Soeobo Pacific Model Railroad

Some of the most recognizable cars in Colorado and Southern freights during the last years of narrow gauge operation are the Conoco tank cars. They carried gasoline and other fuels to the towns along the Clear Creek and South Park lines. There were several variations of tank cars. The earliest ones are simply tanks strapped to wooden flat cars. Later variants had unique steel underframes.   I found an old Taurus Products kit at a train show that models the wooden underframe version. About the same time I began construction of the kit, San Juan Models came out with their excellent ready to run models of the steel underframe cars. I decided to have both versions on my narrow gauge roster. The kit is a true craftsman build. It includes a cast resin tank, cast metal and plastic details, and stripwood for assembling the underframe. There was a nice set of scale drawings that were very helpful in laying out the parts. I started by building the underframe out of the supplied stripwood, us...

This is a train I put together for my Dad’s birthday. He has a small train set to go around the Christmas tree. Really just a circle of track with a power pack. I thought he would enjoy a nicer steam engine with sound to show off. He’s not a “serious” model railroader, does not use DCC, and likes his trains to be as simple as possible. I wanted to get him a train that included some (literal) bells and whistles while also requiring no additional learning curve. The engine is a RTR Roundhouse model with a factory installed MRC sound decoder. It runs surprisingly smooth for a 20-year-old engine, and the colorful paint scheme is great for a holiday display.  The MRC sound system was key in deciding to go with this engine. The engines produced in the mid 2000’s came with a radio remote to control some sounds. Since my Dad doesn’t have a DCC system, the remote allows him to blow the whistle and ring the bell without buying a new controller. There aren’t as many sound options or prototypi...

The Burlington rostered 205 mikados in 4 classes, O-1 through O-4. All but the 8 USRA heavy mikes in the O-4 class were of the CB&Q’s own design. I had long wanted to model one of these quintessential Burlington engines, but wasn’t able to find one of the available brass models at a reasonable price. The answer was to make a reasonable model out of a readily available plastic engine. I remembered that Athearn Genesis made a USRA light 2-8-2 with a high headlight resembling the look of the Burlington’s mikes. A few detail changes would result in a “good enough” O-1A. I found an undecorated version at a train show to use as a starting point. The Genesis mikados have a unique design. The engine picks up power only from the drive wheels. A “tail” containing the DCC socket hangs off the rear of the cab and sits inside a cavity in the tender. There are no electrical connections to the tender at all. The DCC socket (and attached decoder) can slide in and out of the cavity when the engine ...

Living for several years in Colorado, I naturally caught the narrow gauge bug and began assembling a collection of Colorado and Southern equipment. The C&S was a subsidiary of the Burlington, so it dovetailed with my existing interests. Models of C&S passenger equipment are few and far between, limited mostly to brass imports. I found a few vintage E&B Valley kits, one C&S baggage and two Rio Grande coaches. The kits are not quite up to modern standards of detail, but they look good enough once painted. The finished models are approximates of C&S cars, while still capturing the feel of the prototypes. The coaches are flat kits with the car sides, ends, floor, and roof all cast as separate parts. The assembly sequence is relatively simple, but requires patience and careful aligning of the parts. E&B supplies plastic trucks (assembly required) with the kits, but I had a couple pairs of Blackstone trucks that I substituted.  I built the coaches mostly following...

The LMB boiler required extensive modifications to make it fit over the Walthers mechanism. The boiler is designed to fit over a motor mounted in the cab. The Walthers motor and weight sits further forward, as typical for more modern mechanisms. I used a Dremel cutting wheel to enlarge the cutout just ahead of the firebox, taking a little off at a time and test fitting the Walthers mechanism until everything fit together without interference. I also removed some of the boiler-mounted details to make access to the area easier. These will be replaced later. Photos show the cylinders of the M-4a are centered on the smokestack, and that’s how I positioned the mechanism along the boiler. This left a space between the rear end of the Walthers frame and the rear endplate under the LMB cab. I used heavy styrene strip to build a frame extension, shaping it to approximate the side bearers of the trailing truck. This assembly also serves as the mounting point for the drawbar. I attached it to the...

  I’ve had an LMB CB&Q 2-10-4 in my project backlog for several years.  It’s a brass model from the 1960s and is pretty crude even by 1960s standards.  But it and a nearly identical version imported by Nickel Plate Products are the only options to affordably model one of these signature Burlington engines.  I planned to use it as a base to make a much better looking and running model.   The most serious deficiency of the LMB 2-10-4 is the running gear.  It looks nothing like the prototype.  The M-4a’s had a very distinctive look with a disc center on the main driver and a very heavy counterweight on the 4th axle.  LMB’s model appears to use generic drivers, capturing none of this.  LMB also used Walschaerts valve gear instead of the correct Baker type.  To remedy this, I decided to repower the model using a modern chassis from a Walthers Proto USRA Heavy 2-10-2.  The driver diameter, driver spacing, and cylinder size of the USRA...

I recently built a few of my favorite models, the heavyweight passenger car kits formerly made by Branchline.  They are exquisitely detailed and are very impressive once assembled.  It’s amazing that you can regularly find them at train shows for as little as $15 a kit.  In fact, you can make the case that these are among the best values in rolling stock available today. Atlas, after its purchase of Branchline, now produces these cars in ready-to-run form and sells them for upwards of $60 each.  This means that people willing to spend time assembling the kit versions can build practically an entire train for the price of one RTR car. The kit looks a bit intimidating out of the box, but it only requires a few basic skills. If you can build a Proto2000, Branchline, or Intermountain boxcar, you can build this kit.  The essential tools are a screwdriver, sharp hobby knife, liquid plastic cement (the kind that is thin as water), tweezers, and CA (super) glue. I ...