Modifications to Minitrains HOn30 Passenger Cars

Here are some pictures of Bob Peterson's modifications to Minitrains passenger cars. He converted one to an RPO? He replaced the roof on his baggage car with a simple curved roof. Some of the Maine 2 footers had roofs like this. Other shots are truck conversion options.
Thanks to Bob for sharing his ideas!

These were taken at the 2019 Midwest Narrow Gauge show.

HOn30 Trucks

On the HOn30 Yahoo group there has been some discussion about HOn30 trucks and I thought a side-by-side photo comparison might help modelers decide which one to choose. The point is that there are many more options than the 5 I show here. Double-click the photo to see a larger version.

From left to right are Grandt HOn30 truck with Northwest Short Line metal wheels, Blackstone HOn3 truck with wheels re-gauged, Model Railroad General Store Gilpin Hon30 truck with NWSL wheels, Microtrains N scale arch bar truck with Intermountain 36" (in N scale) wheels (#IRC60051) and Microtrains N scale arch bar truck with stock wheels.

Here is my personal evaluation and ranking according to my own preferences. You might have other priorities and have every right to disagree with me. I understand that trucks that look good but do not run well are frustrating. Please also understand that difficulties I had with assembly reflect more on my own skill that the quality of the product. Your mileage may vary.

Grandt truck (#1 if successfully tuned) pros
-Prototypically correct details for Maine 2 footers
-Allows cars to sit lower
Grandt truck cons
-Requires tuning (clean up/polishing of axle ends; clean up of flash; sometimes addition of keep on bottom of journal Box to keep wheels from dropping out. See tuning article in Maine 2 Foot Quarterly.)
-Older version with plastic wheels require replacing wheels

Blackstone pros (#2 if smaller wheels could be found)
-Runs flawlessly
-Has brake beams
-Has metal wheels
-Ready to Run.
Blackstone cons
-Wheels are too large, cars would sit too high for Maine 2 foot look
-Details do not match Maine 2 foot prototype

Model RR General Store pros (#4 Chivers not shown here are #3)
-Similar to Maine 2 foot prototype
Model RR General Store cons
-Assembly required, easy to break side frames during assembly
-Wheels not included
-Details not as crisp as Grandt or Blackstone

MT arch bars with Intermountain wheels (#5 good for shorter/smaller free-lanced cars) pros
-Run flawlessly
-Sit higher with IM wheels
- Ready to Run
MT arch bar IM wheels cons
-A bit short and small

Other options
-Athearn MDC N scale arch bar trucks (unsure of current availability)
-David Hoffman brass HOn30 trucks (order by mail at 8682 US Highway 61
North, Woodville, MS 39669-3502
-Precision Scale HOn3 trucks re-gauged (available from Walthers)

Thank you to Dave Miecznikowski for the Blackstone truck idea and to Woodie Greene for the Precision Scale truck idea.

New Railway Recollections Caboose Kit

Barry at Railway Recollections has a new HOn30 16 foot off center cupola caboose kit that is ready to ship. It is $29.00 plus $6.50 shipping and handling.
I don't have the kit but I can recommend Barry's kits in general. His kits have no bubbles and sharp castings. They are well designed and straight-forward to build.

To order contact Barry at barry@railrec.com

What's on the Workbench

I am currently working on 2 projects:

The ARU railbus: I have it painted, but not yet decaled or weathered. I am working on painting the driver and passengers, following an article by Sam Swanson (Model Railroader Dec 2005). I will post photos soon.

Track modifications on the Linekin Bay Module: To improve running I have removed the AHM dual gauge crossing and flattened it. The HOn30 leg always had a hump so that the track could reach the height of the standard gauge and this was causing problems for smaller locomotives. The crossing is back in place but needs ballast. At the same time I removed all the track to the right of the crossing all the way to the swing bridge because there were rough spots and widening of the gauge at the swing bridge. I have replaced the bridge track and am weathering new strip wood decking for it prior to securing it back onto the module.

More Projects

At left is the Railway Recollections Sandy River/Billerica & Bedford box car A kit. I need to finish the decals, add some crates to the interior, add end railings, couplers and weather it. This is a very nice, easy-to-assemble kit with many possibilities. It can be built as B&B box car A; Sandy River box car A without windows in the side doors; or Sandy River box car A with windows in the side doors. I added the interior sheathing on the wall and the interior panels on the far side door.
This next kit is Mount Blue's new HOn30 offering, a laser-cut Sandy River & Rangeley Lakes 28 foot box car kit. I posted pictures of this in November. Now I've finally have some progress to show. This kit can be built into box cars numbers 87-94 and 96-99. Several were for sale at the last Springfield, Massachusetts train show and they were all sold out. This is an excellent kit. The parts fit together well and some are adhesive-backed so the builder just peels the paper off the back and sticks it to the model. While the manufacturer suggests details to use, none are included so that the builder can use details to his liking. I already had half of the details needed to build this and only had to order grab irons and queen posts. I could have bent my own grabs, but past experience has taught me that buying preformed grabs saves me wasted wire, time and frustration. Since the holes for grabs and nbw castings are predrilled (laser-cut?) at lot of drilling(and time) is eliminated. I also like the laser-cut roof panels that simulate the tin panels used on Maine two-foot box cars. I recommend this kit for the joy of assembly and pleasure the completed model will bring as you watch it on your pike.

And I do occasionally finish projects and I promise to post them when I do. I will never promise to work on only one project until it is finished. This is a hobby and I do as I please. In the immortal words of Ben & Jerry: "If it's not fun why do it?"

Reefer

I kitbashed this from an MDC old-time reefer, shortening the ends and sides and narrowing the ends. I scratch-built the floor/frame and roof and added Grandt ladders and HOn30 trucks.

The decals are from Highball Graphics (www.mgdecals.com).

I know it's not prototypical, but it was fun.