Tag Archives: prototype

Illinois Terminal class D drive

Sandy Goodrick photo from Mike Fortney collection, Class D south side of Morton, Illinois.

Frank Hodina, Resin Car Works chief minion, has been tinkering with a shelf queen this summer. Here’s his report.

I have several pieces of Illinois Terminal equipment that have been sitting for years. I got the itch to play around with a Class D motor to see what I need to upgrade.

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Workbench Wednesday

Burlingame stockyard

Jared Harper sent an update on the latest addition for his Santa Fe branchline layout that meanders through the Flint Hills of Kansas. Here’s Jared with the scoop.

This is a partially completed model of the Santa Fe stockyards at Burlingame, KS. I used stripwood, round toothpicks for fence posts. Pat Wilkinson laser-cut the fence pieces and made the fine etched-metal gates. The base of my model is a sheet of 0.060-inch styrene. As with my other stockyards I will eventually paint the bases with my dirt color paint mix, then sprinkle on dirt-colored tile grout.

I use Krazy Glue (CA) exclusively to glue wood models. When I built my wood trestles with Krazy Glue adhesive, I could sand the bottom of the bents even by moving them back and forth on sand paper. They would have fallen apart if I had used wood glue.

Of the seven stockyards on my layout, this is the only one being constructed full size. The others are up against the backdrop and are truncated in one way or another. Because of this stockyard location in the middle of the Burlingame wye there was no backdrop to build up against.

What’s on your workbench?

Industries along the Rutland

Jim Dufour recently sent images and info on Randy Laframboise’s and Mike Sparks’ HO scale Rutland Mainline subdivision, circa 1952. It was too nice not to share. Many thanks to Randy, Mike, and Jim for permission to share with our readers. Here’s Jim!

This dispatch highlights some of the trackside industries that caught my eye along Randy and Mike’s Rutland Mainline subdivision, circa 1952. The lead image, above, is a hardwood mill at Brandon. It’s been said that many of the homes in Brandon featured the very best hardwood floors in Vermont!

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C&NW gondola upgrades

About the time John Golden’s gondola post appeared, Clark Propst was finishing up a gondola for his fleet. Here’s Clark with notes and photos.

I got this C&NW Accurail gondola kit decorated by 5th Avenue Car Shops in a trade a few years ago and finally decided to assemble it. After a quick look around, it appeared to match the C&NW prototype close enough.

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