Mount Blue Model Company makes a cattle car body that fits on the Bachmann 18-foot flat car. I have built three of these kits so far and even installed cattle in them. Mount Blue also makes  kits for an 18-foot refrigerator car and various short cabooses.

Take a look at the laser-cut kits from Mount Blue Model Co. If you take your time and follow the instructions they are not difficult to build. Kits include an RPO, full baggage and combine in addition to passenger-carrying cars. All fit in with Bachmann's 18-foot length cars.

I would be looking at the unlettered/undecorated 0-6-0 as my private roadname is the Yaquina Belt Line. This is a coastal switching line, modeled after San Francisco's former State Belt Railroad, but moved 500 miles north to Newport, OR, on Yaquina Bay. Growing up in the 1950's, I always saw one or two freighters in port, being loaded with lumber. Seventy years later the port is still home to a good sized commercial fishing fleet, but the mills that the freighters serviced are all gone. Hence the reason I want a '50's era locomotive.

I operate only 22-foot and shorter rolling stock, including Bachmann, Mount Blue and Wiseman cars and close to 15 of my own scratchbuilt, swayback boxcars. I am currently developing a switching game in which each freight car will be paired with a color-coded 12-sided die and a roll of the dice will determine which spur and loading spot the car will be delivered to. This action on a 4' by 3' tabletop layout is intended to show viewers at public shows that a small railroad can be as much fun as a large one. The local HO club, of which I am a member, takes its 30' by 30' modular layout to shopping malls and the county fair, but the layout has no industrial sidings nor switching areas. Club members simply set up their trains in the 14-track yard and run them non-stop for an hour. Then it is someone else's turn to run for an hour. To provide some variety I make a point to operate different appearing trains than most of the others, running only 1975-83 era Mexican freight cars, including a couple of sound-equipped cattle cars.

Gil 

I am very interested in purchasing an 0-6-0 as it looks far more like a 1950's locomotive than the 2-6-0. However, if I buy a brand new model in a never-opened box, what is the likelihood that it will run on DC without having to be reprogrammed by someone with DCC capability? Also, does the tender's coal load have to be carved out, or does it come with a drop-in oil bunker?

Mid-20th Century Modeler

Under which discussion board would Bachmann prefer commentary on specific SceneScape products to be addressed? The Plasticville USA category has so little activity that it could be renamed as "Plasticville USA and SceneScapes" without being a problem.

gmhtrains

I ordered my copy of the 2018 Annual on April 3, so know that the deadline for the $22 pre-publication price and free shipping has not closed yet. Go to the White River Productions website and the On30 Annual order form is located under "books", not "magazines". Last year I bought my copy at O Scale West, so know that it was released before the end of May. No word yet as to the publication date this year. -- gmhtrains

Additional information regarding model barges/carfloats that may interest O scale modelers: both Sylvan Scale Models and Sea Port Model Works make HO scale aggregate-carrying barges that could represent short vessels in O scale. This might draw more attention to a layout's scenic waterfront area than a few rowboats would. But if you are actually wanting an O scale carfloat for On30 rolling stock, take a look at American Model Builders' website. Their rail/marine series has included covered barges in HO scale for some time, but I see that their first O scale deck scow is now available and the wood deck appears to be an excellent candidate for laying a couple of carfloat tracks. Exact length is not mentioned, but the picture suggests that it is about twice the length of Lionel's tugboat.

Gil

Thank you both for your input. I have reviewed all of the barges/carfloats made by CROW RIVER, DEERFIELD RIVER, FRENCHMAN RIVER, TRAIN TROLL and WALTHERS, and think that I will install two tracks on the wood deck of FRENCHMAN RIVER'S 12+ inch scow ($45). FRENCHMAN RIVER also produces a 23+ inch carfloat with rails for two tracks already cast into place, but as a scenic rather than operational feature it is not worth $125 to me.

As for the apron upon which shore trackage is connected to the barge, BAR MILLS' Raquette Lake Navigation Company structure ($124.95) at 6 inches wide, 8 inches deep and 11+ inches tall would seem to visually overwhelm On30 trains consisting entirely of 18-foot cars. That is why I will stick with WALTHERS "HO scale" structure (37.98) that I ordered this week, and will convert to a single approach track.

Gil

Has anyone used Walthers Cornerstone carfloat apron and/or carfloat (barge) in their On30 modeling? I am wondering if there is sufficient side-to-side clearance between two On30 freight cars aboard the barge, or if the overhead control tower on the apron has adequate clearance above a boxcar brakewheel? I am modeling a railroad inspired by San Francisco's former State Belt line, with much street-running near the waterfront and sharp 90-degree spurs into warehouses, many located on wharves. The railroad consists mainly of 18-foot cars and 4-wheel engines.

