I model the Wilmington & Northern Branch of the Philadelphia & Reading Railway, set in 1903.  My line serves numerous industries related to the iron and steel trade, so I always have need for gondolas.  This is how I kitbashed a model of a P&R class GMd gondola, an early steel gon.  1250 copies were produced by the Pressed Steel Car Co in 1900 and they served until 1934.  My car is kitbashed from an Athearn 50 ft gondola shell and a 36 ft MDC cast metal underframe.  This simple kitbash can be done in a day and will fit right in on any pre-Depression era

October 22-23-24 eleven layouts in Omaha hosted OS Omaha 2021.  38 participants came from all over the Midwest to operate on the layouts.  Each person got to operate on 4 layouts, Friday night, Saturday morning and evening and Sunday morning.  In addition there were about a dozen local helpers and another dozen local operators that filled vacancies in one or more sessions.

This will chronicle the development of my version of Reading Outer Station.

I needed a "staging" track a the north end of my layout for passenger trains.  On the prototype, the freight trains terminated at Birdsboro, the northernmost part modeled, but the passenger trains went on to Reading, PA to the Reading Co. station there (Outer Station). 

Originally Reading was going to be represented by 3 staging tracks on the main level, but that solution wasn't visually appealing.

I have begun the northern expansion of the layout, Coatesville to Birdsboro.

Next scenery project is the area around 6th Ave Yard.  I have the the yard office and the support buildings done, now to the homes around 6th Ave.

I just published a video, "The DRE Job: A Switching Primer".  It shows step by step how I switch an industrial area on my layout and explains what moves I'm making and why I made those moves.  Hopefully this will help people understand how to plan and organize their switching.

Enjoy!

After many fits and starts I finally finished editing the video I shot of the previous iteration of the W&N Branch when I lived on 150th St.  I filmed it right before the layout was disassembled to move to our new home.  The video was shot with a small sports camera attached to a flat car with a rubber band.  So the film is a little grainy due to the low resolution of the camera and a little shaky due to the suspension of the flatcar.

That being said, I'm glad I documented it and thought some of you might like to see it.

What a difference a lumen makes.

The car shop has been busy.  

I have completed 3 more of my GHa homemade cast resin gons, which when combined with the previous GHa and 2 GMa gons will get all the out of era stand-in gons off the layout. 

Here are the gons prepped for painting:

And then in the paint shop:

I recently decided to upgrade the scenery are the north end of Wilmington Yard.  A friend made a comment about the "great white whale", the GW Bush & Sons coal dealership, so I was shamed into finishing it and giving it a first coat of paint.