Best Of My Children have gone into the world (sniff, sniff) - Bearden Models

[bbussey]

Actually.... this thread is not complete until @bbussey Bryan posts a photo of the chassis.   He owns it now.   Sadly, I have no photo of the chassis.   He probably has to go looking and dig it up in his stash.  I think he was going to make a New Haven 5 axle C-Liner with it.

I *think* I simply chopped a wheel (and gear) off of the SD7    3 axle truck and glued new sideframes on it.  The new truck is underscale, probably, but I thought it looked OK and of course it ran great since it was almost stock Kato.

I would love to see photos so that I can see what I did!
 

It would take some hunting, for certain.  The U25C, I have readily handy.  The C-Liner, not sure.

[u18b]

Yeah.   That's what I assumed.
Though it would be great if you could find it!   

[u18b]

L&N FA2

This was another example of my obsession in the early days of putting shells on a newer and better chassis.     This on is a metal shelled Arnold FA placed on an Atlas/Kato RS1 mechanism.

All of the crevices are filled with lead putty (which I no longer use anymore because of oxidation and toxicity) so this thing is really heavy.

Obviously, the former owner loved to run this one.   

[u18b]

GM&O GP35

I made a GP35 with AAR sideframes long before Atlas made them (Atlas has made this scheme but in different road numbers).  GM&O traded in locomotives (I think, old Alcos) and reused the AAR trucks to save money.

 A prototype sat in the old Frascati yard (GM&O passenger car yard) in Mobile, Alabama.  I used to drive by it all the time.   The yard was owned by Frascati Rail Services (FSI) and they did freight car repairs.      It sat there in the yard off interstate 10 until about the year 2000 though by 1997, someone had repainted it.    CSX now owns the property and converted it to an intermodal yard.    Don’t know what happened to the GP35.
https://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=1798243

Part of me thinks I also did number 631.   I’ll have to see if I can find it.

[u18b]

GM&O caboose kitbash

I’ve saved the best for last.   I’m REALLY thrilled to have this one back.

GM&O took a Northeastern style caboose and placed the NE cupula a widevision one.   The end result was a top-heavy-looking caboose.   This caboose appeared in an article.

It looks in pretty fair condition.   I think I had body mount couplers on it and they are gone.   Also, one of the trucks has been replaced.   I will redo the trucks one day and install couplers.

[mopacaustin]

Fantastic model! Glad to see you reunited.

Just looked up the prototype and realized I've driven by it dozen of times getting gas off of I-40, since it's the sign for Casey Jones Village.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Ron, I think I've mentioned this but I did that caboose bash for my freelance road back in high school.

I'll go dig it out.

[Mark5]

GM&O caboose kitbash
GM&O took a Northeastern style caboose and placed the NE cupula a widevision one.   The end result was a top-heavy-looking caboose.   This caboose appeared in an article.

Wow, that caboose (GM&O 2961) certainly met an interesting fate! 

http://www.milwaukeeroadidaho.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=4905255

http://www.milwaukeeroadidaho.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=2135464531

[Ed Kapuscinski]

That's nuts what happened to it.

Mine isn't nearly as crazy.

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[u18b]

Ed.   Thanks for sharing that caboose.   I love it.

So did you do this project as a result of my article?

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Ed.   Thanks for sharing that caboose.   I love it.

So did you do this project as a result of my article?

Absolutely!

I remember reading it and thinking "that looks cool"  and having everything I needed to do it on hand.

That's absolutely one of my favorite models from that time.

[u18b]

Well before I get to the next grouping of children who have come home, I discovered yet a few more children that have gone out into the world.  I had not listed them yet in this thread, so I’m doing it now.  It’s amazing how I am still finding them.


Bachmann Acela set


When publisher Bob Hundman was hurting for articles toward the end of his tenure, he would send me a few things and publish stuff as fast as I could send it.

So I was amazed when I received a sample set of the Bachmann Acela.  This was an expensive set in a really big box.
 


And as cool as it looked, I was shocked at how badly the set ran.    So I tinkered and experimented, correcting a bunch of design flaws.

The end result was a pretty major article on this interesting set.   If you own the set, you should read the article.   It’s in the March/April 2007 issue of N-Scale Magazine.  I believe that article has helped some people.



I later sold the set, but now I wish I had the chance to try replacing the loud and growly motor with a coreless motor.

[u18b]

Bachmann C40-DASH 8 CSX

I loved the Spectrum C48-8 when it came out.    They ran well.  And though the detailing and production quality could have been better, they were nice locomotives.

As a CSX fan wanting as many paint scheme variations as possible in my collection, I painted a C40-8 in the Bright Future scheme.   I chose number 7600 because it had some kind of a plaque behind the cab.  It was different (I like different).

https://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=3720606

Mine turned out pretty well.  Unfortunately (and I’m not sure how it happened), I only have ONE poor quality photo of this locomotive in my collection.   In this fuzzy shot, you can only barely make out the plaque behind the cab (I edited the photo to make it stand out at least a little).



I sold the loco when Atlas announced their C40-8 and intended to paint another.  Of course, I have never gotten around to it (so now I wish I still had the Bachmann).

 

[u18b]

Bachmann CW40-8  LMS/CSX

Bachmann also offered a widecab CW40-8 painted in the ex-Conrail (now LMS leasing service) scheme.

Since CSX had some of these, I patched one for CSX.  Unfortunately, once again, I sold this one.
And like the C40-8 above, I have not replaced it with a better quality Atlas model.

I think the lesson here is:   don’t sell something until you have actually replaced it.

[u18b]

GP16

Wow.    I did not realize until today that I had made another GP16.
This one has a different road number than the one earlier in this thread and is painted in Seaboard System.