New Rolling Stock: Atlas TTX Bulkhead Flat Car

I made a trip to one of my two local hobby shops again earlier today just taking a look around for ideas for my office shelf layout. I didn't go in with anything particular in mind, but was happy to come away with a new flat car that I plan to use as part of the scene in front of the commissary building I'm working on.

I've been thinking about making the commissary into a facility for a furniture maker, so there would be a need for inbound freight like wood and paper products. The paper can be brought in with boxcars and the wood with bulkhead flat cars. I chose the TTX road name because it is one that can be seen all over, so it would not look out of place at a fictional facility somewhere in Michigan, which is what I'm going for with this layout.

Atlas Trainman TTX bulkhead flat car #804069

A look at the car fresh out of the box.

A look at the details on the ends of the car.

A look at some of the decals on the sides.

A look at the end and top deck of the flat car.

It is a great looking car and I think it will work perfectly for the office shelf layout. Now I just need to figure out what I am going to do for the wood load. I've seen some pre-made ones online, but they are pricey so I may try to go ahead and make my own. Not sure how to do that just yet, so we'll see what happens.

Layout Idea: Detroit & Mackinac and the TankTrain™

Even though I am focused on my office shelf layout at the moment, I still like to look for ideas to use on my future layouts. Someday I would like to have at least part of a layout dedicated to the Detroit & Mackinac and their Michigan operations during the late 80's and early 90's. I have a good start on some rolling stock, but nothing when it comes to locomotives yet. That layout wouldn't be for quite a while, so I have some time to work on accumulating more pieces for my D&M collection. In the meantime, I am always on the lookout for ideas that would work on a D&M layout. 

Today I came across something interesting when looking through all the pictures I have for #1280. The picture below shows it in front of two CM units and another unknown fourth locomotive, but the most interesting part is what's behind that last one. If you look close, you can see several tank cars. These are not just any tank cars though, they are actually part of the TankTrain™ from GATX (Great American Transportation Corporation).

DM 1280 leading three other units somewhere in Michigan.

Here is the description from the GATX website: "TankTrain™ System - A string of interconnected tank cars with flexible hoses, developed exclusively by GATX’s research and development team, allows for quick loading and unloading of commodities including crude petroleum oil, benzene, light fuel oil and phosphoric acid." 

A better look at the TankTrain cars in real life.

The best part is there are several models out there for these specific tank cars. I found a great example from Athearn. They can be bought as individual intermediate cars or as an A/B set of two. For my purposes, I would probably go with three cars total to match the picture shown above. Here are some pictures I found of these models.  

A look at one of the Athearn models.

A look at two of the units connected to each other.

A closer look at the connecting hose between the two units.

These would definitely look good on a layout with some D&M locomotives pulling them around. I'll have to do some more research to see where exactly these things would've been used in Michigan. I'm assuming it is somewhere within D&M or CM's trackage, but that's a large area so it may take some time to figure out for sure.

New D&M Rolling Stock: InterMountain PS 5277 Cu. Ft. Boxcars

Last week I posted some new Detroit & Mackinac boxcars that InterMountain was going to be releasing early next year. There are a total of six new road numbers being released, but one thing I noticed was that they had already released these at least once before. Looking at the actual part numbers, these start at -07 and run through -12, which means there was six more done at some point in the past. 

Anyway, I was doing some searching for these upcoming models and stumbled across a website that showed two of the earlier road numbers: 2217 and 2256. I called to inquire further and they were in fact in stock, so I decided to go ahead and get both of them because these things are impossible to find. In fact, these are the only two versions of this model that I have ever even seen for sale. Here is a look at them in their boxes:

D&M boxcar #'s 2217 and 2256

The store I bought these from is called Spring Creek Model Trains and they are based in Deshler, NE. I will say the service was excellent and the shipping time couldn't have been better. I placed the order on Friday and they were waiting for me when I got home on Monday. Together the two set me back $60 with shipping, which doesn't seem all that bad for a couple of quality models like these. I even saved a few bucks off the original sticker.

As you can see from the ends of the boxes, these are -01 and -04 from what I am assuming is the original run of six models. The store told me they had gotten them all the way back in 2007, so these are actually pretty old now. That's ok though, all that matters is that I have them now. Here are some pictures of the details on these cars:

An overall view of DM2217.

