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Wow, I've been a member since 2001, so this has been a long time coming.

Almost from the beginning of getting back into trains, I've been doing repaints, kit-bashing and some scratch-building. A year ago I was forced to move and had to downsize substantially. The layout I have now is the smallest I've ever had, but it's forced me to be even more creative.

So with the trains that are left, I thought I'd post some photos as inspiration to you other traditional/027 guys out there. I do find the smaller proportioned trains do look better on a smaller layout. To me, this is the "magic" of Lionel: Some simple suggested details that allow your imagination to do the rest. Like with the air-whistle, I know it's not real. But when I hear that air whistle, in my mind it becomes the real thing.

And, as I hope these photos show, it doesn't take much to make these simpler, affordable train cars appear more detailed than they actually are. Many of the paint schemes you'll see on my cars were never offered by the manufacturer. I like modern road names too!

For me, this is a fun way to enjoy the hobby. And affordable, as I'm usually buying well-worn or beat up cars that have no real collector value. Enjoy and I'll post more photos later.

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So first one below, is of a short 027 plug door box cars done in BNSF. It's easy to want to overdo it with these small cars, but I do find that tastefully adding some additional decals can make these cars to appear more detailed than they actually are.

Later I'll post a photo of a small repainted MARX box car as a good example of where less would have been more.BNSF 027 box car

Next below is a Norfolk Southern MOW dump car. If you look carefully on each side of the black dump frame, you can see I have reinforced the molded tabs that secure the dump tray in place. If the tabs on the tray itself break, those trays are easily replaced. If the tabs on the car break, then you have a bigger problem, so I reinforce them with basswood.

I also put a stripe along the lower part of the dump bin to indicate which side has the opening door. The other side of the dump tray has no stripe.

NS MOW Dump Car

Next is a "027" coil car that started off with a K-Line 6000-series flat car as a base. The covers are the traditionally sized Lionel ones. In order to get the paint to adhere to those Delrin type plastic handles, I brushed on wood glue to them first. That's a trick I learned from someone here on painting the little blue and grey rubber men that come with some Lionel cars.

Coil Car

I'm very happy with how this turned out, but I don't think I'll do this again. It was some work to remove all the ribs on each side of the cab that suggest the engine access doors. I also made a new frame for the engine in order to lower the overall height by about 1/8 inch. Not happy with those soft plastic railings that come with the engine, I filled in the holes and used window screen to mimic a treadplate walkway. I know Lionel called these a 44-ton switcher, which everyone justifiably makes jokes about. I call it simply a centercab switcher.

Norfolk Southern Center Cab switcher

I've gotten a few junker dump cars with broken tabs, so I turn them into a representation of a TTUX car, that once again, looks good on a smaller layout and clears 027 switches. On others, I've made some more modifications so that I can place a pair of the shorter 027 trailers on the car. If you look on the right side of the car, I've cut away part of the car frame, so that I could put one of these long trailers on its trailer frame on the car.

Trailer Train flat converted from dump car

I was happy when K-Line reissued the former MARX based bay window caboose. Unfortunately, the end handrails K-Line used were plastic and flimsy at best. And easily broken. So when I also broke off the roof antenna, I decided to redo it and after some modifications, mounted it to a Lionel SP caboose frame. I don't know if you can see it, but I drill a hole thru the chimney and run some discarded pillow batting through it. I do this to all my cabooses. I've read how some folks use cotton for this, but I think the pillow batting looks better.

Penn Central bay window caboose

In all my years on the forum, I've never read of anyone else doing this trick. The load in this repainted 027 scout-type gondola is made from foam pipe insulation. I use a metal brush to roughen up the surface of the foam insulation. And I have to make some angular cuts to the underside for it to sit in the car the way it does.

Huge advantage to these foam loads is that there light weight, cost effective to make, easily removed and don't damage (scratch) the paint.

CN 027 gondola with load

Attachments

Images (7)
  • BNSF 027 box car
  • NS MOW Dump Car
  • Coil Car
  • Norfolk Southern Center Cab switcher
  • Trailer Train flat converted from dump car
  • Penn Central bay window caboose
  • CN 027 gondola with load
Last edited by brianel_k-lineguy
Original Post

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"Some simple suggested details that allow your imagination to do the rest. Like with the air-whistle, I know it's not real. But when I hear that air whistle, in my mind it becomes the real thing."

Yes, I also find this to be the magic of Lionel. All model railroading is caricature because the largest club layout is just a few scale miles long. The magic is getting the brain to see a real railroad in miniature. Thus for me the "lobster claws" become real couplers when I watch them closeup couple or uncouple. The giant tinplate wheel flanges are converted in my mind's eye into the prototype squealing on a ten degree curve.

Nice modeling.

Lew

Last edited by geysergazer

This is what model railroading is all about; taking off the shelf items and modifying them to meet your needs.  No complaining about the manufacturers not getting all of the details right or not making a particular paint scheme.  You have done an excellent job of creating one-of-a-kind pieces, and you should be very proud of your work.  There is a sense of gratification when you watch pieces running on your layout knowing that they are unique.

