I have tons of ideas for scratchbuilding, but I can never find any blueprints or diagrams for those trains. Is there any website or archive I can go to to get drawings and/or pictures? I am looking for unusual freight cars or locomotives. I am also interested in early streamlined passenger trains. I have a 3D rendering of Illinois Central 121 (the Green Diamond) that I made from pictures of the brass model, but I don’t think it’s completely accurate. I would like to do more work like that, but I want to make sure they are prototypically correct.
"Model Railroader" and "Railroad Model Craftsman" magazines used to have scale drawings of two or three prototypes per issue, including rolling stock and structures. I disposed of 800 issues a year ago to recycling, to have room for actual layout so I don't have them anymore. The "Model Railroader" ones are available on a set of CD so you can print them out in your scale, I believe. Period volumes of Simmon-Boardman's "Car Builders Cyclopedia" had some scale drawings, but often only side elevations and not overhead plan views too. Might be available in some libraries mor on interlibrary loan. Much material from Simmonp-Boardman was republished as "Train Shed Cyclopedia". I've seen them at train shows. Could probably find on Amazon.
Yes, I found dozens of issues of "Train Shed Cyclopedia" on Amazon, prices varying from under $10 a copy to $125, depending on which volume you want. If you are into building locomotives, Kalmbach has had two big volumes with reasonably full scale drawings of locos, one book steam and one diesel.
I kitbashed N ATSF Sulphur gondolas from flat cars, using scale drawings from "Railroad Model Craftsman" Sept 1981 p.48
