A Bunch of Stuff

 The Cheap, Quick, and Dirty Railroad (CQD) started as a box of train stuff a friend had picked up at an estate sale for $10 American. Model trains are my primary hobby, and the stuff he gave me didn't fit with what I was doing. But, an opportunity. I was winding up one project, and here was a chance to try something different. But, still, trains.

I started blogging about the project on the Model Railroad Hobbyist (MRH) site, but their blog structure is not intuitive. Sort of like the operating difference between HP and TI calculators. The former is very good for certain types of problems, while the latter is accessible to everyone. New posts on the same thread were a pain. New posts have to be entered as comments under the original header. Why? No one else does this.

MRH is migrating existing blogs to a new system, and as I wasn't comfortable with the old one, I'll let the new one slide. If interested, the blog is here (for a while).

Now, the train stuff I received was straight train-set stuff. But, I was intrigued by the challenge. I've spent six years building the Northern Pacific Project, and given the resource investment, there's nothing 'train set' about it. How good a model railroad could be built using cheap, consumer models of trains? Now, I'm certainly going to use my hobby knowledge during the build, but I am not spending $50 a freight car (don't laugh, that's what some go for). Just looking to build something fun and cheap in a different space than I normally work. 

I've built the benchwork, and have a track plan laid out, but work on the layout has stalled this year, as well as on the NPP, because real work has not. It has been a busy year. 

The original box-o-stuff didn't have a locomotive I wanted, and I didn't want to buy one specifically for this project. I was going to need a greater variety of cars, and some other things. And again, I didn't want to spend too much money on this. This effort was aided by the materials/tools/supplies I had on hand for the NPP.

Because this is the first post on the blog, the foregoing was a long-winded introduction to the point (finally!): 

I bought more boxes of train-set junk stuff. 

A Craigslist posting from Salem had the lot for a good price, and we negotiated to a better one. If I'd bought just the rolling stock for the price, the per-item cost comes to just under $3/unit. For the whole buy, the unit cost is near $1.The benchwork on the left is for the HO layout (what this stuff is for), and the benchwork on the right is for the NPP. The negotiated price was good enough that I didn't really look at the stuff on Craigslist, although plenty of photos were provided. All I did at pick-up was verify that the inventory matched the photos. Let's see what we have!

Power

Hmmm. The layout concept is East Coast mid-70's. Nothing really useful here. The Pennsylvania unit and the Santa Fe B-unit are dummies. Everything else has a motor, but don't know yet if they are powered. I was hoping for a road switcher in an East Coast livery, but no such luck. The three locos in the second -from-back row have potential, but will need a re-paint. Wish I had a use for the 0-4-0T. Almost worth building a mini-layout around it. 

Boxcars

I do need boxcars, just not this many. Most are 50' cars, and suited to the time. The car in the front on the lower photo predates everything. 

There are a few single-sheath examples. 

Hoppers

As envisioned, the CQD will only require 3 - 4 coal hoppers. With trucks, couplers, and some weathering, the four cars on the left in the second row would be good to go. The Virginian cars on the right in the third row are identical, and I flipped one over to show the white metal working doors. Except possibly for 'filler' cars, the covered hoppers have no home. 

Gondolas

There is some requirement for gondolas on the CQD, but not 21 of them. The foremost car tilts and dumps. 

Tank Cars

Wow, that's a lot of tank cars, including the monstrous 6-axle example in the first row. No specific requirement for these cars on the railroad. There are two cranes, but the crank is missing. Easy enough to fabricate, if desired. 

Stock Cars

There are some, and no home on the CQD. All in prototypical colors, right?

Reefers

There is a requirement for reefers, but in the time of interest, mechanical reefers were probably more common than bunkered. I'll have to look at this. 

Flatcars

Also an occasional need for a flatcar. The two in the right front row appear to have some attempt at painting/weathering. You can see how the painted deck greatly improves the car's appearance. I'll probably go with printed decks, as I did on the NPP. 

Cabooses

Also looking for an East Coast railroad somewhat near prototypical, but no help here. Cabooses were often railroad-specific, so generic models are just (a problematic) starting point. More work here. 

Special Mention

The exploding boxcar. The lever on the right sets a spring mechanism inside the car. When released, the car 'explodes', and the sides and roof collapse. The car is then reassembled. I didn't know such a thing existed. The left truck appears to be a white-metal casting, for some reason. 

What Else?

That was the rolling stock, but there was more. 

The upper left box has some track, and I don't know what is in the box on the lower left. Transformers at upper right, and bridge piers below. Even an 027 diamond!

Structures. Looks like parts, to me. The tunnel lasted just long enough to take the photo, then, recycling. The house on the lower right in the second photo was also present in the first iteration of trainset stuff, and I mentioned that I'd built the same kit as a child. I don't think any box of trainset stuff can be official without this structure. 

Not shown is the mailing tube full of stripwood, and the selection of sheet balsa that came along. For a hobby interest, this was a Good Deal. Now, sorting and grading, and moving along on the home for this stuff. 

'Trainset' vs 'Scale'

The nice thing about trainset stuff is it's manufactured to take a beating. Witness the storage for the HO stuff, and the N stuff: