News: Web Site Changes

Andy Malette has provided the instruction sheets, in PDF form, of his CNR 8-hatch express reefer kits. See the "Supplemental" line on the page linked to below.

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The public version of the January/February 2024 issue of the NASG's Dispatch is now available. Also, the members-only issue of the January/February 2025 Dispatch PDF can now be downloaded via the "Members Only" portal.

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I have been informed that Train Stuff from the 1970s and 1980s (the former !#@*?! Train Stuff started by Don Thompson) owned and operated by Wayne and Diane Pier, was a completely separate and unrelated entity from the Train Stuff, LLC owned and operated by Randy and Dayna Williamson. There was no connection at all between the two. This explains the different product lines. The confusion was entirely due to my (the webmaster's) ignorance on the history of the two companies, but one could reason that it seemed like a logical fit due to the rather unique naming of both companies. Either way, all content and references to both companies on this web site have been adjusted and corrected as part of this announcement. I apologize for any confusion I might have caused.

Dan Taglia shared a few photos of his Sn3 layout under construction.

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The NASG has recently invested in promoting S and the NASG in both Classic Toy Trains and Model Railroader magazines. Since not everyone reads either of these magazines, you might like to see the ads, which are now viewable on this web site. If you would like to help in any future promotional efforts in Classic Toy Trains, Model Railroader, or Railroad Model Craftsman, such as sharing a photo of your S layout, contact Central Vice President Brian Jackson.
Start an e-mail message (central_vp@nasg.org).

• Ads in Classic Toy Trains
• Ads in Model Railroader

Just to show how one person's contribution to our web site can snowball into a thorough update of a portion of S-scale's history. Mark Charles notified me that he had obtained a Train Stuff, LLC resin kit in unbuilt, original condition. This kit was introduced in 2003. He sent in photos of the kit's parts and the box. One of the photos of the box revealed the company's web site address. I was then able to look that up on the web archive web site ("Wayback Machine"), which revealed the company's versions of their web site from 2001 onward. This then allowed me to update the Train Stuff, LLC resin structure kits' details, and the photos that that archive web site keeps. Mark told me that his kit's instructions had the names Randy and Dayna Williamson listed as the company's owners. So, after updating our web site's records of the company and their Product Gallery entries, I looked up Dayna Williamson's name. I discovered that Mrs. Williamson passed away in May of this year at the age of 73. Her husband, Randy, is still alive.

Important note: "Train Stuff, LLC" is completely unrelated to the original Train Stuff (formerly !#@*?! Train Stuff) company that produced resin freight and passenger car kits. There was never any contact between the owners of these two companies.

• Mark Charles' Photos
• Train Stuff Structures Product Gallery
• Train Stuff Company Details (scroll down)
• Dayna Williamson's Obituary

Brooks Stover provided layout details and photos of two of his early layouts, including the AF version of the BC&G.

Bill Russini sent in information for his current layout and a good collection of overall and close-up photos. His layout is based on the original A.C. Gilbert #28141 display layout.

• Brooks Stover's 1960 East Lansing, MI Layout
• Brooks Stover's First Version of the BC&G
• Bill Russini's Layout

Chris Crnich, manager of the NASG Store, announces the availability of three new stainless steel rulers. These are a 6-inch (32-foot scale), 12-inch (64-foot scale), and 24-inch (128-foot scale) in length. The previous 18-inch stainless ruler, which has been on backorder for a while now, has been removed, because the manufacturer decided to no longer carry that length. Please note that the prices shown cover our costs of packaging and shipping them within the continental United States.

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This is a update that those of you who enjoy S' history.

Rich Gajnak sent in photos that we were missing of the American Models Southern Pacific FP7, painted in the "Black Window" scheme.

Tom Lennon provided a photo of an old Bob Peare Engineering turnout. These were made starting in 1951, so the box and the model in the photo are now 73 years old! He also took some photos of a Midlin Models turnout (including original box), for which we didn't even have a listing in the Product Gallery section. These were made from 1949 to 1959 when the company was sold. These were hi-rail/scale turnouts using code 125 rail with real-wood ties.

Mark Mugnai was able to obtain permission from Carey Williams for us to use a photo of an original Enhorning B-unit. Carey seems to have a knack for finding and documenting old engines and cars in all scales, including in S, and feature them on his YouTube channel. What is unique about this one is that this one was one of the original set of models that Enhorning produced for EMD, who commissioned Enhorning to produce models of their then-new F-units as a gift to the EMD executives.

