Motrak
Lil' Puddy had Thanksgiving in sunny Florida. After Thanksgiving, she got lost in
my office for a couple of weeks because Susan's father went in the hospital. As
of right now, he's not doing to good. His kidneys failed and his health is going
down hill. Susan and I will be spending Christmas at he hospital.
Well anyway, I found her and she got a tour of the Motrak Models factory. Here are
a couple of picture before and after the tour.
Here she is coming down the tracks behind a Pam Am boxcar. She loved the newer boxcar
and the new smell from it.
Then here she is being pulled by a NYSW GE engine leaving the factory. If you look
inside the boxcar, you'll see a crate filled with Motrak Models products. The employees
also attached a banner on one of the doors saying "Motrak Models Products 2009"
She loved her stay in Florida but as of today, she is on her way to freezing cold
weather in Maryland to Lee's house. If the USPS do their job right, Miss Lil' Puddy
should be spending X-Mass with Lee's family.
Well, after a little slip up, Li'l Puddy arrived at North Junction on a Penn Central
turn. The car was so beat up, the yard master at Port Covington assumed it belonged
to the PC, so she was set off at Fulton. Since the paperwork indicated she belonged
in Hagerstown, PC moved her up the Northern Central, then down the Winchester Branch
from Enola, setting her off at North Jct. for the WM interchange.
Here she is crossing the diamonds where the PC crosses the WM main. A short time
later, the PC crew dropped her off in Ridgeley.
When the car inspector got hold of her, the first thing he noted was a flat wheel
and a broken brake wheel, so before he could release her to move on toward her next
stop, he sent her to the running repair shop for some sprucing up...
We'll see how she makes out after a bit of "surgery"...
This weekend took Li'l Puddy to the historic Mt. Clare roundhouse at the B&O Railroad
Museum in Baltimore. This is the cradle of American Railroading. The museum hosts
an annual holiday Festival of Trains, and the local N trak affiliate always participates
with a large display of modules. Puddy put in quite a few miles, and the operators
and guests all enjoyed hearing about her travels.
She started out the day cut into the Tropicana Juice train, which passes through
Baltimore regularly. The train was provided by Dave Foxx, and the power by Conrail's
most rabid supporter, Ed Kapuscinski. Here she is waiting for another freight to
pass to get clearance to leave the yard.
Here's a look at her train under the big domed roof of the historic B&O Museum roundhouse.
This is the same roof that collapsed back in 2003 during a heavy snowstorm. The
locomotives in the background are among the few damaged pieces of rolling stock
that are still awaiting restoration.
The juice train passes BWI Station, a scale model of the actual Northeast Corridor
stop near Baltimore Washington International Airport. (The real one is under wire...)
Following Ed Kapuscinski's Conrail units on the Juice Train, passing the zoo on
Eric Payne's module. At the B&O Railroad Museum in Baltimore, part of the annual
Festival of Trains.
Puddy emerges from the tunnels under Moore City Union Station on the Bantrak Modular
layout.
Then she rolls on back to WM country! More updates as they happen!
L'il Puddy is back after a wild and weird weekend involving many wrinkles in the
Time-Space Continuum... Saturday started off normally enough, as a load of widgets
from Hagerstown arrived on the Nickel Plate System of Eric Payne in Glen Burnie,
Maryland.
She ended up spotted at the platform of the Caterpillar plant near Bellevue, Ohio
to be unloaded. A short time later, she was pulled from that siding, then put into
the consist of an eastbound train that had a mysterious air about it...
The train disappeared into a strange fog as it passed through Eeerie, Pennsylvania
on the Nickle Plate, and arrived a short time later near Canandaigua, New York...
Only something was terribly wrong. Our two "passengers" awoke to a strange sensation
that they had not only traveled back in time, but also many times smaller than they
remember being...
They recognized the sound of being switched into a yard, but they quickly realized
they weren't on the rails anymore. Well, not directly! Willy looked out the side
door, and saw an enormous stainless passenger car, and he noticed immediately that
they were themselves loaded into a gigantic gondola! What on earth?
When they read the lettering on the passenger car, they realized immediately where
they were headed... They were aboard John Armstrong's legendary Canandaigua Southern!
Their train was going to be pulled by Mr. Armstrong's O-scale Texas type steam locomotive...
Puddy held on for dear life as the train roared through Photographer's Curve, one
of the most memorable scenes from Mr. Armstrong's ground breaking design. The boys
looked up at the giant boxcar ahead of them, which was lettered for another legendary
line, John Allen's Gorre and Daphetid!
While Mr. Armstrong had passed away several years ago, his layout lives on, although
slightly modified, in the basement of Mr. Dave Vaughn. Mr. Vaughn, who lives near
Clarksville, Maryland, was gracious enough to entertain our N scale vagabond while
work to restore the Canandaigua Southern was progressing. A basement full of trains
is something to see, but a basement full of O scale trains that have such an impressive
pedigree was beyond my expectations.
Well, the train rolled on, and it wasn't long before Puddy was back in more familiar
territory. She was heading back to Western Maryland country. But there was still
a problem...
Puddy was still too small! She was gradually returning to actual size, but still
had to be loaded into a gondola to travel across Howard Zane's Piermont Division
of the Western Maryland, located in Columbia, MD. We see her here in a scratch built
gon, pulled by a beautiful B&O steamer in HO scale.
Little Puddy has arrived from Western Maryland to the Seaport Operations facility
in Norristown Pa.
