12 Days of Christmas 2022

[hobo1960]

Happy Christmas to all.

I have been wanting to get my repaint projects shared with the community but the last six months have been a hectic time for me. I have been dealing with placing my 94 year old mother in an assisted living community -- and all the challenges that entails, especially as she isn't happy about the life change.

In addition, I just retired two weeks ago. And then the pressures of the holidays...

Anyway, I have not been idle over the past year, as regards to repainting. In fact, I've managed to get quite a variety of projects at last underway. And, as this is the holiday season, I thought why not have some fun and share my efforts here. So, without further ado, I have decided to enjoy the tradition of the "Twelve Days of Christmas" and share my efforts accordingly.

12-days_50.jpg

So I plan to release one small repaint at a time over the next twelve days, beginning with today!

So, first up... Domino Sugar Boxcar

https://www.mediafire.com/file/54vtdlzq8ryghfe/Boxcar40ftWood_Domino.zip/file

Nollaig Shona Duit!

Kevin B

[hobo1960]

Happy Holidays.

Day two, and today we have the Searchlight Simulations 72ft Reefer painted in the new Lineage colors.
In 2021, Lineage Logistics acquired Cryo-Trans, owner of North America's largest private fleet of refrigerated and insulated railcars.

kb_72ft_reefer_lineage.jpg

https://www.mediafire.com/file/et9dcecgx7t95sl/Lineage.zip/file

Feliz Navidad!

KevinB

[hobo1960]

Happy Holidays.

Day three, and today we have the G-Trax 40ft Steel Reefer painted in a unique and interesting scheme - the Mandarin Orange Express.

kb_40ft_reefer_steel_mandarin.jpg

The mandarin orange was first brought to Canada about 1890 by Japanese workers who received them in parcels in the weeks heading up to Christmas. Canadians soon fell in love with the sweet fruit and a tradition soon began.

Beginning in the early years of the 20th Century, the arrival of the first shipment of Japanese oranges to the Port of Vancouver officially marked the start of the Canadian holiday season. It was a much-heralded occasion. Sometime in the third week of November, local news media would announce the arrival of the first shipment of Japanese oranges to the port of Vancouver, signaling that Christmas would soon be here. Images of the ships on the waterfront being unloaded and of young women posing, peeled mandarins in hand, on crates of citrus cargo would appear in newspapers and on the local TV news year after year.

By the 1920's over a million and a half oranges were filling eleven Canadian National rail cars were on their way from Vancouver, British Columbia on Canada's west coast. Soon, special trains of refrigerated cars were needed to carry the shipment across the nation.

In 1977, the Canadian Pacific Railway created a special boxcar: Mandarin Orange Express. It led the train that was transporting mandarin oranges for the holiday season across Canada. This boxcar, which was placed right behind the engine, was used to advertise the largest shipment ever handled by CP Rail.

Mandarin_boxcar.jpg

For more details and photos, I recommend reading the following:

https://oppy.com/a-holiday-tradition-japanese-mandarin-oranges/

https://www.inkwellinspirations.com/2015/12/what-happened-to-christmas-oranges.html

https://scoutmagazine.ca/2021/12/06/how-mandarin-oranges-once-marked-the-beginning-of-vancouvers-holiday-season/

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https://www.mediafire.com/file/uxcl1qtb0it4zzf/Mandarin_Steel.zip/file

Fröhliche Weihnacht

KevinB

[hobo1960]

Happy Holidays

Day four, and today we have the MaineLines R-70-20 reefer painted to represent BNFE 3.

kb_r70-20_reefer_bnfe_3_updated.jpg

This car was the prototype of a cryogenic reefer that uses carbon dioxide, and has the car number "BNFE 3". Production cars consisted of 77 BN 751000-76s, modified from 1966 CB&Q cars.
The article says it's a 60ft car. The interior length of the prototype car is 53'-8", the mass production car is 54'-9", and the outer length of the car is 67'-8".
The "3" marked the car as the third generation refrigerated vehicle, and "1" and "2" do not exist.

bnfe_3_lok.jpg

https://www.mediafire.com/file/u037lm1hgmk1cyc/BN_TempLok.zip/file

https://www.mediafire.com/file/dcm4nz7b841g19k/BN_TempLok_update.zip/file - updated textures. overwrite earlier left/right sides. Bigger Temp-Lok logo.

