Latest kits

Some of these I started years ago, and just got around to finishing them.
This is an Athearn kit with Champ decals, mostly one letter at a time. Other than changing the dome platform, and, obviously, painting, this is a basic kit.

HOn3...not to many people will recognize this gondola. It is a Roco military trailer that I converted to a railroad car. Got the idea from an old magazine article.

Another basic old Athearn kit with change of the platform dome. Champ lettering set with each letter individually applied.

This is an AHM model of a European prototype. I painted an lettered it, but I still need to add some details...just not sure what. Send me any ideas.

This is a stamped metal kit that I purchased from the River Road. I converted it to automatic couplers, touched up some of the black paint and dull coated. Otherwise, it is original.

This certainly looks like a stock Athearn model, but it is not Athearn. I don't know what brand it is, as I can find no markings. It is a stock item, and the tank looks like Athearn, but the underframe is not theirs. Any ideas?

This is another of the stamped metal kits from the River Road. I dull coated, added automatic couplers, and left the rest stock.

Guess what brand this kit is?

National Car Cast. As far as I know, it is the only kit they ever produced. This was a flat plastic kit produced in Canada. I still have the letter size envelope that it came in. They just supplied the two sides and two ends. There was an article in one of the magazines, probably late 80's or early 90's about the kit, so I ordered one. I still need to put a car number on it, but I will have to do some research to find the correct numbers.

I have enough material for a couple more blog posts, so I hope to get to at least one of them later this week. I have one on kitbashes I recently finished and one on what I am currently working on.

Frisco Festival, Pittsburg, KS and Heart of the Heartlands Railroad Museum, Corona, KS

I attended the 1st Frisco Festival in Pittsburg, KS a couple weeks ago and had a great time. Many thank to John Chambers and Bob Wintle for organizing the event. And a really big thanks to WATCO for use of their buildings and a train ride to the Corona Railroad Museum. Our engineer for the day was John Spaun and one of our many Conductors/Hosts was his father, Larry Spaun. Many thanks.

This was our other end power, since we did not have a way to turn around.

They have a nice display of signals, some of which are shown above.

They also have two depots on that have been restored, the ones from Corona and the Boston.

The Cabeese

And a critter

Rolling stock

and other stuff

Salt Mine

A few weeks a go I had the opportunity to take tour of the salt mine museum in Hutchinson, KS. Actually ended up with a personal tour, just me a two tour guides, one of whom used to work in the mine. BTW, the museum is in the mine, yes, that is right, 650 feet Hutchinson, KS. The museum is in an old area of the mine, about 1/2 mile from the active face.


I believe the tour guide said this was a 1932 Chevy. Note the engine, or, in this case, the electric motor. This is an early version of the electric car. It had some real draw backs, other than the obvious fact that it was located 650 feet below the surface in a sale mine, it only have a range of 600 feet from the outlet. That’s right, it used a 300’ extension cord for power. Once a piece of equipment is down in the mine, they are seldom removed, as it is too much work and there is plenty of space to leave things. Most of the equipment for the museum, was already in the mine, it just needed displayed. This piece, they just left where they found it.

This large chunk of almost pure salt is probably 3x4x5 feet. As you can see from the previous picture and the one below, most of the salt is separated by layers of shale, which are the dark horizontal lines in the mine face above. The picture on the below shows a blasting hole, where, for whatever reasons, the dynamite did not go off.

In the early days everything was done by hand, then later, a 42” railroad was installed in the mine to take the salt to the shaft to be raised. According to my guide, they had a least three different sizes of rail and it was mostly salvaged from the trolley lines in and between Hutchinson and Wichita. Below is an early trolley pole electric locomotive. With 6’ ceilings in the early mine, everything had to be short. Most of the mine has now been raised to 9’ ceiling. The rest of the pictures inclued a flat car, and then several ore dump cars, an explosives car and crew cars.