• American Models SP FP7
• Bob Peare Turnout
• Midlin Models Turnout
• Enhorning FB-unit

Jace Kahn provided missing photos of an Omnicon Scale Models F7B. He also provided a photo of a pair of Nixon Pullman passenger car trucks.

• Omnicon F7B
• Nixon Trucks

Allen Ambler contributes photos for two rare H-D Scale Models box car kits. Judging by the sequence of product IDs, there should be a good number of kits out there.

• H-D Scale Models Box Cars

After over a month of work of thoroughly reviewing every single entry of hopper cars in our Product Gallery listing, and scouring all manner of sources for additional information, the Hopper category has now been upgraded to the new format. In the research, well over 100 models were found missing from the old listing, so they have been added. Also, photos have been enlarged (where available), missing photos added, and lots of details incorporated for the various models. I'm making the bold statement that we now have a full listing of every hopper ever made in S; please prove me wrong! The listing will, of course, be updated if new information comes to light. For example, several missing box cars were added recently to the Box Car listing, as I stumbled across them while researching the hoppers. So, these listings are always being updated, as needed.

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The public version of the November/December 2023 issue of the NASG's Dispatch is now available. Also, the members-only issue of the November/December 2024 Dispatch PDF can now be downloaded via the "Members Only" portal.

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Gregg Mummert sent in a handful of photos showing the progress he has been making on his "Grand Funk RR" layout.

Brooks Stover provided details and photos of his 1970s long-dismantled A.C. Gilbert-based layout, the "Lexington & Webster RR".

• Gregg Mummert's Layout
• Brooks Stover's Layout

The Lionel switcher engines were mis-categorized in the Product Gallery. I had erroneously labeled them as Baldwin S-12 locomotives, but Rich Gajnak pointed out that these are actually modeled after the Baldwin DS-4-4-660 engines. Since Lionel based their models after the original A.C. Gilbert engines, upon comparing them again, those engines, too, were mis-categorized.

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As with anything related to technology, things are always changing. The Battery Power article on this web site has been updated with the addition and updates of the available systems (about half-way down that page). Micro Flier Radio, Soundtraxx, and Wifitrax have been added.

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Tom Lennon provided several photos of a #8 turnout produced by Whiteoak Models. We had no photos of these before.

John Mann acquired a Pope Imagineering CTA 6000 car, and shares a photo of it with us.

Bill Roberts shares a photo of an Old Pullman double-slip and a curved turnout that he has installed on his layout. Both of these track component types were missing from our Product Gallery listing.

Tom Lennon also provided photos of a Robert L Miller Laboratory turnout tie strip he recently discovered.

• Whiteoak Models Turnout
• Pope Imagineering CTA 6000
• Old Pullman Track Components
• Robert L Miller Laboratory Turnout Tie Strip

The gondola section of the Product Gallery has been completely updated and changed to the new formatting. Despite the corrections of some mis-classified cars and the removal of duplicates, the final count of the number of S gondolas has been increased by more than 40, which were missing from our previous listing. Note that this listing does not cover gondolas used in maintenance-of-way service, as those will be listed in the M.O.W. category (and currently remain available via the "Old Listing" section). New photos have been added, existing photos have been upgraded to higher-resolution versions (where available), and many additional bits of information have been added to most entries.

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Bill Hawk provided photos of the Lionel PRR GP9 from 1988, an entry that was missing from our listing altogether.

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Found another 24 missing flat cars, mostly by Lionel, that have been added to the listing.

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Ken Garber discovered that we have Old Pullman Model Railroads turnouts listed but didn't have a representative photo to show for them. So, he dug around a bit in his stash and found one, as sold by American Models at the time, and shared a photo of a #4 turnout with us. What you see on the pages is all we have, so if you remember any information about these (e.g. during which year period were these actively being sold), feel free to contact me at webmaster@nasg.org.

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The listing of all known flat cars ever produced in S-scale have now been migrated over to the new format in the Product Gallery section of this web site. Every individual entry has been thoroughly reviewed, adding missing data, making corrections, adding missing photos, and/or switching to higher-resolution photos (where available). In doing the extensive research, 70 entries have been added that were missing in the previous listing. Note that this section includes the following types of flat cars: general service, Trailer On Flat Car (TOFC), intermodal spine, bulkhead, centerbeam, and depressed-center flat cars. Maintenance-of-way, milk cars, and well cars are a separate category to be processed later.