God Jul

KevinB[/b]

[hobo1960]

Happy Holidays

Day five, and today we have the Prince Spaghetti 50ft Airslide Hopper. This is a repaint of the DTM hopper.

kb_airslide_50_prince.jpg

Boston & Maine “Prince Spaghetti 1984” replicates one of the most famous GATC 4180 paint schemes ever applied to these cars. In 1984, the Boston & Maine in cooperation with the B&M Historical Society, took one of its gray airslides and painted it for Prince Spaghetti, including the iconic “Wednesday is Prince Spaghetti Day” slogan. This was a special Boston & Maine Historical Society one time run - BM 5835. It was the only car painted this way at the Waterville Maine Car Shop. It carried milled semolina grain used in the production of pasta products from New England Milling in Ayer Ma. to the Prince Spaghetti Company in Lowell Ma.

prince_hopper.jpg

Prince Pasta was made locally in Lowell, Massachusetts. In 1912, the company was founded in Boston (at 92 Prince Street) by three Italian immigrants, but moved to Lowell in 1939. In 1941, the business passed over to Guiseppe Pellegrino, another Sicilian immigrant, who later penned the “Wednesday Is Prince Spaghetti Day” slogan. Pelllegrino sold the business in 1987, and the Lowell plant closed in 1997.

https://www.mediafire.com/file/ownrlp7aqhsqzhz/Prince.zip/file

メリークリスマス
Merīkurisumasu

KevinB

[hobo1960]

Happy Holidays

Day six, and today we have a BNSF Bethgon painted in an amazing Whale graffiti. This is a repaint for the G-Trax Bethgon.

kb_bnsf_bethgon_whale.jpg

I've always thought this was a fascinating car, as do many others in the model railroading community judging by the number of reproductions of this paint.
Yes, it is graffiti but what a piece of work. Graffiti is a problem for railroads, and a sore subject amongst otherwise friendly hobbyists. Of course, graffiti in all forms is an ancient form.

kb_bnsf_bethgon_whale_prototype_sm.jpg

The only information I've been able to gather on this car was that the artist (tagger) is know as 'Saigon' and that the car was repeatedly seen on the rails out west between 2009 and 2012.
An interesting aspect to this artist/tagger is that he doesn't paint over the reporting marks, so as to preserve the car's service integrity.

When you place the car in the game, be sure you view both sides. ;)

https://www.mediafire.com/file/045jf27i0yn6dj1/BNSF_Whale.zip/file

Buon Natale

KevinB

[Chacal]

These are all beautiful repaints.
Thanks!

[hobo1960]

You're most welcome.

More yet to come. ;)

KB

These are all beautiful repaints.
Thanks!

[hobo1960]

Happy Holidays

Day seven, and today we have another interesting item - Santa Fe 3-D Boxcar 10000 c.1952.

kb_sf_impact_car.jpg

This is a repaint for the G-Trax 40ft Steel PS1 Boxcar.

Originally built in the early-1950s for Union Pacific, this 40ft boxcar was converted into an impact instruction car. Intended to illustrate the importance of safe car handling, this car had a transparent sidewall to show cargo movement, along with force and speed gauges displayed on the side.

