A somber drive

Bear with me, a short story here. Another warm summer Sunday. Ninety degrees, my phone informs me. I turn the ringer on silent, tuck it in my backpack. Load up the small humidor I carry in the car, grab shades and a spare tee shirt; if the phone wasn’t lying, I’ll need a dry shirt later. Kiss the cat and crate the dog, head to the garage. Slap the plastic remote control on the wall, morning daylight sneaks in at the bottom gradually highlighting the wide white-wall tires from the tread up to a shiny hubcap. Rattle the keys, find the brass one. Trunk latched shut after I tuck in the towing cables (teardrop ain’t joining us today), slide my stout behind onto the bench seat. The cool vinyl is comfortable, if only for now. All windows down, tap the gas. Key in, crank it. She sputters at first, cold and resting for nearly a week. Crank again, that Edelbrock does her thing. With a near-deafening roar, that three-hundred and seventy seven cubic inches wakes the dead, the rapp of the exhaust echoing in the garage. A few seconds later, tap the gas. Choke opening, she calms down a bit. I strap across my belt and clasp the chrome airline-style buckle that will be a hundred degrees in the sun later, yet I don’t mind in the least. Right now, it’s cool and tactile. Its satisfying “click” is a sharp, echoing noise. Tap the gas, the settles into a smooth and almost subtle idle. 

Backing out I make certain not to clip the ’57 Buick parked outside, but the ’51 Plymouth has very round and manageable proportions. It is no small car compared to the fisher-price kiddie cars zipping down freeways now, but in her day she was shadowed by Desotos with eight-foot-long hoods and Cadillacs that seated more than a full Italian family. On the street the old girl shifts into gear with a lurch that tells me I’ve got a lot of torque under my toes, should I need it. The morning had me up early and tuning the distributor, new springs and timing gave her a bit of an excited step and I’m liking the sound out of the glasspacks. We amble down the road, stop for gas. Fill her up with premium, she takes about a dozen gallons. In bay area prices, that’s about a firstborn or the left kidney… but I don’t even look at the price. Today, I don’t care.

The morning is cool and overcast. Surprisingly so, for mid-July, but not in consideration of the bay’s notoriety for needing ‘layers’. All I need is this tee shirt with a haunted T-bucket under a full moon, complimented by a flight of bats in the background. It’s my favorite car shirt, to be honest. The freeway is lightly busy, I don’t care. I head east, outta the bay. Making tracks and good time, I can feel the tune of the Pertronix flame-thrower dizzy spitting her wicked fire through those .050 gapped plugs. I skinned a tire around a curb minutes prior, the tells are there… she’s needing some real open road. 

We arrive in twenty to the causeway and bridge, heading into marshlands and then the delta. The Sacramento delta is a fascinating place, history abounds in shipping and farming. Ships used to head upstream to stock and supply the weary faces of the gold rush, hoping to turn their luck in the next riverbed up north. Irrigation brought farming to the Solano, Yolo and Sacramento counties; with it, came thousands upon thousands of immigrant farm workers and the families that build the Sacramento valley’s legacy of agriculture. They have a museum for it downtown, it’s delightful. I digress. Here, now, my mild small block launches this little black bean down the levees and winding roads that trace the path of the river. I pass a small town that is tired and a bit decrepit, but folks wave and smile as I pass. Hospitality doesn’t die when the economy fades, no matter what bitter city folk tell you.

A short pit-stop at a farmers’ market has my arms full of produce, some surprisingly fresh peaches and apples. I grab a bag of candy for my little lady, only her favorites. Everything in the building is local and fresh, as I’m checking out there is a woman rolling in a cart of pies; the boxes are plain and brown, but no matter. The steam escaping their flaps tells me these are the freshest pies you can get. No microwave necessary. Watching my beltline a bit, I put the thought of pie out of my head. Maybe next week. Back to the ride, she’s still cool and comfortable; the skies haven’t cleared yet, but I see it on the horizon. It’s going to be a hot one. We get back on the levees, heading toward Sacramento. A few small fruit stands pass, it’s nothing special and I’ve just bought my fill. For a moment I am stuck behind a small sedan who seems not to trust the winding road, they hug the shoulder and roll 5 under the limit. Politely, though, they see an opening and wave me ahead. Kicking the ’51 down to low gear, she jumps like a startled cat and blasts up the road. I gotta mind the steering, it’s 67 years old and not as tight as I’d like. Maybe I’ll fix that soon. We come to my little town of Walnut Grove, perhaps not my own town but hopefully soon to be. I’m looking to escape the immediate bay area, and this small and somber town seems to be calling me. I pull up to the ice cream parlor, a place that’s been a diner in that town for nearly a century. Ordering a sadwich, I find I’m not specific enough with the gal at the counter; I get bread, meat, mustard. None of the fixings. Looking to my paunch, I decide to let it be and enjoy. Not bad, maybe Boar’s Head deli stuff. I’ve had worse. 

