Lee Turner has picked an interesting locomotive project for his own collection.  He is introducing a new steam locomotive on a new photo backdrop board.   The locomotive is a Weaver import pf a Nickle Plate Road L-1 Hudson.  He wanted to create a distinctive model that captured the look of locomotives that might have run on railroads in the South.  Hudson’s in the South?  Well they were as rare as hens teeth.   This is Lee’s freelance creation.  Lee decided that it was time to model this classic wheel arrangement into a locomotive that might have run on a railroad in the South.

The first step was to remove unique NKP appliances like the Mars light and elephant ear smoke lifter and the high mounted number boards.  Now he had a clean slate to personalize the locomotive.  I suspected that you notice the “star” decorations on the cylinder heads.  A common decoration applied to steam in this part of the country.  The Automatic Train Control box caught you eye as well.

The tender and cab side received pinstriping to create highlights.  The handsome lines of the original Nickle Plate Road hudson has been retained.  They were handsome machines on a roster full of  Lima Berkshires.

Lee adds life to his locomotive projects with customized figures like adding the eye glasses on the fireman.  You will notice that locomotive look clean with a bit dirt that adds the look recently wiped down but showing grime in hard to get place.

The new photo board has a detachable background.  Lee used foam board for the base and rock wall background.  He carve the rock relief and finished with texture and color.  The background can be detached allowing phtotos to be taken using a natural scene.  Lee has been noted for real backdrops like trees or buildings.

I like the idea of a “modular” photo board.  It allows you to shoot outside to take advantage of natural light and shadows.

Lee continues to delight us with his innovation and craftsmanship.  Thank you for sharing.

Gene Deimling

Recently Jim Zwernemann has dusting off a couple older models and decide to upgraded the models with newly available detail parts and information.

EJ&E Rebuilt USRA Double Sheathed Box Car.

The Elgin Joliet & Eastern owned a number of USRA double sheathed boxcars.  In the 1930s they opted for upgrades to the basic cars with new steel side and roofs.  They kept the underframes and ends along with the 40-ton Andrews trucks.

The model uses an Intermountain styrene kit for the sides (modified for height and length) and the steel panel roof.  The first version was built by Jim about twenty years ago.  The original model used ends from a very old Chooch USRA bxcar kit.  The ends were dated in their accuracy.   The new car used ends that I generated the patterns and cast by Jon Cagle.  Jim discovered that the running boards were Morton style not the Apex used. The rebuilt model was stripped of paint and shot with Model Masters acrylic paints.  The rebuilt model used a Protocraft decal set while the original was done by the late James Hickey.

Here is a picture taken of the original model before the recent rebuild.

Rick Leach recently discovered an ex-EJ&E car in rough condition in Spokane.  He photographed it extensively and shared them with Jim Zwernmann in his rebuilt effort.

One of the key details that Rick’s photos cleared up was the lower mechanism on the hand brake.   The new ends show a more accurate shape to the ribs.

The topside view shows a major upgrade is the new Smoky Mountain Model Works Morton running board.  This part is a 3D printed part that is an incredible replica of the prototype.

We have another of Jim Zwernmann’s rebuilt that will be posted down the road.

Jim’s craftsmanship inspires me and hopefully you as well.

Gene Deimling

Jim Zwernemann has completed another scratchbuilt boxcar as shown in the pictures shown below.    His latest creation is an adaptation of the Southern Railway boxcar owned by the Mobile and Ohio (later known as Gulf Mobile & Ohio).  The car is a 36′ trussrod design with a steel centersill.  Jim crafted his model from styrene and unique cast Hutchins end.  Jim used a published plan for the nearly identical SU class 36′ boxcars.

This is the only known shot taken by John LaRue.

Jim Zwernemann sent the above material giving a bit of his on the SU boxcars.

Here is the Southern Railway car.  Some of these cars ended up on the Mobile & Ohio and, Lancaster & Chester, Monon and the Alantic & Danville.  The Southern had approximately 1400 of these classic cars.

Here is an excellent shot of the unique Hutchins end used on most of the cars.  Scott Kritsky did this 3D rendering as a project for the Southern car.

Here are two views of Jim’s beautiful model.   In speaking with Jim Zwernemann today he highlighted a weathering technique that makes the individual boards stand out.  He used a sharp #3 drafting pencil and run down the “V” groove of the styrene siding.  The pencil darkens the break between the board surface.   It seems to work better than using a dark wash which tends to stain the board surface.

Thank you Jim for sharing the pictures and background on this unique model.

Gene Deimling

The Rock Island amassed a large roster of Fowler clones and classified as B-2.  The class evolved from the wood ended original group to the last series built with Dreadnaught ends and Youngstown steel doors.

The car shown above is a modified San Juan Car Company Rio Grande boxcar kit.  Lee Turner and this author collaborated on the model.  This represents the appearance of the first series of Rock Island B-2 boxcars.

The railroad’s folio drawing for a later class is shown above.

It turns out that Robert Leners is also a fan of these cars.   He has built two already.  His latest will be shown below.

The Murphy ends and wood doors seperate it from the last group with their Dreadnaught ends and Youngstown doors.

The image shown above is Robert’s rendering of this series.

Here is a view of the prototype of his latest build.

Robert is a master at crafting accurate models from styrene.  The basic body is fabricated from sheet ans strip styrene.  The side sheathing is built up from custom milled Evergreen strips that accurately match the prototype’s 5-1/8″ wide boards.  The key advantage of this approach is that the appearance of the side showed only slightest hint of individual boards.  For many years our single sheathed boxcars had (have) grooves between the boards.

The ends are modified castings that were produced by Southern Car & Foundry in urethane resin. Unfortunately they are not available.

The ladders were made from brass angle stock for the stiles.   The handbrake came from Protocraft parts left over from imports.

Robert posed his two latest Rock Island boxcars.

Thank you for sharing your latest build with my blog.

PS- the derailed truck is a Rock Island thing.

Gene Deimling

Mike George has been constructing a Proto48 railroad in his basement.  He is lifelong fan of the Louisville & Nashville Railroad.  His railroad features vignets of Tennessee history in model form.  Copperhill is the principal town on his line.  Mike’s homage to this location is under construction currently.

Here is Mike’s description of progress of Copperhill: