Hello,
It started out as a Bachmann Santa Fe standard maroon colored passenger car that my 13 year old foster son wanted to convert to Walt Disney’s Disneyland Railroad Lilly Belle car.
Now grant you, he wasn’t really interested in model trains to begin with, so I was a bit surprised when he asked to begin this project out of a car that was supposed to be a gringy old diner fixed to the layout.
Now because he showed interest and that’s what our program is about, I took him up on it and we began by sanding, priming and painting the car red but that’s when he lost interest as quickly as he had began. I had invested one hundred dollars in the first 2 days of the project and suddenly I was on my own, so, against my better judgment and finances, I decided to finish it.
After ripping out Bachmanns light system and with 6 hours of replacing it with soft L.E.D’S, rewiring the battery box and installing a circuit board to reduce the 9 volt power plus adding a toggle switch, I finally had reliable lighting.
I also had to add new windows, since the car didn’t have any.
I have added painted metal wheels, handrails, tension bars and interior painted seating.
I added Disneyland Railroad and Lilly Belle custom graphics, custom mounting brackets and although not installed yet, have Kadee couplers on order and I still need brass red/green lanterns and red window curtains. We ordered new metal observation platform and standard handrails from Bachmann as well and then painted them Kelly Green to match.
I had to order custom sign boards from T.A.P. Plastics in Stockton, CA for the signs on the side and for the rear Lilly Belle drumhead, in addition to the 1 and 1/4 inch rear platform drumhead.
I have approximately 39 hours/2 months total and $375.00 invested in building this car and even though there are a few minor errors present, I guess it’s acceptable.
I built another nice looking, (non prototypical) Bachmann Disneyland Railroad car at one time with the Disney New Orleans Square name on it, so I guess they can run together with our LGB Disneyland Railroad open air passenger cars behind our LGB, Disneyland Railroad C.K. Holliday locomotive built by Retro Rails.
I wish the Lilly Belle had no errors in the build but when kids want to help, those things will happen and I’m not unhappy in the slightest because overall it’s not really that noticeable anyway.
After the lanterns and couplers are installed, it should look significantly more presentable.
I wish he had stayed interested but he shows most of his interest in video games as most young people do nowadays.
Our program has tried for 37 years to engage youth in model railroading and train safety but the numbers still seem to be dwindling due to electronic media, unless I’m not seeing the full scope.
Either way we have a new nice looking addition to the Disneyland Railroad fleet!
Ken
Imagination Station Kids On Track Model Railroad And Train Safety Program
