New kits from Yarmouth Model Works

The pilot models are done!
Assembled, painted, decaled, and a touch of weathering.
First, the ATSF 12 panel 40' boxcar.

This set of kits is dedicated to the memory of Richard Hendrickson, the grand man of prototype modeling. A better resource for freight car history just doesn't exist and a really nice guy. Richard was very helpful in the creation of this kit. He shared many photos and a great car history which is included in the kit.
This car comes in 3 kits;
105.1 Bx-48, 50, 51 Square panel roof and Trilock R/B
105.2 Bx-53, 60, 62 Diagonal panel roof and Trilock R/B
105.2 Bx-63  Diagonal panel roof and USG R/B
These kits will retail for $60.00 ea.
They include specially designed etched parts, all new etched ladder and rungs and a custom set of Speedwitch Media decals which include all the slogans for both the "map" and "Ship and Travel" and Kato ASF A-3 trucks.
and
Kit #107
The Northern Pacific 1937 AAR boxcar.

We did this kit as a compliment to the stunning decal set offered by Speedwitch Media and because our pattern maker models NP.
This kit has the distinctive lower door track, custom 15" rung center ladders, additional etchings and laser cut R/Bs and the Speedwitch decal set. as well as a set of Tahoe Model Works trucks.
This kit will retail for $55.00
The models will be officially released for sale at the St Louis RPM, Aug 6 & 8 2015.
After that date they will be available for sale on the website and at the Naperville RPM in Oct.
Hope you like them!

Nothing like working to a deadline.

The St Louis RPM is in 2 1/2 weeks and I want to have 4 new kits ready in time for the show.
Just now I finally finished assembling the pilot models and they are in the spray booth drying.

First is the Northern Pacific 1937 AAR boxcar. This car was done by us for a few of reasons. The lower door track was in a unique position compared to the "stock" AAR cars and I wanted to reflect that in a model. Also Speedwitch Media offers a beautiful decal set for this car and I wanted a model as good as the decals to show them off. Lastly Aaron had shown me this body pattern a little while ago and I felt his efforts warranted showing off.
Proper 15" rung center ladders have been created for this model and 15" wide end ladders are provided for as well, along with all the usual etched details you've come to expect from Yarmouth Model Works.

 Bx-48

 Bx-63
The other kits are the ATSF 12 panel riveted boxcars. Other than a plastic model with cast on details this car has not been offered up in kit form before. The production run will actually consist of 3 kits covering off the variations in the production runs.
Speedwitch Media created a special set of decals for us for this kit which will cover off all the variations and slogans that were applied to these cars before the application of the "giant herald" in 1959.
Custom ladders and other etched details have been created to help create a real stand out model.
I fully expect to have kits for sale in St Louis now that the pilot models are done.
Now to sit down and write the instructions.

A new Prototype to Model?

What's that off in the distance?

Looks vaguely familiar.
Toot, toot!?
Could it be?

Ladies and Gentleman!
I give you;

Proto-Thomas
Now I can model the old L&PS line in front of my house with RTR equipment.
Wonder if anyone makes a DCC sound decoder for that locomotive.

New part from Yarmouth Model Works

Just got these from the etcher.

Left hand side ladders for Rock Island boxcars.
At the request of a couple of people who participate in the annual Cocoa Beach Shake and Take kitbash project, I had these ladder stiles created.

They'll be up on the website in a couple of days for ordering.
They are $3.00 USD per fret. A fret will do 4 cars.
Postage is as follows;

Order Total	Shipping & Handling
$3 - $24.99	$2.00
$25 - $40.99	$3.00
$41 - $99.99	$8.00

You can send payment through Paypal, use my email address or email me with your order and I'll invoice you through Paypal.
Or you can mail your order and check to me at;
Yarmouth Model Works
263 Sunset Dr.
St. Thomas, Ontario
N5R 3C4

Just waiting on a friend

These guys are quietly waiting for my friend Trevor to visit next week so they can take up residence in their proper home.

The first 2 are Smokey Mountain Model Works gondolas. Some very nice kits that were a pleasure to build. I always enjoy creating the interior wood look.
The technique is a variation of the method described in the Tichy flat car instructions. I start with a coat of Foundation, any tan, beige wood colour will do. Let that cure for a few days and then I come in with oils and streak in a couple different brown colours and add lots of black ink wash. The technique can be altered to represent treated or non-treated timbers very easily.

And a pair of Ridgehill Scale Models CPR Fowlers. As a modeler of a Canadian road in the '50s, Trevor can never have too many Fowlers.
The running boards have not been added because Trevor likes to add his own real wood running boards.
Handsome models, even if I do say so myself.

So you think you have enough cabooses, do you?

I now know that I don't.
Yesterday I spent a couple of hours with my friend Wes Dengate. A London based retired teacher, whose father was an engineer working out of London back in the steam days. In his youth Wes worked as a brakeman in the summers in St Thomas and his father ran some trains out of St Thomas as well.
Wes is also a railroad buff and an active historian. His collection of photos and data is remarkable. Wes wrote the articles on the Wabash in Ontario for the Wabash Historical Society that inspired me to model the operation in the first place.
Among the things he shared with me was a list of the number of cabooses assigned to the Buffalo Division of the Wabash. That bit that ran in Ontario.

There were 38 Wabash cabooses in Ontario. 30 of which were in pool service.
There were 12 crews assigned to the west end pool. (St Thomas to Windsor)
There were 15 crews assigned to the east end pool. (St Thomas to Fort Erie)
As well as other assignments.
All of this tells me that I don't have enough cabooses. With the planning for the new layout focusing on the St Thomas yard and the crew and caboose swaps, it's clear that I'll be building many more cabooses soon. I've got 8 right now. And I'm thinking that I'll be needing at least 12 more.
I've also realized that the line was far busier than I had first thought, in the time frame that I'm modeling, (1951). The potential is there for 30 trains a day. That's a train every 48 minutes on average.
May not sound like much, but consider that in the mix is a daily mixed train and way freights that need to ply their trade.
It also means that I have to rethink the staging yards. They may need to be a little bigger, and be setup to allow for quick restaging. Keep that freight moving!

Mystery solved

And it's not near as exciting as one may have hoped.

I went over to the yard this morning, hoping to talk to someone on the maintenance crew who could enlighten me as to the reason for exposing part of the roundhouse floor.
There I encountered a fellow, who's a yard sale buddy of my wife's, who works there and is a bit of a history buff. He told me that they had been given a front end loader to train on and he used that as an excuse to some minor amateur archaeology.
That's all.
Additionally they went into the "backside" of the yard and exposed some old pilings that supported a loading dock of some sort. I have to double check against the survey I have but I think it's an old stores building.
Not terribly exciting but certainly interesting to people like me.