Hi Folks: As always its been awhile since I have posted, but that not to say I haven't been starting to do a bit of modeling since the late fall /early days of winter are upon us. We had the annual Dartmouth show on the first weekend of Dec and I managed to sell off a significant amount of HO scale stuff and manged to get out of the building with only a few new On30 purchases (couple of freight cars). That being said, I now have some more funds to devote to On30 and will probably use a portion of it purchase another O scale craftsman structure. As usual I was rushing to finish a couple of small builds for the Dartmouth show to add to our modules. I completed a rowboat as well as a outhouse to help detail an area of the modules that Doug and I thought looked kinda bare. Its amazing what a few small structures and detail parts/figures can do to add depth to a scene. Attached is a pic that shows the area that Doug and I have been working on. As well , I built the tie stack out of strip wood. A simple but worthwhile project....till next time.

Hi Folks - I have survived the Fine Scale Expo in Peabody, Mass last weekend. I caught a 1 hour flight down and arrived Thursday evening. I met up with Andy Small from the NBR&N parent group out of Rhode Island. Andy had a vendor table set up, and was busy all weekend making sales. I was busy enjoying excellent clinics given by such Model Railroading heavy weights as Dave Frary, Bob Hayden, Lou Sassi, Dave Ravelia, and Brett Gallant to name a few. Another highlight of the weekend was touring George Sellio's Franklin and South Manchester layout. The hotel ran a shuttle service to the F&SM and it was only 5 minutes away. All I can say about this layout was that even though I have been following it for years in the Hobby magazines, you really need to see it in person to get the full magnitude of it...it is beyond words!!I got to meet George and also spoke at length with Rich Josselyn who has been recently been doing most of the photo shots for the F&SM (he has an article in MAR 2011 Model Railroader magazine). A most enjoyable visit . You could feel the excitement in the air on the way there and it was nice to speak with a few others on the tour that like myself had been following the layout in the hobby press and had always been wanting to see it.

There were 2 large rooms set up for vendors to display their wares and I could have spent a lot more $$$ but I had to be careful to not exceed my allowable limit for Canada customs ( well not by much anyway!!!). My biggest purchase was another Sierra West kit (just released O scale Line Side shed) http://www.sierrawestscalemodels.com/oscale/307/307.shtml

The entries for the modeling contest were all absolutely stunning. Attached is a picture of the best in show entry. The quality of the entries surprised me, even though this show as the name implies is for advanced modeling.

The closing banquet was excellent. The food was fantastic and the speeches and entertainment ( one of the attended gave a excellent stand up comedy routine) were first rate. I sat at a table with Andy and new friend Paul Smulders (from Montreal) along with a few of the vendors and show attendees. By the end of the evening, we all knew each other that much better and enjoyed good food and fine company...as I always say, Model Railroaders are the best kind!!

There was talk that next years show may be held in the Lancaster, Penn area. I am already thinking that I want to go again.....time will tell. Till next time.

A Change of (Blog) Plans

Hi Folks:

I know it has been a long time since my last blog entry, and I did mention on my last entry, that I was going to close the blog down, but I have decided to keep it "alive" and hopefully make regular updates on my ON30 modeling. I am doing this on fellow modeler Chris Lyon's suggestion...you can find a link to his fantastic blog in my links section. Matter of fact, I plan on meeting Chris at this years Fine Scale Expo in Peabody, Mass next month www.modelrailroadexpo.com Chris is one of this years presenters and I look forward to attending his clinic. I have registered for the convention and have made all my travel arrangements. Should be a fantastic experience getting to rub elbows with some of the best known model railroaders and also a layout visit to George Sellio's Franklin and South Manchester. Should be very inspiring and hopefully get me going on the new Sierra West O scale Tool Shed kit that arrived in my mail over the summer... I will give a full blog report with pictures upon my return. Other than that, modeling has been pretty quite this summer other than attending several of our ON30 groups new module build sessions. Till next time....

A New Beginning

Hi Folks:

Big news on the Nottingham Sub ...albeit a little on the sad side. The Nottingham subdivision is no more. Do to a change in my household situation, the need to have more "recreation space" for my family has necessitated the removal of the layout and turning the room back into a rec room...I have also been toying with the idea of changing scales totally to On30, so that has begun. I have started collecting On30 rolling stock and structures and plan on building a few craftsman type O scale structures over the course of the next few years and after that will probably build a small shelf type layout in the room. I will be remaining active in the local Model Railroading scene and with our On30 modular group. I will leave this blog up for a few more weeks and then it will eventually disappear. Thanks to everyone for reading...and hope you enjoyed the ride!! One last picture post - my On30 Climax at a recent modular group set-up. A glimpse of things to come. Till next time...(possibly).....

Superior Paper

Hi Folks: I am still working on the yard area - albeit at a slow pace.Vulcan Mfg has been completed and the concrete is ready to pour ( read - glue down and paint craft board). I still have to paint the crane and finish that off. I always seem to try to come up with excuses to avoid getting my airbrush out. I think the biggest turn off is the clean -up involved afterwards. I was out of enamel thinner, so that was another excuse that I was using but I acquired some of that today (along with the craft board mentioned above), so I have very few excuses left. On another note, I was able to acquire a kit recently that I have been after for awhile - Walther's Superior Paper. This was a kit that was available approx 10 years ago and has been out of production for probably the last 5-6 years. They are available on eBay and the like, but usually are pretty pricey. They are a huge kit and will probably be the biggest I"ll ever build. I was able to get this from my friend Doug (see link to his blog - White River Southern) as he had bought two of this kit along with several other kits for his large Paper Mill complex. Doug decided he didn't need this extra kit and knew that eventually I wanted to have a paper mill on my layout. Thanks Doug! Anyway it may be awhile before this kit is used as it is going on my layout extension that is still in the preliminary planning stages. This brings about a good point on kits, on which I have learned the hard way once or twice before - if you don't purchase them when they are available, you may not be able to get them later, or if they are popular, you may end up paying more...so dont wait. Till next time.

Yard Work

Hi Folks:

Well I have finally managed to get some time working on the layout over the holiday break. I have completed closing in the hiding staging yard and installing and painting the fascia.New buildings seen in the accompanying photo are Vulcan Manufacturing (still not completed) and the Hardwood Furniture (Walthers shallow relief version) that I have turned into a John Deere plant. I have also added a Rix Highway overpass bridge. I plan on having a raised town area at the back of the yard area with a street that connects to the bridge.The new fascia area has a large opening that allows access to rolling stock should the need arise. Just out of view of the picture (to the Rt) is an access area that allows cars to be loaded onto one of the three tracks. I have added an Atlas rerailer at the beginning of each track to facilitate adding cars. This hidden staging area will allow for originating and destination locations for trains. I have also added a DCC fascia panel for a plug in location that will be used by an operator working both the main yard and hidden staging area.Till next time...