Vintage Rolling Stock Kits

[P5se Camelback]

ENVY!

:mrgreen:

[MasonJar]

NB,

That's nice! I notice it is 1356, where mine is 1358. Was that "as is" or did doc make the modification?

Andrew

[cn nutbar]

Hi Andrew---I'm pretty sure Wayne had customized that car---here's a second hopper that I also obtained from the Doctor

[doctorwayne]

I wasn't sure where those cars had gone, but I should have known.

By the way, Hutch's which became Trains on Brant, then moved to another location (even more out-of-the-way than K-Val Hobbies in Buffalo) is no longer. The new owner tried to take it upscale, with nothing but mostly high end r-t-r and and not much for actual modellers. The character was stripped right out of the place and most of us "regulars" went elsewhere.

I have tons of Train Miniature and Train Miniature of Illinois stuff, and continue to buy more as I come across it. My latest find was a 25 ton industrial crane, unbuilt, in its original box, for $5.00.
Here's one that I picked up not too long ago - since it was an oddball in my fleet of Athearn hoppers, it was sold to a fellow modeller here on Big Blue:


I used a more modern BLT. date than would be practical on my layout, and, by the looks of it, substituted Athearn trucks. That may have been more a case of wanting the TM trucks than to correct any rolling deficiencies, though. As Andrew
mentions, the truck tuner improves them greatly, although I generally prefer to keep the plastic wheels unless they're among the batch that were out-of-round or not-square to the axle. Their Andrews and Bettendorf "T"-section trucks were very nicely rendered in both solid and sprung sideframe versions. The sprung trucks can be vastly improved by disassembling them and removing flash from both the sideframes and the bolsters, at the points where the latter slides vertically within the sideframe.

With a little work, TM cars will look good on any layout set anywhere from the early '20s to the late '50s and for house cars, their low profile adds prototypical variety to any train.


Here's an example of the TM sprung Andrews trucks (under an Accurail boxcar):


Solid sideframe T-section Bettendorfs under a modified TM boxcar:


Sprung TM Bettendorf trucks under an Athearn hopper:


One fault with the hopper is that the wheels will rub on the brake levers on the car's underframe when going around curves, but a little "adjustment" with an X-Acto cures that.
The OS, AM, and V&O cars were done, if I recall correctly, about the time that these so-called "lichen belt" railroads were popular in RMC and MR and I think all three owners bought enough to enable special runs of each road name - they were done in multiple car numbers. I picked up mine in Nashville, at Aardvark Hobbies (mistakenly thought I could finally find that 1932 aardvark for which I had so long been hunting).

Gary, mismatched trucks weren't that rare with TM cars, but they were also much more common on the prototype than most modellers realise. It's not a feature most of us look for in prototype photos, but I have several on my layout so-equipped.

Wayne

[MasonJar]

Thanks for those great pic Wayne, and for the extra info about TM and Trains on Brant. I wasn't sure what happened to them after the move away from Brant St. Sounds like they might be trying to take a bit away from Canadian Model Trains (?) in Oakville.

I am also interested to see the crane when you get to it. I have a little Brownhoist that I backdated with a steam powerplant. I also need a clamshell bucket since the hook that came with it is not very good at loading coal...!

Andrew

[doctorwayne]

Thanks for those great pic Wayne, and for the extra info about TM and Trains on Brant. I wasn't sure what happened to them after the move away from Brant St. Sounds like they might be trying to take a bit away from Canadian Model Trains (?) in Oakville.

I am also interested to see the crane when you get to it. I have a little Brownhoist that I backdated with a steam powerplant. I also need a clamshell bucket since the hook that came with it is not very good at loading coal...!

Andrew

I think that CMT is probably doing very well, even though it's run out of a house in an upscale neighbourhood in Mississauga.

There's a clamshell bucket HERE, although the one for which I was looking is an etched brass version - possibly working, too. You could use brass, styrene, or even heavy paper to build a reasonable-looking facsimile.

