On the outskirts of town...

[doctorwayne]

a harbinger of things to come.
I was out near Hoffentoth Bros. icehouse the other day, near the outskirts of Dunnville. The Grand Valley's north-south mainline splits here, with the track in the foreground dropping down on a steep grade to the industrial area of town, and, eventually, to the West Dunn yards and engine terminal. The centre track, meanwhile, heads up-grade to the Dunnville passenger station, and from there to the Grand River bridge and the interchange with the EG&E. The track in the background, the only level track in the area, is the siding for Mercury Knitting Mills.

I was about to head back to my car, as there didn't seem to be much happening, when I heard an air horn in the distance. In about 10 minutes, and without further warning, a diesel burst from behind the trackside trees, the hogger widening on the throttle for the grade ahead, even though his train was still rolling down-grade.

Looks like the Grand Valley, chronically short of motive power, has leased another CNR loco. And because the RS-3 has no boiler for train steam, another visitor was in attendance, FPB-4 262, from the EG&E.

CNR 8520 is a regular around here.

As is NYC 4748.

CNR RPO/Baggage 7776 is also a frequent visitor.

The Grand Valley's own Willowgrove, or one of her sisters, is the usual passenger accomodation on this run. Doesn't look too crowded.

The EG&E's air-conditioned coach Seneca is a bit of a surprise, though, as she's usually in the consist of her home road's Grand River Chief.

And bringing up the rear, another regular visitor, Macassa.

While it's always nice to see a train, this one kind of made me wish that I'd left when I originally intended to: the passenger business was dying. Oh, sure, express business was still fairly strong (trucks will take that soon enough, though), but the writing was on the wall for these coaches. Perhaps for the railroad itself.

Wayne

 

[UP SD40-2]

NICE passenger train roll-by Wayne!:thumb: i really liked the Alco B unit, and the diaphrams look FANTASTIC!:thumb: :thumb: :thumb: Wayne, who makes those diaphrams? would they work on streamliner cars? THANKS! -Deano

 

[Herc Driver]

That was great. That last shot was the best IMHO with the grade just in the distance and speed limit sign in view. Is that real rocks in view between the two levels of tracks? It sure looks it...like concrete slab broken up.

 

[chessie4155]

Excellent rollby Wayne; Always a pleasure to see your layout and trains.:thumb: :thumb:

 

[TruckLover]

AWESOME roll-by and COOL little story Wayne :thumb: :thumb: :thumb:

I like the Mercury Knitting Mills building and those boxcars look so REAL as do the passanger cars to :thumb: :thumb: :thumb: :thumb:

Thanks for the story

 

[doctorwayne]

Thanks for the kind words, folks. It's sometimes difficult to come up with a photo location that hasn't been done to death: Mercury Mills is on the outskirts of town, even though the residential neighbourhood that's supposed to link it with Dunnville has not yet been built. Hoffentoth Bros. Ice (one of the outbuildings can be seen in the first shot) is a useful industry, but too close to the edge of the layout for realistic pictures, and the diverging grades, both excessively steep, look even steeper when juxtaposed against one another.
Dean, the diaphrams are by American Limited. They offer several different styles and different versions of each, depending on the manufacturer of the car. While they do look good, they can cause operational problems, particularily when some cars have body-mounted couplers and others have Talgo-style (which can cause problems even without the diaphrams). According to the package, minimum operating radius with body-mounted couplers is 24", and with Talgo-style, whatever the car was good for without the diaphrams. If you use truck-mounted couplers, it's easy to uncouple cars by lifting them and letting the truck swing provide clearance. With body-mounted couplers, an uncoupling ramp is often the only way to get the cars apart. The Rix magnetic uncoupler tool will not work with the diaphrams either. I have installed these diaphrams on all of my passenger cars, except the smooth-sided cars that I don't plan on keeping. American Limited also offers diaphrams for carbody-style diesels: cn nutbar has a set of Stewart F-units with them installed, and they look really good - perhaps he'll post a photo.
Herc, the rock fill that was used to level the Mercury Mills siding is leftover scenery fixin's: I use Durabond patching plaster over screen for landforms. Durabond contains a catalyst which makes it set within a specified time - I use the 90 minute variety - so anything still in the mixing bucket after 90 minutes becomes, more-or-less, rock. I smash it up with a hammer, then use it where required as rip-rap. I spray it with a wash of black acrylic paint after it's in place, but the colour does seem to fade over time. I don't know if this is from the fluorescent lights or if the wash continues to soak in over time. The track on the siding is not yet ballasted, so I'll probably touch things up a bit when I get to finishing the area.
I was looking for an overview of the area, but it looks as if company photographers having been avoiding the place. Here's the only other view that I could find.

Wayne

 

[cn nutbar]

hi doc---excellent thread,i especially like the motive power combination,kind of reminds me of the unusual latch-ups of diesel combinations the canadian pacific was famous for---hope you don't mind if i add a couple more shots of mercury mills---having seen it in person,sometimes photos just don't give it the credit it deserves

 

[UP SD40-2]

Wayne, THANK YOU!, for the info on those GREAT looking diaphrams:thumb:. i have a few engines that would look GREAT with them on. i also have 2 complete UP passenger trains, one "old time", and one streamliner, they too would look 100x better with those diaphrams on them:thumb:.

i REALLY LIKED the location you did the roll-by in:thumb: THANKS!!! -Deano

 

[cnw1961]

Wayne, I concur with Deano, I like this loaction, too. I especially like the shot with the loooong icing platform. Hope to see some more pictures of this location, soon. (CN, very good pics of your #4100, too).

 

[bigsteel]

every time i see a pic of your layout wayne theres something new!that is oe cool knitting mill.very original in my standards!--josh

 

[Herc Driver]

Actually, I like the sky too. I'm guessing that's just a wall - but it look exactly like what's out my window right now!

 

[doctorwayne]

Once again, thanks to all.
Josh, Mercury Mills is made from a Walthers Stamping Plant, combined with some walls from a George Roberts Printing Plant. The walls were used only on the three visible sides, with the back, roof and loading platform made from .060" sheet styrene.
Herc, you're right about the "sky": just the wall, which sometimes gets pretty washed-out looking, depending on tthe camera setting.
Kurt, this is a pretty barren neighbourhood; almost an island of buildings in an otherwise barren landscape. Beyond the icehouse and beyond Mercury Mills are bare fields, until you reach the trees around Negro Creek. In the view below, there's naked plywood to the left of Mercury Mills, although the foreground area to the left of Hoffentoths does have some ground cover.

Wayne

 

[doctorwayne]

Dean, here are a couple of pictures of the American Limited diaphrams installed on some Stewart F-units, pictures courtesy of cn nutbar.

And here's a MDC combine with the passenger car diaphrams:

Wayne

 

[TomPM]

Wayne

Great set of shots!:thumb: :thumb:

 

[UP SD40-2]

THANKS WAYNE! i have a question, i am making an order with Walther's tonight, and i looked them up, they have diaphragms from American Limited, but it says they fit the "Bachmann Spectrum heavy weight cars", are these what you used? i WONT make my order till i hear from you. THANK YOU, -Deano

 

[doctorwayne]

Dean, the diaphrams for diesels are available for Stewart F-units, Stewart FT A-B sets, and Athearn and Athearn Genesis F-units. The ones for passenger cars include sets for Walthers Pullman (lightweight) cars, Walthers Budd (stainless steel) cars, Athearn streamline cars, Athearn heavyweights, Branchline heavyweight Pullman cars, Rivarossi and others (heavyweights), MDC Harriman cars, Bachmann Spectrum cars, and Con-Cor Superliners. Most of the sets come in black plastic, although sets for lightweight cars are also available in grey. It's helpful to know your cars' manufacturers, as part of the variation between sets has to do with the spacing between cars. My cars are a mix of Rivarossi, Athearn, MDC, and Branchline, but because I altered the spacing between cars (where necessary), I was able to use the #9200 diaphrams for all. If you're doing any appreciable number of cars, it's worthwhile to buy the 6-pack, which basically gives you one extra set for free. My 2007 Walthers catalogue lists all of these on page 150.

Wayne

 

[UP SD40-2]

OK, THANK YOU Wayne. i would like to put them on my:
Proto E8/9 A&B
Proto E6 A
Atheran F7 A
Stewart F9 A&B
assorted Riverossi streamliner cars
assorted Walther's streamliner cars

-Deano

EDIT:THANKS Wayne, i found diaphragms for ALL of them:thumb:....except the Proto's....after checking them, they come with them onops:tooth1.