I get a few folks stopping by to inspect the old girl out front, and their smiles are shared by myself. I forget the blandness of the sandwich, tossing the last few bites. It’s getting warm and I’m missing the road already. A few kids behind me are having little battles with the two-inch plastic sample spoons, and I nod to them as I leave. One of them loved my car, he waved me off as I fired her up to depart. A bit of cool delta breeze fluttered in my window and I put on the shades. Heading up the road with nearly a full tank, the day felt damn good. Passing a couple more dry, dilapidated towns I simply putter on down the road as a few big trucks pass me in haste. Nobody’s got time anymore. Rolling down the East levee, I look ahead at the bridges and treeline. My eye catches a flicker, then a clearer pulse of light. Emergency lights, on the west side of the river at the bridge. A few dozen yards closer and I am slowing down, I see a Coast Guard boat in the water with blue lamps blazing. I roll to a stop, and ahead along the sides of the road are some spectators. “Typical”, my first response. Then I realize, this is the middle-of-nowheresville and these folks might be a bit more than rubberneckers. I see my opening, and idle the old rod to a stop in a spot on the roadside between a few other cars. Looking now at the people more than the scene, I see farmers. No tourists, but local folk. Yes, you can tell. Walking across the street, I notice an older Mexican man with two younger men, leaning on their car. I come up and inquire about what the scene across the river was; at this point, I can see another CG boat in the water North of the bridge, and a tow truck on the adjacent levee. CHP had the northbound lane blocked for maybe a hundred yards from the bridge going North. 

The man informed me that a car had gone off the road. I had already suspected as much, but the confirmation was sad to hear. Still, never seeing a car hauled from the water I figured I’d post up and see what I could see. I noticed some folks pacing about a bit, a man in a blue tee shirt walking back and forth talking to some other people who appeared to be there together. In this time, a few folks had come to talk about the car, we shared hobbies; one nice guy on his harley shared his tribulations with his vintage BMW, another old couple told me of their rare Canadian ’48 Pontiac they’d had for some time. Apparently, it was a rebadged Chevy (all the Big Three did this in Canada for decades). Those folks mentioned that the man in the blue shirt was a relative of the sunken car’s driver, purported to be missing since two days prior. That sank a pit into my stomach, the sort which knot that ties itself up at the arrival of bad news. 

I spoke with the various locals a bit more, then saw my opportunity; I stepped over to the man in the blue shirt, and offered that I’d heard whisper that he may have a family member involved in the car’s situation. We exchanged names. He explained the uncomfortable truth. His wife’s sister had been traveling the road as she does every weekend, Friday two nights prior. She’d not arrived at her destination, instead became out of contact completely. Apparently, the only reason the car was located was the lucky fact that rental car companies use waterproof GPS units in their fleet. Something like an airline’s ‘black box’. I knew the news was likely bad. The man seemed calm and collected about it, but we (he, myself and a that sweet old couple) discussed the various scenarios that could lead to his sister-in-law being alive and well. He clearly appreciated the positive thought, nobody needs hard truths in his situation. Least of all from rubberneckers. I told him I’d been around a bit, seen a lot of bad scenes. I offered that the CHP stationed on the rescue side might allow his family to be present on the closer side; he explained the very kind officer had already offered, but my new friend felt it best that his family keep a distance knowing the potential tragedy that awaited on the other end of that tow line. He started to share a bit of how he had been an anchor in many of his family’s stormy seas. His gaze at the river saddened me deeply, and I saw this man surely knew loss.

In a moment, he turned the conversation to my old car which we were leaning against. He told me of his uncle’s project, a ’49 shoebox ford that had a potent little flathead ford motor and was apparently quite a car. We talked with the old folks about their Pontiac, and discussed all the wild things under my now-open hood. He smiled, and my only thought was in the moment, about the iron and chrome. It was a short, but nice bonding with people who enjoyed some of the relics, old things deserving the attention to be made anew. I realized in that moment, that it was simply a lovely distraction from the difficult and damned unfortunate moments that nobody can ever really escape forever. Life is hard, and full of loss. Eventually, all is lost. That’s inevitable. The hours and minutes we spend before then, don’t always define what we are made of but they certainly help us carve out a more enjoyable path through the thicket of life’s thorns. Motoring is the most attainable escape that can be both a spiritual and physical escape… and the love of old rolling art spans any age, race or creed.

I gave this man and his family my most sincere regards, I wished him well and hoped for better news. He was a man I’d likely never have met in my days, but I saw the pain in his eyes and the burden his family was carrying; those moments will be with me the rest of my travels. Feeling now rather guilty for wanting to witness the sunken car’s retrieval, in light of the heavy reality waiting below that river’s surface, I recused myself and bid farewell those local folks who were there to support more than to witness. Firing up the old motor, I made my way slowly and a bit somberly toward nowhere. It was not my wish nor my place to witness any more pain that day, and I choose not to know the end of the story. Perhaps someday I’ll share another dusty roadside with that good man. I simply hope for the best, and rumble down that road. 

To new beginnings!

The years march on like rows of soldiers with no base, no idea what’s beyond the horizon. Unstoppable and infallible, time is something we can observe and participate in but you never really hold in your hands. This year has brought me a lot of growth and personal development in my life as well as a great amount of knowledge and experience in my hobbies. I think too few people know the real value of doing something you love. Not just something you’re good at, but something you have a passion for that makes you happy. Recently I sat and took stock of what I really had in my world, within reach; I have love, family, talent, wonderful friends and a vast amount of opportunity. I suppose if I were honest the opportunity has been intimidating for a long time, and perhaps my comfort in my career and the good friends I have in my professional life, were enough to ward me off following all of that opportunity until this point.

