Model Railroading > Freelance Freight train Friday

In keeping with Trainorders.com tradition I title this thread FREELANCE FREIGHT TRAIN FRIDAY (where "F" is Grade-A).  Many modelers seek to duplicate prototype interchange between their own freelance RR with others, and the club of which I'm a member in eastern Virginia is no exception.  The following long series of images are from the Chesapeake Bay & Western (CB&W) in Grafton, Va. (7 miles south of Yorktown), and were taken by club member Eddie Dixon.  They show cuts of cars on that pike's Langley Yard (Hampton, Va. on the freelance RR), and they're all from a wide variety of freelance railroads. 

OKAY:  let's see how many of you recognize YOUR company's car(s) here, or companies you've seen modeled, either current or previously-existing freelance RRs.  We'd love to hear from everyone on just what type of interchange you may model with other lines; this makes model railroading so much more fun when one realizes it's up to the individual modeler to depict such sharing of traffic with off-line railroads, just like those done with the V&O and Allegheny Midland, Cardinal System, and many others,  in the various model RR magazines.  This thread ALSO relates to last week's thread about Dean Freytag's "Cardinal System" -- many of his pike's equipment are seen here as well.  ALL ABOARD....!

The two, previous threads related here are:
http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?3,3803708
----"The late Dean Freytag's "Cardinal System"

http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?3,3777580
----CB&W Model RR (with a long series of photos from this, Virginia's largest permanent HO Scale layout, added to the initial thread)

FIRST THREE IMAGES:  CB&W's Langley Yard locomotive servicing facility.  The green SRL (South Ridge Lines) geep # 7450 sits among a variety of motive power, having run through on an eastbound grain train.  SRL is one of Dean Freytag's products for the Cardinal System.

FREIGHT CARS OF ALL TYPES and freelance road names are next; stay tuned for the added images.

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Freelance Freight train Friday continues with rolling stock from a large host of RRs:
(1) Carolina Rail System [Greensboro, NC area freelance] wood rack; olive-green RYRC coal car (w/ "Northern Neck Electric Cooperative" heralds - this is a real electric company near Warsaw, Virginia, but has no prototype rail service - that is remedied by direct rail service via the freelance CB&W and V&A rail lines); CB&W (Chesapeake Bay & Western) grain cars sit on next track behind the coal car.

(2) "Maggie Valley Southern" 40-ft. boxcar in foreground; Providence Northern gon and boxcar; DAVIES STEEL gon; Davis Timber woodrack; Milwaukee, Racine & Troy mill gon; CB&W scrap gons.

(3) Allegheny Midland and Ohio Central coal cars in foreground; Worcester Central boxcar; AOFX (altered reporting marks) "PYROIL" tank car (decals from a race-car set); MR&T gondola peaks out from behind the red, PN boxcar.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 07/31/15 10:00 by rbx551985.

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(4) Closer angle of shot # 3, above, shows a V&O boxcar to the right (just off-image), a green ERIE SOUTHWESTERN bulkhead flat, and a centered shot of the PYROIL tank car (it's too small to see here, but paper-copy placards, downloaded from the internet, were added:  UN1993 for whatever type of oil product is carried in the car).

(5) Another train is pulling out of CB&W's Langley Yard in the foreground, and in it we see a Sierra Pacific covere hopper (a Pasadena, Ca. club car).
(6) A "Florida Rock" covered hopper and "S&E" coil car in foreground; "Jersey Southern" covered hoppers behind them.

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(7) "Rocky Mountain Gateway" (Colorado & Kansas RR) grain car; "Flat River" scrap gon; UTAH BELT boxcar; DAVIES STEEL gons.
(8) CIOR (Central Indiana & Ohio) grain car; "Atlantic Central" (AC) boxcar; light-blue "BR&S" scrap gon with CARDINAL SYSTEM logo on upper, right corner; CB&W covered hopper in background at right carries limestone, hence the weathering.

(9) New Virginia Central (NVCR) former Route Rock grain car in foreground; DAVIES STEEL coil gon sits in upper-mid portion of this image.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/03/15 10:00 by rbx551985.

