Neat. Looks very doable.
It’s interesting how this hobby leads into so many other facets of creativity. I have this Marx shell that is too badly damaged to use but the frame motor, etc were fine. I looked at how the tin was molded and thought to myself, could I make a new body, in this case a tinplate version of an Illinois Terminal interurban? The rounded ends present no problems but then there was the matter of the roof contour…so then I looked up tinsmith’s techniques, a leather hammer over a mold would do…some snips a 100 watt solder gun…hmmm…use dry transfers to substitute for lithography? “Scratch” building equipment, when I entered this hobby, was once very common. I thought Id share this possibility…as it had never occurred to me before. Has anyone tried this?
An IT interurban! I just saw one at the Illinois Railway Museum . I am an interurban fan so think that is a fine idea. Our local hardware store has some nice glossy paints for metal. I think ‘Brutus’ - who posts around and on the Coffee Pot has pondered creating the exact thing. I have to get him to make some cars for me. 
Expanding on this would make a great article for the magazine. I share your interest in the other facets of creativity to which the hobby can lead… I’ve recently been considering a few ‘wooden’ cars made of appropriately sanded blocks.
Remember Pride Line’s interurbans? What works of art. This less elaborate project I will document…as a help to others (learning by my mistakes)…although I dont know if it would fit in Classic Toy Train’s more mainstream theme…but then again, Im more interested to see how this experience works out…stitches or the reward of a unique piece?..probably both. Then maybe tinplate overhead is next. I remember when those in HO scale used to call the diehard O scalers…blacksmiths…maybe tinsmith is a more apt description in my case Now wheres that coffee can?
I can just envision my wife…“What on earth are you doing now?”
" Building an interurban!"
Very cool! Dave Farquhar has done some of this using aluminum flashing actually - turned out good I want to try brass, but have another big project going right now. I think Bruce (CSXect) made a hinge/metal bender? Don’t know what he has done with it? Dave Vergun (I think he posts in the Garden section now?) did a lot of scratch building. Keep us posted and I will too, if/when I get to this project!
Thanks for the info and it brings up the issue of my genuine interest in seeing what these fellows are up to in various categories, and posts…in a search…what would be helpful is a separate forum category for Scratch Building and divide it into sub-catagories of scale. Of course all of this is based on a presumption on my part, that there is enough interest in this. I always and now I see others enjoy the more creative facets ( do it yourself equipment) of the hobby. A lot of scratch building was a matter of financial resources as well as the lack of availability of variety at the onset of this hobby.Of course now theres a lot of variety “out of the box” However for those of us that have retired on a fixed income, or who will soon retire in a comparatively short time frame, as this hobby “ages” by demographics,it seems this is also a good facet of the hobby to “occupy” our time to some extent…it works for me. Thanks for the references.
Well, do a search on google for bending brake or break and you will find some people have examples and even plans for brakes they built for projects like this out of heavy duty hinges mostly. I’m not sure what you would search on for stuff on here, sorry.