Notes on Designing, Building, and Operating Model Railroads
A hobby adventure
I’ve been trying to write this blog post for a few weeks. You know how things get delayed. A few things come out of the blue and less important tasks — like this blog — gets put on hold. As soon as I catch up, a couple more issues arise. I feel like I’m on a treadmill that won’t turn off.
Continue reading “Slow orders”
Ready-to-run freight cars have become common model railroad items over the last few decades. Few models have reflected prototypes that can be used for a mid-1920s focus. The lettering often follows a later practice. The Pre-War version of the new Rapido Trains Northern Pacific boxcar comes close to the mark but there are a few alterations required. I made the following adjustments while a new computer performed Windows Updates and software uploads.
Continue reading “Alterations”
Rapido Trains released a new HO Scale boxcar model in October that follows a Northern Pacific prototype built in 1923. A few paint and lettering schemes were produced and I picked up one that represents the Pre-WW2 appearance. This ready-to-run model nicely captures the prototype.
I recently came across this 1926 image featuring a couple of boxcars on the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western railroad in New Jersey. Let’s take a good look at the weathering on these cars. They have obviously seen some mileage as the lettering is faded. Some streaks are visible from water and a little dust is apparent. But there’s much more here that we can model. Click on any image here to review a larger size.
The images on this blog post were originally taken by William B Barry, Jr., in his service as a DL&W company photographer. Thousands of historic DL&W photographs have been scanned my NPS Steamtown and can be found through the Erie Lackawanna E-Mail List Photo Archive.
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?