A couple of U30c's is one of my next "To Do" projects on my bucket list. I just got two of them chipped, had to blow a thick layer of dust off their boxes! Jim, Do you still have the pics of the RI SD40-2's and the GP38's you posted before? Post them here, so we have them all together here on this thread. I'm gonna repost the Blue and Black units.
FYI, Kato still sells decorated Rock Island U30C shells from their parts department (yeah, go figure). And if you want something other than 4598, taking an alcohol-soaked Q-tip to the sides of the cab will take care of that. -Mark
Not a lot of Rock Island in BC in 1973 but this little guy floated by....umm.. might need a spot of paint.... LOL
Yep, I seen those several years ago. Too bad I don't need anymore. Now only if KATO had some of the SD40-2's w/o DB available! Not sure if I will strip the ones I have or if I'll just remove the numbers and try and weather the factory paint and see how that turns out. The factory lettering leaves a little to be desired for. But it might help when it comes time to fade and weather them. Thanks for the tip. Nice weathering on that sled Puddy! Add paint and take away that character? Nah. Here's one that I worked over after playing with Gary H's Fading Fast method.
Okay, guys - as promised, I did a little "model parade" of some of my Rock Island equipment. As I indicated in my other post, I am a hard-core Milwaukee Road fan (notice the bay window in my photos). But obviously I'm a big fan of RI bankruptcy blue. The very sad fact is that this isn't all the RI stuff I have - many of these, especially those uber-cool Athearn bay windows, have duplicates. I stopped when it got ridiculous! Thank goodness nobody said "Let's do a parade of all our Illinois Central/ICG stuff - I have a "few" orange, black and white pieces of rolling stock as well! Anyway...here is my parade - three cheers for The Rock! By the way, I know my layout has no ballast, driveways, etc. But at least I got some water in the river. I'm planning to work on it during Christmas break - even a tiny layout like mine can take a lot of time. Enjoy the photos...
That's a pretty cool layout you've got there. Everything doesn't always have to be a crazy maze of track, or hard core switching. I like it! Nothing wrong with a work in progress either, hell mine's just pink foam and there's still a big goober of putty on the side of the elevator! Believe it or not this is is the only Rock Island thing I've got, and it's a patch On the order of Rock Island (and patched stuff) I saw a whole string of these a couple years ago, will be adding a couple to my MOW train for sure.
Thanks, guys! I have a 2300 sq ft empth and dry basement, but small layouts just "do it" for me. This particular track plan came from an Andy Sperandeo design from the early 80s - someone did a version of it as a 5x9' New York shortline in a Great Model Railroads issue. Scenic possibilities and two spurs and a passing track - with one facing point switch tbat provides 15-20 min of operation. Those "Trees" aren't yet - still need ground foam.
Well I can do that! Here is the entire fleet of Rock Island SD40-2's. A friend and fellow TB Member, Steve, painted them with Badger Modelflex and I applied the decals. Steve is working on them again by adding some BLMA details. A couple of the named GP38-2s in Bankruptcy Blue. I know its weird, but I really like this scheme. Rivet counters beware, I realize these are straight GP38's but Atlas and Life Like did not have the GP38-2's at the time, so my friend Ron said to go ahead and do up a pair of the 38's. 45' trailer done up in the Rock Island final scheme. I did a few of these in N and sold them. This one is usually on one of my T-Trak modules.
Here is a small shot of the two GP38s with a Intermountain PS2CD covered hopper I did. The blue on both the units and hopper are custom mixed Polly Scale I did. It took three Microscale decal sheets to do this hopper correctly. This hopper would eventually be owned by the CNW. I even have a Rock Island Polo shirt. JTW was a venture my ex-wife and I had. She did shirts, this was one of them.
A friend who built a smaller layout once mentioned that he didn't want want all the work and maintenance involved with a large layout. I completely understand and sometime I wish mine wasn't as big as it is. But then again, it's fun to have a basement full of friends when it comes time to have an ops session. Trade-offs, what are you gonna do? The best thing about a smaller layout is you can focus on the details a lot easier and actually get close to finishing it! Thanks for sharing!
Hey Kalbert, thanks for sharing even if it still patched! At least it's still Rock Island. Anybody else have any other Patched Rock Island equipment?
Thanks for the repost Jim! Every time I see that line up of those Duces, my mouth starts to water! Nice work on the others as well.
Hey Jim, how about redistributing the wealth a little and cutting loose with a couple of those SD40-2's?? Here's an MT troop car that I converted to a Rock Island baggage-express - Here's my model of the old Rock Island depot in Hope, MN - -Mark
I've actually got quite a few Rock Island diesels... most are not photographed though... Walthers/Life-Like DL-109s Older Life-Like E7 in the middle Two Centralia Car Shop/Intermountain Rock Island/Southern Pacific Golden State cars... I have several other and almost have a full consist.
