I took a few photos of the model, as my friend wanted to know the history of this Lionel HO scale engine. It says on the bottom “Moulded in Canada”, and the motor is actually made by GE. Here’s two shots of it, notice it did not come with handrails:
The model is wet because we were at a restaurant having breakfast with our club members, and he asked if I could check up on the model. We put it on the trunk of his car and I shot a few photos with my pocket digital camera, and it was lightly raining at the time.
And like you said, their road names were strange, as I don’t think CP had them. The model has since been repainted in prototypical Maine Central colors.
I know of others who coin their own drivers in S, machine their drive rods and gear. I dn’t gp that far, I have a fantastic supplier in England who sells scale coined drivers and frame kits that are suitable for American steam. Now, when it comes to kitbash, how about this example: One bachman On30 2-6-0, remove drivers and replace with new scale axles machined from drill rod to S standards, requarter and remount tire assembly, replace factory gear bx (optional) replace pilot wheel with a S set from NWSL. Replace cab or modify the existing one depending how in scale you wi***o be, replace all domes and boiler fittings, widen/replace cylinder assembly, pilot is optional, there are as many ways to convert on these as there are prototypes.
This photo is unreal. Did you photoshop your loco onto a pic of real track or something? This is incredible. The only thing that’s got me 95% convinced it’s a model is the diameter of the handrails, and the look of the coupler.
Thanks! No the photo was taken in an actual railyard! It was posed on a small diorama with just track, the whole thing sitting on a portable table. The engine in the rear is real prototype one. Realism was attained by the use of a 28mm wide angle lens with a pinhole aperture, which gives almost infinite depth of field. HO scale model by the way, and all on film, no digital effects at all.
Taken way back when the railroad didn’t really mind us railfans around the yard. Can’t even get into it these days.
Hi Bob,
I remember you telling me not too long ago that you had one of the Kaslo Kits for the C.P. SD40-2F Loco’s , did you ever get round to building it ??? If you did what chassis did you use, because I have got one and the instructions recommend a Kato or an Athearn but as far as I can see, either requires quite a bit of modification. Just wondered what you thought??? Any observations??? CPPedler
I have their kit for a CN SD50F, haven’t started it yet, still on my “to do” pile. I’ll be using an Athearn chassis because I had one on hand, but don’t recall which one, probably their SD40-2T one. Can’t offer much more than that at this time.
I am working on a DD40 that I am putting a wide body cab on. It will look alot like a DD40x (Centurian) when its done, but I plan to tell people that it is a DD40 left over from UP when MoPac bought them out (I am modeling a what if railroad). It was in a wreck back in the 90s and had to be repaired with a new cab. There was an extra wide body cab laying around…MoPac would use anything and everything. I also have a U30C with an EMD cab that I modeled from a picture in a book.
I think doing these unusual things make your layout much more interesting, and fun. Its always fun to have people look at your trains and say WOW!, where did you get THAT one?
I have had a change in plans after my SD70 cab would not fit right I decided to make my engine a cabless unit. It will be a SD70B I will still make the SD70R and the SD70RCW sometime. I found out that my kato frame is bent.
Long ago I built a 4-6-0 on the chassis of a Mantua 0-6-0T Shifter (tank lokie with unequal axle spacing). I turned the chassis front-to rear to match the prototype ten wheeler axle spacing and substituted larger wheels. Except for detail accessories, the rest was sratchebuilt. The boiler is a tissue paper and epoxy laminate formed over thick tape cores, cured while turning in a rotisserie motor; the cab and tender are styrene. The tender has a thin styrene wrapper for the rivet detail.
To this day I’m still happy with the outcome, but it’s a bit of a lightweight since room for additional weight is limited.
