I hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving?
Since the last post where I got a shot of the new ALCo's sitting in Malvern, I heard that the W&OV has acquired a few more, but have yet to see them around the shop. From the scuttlebutt I've heard they scored two more RS11's. One's in the Central Vermont green scheme and the other is an older maroon Lehigh Valley. The last one is suppose to be another red Lehigh Valley C420. It would seem as though they fetched a pretty penny for the two large Centuries?
With all this color, they are going to give The Rock a run for their money who has always seemed to have rainbow consists. Once they arrive I'll get some shots.
*****
Nothing new on the construction in Malvern but I would assume it should be starting again here shortly.
Since the last ops session in Nov, I took a bit of a break and got some
other things done that has been piling up on the workbench. A friend
wanted an HO boxcar weathered so got out the weathering supplies and got
after it. While I had the stuff out I decided to get a few cars of my own
weathered up and put them on ebay to see if I could bring in a little
extra dough for the holidays.
Just the other day I heard that KATO has announced a new loco, they're F2 A&B's. One of the sets that I have my eye on is a pair of Rock Island F2A's in the Red and Black scheme! I've always been a sucker for this scheme.
While it's from a much earlier time frame than what my layout is focused on now, they will look good with some of the other Red and Black units that I've picked over the years.
This had prompted me to rethink the layout a bit. No, I'm not tearing things down or changing era's completely, but I do think I'll be thinning out the herd even more than I have been. With the acquisition of the F2A's I should have almost enough older locos to run within a earlier era, say the early to mid 1960's, the time of my youth.
If I do not have enough locos to fill all the needs, I can always call upon some of the maroon units that I have like GP's, RS's and even a few steamers that are in storage and let them stretch there legs a bit. I have gaggle of LifeLike FA's in the Red and Black scheme as well as some undecs that will be painted in the solid maroon or maroon with stripes for more variety.
I don't think I will have to swap out any buildings or signs as the era will be close enough that it shouldn't matter. The only thing that might look kind of funny would be seeing FT's pull some modern 5800 cuft plastics hoppers, but such is life. Who knows, you might even spot a Blue and White geeps mixed in the consist with some FA's?
Back the layout, my next major project will be to finish a few more buildings so that I can get their foot print figured out and I can some grass down. I just about have the Heavy Metal building ready and the next will be the Olin-Chlor plant in the corner, followed by Frump Gas & Supply in the middle of the old Wye just outside of town.
Stay tuned...
