On the Layout: ECC (Walthers) Hazmat Fire Truck

 The Easter Bunny brought me one of Walthers hazmat fire trucks.  This truck has had the East Coast Circuits treatment.  Tons of lights have been added to this model.  Installation on the layout consisted of connected to wires to a power source.  It was up and flashing in a matter of minutes.  Decals will need to be added to the truck at some point.  East Coast Circuits does great work, and I know more of ECC vehicles are in my future. 

Workbench Wednesday: Rapido GO Transit Cars

I've collected a number of ESU 5 Fx decoders in anticipation of the arrival of Rapido's Bi-level cars.  It was finally time to put them to good use.  I had planned to just program the lighting features for each car, but I came across Christoper Balestri's Etobicoke Central Railways blog post about his sound project for these GO Transit cars.  After a couple emails and an exchange of a few (Canadian) dollars, I had the sound file and began downloading the project onto the decoders.  

There are tabs near each door that need to be detached from the frame to get the shell off.  I found toothpicks work great.  Once the tabs are separated, just rock the frame back and forth while holding the coupler boxes.

Speakers are already installed in each of Rapido's cab cars.

Out with the old DCC plug....

...In with the new ESU decoder.

Workbench Wednesday: St. Lawrence & Atlantic Boxcar

 Back in August 2024 I picked up an Athearn Blue Box St. Lawrence & Atlantic boxcar at the Concord Model Railroad Show.  The boxcar was missing a door.  I found a very cheap Blue Box boxcar at last month's train show in St. Albans.  This kit had a yellow Railbox door.  

I liked the idea that it was possible the SLR boxcar needed to replace the door and all they could get was an old Railbox car's door before it was scraped.  SLR didn't really feel the need to paint the door to match the rest of the car.  

While I was working on the car, I added a little more weight to the inside to bring the car up to NMRA standards.  Voila, project done!

While at the show, I picked up a few other items.  I found a couple Intermountain hoppers with a paint scheme that I've been wanting to add to my collection.  The price was right and now they're running on the layout.

I also picked up a few more DVDs from Tell Tale Productions.  Jim Jones, the owner, makes videos and books on local railroads.  The DVDs are great to have on while sitting at my workbench. The books are a nice read, too.

Trackside Photo

Empty grain cars on a CN freight train just west of Oshawa. Their next stop is MacMillan Yard and then out to the Prairies.