Alan 80

Some very fine photos here of 4014 Big Boy. Railstream webcams do a variety of options, but the free version of a few cameras offer a guest cam each week. When the Rosenberg TX cam of the week was available (don't remember the date) I clicked on to it and notices far more spectators, both sides of the tracks, than usual. That suggested that something out of the ordinary was going to happen. Well, it sis. After a 20 minute wait I head a steam loco whistle so I waited for the loco to arrive. It was Big Boy and it made a ten minute stop. How lucky I was to look at that camera when Big Boy was coming through. Sheer joy!

A nice interview Jerry, good to see it handled with some thought by the tv company. All the planning and her work put in by your builders certainly paid off.

Nice article about your railroad - your military service and the rest of the folks - Jerry, fame at last!

Actually the model made by Aristo-craft was an FA-1 - the model number was 22017. It had the road number of 2017. In the Aristo database photo there does not appear to be the connectors for battery car operation which should mean it was a pre 2005 model.

Interesting discussion about who was first through the gate. Without doubt Lewis Polk with his REA team up and subsequent Aristocraft product line, firmly put the 1:29 scale on the world wide map. Lionel, as far as Europe was concerned, was not highly featured nor were Ro Trains and the subsequent USAT marque. You could order Charlie's product through a dealer in the UK but Aristo had the foresight to use Bachmann, who was already well known and established in the UK, as his product outlet. Aristo was well represented and readily available from Bachmann until around 2011 when things seemed to soured a little. I bought a fair amount of Aristo through Bachmann UK retail stockists. Good prices and generally a quick delivery. It is recorded that Charlie Ro was just as disappointed, as many others were, when Aristo closed down. Not only did he act as manufacturer, he was also a retailer and he must have had decent sales of Aristo as well as his own products.

Hi Nick, Just reviewed this thread. Magnificent work. That engine would be the pride and joy I guess of any marine engineer. It wasn't until you posted a photo of the tug outdoors that I was able to appreciate its size. The tug would certainly look at home on the Hudson. I noticed in your fist post, that you anticipated 'best part of a year'. Well that turns out to be eighteen months but I guess you got on with other projects (barge?) as a break.

Cute, is the word I guess Jerry. Anyway it was a fun run I am sure. As far as sending pics to egg liner haters well, that is cruel! Hope you had a great day today.

If Rayman is correct and I am pretty sure he is, these are the models that Aristocraft produced. http://aristodatabase.x10host.com/?series=21600

http://aristodatabase.x10host.com/?prodid=46216&year=

http://aristodatabase.x10host.com/?prodid=41895X&year=2008 Not a 70 ton but an offset 55 ton?I believe.

Having checked them all my choice cam down on the United We Stand theme. Very easy to read.

Great work Jerry. Now you have the loop connected you can 'whistle and ride' as they say. Actually I like working on the RR and having a train running it makes it all so much interesting. Yes, keep it simple; I agree on that. Times, over the years, I thought about adding more and building this or that, but sense said keep it simple, less to maintain and more time for running trains and having a little fun.

HI, Jerry. Yes, I thought I recognised your covered bridge that I had seen in photos of your previous railway in AK. In my view they are a great asset to any garden railroad.

Good progress Jerry. The steel bridge look fine. Do see a covered bridge in the background? Did you bring that with you from your previous home? I like covered bridges. They are scarce over here, there are some in Switzerland however. My covered bridge is based on one in Cedarburg WI. A friend there, when he saw a picture of it, said "hey! Alan that looks just like the bridge down the road from me". I said it is, I modelled it on that bridge; Google was able to show me three sides of it.

I look at the railcam at Landgraff WVa every day. It is situated in the NS Pocahontas division. Apart from historical people the name also reminds me of coal. I have two coal trains. One consists of five Bachmann Big Hauler 1:22.5 three bay hoppers and the other is eight Aristo 2-bay offset hoppers. I usually run battery operation which means I use a ninth Aristo hopper as battery car. I really like the offset hoppers; they seem more charismatic than the straight sided hoppers. Two of the Aristo hoppers have an alternative load when I want to use them in a MOW train. They have shortened Bachmann coal loads (1:22.5 Big Hauler range) suitably painted to look like ballast rather than coal. Coming back to Pocahontas I give a link to anyone wealthy and wanting a UK residence which has a Pocahontas connection. For the record, for those with loads of $$$$$, £2 million = $2.57 million. https://www.plymouthherald.co.uk/news/plymouth-news/medieval-manor-home-sir-walter-1929019