Yardwork and baseball

Spent some time yesterday in the yard I added this summer to my layout.  I did not get anything done this week model train related.  I did not even go into my layout room.  My evening consisted of the MLB channel and baseball games!  The last post I did, I was stressing on my Detroit Tigers and not making the playoffs,  Well they had a great week and as of today as 2 games up on the White Soxs with 4 to play.  It's a great year for baseball in this area as the Orioles and the Nationals are both going to make the playoffs. Usually playoff baseball slows down my model railroading every year about this time!
     
Battlefield Yard is the name I settled on last week.  It's the mainly a classification yard for the Virginia Midland for inbound and outbound freight.  It also acts as a staging yard.  Yesterday, I got the track painted and then cleaned the rail heads.  This is a least favorite task of mine.  Needed lots of elbow grease.  Hopefully I can get some ballast down today for at least part of it.

Painted track.  I start with a light gray coating and come back hours later with a flat brown.  The gray highlights make the track standout.  I may come back and touch up the sides of the rail with rust.

RF&P #91 tests out the track.  Make sure you cover up the contact points on the turnouts.  

I glued down the switch ties and then painted them when they dried.  I just glued down the switch bar which will be under the switch mechanism.  Just another detail that should look OK.

New Logos on the Virginia Central and a On30 critter

Well not a whole lot of progress this week in the layout room.  Seems to be a bunch of things going on this week.  My Detroit Tigers are fighting for there dear lives for a playoff spot.  It looks as if they may come up short.  I think it would be awesome to have a Beltway series between Washington and Baltimore!  On to model railroading:

Got some Virginia Central boxcar decals done and the guy that did them for me threw in some VC logos for my 2 GP35's.  If you are interested in the VC boxcar decals (no one else produces them)  click on this link:
Virginia Central boxcar decals

The older logo on VC #5

The new logos on the VC fleet.

I also put in a Tsunami in a On30 Boxcab I recently built.  Still needs to be weathered

Virginia Midland Shops on the layout

Well, I'm finally putting Virginia Midland Shops VMS on the actual layout.  Been trying to decide where exactly to put it on the layout.  I had a spot near the yard but it was cramped so I put in the industrial area.  I wanted it by the yard but I do not have the space.  So it will have to stay in the industrial area.  I wanted 2 tracks for the shop area but again, I could not figure out a configuration I wanted.  So I will stay with a one track lead.  This is mainly for small repairs for locos and cars as well as a fueling area.  It will have a small loco shop area.  So here are the pics:

Nothing special about this shop.  The Pikestuff kit is perfect.  Still I have lots of work to do on the area and the shop.

VM CF7 "Red Baron" #256 tries the shop out for size.  It's a tight fit.  I will probably raise up the foundation a little.  It's a close clearance.

A few new freight cars...

Been kinda busy since I went back to work.  I have made some time doing various projects.  I finished a few on this long holiday weekend. I will also try to update the blog a couple times a week.  Well at least once a week!

Here is a chopped Walthers Greenville 2 bay hopper I made a little smaller.  I talked about this in my last post.

Here is a graffiti infested boxcar at Klotz Distributors:

A rust-bucket patched Buckingham Branch boxcar waits for it's next assignment:

Until next time, enjoy this great Hobby!