Sir, I love the "vibe" of this video. It puts me in a very good mood. I'm putting it in my UA-cam drawer, and will watch it whenever I'm having a bad day. Its a nice view of a modeler's life. Thank you for making it!
When I was a teenager, on rainy Saturdays were the days my father took me to the model train shop. Good memories for sure. Now, if I could only get Saturdays off😅
You can take the boy out of Chicago, but you can’t take Chicago out of the boy, eh? All of us have that special place that never quite leaves us. For me it’s Dublin. ☘️
True that. I’ve lived outside of Illinois for the last 20+ years and don’t see myself going back anytime soon but there’s still that part of you who knows where you’re from. Hope you get back to Dublin every now and again - seems like a sweet city, probably a great place to grow up.
Thanks for this postive vibes video. I've been stuck in Large Laser-cut Wood Structure Kit Construction Hell for nearly a month now because I decided to build a small 1x2 foot diorama for rolling stock photography and needed a backdrop/background structure for it. I've come within a hair's breath of smashing it to pieces at least twice now. The combination of less-than-great instructions and a possible fading of my modeling mojo (I'm now in my late 70's) hasn't helped. Sigh. I'm sticking with plastic from now on. Again, thanks for lowering my blood pressure. Cheers from Wisconsin!
Hi Andrew, sorry you've been having a less-than-fun time with the structure kit. I've been thinking a lot about laser cut wood and have been wanting to try out some of ITLA's kits for factory buildings. Glad this offered a bit of zen for you in the midst of the struggle - have a great day (and yeah, maybe a nice build on a plastic kit too)!
@@ChicagoCrossingRR The ITLA stuff looks quite good. One HO guy on YT built a huge Westinghouse transformer manufacturing facility with their modules and it looked excellent.
It's been kind of a blah day in mid Michigan, but let's see- so far' I've only done some tidying up while I was catching up with Boomer, Jason and Seaboard Central, but the night is young yet. Love that old METRA diesel.
Hi Thomas, seems like time well spent :) Those folks had some great videos this week. That Metra loco was done by a guy I found on eBay. Beautiful work on models nobody else makes. Have a great rest of the weekend!
Man, I completely understand about the BN E9’s. My mom worked by the tracks in Lisle, and I spent so much time between there and Aurora as a kid. It takes ya RIGHT back!
Cool video. Nice to see your trains rolling thru scenes! Man, I haven't been to the IL railway museum in decades, really cool place. If you're ever back in town, especially with little ones, check out the Hesston IN steam museum. The kids love riding the hand built miniature trains. Plus there's an old Shay and some narrow gauge for rides too.
Hi Steve, ironically enough I've never even been to the IRM! Probably will have to take care of that problem next time I get into Chicago for a visit :). Will definitely have to check out the museum in Hesston. Out here in Denver we've got a couple of nice rail museums out in Golden and then the Forney here in town (has a Big Boy and the local N scale RR club layout), not to mention the big HO museum up in Greeley.
IRM is cool, so is Hesston, especially on a few times a year when they parade the old steam farm tractors. The ground rumbles when those massive beasts roll by. 😆😆there's even steam powered popcorn makers, along with a saw mill & a 1900 power plant. Cool place
Very inspiring video, thanks. Living in Buffalo, NY, I know all about bad weather days and an escape into my basement is always a worthwhile escape. There’s something about being productive on days when one might be tempted to veg out in front of the tv. Just assembled a period service station and positioned it in a neglected area on the layout. A new project that will keep me busy for a bit. Thanks for sharing.
Ha yeah we were forecast for rain and not snow. That’s why you can’t plant the garden before mother’s day, there’s always a dump of snow in late April.
@ChicagoCrossingRR Yeah we've had a ton of rain here but the Temps have hovered in the low 60s to 70s!!! I feel bad for those who went thru the Tornadoes in Iowa and Nebraska, yikes!!!
@ChicagoCrossingRR I liked that Boxcar used as a fence in your scrap yard, there's one in San Antonio TX I used to pass that used boxcars for their fence, old 40 foot Boxcars!! Very cool!!!
@@conrailfan6277 no kidding. I was watching some weather feeds on those. Insane weather out there in Tornado Alley. Growing up we’d get a few severe storms but nothing like that.
