Showing posts with label Owenyo. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Owenyo. Show all posts

Monday, March 4, 2024

SP Boxcar Recap for Modeling in 1950-1955 Era


SP 3203 arrives at Owenyo, pulling past the string of spotted boxcars in 1953.

While I've covered each of these classes in more detail relating to their era of construction or manufacture's review, I want to cover the SP Boxcar models that I'm planning to use on the Jawbone Branch as a whole in this post.

Balancing the Prototype Fleet Roster


I'm specifically looking at the fleet roster for 1950 and 1955 data points, as it will cover the biggest swing of the fleet from single-sheathed wood cars to new post-war all-steel cars.

Switching the fleet of SP Boxcars at Owenyo around 1953.

Fleet Breakdown         1940,   1950 & 1955    Number of Models in Jawbone Layout Fleet (March 2024)
  B-50-8/10/11        :      1673      171         1      = 1
  B-50-12:                        976          0         0      = 1 car (Last revenue -12 was rebuilt/retired Summer '49)
  B-50-13/14                  6858    5189     716      =  ~10+ cars
  B-50-15/16:                 4853    4745   4218      = 5 cars (I still have an unbuilt resin car, making 6 total)
  B-50-18/19:                 2750    2704   2659      = 2 cars (maybe 3rd car if I convert an old Athearn car)
  B-50-20/21/23:            5244    5220   3692      = 8 cars (with up to 4 more unassembled BLYM kits)
  B-50-25/26/27:                  x    8950    N/D      = 0 cars (would be nice to have a few, but no current plans)
  B-50-28/29/30/31/32/33:   x ~2000 ~10500    = 2 cars (I may still break down and pick up a T&NO car too)
                         Totals: 22354,~28979,30736    = ~ 28 cars (nearly one car per 1000 prototype average)

Note:
* I did not subtract out the T&NO boxcars of these classes. 
* B-50-24 is not shown because all of that class was in Express or Overnight service during the time I model, and wouldn't be likely to show up on the Jawbone. 
* Also missing from this list is the increasing numbers of 50ft single-door steel boxcars and rebuilt B-50-12A all-steel cars.
* Majority of B-50-29/30/31/32/33s built after 1950, so only show full numbers in the 1955 column.

Comments:
It seems, looking at the data, that the 1950 era was the crossover point when the SP was rapidly expanding the boxcar fleet with new classes, and before the majority of pre-war cars started being retired en-mass.  There were still a few of the older classes of B-50-1/2/3/4/5, & -6/9s in service after WWII, but I'm not bothering to show them here as it was only a few hundred cars left by these dates.  The remaining post-1950 new builds of B-50-29/33 series of about 8500 cars by 1953 filled out the fleet and allow the retiring older boxcars.

The 4 extra unbuilt BLYM '37 AAR cars will add extra cars to that group, which is already over represented, but lacking any B-50-25/26/27 class cars, I think it will balance out for now with an eye towards adjusting this in the future.  There also is the possibility that the B-50-20/21/23s would be more likely to show up on the Jawbone Branch given their age, and the new-postwar B-50-25/26/27s would be kept for more priority loadings.  While this theory is promptly shot down by the photos of the B-50-28/32s showing up at Owenyo by 1956-60 in noticeable numbers over the pre-war '37 AAR cars.

Class Details & Modeling Options


This is post is ending up being a super-index of all my previous SP Boxcar blog-posts.  So here's the quick notes on the classes listed in the roster above.

B-50-8/10/11 - Composite Boxcars (Pre-WWI) - (Kitbashed Accurail)


Pre-kitbashed B-50-10, SP 24864 with white bulk-load/dust leaks between the boards.

All of my Accurail B-50-8/10/11/13/14 class cars I'm planning to rebuild with new 3d printed ends, to make them look more accurate for the SP prototypes.  Hopefully, this project will move forward in 2024.


B-50-12 - USRA Boxcars (WWI "Standard") - (Tichy) 


SP 26948 from Tichy kit, assembled by IMRC.

