More FMC Boxcars

[philmoberg]

Classic Model Railroads Set 3 is now wrapping up. AFAIK this is the first time the full Appalachian Lines set has been done in any scale, tangible of virtual. The variation in the reporting marks, as used here, will be explained with the set, and has been done to avoid duplication of any other efforts nos or formerly available. This will be the last in the Classic Model Railroads series from my shop, and then I'll be on to the rest of my backlog ...

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[PNWR1854]

The logo on the left side is of my local model train club that I belong to.
While I can't find any pix of the custom boxcars we have, they look like The one shown below with different logos and lettering.

Respond if you can do this. Thanks.

[philmoberg]

... The logo on the left side is of my local model train club that I belong to. ...

That's the masthead from the club's website, isn't it. It would be a bit of a trick separating it from the background, but not impossible. A larger version of it would be easier to work with.

If your club has a custom boxcar, I'd rather follow that closely out of respect for the work they did to develop it. Maybe you can get one of your buddies to get a photo of it. Even a phone camera shot would helpful. Repporting marks and number series would also be helpful.

It looks like an interesting project, and I'll be happy to take a closer look at it. No promises, of course, because I still have quite a backlog of other stuff. Pleas PM me if you get anything further.

[PNWR1854]

I will contact a good friend in the club as I won't be there for a few weeks. I'll see if he can get a shot of the boxcar

[ironcat60]

Geez, what a good reference for PC railroading! V scale! I'm gonna have to remember that when I get to talking about model railroading and they ask me what scale. And what's great about V scale is that it doesn't take up much space in the house and is cat proof. Except for the occasional "Keyboard Walk".

[philmoberg]

Weston Farmer was a naval architect of some note who practiced out of Bridgeport, CT, in the middle of the last century. A hobby/side-business of his was to develop designs that were in every respect proper and seaworthy, but just small enough to be barely useful. I recall his motivation for designing a 12-foot steam launch, named Feeble, "as a study in the serious importance of doing something for the hell of it." That was essentially the same motivation I had for the car below, after which things got a bit carried away. In addition, I have long admired Sarkis Bartigian's nose art that he did for one of the B-24 groups in the Pacific Theater, in that he viewed the entire side of the aircraft as his canvas. The pretext for this exercise was what might have become of some RWA Plate B Cars about to be replaced by double-door Plate C cars, and therefore receiving only a minimum of attention.

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This one was the result of having heard something so patently absurd that I laughed about it most of the rest of the afternoon. The Cool Bean in the badly-faded brown fedora is me (my beat-up hat is a nearly identical, badly-faded brown fedora), the "Cool Beans" theme being taken from a logo I did for the café in urban ministry several years back.

RWA_Tags_4.jpg

This one was a hasty cobble-job based on stock images that showed in several different sources at the same time.

RWA_Tags_3.jpg

The pretext here was that this was a car that had been damaged in Conrail territory, and hastily repaired. The theme, "Too Many Rebels With No True Cause" was inspired by an interesting piece done by somebody known only as ·Leö·, the comment being integral to a very interesting graphic. Unfortunately, the image was too deteriorated to be used effectively.

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This one was also a hasty cobble-job based on stock images that showed in several different sources at the same time.

RWA_Tags_1.jpg

These, and a few more which are still WIP, and not really part of the backlog because I'm still undecided as to whether to finish them. They have provided some interesting relief, particularly while my back issues were getting worse, a couple of years ago; and are done mainly as an reflection of a historic phenomenon in modern railroading.

[QcRail]

Hi Phil,

I suspect you have an artistic background or have had a creative career

Nonetheless, you are VERY TALENTED. Please keep surprising us

Best to you ...
Bernard, aka QcRail

[philmoberg]

... I suspect you have an artistic background or have had a creative career ...

That's kind of you Bernard. It's closer to the truth to say may art teachers generally regarded my talent as incorrigible, and those who didn't tended to take a dimmer view. That said, I owe a lot to a lot of people along the way who saw potential in me and encouraged it. What I actually did for a living certainly did have it's creative side. After working for a few years on a short line, and not being able to get a job on a Class 1, I went to work as a staff planner for a state DOT, eventually retiring as a policy and budget analyst. Probably the most creative influence in this came from a handful of professors who rejected the top-down approaches to public planning - those sorts of over-expensive and under-effective public works most folks love to hate - in favor of a bottom-up approach. That made too much sense to me, and 'though it may have been iconoclastic at the time (and largely still is, but this is starting to change), the results are offer much better value for money. It's probably best summed up by a comment made by the late Jane Jacobs, and architect who practices in New York and Toronto, and who was responsible for raising support for historic preservation in New York in the wake of the destruction of Penn Station, "Statistical people are a fiction for many reasons, one of which is that they are treated as if infinitely interchangeable. Real People are unique, they invest years of their lives in significant relationships with other unique people, and are not interchangeable in the least."

This is all by way of saying that the greatest gift the various influences taught me to see the picture beyond it's apparent subject, and to understand its context. It's why something like freight car graffiti interests me as a subject, regardless of what I might think about it as a practice. To be sure, I won't claim my work to be entirely objective. There is a streak of subjectivity in any art, by definition, and it's entirely probable that some of it is a somewhat irreverent look at a somewhat irreverent art from. I think the Star Wars car was at least somewhat consciously so ... In any case, it's a part of the industry's history, and there it stands.

[philmoberg]

This project is moving again. After several interruptions over the summer, followed by a bit of time-sensitive research for a friend, Classic Model Railroads Set 2 has been packaged and should be uploaded in the next day or so.

FMC_Boxcars_CMRR_Set2_Final.jpg

[minerman146]

Phil, I lurk on your thread all the time and love your work. I read this

This is all by way of saying that the greatest gift the various influences taught me to see the picture beyond it's apparent subject, and to understand its context. It's why something like freight car graffiti interests me as a subject, regardless of what I might think about it as a practice.

and I know you are a kindred spirit. Keep up the great work!

[philmoberg]

Now that my back is giving me a break, I'm wrapping up the documentation on this set. I hope to have it uploaded by the end of this coming week.

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[philmoberg]

Notwithstanding the current state of affairs, I'm delighted to be able to be working on this extended project regularly. The latest cars in the pipeline are a series of fictional leasers, suggested by Erik a [good] while back. All that remains is a few tweaks to the textures.

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[MaineLines]

Nice work. Those cars never looked better.

[philmoberg]

Nice work. Those cars never looked better.

Thanks kindly. I greatly appreciate it. Your model is a joy to work with. I'm getting near the end of what's in the pipeline that I'm in a position to release. Maybe I'll do some of your reefers after that.

[philmoberg]

This one has an interesting history, being more of an almost(but not quite) than a what-if. As my friend and colleague, Mitch Markovitz tells the tale:

Way back in 1985 when I was the art and advertising director of the South Shore Line it came to management's attention that they had to finalize the affairs of that part of the railroad, acquired from the Illinois Central, which ran from Kensington to the State Line. This included the name and creation of an insignia.

So this is what I came up with.

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...

As the conversation continued, I learned that the Indiana & Kensington was actually what we used to call a "paper corporation," and owned no rolling stock and had no assigned reporting marks. I suggested doing an IPD car, which he though that was a good idea, and suggested INKR for the reporting marks. I can report that he's delighted with the results. When done, this will come in "road dust" and weathered versions, like the RWA cars.

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