@@conrailfan6277 awesome! I didn’t have a good prototype in mind when I made that, but figured it was plausible for someone to reuse a boxcar for a tool shed. That’s a very old Milwaukee road boxcar model given to me long ago (I was maybe 6 or 7) as a gift by my late Uncle Tom. He gave me a loco of his and a few cars. The loco is on display, the cars are all still around. This one was made as sort of an homage to him. He collected but never really built his own finished layout.
lol, I’m the same as you. Over a year ago I weathered a freight car and wonder if I’d forgotten how 😂. I enjoy your channel and that’s one nice layout you’ve built. Keep up the good work
@@tczephyr3665 hey man that’s great - I don’t know if I’m rooting for the Sox as much as rooting for you rooting for the Sox 😄. Either way the Rockies are just sh*t this year so at least it’s cheap seats at Coord field to watch the Cubs play.
A good day working on the trains! Watched it while having my morning coffee before going in the train room to work on a DCC install in a Proto E unit. Maybe someday you'll have BN Budd cars to go behind your E. I'm hoping for Rock Island ones in HO.
I was excited to see Rapido is releasing the BN E8AMs and Budd coaches in HO scale (no Rock Island). The HO models look stunning in person. My chat with their person at a recent train show would suggest these might come out in N maybe a year or two after. It's a long wait - I have the old Con-Cor Budd models and those really just don't look all that great by modern standards. I don't run them much. Maybe I'll try upgrading them a little.
Me too, I usually see the more ‘interesting’ projects as priorities and also just more fun. It it was really satisfying to get that one up and running.
You actually had Chicago-area weather out West there! Rain changing to snow changing to something else again. (But the Chicago area has it change a couple times an HOUR sometimes...I shoveled snow in the rain this year). A good day hobbying is better than a good day at work.
@@ChicagoCrossingRR Was in Colorado decades ago; it stormed for 10 minutes, then the sun came out. Saw a snowball fight on Mount Evans...in summer! I got oxygen deprived at the top of the mountain. That was some trip! :)
That brings back such memories of taking the BN/Metra into downtown Union station dark underground Batman like cave. Or when my mom would put me on (by my self at 12 years old) to visit my Grandparents in Berwyn. I was wondering what type of camera do you use to shoot the video? Great video.... That snow looked soooo peaceful, compared to the hell (storms) we had last night.
Referring to the Metra loco? Same chassis, just added the chip. Lots of the kato decoders have problems with contact to the pickup tabs, I solder mine in nowadays as a matter of practice :). Beautiful job on that shell, looks great.
Boomer's been a unique and important contributor to the community - rare insights from a professional model builder with that much experience under his belt doesn't go un-noticed :). I'd love to have more days like that - it's kind of a rarity to get a day just for the layout.
On the subject of the BN E Units, I'm disappointed to hear that IRM is planning on repainting theirs's into CBQ colors. It's unfortunate that a piece of Chicagoan history is having it's legacy painted over like that given how that engine ran in BN Cascade Green far longer than CBQ silver, which imho means it should stay in the colors it historically ran under the most. They already have the E5 in Burlington Silver so it isn't like they are missing a piece of CBQ Streamline heritage. Oh well, what does a Twin Cities guy like me know. Lol.
Right there with you on the E unit. I’d actually modeled mine in the IRM loco (9908). It’s too bad that the hockey stick commuter livery isn’t really seen with the same eye toward historical value. Especially in Illinois. Also from a curatorial perspective, if they’re keeping all of the Morrison Knudsen modifications it actually makes their loco non-historical at that point. I’m at least happy they are keeping it in good condition. It looked a bit gnarly in photos.
It's a technique from the armor and aircraft modelers, sponge chipping. You take a color suggestive of the primer/undercoat and tap a nearly dry sponge with the paint onto areas that would get damaged in this way. Follow up with rust and build from there :)
“It’s just a hobby. No fear.” Well said! Another great video! 👍🏻
Thank you!! Glad it had a money quote 😁
Sir,
I love the "vibe" of this video. It puts me in a very good mood. I'm putting it in my UA-cam drawer, and will watch it whenever I'm having a bad day. Its a nice view of a modeler's life. Thank you for making it!
