Hobo Jungle

[rogruth]

Jon,

Any idea where this car is located?

[AG]

Roger,
this is laser cut.

I have no idea where the car is located,
but somewhere they gave a better use at least.

AG.

[J. S. Bach]

More alternative uses for old railcars somewhere in east Texas rice(?) country:



I do remember a single hopper elevated like those above somewhere else with a dry-bulk semi-trailer being loaded under it, but I was not able to get a picture of it.

A more common use:

I saw a significant number of these on my trip to Farmington, NM last July.

[J. S. Bach]

but somewhere they gave a better use at least. AG.

I have seen a number of retired flatcars used as bridges.

[MurphOnMillerAve]

J.S. I'm looking but I'm not seeing - what are the uses of those hoppers and the boxcar?
Murph

[Rufus T. Firefly]

J.S. I'm looking but I'm not seeing - what are the uses of those hoppers and the boxcar?
Murph

I thought that the hoppers were used for storage of grain / corn and subsequent loading into trucks..... Boxcars usually were storing stuff.....

[J. S. Bach]

Rufus nailed it. Something like the top scene would eat up a LOT of real estate on a layout but a small one or two car version would work. Here is a Shorpy image of a re-purposed (sort of) tank car:

[AG]

but somewhere they gave a better use at least. AG.

I have seen a number of retired flatcars used as bridges.

yup you're right!
AG

[MurphOnMillerAve]

Rufus nailed it. Something like the top scene would eat up a LOT of real estate on a layout but a small one or two car version would work...

The thought of modeling such a scene, abbreviated or as-large, didn't cross my mind. How many people could relate to what they were seeing and wouldn't think such a scene was pure fantasy, I have to ask myself.

Now, of re-purposed tank cars, frankly, I can't keep my Insta-Ramas that feature them in the booth at York for more than 15 min. upon openng of the Orange Hall. They sell right away. For example...

[rogruth]

Murph,

One of the things that you do better than many [especially me] is finding the just right figures to use in a scene.

The tank car scenes also have all the needed piping along with the appropriate grease and grime.

With my less than perfect eyes it took me a while to find all [well probably not] the small details in your scenes.

I don't remember seeing the above several before.

[healey36]

Electrifying it or putting a motor in it to spin it when they trip a switch due to their weight is more efficacious....but so it a .410 when they are in season and can be fried up with some onions, mushrooms and brown gravy,

Yeah, as you fellas pointed out, that whole plastic baffle thing was completely ineffective...I totally misjudged the horizantal leaping ability of Sciurus carolinensis, easily the fifty-five inches from tree trunk to suet feeder:



After a few attempted "fixes" we abandoned that and moved on to a double-walled cage affair. The guy at Lowes assured me this will dissuade the little buggers:



I'm not so sure. I swear last night I heard someone out in the garage trying to move the cart I keep my acetylene torch on, and this morning I noticed my goggles were missing...

Healey

[Tramp]

Did any of you notice my squirrel column? http://www.penbaypilot.com/article/eric ... back/47148

I put it up because Roger insisted that I continue to link my columns, but I also hoped to convert you squirrel killers and murderers to a better understanding and Christian path.

Jon, thanks again for sending the transformer. It will be great to run some trains again. Maybe I'll get some up and going during our pending blizzard. You are a fine hobo, buddy.

[2railjon]

What's that white stuff all over your yard?
Sand from the Bahamas?

[healey36]

Great column Tramp, but you have not convinced me to surrender the suet feeder to the gray squirrels. They are a well-fed lot – peanuts, walnuts, sunflower seeds, other bird seed, and corn (evidenced by the vacated cobs I find littering the back lawn) and God knows what else they are provided.

I think the Maine environ, perhaps New England in general, implants an awareness and sensibility for the life of varmints. I recall Henry Beston in his book Northern Farm lamenting/tolerating the occasional rat that would visit the larder in his Nobleboro farmhouse. Not something to which a southerner is likely to empathize. Perhaps it’s the harshness of the winter, a “We’re all in this together” consideration, I don’t know. I respect it, maybe understand it, and certainly have pledged to resist breaking out the artillery.

I just want the fat buggers off the suet feeder...

Healey

[2railjon]

Jon, thanks again for sending the transformer. It will be great to run some trains again. Maybe I'll get some up and going during our pending blizzard. You are a fine hobo, buddy.

Glad I could assist. It was just gathering dust under the layout. Looking forward to your train running photos!