The Tichy/IMRC USRA models for B-50-12s are pretty accurate for the SP's 1000 cars of this class, however the remaining 625 cars were all rebuilt in mid-1949 to All-steel B-50-12As for automobile parts service into the early 1950s, so I'm not planning to have any B-50-12As for now, and this model is more heavily weathered to model the end-of-life of these cars just before retirement in 1949.

The SP 26948 took a little damage to the plastic handbrake wheel, during the weathering process.  So I'll be replacing it with a brass one before the Jawbone Branch really gets into regular "high detail" operating sessions.

I'm also building a second B-50-12, but as one of the few cars that lasted into 1956 in MW service, specifically one of the two Supply Cars.  I'm renumbering it as SPMW 3931, which I've covered here before as SPMW 2676, and needed correction from a decal typo from a few years ago.

B-50-13/14 - Composite Boxcars (post-WWI) - (Kitbashed Accurail)


Pre-Kitbashed PE 2707, B-50-13 boxcar with MicroScale 87-911 decals.

All of my Accurail B-50-8/10/11/13/14 class cars I'm planning to rebuild with new 3d printed ends, to make them look more accurate for the SP prototypes.  Hopefully, this project will move forward in 2024.


B-50-15/16 - Composite Boxcars & Steel Rebuilds) - (Rapido & Resin)


SP 15203 represents the wooden B-50-15/16s with post-'46 lettering.

The Rapido models are certainly a starting point which allows them to be placed into service within a couple hours (assuming you want to put some touch ups and weathering on them), but the wooden sheathing boards are too wide, almost double the historic size.  I'm still considering options of how to 'fix' this on the two I have.

SP 15564 is a great B-50-15 steel-sheathed model.

For all the B-50-15/16s that were resheathed in steel, the Rapido model works very well.  The 15564 only needed a little light dusting of FCR to tone down the lettering and give a little depth to the paint job.  I also very lightly dusting on the lower carbody with a 'dust' mix through my airbrush, to replicate some photos I've seen of these cars at Mojave and years of Southwestern desert operation.

SP 37821, an Overnight-assigned B-50-16 steel resheath.

I decided I couldn't help myself.  I picked up one of the all-steel B-50-16s as a post-war "Overnight" scheme express boxcar.  Depending on exactly what era I want to claim I'm modeling, this car could be coming out of Overnight service and back to regular service in the 1949-1950 timeframe, and still retain the black scheme for a few trips.  I may decide at some point to patch the tare-date with some FCR, hinting that the car's not in Overnight service anymore.  I believe these cars should have the door steps and half-ladders applied from when they're in express l.c.l. service.



SP 32451 started as a Sunshine Resin kit. - Notice the correct narrow board-widths in the side sheathing.

Even though I started this resin kit a year before the Rapido cars arrived... I still need to do the last 5-10% to finish this car.  I guess if the over-sized spacing of the sheathing boards on the Rapido cars gets to me too much, I could always build a couple more Westerfield resin cars! - but that will wait until after I get the Jawbone up and running.

B-50-18/19 - Early '37 AAR All-Steel Boxcars (Square-Corner Post) - (RC/IMRC)


SP 38542, a B-50-19 from RC/IMRC

I'm planning to do a bit more weathering on my B-50-18/19s, this photo shows the problem with the photo-stacking and not having any weathering on the panel lines... they simply disappear.  So I'll probably do so weathering like the SP 102856 or 106272 (shown below) so these models photograph better.


B-50-20/21/23 - '37 AAR All-Steel Boxcars (Rounded W-Corner Posts) - (BLYM & RC/IMWX kits)

This group of cars is one of the largest groups that I should have in the post-WWII era and into the early 1950s, so I have quite a pile of old Branchline Yardmaster-series kits that I've built over the years, and several more that I've been working on recently.

SP 96311, a B-50-23 class boxcar, mostly decalled.

This was a repainted BLYM car from another foreign road that I decided would be more useful as an SP car.

Mostly finished, but still needs data decals on the right side...

Another car that I repainted from a less useful paint scheme, SP 84550 is a B-50-20 class car - which I still need to finish applying the class and data stencil decals below the herald.  Notice on these cars how far left the railroad name is placed.  A couple of my older models from the pre-Tony Thompson Vol.4 days has the decals starting to the right of the grab irons, which I believe is not correct.  I'm not sure if I'll get another full set of National Car Company decals to fix that or not... but it is starting to get annoying now that I have so many 'good' cars with the correct lettering.

