Southern Pacific Boxcar

This SP B-50-20 class boxcar is really the second in my virtual interchange series of cars and is my tribute to TBRR. I'm not sure if y'all might have more of an affinity to T&P, but I remember all kinds of SP relics in San Antonio, Austin, and along the way to Palestine. Now when you see this one in any photos of a NELTC layout, know there's a little piece of TBRR there.

Serves All Canada

@#$% me that was a pain in the...better part of a half hour just getting that logo on. Dry Transfers by CDS Lettering.

Where have you been all my life?

One of the rate limiting factors for more rolling stock for me is building trucks. One of the biggest PitAs for nice rolling trucks is having sufficient quantities of 32mm brass tube. To this day, I've been taking a hobby saw to the tube and through a long and painful process, making butchered lengths of brass work for me. On a recent trip to the hobby store to pick up more tubing, instead of my typical anti-social get my stuff and leave, I actually asked for help. Particularly if there was a better way to make quick work of my cutting. The knowledgeable woman at the counter pointed me in the direction of this handy device. A few minutes later, and I'd reduced a foot of brass tube to 2.5 boxcars worth of axles. They still need some cleaning with a needle file, but they're way nicer than I had before.

New England Stream Study

Okay, I get it Lego. Blue is for water. The problem is, in this part of the country, the only water that's blue is from open pit mining or swimming pools. Model railroaders have all kinds of tricks to make the water on their layout look as it does in nature. I thought I'd try the same. New England streams are these clear, shallow bodies of water inviting fly fishermen to cast their lines or passersby to jump in on a hot summer day. I thought trans clear tiles would be best, but the plates are a fraction of the cost and found in every PAB wall I've visited in the past year. I wish olive green was more common, but green works here as well. Let me know what you think. Looking to scale this for a bridge project.

ALCO RS-11 Nose

Pulled this out of the scrapyard to show Patrick how I tackled all the weird angles in the nose.