What's New

Week of October 31, 2016 - Finished two scratchbuilt New Haven heavyweight deluxe diners, #5238 "The Statesman" and #5244 "Louisburg Square".

Week of April 3, 2016 - Got the Hot Wheels index and photos for 2015 updated, as well as the first 2016 releases posted.

Week of October 11, 2015 - Completed a scratchbuilt New Haven class NE5 caboose.

Week of June 1, 2015 - Finished a Pennsylvania class GLd hopper.

Week of October 12, 2014 - Kitbashed an Erie 40' steel milk reefer.

Week of September 21, 2014 - Finished a Lehigh Valley 50' automobile boxcar, and a New Haven class NE-2 caboose.

Week of September 14, 2014 - Finished a New Haven "DF" 40' boxcar, and weathered the wood deck of the Pennsy GSC 53' flatcar.

Week of August 24, 2014 - Enhanced the details of a Pennsylvania 50' boxcar.

Week of June 7, 2014 - A scratchbuilt Greenville 55' well car decorated for Chesapeake & Ohio has been added to the miscellaneous freight section.

Week of June 2, 2013 - Added some railroad equipment: a Conrail GG1 in Electrics; a second Pennsy heavyweight sleeper in Passenger Equipment; Pennsy and Penn Central flatcars; and a Wilson ice reefer.

Week of September 18, 2012 - Added a bunch of missing articles and photography to the Magazine Contributions category in the Model Railroading section.

Week of June 24, 2012 - Completed a scratchbuilt model of a Pennsy G32C gondola.

Week of November 20, 2011 - Finished a New Haven heavyweight parlor in tribute to my grandmother, as well as modifying a Pennsy heavyweight sleeper.

Week of June 19, 2011 - Finished an M&StL ex-auto boxcar kitbash that features a number of add-on details.

Week of June 5, 2011 - Got up to date with the Neo-Classics postings in the Hot Wheels section.

Week of February 19, 2011 - Moved the Bridgeport & New London progress reports to a separate log in the Model Railroading section.

Week of November 14, 2010 - Added entries for a Norfolk & Western trailer and a Baltimore & Ohio auto rack.

Week of October 24, 2010 - A kitbashed Erie bay window caboose joins the fleet.

Week of August 9, 2010 - Built the TrainCat Pennsy gondola etched brass kit, with some modifications along the way.

Week of August 1, 2010 - Posted the entry for the FGE plug door ice reefer that I thought I had posted a year ago.

Week of June 20, 2010 - Added a New Haven turtleback roof baggage to the Passenger Equipment.  Also modified the webpages to optimally display in a 1024x768 window, and began upgrading the photos to reflect the new size one sub-section at a time.  This will take a while, as there are close to 1,000 photos on the site!

Week of May 2, 2010 - Finally finished the Conrail dome-lounge, which took over two years due to not working on the model straight through.  It's the first piece of completed equipment for the Office Car Special consist.  Stanchions and handrails also were added to the Canadian National tri-level auto rack.

Week of October 11, 2009 - A new article in the Model Railroading gallery, which has been expanded to also include magazine covers featuring my work. 

Week of April 20, 2009 - Started adding pics of the 100+ collector's buttons in the Hot Wheels section. 

Week of October 19, 2008 - A new Magazine Article in the Model Railroading gallery. 

Week of May 18, 2008 - Added a customized Olds 442 to the HWC menu in the Hot Wheels section.

Week of May 11, 2008 - A bi-level auto rack has been fitted with new brass mesh sides and lettered for Norfolk & Western.  The Whitehead & Kales auto rack decorated for the Santa Fe had more accurate end doors installed.

Week of May 4, 2008 - The Chiquita refrigerated container is now mounted on a new properly-detailed kitbashed Chiquita referigerator chassis.

Week of February 10, 2008 - a Snuggle Fabric Softener mural trailer and a Chiquita refrigerated container, both featuring colorful billboard mural artwork created from custom decals.

Week of December 24, 2007 - In the Hot Wheels gallery under the Collector's Catalog section, I added the early 1968 catalog as well and finished the late 1969 catalog. 

Week of December 10, 2007 - My first published editorial, in the Magazine Articles section of the Model Railroading gallery. 

Week of November 4, 2007 - Added a rare ice blue Classic `32 Ford Vicky with open struts on the Unusuals page in the Hot Wheels gallery. 

Week of October 14, 2007 - A new Magazine Article in the Model Railroading gallery. 

Week of September 30, 2007 - Added a Canadian National open tri-level auto rack.

Week of August 13, 2007 - Added a new entry in the Magazine Articles section of the Model Railroading gallery.  Added a new category for the HWC Neo-Classics type vehicles in the Hot Wheels gallery.  This section will consist only of club-produced vehicles equipped with Redlines-era wheels and Torsion Bar Suspension.  I will populate with photos and commentary as time permits.

