Upgrading old freight equipment

[NP2626]

Photo #1 is a copy of the train set I got for Christmas when I was 10/11 years old. The cars never where weathered like they are in the photo. All of the cars in this photo are Mantua/Tyco cars except the stock car which was a Varney product.

Photo #2 is what the train would have looked like the 2nd or 3rd Christmas after the first one. Added to the train was my first Athearn kit built car, a DL&W box car and a Revell Covered Hopper I got from my sister.

Oh, I didn't have a Tyco "Little Six', I had a Tyco Booster 0-4-0. I am now building a Plasticville Watchman's Shanty kit with changes hopefully making it a bit more realistic.

 

[Greg@mnrr]

I still have my first HO loco, a die cast metal 0-6-0 by an unknown manufacture.

Weathering older rolling stock can really be a game changer in making the cars so much more realistic. I brought some $1.00 cars at a hobby shop to practice weathering on and what a difference a little weathering does!

Greg

 

[NP2626]

I also have one of the two locomotives I got for that Christmas, a Varney Docksider "Little Joe". It still runs and I have done nothing to it; but, clean and lub it, since that time.

I agree about how important weathering is. I think weathering is far more important than separately applied detail parts. The affect of weathering is noticed when a train is moving by while detail parts are difficult to distinguish from molded on details, while a train is moving by. I may over weather. However, I remember freight trains back in the 1950s as being pretty dirty.

The gloss black on the "Little Six", has got to go and when I get around to adding DCC to this loco, I will repaint it a flat Engine Black with grayish silver on the smoke box.

I still have my first HO loco, a die cast metal 0-6-0 by an unknown manufacture.

Weathering older rolling stock can really be a game changer in making the cars so much more realistic. I brought some $1.00 cars at a hobby shop to practice weathering on and what a difference a little weathering does!

Greg

 

[Nightwing]

The "Blue Box" era of model railroading was a good time to be in this hobby. I remember walking into hobby shops as late as the mid 1990s and finding Athearn "Blue Box" kits on the shelf, selling for $3.00! Even back then, I thought "Wow what a deal" and hoped Poppa Irv was making money at that price. However, I love the building of models and have no interest in the expensive, ready built rolling stock which predominates the hobby today. In fact, given how the hobby has evolved in the last 25 years, I would walk right by Model Railroading and find something else to do as there would be so little to entice me into the hobby, today!

That many of you are happy with how the hobby has evolved, is evident by the plethora of expensive "Ready to Roll" equipment you buy. So, you have the hobby how you want it, now. When I started, the hobby was how I wanted it, back then. So, enjoy yourselves; but, know that things always change and that change isn't always for the better.

The purpose of this thread is to see if I could take older-cheaper models and make them look presentable next to my Life Like P2K, Branchline, Intermountain, Red Caboose kits etc...

I am currently in my HO revival period #4, which has spanned a period of over 60 years. Of note is #3 which was in the mid 80's. I went and bought a bunch of high-end rolling stock kits, hoping to save a few bucks and dig right in. Shortly after, I realized that the tiny details of assembly were beyond my clear vision. It was frustrating to not be able to affix hand-wheels or other details and the tiny screws were too much of a challenge. As a result, my rolling stock was pretty defunct of fine details with tiny bits left rattling around in the box. Shortly thereafter, bifocals entered my life, (later upgraded to tri-focals) but my patience was gone and I lost enthusiasm. Fast forward to today and I don't mind buying ready-to-eat rolling stock and EZ-Track. Better leave the intricate assembly to the folks in China. I have built a very rewarding ready-to-roll layout in the last few months and this is absolutely my best effort to date. I am still building and adding stuff. I have two trains in operation with two more on cold/hot spurs so I can shuffle things around. I know my limits and can work around them. Great hobby.

 

[Greg@mnrr]

I enjoy seeing weather rolling stock and see what other modelers have done with their work. I have been purchasing rolling stock from estates and find the for approximately $6.00 a car in lots of 5 or 6, I can get some nice models. Recently, the ones I found were largely Blue Box, but had KD couplers and metal wheels. All were weathered with light over spray which did a lot to create a more realistic cars.

Many of the box cars were of uncommon roads and added to the variety of what cars I already have on my layout.

I mentioned before that I purchased four flat cars that belonged to the late Don Manlick who produced decals sets. Three of the flat cars were lettered for Don's home layout and the fourth for the C&NW, which has a real wooden deck. All had metal wheels and KD couplers. Paid $23.00 for the four cars.

Thanks for sharing Mark.

Greg

 

[NP2626]

Better leave to intricate assembly to the folks in China. I have built a very rewarding ready-to-roll layout in the last few months and this is absolutely my best effort to date. I am still building and adding stuff. I have two trains in operation with two more on cold/hot spurs so I can shuffle things around. I know my limits and can work around them. Great hobby.

This is fine, except what about those of us who have been model builders our whole lives and at least for me, the building of models is why we are in this hobby. For us, it is not better to leave the intricate assembly to the the folks of the far east! However, that certainly is how it is, now!

Back to what this thread is about, upgrading old stuff and making it usable for today. Because I feel upgrading of this older stuff is necessary to bring it to where I want it, there is more than enough of the old stuff out there that I can put aside my dislike of kits becoming a dying commodity and enjoy reworking the older stuff.

 

[flyboy2610]

Some want their rolling stock "ready-to-eat", and some want to do it themselves. You know what? They're both OK!

 

[NP2626]

Flyboy2610,

The sad thing about the "Build it yourself kit lovers" and the "Ready to Run lovers", is that the manufactures pretty much cater to one side. They cater to the side that produces the most amount of profit for them and that is to the RTR Crowd. Being on a Fixed Income, now, and not having made large sums of money the last 18 years of my working life. I have been on a conservative bent with my hobby money. Paying upwards of $25.00 for freight and passenger cars, is irksome to me, especially since when I started, I could occasionally find Athearn Blue Box equipment and others for as little as $3.00 a kit on the hobby shop shelves. Then for a while I was O.K. with buying Branchline, Proto 2000, Intermountain, Red Caboose, etc... for around $15.00 per issue. Then it all changed and other than old stock and Accurail, which I love, the kit market is pretty much "Gone by the Boards" and even Accurail Kits are almost $20.00 per issue!

O.K., the hobby "Is what it Is" and the truth be told, I have more than enough freight and passenger equipment at this time. So, I guess I got in under the wire. By buying kits and assembling them, I saved myself an easy $3,000.00 on my railroad. Plus I had the fun of building the models. My layout is down to adding a few buildings and finishing off the scenery that has not been completed. I started thinking to myself, maybe I should buy some Bar Mills, F&SM, Banta; or, other craftsman kits to finish off the buildings I need. This "Idea" was quickly "dashed to pieces" with the thought of buying some old kits and kit bashing; or, scratch building what I need and saving the money I would have spent on the craftsman kits, even though I would love to build those wonderful Craftsman kits!

We all do what we need to do to have what we want to have.