About a third of the entries do not have a photo. If you happen to have that model in your collection, and you are willing and able to take a digital photo of that car, please contact me, the webmaster (webmaster@nasg.org), so that I may be able to add it, with proper photo credit, of course. Also, a number of entries that do have photos have ones that are of extremely low resolution to the point where you can hardly make out what it is. If you have that model and can take a digital photo of the car, please contact me.

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The public version of the September/October 2023 issue of the NASG's Dispatch is now available. Also, the members-only issue of the September/October 2024 Dispatch PDF can now be downloaded via the "Members Only" portal.

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Thanks to a very observant modeler, I had completely forgotten to add the Fast Tracks jigs to the Track Components Product Gallery entries back when I created that.

Also, I completely forgot to include the new product line by Empire Trackworks into that section. That's now been added. Sorry about that!

While making those changes, I separated out from the rather large "Turnout" sub-category, the "Slip Switch" and "Wye" turnouts.

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The 2024 NASG Convention Cars can now be ordered by anyone; membership is not required for the remaining cars we have available.

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Helen Robichaud provided a report on what the ladies did at the Convention.

Jeff Madden provided a number of additional photos.

• 2024 Convention Summary Page

Jeff Madden sent in a large number of photos of his layout to show how it is progressing.

• View Jeff Madden's Layout

Bruce Heald shares photos and layout information about his very large A.C. Gilbert-based layout. The layout is operations-oriented.

Rusty Paulus provided a number of updated photos of his layout, which is in a dedicated building.

• View Bruce Heald's Layout
• View Rusty Paulus' Layout

The 2024 NASG Convention ended last night. A Convention Summary page has been added to this web site to provide a historical record of this event. What you see on that page is all that I have so far, and I will be adding to that page as new content comes to me. For those who were able to attend this event, whenever it is convenient and if you are OK with it, I am looking for any of these:
- photos taken during the tours.
- photos of the vendor hall.
- photos taken of the layouts at the hotel.
- photos taken during a clinic.
- contest model photos.
- any new-product announcements.
You will, of course, receive proper credit for your photos. Try to send the original photo, i.e. high-resolution, so that I can more easily edit it, if necessary. You can send photos as attachments to one or more e-mails to webmaster@nasg.org, or use the file-submission form (see below).

If you presented a clinic and you have a presentation file (preferably in PDF format, but I might be able to convert other file formats into PDF) and you are OK with sharing it, I can post it on this web page for all to enjoy. We have plenty of space on the server.

• 2024 Convention Summary Page
• Photo/File Submission Form

The Store section of this web site has been redesigned to lay things out in a more store-like arrangement. All of the items that were in the Store section are still there, available for sale. Since we now have almost 90 items for sale, a redesign was necessary to better manage that portion of our web site.

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Rich Gajnak found a PRS GN box car in his collection for which we didn't have a photo yet.

Tom Roell shared a photo of the Lionel 1993 TCA convention box car, a Great Northern car as well.

• PRS GN Box Car
• Lionel 1993 TCA Convention Box Car

Thanks to Tom Gerbasi's information, 5 missing Lionel dump cars have been added to our recently-revised list.

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As the webmaster, I have been thinking about how to deal with the closure of Shapeways. A large amount of S-scale products were available via Shapeways, and so we have a ton of links to their site. Almost all of these are individuals and some small companies who produce one or more items for S, and simply used Shapeways to have the product produced. I did not want to lose the information about those individuals and companies, as we already know that they are capable of creating S-scale items. In the "Resources" section of this web site, there were right at about 100 companies listed that only sold via Shapeways.

I have kept them on the "active" list, but have removed the links to their Shapeways web site. Shapeways still shows all the items and you can actually still go through the process of "buying" items, but there will be no one on the other end who will actually process your order. So, to avoid confusion, removing the links to their site is the correct thing to do.

It is my hope that, over time, these individuals and companies will find an alternative method to bringing their S-scale products back to market, and if that happens, I will make the appropriate links then. By keeping them on the "active" list, I will be reminded to routinely search the Web to see if they are active again, elsewhere.

If you are the owner of a (now-former) Shapeways store, and you have created an alternative means by which people can order your products, please contact me at webmaster@nasg.org, and I will be happy to update your information.

(please note that links to Shapeways from the various pages in the "Product Gallery" section will be removed in due time)

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The entire (small) listing of S-scale dump cars has been thoroughly reviewed and updated.

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Terry O'Kelly provided a missing photo for the S-Helper Service UP F3 A-B set.

