RIP, Ernie Labovich, a Model Railroad Friend

My two cars from Ernie's old layout, the Cherry
Point & Western. 

My friend Ernie Labovich passed away December 1, 2011. In addition to being a skilled jazz musician, he was a model railroader. His layout, called the Cherry Point & Western. was named after the song Cherry Point by Neil Hefti--one of his favorites.

Ernie's layout, built in the 1960s and 70s, was a product of its time. It had low benchwork, tight curves, duckunders, lots of track filling small spaces. But as a newcomer to the hobby, it impressed the heck out of me; I always enjoyed visiting his layout.

Among other things, it featured a bandstand in a park; Ernie had rigged up a tape recorder (remember those?) to play jazz songs. He always liked showing it off.

Ernie.

As Ernie's health declined, he could no longer get downstairs, much less navigate the duckunders. When he and his partner moved to an apartment, the layout came down. He gifted me with two cars--both completely out of my era, but which I still cherish.

I made a short slide show of the CP Rail M & M Sub. in Ernie's honour, using a song from his CD "A Taste of New Orleans." You can watch it here.

Bowser to Make Canadian SD40-2s

This is not the new Bowser SD40-2, but an
excellent kitbash of an Athearn unit by my
good friend Manny Jacob. I hope the new units
look this good!

I reported earlier that Bowser was planning to come out with a new Canadian locomotive. Today they announced what it will be: The SD40-2, in several Canadian variants.

All I can say is: Wow!

I also noted earlier that this is a great time to be a Canadian model railroader. With the recent announcements by Athearn of their CN GP38-2, InterMountain planning to bring out SD40-2s in all its phases, and now Bowser planning to do the same unit--not to mention all the great stuff from Rapido and True Line Trains--it's a really great time to be a Canadian model railroader.

New CN Wide Cab GP38-2 from Athearn

Earlier this month I wrote about how this is a great time to be a Canadian model railroader. With Athearn's anouncement of a new CN wide cab Genesis line GP38-2, it just got better!

Athearn introduced its newest locomotive at the Amherst Railway Club's show on January 28. The first four units will be in Southern Pacific, MoPac, CN and Southern (high hood). Delivery is slated for late 2012.

But it's the CN unit that has Canadians excited. This is a great addition to the growing line-up of products for modellers in this country.

Click here to watch a video about the new units.

Photos by Jeff Shultz for Model Railroad Hobbyist.

Man, er, Model Railroad Cars Overboard!

Containers headed for Davy Jones' locker.

Most model railroad items are made in China these days, as we all know. They come to North America in containers on huge container ships.

Most of the time, the journey is uneventful. But every now and then a shipper learns that his or her shipment was lost at sea—never again to be seen.

That’s what almost happened to Jason Shron of Rapido Trains. Last week he learned that the Cosco Yokohama, the ship carrying a container of his passenger cars, lost 29 containers in the Pacific Ocean.

Luckily, it seems that his container was not one of the ones washed overboard. But what if it had? His wife, a noted Canadian author, suggested he write the following to those waiting for their orders:

“Dear customer. We have some good news and some bad news. The good news is that your container was unloaded on January 23rd. The bad news is that the vessel docked on January 25th.”

Lost containers at sea is not a rare occurrence. It is reported that over 10,000 containers fall off of container ships every year. Many of them float at the surface for months, posing a serious danger to vessels—especially smaller craft. Some make it to shore, but most eventually sink to the seafloor.

This container made landfall.

Container at the bottom of the ocean.

The most famous container lost at sea was the one that carried rubber ducks. In 1992, almost 29,000 of them fell off a container ship into the Pacific Ocean. They’ve been floating around the world on ocean currents ever since, with some washing up on the shores of Great Britain, 17,000 miles away.

Routes taken by the rubber ducks.

The spill actually turned out to be a boon for ocean researchers; the duck’s progress has aided their efforts to map various ocean currents.

Now if Jason’s trains had gone overboard, I wonder what beachcombers would have thought if HO scale passenger cars started washing up on various shores? Maybe Jason could send out another note:

“Dear customer: We have good news and bad news. The good news is that your order has finally arrived. The bad news is it’s in Australia.”

InterMountain CP Rail SD40-2 Units: Could it Happen?

A new InterMountain SD40-2; will they
make one in CP Rail, too?

Long time readers of this blog know that I would like nothing better than a quality CP Rail SD40-2 unit.

My best bet would be Atlas, but they don't seem to going in that direction. Athearn has made one in CP Rail livery, but it is a generic model in Action Red.

But now there's hope: InterMountain has announced they will make the SD40-2, and that they intend to produce "every configuration" of this iconic unit in HO scale over the next few years. Right now, they are offering the unit in UP, SF, BN, ICE, CSX, NS, Pan Am and GATX.

Since CP Rail purchased hundreds of these units (it was one of the largest buyers), I am hoping InterMountain will make them for that railway, too--with the proper noses, headlight positions, bell, railings and steps. (I can always dream!)

I decided to ask the company if that was the case. The answer wasn't yes, but it wasn't no.

Here's what Richard Frazier of InterMountain said in reply:

"This was a very popular prototype and it is our intention to produce many of these models. Though the specific model you mention is not currently on the list, I would keep an eye out for future announcements."

So there's hope!