After running the New Haven box for a while on our own layout, it was off to K-10 Model Trains in Maryville, Illinois for a grand-finale run for our participation in the interchange.

K-10's is a hobby shop that happens to be tacked onto the front of a 4000 square foot layout. I don't have a wide enough lens to begin to do it justice.

Here is Crispy getting set up for our tour.



We started in one of the main yards. The blue BS line train behind our small train is one of the local road lines. It proudly goes by the slogan "We're Knee Deep in it!"



From the yard we were soon running past the iron ore smelter





then on to the amazing ore dock



From the Ore dock there is a short run that takes you past the main station on the layout.



This layout is really quite impressive in its magnitude. There are some really nice long runs through western rock formations and some amazing bridges



into the distance we rumbled.



The rock gorge is just too tempting for a little boy to ignore!



In the distance you can just make out our train heading into the tunnel getting ready to wind its way past the town.





For a layout of its size, there is a lot of detail and many mini scenes and industries. The oil donkeys are fully animated.



I hope you enjoyed these shots. Needless to say I could have taken many more. It is a lot of fun to run on this layout. The majority is DCC, but there are 2 main tracks that are DC that run the entire way around the room. It is open to the public with people being encouraged to pick up a throttle and run. For those of us that live close to Maryville, it has really become more of a club than a hobby shop.



Bill, I will package the box car up and try and get it on its way to you early next week. It might not actually get in the mail until Thursday/Friday as I have to head to Virginia on business, somewhat unexpectedly.

Hi Crispy and Simon,

Thanks for both layout tours. K-10 is one amazingly large and very nice layout. There are some great scenes such as the steel mill and city and passenger terminal.

Crispy and Simon,

What a great way to end this year's Interchange Program! That's an enormous layout, and the trip had to have been a "trainload" of fun! :up: :up:

Pete

in Michigan

Crispy and Simon,

Thanks for the Big Good-by tour with the NH boxcar. It looks like the boys were having fun running it(and I think dad too!). I enjoyed see it it on both layouts. That K-10 layout is huge!

Send it out when you can. It's been off line for a while and missed but when it returns I'll just put it back to work after a maintenance shopping. I've got plenty of other boxcars to fill the orders.

Saturday, November 1st, 1951 the New Haven railroad moved the special NAPA Valley car to it's destination.

The Hartford Yard Superintendent/Bill Shanaman was called upon to run the local/NX21 for this important shipment. (We were a little short on road crews so the railroad superintendent had to run a few of his trains on his own layout)Although he hadn't run a steamer in a few years, it all came back to him when he climbed in the cab of 2-8-2 #3022 and started he predeparture checks. The local crew engineer had called in sick that day and management needed a qualified engineer for the Valley Branch.

The trip south was uneventful and lots of switching was done before the arrival in Middletown.

Middletown Yardmaster Justin Cesar spots Bill climbing off the engine and says: "Bill! What the heck are you doing here?" Bill says to Justin: "Corsair called in sick. So I thought I'd take out the local to stay qualified on the line. Besides, Fred Carlson is in charge of the Hartford yard today. 3rd trick left a mess because of a derailment which slowed up spotting the cars at industries. So Fred is cleaning it up. You know how 'the Swede' can get!" Justin says:" Oooooo, I feel sorry for those guys!" Bill says: "I'm going to take the engine down to Maramus and turn it on the wye. I should be back in about 30 minutes." Justin says:" Ok, but watch out for NX33. Last I heard he was still down in Essex switching according to the station agent." "Ok" Bill says as he climbs aboard the engine. Justin says;" I'll have the crew put the cars on for ya and put the caboose on the other end by the time you get back." Bill replies: "That will be dandy!' See you in a bit."

So Bill climbs aboard the engine an goes to turn it.

He comes back to find his train ready to go. The special car is tucked in behind the other tank cars.



With all the other most of the other switching already done, Bill and crew switches out a boxcar for the Cleary Mill Works then heads for Wethersfield.

NX21 rounds the curve and heads into Wethersfield.



The train is broken in two and the NVRR tanker delivered to the Ballentine Beer Warehouse.







Bill and the crew head back to Hartford to find Fred happy as a clam because the yard is back 'in shape'.

I will get the car in the mail this week Allen.

Hey Bill,

What kit is that green 2 story freighthouse in the last pic? It is a great looking building and would look pretty in a town or two on my railroad!![^]

It's a Campbell Scale Models 'Brett's Brewery' painted green. The sign on it say 'Ye Olde Frothingsloth Pale Stale Ale'. Frothingslosh is a unique beer that's so light that the beer actually floats on top of the foam.

It all started out as a running joke on Rege Cordic's Pittsburgh radio show in the 1950s. He made up all kinds of joke ads for this fictitious beer and invented slogans such as "A whale of an ale for the pale stale male" and "Hi dittom dottom, the foam is on the bottom." But the Olde Frothingsloth concept became so popular, that eventually it caught the attention of the Pittsburgh Brewing Co. who started selling small runs of Olde Frothingsloth for special occasions such as Christmas and holidays. Of course, the beer being sold was really just Iron City Beer repackaged with Olde Frothingslosh labels, but the labels themselves were so outrageous that they instantly became prized among beer can collectors. The most popular cans were those that featured Miss Olde Frothingslosh, Fatima Yechburgh (pictured below), the supposed winner of the Frothingslosh Beauty Contest. Fatima was described as a resident of a small town near Pittsburgh. When not studying arc welding, she enjoyed soap carving, arm wrestling, sky diving, and ballet. I believe that the Pittsburgh Brewing Co. still occasionally produces small runs of Olde Frothingslosh. I'd love to try some.

I bought the building Friday at my friend's Dad's estate sale. I bought quite a few older Campbell and other kits for 5 bucks each. Some were scratch built others are kit bashed. They looked like they need a home and I'm looking for buildings so I bought about ten of them. I will probably weather them and add some more details to all of them.

Here's some photos of the others I got.



This was a kit bash that comes pretty close the toe Gra-Rock Bottleing Company building in Wethersfield, CT. I will add a few dormers and a foundation to make it look more like it.

Bill, it looks like you picked up some nice structures for the layout. :up:

Bill, do you happen to have, or plan on obtaining, any of the classic Olde Frothingslosh reefers to accompany your distributorship?

I recall these cars as being one of the standouts in many HO reefer collections back in the 1950's. They were first offered by Varney, or RedBall, if I remember right. Several other outfits have offered them in the years since.

John

John & Bill,

George D. did this one up with dry transfers from Cover House.

Wow! I need to get me one of those!!!

Bill

I thought that I would grab one last photo of Crispy's car on the Jersey Highlands Railroad before I send it on its way home.

Nice shot of a nice car!

Crispy, you did an elegant weathering job on this car! Keep it up! We look forward to seeing another one of your cars ridin' the rails next year! :up: :up:

Pete

in Michigan

Bill expressed a desire to obtain, and I have had some nice comments on, er . . . , ummm . . . "specialized" (read: "beer") reefers. The 'Gansett car was one of the Greenway Products offerings of several years ago. They're interesting, fun, probably an affront to the Proto-Police, and in general, good conversation starters.

http://greenwayproducts.com/a_beercars.shtml

And no, although I know the Greenway folks, I have no relationship with them other than as a satisfied customer.

Drink responsibly!

Pete

in Michigan

Indeed, the car illustrated in Bruce's post, while done with Clover House transfers, seems to be in the exact same scheme I recall seeing on the very early Olde Frothingslosh reefers (which I remember as being wooden reefers rather than of the steel-type in Bruce's photo).

John (CNJ999)