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Shove off: HMLX rolling office…

These TrueLineTrains PSC vans are like gold, no, like rhodium! I was incredibly fortunate to find an plain red example on sale for a reasonable £85 at Rails of Sheffield a few months ago and snapped it up…


I had plans for this to be a shoving platform and or crew office for Beaverbrook. It’s CN paintwork without makings was perfect for me too, and I’ve finished one side as a HSWR TerraTransport patch, and the other as a later period HMLX patch. 

 

The model has been weathered following photos online of similar vehicles, staining, fading, rust around window seals… all tell tales of a hard life and the story I had in mind about the vehicles presence on Beaverbrook. In use, it adds a splash of colour, but more… like the chemical tank wagon I introduced a few months ago it complicates operation. Not only by making trains too long, but also it’s position in the train. Treating it as a wild card helps keep operation on my otherwise basic shelf layout interesting and always a challenge.


Keep an eye out for more about the layout here on the blog using the Beaverbrook label. Until next time,  more soon…



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Comments

  1. Alan Sewell11 September 2023 at 21:34

    Hi James

    I really like that van or is it just a shoving platform now. You are right, the weathering and the decals make it stand out as a piece equipment with history and still useful today. While the traditional place for the caboose/van has now been replaced by end of train devices, there seems to be a small but growing use of cabooses for crews in switching operations or protecting shoving moves. Perhaps this is a good result for modellers and train crew from Health and Safety.
    Back in 2015 I visited the sprawling Weyerhaeuser pulp and paper mills at Longview and they were using a wide vision caboose to protect the crew from the rains and cold of the Pacific Northwest and make switching safer. The railroad super who took us round said the crew would not go on duty without the caboose being available

    Best regards

    Alan

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    Replies
    1. James H12 September 2023 at 07:34

      Hi Alan - more wonderful photos and material, thank you for the email. Yes, these vans certainly add interest for the shortline modeller. For us in the Maritimes, it’s also somewhere to do paperwork out of the rain too!

      Delete
  2. Alan Sewell12 September 2023 at 14:37

    Hi James

    Glad you like the photos. When I visited Longview in 2015 ( my third time there) they still had some of the huge wooden storage sheds dating back to the 1920's.

    Another modern use of a caboose is as a "reacher" car where long stock is being switched and there are some tight curves. That was the reason for the ex-SP bay-widow one in the Simson GE 44-ton photo I sent you.

    Best regards

    Alan

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    Replies
    1. James H13 September 2023 at 13:00

      That’s interesting too… I’d not thought of the need to use it to reach, normally a freight car is good enough. Thanks Alan

      Delete
  3. Alan Sewell13 September 2023 at 18:58

    Hi James

    Yes you would think a box car would be sufficient but when mill started to load 60 and then 70-foot center beams and where the track layout could not be modified then the use of a reacher car/caboose became necessary. This was certainly the case at Stimson when I visited

    Best regards

    Alan

    ReplyDelete

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