Scraping Fest

I have a much better progress report this week - the main part of the room is now 80% scraped. Once I figured out a good rhythm I was able to progress through several rows of scruffy tile glue. The vacuum does suck up the debris, but since it isn't working properly, it is adding a layer of finer dust to the entire room every time I run it. Thus, I'll have the added step of wiping off all of the surfaces and items in the room when the scraping is complete. But, I feel it will be done soon :)

The seventh entry in this series of future passenger trains is the "Night Fire". This is a heavyweight train populated by Pullman-made passenger cars. The reason I wanted to create this train is because Pullman cars can prototypically be pulled by just about any locomotive. I see Pullman cars as kind of "generic" in that they aren't necessary visibly tied to a particular railroad. This can allow for some neat motive power match-ups. I originally purchased four of Lionel's O-Scale heavyweight cars from a dealer at the monthly train show in Wheaton, IL (at the DuPage County Fairgrounds). As of this blog, the train show continues to occur, and is called the Great Midwest Train Show. Anyway... I think these four cars were designed for Lionel's Commodore Vanderbilt locomotive from the 1990's. Although the locomotive was New York Central, the cars do not show NYC markings. Later on, I added a front-end freight car, which matches the Pullman-green color-scheme nicely.  Later still, I added the K-Line made Santa Fe "Granite Canyon" to the consist. It is painted in Pullman-brown, but it fits in well with the style of the train, and is probably prototypical anyway - I've seen many historical photographs of trains where every passenger car wasn't the same style, color, or road-name! On the train layout of the future, this train set would be pulled by big steam - a CB&Q Hudson, the C&NW E-4, a C&NW H-1 or MR 4-8-4, the GN Mikado, an NP A-4, the RI Northern or the Frisco Mikado. The "Night Fire" will take passengers to all points on the layout, hailing from Liberty Station. Run some heavyweights down the track and keep those rails shiny ~

Here's the Train Room as of last night. Just 45 squares of glue remain in the main area.

The Inglehome is a Pullman lounge car that now safely resides at the Illinois Railway Museum.