Notes on Designing, Building, and Operating Model Railroads
A hobby adventure
It’s going to be a few months before the garage is transformed into the new hobby space. Setting up a hobby work space in the garage makes no sense as it would need to be moved once remodeling starts. After some negotiating, I was able to use an alcove in the TV lounge above the garage for space. The lead image illustrates the appearance before some changes.
Let’s face it, we are all suckers for older cars and trucks. What reader has not walked through an antique car show? As a modeler with a 1926 focus, my eyes are always keen on finding vintage vehicles whether they are autos, earth movers, commercial vehicles, or farm equipment. We continue down the research path with this post as we never have enough data.
With the recent Accurail product announcement of Fowler box car kits, Ray Breyer got busy and created a Prototype Data file to review the prototypes of the roadnames in the initial kit introduction. Ray also researched the origins of the car design and found some interesting details.
Do you recognize this box car? I know you recognize the railroad name, but do you recognize the car design? I’ll bet most readers are not familiar with this car design. It does look similar to many box cars used in the first four decades of the 20th Century, but this was the most common B&O box car until 1926. There were 9988 listed as in service in an October 1926 Official Railway Equipment Register (ORER). Are you surprised?
December is often a tough month to find hobby time. The holidays, family commitments, job stuff, and more pull away the free time we had in other months. The next few blog posts here will feature some handy resources for you to review. I hope they will inspire new ideas and models in the New Year.