Both SP 96311 and 84550 need some mechanical work and weathering to be put into regular service on the Jawbone Branch, which will probably wait until I have more of the physical layout built.


B-50-24/25/26/27 - Postwar All-Steel



Postwar B-50-26 builders photo from Tony Thompson's blog - Improving a freight car

All B-50-24s were assigned during my era to special Passenger Express and Overnight services, and would not be likely to show up on the Jawbone Branch in general freight service.

Tony Thompson covers an example of this in his blog post: Improving a freight car where he is kitbashing a B-50-26 from an IMWX kit. - Maybe if I can find a couple of these kits, I could do a few of these cars.

Links to Anthony Thompson's Related Blog Posts:
Improving a freight car - Modeling T&NO B-50-26 with IMWX Kitbash

Improving a freight car, Part 2 - Modeling T&NO B-50-26 with IMWX Kitbash

Improving a freight car, Part 3 - Modeling T&NO B-50-26 with IMWX Kitbash

One last Paul Lyons model - Finishing a B-50-27 Resin  Boxcar

Ted Culotta's Articles:

With nearly 9000 cars, these classes would be a great help to 'balance' my fleet out.  I don't have any models of B-50-24/25/26/27 classes, as they will either require finding other models that I don't have currently and then kitbashing to model or getting resin kits. 

Photos of Owenyo show the earlier B-50-20/21/23 class cars at Owenyo during my modeling era more than the -25/26/27 class cars, so my current fleet in-balance of larger numbers of pre-war steel boxcars is probably ok.

B-50-28/29/30/31/32 - Post-1950 All-Steel (Tangent's new B-50-28 models)

These are certainly my most recent modeling project entering early 2024.  Note the lettering changes between the Pullman-built B-50-28 (top) and the SP Sacramento-built B-50-31 (bottom).  The 1952 B-50-31 class also leads the SP fleet in dropping the bars above and below the reporting marks.  This change appears to be an interesting step towards the SP's 1953 general lettering change, but applied a year early!  The Pullman-built cars also have a wide spacing of the car numbers, which is unique to the class.

Tangent B-50-28 & -31 decaling

I've covered these in my blog post: Tangent B-50-28 & -31 Custom Decalled to Match Owenyo Prototypes in early Feb '24.  Final touches have been some light weathering and a pass with some dull-cote to seal everything in.

My Operating Plan


Tangent B-50-28 and -31 on my Jawbone Branch yard at Owenyo with photoshopped photo of Inyo Mountains behind.

The Jawbone certainly won't need 30 SP boxcars all out on the sceniced part of the layout at once.  The mix of these cars should make up a good slice of the SP fleet, and make it so the cars are rotated through.  Roughly 30 SP cars does give me the option to use the 5-track staging yard to full effect when combined with other foreign boxcars rotating in and out, so that no boxcar becomes too regularly seen on the branch.  The possible exception being that more photos from the 1955-1960 era shows that the SP/T&NO 7-foot door post-war cars (B-50-28-to-32-series) did start showing up fairly regularly.  So maybe the two new Tangent cars will be recycled through staging faster than the other cars to simulate the new car type showing up more regularly for that era, as the B-50-8/10/11/12s were basically all gone by 1950, and even the B-50-15/16s seemed rare in the 1955+ photos of Owenyo, while they did last on the system well into the 1960s as steel-sheathed rebuilds.

My fleet still has a skew towards the single-sheath boxcars of the B-50-13/14 series and lack of any good plastic models for B-50-25/26/27s shows a major hole for modeling circa 1950.  Maybe I'll find a couple IMWX or IMRC 6-panel 10ft cars to work with sometime, as the basic roster numbers would suggest that I should have somewhere around 9 cars from the -25/26/27 series, but I'm probably not going to get 9 new cars overnight.

