Hilton and Mears Leasing…
Over the past 18 months or so HMLX, the reporting marks of Hilton and Mears Leasing have been increasingly mentioned here and there…
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| L-R GP7 5606 (Bachmann), SW1200RM 7106 (Kaslo), 44t 1220 (Bachmann) and GP8 1701 (Proto2000). |
Chris and I rather opportunistically saw the need for a small leasing company to operate some of our favourite ‘last mile’ (or so) switching operations. Over time it has developed from just 1220 to include at least 4 current and 7 total locomotives.
It’s this photo of our current HMLX fleet that makes me long for Rome. I can see a day of moving storage cars or grain that needs a little more push and trackside it’s 1701 leading 5606 and 7106…
…no, wait! HMLX operating the Windsor & Hantsport and it’s the same trio leading a rock train into Hantsport and 1220 is waiting to start moving rock through the unloader…
Oh how (day) dreams are made.
HMLX has become a fleet of our favourite prototypes, crudely patched and pressed into service… Chris and I share a penchant for the down at heel grassy overgrown and barely surviving spur, a few carloads a week and hanging on by the skin of our teeth. Old and reliable workhorses… we’ve seen others come and go but this is the current fleet. EMD 567 backbone with a sprinkling of the ballerina where our big power can’t reach. Whereas you’d imagine we’d love newer power, perhaps a GP10 or GP15 they’re beyond our means… that said, they’re beyond our hearts too… if you have a problem, if no one else can help, and if you can find them… maybe you can hire…
Hilton and Mears.
Looking at the family photo, it’s also interesting how it’s a spectrum of ways to “have models” or “interact with the hobby”. They’re sewn together into models that look wonderful because of your skilled hand. Popularly we get lost in the force of an internet’s worth of attitude about what’s best. When we look at models we are trained to see them as a proxy for a narrative we are projecting. To get into that role, it takes care.
In that photo 5606 is a basically stock Bachmann GP. It’s mostly a train set model. Its finish sees beyond a set of derogatory labels that “the hobby” levels at certain models. That’s Bachmann paint on an almost original model. It wasn’t heavily edited just to fit in, it portrays a story of accessibility.
If you were sitting at home feeling inadequate about how you could participate in the hobby you need not. Bachmann probably made thousands of 5606s and they’re all so easy and affordable to find. They just need someone to see them compassionately instead of the way we’re encouraged to. In a way, that’s a way to use the hobby to model behaviour that’s good for people too: each beautiful as we were made.
Coffee time.
The latest in a long long line of shared story telling, collaborative thinking and inspirational ideas - we’ve quite the back catalog, take a look using the Hilton and Mears label, but until next time, more soon…
Hi James
ReplyDeleteHaving a number of leased units I agree is a good way of having different and maybe older locomotives on your layout. I also have some assumed lease units but whereas you are it seems being the lessor, on my model the company is leasing the units for a specific purpose or to replace side lines locos. I have not yet gone for contract switching which beings another dimension. Having units on lease also means not less need to change the livery. While I agree most lease units are at the older end of the spectrum, in 2015 I saw some almost pristine GP38 leased from Larrys Truck Electric (LTEX) by Patriot Rail who were then the contractor operators for Weyerhaeuser’s Longview operations. Also in 2015 on an NMRA organised trip to the Port of Longview I saw two leased units at the Great Western Malting plant. One was obviously an ex-CP SW1200RS and this gave me a reason to acquire one in model form. I painted out all the CP lettering and the assumed my plant had acquired this by adding AFP decals as a now ex-lease unit. So many ways to use leasing in model form I think
Best regards
Alan