Employee's Picnic 1928

Here is a picture taken in the summer of 1928, showing the Elgin Joliet & Eastern Railway 755 2-8-2 Mikado. According the the www.ejearchive.com this locomotive was built by Alco Brooks in 1923.

This is a special picture for my family, showing my great grandfather James McArdle, who was an engineer on the 755. He is shown wearing a white cap in the picture, 6th from the left. At the EJ&E yearly picnic, different divisions of the railway would clean and decorate an engine, that would be entered into a contest. According to a letter my great grandfather wrote, the 755 lost this contest in 1928 to the Gary division engine 748. The contest turned serious in 1929, to which the 755 would emerge victorious (I will share some photographs of the 755 in 1929 in the future). The 755 is seen here pulling passenger cars that carried employee family members for the special occasion. This picture was taken in Plainfield, IL north of the grain elevator which still stands today, just south of route 59. The engine is draped in a patriotic red white and blue. The American Flags at the time had 48 stars, 6 horizontal rows of 8.

Union Station Project - Part 1

My first scratchbuild project will be the Joliet Union Station. The Joliet Union Station was constructed in 1911-1912 and was designed by Jarvis Hunt. The structure cost $250,000 to build. The EJ&E Railway only operated on the tracks adjacent to this station for a brief period of time, however the building is a trademark symbol of railroading in Joliet. This fantastic structure will be a large focal point of the layout.

I am completely new to scratchbuilding, especially to a project containing this level of detail. The building will be constructed to O scale (1 layout foot = 48 building feet), so the total length and width of the building will be approximately 3' by 3'. My first step in the project was to visit the station and take measurements, as well as photographs.

After one trip to the structure I have realized how time consuming this project will be, however it will be something to work on while waiting to complete construction on the train room. The walls of the building will be made out of 1/4" MDF. The next step in the process will be to create a scale template of the main walls of the building.

MTH Lionel Corporation Tinplate

After looking through the 2011 Lionel Corporation catalog, I decided that I wanted to sign up for the 2011 MTHRRC subscription, which includes one car a year. After joining I called MTH and was able to purchase the 2010 and 2009 club cars. This is my first ever MTH purchase, and tinplate purchase, and I must say that I am blown away. Everything from the packaging down to the finest details on these cars are incredible. So far these are the only two club cars released with the Lionel Corporation paint scheme, and the 2011 club car is scheduled for shipment in April.

The majority of tinplate collectors purchase standard gauge. I decided to stick with O gauge so I can run these on my main layout.