As for the little crane, I had one which eventually ended-up on Ed's layout and when he decided to sell it, I almost bought it back. The most recent one will someday, I hope, be converted to a piledriver - easier to start with an unbuilt kit.

Wayne

[cn nutbar]

Hello---some time ago,Model Railroader magazine featured a story on the Turtle Creek R.R. which included decals of that railroad with the article.I had a couple of undecorated hoppers that I had picked up at a train-show and after a visit with Wayne one night,he kindly took them home to doctor them up---here one of the two cars---I believe they are Train Miniatures as well

[MasonJar]

Thanks Wayne - I haven't seen that clam shell before, but it's a nice looking option.

Ed - I almost forgot about those decals - I have them somewhere too - they are almost "vintage" themselves...!


Andrew

[P5se Camelback]

If you find them , Andrew, shout out the month and year and I'll rescue the one's from my issue.

(... or maybe I'll ask my neighbor. I haven't seen him recently, but I have invited him to come hang out here several times. My Mail Lady told me that someone else in my neighborhood also got Model Railroader, I just watched as she went down the street. He has built an index for model railroad magazine "topics" ... I'm sure he can tell me which issue they are in!)

[ocalicreek]

Neat finds! And I always enjoy seeing Wayne's work in a thread as well.

I'll have to add my own custom classics when I can. Most recent acquisition of note is a Gibraltar hopper, an actual car from Milt Moore's freelanced road. You may have seen some of Mr. Moore's cartoons in an NMRA bulletin or two.

[albumimg]2879[/albumimg]

The story behind this little dude is over at the old place, the forum formerly known as the gauge. In short, it's one of Milt's cars he exchanged with another modeler who lived out here in Washington or Oregon, where I found it at a swap meet. Apparantly it had been part of an estate sale after the fellow died. Bought it from the same vendor where I found the old Silver Streak Hart gondolas (and a California Southern hopper car).

I know it's not a vintage kit, per se, but the private road name kinda fit. I'd love to have either or both of those hoppers from the V&O and AM. The AM was one of the first private roads I encountered when I began subscribing to Model Railroader, way back when.

Galen

[MasonJar]

Galen,

I always (or most of the time) try to add unique items. I have passed on a couple of club cars, since they have been more modern rolling stock in their recent offerings (I may rethink this though, and have them to run at the club, just not on home rails). I have also acquired rolling stock from other modellers, or lettered for layouts that I have operated on. I'll have to add some more pictures.


Andrew

[MasonJar]

Wayne,

Walthers stocks one described as "brass and white metal parts":

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It's a 1/2 yard size, which I think would go nicely with the Brownhoist, can be made to operate if needed, although is pricier than the one in the link you provided.

Andrew

[MasonJar]

If you find them , Andrew, shout out the month and year and I'll rescue the one's from my issue.

(... or maybe I'll ask my neighbor. I haven't seen him recently, but I have invited him to come hang out here several times. My Mail Lady told me that someone else in my neighborhood also got Model Railroader, I just watched as she went down the street. He has built an index for model railroad magazine "topics" ... I'm sure he can tell me which issue they are in!)

biL,

Sorry - I discovered them in my decal/dry transfer drawer, so they are already removed from the magazine... However, I do recall that "Building the Turtle Creek Central" was one of those series that MR used to run from Jan - Mar of a given year. I want to say late-90s or early 2000s for the TCC...??

Andrew

[cn nutbar]

Hello Everyone---Andrew,here's a couple of cars you might be interested in---I purchased them through an ad posted in the local newspaper a long time ago.The elderly gentleman from Burlington was selling his train collection and these were part of a number of items that I bought.

[MasonJar]

Cool...

The NFR is the Niagara Frontier Region of the NMRA, which reaches all the way around the bay and east to Quebec. My local chapter is the St Lawrence Division (SLD) and is part of NFR.

If the NFR car is #1072 for the 25th anniversary in 1972 (presumably October = 10?), I wonder if that OVAR car is the same age. OVAR is about to enter its 50th season, having been formed in '60/'61. There are still a few original members who attend the monthly dinners...!

Andrew