Well said John Caughey. I find myself agreeing with everything you’ve written here. As soon as Dave mentioned arch bars, fox trucks came to my mind as well. They make a welcome change from the ubiquitous archbars that are my favorites as well.
Among his other virtues, Mik was a teriffic researcher of railroadiana. It was Mik who provided the photo of the prototype on which I finally based my vat/pickle/sea monkey car, and he did a great job of researching and collecting photos of early oilfield equipment, an aspect of our hobby that I’d like to model myself one day, and when I do it’ll be in Mik’s memory.
Todd, your Mac Speeder was a winner in my eyes two years ago, and still looks like a winner to me. Mind you, it’s only fair to say that there have been a lot of really excellent models in the build challenge. The high level of modelling around here will keep us all on our toes!
Fortunately, the challenge isn’t about winning. It’s about rule one above all.
So Dave, you’re at it again? Good for you. I’ll stand by and see what develops on this thread. I always like the idea of doing rolling stock. It’s an opportunity to put something unusual into the consist. If the whimsey idea catches on, that’s fine, but I hope it will only be as an option. I do have a couple of whimsical projects on my list, but they’re pretty far down.
Cheers everybody!
