Greetings from Vermont

 

Enosburg Falls, Vermont, September, 1941, Jack Delano, FSA-OWI Collection, Library of Congress

I spent several days in Vermont over the past week visiting with family. There were two outings that were tangentially related to railroads that I want to share. We had dinner in Enosburg Falls one evening with a family member who resides there. It is a quaint smallish town near the Canadian border with typical New England charm. It still has a town green/square (Lincoln Park) that even featured an orchestra playing favorites from film as part of an outdoor evening concert. Back in the day, the town was on the Central Vermont's Richford Branch (named the Missisquoi [sic] Branch on the Sanborn map) to Richford. It is as bucolic a modeling subject as your mind conjures. There's even some dude in Virginia modeling the branch! [Marty's blog contains all the details] Many of the bones of the line are still there, albeit as paved rail trails and heavily modified structures. It's an interesting walk into the past nonetheless if you squint and imagine.

New England Dairies, Enosburg Falls, Vermont, September, 1941, Jack Delano, FSA-OWI Collection, Library of Congress

Enosburg Falls Sanborn map, illustrating the area from the photo at top of the page, circa 1920

The other railroad-related outing was a walk with my wife on the Lake Champlain causeway. The causeway was created in 1901 to span Lake Champlain from Colchester to South Hero Island, Vermont (north of Burlington). There was a bridge, as well, that is now gone, replaced by in season ferry service to span the 200-foot gap in the causeway. Today, it's a path used by tons of cyclists and a smaller number of walkers/hikers. 

There's an avian critter (Great Blue Heron) in the angle formed by the tree's trunk and the large stone

A few things from St. Louis

New York Central System Historical Society

I brought home a few things from the St. Louis RPM. The first is a Sunshine Models kit of a Northern Pacific fifty-foot heavy insulation refrigerator car. I missed these when originally offered and managed to find one at the Resourced Rails table at the meet. The prototypes were built by the Despatch Shops in East Rochester, New York in 1946. At the time they were unusual for their length as well as the extra insulation for frozen food shipments. The kit looks like a fun project. I will create my own decals with NYC-style typeface stenciling to match that of the prototype. PS - you can order high res scans for $5 each of these cars at the NYCSHS site (links here and here) A more thorough post about these prototypes will follow at some point.

The next of the loot is a Monon container gondola offered by Forbes Train Models (Doug Forbes.) It's a 3D print of the prototype. Doug also offers a few other versions of the cars. The modeler adds the details such as grabs, wire, trucks, couplers, etc. The first page of the instructions, including Doug's email is included below. These are well-rendered straightforward kits, but are designed to allow varying levels of detailing, from basic up to completely tricked out. The images above are the 3D-printed body with a shot of Tamiya fine surface primer (aerosol can.)

From Dave Hussey's PBase gallery... link below

Last and out of era for me is the Cannon & Company kit for the Northern Pacific's 5300-series combination door waffle cars from Pacific Car & Foundry, kit FC-5015. I know it's too modern for me. However, I have always liked the premise of these kits (as well as the Modeler's Choice line) and relish the challenge of building one up someday. Link to Dave Hussey's PBase image gallery for the prototype and model.