Week of August 6, 2007 - A scratchbuilt Whitehead & Kales auto rack decorated for the Santa Fe.

Week of July 8, 2007 - A Canadian National auto rack with Trinity RAVE doors added.

Week of July 1, 2007 - More auto racks.  Conrail enclosed car with tri-fold doors, Milwaukee Road enclosed car with partial height radial doors and Union Pacific enclosed car with W&K rack.

Week of June 24, 2007 - Added a Rio Grande enclosed auto rack without doors and posted new photos of the Erie Lackawanna and Southern auto racks.

Week of June 10, 2007 - A new category, Magazine Articles, has been added in the Model Railroading gallery.  It contains thumbnail photos and a brief caption on the my modeling articles that have been published over the years.  The Reading "Share In Freedom" boxcar was modified with a new cushioned-underframe and lowered.

Week of June 3, 2007 - A new photo scene utilizing the New Haven boxcar that was updated last week.

Week of May 27, 2007 - I'm going to try to have updates on a more regular basis.  The New Haven 50' plug door boxcar was modified with a new more realistic-looking cushioned underframe, and was lowered to a more prototypical height over the rail.  Began populating the auto racks section with an open tri-level Erie Lackawanna and an enclosed tri-level Southern.  Also, beginning this week, started adding direct links from the What's New page to the new and modified entries on the site.

Week of April 24, 2006 - A new home!  The website was moved to its own domain, with lots more space!  Hopefully the updates will be more frequent with the extra room.

Week of February 27, 2006 - Added two models of Pennsy varnish: 10-6 sleeper "Huron Rapids" and a Class B60 heavyweight baggage.

Week of December 17, 2005 - Expanded the Consists segment of the Model Railroading gallery, with twelve consists documented in detail.  Pics of the cars in the consists will be added as they are modeled.

Week of October 8, 2005 - Back in the Hot Wheels gallery, new to the Fantasy Redlines is a Grand Prix Ferrari P4.

Week of August 21, 2005 - Added passenger car entries for Canadian National "Chaleur Bay, Bangor & Aroostook "South Twin Lake" and a New Haven heavyweight diner.  Also updated information on the NE-6 entries from May 1, including winning the Judge's Award 1st Place at the N-Scale Collectors 14th Annual Convention in San Diego, and pics for the New Haven heavyweight R.P.O and REA wood express reefer posted November 7, 2004.

Week of June 20, 2005 - An aerial view of the Old Factory on the HStP&B from the 1999 photo shoot was added.

Week of May 1, 2005 - Four Atlas NE6 cabooses modified, decorated and weathered to match my scratchbuilt models, which allowed me to retire my earlier efforts.

Week of January 1, 2005 - I added a photo shot depicting a short Conrail consist traveling southeast on the ex-Erie mainline in the Railroad Photographic Scenes section.  Updated the text in the ice blue and Custom VW collections, as well as the items wanted in the Hot Wheels gallery.

Week of December 26, 2004 - A GATX Airslide® in the 1990s "blue standard" scheme was added to the Covered Hoppers section.

Week of November 7, 2004 - a New Haven heavyweight R.P.O. was added to the Passenger Equipment section, and the photo for the REA wood express reefer was updated.

Week of October 31, 2004 - a pair of New Haven mail storage cars rebuilt from ex-troop sleepers are new entries in the Passenger Equipment section.

Week of September 5, 2004 - It's been a while, but I've decided to update the Model Railroading gallery for the next few months.  Entries for two heavily kitbashed Micro-Trains depressed center flatcars have been added to the Flatcars section.

Week of February 3, 2002 - FINALLY!!!  Acquired a chocolate brown Classic `31 Ford Woody and updated the 1969 page in the Hot Wheels gallery!  :)    Also modified the look of each page index for better visibility.

Week of December 2, 2001 - A little site maintenance in adding stylesheet functionality so that the pages look uniform on all browsers, and tightened up the menus for better displayability on 600x800 screens.

Week of November 20, 2001 - Added entry for an apple green Six Shooter with white interior in the Unusual Redlines section.

Week of August 27, 2001 - After a summer respite, I added the bulk of entries for years 1973 and 1974 to the Hot Wheels gallery.  Also modified the Classic `31 Ford Woody entries on the 1969 and Unusual Redline pages.

Week of May 28, 2001 - Added reference pictures of the late 1969 Hot Wheels catalog.

Week of May 14, 2001 - Added reference pictures of the early 1969 Hot Wheels catalog.

Week of January 21, 2001 - It's been a while, but I've finally posted some new entries, all in the Hot Wheels gallery.  Added a prototype Paddy Wagon and a Topper Custom Eldorado in the new Johnny Lightning section.  I revised the ice blue collection, and added a modest Olds 442 collection.  Also added JLs Custom GTO and Vicious Vette.

