THE DAKOTA, MINNESOTA
(and why it should have a blog all its own…)
Well, the SP Coast Line diorama / test track is up and running with DCC (see the blog for it at http://spcoastlinemid60s.blogspot.com/), and as planned, it’s time to get lots of projects that were started over the past several years and those planned with the retirement layout in mind, UNDERWAY!
In going thru boxes of accumulated stuff, I found (not unexpectedly) lots of Athearn Blue Box SD40-2’s. The buying started back in the 90’s when I envisioned a layout based on some portion of the Milwaukee Road Transcon line. Then, things turned towards the MILW’s “Corn Lines” for about a decade and a half (see the story on another blog of mine, http://spwpvalley.blogspot.com/). So, I would still have some SD40-2’s, just not as many of them as I would F units. Counting them up, a total of nine SD40-2’s - most powered, just a couple of them dummies. Most all of the first phase of Athearn SD40-2’s – with the corrugated rear radiator grills and standard length nose. However, I did find that my buying of these six-axles lasted long enough into the era of Irv’s “customizing” of body parts, and the newer “spline drive” universals and sleeked-up motors.
You will recall (if you read the other blogs about my adventures in the hobby) that I went thru a short, albeit intense period of IMRL leanings, along with a slide into the ICE era.
I had gotten a set or two of DME Microscale decals for the layout, since those roads’ units found themselves frequently on the neighboring regionals. To be quite honest, it has been a good six or seven years since doing some bench work rebuilding / kitbashing / detailing / painting / lettering projects, and I wondered if I still had the touch, or the talent. After all, the eyes have shifted and the fingers have little twitches of soreness from time to time.
Concurrent with getting the SP Coast Line diorama / test track up and running, I configured a “workshop” that would be the best I had ever assembled in my fifty plus years in the hobby, given the space constraints and current usage of the area. Had plenty of storage in all forms - plastic parts bins, multi-level drawer sets, sliding drawers and everything else. It was time to get back to a part of the hobby that has always been a top draw for me.
Of course, my kitbashing had its origins back in the 60’s and 70’s, when those of us that modeled certain roads and certain types of engines and cars had to do it to create stuff we wanted on our layouts. Naturally the selection, road names, varieties, detailing and availability of models has blown up a thousand fold since then – and of course, the PRICE of these gems has too! Gawd almighty, if I was starting out in this hobby now, I would have to ditch my job of the past 32 years and find something that pays better than the railroad – which, for someone such as myself with two years of college and a vary narrow job category history (see my Face book page for that drivel!) would not be realistic. So, back to my roots I go here in 2011 – ready and willing to play with sharp objects, sticky and colorful stuff that I can’t ever get off me, smelly but incredibly strong adhesives, very very thin but detailed decals, and the courage to cut, slice and dice plastic.
No comments:
Post a Comment