Northeastern commuter trains anyone?

Dam that is some seriously nice work for scratchbuilding. Must've taken a long time to complete. great work.

Yea, it probably did. Next time I see freddy ill ask him how long it took to build it. I remember when he brought it down though we had to park it on the track you see it on and put blue push pins all around it as blue flags so nobody would move it without him there, since it got hung up in some of the tunnels. Quite the nice piece.

I have some MBTA stuff, for how long I dunno...

Bad Pacing shot, There's a plow, diaphragm, 3 chime, and HEP recepticles. Haven't gotten around to the ghetto grills..

and an In progress picture of one of our Widecabs...

Nice! The coach needs a paint job if you ever get around to it. The purple that walthers used was too pink. Also, you have a lot of scratching and bashing to do on that GP40X to make it into a GP40MC.

Shoot! looks like i'm going to have to compete now and get my NJT E60CH #958 finished. I painted it and then let it sit, lol. Its all decoderized and lighted, but i have to actually superdetail it. Haven't gotten around to that yet, but i'll get there. Might also have to touch up some of the paint, but i'm not to worried about that.

I'm curious as to why he put those "high powered overhead" decals on the pilots? i don't think they ever put those there.

Anyway, i do a lot of Northeastern Commuter modeling. I try to stick to whatever runs in New Jersey, so i have a little SEPTA, but the rest is mostly Amtrak and NJ transit. I do have some old PRR Silverliner EMUs, and i'm trying to get some of those Arrow IIIs from IHP.

ANyway, here is my E60CH #958. there is a video here as well. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DtGfPnCdZoc
The American GK can haul 8 of those Walthers cars unmodified up a 4% grade on my club, so its about the only commuter engine we have that can pull a full train up the hill by itself.




Gonna have to work on these to make them a little better.



Here is one of my U34CHs i've been working on.



I have a full push pull SEPTA train. I'm hoping i can build a bigger layout because the old walthers underframes on the comet IIs don't let the trucks swivel enough to make the 22" curves.



Finally, i do have an E60MA i'm working on. Maybe its not technically a commuter model, but i've seen them used to pull three car short runs so whatever.



I have more, but they either need work or are just the standard stuff.

ApproachMedium wrote:Oh boy, where too start..... Theres so many photos. I highly suggest anyone here interested in commuter trains to check out my youtube at http://www.youtube.com/NJTrainSET and make SURE you watch the video for the Florida Tri Rail set that I completed recently. I just put sound in my U34Ch and that will be up on there as soon as i can get down to my club and get some video footage of it in operation. Enjoy!

For more, browse http://s173.photobucket.com/albums/w41/ ... e%20Trains

I love that Tri-Rail engine!! Where can I get me one like that.

Thanks

my model railroad is a freight railroad mostly, so the only work i've done on my MBTA set is the marker lights on the locomotive and diaphragms on two of the coaches. i have a list of upgrades i want to do to make the set more realistic, but i simply haven't gotten around to any of them but the marker lights.

the station has changed since this photo was taken too. the platform the train is on, in this photo it doesn't have all the lights. the platform actually goes further than the closer one, and actually goes out the other side of the photo, but when this was shot i hadn't gotten all the lights in. all the lights are in now, and both platforms have yellow lines too. i should shoot a newer version of this photo.

I am a proud modeler of NJT

Chessie GM50 wrote:I am a proud modeler of NJT

Good... and? Have something to share? Are you working on any modeling projects?

-otto-

For my MBTA F-40 engine and coaches I bought Microscale's Trim Film set TF-42, MBTA purple and took it to an automoblie paint supply store. He put the sheet on his computer and was able to match the color perfectly. I bought a pint of it and some drying fluid to mix with it to speed up the dry time.

Previously, I tried using the trim film alone on a coach (after removing all of the windows) and because the trim film is sooo thin and tears easily, I decided to go the custom paint route. Yes, it is a pain in the ass to remove the windows, mask the shell, just covering the yellow stripes and then airbrush the MBTA purple paint over the incorrect Walthers "pinkish/purple" (magenta) window panels on the shell. Right now I am adding some detail parts to both my coaches and my Kato F-40 engine which has the Digitrax "Sound Bug" sound+function decoder installed. They really nailed the F-40 sound;...engine, bell and (5 chime) horn to a "T." [groan!...sorry!]

However, when I looked at the coach using the correct color paint, it made the Walthers yellow stripes look too "light" a shade of yellow. I'm going to have to use a much more prototypical color, probably the "deluxe gold" stripe set from Mcroscale, to get the proper color for the window panel trim stripes.

Oh well, all I need is a nice solid block of uninterrupted time to work on this rolling stock. Ya, right! LOL

Paul

paulrail wrote:For my MBTA F-40 engine and coaches I bought Microscale's Trim Film set TF-42, MBTA purple and took it to an automoblie paint supply store. He put the sheet on his computer and was able to match the color perfectly. I bought a pint of it and some drying fluid to mix with it to speed up the dry time.

