story found in a major train magazine in the early 1990s, very elegantly written describing the happenings of a young engine hostler on the last day of his employment with the B&O. The story probably took place in the 1930s or before. I felt inspired to set-up scenes on…
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Moving Freight Business
I remember a household moving company in my home town in the 1950s. They had a big box truck designed for high volume light weight loads with a low floor and an extension above the cab for extra light weight hauling space and hinged doors on the right side (See page 107) as well…
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Repair Crew with Jacked-up Car
I wanted a story of how RR car repairmen sometimes work in the field. I had to scratch build a pair of 20 ton hydraulic jacks to support the car. I used a couple extra roundhouse ventilators after cutting off the veined rotary on top. Then I drilled a hole for a shortened finishing…
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Thomas Visits the Yardley and Hillton Railroad
Thomas the Tank Engine visited the Yardley and Hillton Railroad and brought two small coaches along with him. Are these coaches Annie and Clarabel? The photographer was able to get some pictures of the event, here are few to enjoy. The Thomas train from the Island of Sodor toured several stops on the…
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Open Door Pickup Truck
I thought I would try opening the door of a pickup truck for another scene of action on the layout. I had a few LifeLike pickup trucks that look good enough for arm’s length observation so I tackled the job of opening the driver’s side door, planning to glue the door back on…
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Scrap Iron Drive
A scrap iron drive reminds me of what was done at home on the farm during the Second World War. I recall grandpa donating an old horse drawn mowing machine to the effort. This was probably a couple-hundred pounds of cast iron. Things like this were done all across America in the early 1940s.…
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Loading or Unloading a Refrigerator Car
I have always liked the colorful private owner ice cooled refrigerator cars of the 1920s. In the late 1980s I had acquired several plastic Varney bodies and upgraded them with paint and better decals. But I never invested in better wheels and couplers for most of them and they seem to have fallen into…
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Modern Times at Yardley
Modernizations at Yardley mean removal of the coal dock and water tank used for steam engines. The absence of those giant space hogging structures will mean a better view of classification operations. And of course I should also remove the round house as they don’t seem to last long now days. I had to…
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Christmastime on the Y&H
My wife suggested that I decorate the layout for Christmas. I was determined to keep it simple. I found some small bottle-brush pine trees among our ‘Christmas Decorations Storage’ intended for the fireplace mantel winter time scene and placed them on the layout where it was easy to reach. I placed trees at the…
Model Railroading on the Cheap 