In this moment I sit here, on the beautiful patio of this beautiful home I live in, with a fine cigar in one hand and an immeasurably finer little lady against my shoulder. The sun is setting over the treeline, the kitten is batting at the glass door desperately trying to join us in this comfort and splendor. My love asked me what I want. I turned to her and said, “I’d like to make a move in my life toward working with the things I truly enjoy, not just do what rakes in the paychecks.” She smacked my arm and informed me she was curious what I might want for dinner. Still, my response was true and honest. It just so happens that, in the last week or so, I had built up my own website and begun marketing my skills in a very specific hobby. I love working with scale models, and I possess the keen eye and steady hand it takes to be a mechanic on things almost comically small. Since my stint began as the local “service guy” for certain models at the LHS (Local Hobby Store) my hands are itching for a new project, some new miniature creation, on a daily basis. It’s exciting, doing what you love… and even a cozy desk job pales in comparison. Incidentally, I absolutely love to write, tell stories, weave a tale. Inspired by a wonderful now-departed man who was always there for me, I picked up a pen and a notepad. Poured myself a decent sip of scotch whisky, and leaned into the work hard like it was a gale force wind… 100k words later I’m working on a three-book series.

So; if you enjoy old-man hobbies, old-world ideas or a good period mystery novel? Stop in and say hello. I’ve decided to put some talent and opportunity to use. Shouldn’t we all?

click on those bubbles…

Ascension

Halloween. A time for several of the annual “finer things”… costumes, candy, cold weather and collections! When the days grow short and the chill starts to reach our bones, it’s clearly a sign that now is the time for a return to the home and hearthside. For gents like me? Our better halves spent the summer in the shade, watching us wrench and grind on an old tin can, as we try in vain to breathe life and idle back into something that was welded to life some 66-odd years before this moment. The gasoline and chassis grease stains a shirt but feels almost right as we bust our knuckles in the pursuit of a proper claim to highway fame.

The evenings grow longer, we sit in warm chairs with stars shining through bay area fog creeping along the lawns outside and talk about menial things as we hesitate to retire on such a beautiful evening. With more scotch on the shelf and family holidays fast approaching, realizing so much time the next two seasons will be spent indoors, it’s a good chance to stop and consider how those hours will be spent.

Though I don’t think there’s anything wrong with a little TV, I know too many folks who while away their hours with it far too often. Still, it does not enthuse me as being creative does. Not like restoration, writing, sculpting, or simply spending time with a lovely (particular) dame tucked under my arm. Hell, I’d rather be driving some quiet river road than almost anything else… As Henry Rollins said,

“no such thing as spare time,
no such thing as free time,
no such thing as down time,
all you got is life time… go!”

Wise, serious man. He’s right, isn’t he? Our time is limited (often more than we understand or expect) and yet we have so little to show for our time here. I’m not taking anything beyond the grave so how I spend those minutes and miles is unconventional, but I know what I love and that’s where my compass will always point. In a way, it has led me through positive and significant personal changes. I have refined my interests, drawn the lines ever-closer on my personal “circle” of friends and acquaintances, and I find that the more I focus on filling the time between life’s necessities (employment, sleep, food, family) the greater an appreciation I have for those pass-times and the smarter I am in my pursuits. My ascension to a better man, a better person has been gradual but consistent… ever since the day I decided to turn off the world and be whatever I wished to be on a given day.

I’m happier, and it amuses me how badly that irks some of my old connections. Not that I dwell on it… but it’s good to recognize when you outgrow things. I enjoy writing, here I am. I love my old tin can, Eavie Rose. Sure I spend my days wandering a bit, my family all has that bug… on this sunny day, I had just enjoyed a fantastic (Obsidian Maduro Gordo) stogie and was enjoying the last of Summer. Sure, I might have been trespassing… maybe they should put up a sign!

New inspiration!

I’m waking up with a cup of coffee, looking around at the new place and surveying my potential layout space. This morning I woke up with a new dose of excitement for my hobby, a renewed vigor to build a small layout to showcase my beautiful little trains. Among the post-move cluster of boxes downstairs is a project I have long been meaning to finish is a Z-8 Challenger that, while intended originally to be an NP locomotive, I have decided will fly the flag of SP&S! Much to be done there, including installing DCC and sound, but for now it’s in pieces trying to get that old Con-Cor mechanism back up to snuff.

I have, in all, about 10 locomotive projects in some stage of completion or disrepair. Nevermind that for the moment, because I have nary a layout to run my running trains on! That will change quite soon. I’ve got a custom cabinet coming to store all my little N-gauge jewels, being made by a good friend/woodsmith who works for cheap beer and burritos! Once that’s done, the layout will be build on top. In the meantime, my other diesel projects include an SP&S FA-2 AB pair that need oxide red roofs, and modernized chassis. I’ve got a Milwaukee F-7 4-6-4 to build too, but the GHQ kits are best handled one-at-a-time haha….

All in all, the list could go on forever, but today I will start by simply picking up a decal sheet and making that challenger Seattle-ready. Wish me luck!

Back, & with a project! Northern Pacific Challenger build!

So I got a wild hair up my arse about wanting some bigger NP steam. I acquired an A-4, which I love, but the fleet ain’t done! I decided to buind a GHQ NP Z-8 as my first real foray into modeling (not just paint & decal work). Let me just say, what a task! The instructions are….. dated. More images (or better ones) would clarify everything. Nevertheless, I persist!

An HO scale model here….