Previously, I tried using the trim film alone on a coach (after removing all of the windows) and because the trim film is sooo thin and tears easily, I decided to go the custom paint route. Yes, it is a pain in the ass to remove the windows, mask the shell, just covering the yellow stripes and then airbrush the MBTA purple paint over the incorrect Walthers "pinkish/purple" (magenta) window panels on the shell. Right now I am adding some detail parts to both my coaches and my Kato F-40 engine which has the Digitrax "Sound Bug" sound+function decoder installed. They really nailed the F-40 sound;...engine, bell and (5 chime) horn to a "T." [groan!...sorry!]

However, when I looked at the coach using the correct color paint, it made the Walthers yellow stripes look too "light" a shade of yellow. I'm going to have to use a much more prototypical color, probably the "deluxe gold" stripe set from Mcroscale, to get the proper color for the window panel trim stripes.

Oh well, all I need is a nice solid block of uninterrupted time to work on this rolling stock. Ya, right! LOL

Paul

The MBTA decal sheet should come with yellow stripes on the bottom.

Also, to the person who is trying to kitbash the GP40MC with the GP40X. Bottom line is. It's a lot of work. The GP40X has 4 radiators fans. GP40MC is LONGER than a GP40X and has 5 radiator fans. The only way to do it is to kitbash and extend the rear end and somehow get it onto a B40-8 chassis. Then change the size of the fuel tank, etc. Not an easy job.

Yes on Microscale's 87-751 MBTA Locos & passenger cars decal set, there are many lines of yellow stripes available. I also tried using these but, for some reason, they still seemed too light. I held a copy of that decal sheet against an MBTA Bombardier car and the "yellow" on the car definitely had more "gold" in it. That's why I'm going to go and match-up Microscale's De-luxe gold stripe set. I think it will be closer, but maybe the car was just a little "dirtier" than usual when I first matched the 87-751 set against it.

I set a piece of the TF-42 MBTA purple trim film on the window panel of the last batch of bi-level Kawasaki cars to be delivered to the T. The color match was perfect! I am told that on the "Pantone" color chart the color used by the T is called "nuclear safety purple" !! Ya never know...........!!

Thanks for the reply about the yellow stripes.

Paul

paulrail wrote:Yes on Microscale's 87-751 MBTA Locos & passenger cars decal set, there are many lines of yellow stripes available. I also tried using these but, for some reason, they still seemed too light. I held a copy of that decal sheet against an MBTA Bombardier car and the "yellow" on the car definitely had more "gold" in it. That's why I'm going to go and match-up Microscale's De-luxe gold stripe set. I think it will be closer, but maybe the car was just a little "dirtier" than usual when I first matched the 87-751 set against it.

I set a piece of the TF-42 MBTA purple trim film on the window panel of the last batch of bi-level Kawasaki cars to be delivered to the T. The color match was perfect! I am told that on the "Pantone" color chart the color used by the T is called "nuclear safety purple" !! Ya never know...........!!

Thanks for the reply about the yellow stripes.

Paul

There is a theory held by many people that is called "scale color." It basically states that due to numerous factors (lighting, viewing distance, haze in the atmosphere, etc.) we should adjust the colors of our models to compensate for their smaller size. For example, assuming they're painted the exact same colors, a prototype locomotive viewed in direct sunlight from a distance of 100 feet cannot be expected to look the same as a model locomotive viewed under incandescent light from a distance of 3 feet (since we typically operate small models on an indoor layout). It's good to have data on the prototype's colors to get the hue right, but it's almost always necessary to lighten the color a shade or two so it doesn't appear too dark on the model. In other words, we shouldn't dismiss a model color as inaccurate simply because it's not a 100% side-by-side match.

You've referred to this "nuclear safety purple" color on a Pantone chart many times, but very few Pantone colors are known by names, instead using 3- or 4-digit numbers. For example, the current Amtrak blue is Pantone 302. If you knew or could find out the number for the purple, it might be helpful to modelers trying to match it. I've had good luck starting with ModelFlex ACL Royal Purple paint, cutting it 50/50 with Reefer White and then adding a bit more white (and I may try a hint of MILW Maroon next time). This approach makes it possible to simulate faded paint, since you typically see several different shades in the same train.

Also, a comment on sound - the F40PH sounds available from the Digitrax website are absolutely terrible in my opinion. The K5LA horn is loud and distorted, and the prime mover sound bears almost no resemblance to an actual F40PH. I've been working on new downloadable sounds based on recordings a friend made last year from a former Amtrak F40PH. For more info, check out the "digitraxsound" group at Yahoo. The difference is absolutely night and day, and there will be updates in the future as I continue to learn about assembling these sound sets.

Okay here are some of my collection.


A little NJT action... (This was taken with my blury camera phone, since my digital camera screen cracked)..





A Marc train on NJT property as a loaner due to more people riding public transportation..







These are Metro-North RDC units..... (A friend of mines painted the RDC's for me.... )












Okay now onto my Amtrak trains....

My out of service Metroliners...



Two NJT Comet Cars on Amtrak Property... They were there to have their horn hook couplers switched to Kadee Couplers #5



This is the lay up yard for Amtrak trains during non-revenue runs..

WOW! Nice collection.