SCXY Gondola

I've also decided to make a move on rolling stock. I had a W&S gondola that I wasn't happy with in my collection and the day I decided what to do with it was the day I noticed a gondola added to the SCXY rolling stock roster. I added BLMA grab irons, a mineral red paint job, Fox Valley 33" metal wheels and various Microscale decals. And for the rivet counters I know I'm off a couple of panels. The weathering was done with ground taconite pellets (really, it was).Here is a Matt Petersen photo for reference.

MILW 158

I decided to take a break from my SCXY/ILSX locomotives to focus on a quick project. I wanted to practice my two tone painting so I decided to do a Milwaukee Road SD40-2. I loaded it up with detail parts from BLMA and Altas. It has the MRC-1806 sound decoder in it and it runs great. My favorite details were the cheapest. I removed the drop steps and added .015 wire to replace the walkway chains for a more MILW look and I added an Atlas bell behind the cab. I could still shorten the fuel tank and add an all weather window to the engineers side, but I'm not happy with the commercially available options. The decals were Microscale.Here is a 1981 C.W. Lahickey photo for reference.

ILSX 203

Now this may look familiar to some of you, but this is the debut of my latest labor of love. ILSX 203 started life as an Intermountain DRGW SD40T-2. I stripped it, added BLMA fans, wipers, cab shades, air hoses, mu hoses, mirror, grab irons, an Atlas bell and MU cable. I built my own electrical cabinet from styrene and painted the unit in Conrail blue. The decals are from Solidesign. The Sinclair antenna is Intermountain and the Leslie 3 chime is Kato. I'm still waiting on IM to send me my missing window and silver truck frames so I can finish this one off. It will also be getting a Digitrax DN163I0 decoder.

Happy Holidays!

Happy Holidays from the Skally Line!

1374 Progress

As I wait for an email back from the decal guy, I made some progress on some other small things. Some things worked, some need to be re-worked. I added J&J etched metal ladders on the rear of the unit. That was good. The tool box side of the weights (by the fuel tank) I like how this side turned out. I might remove a little metal from the frame later.

The rack side of the fuel tank, I need to do more material removal here and add the posts for hanging parts from. Hopefully next week I have a little time to work on it.

Hopefully by the end of Thanksgiving weekend I'll have some progress on two of my other project engines to show you (SCXY GP9 1363 and ILSX SD40T-2 203).

Minnesota Bound

Some shots from around town...
MNNR B23-7 #40 works the Fridley Line by Locke Park.BNSF GP39E 2901 and BNSF GP38-2 2264 hold up at Interstate waiting for clearance into Northtown Yard.

SOO (CP) GP38-2 4410 works the CP line in Redwing. She's faded, but still working hard.

BNSF C44-9Ws 5275, 4828 and 5287 blast a grain train by University.

1374 Update

After some time away from home I was able to get some things done on my SD9. I got the appropriate fans installed, paint mostly done, mild weathering, sand hatches, cut levers, mu hoses, wipers and train lines installed. I need to get the decals made, rear ladders installed and get the mods made to the fuel tank so you can tell its DM&IR past.