Opinions/observations on HO rolling stock

[doctorwayne]

DocWayne, I'm assuming these are fairly recent acquisitions?

The milk cars have been laying about for a while, but all five cars were part of my 49 car rebuilding programme to take care of a backlog of unbuilt or un-rebuilt cars. There's one more to go in that original batch, a Tichy wheel car. I used the wheels to make gondola loads, with a few left over for scenic items.






The car itself is getting low, removeable sides, and will be lettered as MoW equipment - might use it as an idler flat for switching the GERN silos, where low clearance prohibits direct loco access.

I still have eight Athearn 40' boxcars left to build, and, when I get around to it, may do them as a step-by-step. My plan is to removed the roof and top horizontal rivet strip, then remove about a foot or so from the car's height. The roof and rivet strip will then be re-installed and the roof only will be removed. I'll replace that with a Viking roof from Des Plaines Hobbies, then change the ends for modified ones from Tichy. I'm going to use Central Valley floors and underframes, although they'll need to be chopped-up and re-assembled to get the correct spacing for the truck centres. New doors and details will be added and I will (hopefully) end up with a bunch of 1932 ARA boxcars, or at least my road's version of a similar car. The cost will probably end up in the $15.00 - $20.00 per car range, but with lots of modelling enjoyment built in, not a bad price overall.

After that, I'm hoping that nobody releases any more cars that interest me. I'd still like to add one of the carbon black cars from Rail Shop Inc. and a SOO Line "sawtooth" boxcar from Speedwitch Media, and I'm also planning on scratchbuilding/kitbashing some MoW equipment and a few more headend cars for my passenger trains, and maybe a vinegar car.

Wayne