In Closing


One of the operating schemes that I'm pondering doing is setting up the staging yard to reflect the way the equipment changed between 1940/46 and 1950 and 1954.  Showing that not only will the engines working the trains change, but that I could have the balance of freight cars shift from earlier eras through a transition, then to the later era over the course of 3-5 days of consists being switched on the layout.

The extra Accurail B-50-13/14s in my fleet will allow me to more easily make 1940-1945 era operations on the Jawbone Branch and model the 'mixed' Owenyo Local.  Then spread the remaining cars out through the sessions as the era moves forward.

SP 3203 arrives at Owenyo, pulling past the string of spotted boxcars in 1953.

I figure the operations could easily take an hour to make one lap out of staging to the layout... so to run 5-6 complete trains, without even doing live re-staging, which is possible, that will give a 'full day' of play value in the rather simple layout.

Jason Hill


Related Articles:


Modeling B-50-Series Boxcars (Part 3) - Plastic Options for B-50-8, -10, & -11 class cars

Plastic Options for B-50-12, B-50-13, B-50-14 class cars - Accurail & Tichy models

Modeling B-50-12 SP 29648 from Tichy USRA Boxcar (Part 1)

Ted Culotta's Articles:

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Saturday, February 3, 2024

Tangent B-50-28 & -31 Custom Decalled to Match Owenyo Prototypes

I always like modeling off prototype photos, both in the way it actually frees me from inventing weathering and finishing, and it also gives me a specific target to measure the modeling against.  Now that Tangent has produced these huge (over 8000 cars since 1946) and typical classes of SP's post-war cars, I could now easily add these models to my fleet for the Jawbone Branch.

My first Tangent B-50-28 that I picked up to review after renumber and the second unlettered car with decals.

One minor problem for my personal preference of modeling prototype cars that has been nagging me since the arrival of SP 102176 from Tangent is that I would prefer it to be a car that actually was seen on the Jawbone Branch.

The Inspiration - Prototype Photo


This car's a fun project to try to match a specific prototype.  Having the great end-view of the car is nice as well.  In this photo in Joe Dale Morris' book Slim Princess in the Sunset: 1940-1960 the caption says that the car's full of bagged Talc products.  The stacked load appears to be pushing four feet tall, which would suggest that the car's loaded to its 50-ton capacity.

SP 102856 post-war B-50-28 boxcar SPNG Owenyo Transfer Dock 1954 - Southern Pacific photo - owensvalleyhistory,com s-l1600_ebay01_sml (Cropped)

Another set of photos show many of boxcars at the Owenyo transfer docks after 1950 show 7ft single door boxcars from both SP, T&NO, and foreign roads being loaded by a small industrial forklift with a front-loader bucket with soapstone.

I'd been wondering about why these quite new 7ft door boxcars were being sent to Owenyo for loading, but it seems that they wanted these cars for the ease of loading with the mechanical assistance.  So the two Tangent boxcars that I have will probably represent the soapstone service.  I don't have very many other models which have larger than 6ft doors.  I have a couple of Branchline Blue-Print series PRR boxcars which could be used to represent the foreign cars showing up.

The 1937 AAR 10ft high boxcar B-50-21 as modeled with Branchline Yardmaster series model.

Older 6ft door SP cars also showed up at Owenyo for transfer loading too, so I'll continue to plan to have the older cars spot for loading with the hand-trucks.

SP 102856, The Plan for Renumbering a Factory Tangent B-50-28


So I have a couple options, one is to renumber the review sample that I bought (SP 102176) to be the SP 102856 (built in 4th quarter 1950). 

SP 102176 being renumbered to SP 102856.

The basics of changing lettering can be done in several ways.  While any use of liquids are best to be able to test them before working on the majority of the visible model.  On this model, I want to replicate the car as it was only a couple of years old (built 1950, and I model before 1954), which means that I can't use weathering to hide any problems from the renumbering.  I settled for abrasive lettering removal.  

Close-up of renumbering of SP 102176 to SP 102856.

While I often use fibre-bristle brushes to lightly scratch away the pad-printing, I opted for the control of a single edge of a sharp No.11 X-acto blade for this model.

End lettering change on SP 102176 to SP 102856.

