What’s in the yard?

Hackensack, NJ, Spring 1920 Photo X1628, DL&W Company Photo Collection, Steamtown NPS.

Ray Breyer submitted a neat blog post based upon the freight cars and details in a single image. Read further for a look into the past. Click on any image here to review a larger size. Model references are for HO scale products.

The above photo is a great snapshot of 1920s “real world” railroading, and offers a great peek into the fabric of railroading from almost 100 years ago. Between all of the juicy freight car detailing ideas and the general clutter around the yard shanty, there should be more than enough to keep any early prototype railroad modeler happy.

Context is always important when viewing photographs. The old adage that “a photo is worth 1000 words” is nice enough, but doesn’t say whether those words are truthful or lies. Knowing WHY is as important as knowing what. Let’s see if this photo is really telling us anything useful or not from a variety of perspectives.

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Paint booth progress


Seven HO scale box cars were recently painted for the Wheeling Freight Terminal. A couple days of warmer weather made it easy to open the garage door and fire up the airbrush. While there are seven cars, only three paint colors were used. I try to paint multiple cars the same color to minimize clean up time and effort. Click on any image here to review a large size.

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Flat Car Additions

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A couple more completed freight cars have been discovered among the boxes of hobby kits and supplies. Each of these two flat car kits were built several years ago and even painted. The black car with fish belly side sills is a Funaro & Camerlengo kit for a Baltimore & Ohio P-11 class flat car. The other car is a Tichy Train Group kit that I may have built 20 years ago. The model is pretty close to representing several prototypes that fit my 1926 era. I have a few flat cars in service but none are proper for my era so these two newly found models were given the fast track to completion.

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New box car coming soon!

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Trainfest was recently held in Milwaukee and a number of new model railroad products were announced. Of particular interest is an HO scale model that should become a favorite of anyone modeling the 1910-1950 time span. Accurail has announced a 36-foot, double-sheathed box car addition to their line. The model is mainly inspired by a 1914 New York Central box car design, similar to the above image. There will be a few variations available with different ends and center sills. Here’s the Accurail announcement as a PDF.

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