Thankful Thursday - New Trucks!

Ray Seery drops off a Christmas tree to Wallace (Wally) Peck, the operator at Rocky Hill, while the NetCo truck delivers a number of parcels for the holidays.

Model railroading provides an impressive number of opportunities to learn, build, and do - but one of the best aspects of the hobby is the wonderful people you meet along the way. I'm truly blessed by the number of new friends I've made while doing this Valley Line project and am constantly amazed by how willing folks are to help, either hands-on or with information. And sometimes, I'm treated to a little bit of their imagination along with help.

Case in point - my friend DaveM, who grew up in Wethersfield in the early 1950s - recently sent me an email reporting (imagining) that, with the holidays fast approaching, there was a problem in Wethersfield since the Express Agent in town, Ray Seery, was having problems with his truck. As if that wasn't enough, NetCo was short a truck and deliveries were starting to pile up. "Maybe I can help" was Dave's intriguing sign-off...

Well, Christmas came the day after Thanksgiving when a parcel from Dave showed up and two beautifully built & finished trucks were added to the Valley Line. You can see'em up there in the photo above. The scene is "proto-imagined" in that the people are/were actual people, and the pickup truck is true to the prototype as well (Ray owned a blue Dodge - though, from what I've heard - it was never in this good a shape). I don't know if a NetCo truck of this type ever actually visited Rocky Hill, but at least it's prototypically plausible . . .

Note the NetCo truck backed-up to the Essex freight house. Sure, it's a panel truck, rather than a tractor-trailer, but it certainly conveys the same flavor.

And that's really the art of prototype modeling. We certainly don't have the space - and often don't have the equipment - to do things perfectly prototypically, but if we convey the right impression we've acheived our goal. And with friends like Dave helping out with the right equipment, conveying that prototypical impression is made so much easier.

Now I just have to get going on finishing/scenicking the Wethersfield scene so Ray can get back to his usual haunt...!

PS: When he's not distracting himself with making "rubber-tired rolling stock" for the Valley Line, Dave's an accomplished modeler of passenger equipment - check out his recent RMC/Dremel Kitbashing Award in the December 2016 issue of Railroad Model Craftsman - Thanks again Dave, and congratualtions!