Already found a half-dozen things I’d redo or do differently.

The key to making this a quality runner? Code-55 friendly filed-down drivers, replaced pilot & trailing truck wheels, and using an Athearn Challenger tender chassis! I’ll post pics of the tender/chassis line-up, but suffice it to say that with two small mods to the tender chassis, and some careful filing, the Rivarossi tender shell is the exact, perfect fit onto the Athearn’s frame! I can’t imagine an easier way to install DCC & sound (plug & play!). Wish me luck? If I fail at this, I’m switching to fingerpainting.

Partially built, you can see the original parts amongst the modified and cast-pewter kit parts

Presented without comment

 

The boys are back in town!

Alfred Pennyworth, my 2700lb. Butler…. he’s gotten me home safe & through the shit more times than I can count, and keeps on running! MoPar or NoCar!

Well, it’s been a trial of a year. ’12 was rewarding, while quite a hurdle. I brought Pop home from NY State (my heralded home), he’s now living comfortably in an apartment in Alameda across the hall form one of my best buds. No more 3000-mile-away calls and missing holidays, the family is all home again.

I quit my job (well, one of ’em) and rededicated my days toward making my home a happy one, and building myself for the years ahead. I had realized recently that if I don’t make a major change in my life and redirect my own rails toward happiness, I’ll end up with more regrets than accomplishments. I’ve been spending quite a lot of effort on clearing house, and diminishing the boxes of accumulated crap that seemed to keep me from making any headway on the important stuff! Too many small projects. I can tell you this; the joy in my life of having a happy wife (and a clean house, these may be related) is quite astounding.

On the N scale frontier, I’ve collaborated on some N scale layout action with a brother-in-law, during which time (and having been inspired again by his amazing appreciation of fewer trains, more tracks) I’ve sold off all the N junk I never really needed and refined my collection down to anything/everything I’ll actually run. Needless to say, there’s a lot to be done still for both of us but it’s nice to have a track plan! My NP collection now includes some nice custom locos, and I have sold off a lot of duplicates in favor of getting some other roadnames in on the rails. UP, GN, CN, ATSF, MILW, they’re all here! Represented by a majority of Intermountain’s stunning F3’s and F7’s, might I add; the out-of-box detail there still blows my mind!

As I sit here in the final planning stages of my first real, significant N scale venture (layout!) I am hesitant to start but eager to finish. There are tracks to be laid and engines to be fine-tuned, buildings to be built and trees to be planted. Quite the allegory for my own life, a ‘fresh start’ as the saying goes.

Contemplating what project to tackle next on my 1966 Plymouth Valiant Signet (see above), I work on a hot cup of coffee and realize that after I do a brake job on wifey’s Honda today I can actually do whatever I want today! It’s a pretty nice feeling. Maybe I’ll finish up the reupholstery project on the ’66, it took a few yards of black Vinyl and some finger-numbing stitching…. I’ve gotten rid of $12 ebay seat covers and now I slide into a smooth black bucket seat. The list of “car stuff” keeps dwindling and soon all I will need is a paint job on the Plymouth, and sign off a lease on the SO’s dream car (’12 Camaro, black), I can go back to just washing & polishing, cruising and car shows.

I think, for now, I’m gonna go read some MoPar fan websites and drink a bit more Trader Joe’s Java. Nice day out, too….

Shake, rattle & roll!

Here’s a short one, a footnote in the trials and triumhs of the classic car owner. I’m posted at my desk, working away (sitting idly, really) and chuckling inside about fixing frustrations along the road, as it were.

My evening started with the realization that a familiar little tick-tick had become null, nonexistant, when I deem it to be quite a necessary thing in the proper and safe operation of a vehicle. My turn signals were dead! Non-op! Kaput! That’s simply asking for a frisk & a ticket. I rode into work cautiously, thankfully the late shift affords me a few less asshats to avoid on the blacktop for my 11-mile trek to the moneymaker. After settling in and enjoying dinner (a couple hamburgers from Nation’s in Alameda), I decided to get under the dash of the ’66 and investigate. My signals were npt flashing, though they were lighting; this is an obvious sign of a faulty or loose turn-signal flasher module. “Easy replacement”, I thought, “I’ll hit NAPA in the a.m. and blow a Lincoln. But wait- what if I simply test the connection?” So remove and reinsert I did, on the loose pigtail supplied by Mopar almost 50 years ago. A quick flick of the lever, and there it was…. a nice (if not too-loud) tic-tick of a sh*tty aftermarket TS module. Hate to have it go out again…. Maybe I’ll skip a cup of coffee and spend the $ on a MoPar unit instead?
Yeah, this was exercise 3,981 on the list of crap we old-car guys do to keep ’em alive. Still, compared to needing a Windows laptop to change the oil? I’ll take a loose socket now & then!

Addendum- while rereading this (after a good night’s sleep), I remembered another silly story of roadside fixes!

The year? 2006. Summer was hot, and Sacramento was a stomping ground for myself and my family, old steel aplenty. The 1958 beetle I had been restoring was well on its way to completion, and the daily ride was a sweet and fun little white-on-red ’63 bug whose motor was a bit long in the tooth, but kept me putting around town. I’ve forgotten my destination, but I remember the exact moment of horror; I was going under the J-street underpass, when some frayed steering-column wire shorted out and began intermittently beeping my horn (a Herbie-like toot that was too duymb to be useful in traffic!)…. every twitch of the wheel was another annention-grabbing TOOT! and people were literally pointing and laughing at the odd, noisy little car! Probably the most humiliating thing that’s happened to me since I started growing hair on my chest. I, of course, pulled over and hurriedly yanked the horn connection off under the fender, and scurried back to the garage to fix my TOOT!-ing away from the public eye….. but boy, my face must have matched those red vinyl seats for the rest of that day. Just another one of the joys of old toys!