A look at the excellent decal work on these models.

A look at the details on the end of the car.

A look at both of the new boxcars together.

These two are exactly what I was looking for, plus I don't have to wait until early next year to get them. Now I just need to see if I can track down any of the others from the first six. I would like to get at least a few more of these to be able to build a decent consist of D&M rolling stock. Just for fun, here's what my entire D&M fleet looks like right now.

Seven cars isn't all that much, but its a good start if you ask me. These things are pretty hard to track down, so I will always take what I can get. Also on a side note, I think its kind of neat that InterMountain used 2217 as the stock image for the upcoming release and I was lucky enough to have that be one of the two I picked up.

Detroit & Mackinac: InterMountain PS 5277 Exterior Post Boxcar

In addition to the 50' double door boxcar I posted recently, I found out that InterMountain will also be releasing a more modern Detroit & Mackinac boxcar sometime in 2015. These would be more of a priority for me because they would fit right into the time period I would model if I pursue a D&M themed layout someday.

InterMountain 5277 cubic foot exterior post boxcar.

There are also six road numbers for this one: 2219, 2263, 2235, 2277, 2254, and 2290. I would love to pre-order the entire set because there is some savings in doing that. I believe the whole set retails for around $170, which isn't bad if these are a nice as they appear to be. While I don't have any prototype photos of these six, I have plenty of others in this series of boxcars, so it would be really nice for my collection to have all of them.

Detroit & Mackinac: InterMountain 50' PS-1 Double-Door Boxcar

Detroit & Mackinac models in HO scale are not exactly the easiest thing to find, so when I see there is something new already out or about to be released, its kind of exciting. The other day I found out that InterMountain has release a set of Pullman Standard 50' double door boxcars. There are six road numbers: 3202, 3237, 3210, 3241, 3226, and 3248.

InterMountain 50' double door boxcar

These things look great and I am hoping to at least get one of them for myself, although getting the full set would be the ultimate goal. The only thing I need to do is see if either of my two local hobby shops will have them in stock. If not then there are several places online selling them for right around $30 including shipping.

New Rolling Stock: A Pair of Boxcars from the Hobby Shop

The other day I was out and decided to stop by one of my local hobby shops for a look around. I wasn't there to get anything specific, more so just to see what they had that I could maybe use for my office shelf layout. I didn't really find much I needed right now since I'm still in the planning stages, but I did manage to find a few nice pieces of rolling stock in their discount bins. Each one of them only cost $2.99 so it wasn't a bad deal at all. 

The first one is a 40' Santa Fe boxcar that I plan to use as a display piece along with my yet to be finished C44-9W from back when I was a kid. The two will look nice together on the small display track I built a little while back. 

ATSF Boxcar #49277 from Tyco

The other one was a 40' New Haven boxcar that doesn't really have a specific purpose yet. I will either try to weather it or take it and completely redo the paint job when I get around to coming up with a boxcar scheme for my future proto-freelance railroad. That may not be for a while though.

NH Boxcar #35688 from Tyco

Not bad for $6 all in. Another plus of buying from the local hobby shop is avoiding any shipping charges I would get online. Now that I have these two, it makes me want to get out and buy some more rolling stock to help build my collection. I don't have all that much at the moment.

Repainting an Old Boxcar

Lately I've kind of been all over the place when it comes to my model railroading projects, but the one I'm focusing on today is the old San Jose Sharks boxcar I posted back in October, click here to see the original post. I wasn't sure what I was going to do with this one when I got it and mentioned maybe using it to practice painting and decals. Well, that's exactly what I am doing with it now and I've been learning a lot making use of it. 

It started when I was trying out the airbrush as this boxcar served as the very first test subject. After that it became the guinea pig for testing paint removal methods. So in the last few weeks I've been working to completely remove the original green paint job. I ended up using a combination of brake fluid and isopropyl alcohol to get the job done. Turns out this thing was originally a Model Power boxcar with a GE Lamps paint scheme. Click here to see an example. 

A look at the 50' boxcar with the green paint completely stripped away.

