New Years

I haven't been able to get much done over the past 3 weeks due to work, Christmas, and family.

I received a few items to help me with workin' on the railroad. I'll probably get a nice tools (or set of tools) with my Birthday & Christmas gift money (perhaps that micro mill I've been wanting to get).

There were a variety of gifts, such as the ever in demand On3 wheelsets and DSP&P decals. Here are a few notable items:

Smooth Cast resin. With a slightly longer (in practice) pot time than the alumilite I have previously used, and much lower viscosity, I'm hoping it is actually of value (unlike alumilite).

Coronado's DSP&P Link & Pin couplers. 8 pairs of these was great. They are always in short supply, so I was really happy to receive these.


1905 C&S boxcar lettering. Last year I received a pair of extremely disappointing Ye Olde Huff'n Puff kits...a Tiffany Reefer and a C&S boxcar. I tried to salvage the original, pathetic paint & lettering job on the Tiffany (would you believe that despite what their directions said, Floquil Reefer White didn't match the car's paint) ...I then either severly modified our outright modified every detail part in the kit...and sawed all the parts down to the correct dimensions. The boxcar's dimensions are closer, but its lettering job is the single worst job I've ever seen on a car...including hand lettered cars. Not only is the placement and quality of the lettering terrible, some of it is wrong! (such as the car having been last shopped in Ridgeway...Ridgeway? It is a C&S car, not a RGS car!?!) So I'll be striping the paint off and applying these new decals.


For Christmas, Lisa picked up a passenger car decoder and a pair of Nn3 car kits for me. I'm not switching to Nn3, but I've wanted to build a kit for a while. She gave me a C&S caboose and an EBT hopper. If I decide to get an EBT 2-8-2, I'll letter the bobber to one of the pre-8wheel EBT cabeese. Unfortunately, adding a locomotive will be in the distant future since I won't make much budget available for non-On3 items.Nn3, HOn3, and On3. HOn3 uses Z-scale track and wheels. The Nn3 car is a model of C&S #1002. The HOn3 is a model of the 1005, and the On3 model is of 1006. I've removed all the flash from the 1002 and partially preped the frame.