sf_impact_car.jpg

A newspaper article of the time provided a fuller description:
"Through the Plexiglass sidings, employees can view the consequences of Improper car handling or failure to properly stow and secure freight. Officials said that the 3-D's to be avoided in freight car handling are: "Damage by impact, damage by shift and damage by breakage." In demonstration, the transparent car permits a clear view of the results of improper handling. These demonstrations, in charge of a group of officials, will be held at the terminals and major yards of the Gulf lines. The new 3-D transparent car was built by the Santa Fe as another advance in the systemwide efforts to prevent damage. The car is a modification of a standard 40-foot box car with the steel sheathing and wood lining replaced by Plexi-glass sheathing and metal screen which permits observation of what happens inside a car subjected to overspeed impacts. A large-sized speedometer dial has been installed in a side of the car and with a speed recorder operated off the car axle, indicates the speed at time of coupling. To provide demonstrations for night crews the car has interior flood lights powered by batteries installed in a possum-belly of the car. Protection for the transparent sheathing while the car is moving from one terminal to another is provided by detachable panels. It was also fitted with lading anchors at the Santa Fe Topeka shops."

https://www.mediafire.com/file/9frrb6x553o7884/ATSF_Impact.zip/file

щасливого pіздва
Shchaslyvoho Rizdva

KevinB

[hobo1960]

Happy Holidays

Day eight, and today we have a Burlington Northern Aluminum Grainporter.

kb_bn_grainporter.jpg

This is a repaint for the GreatNortherner PS2-LO Hopper.

Johnstown America Grainporter aluminum covered hoppers. Introduced in the mid to late 1990's, these 3-Bay 115 ton "Grainporter 2000" was designed to be a more aerodynamic covered hopper car. The design featured aluminum construction on steel underframe and bolsters. The lighter weight of the aluminum sides allowed them to be designed for higher capacity (5420cf as compared to the 5161/5200cf competition). They were intended to carry low-density agricultural commodities like oats, barley and canola seed. BN, Cargill, and a number of leasing companies (including CIT group) used them. Most of these cars have now been retired.

bn_grainporter_485026_john_rus_sm.jpg

https://www.mediafire.com/file/mg14vzbm6r05dwi/Default_Grainporter_BN_1.zip/file

Vrolijk Kerstfeest

KevinB

[hobo1960]

Happy Holidays

Day nine, and today we have an 86ft Autoparts Boxcar in the prototype colors.

This is a repaint for the RSC 86ft Boxcar included in the NS_Freight01 folder.

kb_ln_autoparts_rsc.jpg

American Car & Foundry built the prototype 86-foot high-cube boxcar in 1963. The project was done in collaboration with Louisville & Nashville, Southern Pacific, and Wabash, with an aim to enhance hauling auto parts for Ford Motor Company.

In the early 1960's the three major automobile manufacturers in the United States -- Chrysler, Ford, and General Motors -- each developed specifications for specially built boxcars to transport automobile parts (not actual cars).

The resulting development of 86-foot high-cube boxcar was a joint venture between several U.S. railroads and freight car builder American Car & Foundry (ACF). ACF built a high-cube boxcar of four-door design in 1963 and this forerunner set the style for production that would follow for more than a decade. The prototype “Ford Stampings Car” carried heralds for Louisville & Nashville, Southern Pacific, and Wabash.

This new “high cube” design was possible, as automobile components were bulky but didn’t possess over-whelming weight characteristics. Large, tall door openings and an interior that gave equally ample head room from one end of the massive cargo space to the other provided an optimal location for economically moving parts from a factory of origin to an automobile assembly location.

Eventually the concept was taken up by the other railroad manufacturers [Greenville, Pullman-Standard and Thrall] and thousands of these cars were built in the 1960s and 1970s. These giant boxcars featured a length nearly as long as postwar streamlined passenger cars and stood taller than everything else in regular freight service when they were new.

These cars are not only distinctive for their length (86 foot, also listed as 85 foot) but also for the fact that they were designed for a post-roofwalk world so they took advantage of the fact they didn't need to leave room for the roofwalk and instead are simply built taller. Hence they are considered High-Cube cars. They come in two major varieties: 8-door and 4-door. The eight door types were typically made for use at GM plants and have two sets of 9 foot doors on each side. When these doors are full opened, they created a pair of 18 foot opening on each side of the car. Their 4-door sisters, as specified by Ford and Chrysler, had one pair of 10 foot doors centered on each side, permitting a 20 foot opening.

