Model Railroading > Up, and Down - Balance on the Onondaga Cutoff

Good morning!

It's been ride with some great fun lately on the Onondaga Cutoff, with Rapido visiting and making a video   ( https://onondagacutoff.blogspot.com/2019/06/rapidos-fun-video-at-onondaga-cutoff.html ) as well as sharing some philosophy.  I've finalized an article too for Model Railroader which will appear in the September issue, on night lighting for your model railroad, which is exciting!  I'm honored by the success and enjoy sharing it with you all.

But, we all know that good and bad are in a constant tug-of-war, and that balance will find things eventually.   As summer usually begins, we are busy enough at home with 3 kids, weekend gatherings, and outdoor work around the house.  The layout will take a backseat to those. The hobby has its own balance too.  

Following the fun, the layout was a bit of a mess, with trains and throttles out of position after setting things up for the video shoot.  I was flying high and excited about the upcoming video, looking forward to seeing how Rapido would present the OC.  I decided to do some video of my own to pass the time.  I didn't check the main lines first - while throttles and tools were out of place, I didn't recall any fouling the main.  I chose a big manifest train from staging and a 5-unit consist to lead it.  As it passed through the hidden trackage back behind Iroquois Paper, I heard the unmistakeable sound of something plastic hitting a concrete floor.

1.  A locomotive had hit the ground.  Trucks were off, parts all over.  As I got close to it, my stomach dropped and heart raced as I saw the cab crushed, and saw for the first time which engine it was.  This wasn't just another engine.  Nope: this was my 6577, my only proper C30-7A.  No!!!!

2.  After some angst, I decided I could rebuild.  The frame was OK. Mechanism was OK.  I had a spare cab for another project that would fit the bill.  Parts could be reused.  The shell could be carefully re-glued.  Inspired by what Conrail's Juniata shops had done on the real things, including rebuilds of several C30-7A's that were accident damaged, I decided to do the same.

3.  A coat of paint.  

More...

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4.   Since I'd done the original project in 2015, I discovered ShellScale and their amazing number board decals.  Finally, some that are closer to GE's Dash-7 font for Conrail's GE's.  I also upgraded to a cell phone speaker in the carbody, and upgraded the headlight arrangement.

5.  Added the wipers salvaged from the old cab...

6.  Completed repairs, idling at Onondaga Yard.  

While I wouldn't have chosen this project, it chose me, and I think I am happy with the results.  Until there's a commercial model of the C30-7/C30-7A (and C36-7) to modern standards in HO scale, my 6577 will keep on pulling on the Onondaga Cutoff!

The full story and more photos of this are on my blog as always at https://onondagacutoff.blogspot.com/2019/07/balance.html

Thanks for looking!
~RGDave
https://onondagacutoff.blogspot.com/

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Exellent recovery - a fine job.

I feel your pain.  Several years ago I finished scratchbuilding a Frisco 4-6-4.  I took it over to the layout and put it on a freight train.  My layout was and is still just roadbed on risers in quite a few places.   1068 was running smoothly and sounding good.  Then for some unexplained reason she derailed and went off the benchwork and to a box stored under the layout.  I was sick and picked it up and checked it over.  Only thing I could find was the paint chipped on the edge of the cab roof.   What a sigh of relief.

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What a delightfully happy ending to what could have been a frustrating end for a great model!  Been there. Years ago (and I looked it up and was a bit depressed to learn it was 11 years!) I made a SP SD40, scratchbuilding the deck.  Not long after I finished, it tumbled off the workbench and hit the floor, taking much of the front end with it.  But with a little patience and it went back together and has since "earned its keep" helping haul a few trains around the La Mesa layout.  It's even undergone a few minor tweaks and upgrades since then.   The good news here is that any manufacturer is going to be hard pressed to to that C30-7A, so I suspect you'll be putting it to good use for years to come!

Elizabeth

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Nice save! You'd never know by looking at it.

As was often said at Altoona...."Coat of Blue...Good as New"!

But thankfully no one was hurt in the accident.  Great models...both of them!

Jim

No guard rails in hidden trackage?  Ouch!

At least you look like you have the chops to fix it!  Looking good!

Jim,

Plenty of guard rails - the moving train was fine, but it pushed an NCE 'hammerhead' cab off the main line, where it fell atop a line of locomotives in the 'Island' (engine staging) yard.  6577 was stationary until kicked off the layout by the falling throttle - in the wrong place at the wrong time!

Thanks for reading!
~RGDave

If it was my fault, I am so sorry! Please don't hold it against me!

If it was Dan's fault, he's a $%^@&%@%$.

:-D 

I'm glad you were able to fix the locomotive. In 2001 I had an F40PH-2D that was custom made by my friend Charls Gendron. I knocked the module and sent it to the basement floor. It had cost me about $300 and I was pretty broke then. You could hear my screams from down the street. Sadly it never recovered. 

So I started a company and manufactured a few thousand of them....

-Jason
 

rapidotrains Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> If it was my fault, I am so sorry! Please don't
> hold it against me!
>
> If it was Dan's fault, he's a $%^@&%@%$.
>
> :-D 
>
> I'm glad you were able to fix the locomotive. In
> 2001 I had an F40PH-2D that was custom made by my
> friend Charls Gendron. I knocked the module and
> sent it to the basement floor. It had cost me
> about $300 and I was pretty broke then. You could
> hear my screams from down the street. Sadly it
> never recovered. 
>
> So I started a company and manufactured a few
> thousand of them....
>
> -Jason
I guess there's more than one way to solve a problem- LOL
>  

It's happened to everyone that has a model railroad.  My daughter dropped one of mine, I dropped one myself and then there was the incident during a move where an entire box of models hit the floor.   Still reeling from that one.  

Dave

I feel your pain, but you are way faster at fixing things than I am.  Dropped my new SD45T-2 almost 3 years ago and still need to get it fixed.

Nathan

rapidotrains Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> If it was my fault, I am so sorry! Please don't
> hold it against me!
>
> If it was Dan's fault, he's a $%^@&%@%$.
>
> :-D 

Jason, Dan,

Not your fault, at all!  I was the one that left the throttle there and was just laughing too hard to remember.  :-)

In the end, it worked out well, and the rebuild is better than the original in both sound and light.  Hey, when you gotta do it, do it right, no?

~Dave