1:29 Rolling Stock Rehabs for ‘70s North-Central PA Shortline

[TiogaTracks]

Finally, she’s done.  An ALCO with all the right attitude.

Here’s the photo I based the model on.  I picked this photo since its details seemed like the easiest conversion from a stock Aristo-Craft RS3:



And my results:

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After misidentifying 5260 as ex-NH, I fixed my error and went ahead with the full NYC cab signal equipment.  All scratchbuilt from styrene.

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Mostly, I referred to photos of a brass model here.

The loco still has its 3 slide switches, but now they control the cab interior light, the numberboards, and the smoke unit, which I still have to program.  I want to save function keys for sounds, and keep my whole fleet’s DCC functions the same.

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All the handrails are re-bent, because every one was way wrong.

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Here’s 5260 running.

I also added weight to the fuel tank, and built a huge speaker baffle with sound deadening inside the long hood.  The sounds from the TCS WOW501 decoder are incredible!  I’m still tinkering with detail painting, fading, and light weathering.  This will make a great addition to the Penn Central fleet, and will make working the interchange (ahem, staging) of my outdoor layout much more fun.

-Steven

[Ed Kapuscinski]

This is simply awesome.

Because this is TRW, I'm gonna say that you should go even further with various lighting effects. Add ground lights, update the headlight bulbs, etc.

With all that space to work with, you almost have to!

BTW, you know my favorite part? The spark arrestor. Those are so hard to do in smaller scales and I am jelly!

[davefoxx]

. . . and I am jelly!

DFF

[TiogaTracks]

Got a new car nearly done, but once again, not from the Wellsville Addison & Galeton…. this time, we’re talking about the little sister shortline slightly to the west, the Coudersport & Port Allegany.  Yep, that is how they spelled it.

The line ran with two 44-tonners, and in the photos I have, they didn’t run cabooses.  But when I saw how close the preserved C&PA caboose is to the Lionel Large Scale bobber caboose, I had to make it.  But while reference photos of the preserved caboose are easy to find, the original paint job is still unclear.  I referenced a model photo for now.

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I removed the yellowed opaque windows, molded-on side handrails, end doors, and some frame rails.  Then I added free-standing side handrails, new support beams on the axle pedestals, an air tank, and I made the undercarriage equipment box into a box, not a flat piece.  Here’s two in-progress shots.

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I did the lettering by hand with a paint pen and Exacto knife.  Nothing in my decal stash fit right.  Some wood grain painting, weathering, and minor details rounded out the project.

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Now to paint up a creamsicle-colored centercab to pull it!

-Steven

[nkalanaga]

Hand lettering is probably how the prototype was done as well. 

[davefoxx]

You did that lettering by hand?!  Damn impressive, sir.

DFF

[TiogaTracks]

Thanks guys.  The hand lettering is more carving than painting, really.  I can’t paint a straight line, but an hour or two with an Exacto gets these results.

The other side of C&PA 6, with just the paint pen:

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After cleaning up the lettering with the hobby knife:

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-Steven

[Ed Kapuscinski]

This is so cool!!

[TiogaTracks]

Another rehab in progress!  This time it’s LGB Centerflow hopper weekend.  One car will retain its factory ATSF paint, and the other will be decaled for the CB&Q.

The Burlington car started as a messy parts-box-special car from eBay (the only one I was willing to pay for at the time).  Yes, it was Canada on one side, Morton Salt on the other, a Rio Grande roof, and 5 different colors of roofwalks and hatches!

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I spent last evening stripping and painting the car.  I worked late into the night without realizing it, but got the whole car painted gray… and also re-detailed a bit!

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I decided to move the brake wheel to better match the prototype.  Then I realized the ladders and grab irons were quite different.  So I rearranged them the best I could with limited parts.  I still need to find air brake parts to fill in the ends, but I love how the high brake wheel came out.  The Santa Fe car is included to show the “before” look of the stock LGB model’s configuration.

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Now to get the decals applied, and think about how to weather both cars.  I can’t wait to add these to the trains, to help break up the neverending sameness of 40’ cars.

-Steven

[TiogaTracks]

I completed my work on the Santa Fe Centerflow.  I added an ACI tag, weathered the car, and lowered it a little.

I followed this prototype photo:



With ACI tag, before weathering:

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I started the weathering job with thin dry brushed lines up lighter and darker dirt/dust.  This is meant to simulate the slight bends in the side sheets where they attach to the hopper bottoms, causing slight bends in those thin sides.  I think it looks good, and appropriately subtle after the dust, slight fading, and the satin and spots of flat finish.

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Finally, a Centerflow in operation… now to do the Burlington car, too.  That’ll take more weathering!

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-Steven

[TiogaTracks]

Another one joins the fleet!  And The Sole Leather Line lives on.  This is the first Wellsville Addison & Galeton car to carry the line’s slogan, a reference to all the tanneries they served.

The prototype: an ex-Mopac steel boxcar rebuilt from an originally wood-sided car.



I took an MDC boxcar and made minor adjustments.  It’s just sorta close, but at least it’s not another PS-1 clone, like nearly every other Large-scale boxcar.  It’s out of scale in length, but these boxcars were visibly shorter than most other steel boxcars, so running this 1:32 car among 1:29 equipment looks good enough for me.

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I weathered each side following a different photo, so one is dirtier than the other.

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Well, that was a welcome distraction.  Now back to weathering this massive CB&Q hopper…

-Steven

[nkalanaga]

"5 different colors of roofwalks and hatches"

Roofwalks and hatches were both replaced regularly, especially the hatches.  An unpainted section of roofwalk, or almost any color hatch, wouldn't be unprototypical.