Cheers, thanks for the kind note. I don't get many days like that, but it's nice to take advantage when I do!
When I was a teenager, on rainy Saturdays were the days my father took me to the model train shop. Good memories for sure. Now, if I could only get Saturdays off😅
Same here, those were great days. I hear you about having enough time. This was my first trip back down to the train room in a decent while.
You can take the boy out of Chicago, but you can’t take Chicago out of the boy, eh? All of us have that special place that never quite leaves us. For me it’s Dublin. ☘️
True that. I’ve lived outside of Illinois for the last 20+ years and don’t see myself going back anytime soon but there’s still that part of you who knows where you’re from. Hope you get back to Dublin every now and again - seems like a sweet city, probably a great place to grow up.
Your videos never cease to entertain! 😀
Awesome, glad you enjoyed!!
Im always fascinated and in awe of your videos my Chi-town brother and friend. Keep on posting!😊
Always enjoy hearing from you Carl - and will do!
Thanks for this postive vibes video. I've been stuck in Large Laser-cut Wood Structure Kit Construction Hell for nearly a month now because I decided to build a small 1x2 foot diorama for rolling stock photography and needed a backdrop/background structure for it. I've come within a hair's breath of smashing it to pieces at least twice now. The combination of less-than-great instructions and a possible fading of my modeling mojo (I'm now in my late 70's) hasn't helped. Sigh. I'm sticking with plastic from now on. Again, thanks for lowering my blood pressure. Cheers from Wisconsin!
Hi Andrew, sorry you've been having a less-than-fun time with the structure kit. I've been thinking a lot about laser cut wood and have been wanting to try out some of ITLA's kits for factory buildings. Glad this offered a bit of zen for you in the midst of the struggle - have a great day (and yeah, maybe a nice build on a plastic kit too)!
@@ChicagoCrossingRR The ITLA stuff looks quite good. One HO guy on YT built a huge Westinghouse transformer manufacturing facility with their modules and it looked excellent.
It's been kind of a blah day in mid Michigan, but let's see- so far' I've only done some tidying up while I was catching up with Boomer, Jason and Seaboard Central, but the night is young yet. Love that old METRA diesel.
Hi Thomas, seems like time well spent :) Those folks had some great videos this week. That Metra loco was done by a guy I found on eBay. Beautiful work on models nobody else makes. Have a great rest of the weekend!
Man, I completely understand about the BN E9’s. My mom worked by the tracks in Lisle, and I spent so much time between there and Aurora as a kid. It takes ya RIGHT back!
Absolutely! I’ve enjoyed seeing Rapido’s HO releases of the loco, probably will be an N soon.
Always look forward to your posts. Very much.
Thank you John! Always good to hear from you.
This is excellent.. Sweet Home Chicago!!
Absolutely - feels like home no matter what!
And all this time I thought your layout was HO!! That makes it even more incredable. Cheers Michael NZ
Seems a fair number of people make that mistake. I'm flattered every time. Cheers -Eric
Cool video. Nice to see your trains rolling thru scenes! Man, I haven't been to the IL railway museum in decades, really cool place. If you're ever back in town, especially with little ones, check out the Hesston IN steam museum. The kids love riding the hand built miniature trains. Plus there's an old Shay and some narrow gauge for rides too.
Hi Steve, ironically enough I've never even been to the IRM! Probably will have to take care of that problem next time I get into Chicago for a visit :). Will definitely have to check out the museum in Hesston. Out here in Denver we've got a couple of nice rail museums out in Golden and then the Forney here in town (has a Big Boy and the local N scale RR club layout), not to mention the big HO museum up in Greeley.
IRM is cool, so is Hesston, especially on a few times a year when they parade the old steam farm tractors. The ground rumbles when those massive beasts roll by. 😆😆there's even steam powered popcorn makers, along with a saw mill & a 1900 power plant. Cool place
@@yamo1226 that's awesome. Putting that on my to-do list!
