CN 9007, the "Red Barn"

While I'm making a little progress on the Skally SD40M-2s, I needed to keep my SD40-2 fix going. I had the Kaslo SD40-2F kit and I decided to get some progress done on it.

I cleaned up the shell and got it fitting nicely on a Kato Mid-Production chassis. I had to do a little trimming on the fuel tank, but it ended up sitting pretty well.

I shaved off the molded on grab irons. If you are going to build an engine like this, why not go all-in? Then I attached the front and rear pilots. I'll leave the grabs off until after decaling.

Up front I added the grabs I could, a MbE bell, sand hatches and Sandro Sinclair antennas. I also fit and installed the separately applied snow shields. I had to add a little styrene to the engineers side to made it wide enough in the back, but you'll never notice once it gets painted.

N Scale SCXY 1325

There is a great quote on government spending from the movie Contact. Don't worry if you didn't see the movie, it wasn't that good. The quote applies very well to model railroading as well: "Why build one when you can have two at twice the price?"

And so it goes with the new Skally engines. I figured why not build both the SD40M-2s at the same time? The details are a little different, but the paint and decals are the same. I still need to do some more research into SCXY 1325, to make sure I get the details right, but I had a couple of photos to work from already.

The 1325 required the same upgrade to the dynamic brake housing as the 1326.

The nice thing is that the 1325 has the same brake configuration as the Kato model, so I didn't have the work to do there that I did on the 1325. I still have to fill in the rear number boards and shave off the rear class lights.

I still need to get some overhead shots to verify grill, AC and airhorn types, but I will get those pretty soon. I figured this was a good start to the project.

SD70ACe In N Scale Railroading

I'm am a lucky guy. N Scale Railroading accepted another article from me. In the July/August 2014 issue, my SD70ACe build makes its official debut. I'm really happy with how the cover came out. Kirk and Bill did a great job of putting it together. This is always a great magazine, so I am glad I can contribute to it. If you get to read it, let me know what you think. Thanks!

N Scale SCXY 1326

With the first SD40M-2 already in Rush City and the second one (SCXY 1325) on its way, I decided to get some work going on my SCXY 1325. I got the shell of the Kato SD45 stripped down and made some progress on the initial detailing.

The first step was to remove the brake wheel and fill that spot in with some .010" styrene. The I used a door from BLMA #101 to match the door on the prototype.

On the nose I cut in and installed a brake ratchet from a GP9 shell in the parts bin.

The next operation was to modify the engineers side of the dynamic brake housing. I cut part of the blister off of a Kato Mid-Production SD40-2 and spliced it onto the SD45 shell. This was the most nerve racking part of the build so far. You can also see the BLMA #71 AC unit and the antenna stand I installed. The nose grabs were also BLMA parts.

On the back of the engine I filled the number boards in and drilled out for the grab irons. I also installed the large rear lift rings. I used the mounting eyes from the BLMA #13 Cut Lever set.

Up top I drilled out the fans and installed the BLMA #81 grills on the radiators. I couldn't install the dynamic fan grills as I was out of BLMA Center Plate grills (I should have checked before I went to the LHS parts shopping, oh well). I also added a T Vent of a Kato Mid-Pro 40-2. I did drill out for the smaller lift rings, I just haven't started installing them yet.

All in all it wasn't a bad amount of progress for the little bit of time I had into it. I'd like to have this one all wrapped up by the 4th of July, we'll see how I do on hitting that goal.

TCWR 301

TCWR CF7 301 was completed this morning. I took it out for a quick photo op. Hopefully the new owner will like it. This was a Randgust kit. While it was a longer process than most builds (16 hours for me to finish this one), I think the results are pretty good.

I used a mix of parts from GMM louvers to BLMA grab irons and on and on. The long hood is an Atlas GP7. The cab, short hood, frame, fuel tank, cut levers and handrails all came with the kit. The plow is a Sunrise debris kicker and the AWW is a Loco-Detail piece (good luck finding another one of those). The cab light housing came off an Atlas GP38. It was closer to the TCWR version than either housing included in the kit.

 The exhaust hatches were from Shapeways, the antenna stand is Kato and the Sinclair is a Sandro S. piece.

The decals are Micro-Scale. I masked and painted all the striping as the MS striping decals weren't right for this engine. The couplers are Micro Trains 1015s.

All in all I'm happy with how it turned out. I was hoping to build a TCWR GP20C to go with it, but I'm not happy with the available engines to start from. I'll search on.

Skally Engine House Update

I finally made it up to Rush City Friday. I want to thank the Skally Crew for their hospitality. SCXY SD40M-2 1326 was switching out cars while ILSX 180 and 1345 were waiting next to the corporate HQ. The SCXY reporting marks were taken off the 1326, so hopefully the "Radio Equipped" stickers arrive soon!

The next SD40M-2 was purchased direct from UP and should be getting it's new paint job at the WSOR Horicon shops this week. Once it arrives, ILSX 180 will depart the line.

The new Skally engine house is HUGE! It is 28' x 270'. If my math is correct it should hold two SD40M-2s (SD45s) a GP8 and a GP9. Every Skally painted engine will fit inside!

It has been great watching the line grow. Car volume will continue upward as more business comes to the line over the next couple of years. What a great time to be a Skally Line fan!

Out and about

I had some photos I got while I was out and about. Over Easter weekend I ran to Duluth for some time with the family. On the way home I stopped in Hinckley. The Skally units had just left town to the south and the ILSX leasers were both sitting on the interchange track. I don't know if these are on the line anymore or not.

I got back to the office later that week and was fortunate enough to be in Vegas as UP Big Boy 4014 was pulled through town. I stopped to see it early in the morning before the crowds arrived. 1.2 millions pounds of awesome: