I am an Ozarkian (though much of my youth was [mis]spent in St. Louis). I live in the Ozarks, I am fond of Ozark industries and Ozark railroads.
Most of them are no more: my beloved Frisco has been swallowed by the Been Nuthin’ Since Frisco and the MoPac has been thoroughly digested by the Armor Yellow Monster that is the Union Pacific. But there is an Ozark shortline that not only survives but thrives, and, until relatively recently, it thrived using Alco power: the Arkansas & Missouri. In addition to hauling much freight tonnage, it runs excursion trains through some of the best scenery in the world. I won’t bother you with the all the history and current status: these things are easily enough found on the web A&M.
However, I lament the fact that none of the manufacturers consider the A&M worthy of their product lines. In the time honored tradition of model railroaders everywhere, i chose to fix this lacuna in the offerings by making my own through the process of repainting.
Now, mind: I am a steam fan. Only under the most special of circumstances are diseasals allowed on my pike (such as Christmas, when I run my first Lionel set, headed up by a #8020 FA).
One of those circumstances is the until-recently-pure Alco roster of the A&M. The road had a full stable of C-420s (along with a handful of other Alco types, such as the RS-32). If I have to love a road with diseasals, I’ll take an road run with aging but pleasing alligators.
So (and I may have posted a pic of her before somewhere), I present to you my effort at representing A&M #64 caught on a caboose hop over the Frisco/MoPac mainline because of a washout on the paralleling A&M tracks. having both been freshly painted, the engine and caboose #170 (one of only two cabooses on the road) on their way to Ft. Smith, AR.
The loco was a Lionel NKP C-420 with a spiffy sound set that does a decent job of duplicating the clank and growl of an Alco. The caboose was a modern Atlas O that comes close to–but not quite exactly–matching the A&M #170. The caboose is newly finished. I used custom decals from CMR Products. I made no real modifications to the loco to reflect A&M practice for mounting headlights and bells because of the cab-full of electronic for the LED lighting. I chose to live with the imperfect representation because of my limited time for scratch-bashing.
