Model Train Journal

Chevy PU w Miner by Wayne Benda, on Flickr

No trespassing with that guy on the job, Wayne!

The guys from one of the other forums sent me their travelling club car to run around the layout. That's a bit of a challenge right now as part of the platform is disassembled to accommodate some overhead plumbing work that is required. Yesterday, when I had a few minutes, I shot some pics and here's one of them, the car running in a train behind a Williams NS GP38, long-hood forward:



MTJ had a travelling car at one time, but I suspect it long ago went to vapor. It would be fun to find it, although I'm not sure there are enough 3-rail O-gaugers left here to make it worthwhile.

Whatever...hoping to have the plumbing repairs complete soon and the layout back in order.

The MTJ traveling car is still in the MTJ photo files:
https://www.modeltrainjournal.com/phpBB3/download/file.php?id=15874
I think when it got to Nick, he kept it.

Clever Models Milwaukee Switch Tower: Completed Kit(3) and Photo of Prototype(1)









Train ON!

Jim K

Jim, nice job on the switch tower! How difficult were the stairs to build? They intimidate me. Richard

I agree, that’s a terrific job all around. That’s an amazing effort on the paper staircase. At first glance I thought you bagged it and built a version out of balsa/basswood. Paper...very nice!

Yes, fantastic work on a paper model. I looks like you photographed it in the Trolley Park. Are you saving the Trolley Park in your take-down of the layout? I really enjoyed your sharing of building the Trolley Park.

Nicely done

Yes those stairs were a challenge. I tried to have the fold lines be perfect but if they were then my folding technique stunk because we did not have a good set of railings. So I tried twice more. Not much improvement but I tell you the refolding gave a little play to things. Then I started trimming all the posts and railings to minimize the misalignments caused by the folds. Had to keep flipping the parts over and find the best side to trim. You see the misses but as a fellow modeler told me: put it 24" inches from the edge of the table and no one will even notice it. Ha. I did put the railing parts in the middle of our 4" thick Random House dictionary after using water based pens to color them. Then piled other tomes that could be found and let the parts just sit and think about treating me nicely. Putting the flat top on the rail made them acceptable! I was thinking of looking for some strip wood before that. That's my story and I'll have to stick with it. Wayne, at the moment Trolley Park should be able to remain as is or be cut into a module size that can be moved. My main man for doing things like that, Alan Heuer, had a stroke last year and isn't able to assist. So we will try to save and reuse as much as we can. Thanks for the kind words.

Train ON!

Jim K

I've built a couple of paper switch/signal towers from various sources over the years. This one is an adaptation of one Hal Carsten included in his Toy Trains mag from the 1950s:



I butchered this staircase as well. I think there was supposed to be a landing in the middle with a 180-degree turn in the stairs, but I bagged that and made it a straight shot.

Very nice! It is amazing how adding the trim around the windows (which I did not do) adds so much more realism. There are about 4 levels on trim that can be added to the Clever models depending on if you are putting in clear for the glass.


later............

Jim K

Healey, your paper buildings look so bright and clean.
I found a 48W Whistle Station at Berkshire Trains & Vintage Toys in Lexington, KY., priced at $20.00.
http://www.berkshiretrains.com
Built sometime between 1937-1942, it has many years of grime on it.
I cleaned the roof with hand soap and a soft toothbrush. Then, I wiped it dry. The dry cloth turned out filthy. Obviously, I did not get the roof clean, but it looks a lot better. I can tell from the tabs that no one has ever taken the building off the base. I will clean the building with base attached after I get the whistle out of the building. The 48W shows in this photo of my first brass O-Gauge freight car.

The Brass Freight Car
Williams O Scale Brass Box Car Pennsylvania #100800
Condition: Used “Good preowned condition”
Price: $99.00
Shipping: $9.99
Tax: $6.54
Total: $115.53
Seller: eBay, MintPicks
Location: Madison, Wisconsin
Order placed: May 2, 2026
Delivered: May 8, 2026
Length: 10 1/2 inches
Weight: 10 1/2 ounces
NMRA RP-20.1 weight: 15.5 ounces
Negotiate O-27 curves: Yes
Negotiate O-27 switches: Sort of, it bumps and rubs through
Free rolling: No, about like clean staple trucks.
Couplers work: Sometimes, with a good slam
Couples open unexpectedly: No
Will I buy another brass freight car (or engine) to go with it? Not likely.

I'm not too familiar with the 48W, Wayne, although I've seen a few of them at York. I've also seen the same lithographed building housing a small transformer; my recollection is that Lionel included those in some of their low-end sets back in the mid-1930s. It was a neat idea, but they don't seem to have held up very well; many of those you find are in pretty rough shape (then again, they are roughly 90 years old).

I'm a bit of a hound for lithography, and that of the 48W is pretty sharp:



Very simple and colorful, they likely made a bzillion of them.

Trainz has had several of the 48w whistle stations for sale in the last year. They usually sell for $50 or more if they are in excellent shape and work. If they are in an original box they can sell for $100

I have a 48w in very good shape that works but I don't remember what I paid for it

I also have one of the transformer station that I picked up years ago for $5 just for the tin building. It is a 1027 junior transformer station. I tested it recently and it actually works but there is no way I would use it with that power cord from the 30s

Wow, had no idea the 48W commanded that much money...makes me respect it just a little bit more.

I’ve got a couple boxes full of old transformers...no idea what to do with them.