Picture time

Here's some pics, as promised, one of the Genesis Caboose, the other showing the caboose, with the two new hoppers, and the well cars in the background, at Napa Valley yard. Part of my unfinished CFNR SD9 and the CFNR loco shop can be seen in the background. Click on a pic to view a larger version.

Stock fillers

As I kind of restarted in this hobby a couple of years ago, I barely had any relatively modern stock, matching the era which I model currently.
Also,  while I love the detail of the models like those of Athearn Genesis or Exact-rail etc., it is going to be expensive to collect a reasonable fleet.
Therefore I look on eBay for second hand items and also buy some from the ready to run ranges to fill in my roster. The detail of the RTR ranges might not be on a par with the more expensive offerings, but they will blend in nicely in a train, and can also handle a few more bumps. They're also ideal to try out weathering techniques before you take your airbrush/powders etc to a more expensive model.
So on its way are a couple of Athearn RTR covered hoppers and a few well cars, my first intermodal cars. As luck would have it, my first caboose will ship with them so my car fleet will see a rapid growth soon. Pics will follow as soon as I can provide them.

Athearn Genesis C50-7 caboose

Hi all,

you might recall that I ordered two SP cabooses, from the Athearn Genesis range.
I've noticed they are starting to ship, so I thought I'd contact my local retailer
to find out when they will become available on UK shores. Turns out, the
shipping dates of some of them have slipped, while others have no shipping dates
at all anymore , including both road numbers I ordered. They did offer a
substitute number for one of the two I ordered, so I accepted that.
So here's there message: "We have had both versions
(lighted/non-lighted) delivered of two types only. The versions you have
ordered, together with the other versions not delivered, have lost their
production date.
At this stage we can offer you ATH-G63307 instead of ATH-G63308 should
production be delayed/cancelled of the ones you have ordered."

So if you're wondering where you're caboose is, I'd suggest to contact your dealer
and see what they can offer you instead.

Exactrail goes direct

Currently I do not know what the impact is on the availability of ExactRail products outside the US due to  the following announcement from them, but my initial feeling is not very positive, I hope I am wrong:


As of May 1, 2012, ExactRail will no longer offer a dealer discount and will discontinue our dealer network. Cost of production has increased considerably for ExactRail over the last two years. We have absorbed most of these increases through our margins, however this is not a supportable model for our business. Our conclusion is that we can keep prices reasonable by serving you directly. We believe we can both benefit from having direct interaction.
The future of ExactRail is bright with many exciting and innovative new products coming soon. Over the past year we have been busier than ever in new product development, the quality and authenticity of our products will exceed anything that ExactRail has released to date. You have a lot to look forward to from ExactRail.
Keep an eye on ExactRail.com and our Facebook page for some exciting upcoming announcements!
Happy Railroading,
The ExactRail Team

Railroading in the Wild West

I recently got the book 'Railroading in the Wild West'.  It is written by John Vaughan, from the UK. It has been out now for a while. It is not often that you find a non US author writing a book about US railroads.
That said, this book is not so much to read, but to look at. It's 196 pages contain over 200 photo's, and it can therefore best be described as a photo album, and each photo has interesting captions. It shows of the way US railroading was from the what I call 'second transition era'in the 1980's up until the late 90's early 2000's, where many large railroads were heavily investing in new generation diesels, and a lot of mergers were on the cards or happening. This, all set in the dramatic scenery of the western USA and Canada.
There are some fantastic pictures, that make for great 'arm chair rail fanning', and the scenery is sometimes breath taking, and should provide ample inspiration for model railroaders. If I had any comments, I would have hoped the book to be using larger page sizes, and would have shown a little more Southern Pacific content. Many photographs show Union Pacific or Santa Fe/BNSF in action. Nonetheless, I recommend you get this.
Do shop around, I bought mine for less than £15,- new from Amazon, but there are also copies that sell for over £40,- which I believe is too much.

Sometimes I don't like this hobby

Particularly if manufacturers start to send me messages that they're announcing this that or the other, and the items they offer are all things I'd like to have.
Case in point is Athearn's latest newsletter, announcing Southern Pacific GP9R locomotives, in their Genesis range. If the recent (2nd release) GP9's are anything to go by these should be beautiful, however they seem to be shipping very close to the release date of the GP38-2, of which I ordered two. I can't afford it all, so I will have to let these GP9R's slip for now, hoping for a future release.
Another reason why I don't like it is that I've got two GP9's by Proto 2000, for which I've purchased additional detail parts, and am about to go and strip those and turn them into SP GP9R's in the next few months..... Looks like Athearn will be shipping theirs even before I've got mine done...

Sometimes, I don't like this hobby.    ;-)

Exeter modular meet

Oh dear, it's nearly mid March and I haven't posted a single thing yet... sorry! Here goes, a while back I reported on building a few modules according to the new NMRA-BR standards. Mine are not ready yet (far from actually), but some of my fellow NMRA-BR members have , and recently a modular meet in Exeter UK was held, partly to test the new modules build by various members, and have some fun operating. The below video , made by Mike Ruby, shows the results.  There's a longer version available of the same meet, with more switching action.  Enjoy!