Notes on Designing, Building, and Operating Model Railroads
A hobby adventure
It’s time to share the work of another pre-Depression era railroad modeler. Harold Oakhill has been here before with some wonderful Pennsylvania Railroad XL class box cars. He just wrapped up building several New York Central box cars. Harold takes over the blog to discuss his latest works. Click on any image here to review a larger version.
My friend Dave is modeling a portion of the Toledo & Ohio Central railroad through western Ohio. He has twisted history a bit and is modeling this railroad as a Nickel Plate Road (NKP) division, rather than the New York Central (NYC) division that it was. Dave just likes the Nickel Plate more than the NYC. Additionally, he has focused his modeling on 1928. Recently, Dave has been wrapping up details on several interesting NKP box cars that were pretty common for his era. The cars pictured above are 36-foot, double-sheathed cars with upgraded components. Let’s follow along with prototype details and Dave’s descriptions of the modeling. Most of the images on this post can be reviewed in a larger size by clicking on the image.
Through the course of our hobby years we meet a variety of people who inspire and encourage our own efforts. I met Jim Kubanick a number of years ago when he moved to Morgantown, WV. He became a member of the model railroad club where I was a member at that time. We share an affinity for the common and uncommon freight car, and the history of freight cars. Jim has built a number of fine models and he has shared tips and data as I progress in building the many kits in my stash. As I am still getting settled after the move to Texas, Jim will guest on this post and share some of his models and notes. Jim works in HO scale and concentrates his efforts on the early-to-mid 1950s.
I am in the process of moving to Texas, so I have a guest blog post!
Collaboration and communication with other modelers who have similar interests can spur progress on a number of projects. My friend Harold Oakhill is modeling the Ulster & Delaware Railroad in the heady days of the early 1920s. We regularly discuss developing an era-specific freight car fleet. Of the many details, paint and lettering are frequent topics. Harold recently wrapped up a few HO scale Westerfield Pennsylvania Railroad XL box cars, which were the backbone of the huge PRR box car fleet in the early 1920s. Please follow along as Harold discusses his concerns and methods in the finishing steps for these models.