Intermountain F3/F7/F9 fixes: turning radius and grade derailments gone!

Turn those F’s upside down, you’ll note that your trucks’ swiveling can interfere with the stepladders, but only a small detail part on the trucks actually makes contact; it’s the flat, squared-off “brake hardware”. Maybe it’s meant to be a brake line? Not accurate to a Blomberg B truck anyway. CUT IT OFF! See the left side, the red shaded area, that’s the culprit. There are 4 per bogie, you’ll have to decide which ones are right for your lead/trailing bogies based off interference by checking it (or cut them all off for uniformity?)

Seems like trucks on all of the F-units (not FT’s as fas as I know) can benefit. From what I can tell, the cast-on detail is so far from the real brake hardware I don’t see it as a “loss”. At this scale, it’s almost impossible for them to cast the part properly (in appearance) anyway.

For me this modification (just cutting/beveling off a tiny bit of delrin) fixed two issues. Not only the immediate end of some mystery derailments on grades, but also it appears I can tackle about an ~8″ radius curve with my F units now. WIN!

Check out the “where to cut” photo below, and the Wiki link on Blomberg B bogies.

Cheers!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blomberg_B

Cut off those “brake hardware” corners, you’ll be glad you did!

So here we go, a long-overdue bump of a tired and quiet blog (the crickets aren’t chirping? They died!). For what it’s worth, the blog is titled after three joys in my life and I have been partaking in all three less-than-often, until recently. News abounds and my heart is truly light with excitement as the year unfolds into the most trying, interesting and somehow amazing year I’ve had yet in my 20’s. Let’s start with the toys, then move onto…. er, more toys.

The trains have been at the station for far too long. Of course, their gross numbers have dwindled in weak areas and grown mightily in the score of Iron Horses! Ferroequinology, I believe, is the term for the study of the Iron Horse. To truly appreciate it, one must go back to the roots of locomotion and put the spotlight on steam. My diesel rosters have been picked-clean of anachronous modern machinery and non-northwetern motive power. After the fat was trimmed, my loco boxes were looking awfully scarce…. like vultures picked those bones clean. Of course, I still had all the diesel I could ask for, so I had to really sit down and rethink what was missing. The consequence of this is, simply put, I had to get MORE STEAM! I’ve now got almost a full box of nice steam locomotives, some wearing NP monads and lettering, some in eastern roads waiting for their new assignment. All of ’em I want, even those wobbly old Model Power limpers that pull a half a boxcar.

The recent focus? Mallets! I had purchased a stunning Rowa 2-8-8-2 (for a fantastic deal, no less) and the thing is equipped with, no kidding, a smoke generator. Never seen one on such a small loco! With any luck, I’ll be chuffing around the tracks with a proper NP Z-3 Mallet sometime very soon (decals to set, tenders to swap, et cetera). What a project! ONe of the cool features here is the “shorty” tender run behind those old helper locomotives- with a short operating distance, why bother pulling extra fuel when that horsepower could be pushing that damn train uphill? Check out this old RVN pic. What a beast!

Another well of joy for me has been the recent, rapid releases of some very cool Northern Pacific equipment. Forst off, Centralia/Intermountain has just announced their coming NP coaches, not just in their prior Loewy green colors but in PINE TREE SCHEME as well!! Not to mention their new entry (with this same Coach car run) into the SP&S market. Sounds like someone over ther at IM has NP fever too! Atlas has announced reruns of some nice cabeese in new NP numbers, and let me tell you, the detail on those cab’s will have you hoarding them as well! Rapido has new Loewy cars en-route, having taken pre-orders some time ago. Life-Like has previously produced a highly regarded 0-8-0 yard goat switcher, and their new run announcement includes two NP road numbers! Very sharp models, definitely one of those in my future. Yeah, it’s a good time to be a Northern Pacific modeler! It’s also time to batten down the hatches, there’s sure to be stormy seas when the wifey sees all these new toys on my workbench! No, not really. I have my hobbies & she’s got hers, but the excitement she fakes when I show her new stuff is really, truly telling of how much she loves me 😉

Now on to some real steel… The stable of 1:1 scale toys grew a touch recently, with the regaled return of my 1966 Plymouth into the family motor pool (ok, keys stay with me but it’s not like my dollw ants to drive the thing)! I had sold the car last summer to a really great guy out in the boonies of Bodega Bay, but here I was surfing Craigslist and saw the car up for sale! Needless to say, whe my heart jumped a beat I knew I had to have it back. Now after a tune-up and some mechanicals, that old Chrysler power plant is purring like a kitten. Time for some bondo and spraypaint! No, sorry, kidding. I plan on having it actually painted at a shop, done once and done right. Some cars are well worth the extra time and effort! The details of the car? Don’t expect much in the “go”- that 225ci Slant Six is all you need but not much more. The car’s cool points? No rust, Clean interior (black bucket seats, console shifter, yeah baby!), rallye wheels, and damn fun to drive. We’ll see how the summer goes, but as of today? Project #1.

