Locos - Rolling stock (general)
Bulkhead End Gondolas
I have alway thought that bulkhead end gondolas (with ends higher than sides) were very cool and added variety to a string of regular gondolas. I have over 400 HO freight cars on my roster but regretfully do not have any of these type cars. When did they start using these, were they in regular service or did they serve a single industry where a forward shifting heavy high load might be a regular problem? Did any model manufacturers make accurate HO models of these or do you just buy an add on casting to an existing model?
What's on Your Workbench - June 2021
The year is heating up as we move into June. Share your latest workbench and layout progress reports!
Eric
Eric Hansmann
Contributing Editor, Model Railroad Hobbyist
Follow along with my railroad modeling:
http://designbuildop.hansmanns.org/
Trying my hand at rebuilt 8 hatch reefers
CN had a sizable fleet of 8 hatch ice reefers. Quite a few got rebuilt into mechanical reefers. I'm giving a try at modelling these cars using 3D CAD for the various bits and pieces. More here: doodling a rebuilt 8 hatch reefer
Relco MOW in HO scale - part 3
I finally received the remainder of the cars for the MOW train from Shapeways and have started building the well cars. Once I started the building process, I discovered that I had to make some modifications to the car. First the stirrup steps were too flexible and tended to break off when trying to finish them so I removed them and will replace them with metal steps. The major modification came to the slope sheets at the end of the car. I had to remove a good portion to the sheets to get the truck wheels to rotate freely.
Athearn ALCO PA/PB rebuild x 5
Well, I'm at it again. My light build and 250T darrick is on hold waiting on parts, so on to the next.
I bought 3 Athearn Alco PA-1 locomotives and 2 PA B units so I can make a A-B-B-A with a reserve A unit. All are powered.
I started the project by disassembling all the parts and starting on the frames. I deburred the frame castings, rounded off edges and sand blasted with F100. I did the same with the trucks and each wheel - without hitting spindles.
Weathering UP autoracks
I just unboxed two InterMountain UP autoracks. Weathering is mandatory - even more as the yellow is a little bit off and rather toy-like.
At first I applied a coat of matte acrylic varnish to get a "sticky" surface for the following - not shown here.
Next I wanted to have a faded look - the look of many hour of sunshine bleaching everything. Therefore I applied three coats of a white acrylic wash:
Lazy Paint Scheme Justification
I'm a big fan of Santa Fe's paint scheme but I'm also a fan of modeling from the 90's through current. Since this scheme ceased to exist around 1975 or so, I could go the easy route and just say my railroad so whatever but I would like a better story than that. Is this a matter of "patching out" the Santa Fe on each side or should I leave it alone? I have two Proto GP30's, an Athearn GP35 in the scheme, and I have my eye on those Scale Trains SD45's which admittedly too big for what I could do in my space.
Kato
Is Kato pretty much done building HO Locos? I don't see much to pick from. They appear to be concentrating in N scale. Always thought they were smooth runners.
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