Sorry, I had intended to make more of my previous reply but I had a train to catch. Anyway, as far as the preponderance of co-op cars in grain trains is concerned, I was really speaking to BN unit grain trains of the late 80s/early 90s. If you're looking to sprinkle regular covered hoppers into your mixed freights then the co-op cars could work, but like you suggest "regular" cars might be a better fit. This could really turn into a rabbit hole, but if you have an idea of the on-line industries your model railroad serves as well as the origin and destination industries that correspond to those industries it can make choosing appropriate cars a little easier. Likewise, if you have an idea of the traffic your prototype handled across the modeled portion of your railroad you can choose appropriate cars even when they won't visit an industry on your railroad. Here's an example: I am not modeling the General Motors Arlington Assembly plant, but it is located very near the prototype I'm modeling. I know that during my era the plant produced G platform coupes, so trilevel autoracks were plentiful in trains headed to and from the plant. GM favored the four door per side jumbo boxcars, so those also need to be represented in the trains along with appropriate 50' and 60' boxcars. Another example is a brewery that is not going to be part of the modeled railroad but whose traffic is important locally. In my era they received corn syrup (corn before that) and malt and shipped product out in insulated boxcars. The packaging plant received paper/containerboard and the can plant received aluminum canstock. So cars representing this traffic are part of the UP mixed freight consists. Unlike modeling a unit grain train a few appropriate cars here and there get the point across and it gives a purpose for those CNW hoppers or UP family beer cars.
I saw a pair of deep well container cars for sale on Facebook Marketplace. It took a few days to make a connection with a local HS student who owned them but the deal got done and now they're a part of my fleet and in mind for a future project. Then I got a couple of kits online from the Model Train Market. Since I lean towards lines that currently run, or historically have run through Ohio, these Pittsburgh and Lake Erie cars with fit in well. Sent from my moto g(7) play using Tapatalk
Arrived today, 2/06/2021 - Broadway Limited Milwaukee Road S3 4-8-4 Road Number 263. This locomotive will be used for excursion runs on the TCW Office Layout pulling MTH Milwaukee Road Heavyweights (in transit). This was inspired by the real life Milwaukee Road 261 which is still in operation today based in Minneapolis, MN. Broadway does make a model of this loco but any road number of this model is hard to find, especially the 261. Saw this being sold brand new and felt meh I am good with the road number 263. I have only ran this on my short test track and it is a beauty I of course goofed up when filling the smoke fluid and over filled a bit. No damage but did ooze out on the side of the loco some. I cleaned up 90% with q-tips and hoping the residual amount evaporates over time. Photos here are post spill and clean up....does not look bad and runs perfect. Really felt dumb about and even read through the manual before I did anything....oh well. 20210206_231852 by mtaylor posted Feb 7, 2021 at 12:45 AM 20210206_231906 by mtaylor posted Feb 7, 2021 at 12:45 AM 20210206_231915 by mtaylor posted Feb 7, 2021 at 12:45 AM
Some vehicles came in today: a Walthers 48’ Stoughton trailer as well as a Promotex Peterbilt 362. I am considering painting the tractor a new color, I want something really retro-looking. The Walthers trailer is interesting, the doors only have two bars, rather than the four more commonly seen on intermodal equipment. Does anybody know anything about the company ‘Terminal’? Looking up anything online just brings up super generic ‘truck terminal’ or ‘intermodal terminal’ type images. The model has some staining and yellowing, so it may need to be repainted anyways. The Walthers product number for the Terminal scheme is 933-1923 if anybody knows anything about it. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Arrived yesterday, MTH 5 Car Heavyweight Passenger Set in Milwaukee Road to go with the S3 4-8-4 Steam Loco for Excursion Runs. I hijacked my son's interim layout to test (or as my wife stated, play) the set. I really wanted to see how they navigated the 22" curves, which is the same radius planned for my Office TCW Layout....happy to report no issues (though I concede they would look better with broader curves but I will take it). 20210210_141459 by mtaylor posted Feb 11, 2021 at 1:44 AM 20210210_141537 by mtaylor posted Feb 11, 2021 at 1:44 AM 20210210_174354 by mtaylor posted Feb 11, 2021 at 1:44 AM 20210210_174409 by mtaylor posted Feb 11, 2021 at 1:44 AM 20210210_174423 by mtaylor posted Feb 11, 2021 at 1:44 AM 20210210_174435 by mtaylor posted Feb 11, 2021 at 1:44 AM 20210210_174528 by mtaylor posted Feb 11, 2021 at 1:44 AM
Some new cars I received recently, finally got around to unpacking and checking, a number of the couplers were painted closed and had to be freed in order to work properly. Rapido NYC Flexiflow Covered Hoppers for Cement Service, Cars were 125 Ton and had air assist unloading features. Rick Jesionowski
I picked up some new Athearn Gunderson 60' Double Plugdoor boxcars to go with my MET gen set. I'll need few more of the BNSF cars as I see them in Modesto a lot.
The Love's tanker I purchased several years ago. The Box trailer I bought just last Friday at Train Life.
Look under terminal transport or terminal trucking For peterbilt paint ideas try looking up Peterbilt COE or Peterbilt cabover for images as the 362 pete was. Early mid 80's update of the 352 coe
Now onto my latest score just waiting for it to arrive via MOW snail Rail lol have lots of plans like working lights beacons new paint dcc it is self propelled lol
Had to head into the big city for a doctors appointment and these followed me home. A Rapido SW1200RS and a Bowser DSR 4-4-1000, both with sound.
I bought this BLI MT-73 second hand. This was right before disassembly to lube and oil it and subsequently it doesn't have its brake shoes installed! The smoke unit was also squeaking loudly with each chuff despite being turned off with the switch under the cab, and the CVs being set to keep power from going to it. I've physically removed it from the boiler since it isn't going to be used anyway - no more squeak! It may get a new sound decoder in the future as I'd rather have something with a bit more options. I have no idea what the whistle is supposed to be on this thing. Nice runner otherwise! The next item is a Mabuchi motor and some flexible silicone tubing used for small engine fuel lines as a U-joint. The model is a late Rivarossi FEF-3, which has the RP-25 wheels. Its the one that came out before they were DCC-equipped/ready. The original motor was very, very stiff and jerky and I only recently discovered and ordered a few of these Mabuchi motors. Initial tests are very promising! The FEF-3 has a little wobble from not having traction tires but otherwise is much happier with the new motor and with a DCC decoder and BEMF will be even smoother.