Model Railroading > Burlington Northern Business Train along the Mississippi

Recently, I was able to put together and photograph this Burlington Northern business train, something I had been wanting to do since seeing the real thing at the Galesburg Railroad Days back in the early 90's.

I built the Mississippi River business car on the rear end, but the rest is others' work. The F's and from Overland, the coach and sleepers are from Rapido, while the railroad belongs to another local modeler in Kansas City.

Photos 1-2: Here, the train is seen heading north along the Mississippi River, just south of Hannibal, MO.

For the record, this was my very first experiment with Helicon Focus software for the photography, and I was pretty happy with the results. I had first read of this program in a Lance Mindheim article a few years ago, and finally decided to give it a shot. I allows you to greatly enhance the depth of field in your image by stacking multiple images, each with different focal points on top on each other, and merging them together into one image. You can see it for yourself here: http://www.heliconsoft.com/heliconsoft.../helicon-focus/

Thanks for looking,
- Jeff Carlson

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After turning the train, I spent some time photographing the business car "Mississippi River" that I had just recently finished. This car is THE car that Kato modeled as their business car, but by the time the BN got it, there had been a number of modifications to it. A few windows had been patched, the rooftop antenna array was completely different, new tubular diaphragms, track lights mirrors, air hoses and HEP cables were installed as well. The paint was from Scalecoat, and the decals were from Microscale.

Thanks for looking,
- Jeff Carlson



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/12/18 20:42 by bnsfsd70.

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Damn---oops, I meant darn----I like everything I see in your photos! Great work on the models and compliments to whoever owns the layout!

Thanks a lot! I'll be sure to pass on the kind words.

- Jeff

ghemr Wrote:
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> Damn---oops, I meant darn----I like everything I
> see in your photos! Great work on the models and
> compliments to whoever owns the layout!

I'm in ahhhhhhh 20 stars

can we see pic's of the business cars



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 05/12/18 22:22 by bnsfmodeler.

WOW!!!

The photography was superb as was the subject. That layout must be astonishing right up to the kudzu on the poles!

cabman Wrote:
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> The photography was superb as was the subject.
> That layout must be astonishing right up to the
> kudzu on the poles!

Yes, that is some really fine modeling. Especially the way the tracks look, plus all the weeds, trees, etc. Very realistic.

Got me! Had to look twice to insure it was a model. Love the details that you have in your scenery. Well done.

Me too! Superb!

Bill Deaver
Tehachapi, CA

Every aspect of these photo's is superb. Shout out to the layout's owner. Well done!

Very nice Jeff, and thanks for sharing. I covered photo stacking software on the Model Railroader discussion board a few years ago. One guy argued with me that he could do better with conventional equipment though he had never used the software...He was an old timer and just would not accept modern technology.

Victor A. Baird
http://www.erstwhilepublications.com



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/13/18 10:21 by wabash2800.

Impressive! Good job to all! Just got home from Ole Miss, love that kudzu!

Nicey nice.

Yeah, I totally understand. Using the same camera, but admittedly longer lens, I took the following shot a few months ago WITHOUT the Helicon software, and as you can see, it gets pretty fuzzy towards the rear of the photo. Say what you will of it being "cheating," but I say that you use the tools that are available to you. If not, we'd all still be using the cameras they used during the Civil War.

- Jeff Carlson

wabash2800 Wrote:
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> Very nice Jeff, and thanks for sharing. I covered
> photo stacking software on the Model Railroader
> discussion board a few years ago. One guy argued
> with me that he could do better with conventional
> equipment though he had never used the
> software...He was an old timer and just would not
> accept modern technology.
>
> Victor A. Baird
> http://www.erstwhilepublications.com

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Well, the four cream and green cars are all straight out of the box from Rapido, so the only notable one is the Mississippi River that I posted some shots of above. Unfortunately, Rapido did these cars in two separate batches, and the "cream" on half of them is more of a lime green, so they didn't make it out for these photos. Perhaps they'll get repainted someday.

- Jeff

bnsfmodeler Wrote:
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> I'm in ahhhhhhh 20 stars
>
> can we see pic's of the business cars

Thanks again for all of the kind words, everyone! It was fun to at least temporarily recreate some memories from my childhood (sorry, I'm quasi-young).

- Jeff Carlson

Wow, superb train and photography!

Rich

Fantastic all around. Let's see more of that layout!

dt

> That layout must be astonishing right up to the
> kudzu on the poles!

Just south of Hanibal MO that would be Virginia creeper, ivy or grape. Kudzu is further south. And, given the lush season of the photo kudzu wouldn't be an itty bitty clump on a pole!