Week of September 10, 2000 - Added my first entry in the passenger train consists category, of the NH/PRR Federal, in the Model Railroading gallery. 

Week of August 19, 2000 - Added entries for New Haven fluted sleeper "Keystone State" and a 230-ton derrick, as well as an REA express reefer in the Model Railroading gallery. 

Week of May 30, 2000 - Added a new heavyweight sleeper in the Model Railroading passenger car section, as well as some close-up pics of some additional cars and some new links between common pieces of equipment.  Created a new category - Consists - for future pics of complete passenger consists in a layout setting.  Added Fantasy TH entries for the 300ZX, Old Number 5 and Dodge Monaco Police Cruiser, which is one of my favorites. 

Week of May 15, 2000 - Added a new observation car in the Model Railroading passenger car section.  Added and/or modified Fantasy TH entries for a `77 Seville, `78 Trans Am and Limozeen

Week of March 31, 2000 - Added the 1972 Sizzlers, as well as entries for 1973 cars Double Header, Alive `55, Hiway Robber, Superfine Turbine and Ice "T".

Week of March 25, 2000 - Added the 1971 Sizzlers in the Hot Wheels gallery.  Updated the Ice Blues and Custom VWs on the Collections page.

Week of March 17, 2000 - Finished off the remaining 1971 Spectraflames in the Hot Wheels gallery.  Added a couple of items and updated some pics in the Unusual Redlines section.  Also started documenting my Redline Sizzlers beginning with 1970.  Updated my "wants" list.

Week of March 11, 2000 - Added my "available for trade" list in the Hot Wheels gallery.

Week of January 23, 2000 - Whew!  Time to get some updates done!  In the Hot Wheels gallery, a Twinmill without an interior has been added under the unique items page, and a group shot of the Spoilers added to the collections page.  More to follow later this week.

Week of October 2, 1999 - It's been a while, but I have updated a couple of pages.  In the Model Railroad gallery, I added pics of a New Haven transformer car and a photographic scene of Wesley Street on the HStP&B.  In the Hot Wheels gallery, the Ice Blue collection has been updated.

Week of July 17, 1999 - The first anniversary of my site!  I've been getting a lot of hits recently, so I decided to clean up the site a bit, by changing the color scheme of the index bar and windows to match the title colors more closely.  Also went through the Model Railroading gallery and color-corrected many of the pics.  Added a blue enamel Ford J Car to the unique HW section, as well as the `74 Police Cruiser and Winnipeg, and the `75 Gremlin Grinder.  Revised the links in both galleries.

Week of July 3, 1999 - Added Model Railroading entries for Penn Central and Superior Freight trailers, a Pennsy composite gondola, a New York Central Centerflow and (to the collectors' chagrin) a C&O blue plug door boxcar.  Also updated the pics for the New Haven plug door, Seaboard 3-P and Reading savings bond boxcars.

Week of June 27, 1999 - Added some photos of railroad layouts and dioramas in the Model Railroading gallery.  Added a Collections page to the Hot Wheels gallery to showcase groups of cars, such as my Custom Volkswagens and ice blue cars.

Week of June 20, 1999 - Added Hot Wheels entries for AMX/2, Bugeye, Cockney Cab, Grass Hopper, Hairy Hauler, Jet Threat, Short Order and the remainder of the Heavyweights.  Also updated the URL links in both the Model Railroading and Hot Wheels galleries.

Week of May 15, 1999 - Added new links on the Model Railroading pages.  Completed the archives for the 1972 Hot Wheels.  Also added entries in the Unique Hot Wheels section for Custom Mustangs with open hood scoops and louvered rear window, and Custom Firebirds in red and blue with like interiors.

Week of April 18, 1999 - Added a portrait of my Custom VW collection in the Hot Wheels variations section.  Also added another rare item in the form of a solid roof Custom VW!

Week of March 21, 1999 - Added entry for a Classic `36 Ford Coupe with white interior in the Hot Wheels unique cars section.

Week of January 30, 1999 - Added new entries for Custom Cougar, Custom T-Bird and Evil Weevil.  Also color corrected all the Hot Wheel pics.

Week of November 21, 1998 - Completed the Hot Wheel 1970 entries, in addition to Prowler and Street Snorter in 1973, the Neet Streeter in 1976 and a Custom T-Bird variation in Unique Redlines.  Also added a new section called Redline Color Variations to show the differences in similar yet distinct hues of Spectraflame paint in 1968 through 1972.  And, the pièce de résistance - a Maserati Mistral prototype in the Unique Redlines section.

Week of November 7, 1998 - Added a `57 Chevy Spoiler to the Fantasy Redline section.

