On The Work Bench

Latest added motive power.

The first loco to be completed from the new shops at Grafton is a MP-15AC complete with a new tier 4 prime mover. This loco started out as a Athearn Genesis CSX switcher. We added a tsunami 2 sound decoder, tuned the motor, drive-train and repainted the loco in a Vermont Railway red color livery. Over all the little switcher is quite the puller even up a 2.5% grade. After the break in period we will add a TCS KA to help with the short wheel base transitions over the small switch points in the yard.

The next loco to enter the new Grafton shops will be a ex-BNSF GP15-1. We are not sure what livery the loco will get yet. This will be the second loco to get the new sound decoder installed. We are transitioning from Tsunami decoders to ESU Locsound V.4. We have tested these decoders extensively on the layout and find them to have, in our opinion a better motor control setup. 

New Tier 4 Locomotive Power Arrives At Grafton Yard.

The first of two new tier 4 locos to arrive is a SD70MAC Ace. The loco sports Vermont Railway's Beautiful red with white stripes color scheme. Originally this loco was painted in Norfolk  Southern's Iron Horse scheme. After stripping the paint off this Walther's Mainline loco we used True color paint's Vermont Railway red color. We applied a mix of Highball graphics and Micro Scale decals. We installed a SoundTraxx Economi decoder with a mega base speaker.

The next unit to leave the shops at Grafton yard was a Central Vermont Heritage unit. This loco was a Bachmann sound value equipped eBay find. Originally the loco sported Norfolk Southern's Interstate Railway heritage theme. We used a combination of True color paint colors. A custom mixed orange (P&W orange with a little VTR red thrown in.) and Conrail blue as the base color. Micro Scale decals where used for the lettering and Highball Graphics Diesel safety decals for the signing.

New Passenger cars added to the fleet

The Shops at Grafton yard have been working hard to complete several outstanding projects. Lets take a peek at what they have been up to.

The first project to be completed are these new VTR passenger cars. These cars started as a Ebay find and where stripped of their Sante Fe decals and re decal-ed with custom made Vermont Railway Passenger service decals. There are five cars in the set a RPO, day coach, baggage car, observation car and a dome car. The observation car is still in the shops and is getting the finishing touches put on the new electrical system. I hear the shop electricians are using a TCS lighting decoder for the mars light, class lights and car interior lighting. I am also told that eventually every car will have the capabilities for interior lighting.
Check out the pictures we where able to snap of the completed cars below.

Fun Fact: Note the names of the cars, They are named after 5 of the most popular ski resorts or Mountains in Vermont, just our creative use of artistic licensing.

New Engines added to the loco fleet

The first loco out of the shops is VTR 6 an Alco S3 from Bachman. We added a Sound decoder and gave the loco some light weather.

 

 

 Next up was VTR 603 an Alco RS-3. This loco started as a diamond in the rough from E-Bay it was missing the front handrails and need some much needed TLC on the drive train. Once all repairs where made the next step was to strip the engine from the B&M maroon livery to a nice brand new Vermont Railway livery. The whole project took about a day to complete including custom made hand rails as the repair shop couldn't source any suitable replacements so they fabricated some. A Tsunami economy decoder was added for sound and motor control.
 










The third loco the shops completed was a EMD GP38-2. This loco started as a Canadian Pacific project that was started a few years ago but was for what ever reasons put on hold until now. I added details as close to the prototype as I could find including making some out of styrene plastic. Once paint was done and the drive train tuned a sound tracks decoder was added. There is a video on the You Tube channel using this loco to test the new turn table.

 What to do with an old Athern EMD GP shell?

Well chop it of course!

UPDATE
PROJECT HAS BEEN SCRAPPED!

 

     GE U-23B Hybrid Project 

UPDATE

PROJECT HAS BEEN SCRAPPED!

Here is an old B&M caboose I had laying around I touched up with the airbrush and added some detailing and light weathering.

New Track Work

Finally I was able to replace some switches that created a bottle neck in the Grafton yard. I used a Peco SL-90 double slip switch to replace these switches, by doing this I gained much needed room for track and scenery work.Videos are posted on my You tube channel better explaining what I did.

New locomotive power

Recently we have seen a new locomotive on the layout. A Genset loco Canadian Pacific Railway 2100. This loco has a tsunami sound decoder specific to this loco. I customized the loco by changing out the rear LED ditch lights to red ones I had from old mini 1.5v Christmas lights. I did this because of tsunami's limited light functions. Head over to the You Tube channel to see some videos of this loco in action.

MEC 402 

Here is the latest locomotive to come out of the shops at Grafton Yard. A custom painted and decal U-18B in the Maine Central Harvest Gold livery, The loco started as a undecorated Inter Mountain U-18b model. I used True Color paint for the base and trim I like this paint over other competitors because, One it shoots really well with an air brush and Two I feel the colors are spot on. In another post here I used the B&M blue they produce with amazing results. 

The decals used are from Micro Scale decals. I used brass Stanchion from Smokey Mountain and hand bent all the hand rails from brass wire also I added some grab irons and appropriate bell.

Custom build Russel snow plow

This model is scratch build from styrene and scaled drawings,  also all grab irons are hand made and I made custom decals to use on the model enjoy the photos.

Maine Central Clothespin Car 

Fresh from the shops is a custom built car. MEC 2203, The model was constructed from sheet styrene from scale drawings, high ball graphics decals where used.

BAR Wood-chip Cars

This past weekend I finally finished a long term project a pair of Bangor and Aroostook wood-chip cars. I started by modifying a couple of Accu-Rail 40' box car kits by cutting the tops off. Next I used styrene to make the modifications to the car I.E. welded beams and extensions. As far as I can tell the BAR had two versions, A high-cube 40' modified box car and one they made from a regular 40' box car. I plan to make a couple more cars with regular 40' box cars. If anyone is interested Highball Graphics has the decals for these models you can find them on their web site. I used jade green paint for the base color and international orange for the trim.

Cooler Weather and Fresh Paint

The latest engine to roll out of the shops is a Atlas GE Dash 8-40B. The ex MMA (Maine Montreal and Atlantic) paint was stripped a new coat of primmer applied and two new coats of Trucolor paint (B&M Blue). I received a new air brush for a birthday gift and was itching to try it what better time to try it out. I have for many year used a single action airbrush so with this upgrade I had to do some practicing but after about a hour I had mastered a technique well enough to shoot paint consistently with no runs.





I applied safety striping to the sills and used Micro Scale B&M late blue decals for the body, I also added appropriate safety stickers on the engine hood for fire extinguishers and engine start. finally I used the air brush to weather the loco.

The engine is DCC with sound. A Quantum decoder provides a thunderous engine rumble from the speakers inside the shell. Atlas has put some great detail into the engine but I add a few more like scale chain and more prototypical couplers. All in all this was a fun week long project and I all ready have some thoughts on the next engine to come out of the shops. GP-20T in MEC colors maybe??

BOSTON AND MAINE 

While cleaning out a box left over from the move from Maine I found these gems. B&M 302 is a Athern Loco with a tsunami sound decoder.  I added the bell and weathered the unit.

Coach Blackbird and caboose C 23 are scheduled to have some light detailing done to them.

I am going to add some grab irons and detail parts more suitable to the models.

I also plan on giving them a light weathering on the trucks.