The end lettering was a bit more challenging, but also came off easily, some of the small flakes are still loose around on the end of the car in this photo.  These flecks were easily removed with a small brush.

New numbers from Daniel Kohlberg's decal set (which I cover on the second car SP 106272 below)

The easiest "85" that I could get to match the 'as-delivered' Pullman lettering on the B-50-28, to snip them out of the number jumble and then reverse them, cutting the "58" after it was wetted.  Then the two numbers were placed carefully on the car-side and Micro-Scale 'Micro Sol' with a small brush.

A quick view of the right side of SP 102856.

I also applied a routing and a grading cards from OwlMtModels 1220 decal set on the smaller lower tack-board.

A close-up of the routing & grading cards.

More Perspiration - Decalling an Unlettered Tangent B-50-28 as B-50-31


Tangent B-50-28 Unlettered version (23107-01)

In October 2023, I picked up a second B-50-28 in the painted, unlettered form at the Bridgetown RPM show.  I decided that the second car will be modeled from another photo at Owenyo (Joe Dale's book, pg 179), SP 106272, which also has Youngstown doors being in the first series of the B-50-31 class, built during the first 9 months of 1952 by SPE company (SP Sacramento Shops).  In the photo of 106272 also there is also a T&NO B-50-32 (1953 built, with 5-panel Superior doors) in the background that I can't see the number on!  So these cars were quite common around Owenyo in the 1950s.

The Decal Set


Contents of SE-28 SP Post-War 40' 7' Door Boxcars 1950+ by Daniel Kohlberg.

Along with the unlettered Tangent boxcar I bought a SE-28 SP Post-War (B-50-28,29,31,32,33) 40' 7' Door Boxcars 1950+ set of decals by Daniel Kohlberg (website: www.icgdecals.com).  This set has enough decals to do three cars, including multiple sets of class data and reporting marks.  There are also two sheets of instructions and placement diagrams to supplement prototype photos that I am using to model the specific cars.

Lettering SP 106272 Model


Right side of unlettered car with basic left-side lettering applied.

The top of the road name is aligned with the top of the end-panel joint and the middle-rib on the door centered on the large tack-board.  The road number top is aligned with the upper left grab-iron.  The lower grab is aligned between the LD LMT and LT WT lines.  These alignments I could see from the photo, where as the right data and herald sections weren't really visible in the photo, so I had to go off the supplied lettering plan drawings from the decal sheet.

Here's the car with the new-build tare date, data panel, class, and build date applied.

One interesting point to bring up on just the set of weight data for B-50-31 #106988:
CAPY        100000
LD LMT    124800
LT WT         44200

.. is slightly too wide to fit between the panel rivet lines, the others in the decal sets are slightly narrower and will fit well.  I ended up cutting out about 1/32" between the left and right columns and making the parts of the decal work.  The "LD LMT" & "124800" have to be nearly touch.

The decal set provides black disk for the herald background, also repack data is applied.

The two stacked layers for the heralds each need to snugged down over the rivets with Micro-Sol.

Finally the white portion of the herald is applied.

I also wrote a small chalk mark "bulk" with the GellyRoll 05 white pen that I described using a couple months ago.  

The end reporting marks were cut out and removed the last three digits to be replaced with "27 2"

The special numbering for this model requires me to cut out the "988" from the end reporting marks section and trim out "27" and "2" from number jumbles and other numbers from the decal sheets.

In Closing


I want to point out that these two cars show the changing of the lettering applied to the new boxcars ordered from Pullman and SP Equipment Company from 1950 to 1952.  The Pullman cars of B-50-28 were delivered with the white bars above the road name and below the road numbers, while the SPE cars from 1952 had already dropped the bars, although I believe the SP changed the repainting of the in-service cars in 1953 to this standard.

Time to compare the lettering details of "as-delivered" B-50-28 and -31 classes.

I'm planning to give both models a light over-coat to seal the decal changes in.  Chalk marks and routing cards will be adjusted and some 1-3 year old light weathering to bring the -31 up to my standard for having basic running weathering to run on the Jawbone Branch.  Someday I'll be looking forward to recreating the prototype photos of these two cars at the Owenyo transfer platforms.