Week of October 31, 1998 - In the Model Railroading gallery, I added a detailed close-up photo highlighting a specific feature for all of the motive power entries and some of the rolling stock entries.  Flagged items in the index tables that have the extra close-up pic with a red asterisk.  On the Hot Wheels side, I jumped the gun and posted my first 1999 Fantasy Treasure Hunt - a Classic `31 Ford Woody.

Week of October 17, 1998 - A Classic `41 Ford Coupe (Tail Dragger) and Classic Ford Model-A (A-OK) added to the 1998 Fantasy Treasure Hunts.

Week of October 3, 1998 - All Model Railroading this week, and quite a bit:  40' boxcars in B&M, NH script herald, NH checkerboard; a black NH NE6 caboose; a P&W 89' flat; NH open hoppers in two-bay ribbed and quad offset versions; Swift Bacon and NH wood reefers; tankcars for Dominion Sugar, Imperial Oil and Eastman Chemicals; a 40' van in EL; and a NH RS-3 diesel.

Week of September 26, 1998 - Hot Wheels fantasy THs Fiero and `80s Corvette, along with a redline Cobra 427.  Added more detail to all the custom Redlines and THs text describing how they were created.

Week of September 19, 1998 - Harder-to-find Hot Wheels castings Olds 442 and School Bus from 1971, `72's Open Fire and Funny Money, `73's Red Raron and Sweet 16.  Also the breakdown of the custom section into three separate pages - Redlines, 1997 THs and 1998 THs that I intend to model.  Finished the Limozeen for the new 1997 TH page, and moved the Roadrunner to the 1998 TH page.

Week of September 5, 1998 - More Hot Wheels:  the remaining 1969 cars, including the Show & Go cars, the Indy cars and the European cars; Spoilers Nitty Gritty Kitty, Light-My-Firebird, Sugar Caddy and both Boss Hoss models.  Also a `70 Roadrunner TH and a Custom Roadrunner redline.

Week of August 22, 1998 - In the Hot Wheels gallery, the remaining 1969 Customs, the 1969 Gran Prix Cam-Am cars, and a custom TH Firebird T/A.  Additions to the Model Railroading gallery include entries for Reading and Conrail Northeastern cabooses, New Haven FA and DL109 units, a New Haven open hopper, a CNJ covered hopper and a Piggy Packer unit.

Week of August 15, 1998 - More Hot Wheels.  The remainder of the 1968 cars, along with the Classics from 1969.

Week of August 8, 1998 - Just Hot Wheels this week:  A custom magenta T-Bird and custom TH Jag XJS, along with some more of my original cars from 30 years ago - Deora, Custom Corvette, Classic `57 Bird and Seasider.

Week of August 1, 1998 - A ton of new Model Railroading entries, including Conrail SD40 units 6284 and 6305, New Haven PA-1 units 0766 and 0785, New Haven RS-11, Boston & Maine RS-3, Conrail F-9 diesel, New Haven C-Liner, Erie Lackawanna Centerflow, New Haven NE6 caboose, New Haven plug door boxcar, T.H.& B. slab-side covered hopper, Seaboard "PPP" boxcar and a Pennsy 50-foot flatcar.  The Hot Wheels entries are all Chrysler products:  Custom Barracuda, both King 'Kuda cars, Bye-Focal and Rodger Dodger.  Also added a section covering my custom Redlines and Treasure Hunts.

Week of July 25, 1998 - Added entries for the Custom Charger, TNT-Bird, Sky Show Fleetside and my favorite, the Custom Volkswagen, to the Hot Wheels Gallery.  In the Model Railroading gallery, I added a number of entries for:  Burlington Northern and Conrail vans, a Grand Union wood reefer, a P.F.E. mechanical reefer, a New Haven NE4 caboose, a Reading "Buy Bonds" boxcar, and New Haven's "Bunker Hill" observation car.  Also added URL links to other related sites.

Week of July 18, 1998 - The debut of my site!  In the Hot Wheels Gallery, the pics and prose posted for the premier were of the Customs Camaro and Fleetside (1968); Continental Mark III (1969); Heavyweights Ambulance, Demon, Heavy Chevy and Sky Show Deora (1970); Classic Cord, Hood, Evil Weevil and Heaveyweights Team Trailer (1971); Porsche 917 (1973); Road King Truck (1974); GMC Motor Home (1977); and a `32 Ford Vicky variation.  The Model Railroading Gallery opened with coverage of diesels GP35, GP38 and U25C in various Conrail paint schemes, a Pennsy 55-foot bulkhead flatcar and a Chicago Great Western 48-foot tankcar.  
 

Copyright © 1998- Bryan Busséy, all rights reserved.  "Hot Wheels" is a registered trademark of Mattel, Inc.