I did the best I could to remove the green paint, but that left the factory paint somewhat intact underneath. Rather than risking damage to the plastic, I decided to leave it as is and start painting over it with the airbrush. I went with the Testors acrylic "rad red" that came with the kit. It's a pretty nice looking red and I was thinking about making this boxcar a part of the little display track I built. It will look nice behind the Santa Fe locomotive I'm working on assembling. 

Working on painting the boxcar red in my makeshift paint booth. 

I've got the first coat down and it's looking pretty good so far. There are definitely some areas that will need a few more coats to completely cover the GE Lamps paint scheme. Other than that it just needs a quick once over with my Model Master flat overcoat. Then I need to get myself a set of Santa Fe 50' boxcar decals and try that out. 

Model Paint Removal: Brake Fluid vs. Isopropyl Aclohol

Now that I am in the middle of repainting my SD40-2 it occurred to me that I never really looked into any tutorials or best practices for repainting a locomotive. I wish I would have now because after reading a few posts over on Model Train Forum, I realize I should have stripped the paint off the locomotive first before airbrushing another coat on top of what was already there. 

After gathering all the information I could, I found that the two most suggested methods were brake fluid and isopropyl alcohol, both relatively cheap and easily accessible options. Since I have never done either, and I was already planning on going to Walmart earlier today, I figured I would buy both and see which worked better. 

The guinea pig for this test had to be something other than the SD40-2 because I did not feel like ruining the nice coat of yellow I already put on half of it already. So, I decided I would try them out on the San Jose Sharks boxcar I showed off on here a while back. I had already done some test painting with the airbrush on it, so I figured it would be a good test to try and get both the factory paint off as well as the new paint I added recently. 

DOT3 brake fluid vs. 91% isopropyl alcohol.

Before I tried either option on the boxcar, I taped it off into separate sections so it would be easy to tell which one has a better end result. On the left is the section for the brake fluid and on the right is the section for the alcohol.

A look at the boxcar before trying either option. 

I've read that you really have to soak the entire shell for a good amount of time to get the job done right , but for now I just wanted to do some localized surface testing and only applied either one with some wooden cotton swabs to the taped off areas. If it works then maybe I can move onto fully submerging it.

Brake fluid appears to be working better after 10 minutes or so.

After 10 minutes of applying generous amounts via cotton swabs, I have to say the brake fluid works much better. I am completely through the two coats of paint I added across the entire section, while there is only a small area cleared away by the alcohol. I even started getting some of the green factory paint to come up with the brake fluid. 

I left a good layer of liquid on either side when I finished up earlier tonight, so we'll see how that goes come tomorrow. I'll try to have an update posted in the next day or so of how the tests went. At that point, I will pick which option I want to go with and work on stripping the entire shell. 

New D&M Rolling Stock: 50' Berwick Boxcar

This one will be the third boxcar for my collection of Detroit & Mackinac rolling stock. It comes from Branchline Trains Blueprint series of models. The kit came fully assembled and in pretty good shape. I was lucky enough to grab it on eBay for $9.49 plus shipping. Here are some pictures of it.

D&M 50' Berwick boxcar #20235 from Branchline Trains.

A look at one end of the car.

A look at the other end.

A look at the excellent decals on the left end.

A look at the decals in the center of the car.

A look at the decals on the right end.

Just for fun, a look at the box from Branchline.

This has definitely become my new favorite piece of rolling stock. I love the level of detail that went into this thing. Everything from the clean and crisp decals to the separate grab irons. Doesn't get much better than this if you ask me. 

From what I've seen online, there are a few other car #'s out there for this model, so I will definitely be on the lookout for those to help build my D&M fleet of rolling stock. I just love the look of these cars with the white on red paint scheme. It's simple and effective. Makes me want to hurry up and get to building a running layout already so I can see these things in action. 

Train Show Pickups: A-Train Show in Auburn Hills, MI

Earlier today I made it out to the 10th annual "A-Train" Railroad show in Auburn Hills, MI. There were nearly 400 tables at one of the local high schools, so there was definitely a lot to look at. Unfortunately, most everything seemed to be Lionel until I found the last section of the show that had a ton of HO stuff. The overall layout was actually pretty confusing. There were tables set up in all of the hallways, in the gyms, and in the cafeteria. I'm used to everything being in one big area. 

