James McDonald

My scratchbuilt ballast hopper build is close to completion, and I'm very happy with the results. Aside from trucks and couplers, the brake wheel is the only commercial part. #hoscale #bsmrguk #modeltrains #modelrailway #modelrailroad #modelrailways #tmrguk #scratchbuilt #scalemodelling #scalemodel

FWIW the T&P cars were:

TP 70050-70299 inverse Murphy 5/5/6 ends (blt 1926)

TP 70300-70499 Dreadnaught ends

TP 70500-70749 Dreadnaught ends

TP 70750-70799 Dreadnaught ends w/ end doors

Deliveries totaled 800 cars between 1926 & 1930.

Modeling Auto-Boxcars (Part 1) - Walthers 50ft Double-Door Single-Sheath Auto-Boxcars Time for a little study on the Walthers 50ft Double-Door Single-Sheath Auto-Boxcars.  These would have been built in the 1920s for the expan...

It’s certainly possible but I don’t have the resources here to say for sure. My literature horizon taps out around 1950, except for certain roads. You might want to check out nightowlmodeler.blogspot.com/2022/10/mode... for a run-down on the cars.

I’m no SP expert by any stretch, but I looked in Thompson’s SP boxcars book and found no matching car design-wise, nor any class with a matching number range. Then I looked at Hendrickson’s Vol 1 and the closest thing to to the Walthers car appears to be a Texas & Pacific series.

So annoying.

Photo of workbench showing 3 freight cars in various states of assembly. On left a customized Camino Models kit that will become a CRR of NJ 30000 series boxcar. It’s about to get brake gear. Center, an F&C kit of a Ma&Pa 700 series boxcar with new needle beams and queen posts. That’ll become a 500 series car. On right a BTS kit of a PRR XA boxcar, as updated with air brakes. It will become a Union Line boxcar.

For months I’ve just started new #ModelRailroading projects whenever an active project hits a wall because of lack of parts, tools, etc. In the last week a bunch of supplies showed up so I spent time today pushing old stuff forward.

Last night I got to expand my TotC freight by 3 cars.

Chalk graffiti has been a thing since the 19th century for sure While not graffiti-related, @kayleavery.bsky.social has told me he’s found discussions of weathering and making trains look realistic dating back into at least the 1920s, possibly earlier.

And fwiw K4 decals has decals for several of these cars. Makes redoing the car much easier. Would love to see how it turns out when you’re done.

Scale drawing of Union Tank Lines tank car. 1895.

Here’s a plan for the Union Tank Lines car in one of the previous photos. Depending on what time you’re modeling, the UTL cars had either a fire engine red tank, or a green one.

Photo of Cornplanter tank car on car float. Detroit, 1905.

St Louis Syrup Refining Co tank car photo.

Peet Brothers Manufacturing tank car. Ignore the arrows point to features.

Union Tank Lines tank car in freight yard.

Here are a few inspirational examples.

The Milwaukee did not have tank cars like this but you might be able to repaint it into a plausible livery. The model itself seems like a shortened version of a Union Tank Lines 1890s design but depending on your tolerance for fidelity I can help with pics of similar prototype cars if you’d like.

Flier for Dunia & Aram live at MarketSW August 8th 7pm-9pm Free show featuring Lady Hatchet & James McDonald. Flier features a background of colored swirls with four very good looking musicians in the foreground.

Hey #DC #music people, I’ll be playing a free show with @duniabest.bsky.social, @ladyhatchet.bsky.social & @jamesdmcdonald.bsky.social on August 8th 7pm at MarketSW by the Wharf. Come check out some live, original #reggae, #ska & #soul.

Much maligned, but so much fun to drive!

I find Kai Rücker’s modeling of East German vehicles very inspiring. www.ddr-modelle.com

Would a gearing change be feasible?

Title page of book entitled “Railway Shop Kinks”

Time for some light Saturday afternoon reading.

I remember being impressed by its graphics.

The Faller car system was always something I always found really cool. Might yet look into it for my 1980s European layout.

Baltimore in the house. 😀

Cool choices. You have a real variety in your era. In addition to newly-built stuff, lots of cars that would otherwise be headed for the scrap pile got pressed into service and went places they wouldn’t have otherwise.

Those Ertl cars were very accurate for a few prototypes, especially the flat car.

Have a nice weekend 🍻
The Pioneers - Reggae Fever

Had a similar thought about a 4014 vs 1218 tour.

Crab Orchard & Egyptian style!

A collage of four Victorian circus performers standing in front of a circus tent, with flames rising up in the foreground.

The Toronto Circus Riot broke out on this day 170 years ago — sparked by a brawl between angry clowns and firefighters at a Victorian brothel.

Here's my annual thread about one of the strangest stories in Canadian history...

Image of a blueprint serving as a template for 3D modeling in Blender.

Image of the extruded roof profile in Blender.

Image of the 3D printed roof part test fitted to other parts of the model.

Update on the CNJ boxcar kitbash. The kit’s original roof core was wrong for the prototype so I scaled a new one off a prototype drawing in Blender and 3D printed the new part. Photo shows a test fit. It’ll need some clean up before I can use it but pretty happy with the result. #ModelRailroading

I would guess most Americans wouldn’t know the rhyme. I only know it because IIRC it was in some British mystery novel I read years ago. Magpies aren’t common in the Eastern part of the US, so most folks from Philly/DC/NYC wouldn’t likely even recognize the bird by sight or song.

Could it be a winding issue?

Glad to help. Freight cars and industrial paint history are both subjects I actively research and there aren’t a lot of opportunities to share all that minutia.