As containers gradually replaced these cars for use in the auto industry, many were re-purposed for use in other industries that involve low-density commodities such as scrap paper.

https://www.mediafire.com/file/86jbvq1h7row5ls/LN_Prototype.zip/file

Joyeux Noël

KevinB

[hobo1960]

Happy Holidays.

Day ten, and today we have a 2-Bay ACF 2970 Covered Hopper in Demonstrator colors.

kb_acf_2bay_demo_1.jpg

This is a repaint for the VRC 2-Bay ACF Hopper included in the Dash 7 pack.

This 2-bay covered hopper, with a 2,970-cubic foot capacity, first entered service in the 1950s. The cars handle loads such as cement, sand and similar denser bulk commodities. In the 1960s, American Car and Foundry introduced their Centerflow design. The Centerflow relies on the cars rounded body to provide structural strength without the added weight of bracing, as well as making gravity unloading easier. The cars were built at several ACF plants, but the Huntington, West Virginia plant built only Center Flow cars since their inception and was the primary builder.

The first 2-bay 100 ton 2970 Center Flow cars built at Huntington weree part of a 150 car order for Chicago & NorthWestern, under building lot 11-02475, with an "on track" date of August 19th, 1966.

https://www.mediafire.com/file/jmm5ib5xj3jrjxl/ACF_2Bay_Demo_1.zip/file

Wesołych Świąt

KevinB

[hobo1960]

Happy Holidays.

Day eleven, and today we have an early Ringling Brothers Circus Advertising car.

kb_ringling_car.jpg

This is a repaint for a car in the MSTS conversions set.

In the golden days of the circus large amounts of money were spent on the advance advertising. Advanced advertising cars, like this one, were rolling billboards for the Ringling Bros. Circus and the traveling office of the advance promotion team that put up posters and flyers. Advertising cars traveled to locales ahead of the circus and carried personnel that prepared for the pending arrival of the circus. They typically traveled on the rear of whatever passenger consist was traveling to the desired destination. For example, if the circus was scheduled to visit Philadelphia after a Pittsburgh visit, an advertising car would travel to Philladelphia a week or so ahead of arrival at the end of a Pennsylvania Railroad consist.

ringling_advert_sm.jpg

This car represents the design of the last heavyweights to serve as advertising cars, through the end of Second World War. This car worked for several of the circuses Ringling Bros. It was originally acquired in 1929 and was repainted in 1938, serving as their last heavyweight advertising car through the 1946 season, after which it was demoted to laundry car service.

https://www.mediafire.com/file/j2vkjexup2zyfb9/Ringling.zip/file

Nollaig Shona Dhuit!

KevinB

[hobo1960]

Happy Holidays.

Day Twelve, and I actually made it! One repaint project per day for twelve days! Who says and old dog can't remain focused and on task. Wait, is that...a... Squirrel!

Today we have another interesting car - BNSF RoadRailer in "Ice Cold" scheme.

kb_ice_cold.jpg

This is a repaint for a car in the RCAP RoadRailer set.

BNSF introduced the Ice Cold Express in 1999 as a weekly service for temperature-controlled products moving between Southern California and Chicago. Later, the Ice Cold Express network expanded to include service to and from Montreal and Toronto, and even New Jersey. These were unit trains of approximately sixty cars in length. The Ice Cold Express uses 53-foot Wabash National ReeferRailer trailers and bogies in unit train service.

ice_brochure.jpg

I even managed to find a nice video showing the train running. BTW, I will soon be sharing the other cars which can be spotted in this video as well. ;)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o0YX77tDsu0&ab_channel=WaltLoevy

https://www.mediafire.com/file/1r4zchn49t2ya7t/Ice_Cold.zip/file

Nai Lye Hiruva Airea Amanar!

KevinB

[ozinoz]

An eclectic mix of interesting and unusual rolling stock, and a history to go with them.

Outstanding. All hail Kevin