One thing leads to N-other… (N part 6)

You’ll have to excuse the terrible pun, I could resist… in this next instalment of the N scale adventure it’s a more usual story of modifying scratchbuilding and detailing, just smaller…

Part 1 introduced the subject, the Englewood railway, which holds the title of the last of the North American logging railroads, sadly too, it’s time has passed. My interest in logging was briefly explained too, another of those ribbons through life and the hobby to my childhood and father. Today, let’s look how far I’ve come in the past few months…

Front to back, left to right: Englewood SW1200RS 304 and 303, pair of cut down skeleton cars, pair of skeleton with end platforms, pair of Minitrains flats, Simpson SW900.

Chris asked me recently:

Now that you’re a few more weeks into modelling in N scale, does it feel the same?

I reflected…

I feel more comfortable with the scale. It’s in my presence all the time sat in front of me on the bench… I’ve experimented with detailing, and feel there is mileage in upping the quality still further… I think probably certain details can lift the model, it’s like the artist touch, knowing which strokes to make to give the feeling of the real thing, without it looking like a photograph… for example why I’m happy to fudge details on the brake lines on the skeleton cars, yet paint an impression of their fidelity using thin wire…

I think the real test is still to come, when one is finished. Painting and weathering in this scale is my next test. These models will definitely benefit from the airbrush…

In Part 4 I shared some progress with rolling stock, namely the distinctive skeleton log cars. I was excited about the opportunity to lift the detail level of these neat but relatively low detailed kits, and the results were positive. I still really enjoy looking at the first pair (yes the first led to a second)…

Skeleton cars: first attempt in primer, second version at front in raw metal.

…but the arrival of a new book about the Englewood system, packed full of information, photographs and stories (more on that another time) has encouraged me to take things another step forwards. The benefit of using these Nscalekits cars as a basis is their white metal spine. It adds real heft where it’s needed, however, as supplied it not only has three bunks (modified on the first pair) but also end platforms. These are not present on the Englewood cars…

I say Englewood cars, really they were originally from the Oregon Pacific and Eastern and bought in the early 1960s, this book is a treasure of lovely detail. Anyhow, I set about using the photos as a guide to modify a third (which led to a fourth of course). The end platforms were cut off, and I was able to fit a 1015 Microtrains coupler (thanks Grant for the slinky explanation). As well as trying to match the air brake pipe work and fittings from the photos, I also added cut levers and the handbrake ratchet on an extension at one end. These pair are yet to be painted, but my gut feel is they need to fork the majority of the stock, with the end platform examples perhaps 20%? 

You will also see in the header photo some Microtrains flat cars, these have been modified to body mount couplers and I’ve sanded the decks, as I will draw up a thin brass overlay to add the impression of a riveted steel deck, before adding the log bunks. These cars actually came from the Weyerhaeuser operation which closed in the 1980s, arriving in the early 1990s at Beaver Cove, another lovely fact… I should also model a couple of three bunk cars, as they did exist on the prototype, as well as perhaps an open decked flat car… so much variety in basically the same type of car. 

Left Canfor 303 will be yellow, right 304 will be silver and red.

I don’t want to go on and on, this pair of SW1200RS (based upon the wonderful Lifelike SW1200) are next on the list, I’ve fitted several parts I designed, specific to the road number, I’m waiting on some etched parts I designed too and the trucks were from Microtrains complete the transformation. 

These models are tiny, and at first that didn’t do anything for me at all. That’s not what this project is about and as the number of cars increases the scale of the trains increases and the beauty of working in N begins to reveal itself to me, personally, an experiential thing, I’m beginning to feel it. More soon…