Dear Bob,
I have been meaning to send you these photos for a long time. In 2010 the Nevada State Railroad Museum completed the restoration of its 1910 Virginia & Truckee McKeen motorcar. I was a volunteer at the time. The restoration crew spent about 14 years working on the motorcar and did a great job. After it was retired, the body was used for a diner, then a plumbing shop. The owners gave it to the NSRRM, on the condition they would complete the restoration by 2010. 

Sincerely,
Paul S. Pace, PLS, via email

Dear Bob,
Hope that you are doing well, staying safe and healthy.

Attached is a photo of my CONOCO station in its final resting place. As an HO version of the Penasco CONOCO gas station is now available and was reviewed in the January/February GAZETTE, I’m thinking that my 1:20.3 version would be of lesser interest to your readers. Nonetheless, I figured that I would send you a “just for kicks” photo.

Sincerely,
Bob Dolci, via email

Dear Bob,
Wow! I did not anticipate that my cover photo on the January/February GAZETTE would draw so much attention. I am not a professional photographer; I just take pictures of stuff to document them or show them off. For what it’s worth, here is what I did. The camera is a Nikon COOLPIX L-20. It is a small 10 megapixel camera that I actually got at a garage sale a few years ago for one dollar! Apparently, everybody is using their phones to take photos these days and the former owner of this camera had no use for it anymore. It is small enough that when placed on the layout, the lens is just about eye height for a ¼-inch-scale photographer. One photo shows it in place. In addition, I made what I guess you might call a flat tripod, a sheet of metal with two adjusting screws that allows me to adjust the camera angle up or down, or level it on an uneven surface, while still retaining the low level position of the lens.

The second photo shows a different camera on my flat tripod. For the artistic effect on the cover photo, I used the “cartoon” filter setting on the Gimp Image Editor, a free picture manipulation program that came with the open-source Ubuntu operating system I am using. I hope this answers your readers’ questions.

Sincerely,
Gary Bothe< via email

Hi Bob,
Since sending you the article on my 1/2n2 boxcar, I’ve worked on a few logging models in On30. Here’s a very rustic logging speeder spotted behind the company’s sawmill. It was a long weekend project, and is powered by a NWSL Stanton drive. It has a complete interior including a Valley Car Works potbellied stove that I got from Lee Klaus many years ago.

Sincerely,
Pete Mesheau, via email

Dear Bob,
I was interested to read the article about a 2-6-2T conversion in the March/April 2021 GAZETTE. I recently completed a similar conversion. My starting point was an On30 Bachmann 2-6-0. I used black ABS plumbing pipe for the saddle tank and added a trailing truck from my scrap bin. I fashioned a fuel bunker from styrene sheeting and built new pilots front and rear. The loco now works on my Key Valley Railway hauling log cars between the loading area and the mill.

I am now working on another conversion. I am modifying an HO IHC 2-8-2 into an On30 2-8-2T. I have added an On30 Forney cab and a saddle tank again from ABS pipe. This one is loosely based on an engine owned by the Port Alberni Railway on Vancouver Island. I find doing such conversions to be an interesting modelling challenge.

Sincerely,
M. Terry Ashcroft, via email

Dear Bob,
I have been waiting for the Bodie Church drawings to appear in Neil’s series, and so was pleased to see it in the March/April issue. Some additional photos of the church are available from the Bodie Foundation at www.Bodie.com. The images on that site are from the horse-and-buggy days, but do not show the small shed structure in front of the church, however, there is a railing for tethering one’s mule. I was surprised that no mention was made that this church was offered as an HO scale kit by Historical Scale Miniatures. These kits still show up occasionally at train shows (hope we can have those again soon) or on eBay. I put “stained glass” windows in mine, and a photo is attached.

Sincerely,
Bill Althoff, via email