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(10) New England Rail grain car is coupled to a NVCR gon loaded with gravel; gray "PHOEBUS" (CB&W Subsidiary) boxcar; lime-green, "Chesapeake Corp." pulpwood car (rebuilt/repainted from a former TYCO car - now fully NMRA-standard with metal wheel sets and Kadee #5 couplers).
(11) NVCR gon with gravel sits in front of the green RYRC pulpwood car.
(12) The "Atlantic Fruit Express" reefer modified from a SPFE car; a gray "Atlantic & East Carolina" railbox-type car was found in the back of a model train store in Fayetteville, NC. during a trip to Florida late last year.

About that "AFE" service --- this is the Eastern version of 'Pacific Fruit Express' and it has another incarnation in  the works:  we're planning to add green-painted RBL (--and perhaps other types of--) cars for "SILVER EAST SERVICE" -- the East's answer to the west's blue-painted "GOLDEN WEST SERVICE" freight cars.  The company is the same one as out west, but while the yellow box-logos on the blue Golden West cars are yellow, the green Silver East cars will have silver box logos instead.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/31/15 10:09 by rbx551985.

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(13) Pair of NVCR wood cars in foreground: one at right is a modifed former TYCO car with metal side-stakes for "long log loading" (denoted by orange bulkheads); one at left is a SEICO-built car for 5-ft., parallel-loaded "stick-wood."  A pair of VIRGINIA & ATLANTIC woodchip gons sits behind them.

(14) Foreground:  MID-ATLANTIC SYSTEM coil car; "PVL" (Pocono Valley) RBL car; next track: blue Allengheny & Western high-cube peeks in from just off-image; Jersey Southern cov. hopper; NEBW (New England, Berkshire & Western) boxcar; Penn Falls grain car.

(15) Ohio Southern and Davies Steel coil cars; Allegheny Western boxcar, and more....

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(16) Publishers Paper Co. tank car for Caustic Soda (placard is UN1824 - another paper cut-out Elmers-glued to the placard holders); orange, "AL" (ALMANOR) boxcar; "MN" (Mississippi Northern) grain car peeking in from right).

(17) A Virginia & Atlantic scrap gon w/ bulkheads rests in the middle of the second image here.
(18) NVCR (60-ft. SEICO-built, "V-deck") pulpwood cars; "CHESAPEAKE-WESTERN" coal car.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/31/15 09:32 by rbx551985.

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(19) Foreground:  VIRGINIAN &  OHIO V-deck pulpwood car; next track: a familiar, gray-painted Northeastern RR boxcar purchased from an online website.
(20) Red, "OHIO" RR boxcar; GPSX woodchip gon (based on a prototype seen in Palatka, Fla.)
(21) Gray, ATTX bulkhead flat in foreground w/ steel slab load; gray, "HNV"  auto parts boxcar.

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(22) White-painted, Chattanooga, TN. pike's high cube boxcar; NVCR (ex-ROCK) airslide cov. hopper; "ABEL" cov. hopper; another Allegheny-Midland coal car.
(23) Green "Virginia-Midland" boxcar; gray CVSR boxcar.
(24) NVCR flatcar.

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(25) DAVIES STEEL (DSCX) coil car; [Publisher's Paper Co.] tank car; OHIO grain car at upper right; gray "Mississippi Northern" grain car.
(26) Here's an empty "Virginia & Atlantic" piggyback flat.
(27) Maryland & Delaware covered hopper; JSLX (Jersey Southern) coal car with the "OHIO" RR grain car coupled to it.
 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/31/15 09:48 by rbx551985.

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Final, parting images:
(28) In foreground:  rear of departing train has New Virginia Central RR (NVCR; ex-ROCK) and "V&A" RBL cars; 3rd track over shows another "Penn Falls" cov. hopper (I found a PAIR of those last year at a train show held in Timonium, Maryland), and a NVCR coal car.

(29) Rear of departing train has V&A wide-vision caboose 923827.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 07/31/15 10:02 by rbx551985.

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So, how many possible combinations of rolling stock can one depict on their trains?  Obviously it's up to one's imagination, but as the RR magazines are a guide (both prototype and model), we can see limitless possibilities.  Let the fun begin!