Rich Gajnak provided a photo for an American Models KCS box car, the entry for which was missing from our listing (part of the 1989 NASG Convention car set).

Tom Roell provided photos for the American Models See's Candies box cars produced for the 2014 Flyer Fest West.

• SHS UP F3 Set
• AM KCS Box Car
• AM See's Candies Box Car

The public version of the July/August 2023 issue of the NASG's Dispatch is now available. Also, the members-only issue of the July/August 2024 Dispatch PDF can now be downloaded via the "Members Only" portal.

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Rich Gajnak provided a photo of the "S Gaugian 25th Anniversary" car produced by American Models. He also provided photos of the 2010 Fall S Fest car that S Scale America (owned by Des Plaines Hobbies by that time) produced.

There were a number of box cars (~10) that were done for special events that weren't listed in the new reports, so they have added.

• American Models S Gaugian Car
• S Scale America EJ&E Box Car

Our entire listing of S-scale box cars has been thoroughly reviewed. There were just over 1,200 in the listing when I started this review process in the first week of January, and we now we have just shy of 1,400 of them! In addition to researching each individual entry we had before, duplicates were removed, the American Models 2200-series cars were removed (they are now classified as "reefers"), and around 200 entries that were previously missing have been added (predominantly for A.C. Gilbert, Lionel, Jim Sutter, and Seltzers, but there were others, too). We now have, quite literally, a complete listing of every single S-scale box car ever produced and sold to the general public (please prove me wrong, as I will be happy to add any that I might have missed). For each entry, more data has been added where available, mistakes were found and corrected, and photos have been upgraded to higher-resolution ones, where available, as well as new photos found and added (please send me better or missing photos!). I had received requests that items produced as special runs by S-Helper Service for another company should also be listed under "S-Helper Service", so that has been done. This does produce a number of duplicate entries, but makes it easier to find an entry, given its manufacturer's product ID or road name, as sometimes the name of the company that requested the special run may not be known to the person doing the research. All known box cars commissioned by clubs have been added as well. This has been a fun, several-months' long project for me, to not only learn more about S-scale's box cars, but also learning more about box cars in general. A lot of what I have come across has been captured on the "home page" of the new Box Cars section in the Product Gallery, if you are interested in doing your own research. And now..., on to the next category of freight cars!

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Since ScaleTrains only provides a 2D drawing of their undecorated extended-vision caboose, Michael Osweiler was kind enough to take photos of his car as he received it. He also took photos of the various parts bags that come in the box. While the model is built, the details are kept separate with the intent being that the modeler paints the parts as desired, and then assembles them into the final model. It is an innovative approach that ScaleTrains has taken to their undecorated models, as other manufacturers typically sell fully-built models that the modeler then has to disassemble or mask-off in preparation for painting. These photos also provide an insight into how the Chinese factory assembled the ready-to-run models that ScaleTrains produced.

Kevin Brewton provided photos of the P-B-L D&RGW caboose #0586, an entry for which we didn't have photos yet.

• view ScaleTrains Undecorated Caboose
• view P-B-L D&RGW caboose

Rich Maurer contributed information, photos, and a video of his nicely-finished A.C. Gilbert-based layout.

Phil Scandura provided updated photos of his layout's progress. Several buildings received signage, and he also adjusted the animation of his fire station (updated video is available showing the latest sequence).

• view Rich Maurer's layout
• view Phil Scandura's layout

John Agnew made available a copy of the instruction sheets that accompanied the Railmaster Exports RS-2 and RS-3 kits.

Bob Werre provided photos of the S-Helper Service F7 set, and custom-decorated Omnicon 2-8-0.

• view Railmaster Exports RS-2/3
• view S-Helper Service ATSF F7 photos
• view Omnicon 2-8-0 photos

Bill Winans and Bob Farmer provided photos of Bob's Sn3 layout.

Geoff Hamway and Bill Winans provided photos of Geoff's Sn3 layout. Geoff also provided track plans for his multi-level layout.

• view Bob Farmer's layout
• view Geoff Hamway's layout

The 2024 NASG Convention Car can now be ordered via the Convention's web site.

If you have already registered to attend the Convention and you wish to purchase one or more of the cars, you will see a special page when you log in to the Convention site via the "Register" button.

If you have not yet registered, you can do so now and order the Convention car at the same time.