SP 102856 after some light weathering to match prototype photo.

I'll be doing a follow-up quick post after the weathering is done on these two cars, detailing the techniques.  This sneak-peak at SP 102856 has some general dusting, but specific paint failures around the herald and darker dirt or corrosion already starting to catch on the panel seams.

Jason Hill

Related Articles:




Anthony Thompson's Articles: B-50-28 series blogs search results.
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Friday, December 1, 2023

Modeling UP Gondola (Part 2) - Re-sanding & Painting

I left off on this project in 2021, when I had filled in the board grooves on the side of the car around the ribs to replicate the replacement steel siding.

UP Steel Gondola - Owenyo Trestle - SG side - unknown calender photo, circa 1951 - Ronald Grau collection (cropped to show only foreign gondolas)

Here's a new photo from 1951, with a freshly resheathed UP ex-composite gondola.  Oddly this photo also shows a D&RGW steel gondola, I'm not sure why there's a Rio Grande car at Owenyo.  One thought is that they were shipping in coal from UP and D&RGW, but then they probably would have had to be unloaded by hand across into the NG cars.  Another thought would be if they were empties from somewhere else, like Monolith or LA, and then planned to be reloaded for movement towards home.

Continuing Work on Red Caboose Model


See my previous post: UP Steel Resheath Gondola (Part 1).  I also sanded the interior walls to remove the board details.  The next step is to shoot some primer color over the body and see how the new side finish looks.

Steel sheathing of UP ex-composite GS gondola

I "witness coat" of light FCR StarBrand paint used to check how the fill has been done on the body.

Other side of Steel Sheathing of UP ex-composite GS gondola

This sanding work is done with the tip of a narrow sanding stick over the Squadron White putty.  Since these photos, 

Sanded & Primed Interior Steel Sheathing

I've picked up some Tamiya liquid putty, which I look forward to using on projects like this in the future.

Other side - Sanded & Primed Interior Steel Sheathing

One of the challenges of this new car, is that these cars I believe should have flat-plate drop doors, which I'll have to deal with making.  I probably won't modify the bottom of the doors, as it will not be seen on my layout when it's completed.

Underframe primed with lightened SP/UP FCR

I went ahead and primed/painted the underside of the main body at this point.  

Second Round of Sanding

Left side of UP Steel Sheathed Gondola

At this point I went through a exhaustive round of detail sanding to get the 'steel' sides heet sections smoother than the 1st time.Some sections still show brown pain in the lines between the old boards.

Right Side of UP Steel Sheathed Gondola

By this point, I've sanded down to the tops of the original board level and even into that slightly.  The goal is to get everything smoothed out.  I don't mind a few 'wrinkles', as the prototype steel sheathing can have some ripples and dings from various loads being dropped into the car over the years, although I'm modeling in the period of only a couple of years after the steel sides were installed.

What's the Final Coat of Paint Going to Be?


Now it's time to give the body another try at a witness coat, and if it's good it will also become the body paint for the finished car.  This UP car will get special 3d printed ends, so I'm not too worried about building the body up at this point.  Also some weight materials are on their way to me.  So soon I'll be able to assemble the body and put the extra weights into the floor.  The floor with plate doors may need to be 3d printed as well. 
 
The other UP cars I have are a lighter orange-ish shade of FCR than the stock SP/UP FCR from StarBrand.  As I'm also working on some PRR X29s right now as well, which need paint I'll probably mix SP/UP FCR with some Daylight Orange and see if I can get a 3/4 match towards the lighter color to give some variety in my fleet.

Standard Steel UP G-50-13, built 1951 showing the lighter orange-ish FCR from Red Caboose.

We'll see how that goes.  Until I get around to really super-kitbashing the composite side UP gondola, I may just build up one of the UP steel gondola kits that I have as a stand-in model.

In Closing


Here's the photo from the original post that sucked me in.  I believe this may actually be the same day, as both photos have lineage back to the collection of Ronald Grau.  I'm looking forward to pushing this car forward a bit more as I get back to building the Transfer Trestle over this winter.

