Adding uncoupling devices (cut levers) to plastic freight cars
Peter Hall recently sent details on adding a simple detail to box car ends. Here are Pete’s tips and techniques.
An increasing number of today’s excellent plastic injection-molded HO scale models come with uncoupling devices (cut levers), but we still have all those great models that need them. This article shows how to make simple attachment points and wire cut levers for those cars that need bottom-operated uncoupling devices.
Jason Hill of Owl Mountain Models contacted the Resin Car Works folks recently with new kit information! Owl Mountain will introduce a pair of HO scale, plastic injection molded flat car kits for Southern Pacific prototypes. These kits should be released very soon. Several of the prototype car classes came into service in the Teens and were used though to the end of the steam era, with many serving additional years in maintenance of way duty.
The RPM Chicagoland conference is looming on the calendar at the end of October. Organizer Mike Skibbe recently sent details on the mini-kit that will be available to advance registrants. A sample model isn’t quite ready at this time but it will be available in four scales.
Nelson Moyer has been busy building his CB&Q layout. His latest adventure has been building a helix. Here’s Nelson with his tips and techniques. Click on any image here to review a larger size.
Multi-level layouts are becoming more popular as they permit longer runs with more towns, sidings, industries, and thus more switching opportunities in a given footprint. The Burlington-Washington Subdivision of the Chicago, Burlington, and Quincy Railroad ran 53 miles Northwest from Burlington to Washington, IA, with trackage rights on the Chicago, Rock Island, & Pacific from Burlington to Mediapolis, IA, and on the former Burlington and Northwestern tracks from Mediapolis to Washington. The branchline passed through seven towns more or less equally spaced along the route. My goal was to model as many of those towns as I could accommodate in a 13 x 16 foot room.