(ed: this has been the reason for why this web site hasn't been updated in a while, because retrofitting being able to order the Convention Car, after we had already enabled registration, proved to be more difficult than initially anticipated; if you encounter any difficulties, be sure to contact me, the webmaster)

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Chris Crnich announces the latest addition to the NASG's Company Store. We now have two 18-inch rulers available. One is a flat ruler, and the other is an architect-type ruler. Both can measure up to 96 scale feet. These are great for when the 12-inch ruler comes up short, such as measuring steam locomotives with tenders, structures, and straight track. Like all of our other rulers, these have been verified and approved by the NASG's Engineering & Standards committee.

18" Stainless Steel Ruler

18" Architect Ruler

The following items have been added to the Product Gallery section of this web site.

1. Bob Werre provided photos of one of the three brass passenger car trucks that River Raisin Models produced (their last product). These entries were missing from the Product Gallery. If you have a photo of the other two versions produced, let me know.
2. Andy Malette scanned the instruction sheets for the 61-foot Kinsman passenger car kit (see the "Model Online Article" links for the two PDF files).
3. Karl Johnson completes his Train & Trooper New England Barn diorama, and provided us with some photos.

• River Raisin Passenger Car Trucks
• Kinsman Passenger Car Sheets
• Train & Trooper New England Barn

Paul Washburn recently kitbashed a PRS box car into one that used plywood sides. The linked-to page provides info about what he did, and two photos of the final model.

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Bill Winans provided a few photos showing the progress he has made in a coal tipple scene on his Coal Creek branch line (narrow-gauge). Bill is excited as this is the first time, in all of the layouts he has built, that one is actually getting scenery. Check out the photos at the bottom of the linked-to page.

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Bill Lane had an opportunity to visit Mike Berus' layout recently. He shares with us a handful of photos showing the progress Mike has been able to make on his very large basement empire. Bill also took a couple of short videos, which are shown on the page.

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The digital PDF file of the May/June 2024 Dispatch issue is now available on this web site via the "Members Only" portal. Also, the May/June 2023 Dispatch issue is now publicly available (its articles have also been indexed).

• view Dispatch issues

John Degnan provided extensive photos of his S-Helper Service FEC SW9.

Hugh Sinn provided a missing photo of the American Models Northern Pacific lightweight dome passenger car.

Rich Gajnak continues to build his Kinsman caboose kit.

Karl Johnson provides photos and the instruction sheets for the Train & Trooper New England Barn kit. This was an item that was completely missing from the Product Gallery.

Bill Lane shares a photo of the BTS Green Springs Depot model as built by Mike Berus and shown at the recent 2024 Valley Forge RPM. This model was also never listed in the Product Gallery.

Mark Mugnai provides missing photo of an Enhorning Industries NYC F-unit.

• S-Helper Service FEC SW9
• American Models Northern Pacific Dome Car
• Kinsman Caboose
• Train & Trooper New England Barn
• BTS Green Springs Depot
• Enhorning Industries NYC F-unit

Mike Marmer sent in a number of updated photos of his beautiful and completed island-style layout.

Alan Balma shared a photo of a portion of his layout that is now scenicked, in a scene near Aloquin, New York.

• Mike Marmer's D&K Railroad
• Alan Balma's PRR Elmira Branch

Phil Scandura sent in some photos of his layout's construction progress. One building includes sound and lights, and Phil describes how he built the circuitry. He also sent along a video showing the animation in action.

John Quilter recently had the opportunity to photograph father-and-son Jim and Jason Dull's all-A.C. Gilbert layout.

• Phil Scandura's Los Angeles Basin
• Jim Dull's AF Layout

A couple of years ago, Jeff Jundt built a module to get his feet wet in the S-scale world, as he had a large 1:64 farm collection that needed to be displayed. After spending some time preparing a very nice space for a full-fledged layout, he has created a web site to feature his new layout. A sketch of his initial track plan can be found there, as well as photos of his layout space. Start of construction of the layout-proper is planned for 2024.

Gaylord Gill recently completed a small diorama, photos of which he shared on the S-scale mailing list of the Groups.io site.

• Jeff Jundt's Dakota Rails
• Gaylord Gill's Diorama

Chris Crnich, NASG Company Store Manager, has been able to update the stock of NASG shirts and t-shirts. In addition to replenishing back-ordered items, additional sizes are now available for some of the items that were listed before, and two new shirts have been added, as shown here.

Navy Blue T-shirt

Oxford Grey Jersey Polo Shirts

The public version of the March/April 2023 issue of the NASG's Dispatch is now available. Also, the members-only issue of the March/April 2024 Dispatch PDF can now be downloaded via the "Members Only" portal.

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