Might as well discuss some stogies while I am here! My humidor is staying better-stocked sonce the move last fall; my apartment complex is a non-smoking joint (lol) and I am respecting that. When I can, I pull out a nicely-aged Padilla and spark it up on a trip (next stop: who cares) to remind myself that the “good life” is anywhere you make it. So I do…. I make it good. Every day, every damn day of every week of every year I do something that makes me happy. If I can only offer that one bit of advice, trust me! Now as far as where to buy those tasty stogies? CI: Cigars International. Good prices, good service, and none of the snooty “culture” BS that half the tobbaconists in California will try and push on you. Check ’em out, I promise it’s better than a kick in the junk! If you don’t like ’em just send it to me. Or even if you do like ’em.

I’m dreaming of a green christmas…..

Specifically two-tone green, with a dash of perhaps gold or yellow stripes to match! Winter is setting upon us here in the Bay Area, and I find that my mind is wandering as I try to entertain myself with the (steadily more boring) internet. I can’t find my focus! What with the holidays, family moving, car troubles and et cetera there are things that could better use my attention than reddit and Trainboard (blaspheme! LOVE Trainboard and the guys & gals who lurk those forums).

This year, Christmas was spent with family (both on the eve and the day itself), giving gifts and getting them was certainly not the focus of the time we spend together. In fact, some of us had asked not to receive gifts as we take pretty damn good care of each other year-round! Now, while everyone got a chance to open up something nice, I find that the most enjoyable moments of Christmas were clear to me. First, during our little unwrapping session, I had directed my brother-in-law Todd, who is a rabid train nut and a recent N scale convert, to open the bag I had assembled for him. The tag contained a simple little riddle, directing him to open the wrapped boxes within in a vry specific order. His initial unwrapping was a standard Con-Cor Northern pacific coach, followed by a diner and a dome and finally an observation car, all bearing the two-tone Loewy green colors I love so much. The fifth and final unwrapping was something I am very proud to say is as good as it gets- an Intermountain Northern Pacific FP-7 locomotive, brand-new in jewel case. Quite a fine piece, indeed! I happen to have two, one of each (prototypical! they only owned 2) road numbers. Todd was, needless to say, quite excited to get them on his tracks!

The second, and notably more poignant, gifting that I was excited about was a gift for my father. He is moving back home, to New York, in a matter of a couple weeks. Something he had mentioned some time ago that would be a fitting present, would be a photo album of the family (us three kids) and our lives…. something for him to remember us by on those days he misses us most. Of course, my brother Jason spared no effort in collecting and refining a gamut of family photos (embarassing candids and all) into a wonderful archive of our own lives’ joys and accomplishments. Apple offers an “iBooks” bookbinding service that offers a striking amount of flexibility and customizability for your photos, holding the book I felt as though I was reading an archival manifest of fine art, rather than some digital photos and text-laden borders. Quite a piece of art. Of course, dad was very happy with this….. that’s an understatement, but I need not go into great detail about how emotions rose when confronted with a gift that is tied so closely to someone so wonderful moving so very far away.

Now back to the topic of holiday hauls- there is a stack of new boxcars and reefers (all ~1940 style, see my previous “wish list” post! haha) sitting on my workbench, and a partially finished string of classic Northern Pacific “Butterknife” scheme cars receiving a hand painting. Of course, due to scarcity of proper decals, this shall be a “foobie” train (mock-up) to give me something coordinated to drag behind my multitude of Intermountain EMD F3’s and F7’s in NP’s handsome 1947 scheme…. there’s a preview of my (admittedly rough) handiwork below! Perhaps I’ll finish this thing up this week, a nice evening project while I rest up in anticipation of the coming of 2012. Yes the paint is a bit shoddy but eh, I like it….

in-progress, missing a final stripe….

The wishy-washy wish list!

There’s too much nice stuff in this world. I have too much free space. Coincidence? I think not! So; at the request of a family member,  am putting my wish list “out there”. I now refuse to miss out on American consumerism at its finest…. the “gimme” season known as Kwanz….. um, er….. CHRISTMAS! For what it’s worth, these days I seem to be stocking my own humidor…. but I sure could use a nice lighter…..

Ebay most-wanted list!

Non-ebay wants: Here and here !

“And here, children, is where the warehouse holding all of Brian’s sh*t is located.”

Times, they are a-changin’….

Outside my café

What a summer! Went by like a silver streak…. and it was in many ways quite wonderful (and often funner than said Gene Wilder comedy). I have divested myself of iron money-pits for the time being, yes the three Plymouths are gone to good homes. Being a Mopar guy, of course, I had to stay in the family with regards to my daily driver. A well spent few grand later, and I now own what is likely one of the cleanest M-body mopars in the bay area, if not Northern California! Won’t dwell long on it, but this Chrysler spent its life garaged and babied by a retired war hero in Sebastopol. Not everyone is a fan of these old fuel-chugging emissions-choked cars, but with a few tweaks and mods they’re quite a nice drive. Mine happens to also have the smoothest, cleanest and prettiest leather interior I’ve sat in….

Now that I have my vehicle situation handled, every other paycheck need not be invested in a hard-starting noisy beast! Of course I’ll miss the days I spent on the highway behind an oversized steering wheel, feeling heat through the floorboards and a rumble resonating through an old well-worn bucket seat….