Keep up the good work!

Tom

First off, thanks for the many kind responses. There are guys here who are way better modelers than I am. Brother Love comes to mind. But I'm not trying to achieve exact scale realism either. I kind of view doing these train projects like doing watercolors or Impressionist paintings. And then, letting the "magic of Lionel" take over and do the rest.

I started off repainted and making revisions to used Plasticville buildings. Satisfied with those results, I quickly moved to trains.

The comments here are above the photos.

Some of you might recognize this car from the Kughn-era, from a 027 rolling stock pack. To lose the molded plastic appearance, I primed the inside of the car with dark grey. I removed the "built by Lionel" words on the side of the car. Then I painted the ends blue and the roof silver.

027 Santa Fe box car partial repaint

Likewise here, a familiar car, which I thought was visually way too "busy." So I masked off the top and repainted the roof silver. Then I created a new less busy background for the interior of the tank car, which makes the moving fish more visible. Any of you who have this car as was, know what I'm talking about. Then I touched up the inner edges of the windows. As was, the factory paint didn't cover the inner edges, which were white.

KOI Aquarium Car partial repaint

A repainted Gil Finn aquarium car. If any real railroad deserves to be on an aquarium car, wouldn't it be SeaSX? I replaced the trout film strip and put in two light bulbs for better illumination.

CSX Aquarium Car

Some years ago I decided I wanted some 027 friendly modern motive power. So this is a chopped down Lionel U-Boat shell mounted on a K-Line MP-15 chassis. In hindsight, I should have made one more cut in the cab to shorten it as compared to the rest of the engine. So as an after thought some years later, I partially painted the cab window piece, which when I'm running the engine with the cab illumination, makes the cab look smaller than it certainly is here.

027-ized modern motive power027-ized modern motive power 1956

To answer WB47, my decals of choice are Microscale. Though I've used Hearld King too, Because I'm doing smaller 027 cars, I can get away with using HO decals from larger train items, like engines. The caboose below is one of several items where I did custom make my own decals. The idea for this came from some photos of yellow painted Conrail snow removal equipment, including some flanged cabooses.

Conrail MOW caboose

@M. Mitchell Marmel, this one's for you! Even the cheaper molded plastic cars can be improved in appearance. I painted the ends and roof, and inspired by a post from David of Dearborn (Musicalcraft), I also painted the activation device on the bottom of the car, black. Adding some paint to the giraffe helps too.

SDZ Giraffe Car

I have a special fondness for the Lehigh Valley. This is a K-Line Alco FA. In hindsight, the grey should have been a little darker as with the yellow. There's one disadvantage of using spray cans versus an airbrush. But I still like it, and the paint mask came out absolutely perfect... no touch up needed.

Lehigh Valley yellowjacket Alco

Another Lehigh Valley loco, this time a Lionel Industrial Switcher from the 1990's.  I removed all the slatted vent detail off the hood and made simple suggested vertical doors, so I could decal the hood. All my industrial switchers are DC operated. I've set my layout up to run either AC or DC current. By removing the circuit board on this, I could add additional weight to the chassis, so this engine can easily pull a train. Even without a traction tire, which I also removed to reduce stalling on switch tracks.

Lehigh Valley industrial switcher

My latest project, though not finished yet. Slightly different cuts in the Lionel U-Boat shell from the CR version above. Again, chopped down to fit on a K-Line MP-15 chassis. I'd always hoped Lionel would do a modern equal to the scaled down postwar Alco FA that looks good on a smaller layout with 027 kinds of rolling stock. Well, it was time to do it myself.

NS 027 modern motive power

And finally, the answer to the question no one asked. Why am I photographing 027 trains on Atlas O track instead of tubular 027 track? Because the Atlas track does make for a much better looking track load on a MOW track car!

Conrail MOW track car

Attachments

Images (11)
  • 027 Santa Fe box car partial repaint
  • KOI Aquarium Car partial repaint
  • CSX Aquarium Car
  • 027-ized modern motive power
  • 027-ized modern motive power 1956
  • Conrail MOW caboose
  • SDZ Giraffe Car
  • Lehigh Valley yellowjacket Alco
  • Lehigh Valley industrial switcher
  • NS 027 modern motive power
  • Conrail MOW track car
Last edited by brianel_k-lineguy
geysergazer posted:

"Some simple suggested details that allow your imagination to do the rest. Like with the air-whistle, I know it's not real. But when I hear that air whistle, in my mind it becomes the real thing."

Yes, I also find this to be the magic of Lionel. All model railroading is caricature because the largest club layout is just a few scale miles long. The magic is getting the brain to see a real railroad in miniature. Thus for me the "lobster claws" become real couplers when I watch them closeup couple or uncouple. The giant tinplate wheel flanges are converted in my mind's eye into the prototype squealing on a ten degree curve.

Nice modeling.

Lew

Thank you Lew for posting this insite. I’m starting to feel the same way the “loster claws” don’t bother me as they once did in fact I’m liking them more and the “cookies cuter” wheels I hardly even notice them. Like you said you have to get a different mind set.

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