Love youre channel and layout. Great edit and music . Weather reminds me of Norway☺️
Thanks! It’ll be more like Death Valley in about 8 weeks…
Very inspiring video, thanks. Living in Buffalo, NY, I know all about bad weather days and an escape into my basement is always a worthwhile escape. There’s something about being productive on days when one might be tempted to veg out in front of the tv. Just assembled a period service station and positioned it in a neglected area on the layout. A new project that will keep me busy for a bit. Thanks for sharing.
Yep, that part of NY takes bad weather up a couple of notches. Looking forward to seeing how the service station turns out!
What a positive video to start the week with. Thanks Peter from downunder.
Hey thanks Peter. Have a great week!
Really a great day! Good job! Greetings by Sunny Italy!
Grazie Gio!
Nice work on that F7, looks like
she's a great runner now!!! That weather, UGH!!! It's in the 70s here in Central Indiana, WOOOOOOO!!!
Ha yeah we were forecast for rain and not snow. That’s why you can’t plant the garden before mother’s day, there’s always a dump of snow in late April.
@ChicagoCrossingRR Yeah we've had a ton of rain here but the Temps
have hovered in the low 60s to 70s!!!
I feel bad for those who went thru the Tornadoes in Iowa and Nebraska, yikes!!!
@ChicagoCrossingRR I liked that
Boxcar used as a fence in your scrap
yard, there's one in San Antonio TX I
used to pass that used boxcars for
their fence, old 40 foot Boxcars!!
Very cool!!!
@@conrailfan6277 no kidding. I was watching some weather feeds on those. Insane weather out there in Tornado Alley. Growing up we’d get a few severe storms but nothing like that.
@@conrailfan6277 awesome! I didn’t have a good prototype in mind when I made that, but figured it was plausible for someone to reuse a boxcar for a tool shed. That’s a very old Milwaukee road boxcar model given to me long ago (I was maybe 6 or 7) as a gift by my late Uncle Tom. He gave me a loco of his and a few cars. The loco is on display, the cars are all still around. This one was made as sort of an homage to him. He collected but never really built his own finished layout.
Great Video and thoughts - When we lived in Cheyenne in mid-2010's Snow storms on Mother's Day always.
Yep never plant a garden before the beginning of May!
Another great video Eric. Thanks. Sidenote, I love my Birdies Garden Bed. Mine is the same color 😉
Good eye! We put that in last year, it's where the dahlias go!
The Zen of model railroading ❤
Kind of felt like that!
lol, I’m the same as you. Over a year ago I weathered a freight car and wonder if I’d forgotten how 😂. I enjoy your channel and that’s one nice layout you’ve built. Keep up the good work
Glad I'm not the only one in that position! Thanks for dropping by David!
I seen those E8’s coming out of Chicago in late 80’s on their way to Aurora ILL. Love your layout! Nice job!
Thank you! I loved those old engines, it was a treat growing up near the racetrack :)
A bad weather day in the Spring is what I call a “Bonus Day” forget the Spring yard cleanup drudgery and head down the basement 😊
Ha for sure! Today was sunny and upper 60s so hit the yard chores hard today.
@@ChicagoCrossingRR Sox have won 3 in a row, life is good 😁
@@tczephyr3665 hey man that’s great - I don’t know if I’m rooting for the Sox as much as rooting for you rooting for the Sox 😄. Either way the Rockies are just sh*t this year so at least it’s cheap seats at Coord field to watch the Cubs play.
I have a cold right now so his model railroad video is a nice picker upper. Thanks for posting. I like the mix of running trains and model detailing.
Hi Robert, hope you feel better soon, and glad this was a lift on the spirits!
Very, very nice weathering job my friend. So authentic and scale looking. Just beautiful. Thanks for the video!!
Absolutely! That flatcar looks even better today with the new wood decking and other details. I was happy with the how it turned out.
Relaxing video. Love the Metra!
Thanks Paul, have a great rest of the weekend!
What a great way to deal with crappy weather. Well done with this video!
As someone else mentioned, bad weather can be a nice escape from all the spring yard work. I’ll take it! Thanks Chris.
A good day working on the trains! Watched it while having my morning coffee before going in the train room to work on a DCC install in a Proto E unit. Maybe someday you'll have BN Budd cars to go behind your E. I'm hoping for Rock Island ones in HO.
