A few CVRR pictures and some other related pictures....

[MurphOnMillerAve]

I've never seen a line of cabooses like that. In fact, when I've seen such lines, though none as long as that one, on layouts, I figured hobbyists were just indulging themselves by displaying the caboose treasures they had in a yard setting. I sure learned something today from your good offices, Rufus! Plus, it looks like a few of their smoke-stacks are emitting smoke, something else I had not realized occurred.
Murph

[webenda]

When railroads stopped using cabooses the Southern Pacific (SP) lined them up in the Tucson yard just like that. SP continued to use the cabooses on branch lines that did not have automatic switches. Without a caboose, one of the crew members would have to walk back to the engine after resetting a switch.

When Union Pacific bought SP they disposed of all the cabooses.

[John Webster]

That picture brings to mind a great read, Set Up Running, the biography of a Pennsylvania RR engineer from 1909 to 1947:

http://www.psupress.org/books/titles/0-271-02056-3.html

In those days the crews stayed together as a unit centered on their caboose. Cabooses (with their crews) would be picked up from one end of the caboose track to take the next freight. Returning cabooses would be tacked on to the other end of the caboose track. During busy times the crew would live in the caboose between runs, cooking their meals on the stove.

Orr's book is a window into the way railroads operated in the steam era.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

[Rufus T. Firefly]

[rogruth]

What is that thing that looks like a rolling pin?

[Rufus T. Firefly]

What is that thing that looks like a rolling pin?

It's a rolling pin, Giant lawn roller for the fields....good for squashing gophers and other miscreants that trespass.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

[MurphOnMillerAve]

SPECTACULAR! Ohboyoboy does that scene give me ideas!
I had no idea harvested (straw? hay? ???) could be piled that copiously on one of those wagons (carts?) Plus, I have never seen that harvesting done by hand - another modeling idea - getting mini-piled here-n-there in the field. Hhhmmmm....

Plus, the presence of the three trees that are in autumnal colors instructs me about the time of year such harvesting is accomplished, I have concluded. Right, Lancaster?

And I do like a bit of color when the season and the site warrants it.
murph

[rogruth]

Murph,

Did you make that scene after seeing the Greencastle card just above?
It doesn't make any difference when you did it,it's great.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

SPECTACULAR! Ohboyoboy does that scene give me ideas!
I had no idea harvested (straw? hay? ???) could be piled that copiously on one of those wagons (carts?)

Hay wagon - Xeodon (?) used to make a kit for one; think I have one waiting in the wings to be built.

Plus, I have never seen that harvesting done by hand ..........

I'll lend you a scythe and you can give it a go. My son uses one when we are in PA to clear the hedge row a bit. Used to have a grain cradle scythe - there's a bit of good work for a young lad like yourself!

I make that latter statement as I retain a memory of driving about the county years ago with my grandfather seeing a elderly (seriously oldster) working the side of the road fence railings up to his hips in brush with a scythe hacking away at the briars and thistle on a 90+ degree day wearing what appeared to be rubberized hip wader overalls (O'alls as the label on the box reads).

Right, Lancaster?

West of Lancaster - Franklin Co.

And I do like a bit of color when the season and the site warrants it.

Yes. While the sepia and b&w cards & photos are very good, a few colorized tinted cards now and again wake things up.

[Mitch]

SPECTACULAR! Ohboyoboy does that scene give me ideas!

Plus, the presence of the three trees that are in autumnal colors instructs me about the time of year such harvesting is accomplished, I have concluded. Right, Lancaster?

And I do like a bit of color when the season and the site warrants it.
murph

I think there's a bit of artistic license used in that picture, Murph. 1st hay harvest usually occurs early June, 2nd cutting (if available), would be in late August or early September, long before fall colors would appear. This year, in this area, farmers didn't get the first cutting in until late July, due to the unusually long wet Spring, and that made for a bad batch of hay, full of weeds that sprung up in the field and contaminated the crop.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

[MurphOnMillerAve]

SPECTACULAR! Ohboyoboy does that scene give me ideas!

Plus, the presence of the three trees that are in autumnal colors instructs me about the time of year such harvesting is accomplished, I have concluded. Right, Lancaster?

And I do like a bit of color when the season and the site warrants it.
murph

I think there's a bit of artistic license used in that picture, Murph. 1st hay harvest usually occurs early June, 2nd cutting (if available), would be in late August or early September, long before fall colors would appear. This year, in this area, farmers didn't get the first cutting in until late July, due to the unusually long wet Spring, and that made for a bad batch of hay, full of weeds that sprung up in the field and contaminated the crop.

Thanks very much for that information, Mitch. Nothing like facts to give a practical perspective. I was dubious about those Fall colors on those trees in that postcard but was not sure why I was. I've seen pumpkins and apples harvested when I have visited Cortland, NY for my hikes in the woods, from August to November, roughly, at various times, but never noticed hay being harvested, and certainly did not take note of how such harvests related to Autumn's color changes. I think I noticed the fragrance emanating from the harvested fields and the newly opened earth more than I did notice how everything related to each other color-wise. The strongest memory I have was exiting Mr. Anderson's Farmers' Market, near Tully, NY, and experiencing a manure spreader in the field across Rt. 281 hurling a spray of its contents up into the air and onto a newly plowed field. That I noticed.
Thanks again for the input.

[Rufus T. Firefly]