Thanks Gus. I thought that I had posted photos of the "Bee" elsewhere, but perhaps not. Here's a few views:
She's a surprisingly good puller, and can easily handle 8 or 9 freight cars or several coaches, much more than most real doodlebugs:
Here's a close-up view of the front end. Detail parts include a pilot from a Bachmann Santa Fe Northern, headlight and bracket and marker lights from Cal-Scale, auxilliary number boards and bell from Details West, and carbody vents, dual upper headlight, air horns, roof-mounted air tanks and exhaust stacks by Detail Associates. The RPO windows are from an Athearn coach, and the engine air intake is from an Athearn geep, while the partial fairing behind it is from New England Rail Services. The roof-top radiator is an MDC part, and the roof-top walkways are leftovers from a Tichy coaling tower. Steps under the doors are built-up from brass strip stock, and all lenses are by MV Products:
The front truck, front frame, and fuel tank are from an Athearn F7. I replaced the Blomberg sideframes with ones from Detail Associates, meant for a Fairbanks-Morse C-Liner:
The rear truck is the stock Rivarossi truck, but with wheelsets from an Athearn passenger car. I added crude axle wipers to provide more pick-up points for current to the motor:
The car has a partial interior, but the spartan washrooms seem to have had a negative effect on ridership:
Here are a couple of "before paint" shots:
The car was sectioned into three parts, with the centre section turned front-to-back in order to place the baggage door farther back. New baggage doors, along with ones for the RPO and control cab were fabricated from styrene. The three existing passenger compartment window had transoms added, and two additional windows were added to each side.
Finally, an aerial view (courtesy of Secord Air Services):
Wayne