Rocking it on Godinez - The first Rock Island train hits the rails

After a busy weekend sent shifting boxes, unpacking boxes, repacking boxes and taking boxes to the charity shop... I finally cleared enough space in the man cave to start sorting out the rolling stock which has been accumulating over the years.  

First order of business was to get Godinez up and running again, this time with some Rock Island rolling stock instead of the random roadnames I usually run with.

I found I had put together a pretty respectable stack of Kadee rolling stock  from various second-hand purchases and ebay auctions, these gave me enough to run a pretty decent branchline train.  

 

The short Kadee hoppers are more suited to cement duty but a full-size grain car would dwarf the short spur track on the layout.

Once I was able to find my Proto GP9's one of them spent a good few hours testing the layout this evening.  The layout runs pretty well, aside from a slight connection problem that seems to affect the GP9 on one section of track. 

A GP30 handles the same section without any trouble, so I suspect the scenery is fouling the GP9 and causing it to lose pickup.

The good news is that the various accessories and crossing signal lights and audio still work, as do all the points.  The barrier gate and searchlight signal have given up the ghost and will need to be repaired.

I will strip and repaint the backdrop this summer while the weather is still dry.  It was originally covered in paper and the surface has bubbled over the years, a few coats of paint and some fine sandpaper should get the backdrop looking good as new. 

I will also need to refresh the trees and groundcover as some of it has seen better days.  I have plenty of woodland scenics in appropriate shades so I will be able to spruce things up without spending any extra cash.

Geep Wreck - Proto Packaging Claims Another Victim

I picked up a nice looking mint condition Proto GP9 in the early maroon paint scheme, but unfortunately the curse of the Proto 2000 packaging struck while it was en-route to me in the post.

These older Proto models are designed to be shipped with the body shell and the chassis in separate parts of the box.  The seller didn't realise this and shipped the model in one piece.  There is too much room in the box and the model was free to slide back and forth in transit. So much so that the front pilot ended up completely mashed and most of the rooftop details were shorn off.

It was certainly a sorry sight when I opened the box.  Turned out that the seller was a top bloke and he sorted everything out for me, but I now have yet another unexpected basket case for the 'to do' box.

I was hoping to put this unit straight to work on Godinez, but with the damage it's sustained it will take a while before it sees the rails again.

If you are buying a boxed Proto on eBay then be sure to e-mail the seller and ask them to dismantle the model before shipping.  It's unlikely to make the journey in one piece otherwise!

A layout at home

After over a year of procrastinating I still hadn't got around to actually starting work on my home layout, I started looking into the possibility of buying something ready made and even bid on a couple of different ones on ebay.

I got talking to one of the chaps at the club and discovered that he had a layout in storage there which was in need of a new home, so after a bit of negotiating, I finally have myself a home layout, and not just any layout - this one is rather special.

I am now the proud new owner of Godinez, Iowa - a compact exhibition layout based on a fictional Rock Island branch line in the mid fifties.

The layout was originally built by Peter North in 2008 and has been shown at several exhibitions as well as appearing as layout of the month in Continental Modeller magazine.

It's a beautifully detailed layout and packs a lot into a very small space, with an entire small town and grain elevator crammed into its five feet length.

The layout has been in storage for the past couple of years, so it needs a little bit of tlc and some minor repairs, I will also need to repaint a few locomotives for Rock Island as I don't have anything suitable in my roster.

I've started a dedicated blog here to track the progress of the layout as I get it up and running again and hopefully attend a show or two.