When Cyrus Danforth Turnbuckle (CD to his friends), President of the Danville and
Rigby Junction RR, heard that world-renowned and world-traveled P.V.D. boxcar, “L’il
Puddy”, would be traveling the D&RJ rails, he called the editor of the Danville
Dispatch, suggesting he might want to cover this bit of railroad history. Truly
enthused with the idea, the editor called in his star reporter, “Scoop” Perkins,
and gave him the assignment. Scoop thought it would be great if he could meet Puddy
when he entered New England and follow his path to his Maine destination. So, grabbing
a note pad, his trusty Speed-Graphic, and some of that new-fangled color film, he
jumped into his ‘47 DeSoto and headed south to Connecticut to watch for Puddy. Being
of sharp eye and wit, Scoop spotted an east-bound New Haven freight headed by a
PA-1 and CPA24-5 with Puddy in tow and set out to follow Puddy to Maine.
Next day (and after a night on the town in Boston), Scoop catches up with Puddy
running behind a Boston and Maine Mikado (leased from the Erie).
Scoop catches Puddy’s transfer to Maine Central power with a 2-10-2 doing the work
A Bangor and Aroostook BL-2 takes over the final leg of the journey to Danville
where an MEC 0-8-0 will spot Puddy for unloading/re-loading before heading west.
Before getting a new load, Puddy is moved to the D&RJ yard for inspection. Here,
we see yard boss Hiram Hoehandle (or is it his brother Hubert? - hard to tell ‘em
apart) talking to the hoboes who are trying to convince him they’re actually security
agents for the P.V.D.
Now, with additional goods added to his load (L.L. Bean Boots, Wyman’s Wild Blueberries,
and Snow’s Clam Chowdah), Puddy waits to be picked up by a D&RJ westbound.
The D&RJ’s fast 4-8-4 (purchased from N&W) has picked up Puddy and is headed west.
Puddy’s destination is Missouri.
The folks at the Danville and Rigby Junction Railroad enjoyed Puddy’s brief visit.
He was pressed into local service for a couple days before being released to continue
his journey and he (and his security agents) seemed to enjoy their stay in Maine!
After the long journey west....Littl' Puddy has found her way to the "Gateway to
the West" St. Louis, MO. She arrived from Maine via the D&RJ, New Haven, and the
Pennsy. After crossing the Mississippi River via the TRRA, our favorite boxcar sits
at MoPac's Lesperance St. yard.....
Yardmaster: "What in the Wide Wide World of Sports is a goin' on here!?"
Dispatcher: "Um, what seems to be the problem Gene?"
Yardmaster: "What the !@#% is that Ernie?"
Dispatcher: "You mean that tatered old boxcar from Canada?"
Yardmaster: "Yeah, wait 'til I tell Mr. Jenks about this one....you know he can't
stand the site of...."
Dispatcher: "Maybe you should spend a little less time slobbering over Jenks and
more time....."
Yardmaster: "Watch it Ernie! I have you scrubbing toilets at HQ....and...."
Dispatcher: "Calm down Gene
, take a joke.....besides, this one is part of a cut we just got in from the Pennsy.
Let me see here....yeah, this cut is headed down to Carondolet Jct.
Yardmaster: "Ah...to that second rate Missouri Southern..."
Dispatcher: "I wouldn't say second rate Gene, seems like them Ozark Lines are doing
quite a bit of construction these days...this cut originated in Maine, carrying
a bunch of timbering equipment..."
Yardmaster: "Well anything we have an interest in with the Frisco is second rate
in my book....get 'em outta here!"
It's the early 1960's on the Missouri Southern (Ozark Lines) and there is a whole
lot of construction happening on the Trinity Creek Branch. Littl' Puddy will be
heading south out of St. Louis to TC Jct. at Marie, MO. This is where she will be
dropping her freight from Maine before heading deeper south into Mississippi via
the Frisco.....
....I hope no one minds all the work that's going on, and we'll be getting her along
ASAP, we know the PVR misses her....
....stay tuned...
This is the first few pix I have with Puddy....I have a new camera so forgive me
as I learn to use it and all it's wonderful features on the fly. I'm honored to
show the very first pix of my new layout project -the Missouri Southern Trinity
Creek Branch- with Puddy as our special guest. I'll be starting a layout thread
soon as well....
Puddy arrived with a cut of 5 other boxcars to bring some much needed construction
supplies to the MS. An MP Geep shoves them into the siding at Marie, MO.
Though the Katy hopper won't be fitting my early '60's theme, she's one of my favorites,
and had to pose her along side our favorite boxcar...
Today we welcomed Puddy to the St. Charles Model Railroad Club in O'Fallon, MO.,
home of the HO scale St. Charles Central -"The Missouri Link". I visit this layout
quite often because 1. It's a fine layout 2. It's in a beautiful park in my town
3. The crew is friendly.....and welcoming to children of all ages....
Puddy insisted we stop and do some Eagle watching.....who was I to argue?
My layout is a 1x4 foot switching layout called Gulf Yard. It is owned by my shortline
Gulf South Rail Corp. (GSRC), and we share trackage rights here with the Southern
Railway.
The yard is no where near complete, but Lil Puddy's visit has inspired me to do
a little work.
Here's Lil Puddy arriving at Gulf Yard a few days ago. But before unloading, she'll
be going to the car shop for new brake shoes and to replace a flat spotted wheel.
after a couple of unsuccessful attempts at taking lil puddy on a short tour of the
local layouts, i was finally able to get a few pics of his arrival at the nwip tower.
northern pacific interchanges with the canadian pacific for points north
here is lil puddy arriving at nwip tower on westbound 555 extra, due to be interchanged
with the canadian pacific.
it's been an honor and a privilege. i've watched this thing from the very beginning, never dreaming i'd have the opportunity to enjoy this little visit. will be sad to see him go, but am also very glad that he is now on the final stretch of this amazing adventure.
Thanks for keeping this available. I'll have to work on compiling an article for N Scale...
ReplyDeleteLee, I might have images from SRO member galleries. I'll look tonight and see what i can find.
Delete