Here we have a newly painted and lettered gondola for the Rockwall Canyon’s mow train.
Gons in action!
Old engine #1055 is the obvious choice for MOW service!
Ice Road Alco day!
nice job I like the colors.
Looks great, but I think you need to rename the railroad Ice Wall Canyon!
Nice shots!
Thanks guys! Hopefully it won’t be the Ice Wall Canyon for much longer! We may have a little more snow this week, but this is the time of year when it doesn’t last for very long.
We lost another 20% or so of the snow pack over the weekend. Even when it’s cold the sun is very strong and melts some. My problem now is standing water and mud. Several of the paths I shoveled around the RR are not passable by humans without flotation devices.
The cars look great and so do your pictures. Snows all but gone here between the rain and the 50 degree temps, but I still can’t get to the railroad because of all the standing water and the nice mussy mud. I can’t wait for the sun to come out tomorrow.
Chuck
Tomorrow … Tomorrow! The Sun’ll come out Tomorrow!
Looks real good there Jeff!
Did you make your own stencils?
73F down here…already missing the ‘Winter’…Nice Looking Cars!
Thanks Sean.
I made the lettering and striping for the gons and Alco using permanent super-thin vinyl, cut on my plotter. I chose the modern looking font to help bring my old gons into the new century! The caboose, of course, is USAT factory decor.
I’m planning to have the mow set at the NHGRS Milford show at the end of the month. Hopefully, I’ll have a few more cars and details to add by then…maybe a different caboose?
Thanks Cale,
50deg F today, but heavy snow coming tomorrow-Thursday.
Yeah Jeff I saw that …down here were just gonna get rain from that front but looks like the upper NE could get over a foot or more of snow from it.
It seems we’re on the edge of either getting 2 inches or 1 foot. Often this time of year you get a wet snow that quickly melts and even seems to take some of the previous snow with it. …or at least that’s what I’m hoping for today!
3 more mow cars went into the paint booth tonight.
Another 40ft gondola, a 40ft bulkhead flat, and a 3 bay hopper. Photos to come…
Looking good. That font does make the car look modern.
As promised…I added a few cars!
(http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-hnwbXTbQO8o/UyW967uCm3I/AAAAAAAAB0Y/EQUtVOJHwPw/s640/IMG_0264.JPG)
Here we have a simple bulk-head flat and a 3rd RCRR Gon…perhaps one more to come.
Next, we have a very tired Bachmann Hopper. This car may have been painted a few other times…maybe 10 times? And, it may have spent a few years outside. But none of this matters, because the modern roller bearing trucks, flashy new lettering, and sophisticated DOT striping bring this car back to life.
(http://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-xRwAhi5k61A/UyW97IDeTCI/AAAAAAAAB0c/H1vbj6LRiG4/s640/IMG_0265.JPG)
I was sitting at a crossing a few weeks ago while a Pan Am freight rushed through at night. I had never really noticed all the reflective DOT stripes on the freight cars before, but I was amazed at how effective they were that night. The train had many well worn low gondolas and poorly painted boxcars that would have been very difficult to see without the stripes. You can imagine these are a big lifesaver for non-protected crossings at night.
RCRX 0104 and RCRR 0105 are the first cars of the mow fleet to recieve the DOT stripes but you can expect to see the whole train protected as well.
Great job, looks brand new.
Rockwall Canyon Jeff said:
(http://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-xRwAhi5k61A/UyW97IDeTCI/AAAAAAAAB0c/H1vbj6LRiG4/s640/IMG_0265.JPG)
RCRX 0104 and RCRR 0105 are the first cars of the mow fleet to recieve the DOT stripes but you can expect to see the whole train protected as well.
Were did you get DOT stripes?? Looks real nice!
Hi Sean,
Thanks!
The simulated DOT stripes are just thin yellow adhesive vinyl cut on my plotter. I used the same color vinyl as the lettering, so they aren’t reflective like the real deal. I can buy reflective white and yellow vinyl, but I find its rather expensive, and perhaps it might not “scale down” properly. Most of the reflective vinyls are 10mil thick, and may contain larger than expected reflective elements. For my taste, having the letters and stripes the same color works for me.
Amazing how those little dashes of yellow add so much to the car.
I bet something reflective could be found in the aisles of a craft store. I remember buying small sheets of reflective red and silver to use on fishing lures I was designing 20 years ago. How about using automotive pinstriping. That stuff comes in all sorts of colours and usually really thin that would minimise cutting for our trains.
Looking good Jeff.