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Hello world...
I’ve posted my photos quietly so far, I thought it was time to give a little
back-story and highlight features. I’ve recently uploaded my take on the
Northern Pacific (NP), ca 1960. For the full gallery, see:
Full Gallery
First, the locomotive, a GP9,
I’ve always thought that four long cabs were too short and six long cabs too
long for the scale of lego engines. Seeing someone’s (I forgot who’s) six long
cab with a window frame inspired me to try to replicate the same in a five long
cab. I think it worked out pretty good, though, like a duck, there’s a lot going
on beneath the surface. I tried to get most of the grill-work, vents and
so-forth in the right places. The rear grills are unassuming, but here too, to
get the small seem between them took some snot. I also like the way the red
pinstripe bends on the ends.
click here for
another picture of the prototype...
Next, the caboose,
Just your basic wide vision caboose, with a hint of snot to get the diagonal
stripe on the end. I was planning on stopping this project at the caboose when
inspiration struck for the triple combine that would make the caboose somewhat
redundant. Having already ordered the pieces though, I went ahead and built it
(and besides, I don’t have to use the combine all the time).
Which brings us around to the triple combine,
I remembered that NP had a few triple combines that they would use in mixed
trains. Each car was a self-contained passenger train, with coach seating,
baggage, and mail all in one car. They were used on branch lines that did not
have enough passenger traffic to justify a full passenger train, and instead,
these cars were substituted for the caboose on a freight train. I had to shorten
the car and exclude a pair of wheels from each truck. Otherwise, I am rather
happy with this heavyweight car. A few features of interest include the gate in
the diaphragm, as passenger cars typically did not have doors on the outside of
the vestibule and I would be running this car on the end of the train where it
is plainly visible. Also note the marker boards (red paddles) to indicate this
is the last car of the train and the mail hook used to grab mail on the fly.
Click the image below for more details on these cars (in normal service this car
was painted in the pine-tree scheme as modeled, rather than full Pullman green
as shown in the photo of the restored car below).
Comments are welcome,
Enjoy,
Benn
Full Gallery
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