As usual I went in looking for more Detroit & Mackinac stuff for my collection and/or future layout. I was lucky enough to come across an older D&M boxcar from Bowser. Got it for just $12.

D&M boxcar #3438 from Bowser

Up next is something D&M related. It's a DMIR (Duluth Missabe and Iron Range) center flow hopper car from Atlas. The reason I bought it is that this car in real life came under D&M ownership at some point. All they did was paint over the "IR" and left the rest the same. This one was $6.

DMIR center flow hopper #5008 from Atlas

The only thing that bugs me about this one, and I didn't even realize it until after I got home, is that DMIR 5008 is actually a 3-bay hopper car in real life, not a 4-bay like I bought. Here is a look at the real 5008 after it had been acquired by D&M:

The real life version of DMIR/DM 5008

So at this point I'm not sure if I'm happy or disappointed with this purchase. On the one hand it's a great looking piece of rolling stock, but on the other it does not match the prototype at all. Oh well, I will definitely hold onto it for now and decide what to do with it later on down the road.

Last but not least was an excellent lot of track I was able to snag for only $9. There are a ton of curved pieces and a bunch of straight pieces. I still need to go through and see what exactly is in all four of the bags. Also, I was told they are code 83, but I need to confirm that. If it is, then that's likely what I will be doing moving forward for whatever project this track gets used for. On the plus side, I like realism so the code 83 should fit perfectly with what I want to model.

Four bags of track, some curved some straight

So all in all it wasn't the greatest bunch of pickups, but still some good stuff nonetheless. I made sure to grab all the flyers for other shows on my way out the door, so hopefully I'll be able to hit a few more of them in the coming months and get my hands on some more great stuff for the D&M and my office shelf layout project. 

Nursery Wall Layout Update: End of the Line

It's a few weeks later than I originally had planned on, but now I can say I finally have the layout done and on the wall in the nursery. I'll admit I was kind of worried that it would not turn out like I wanted, but in the end it was perfect. It's nice to sit back and admire all the work that went into it now. Sure there are a few things I would do differently if I had the chance, but all that matters is what's done and what's done is pretty nice if you ask me.

This post will just be a lot of pictures of the layout. Up first are a few looks at the entire layout.

A look at the final layout mounted on the wall in our nursery

A straight on look at the full layout

One of the best parts has to be the repaints I did on the houses and church. I had never done any kind of model painting before so this was definitely a learning experience. It was a ton of fun though and the results were exactly what I was looking for. Here are some pictures of the two houses.

I love how the new paint makes this one standout from the background.

The yellow on this one came out looking spectacular.

A look at the small fenced in horse area.

One last look at the two houses together.

When it came to scenery for this one, trees were the easiest thing I could come up with. While I would've liked to have sunk all of them into the baseboard, it was just easier to glue most of them down. The only ones I did sink in were the Woodland Scenics trees I bought at the train show.

One of the pre-made trees I glued down to the grass mat

One of the Woodland Scenics trees I made from the kit I bought

The only structure I didn't do anything with was the station, although I did need to super glue a few pieces back together after dropping it on the table top. Besides, I liked the way the red goes with the yellow and blue of the two houses, so I saw no reason to change it.

A look at the passenger station and platform

Another look at the station and platform

The other structure on the layout, the church, is one that came out surprisingly nice. I wasn't sure on the paint scheme at first, but after getting into it the simple black and white was definitely the way to go. It looks classic and simple, exactly what we were going for with this project.

A nice view of the church sitting nicely on the hill I created.

A closeup look at the tunnel on the right end of the layout.

A closeup look at the tunnel on the left end of the layout.

The only thing left to take a closer look at is the train itself, the real centerpiece of the layout. It definitely fits the overall look we were going for with this layout. I really like the bright colors of the cars and the caboose I repainted.

A closer look at the train sitting in front of the church.

A closer look at the front of UP #4441.

One last look at the center piece of the layout.

So that's it. I had a lot of fun with this project and it's got me hooked on model railroading once again. Now I just need to decide what my next project is going to be. I'm leaning towards another static shelf layout like this due to time and space restrictions. I think a full table layout may still be a ways out for me, but you never know.