Trail Drive 2020 Complete!

HeeYAH! (make your own whip cracking noise here.  Humming the theme from "Rawhide" quietly to yourself while you read this is entirely up to you).  The Trail Drive which began in 2020 has now reached the end. 

Engine #145, an IHC Mehano 2-6-0, has been customized, rebuilt, detailed, painted, lettered and weathered.  Two Comet refrigerator cars were built; one from a complete kit, another from a basket case.  Each was upgraded with additional weight and better parts selected to be in keeping with the age of the cars (nearly 80 years old).  Finally, two toy-train quality Model Power cabooses were rebuilt with new cupolas, end details and trucks plus assorted other details to become the Ocali Creek Railway's first official crummies.

This engine gave me fits at times.  I would not recommend this as a first-time rebuilding project.  The IHC mechanism is fine but on this particular model the frame is ever so slightly warped and has a couple minor design flaws acceptable for a toy train but not for a more refined model expected to operate.  Pulling power is low, as others have reported, but adequate for this engine's duties.  For now on this railroad it will be serving the industries at Ocala Spings on extras or replacing 158 when it is in the shops.  Eventually when the rest of the branch is built it will haul the daily passenger train...once the passenger cars are built, that is.

This is the former basket case.  Now I believe it is one of the most unique and characterful models I own.  Accurate for the 1920s (to the best of my knowledge), it is emblematic of the reasons I chose to model this era.  Matching the color was nearly impossible but rebuilding the car and adding details was all fun.  I'm especially pleased with the open ice hatches.

Oh how I hated to weather this car, but boy howdy am I happy with how it turned out.  Thanks to Eric Hansmann for posting a great prototype photo on his blog.  From that image I learned that for my era the ends of the car should be white, the number of roof panels (and other details) varied from car to car, and just how filthy these cars would get in service.  There were many of these cars in service so having one is just about essential.  Comet kits can build up into nice cars IF you substitute better parts for the underbody, roof, ice hatches, well, just about everything except the core and the sides.

Finally the cabooses.  Cabeese.  Cabeeses?  Two of 'em.  I didn't set out to build two but early on acquired a second kit and from that point began collecting the parts for the upgrades.  I chose #3 and #4 to contribute to the story of the railroad's history.  Purchased second hand (like engine 145) they were rebuilt in the Ocali Creek's shops as the railroad grew.  At some point I'll model #1, probably a 4-wheel bobber, and maybe #2...or maybe #2 got wrecked...we'll see.  Anyway, this car and its twin will work the "Park Shifter", based out of East Ocala yard and serving the industries at Ocala Springs.

While I started this personal challenge back around Christmas, each of these projects had begun much earlier, with the caboose project reaching back over four years ago before we moved back to California.  It feels great to have hit this milestone and I really like the idea of completing a set of trains - an engine, rolling stock and caboose.  I'm not sure when the next Trail Drive will happen, but I already have some ideas for what I'll work on; the Pan Handle Rusty Route equipment I purchased a couple years ago and my own Shifter project I started back in the early 2000s.   Or perhaps a passenger train?  Who knows.  For now the focus shifts to structures and scenery for the railroad.