I do plan, of course, on returning to my former ways and purchasing/driving another classic car. Not today though, and not soon. I have had my fill of “projects”, and it seems reasonable for me to grow the hell up and just buy a finished car that always starts. I like to fiddle and tinker, I just don’t want to have to!

So in the meantime, I have stockpiled a few more rare and/or collectible N gauge items (there’s more trains than track, which actually sounds like a euphemism for lunacy!) and tinkered on a nice 2’x4′ double over/under loop. Let me tell you, it’s a good thing I have more motive power than freight tonnage; an 8% superelevated graded curve is fun to see, but takes a bit more tractive effort than a prairie or 4-4-0 can handle! All in all it’s temporary and fun, so that’s (little) money well spent. There are a few nice pieces I have procured, including a diminutive replica of a train station still-standing in my region of rearing; my father recognized the build and was as enamored as I. Thank the preservation-minded north easterners for the relic, thank some north eastern hobby folks for making it easily attainable!

I’ve been working on some terrific cigars recently; yesterday it was a La Gloria Cubana Serie N that had my palate simply awestruck. The right cigar at the right time can be a beautiful thing. I’m working my way through some 5 Vegas Maduros that seem to be consistently tight and canoeing…. not a common problem for the normally 5-star cigar brand. Oh well, you win some/you lose some. Of course, for the pennies I paid I suppose I still kinda won! Furthermore, some Fonsecas and Cusanos have trickled through my smoking list recently. I have a few different Cusanos from a delicious sampler, and they came in a 4-veriety 12-pack so I’m smoking my way through 4 similar and delicious cigars three times. I have found Cusano  to be somewhat of an underdog- not oft seen in the lounges or blogs (from my experience, ymmv) but a reliable and enjoyable smoke (to the nub!) nonetheless. Then there’s the Macanudos in drawer 6, or the sun-grown untrimmed torpedoes, or the…. hell, there’s too many to list right now!

I should share this next bit, it’s saddening on a rainy day- I relocated halfway through writing this, from a nice pleasant cafe to my deperately-in-need-of-a-maid apartment (my fault!). Now I am sitting here being forced to listen to some hip-hop garbage my neighbors are blasting from their minivan speakers. I regret two things right now: 1) not staying in a quiet, comfy and classy environment and 2) living near Oakland. Take that as you may, but myself? I simply can’t stand hip-hop/rap “culture”. It’s angry, it’s ignorant and it’s really quite offensive. Some of the garbage I hear in those songs makes me pity the fools who take it literally, other things I hear make me despise the fools who wrote it. OK, stepping off the milk crate now.

Back to more positive (and appropriate for this blog) things; a particular new product has caught my eye, something I had long-ago ordered and am (with any luck) soon to receive. It’s a replica model of a once often-seen and quite beautiful style of passenger railcar; the Western/Eastern style smooth side dining car. Several prototypes can be seen here, and the models I’m referencing currently adorn this page over at M.B. Klein. The cars I await look like this-

Wouldn’t it have been something grand, taking a cross-country trip dining and sipping scotch in these pieces of rolling art? I am sure (relatively) that some folks who visit this blog have done just that. With regards to style, something screams “art deco” to me from this car’s fascia; perhaps it’s those smaller side windows (likely in the kitchen of the real car) or the skirting adorning the car…. of course there’s a very Modernist paint scheme (a la Raymond Loewy) decorating the particular road name’s pullmans. I’m more a fan of the earlier “Pine Tree” paint scheme these cars carried through 1953,  but that’s a picture for a different post.

It’s sunday and I have spent half of it drinking coffee and thinking about all these wonderful additions to my life, now it’s time to partake! So off I go, to smoke another tightly rolled 5 Vegas Maduro the size of a baby’s arm, and maybe play with some trains. It’s raining, and seeing my all-too-recently washed & waxed ride get piddled on by dark, looming clouds is almost too much 😉

 

 

 

BOOM! Winning.

Northern Pacific GP-18 pulls this small freighter.

Recently, I have been fortunate enough to make two winning bids on the big E-auction site; you know the one. First, I pulled a very special gift for very little money…. I managed to buy a complete, new-in-box 1990’s-era Life-Like American Workhorse train set, in my roadname (Northern Pacific). I’ll point you back to my first post,  my opus on the joys of unboxing the first truly awesome gift I recall reciving; this very trainset (worth a read if you’ve got a couple minutes!). Those memories still run deep, and I had a bit of a…. moment while unboxing the new one. What a trip down memory lane…. half my life away, those memories still hold clear and happy. Here it is, sitting in front of me on my antique coffee table, waiting to be played with….