SP 3203 at Owenyo with UP steel-sheathed composite gondola. Eddie Sims collection

After looking at the prototype photo again, I might stay a bit closer to the original UP/SP FCR StarBrand color, and plan to do light dust weathering, with maybe only a small amount of orange in the mix.

Jason Hill

Related Articles:


UP Steel Re-sheath Gondola (Part 1) - Blanking Composite Sides on RC gondola. (My first post on this series)

Utahrails net Info on UP G-50-11 Gondolas - Researched by Dick Harley circa 2017
Built Feb-March 1943
UP 64000-64999 composite, LT WT 49300 lbs
July 1947 UP Lettering from White to Yellow.
1950-1951 convert to steel sheathing, LT WT 51800 lbs
One-Inch reporting mark bars removed Nov 1952.
"Be Careful" Slogan added in June 1953

Notes: My model should be Yellow lettering, with bars and without slogan for as-rebuilt version.  The new photo near the Trestle shows that the car in question still has the bars over and under the lettering.

UPHS org Info on Lettering Drawings for UP cars - G-50-11, and others 

Dick Harley's UP Smugmug page has some useful information as well.


Decals by National Scale Car 
https://nationalscalecar.com/product/d160-union-pacific-g-50-11-13-14-gs-gondolas/ - Probably better than the Tichy set I bought so far... I'm probably going to get a set of the NSC decals soon to actually finish this car with.
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Friday, November 17, 2023

New Series of Structures from OwlMtModels Under Development

Just a quick cross-post from OwlMtModelsNews Blog Page

Owl Mountain Models is working on several fun projects which have been behind closed curtains until now.  The Owenyo structures which we need for the demo/photography layout will be made available in very limited production to meet reservations, which are open as of 2023-11-17.  No down-payment will be required, as we're still early in development of the CAD models.  Both HO and S-scale versions are planned to be offered.  Price is currently TBD until designs are finalized and we get quote from 3d printer.


Researching this structure has required many hours studying photos, aerial photos, and modern archaeological measurements.  We want to produce the best kits, balancing details and final finish looks.  This results in currently planning that the upper boards will be stain-able strip-wood, while the bents and lower structural members will be 3d printed with NBW details already in place.  Basic wood-effects should be pretty easily added to the 3d printed resin parts, like the finishing on our plastic lumber loads.


The full length of the trestle with NG approach from level grade over the SG Tell-Tales is over 7 feet long!  That's why we'll be offering the trestle as modular pieces, so that it can be fit onto smaller layouts.  The OwlMtModels photo-demo layout trestle will be shortened to only 4-GS gondolas for the dump section and most of the Approach Trestle will be truncated into the backdrop wall.

High-angle view of the dumping section of the trestle.

Jason's been working hard looking at all the photos he can to check for the details.  The CAD allows all the pieces to be worked out in 3d, resolving and solving questions about the prototype photos, which he's not seen solved in previously published drawings. Hopefully, this will be the best researched model of the Transfer Trestle yet produced.  Research is still continuing in 2023.

Water Tank


Rough CAD rendering 2023-11-17, subject to redesign and detailing.

The water tank at Owenyo was moved from Diaz in 1952 according to the Employe Timetable station ans services list.  There's still much more to add to this CAD model, but it will make an amazing little tank for any small engine facility.  The footing should be about 2.5" diameter and estimating about 4" tall for HO scale.

Bulk Loader/Conveyor Shed


Partly drawn as of 2023-11-17 work-in-progress

Another structure which is researched from many photos and modern archaeological research of remains.  This structure will also make a great little loader for boxcars or covered hoppers on any small layout, for those not modeling Owenyo specifically.

Pump Houses


We have some research on the Water Pump House and photos, which should allow a model to be produced.  As of 2023-11-17, Jason hasn't started the drawings for this structure.  The Fuel Oil Pump House will also be made, but research is minimal at the current time, and the CAD model has not been started at this time.

Reservations Contact



Currently, two customers have expressed interest in kits for these parts.  Please show your support by contacting sales@OwlMtModels.com to submit reservation, specifications of what size and scale is desired.

- End Cross-posted Article - 

Jason Hill - OwlMtModels
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