freight cars – Page 10 – Notes on Designing, Building, and Operating Model Railroads

What’s in the Yard? – 2

The DL&W Freight House in Orange, NJ, December 1920

DL&W company photo, Steamtown NPS, Image #X1689.

Ray Breyer is back with another detailed look at the freight cars in a period image. This time, Ray has three images to use from the same facility and were taken on the same day. Click on any image here to view a larger size.

As an early rail modeler I’m constantly on the lookout for high-quality photos of period railroading, whether it’s my favorite prototype’s infrastructure, rolling stock or engines. I’m also looking for good images in context, showing why things may look the way they do, especially the area surrounding a given image’s viewpoint. Finally, just about any halfway decent period is fair game, since it can highlight rare freight equipment or ‘general atmosphere’ which may prove to be useful when working on my owl layout’s scenery.

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Pre-Depression Era Models at the RPM

20161109_dick_scott_01 — Dick Scott’s O scale L&N 36-foot box car model.

I had a moment recently to take my time and review model images from the recent RPM Chicagoland meet. I found there were quite a few models representing prototypes built in the Teens and Twenties, but wearing later era paint and lettering. One of the prime examples leads off this blog post.

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Transporting Models

I recently attending the RPM Chicagoland prototype modeler meet in Lisle, IL. I had a great time attending presentations, meeting old friends, meeting people from email correspondence, and looking over the fine models on display. Several models traveled with me from El Paso and were on display at the event. Several people asked how I packed them away for air travel so here’s a look at what has worked for my travels.

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Masking Tape as a Weathering Tool

201610_frtcrs_wtape — Masking tape has been applied to portions of the lettering on these freight cars before the weathering processes begin.

Several freight cars recently went through the weathering factory and each of them had some masking tape applied to protect part of the original paint coat or lettering. Model railroaders typically use masking tape in the process of applying large stripes or fancy paint schemes to locomotives or rolling stock. For these recent freight cars, the tape was applied to hint at changes made to the car. The tape became another tool in the weathering arsenal.

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August 2016 Op Session

The Wheeling Freight Terminal has monthly operating sessions. A message is sent to several interested modelers and operators in the area about a week beforehand. I’ve typically been operating on the fourth Thursday of the month and a layout in nearby Las Cruces hosts a session on the second Thursday. August was busy for the usual crew and only Robbie was able to attend the recent session.

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