The second “win” of the month, I’ll admit, I had no intention of vying for when I had first seen it listed. As the auction wore on, I relaized I may not have to fork-over the $400 this special collectors’ set often commands! How much did I pay? Let’s just say I feel like I stole it 🙂

Con-Cor North Coast Limited, Northern Pacific Railway

This is the Con-Cor Northern Pacific Railway North Coast Limited boxed collector set, one of a series of named passenger trains released almost 30 years ago. There were quite a few of these decorated (and sometimes compromised/fantasy painted) passenger sets, suffice it to say almost every major railroad received this treatment using whatever Con-Cor had available to fill the consist. Of course, this one is special to me because I have wanted this particular set since I can remember, one of the first “golden calf” pieces of N scale for me. I recall pining for it as a new model railroader, after seeing it on…. you guessed it, E-bay. The paint scheme is very true to original, with two-tone green carbodies striped in white and generally (on the prototypes) kept clean and shiny. The Vista-Dome cars are one of the neatest parts of this set; long glass domes adorn two of the passenger cars, giving the passengers (whether real or miniature) a breathtaking view of the trains’ travels. Long before I knew who Raymond Loewy was, I loved his color scheme (even having such a Locomotive printed on the side of my own coffee mug at age fifteen!). Of course, you old fogeys and rail buffs likely know he had a hand in streamlining the planes, trains and cars (notably Studebakers!) throughout the mid-twentieth century. Simply beautiful!

Rare as can be, and with quite a beautiful presentaion here in N scale, The North Coast Limited was known as one of the fastest, most luxurious Western trains; so proudly did NP serve those Western terrirories that many of its locomotives were adorned not with the name of the railroad, but the italicised slogan “Main Street of the Northwest”. They truly meant that, and it showed in their takeover of the northern routes early in the 20th century. There are various reasins for the proliferation of passenger service in the area, including vacation travel and business expanmsion; NP served a wide array of clientele and offered excellent dining (famous for their “Great Big Baked Potato”) to almost any traveler, most any trip. Keep those bellies full and those eyes gazing into beautiful scenery, you’ve got a recipe for repeat business!

Con-Cor offered a very nice presentation job with these, using the fiberboard woodgrain boxes usually found on expensive gifts and small home decor in the 1970’s and 1980’s (boy, how style has changed). No vacuu-formed plastics here! When the set arrives, I will be sure to post a video of this beautiful trainset traversing my small layout, pulled by those powerful (and strikingly stout looking) EMD F-3’s. An A-B-A consist leads this six-passenger-car train around, only one locmotive is powered in the set; I know from my experience with these locomotives, it’ll fly around those tracks just fine. Let’s hope the postman pays me a visit soon!

For now, I sit in my quiet, comfortable living room and tinker with the Life-Like trainset. It invokes such vivid memories of my childhood afternoons shunnning video games for a much more creative pass-time. Even the paper manuals and plastic box inserts have that familiar, heavy smell of gear lube and old printers’ ink. This set is going to stay in the box for now, as I have plenty of other trains to toy with…. yes this one stays new, stays safe and stays waiting patiently for me to open it up and relive some of my fondest years of childhood….

Maybe I’ll bring it out around Christmas and really live it up!

-B

My Batmobile!

My black beauty

I drive a 1959 Plymouth Belvedere, 318 V8/Auto. People stop me all the time and shout about my “Batmobile”… fine by me, I’m a caped crusader at heart! It’s not myuch to look at, a ten-foot car I believe is the term? The car’s seen some rough years and cheap fixes, but I have been finding out what needs to be replaced on the car by trial-and-error. I drive her, and when something breaks, I fix her. She’s not yet named, but she is definitely a character. I picked her up for a song out in San Francisco, looking tired and beat up, but running all the same. I am crazy for seeing potential in the rusty black hulk I purchased, but it has proven to be a worthwhile venture! So far, I have done some tune-up work (her engine had been rebuilt) and with a few cycles of fresh fluids, she’s got no leaks and good compression. There are lots of small needs, but for less than $2100 invested so far (repairs included), I am quite satisfied!

A couple weeks ago, I was driving with my gal and she asked me about the horn, whether it worked. I knew it was busted, never worked from the day I got the car; I’ve pressed that horn ring a hundred times waiting in traffic, impatiently and never heard a peep. I looked at my girlfriend, pressed the horn rim, and the horn let out this quiet, distressed little *meeep* and I started laughing maniacally! The car is fixing itself! Yeah, like Christine…. I’ve always been, and now am even moreso, a firm believer that some cars aren’t just metal and paint….

About to get mounted!

Last week I shot down the bay to Sunnyvale in my ’66 Plymouth, where I hooked up with an old hot rodder who had a set of wheels for sale; I ended up driving home with a pretty much perfect set of chrome smoothie wheels and hubcaps (4 fresh tires mounted on them!), and a nice unmounted set of used P78/15 (the big ones) 4″ wide-whitewall tires very worthy of a second life on somebody’s car. Those will sit for now, but I’ll be spending a day next week installing and polishing my new chrome wheels! This hobby can get expensive, but the best advice I have is; check craigslist first!! I got $700 worth of new wheels and tires for $250. WIN!

The next big step is interior. I’ve bought brand new seatbelts (chrome buckles, like the 50’s airlines used!) and have a fresh headliner in box, with carpet picked out. I’ll be making new door panels myself, with clear sheet plastic tracing out the old panel fitment, then hardboard sealed with rubber spray & cut to fit the original location. Wrap it all with a quality vinyl and you’re in business! I’m leaning toward oxblood leather-grain vinyl, should look nice against all the black of the body/dash/etc.

With a 2bbl carburetor feeding the engine, I am quite unimpressed with the get-up of this car;  yeah I can burn some rubber, but those 5.2L engines are capable of so much more! Enter Craigslist (again!), where I found a guy in the area who’s got a 4bbl intake waiting for me. Drop in a new Summit Racing carburetor for about $240, and I’m in business!! Those dual exhausts will be put to good use any time now….. *rumble*

Pics and updates to come!