Gil
Eugene, OR

The year 2016 has ended and for the second year in a row only four new topics were discussed on this Plasticville forum. In fact, it was five years ago in 2012 when the Plasticville U.S.A. forum last considered an average of at least one new topic per month. I think that this minimal interest in Plasticville may be a contributing reason why Bachmann is in no hurry to create new structure designs nor to try to locate 60-year-old dies, that may or may not be usable, somewhere in China.

But the fact that Bachmann is not releasing new nor reissued buildings doesn't prevent anyone from kitbashing or kit-mingling new structures for the town. Unless you are a collector rather than modeler, a simple coat of paint can change a building's image. Repaint a roof from green to brown. Change house windows from blue to yellow. Buy a sheet of paper or actual wood shingles and reroof the building. Buy a second kit and make the building larger--longer, wider, L-shaped or even add a second story. A second or third kit doesn't have to be the same building. Instead of a second or third Plasticville kit, combine structures of different makers, or buy sheet styrene and scratchbuild the additional wall(s).

I recently saw an Ebay listing for six O scale Plasticville fire station kits, with all 24 walls, but no roofs. I have six Corgi and Del Prado fire trucks that I want to display in front of my station, so (with a high bid) now I have the needed walls to create a six-bay station, with both rear entrances and front doors for responding trucks. And a have eight or 10 plain walls left over for another project or two.

What kind of building do you need on your layout that might be a kit-mingling project?

Gul Hulin

Many members of this forum submit requests for new models from Bachmann, most frequently in the form of different steam locomotives. Requests for new passenger or freight cars are often in the form of new paint schemes for existing body styles (is there no end to billboard reefers?), rather than new molds (my choice would be a four-door baggage car).

But at this time I would like to suggest a new car design with a dual purpose: a flat car mounted crane that can serve both as a wrecking crane to lift derailed equipment at a collision site, and as a log-loading crane in the woods to aid in the initial loading of logs, and along the right-of-way to reclaim logs that have fallen from moving trains enroute to the mill. Availability of such a crane car could renew interest in the previously-released work train/logging camp "outfit" cars.

Gil Hulin

If you are not yet familiar with Mount Blue Model Company, visit their website to see the diesel superstructures sized to fit over Athearn SW and similar-sized mechanisms. They also have much On30 rolling stock, most of it designed to make use of Bachmann underframes and trucks. Get to know all of the On30 manufacturers (Wiseman Model Services, Backwoods Miniatures, Boulder Valley Models, Foothill Model Works etc), mix and match their products, and your railroad will look less like the Christmas Special arriving in Dept. 56-Ville.

gmhtrains in Oregon

I am getting ready to convert one of my GE 70-tonners to On30 scale with the use of the Mount Blue laser cut Doodlebug kit. That way the diesel's natural sound may be appropriate for a gas-electric railcar without having to look for an after-market decoder.

gmhtrains 

I support Joe T's desire for separate sale Vanderbilt tenders, but the preferences involve more than just medium length vsrsus shorty, and DC versus DCC. Another coal tender is worthless to those Pacific Coast modelers with oil-burning steam locomotives to keep fueled. I suspect that Bachmann  would respond sooner if the questions of length, fuel type and power source didn't have so many variables.

gmhtrains in Oregon

I started this thread and today weathered the "WCW" Missouri Pacific Lines boxcar in question. I got the car off eBay a week ago. It is a nice dull finish double-sheathed wood 40-foot boxcar, made by Accurail. BUT although the dimensional data and car number [45037] are PRINTED on the sides, the W.C.W. initials and Mopac buzzsaw herald [in red] are obviously DECALS. I now think that the W.C.W. initials may refer to the original owner's name for his model railroad rather than some obscure MP subsidiary. Thank you all for questioning the validity of this car.

Now for my next project. I need someone with the May, 1974, Railroad Model Craftsman magazine to photocopy one page for me. As pictured in the article Rails to the Border, I want to model the ex-Nashville, Chattanooga and St. Louis boxcar that had been sold to one of the regional Mexican railroads. I have the 40' red boxcar with three yellow stripes and "Dixieland" slogan, but want to get the new ownership data correct. I know that it was either Sonora-Baja California (S-BC), Chihushua al Pacifico (Ch-P) or Ferrocarril del Pacifico (FCP), and not NdeM. Please let me know if you have the issue and I will designate who should send it. I don't need five or six photocopies all arriving at once, as I will reimburse your postage and copy cost.

As for the suggestion that I join the MP historical society, I checked out their website and am intrigued that 2016's convention is in Jefferson City, MO. I rode through Jefferson City in the late 1960's aboard the Missouri River Eagle, but didn't get out and haven't returned since.  I would seriously consider attending, but have already discovered that Amtrak will not quote a routing nor fare for Eugene, Oregon, to Jefferson City, Missouri. They are talking about an overnight stay required in Chicago or St. Louis, while I am thinking that Eugene to Los Angeles to Kansas City to Jefferson City would be simple. We'll see . . . .

Gil Hulin