I was excited to see Rapido is releasing the BN E8AMs and Budd coaches in HO scale (no Rock Island). The HO models look stunning in person. My chat with their person at a recent train show would suggest these might come out in N maybe a year or two after. It's a long wait - I have the old Con-Cor Budd models and those really just don't look all that great by modern standards. I don't run them much. Maybe I'll try upgrading them a little.
Just awesome👊🏽
Thank you Ken!
Very nice video! Sums up everything I enjoy about rainy days spent in the train room. Thanks for sharing!
Awesome! Thanks for stopping by and glad you enjoyed!
Some good inspiration. I have 2 locos that needs decoders installed. But I always go with the easier projects.
Me too, I usually see the more ‘interesting’ projects as priorities and also just more fun. It it was really satisfying to get that one up and running.
You actually had Chicago-area weather out West there! Rain changing to snow changing to something else again. (But the Chicago area has it change a couple times an HOUR sometimes...I shoveled snow in the rain this year). A good day hobbying is better than a good day at work.
We did, mountain weather is equally unpredictable if a bit different!
@@ChicagoCrossingRR Was in Colorado decades ago; it stormed for 10 minutes, then the sun came out. Saw a snowball fight on Mount Evans...in summer! I got oxygen deprived at the top of the mountain. That was some trip! :)
I'll be doing the cleaning/sorting/organizing this evening
I find it really helpful as a way to just get started again. Thanks for watching!
Great video as always, just one thing, I don’t want to hear a rocket scientist say it’s nuking snow!😂😂
In that case good thing I'm a biologist🤓! Somehow 'nuking' is like a term I hear out here in the mountains for heavy snow. No idea who started it 😆
That brings back such memories of taking the BN/Metra into downtown Union station dark underground Batman like cave.
Or when my mom would put me on (by my self at 12 years old) to visit my Grandparents in Berwyn.
I was wondering what type of camera do you use to shoot the video? Great video....
That snow looked soooo peaceful, compared to the hell (storms) we had last night.
Hey Jeff, this was using an iPhone 15. Nothing special, simply used the 'cinematic' mode on it.
love it
Thank you!!
Minute hand on clock divisible by 10: Make more tea. (after all, I am in the UK).
Sounds like a proper brew-up. Demanding schedule though. I made my big mug and that was about it.
I see u replaced the non-dcc chassis to DCC one :)
Referring to the Metra loco? Same chassis, just added the chip. Lots of the kato decoders have problems with contact to the pickup tabs, I solder mine in nowadays as a matter of practice :). Beautiful job on that shell, looks great.
I see you are a fan of Boomer too. It's always nice to have a train day.
Boomer's been a unique and important contributor to the community - rare insights from a professional model builder with that much experience under his belt doesn't go un-noticed :). I'd love to have more days like that - it's kind of a rarity to get a day just for the layout.
On the subject of the BN E Units, I'm disappointed to hear that IRM is planning on repainting theirs's into CBQ colors. It's unfortunate that a piece of Chicagoan history is having it's legacy painted over like that given how that engine ran in BN Cascade Green far longer than CBQ silver, which imho means it should stay in the colors it historically ran under the most. They already have the E5 in Burlington Silver so it isn't like they are missing a piece of CBQ Streamline heritage. Oh well, what does a Twin Cities guy like me know. Lol.
Right there with you on the E unit. I’d actually modeled mine in the IRM loco (9908). It’s too bad that the hockey stick commuter livery isn’t really seen with the same eye toward historical value. Especially in Illinois. Also from a curatorial perspective, if they’re keeping all of the Morrison Knudsen modifications it actually makes their loco non-historical at that point. I’m at least happy they are keeping it in good condition. It looked a bit gnarly in photos.
@@ChicagoCrossingRR I agree 100%
Please teach me how to use a sponge on painting. m(_ _)m
It's a technique from the armor and aircraft modelers, sponge chipping. You take a color suggestive of the primer/undercoat and tap a nearly dry sponge with the paint onto areas that would get damaged in this way. Follow up with rust and build from there :)
Thank you, Sir. m(_ _)m
@@TheClosetBranch you bet.
And all this time I thought your layout was HO!! That makes it even more incredable. Cheers Michael NZ
Thanks Michael!