Category: Freight Car Models

Resin Freight Car kit builds, part 5

Yarmouth Model Works HO scale Northern Pacific double-sheathed box car
Yarmouth Model Works HO scale Northern Pacific double-sheathed box car

It has been about a year since I described the last resin freight car kit builds. A number of other layout tasks have commanded my attention, including a recent operating session. But there have been a few kit completions in the last few months, including a wonderful resin box car kit that includes etched metal and laser cut wood detail parts. Yarmouth Model Work introduced this kit earlier in 2014 and I scooped one up as it fits my 1926 era. Era appropriate decals even came with the kit! The completed model can be seen in the image above. Click on any image here to review a larger size.

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Catching up from winter

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An HO scale CNJ gondola on Steve Salotti’s model railroad. Seeing this at an operating session reminds me of one I’ve built and not painted yet.

We all experience ebbs and flows in our hobby activities. We can make furious progress on several tasks over the course of a few weeks then two months may slip by with hardly any activity. Tasks from beyond our hobby world can dominate the spare time, especially with spring weather blowing away the grit and cold of winter. I’ve been working on several different tasks, but few are far enough along or very photogenic to share here. The death of a friend has also weighed heavily on my mind. Less busy days are coming back around for the hobby tasks and I hope to share updates soon. Let’s recap a few model railroad events from the last couple of months. Click on any image here to review a larger version.

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Weathering Railroad Models – Hopper Car Interiors

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Recently weathered HO scale hopper cars, and one gondola.

About a month ago I shared this lead image on Facebook and with a few friends. There were several compliments and a recurring question, “How did you do that?” Here’s a walkthrough of the basic steps I used on these hopper car interiors. Click on any image here to review a larger version.

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Virtual RPM Meet 1

New box cars on Harold's layout.
New box cars on Harold’s layout.

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.

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Some thoughts on the Westerfield models line

I have re-posted a Westerfield resin freight car kit models guide as a blog page. The link for this is on the right side of the main blog page, just under the search box. You can also jump to it at the end of this post.

Before you check out the page, please note that I created this to guide my personal freight car fleet based upon the Westerfield line. I created a set of parameters a few years ago in order to determine Westerfield kits that were best for me to invest cash, and eventually, build time. Here are those parameters.

  • The setting is an eastern urban railroad prototype, circa 1926. When this was originally created, I was modeling a segment of the Wheeling & Lake Erie in Cleveland, Ohio. I hope to return to that inspiration on a future layout.
  • Freight car designs with a minimum of 8000 cars produced were highly considered, or if it was a distinctive car with several thousand produced, like the PRR X23.
  • If a freight car model is available as an injection molded plastic kit, then a Westerfield model would be dropped off of list consideration.

Setting parameters can help you focus on building a freight car fleet that will mesh with other components of your model railroad. Every layout will be different, so set your fleet needs accordingly and work from there.

With these thoughts in mind, enjoy your exploration of a quick guide to Westerfield Models for a 1920s model railroad.