At Tangent Scale Models, we offer an Allagash gondola for Mike Confalone's excellent Allagash Railway.  

You can see more and purchase here:   http://www.tangentscalemodels.com/acf-70-ton-welded-drop-end-gondola/

Best Regards,

David Lehlbach
Tangent Scale Models

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TangentScaleModels Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> At Tangent Scale Models, we offer an Allagash
> gondola for Mike Confalone's excellent Allagash
> Railway.  
>
> You can see more and purchase here:
>   http://www.tangentscalemodels.com/acf-70-ton-w
> elded-drop-end-gondola/
>
> Best Regards,
>
> David Lehlbach
> Tangent Scale Models

Thanks, David -- EXCELLENT; that's the spirit!  I'll see about acquiring one of those as well soon.  Meanwhile, here's three more images of a VIRGINIA & ATLANTIC bulkhead flat with slab-steel load.  The decals are made of simple COLOR COPIES (yes, paper), and Elmers-glued onto the car (we got tired of waiting for decal sets that we could afford and made this attempt with satisfactory results).  The images were taken by BRANDON PAGE at 3pm eastern time, 7/31/15, in the CB&W model RR club.  The car is shown on a siding just off the Norge, Va. Spur track.

A note about those V&A "paper decals" --- I can print about 100 cars-worth of decals on a SINGLE color copy; these work well enough on cars such as the sky-blue NVCR pulpwood cars (shown above) and also for hazmat placards and COTS stencils, and even though the paper-edges where they were cut out of the paper sheets can show if not "firmed down" when applying with Elmers Glue (isn't that crazy!?), they work well enough that most people in the public who come to visit the CB&W club have no idea the difference between "regular" decals and paper decals.  Just some thoughts for those who are weary of finding affordable, custom decals.  I have a collection of 450 former TYCO pulpwood cars which have been EXTREMELY rebuilt to NMRA standards with Athearn metal wheel sets and Kadee #5 couplers; they were repainted in a single, solid color per car and have had paper decals added:  for a fleet that is destined to be sold off in the near future, they work well enough that they fool even some of the CB&W club's members:  they thought I'd bought custom decals for all 450 cars, when it cost me only about $3 for all of them -- on about 6 sheets of colored paper.  And that's all; not bad for such a large number of freight cars with identical markings.

I did the same thing with the V&O pulpwood flat shown above, and also the two red-painted, V&A woodchip gons shown above:  there are even reporting marks on the undersills of those two cars, even though most people don't often look that low when viewing the running trains.  For those on a REALLY tight budget, perhaps this might be one unusual method of producing the results one is looking for in freelance rolling stock, depending on the amount of detail one seeks.



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 07/31/15 13:26 by rbx551985.

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Now here's a question I'll wager a LOT of TO.COM readers are wondering:  just how many CLUBS out there are offering rolling stock (NO MATTER WHAT SCALE, HO, N, etc.) with their freelance road names on them?  Some can be found online, however sometimes website posts like this one (thank you, Trainorders.com!) help attract attention to otherwise elusive cars that many modelers would most certainly pay good money for.  Many of the images above were found at train shows (some of them rode the Red Unit Circus Train all over N. America during my travels with them until I could get them back to Virginia), or else were ordered over the internet from clubs (I acquired a covered hopper and a mechanical reefer from the Pasadena, Ca. "SIERRA PACIFIC" club), as well as TWO of the red-painted Providence Northern boxcars and the PN gondola shown above, among others.  There must be many others all over N. America that would like to sell their club logos; they're difficult to find online for various internet "issues" but here on TO.COM, perhaps we can begin a freelance interchange of sorts..... ?

   Eastern Maine Model Railroad Club has offered cars for both their "home" road as well as real and fictious paint schemes for prototype maine railroads for years. The income from the cars helped build their layout building. 

John

The Central Texas Area Model Railroaders in Temple, TX are offering 50' Accurail exterior post boxcars, custom run by Accurail, lettered for the Club's HO proto-freelanced Ft. Worth, Temple and Gulf Railroad. They're $25 + $6 shipping (flat rate priority box) - If you're interested, shoot me a private message.

Boxcar in the first image, some FWTG power in the lower.

Bradley Linda
Waco, TX

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