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.