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3-Bay Hopper Cars
M&StL 66891 and C&NW 135285
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It's late June, 2003. Two 3-bay 40 foot hoppers have arrived from Michigan. But I still don't have any rail. - 
This was the first hopper car to get painted, but would be the last to get lettered. It would eventually be painted and lettered to look like an N scale model of Chicago and North Western's number 135285. - 
I will need to work around the discrepancy in number of ribs. - 
I doubted if such a car ever existed, but liked the paint scheme. Then I saw CNW #136059 on Donner Pass on this railroad video - 
The second car became M&StL number 66891 - 
This car actually did exist as can be seen from this modified Black and White photo. In reality, the protoype was a less bright red. - 
Once again, I had to deal with the discrepancy in the number of ribs. Also notice the complete lack of details. No ladders, steps, grabs, or brakewheels. That's something I plan to eventually fix. - 
So how did I get the lettering on the side? I used the "silk screen" process, although nobody uses silk anymore. I made a set of printing screens almost directly from the photo. Read the story on the Chaski message board. - 
The screens were used to screen print the lettering on the sides. - 
Now it's late May, 2006. Three years later and CNW 135285 is finally getting lettered. Once again, I am using the screen printing process. - 
One end of the car is getting new yellow paint to match the N-scale model. It's amazing how well the old paint has held up. The CNW herald you see on the side of the car was purchased from Cannonball Ltd of Arcadia, Oklahoma. - 
And now the "green hopper" is happy to be back home on the rails after only three days in the paint shop. What's 3 days compared to 3 years? |