Gary McDonald

Hi. Welcome, and thanks for visiting my blog!
My Name is Gary McDonald, and I live in the San Francisco Bay Area in northern California. Like many garden railroaders, I model what I remember about trains as I was growing up, and things that bring back pleasant memories.
I model the 1970s in the East Bay. This includes the Union Pacific, Southern Pacific and Santa Fe railroads.
I worked for a trucking company that picked up and delivered containers from the Oakland and San Francisco piers, and piggyback trailers from the Oakland yards. Because of that, there are a lot of container cars and piggyback flats on my layout.
I’ve evolved in the hobby from buying and running shiny new trains, to adapting and weathering them to make them more realistic. And now, because the manufacturers don’t offer many of the more modern rolling stock, freight loads, and structures that I would like to have, I have begun to scratch build my own.
Because I am unable to build a backyard layout, I have laid down a floor in my attic, installed lighting, and have my layout there.
I will add postings to share some of my scratch building in the hopes that it may be of interest to you, and help you create some of your own.

I have several flat cars on my railroad, and wanted to have interesting loads for them that were appropriate to my era, the 1970s. After looking at what was commercially available, I decided to try my hand at making my own loads. I’ve detailed the steps I took, along with some pictures, to show you how I did it.

I started with a MTH flat car. I weathered it with the commercially available powers: dark brown and black to simulate dirt and grime on the wood deck, and medium rust on the sides of the car and the trucks & couplers.

I then created a wooden fence to install on each end of the car. I used balsa wood, available at most hobby shops and craft stores. I cut 4″ lengths for the cross boards, and 2 9/16″ lengths for the uprights. I added 1/4 inch to the outside uprights, and trimmed them down with an exacto knife, so they would fit into the stake pockets on the car. I used Elmer’s white glue to attach the boards together.

Front view:

Back view:

Weathered fence:

I had several of the MDC spools that I purchased on eBay. I spray painted them tan (any rattle can spray paint is fine. I bought a cheap one at Orchard Supply for $1.99) to suggest new wood, and then slightly weathered them with black weathering powder to bring out the grain.

I bought a roll of electrical wire at Orchard Supply (also available at Lowe’s and Home Depot), and rolled a double layer on the spools, pushing the end into the side between the previous loop of wire and the edge of the spool to tie off the end. This wire comes in several colors, so you can pick what you want. My goal was to simulate telephone cable.

Here is the wire wound onto the spool:

I built a cradle out of balsa wood to hold the spool by cutting 2 pieces 2″ long for the front and back of the spool. I then cut 2 pieces 2 5/8″ long for the sides of the spool. I glued the front and back pieces on top of the side pieces with white glue.

After placing the spool and it’s cradle on the flat car, I needed a way to tie it down so it wouldn’t move as the car went down the track. I remembered the yellow strapping that truck drivers use to tie down a load on their trailer. After a trip to the craft store (Michael’s) I found a roll of 1/4″ yellow ribbon that had the same texture as the full size straps on sale for $1.00. I cut the ribbon to length, crossed it over the top of the spool, and passed it through the stake pockets on either side of the car. Then I tied it off and trimmed the excess length. I used medium brown weathering to soften the yellow color of the strapping.

Here is the yellow ribbon:

And here is the finished spool on the flat car:

Here is the finished flat car.

The wood, ribbon and weathering powders were all easy to work with, and forgiving of my mistakes. I would recommend this project to both beginning scratch builders and those more experienced.

I’m always on the lookout for reasonably priced items that would make appropriate loads for my railroad.

I can across one item at Target (also available at Toys R Us). It is the Forces of Valor line of military equipment. It comes in several scales, including 1/32 scale.

The detail and quality of construction are similar to that of USA and Aristo Craft.

They have military vehicles from the WW2 era, as well as those in current use. Vehicles include tanks, howitzers, rocket launchers and Humvees/jeeps. A tank is priced at $25.

Here is a picture of the box to show the various vehicles:

I found a chain to tie them down at Michael’s craft store. It is a chain they sell to make necklaces, and comes in 5 foot lengths. Here is a picture of the packaging to help you find them:

This was a simple load to complete. Just put the tank on the flat car and install the chain to tie it down. The chain is easily cut with wire cutters.