Train Store Haul May 2023

 Greetings All,

It's that time of year again!!!

or another

"hello, my name is John and I'm a trainaholic post!

My local hobby shop, Trainmaster Models in Auburn Georgia, held its annual 50% off sale on used merchandise the weekend of May 4th to May 6th, 2023. With my self imposed 30 day probation and prohibition on model railroad purchases in January now expired I was at the store five minutes after its opening on May 4th.

Here are some of the train goodies I picked up at very attractive prices.

A Walthers Car Shop kit bought on speculation that I might be able to use it for a price I could not pass up. An MRC Control Master controller that I'll use for the upper level of the main layout. An Athearn non powered B&O GP35 for our combined fleet(previously shown in the GP35 follow up post). An Athearn powered AMD103 to help power my Amtrak Superliner train. The new AMD103 will give me a three unit consist with two powered units and one non powered unit.

Three BNFE Western Fruit Express 57' reefers to bring fresh western produce to Empire City. One Southern 65' mill gondola and one Frisco 52' mill gondola with steel coils to deliver steel products and serve the industries around the layout. 

Two Santa Fe 45' trailers, a Penn Central tractor and trailer kit, four Flexi Van 20' containers, a Milwaukee Road covered hopper, a Kansas City Southern boxcar and two KCS 45' trailers.

A close up of the Flexi Van 20' containers.

Rounding out the purchases are a Walthers Southern 89' TOFC flatcar and a Walthers C&NW four truck depressed center flatcar kit.

A close up of the depressed center flatcar label.

Getting some of the new items into revenue service

I started working on the easiest items first. All items were sprayed with Testor's Dullcote prior to assembly and have extra weight added except for the TOFC flatcar.

The Flexi-Van containers received an ounce of weight.

The two ATSF 45' trailers under frames were painted flat black. The rims have been painted blue to match the Santa Fe lettering. 

A 1/4 ounce of weight has been added over the wheels and kingpin. A completed car sits on a Walthers ATSF Twin 45 TOFC flatcar that I picked up at last year's 50% off sale.

The new Penn Central green 40' trailer rides on the new Southern 89' TOFC flatcar. I added a 1/4 ounce of weight over the wheels and kingpin and painted the rims green to match the trailer body. I like the way that looks and may do that to the other PC trailers. 

 

The Penn Central tractor and trailer purchase gives me six PC tractors and five PC trailers. PC Tidbit: On June 7th, 1973 the PC won the Golden Freight Car Award for their Trail-Van Program. Having a good number of PC trailers on a TOFC train looks good to me!

The Athearn BB Milwaukee Road covered hopper came with Kadee #5 couplers. Proto 2000 metal wheelsets and one ounce of additional weight were added and the car is now in service. 

An Athearn KCS plain jane boxcar that came with metal wheels and Kadee #5 couplers was basically ready to go out of the kit box. I  added an ounce of additional weight and painted the wheel faces flat black. 

Athearn BB Kansas City Southern 45' trailers are now in service. Dullcote, 1/4 ounce of weight above wheels and kingpin and red painted rims highlight these nice looking trailers. The KCS, the latest fallen flag, got a little love this day.

The Athearn Ready to Roll Southern 65' mill gondola handles long structural steel loadings like these steel trusses. Kadee #5 couplers replaced the stock plastic knuckle couplers and the wheel faces were painted burnt umber.

The Southern 65' gondola joins a Walthers EJ&E 65' mill gondola that I've had for awhile. Both can handle these long steel beams without the need for spacer cars. Note the height differences between the two cars.

The second Athearn Ready to Roll Gondola is this Frisco 52' Mill Gondola that came with steel coils and an ACI label. I brush painted the trucks and metal wheel faces burnt umber and sprayed the car with Dullcote.

The little steel coils that came with the car are nice but get lost inside the 52' gondola that should be able to handle more tonnage so I've added a pair of steel coils made by PC Ralph that dramatically enhances the cars look..
We'll close it for today. In future blog posts we'll take a look at bringing the new BNFE Western Fruit Express cars up to layout standards, putting them into "revenue service", building the C&NW four truck 75' depressed center flatcar and adding the Amtrak P42 to the fleet.

Final Thoughts and Comments

I usually start these posts with the "hello, my name is John and I'm a trainaholic, statement. However, I believe I showed some restraint this year as I spent less than at last years big sale. I'll take this as a win!

Also, I focused my rolling stock purchases on brands that had metal wheels and body mounted couplers that would need only minor upgrades such as Kadee couplers. The exception was the MILW covered hopper that had Kadee couplers and stock Delrin wheels.

While the 50% sale was on "used" merchandise most of the items purchased were still new in their respective boxes. The KCS and MILW cars were "used" but had been upgraded by a prior owner. 

  

Thanks for reading!!!

See you soon!!!