Great Basin Carshops

Ah, feel that in the air? It's springtime, and the weather outside is just beautiful. It's also still full of the dreaded Itus known as Covid19. Since the quarantine is still in effect, I've turned to a number of projects that have been sitting on the back-burner.  

Great Basin Carshops is a product line started by my friend Josh Bernhard. They provide lettering for 19th and early 20th century model railroaders. What makes their products unique is that all prototype artwork is traced directly from photographs, lettering diagrams and drawings to provide an absolute accurate letter-style. He offered me a set of his decals to try out and sent them to me, because he's an awesome lad.  

I could have just slapped his decals on any old kit. However, I decided that I wanted a unique car for a particular set of decals he offered. More on that set later and what makes them interesting. 

Open platform boxcars where pretty common in the Northeast prior to 1870s. With the NYNH&H, The The Boston, Hoosac Tunnel and Western Railway, O&W, L&M, and many others counting them among their rank. I started this kitbash atop a Mantua flat roofed passenger car frame. Taking the body and cutting the sides off but leaving the ends in place. New sides where made from crescent board that I scribed and cut. I really like using crescent board due

to it's ease to cut, ease to scribe with an X-acto blade, and it's ability to take varnish, paint, and sealants very well. New end railings were made from brass, a roofwalk, and a stemwinder handbrake round out this car. The car is not equipped with airbrakes. Mostly because I couldn't find the appropriate K-brake casting. This will change once the small box full of them that's floating around my workshop turns up. 

For this car, I chose the "Wickham Whale Oil Company" decals. 

Now, a little context this these. In 1890, the Utah Enquirer published an article titled Whales in The Salt Lake. According to the article, two juvenile Australian whales, one female and one male, were “planted” in the Great Salt Lake in 1873. 

According to the story, James Wickham imported them and commissioned special rail cars filled with seawater to transport the whales from San Francisco to the lake. His intentions being to start a great basin whale oil industry. Mr. Wickham “planted” the whales in a small bay with fencing he installed to keep the animals corralled. Much to his chagrin, the whales broke free and swam to deeper waters. Six months later, an associate of Mr. Wickham’s spotted the whales not fifty miles from their intended home in the Great Salt Lake. 

Of course, the whole whale of a tale is fiction. However, the tale had rooted itself so deep that today there is a Great Salt Lake Whale Watch Society, and a commemorative plaque placed at the location of the 'planting'. 

This set of decals represents a "what if", based on real private owner boxcars. With operating and reporting marks traced from prototype sources. The packaging is nice, and include a little leaflet with the decals both explaining prototype information (In this case, the story behind the Wickham Whale Oil Company) which is a very nice touch. The decals are of very high quality. You will have to cut them as close to the lettering as you can, as unlike the Microscale decals, these are built atop a single paper sized layer of film. 

Going on the car, working time is quick but effective. I had no problem moving the decals into position with a brush. The only complaint I have is that one of the decals actually had a small printing defect in it. One of the Master Car Builder markings had the lettering smudged. However, it was small and didn't effect the overall look of the decal set. A little bit of weathering covered it, and the defect did not appear again on any of the other sets. 

Overall, I give this product a solid thumbs up. Looking forward to more offerings. 

Check out out the offering made by Great Basin Carshops. They have a lot of promise, and I'll be returning to them for sure in the future. 

Tichy Arch Bar Trucks

The archbar truck was the most commonly found truck during the 19th century. They were composed of pressed steel and bar components that were bolted together and could be found on 40 and 50-ton capacity freight cars. Although they worked well, archbar trucks required a lot of maintenance. The bolts that held them together tended to work loose with the shocks and jolts of heavy operation and would require frequent tightening. They were gradually replaced by more advanced designs starting in the 19-teens. Eventually being banned from interchange service entirely in 1940.

In the past, I've used the MDC/Roundhouse archbar on most of my builds and cars. As I happened to have had access to a large stockpile of these, and most of the roundhouse cars which at one point made up my fleet came with them stock. However, as time went on, these started to become harder and harder to find and my own stock pile diminished. 

Both Kadee and Tichy offer an arch-bar set that comes as a pair of trucks. Tichy's come as a kit, while Kadee's are ready to run. I decided to snatch up a number of the Tichy sets as these can be modified to make a broad variety of truck styles. Including the body-hung brake beams since the brake-shoes are a separate part and don't need to be placed in between the wheelsets. I also like that the journal box covers are separate parts. So I can model a few either ajar, or cocked on their hinges. (Darn lazy carmen.) 

Each truck comes on it's own sprue. Included are a number of nylon bearing caps (thankfully Tichy was smart and kind enough to include some extras...for the inevitable cut that send one spewing off into the ether.) as well as the side frames, center bolster, and brake-shoes and beams. The finely molded styrine is easy to cut, and the directions simple to assemble. 

I like to build a number in quick succession. The brake-beams as provided slot into the bottom of the bolster after the truck is anchored to the car. So, unless you are ready to place the truck onto it's car as soon as it's finished, you will have to hold off on this final piece until you are ready.

Overall, a fine product from Tichy and one which I now have in large number thanks to the low cost. 

 If one is interested in this product, the kits can be obtained direct from Tichy or you can order them in bulk from Train Life

(Please note I am not associated with these companies; links are provided for modeler's convenience and not sponsored.)

Morning In The Shops

With Covid19 keeping us all home on these beautiful days, I started going through some of the photos taken on my old Atlanta Locomotive Works Diorama. I built the scene originally as a place to take photos of my locomotive projects. However, rebuilding it to include a turntable is what set me off on my modular layout build. 

Just for fun, lets wind the clock back and take a look at the Atlanta Shops. 

 As far as models go, the scene was very small. It was built on a 2x1' foam base with wood side walls. The shop building itself was made from spare Revell "Superior Bakery" wall segments. The same wall segments that would go on to be sourced for the Marceline Roundhouse. There was very little interior detailing. Rather just shapes painted black to give the impression of size and mass. 

The diorama was easy to take outside and pose equipment on. These photos are rather old, and show some of these models in prior shapes and detail packages. Some models, such as the Telegraph, have been rebuilt entirely into new locomotives. 

Still, it helped to take one back to sunny summer days. When the air was full of smoke and cinders. 

Looking at these old photos builds enthusiasm for the current projects. The new layout will be far more then just a diorama, and hopefully scenes like these will be seen again on the W&A RR.