Some interesting general freight to consider

Ok, so locating boxcars used on the FUS was not a problem and both the 50' and 40' are well documented. The 50' car I found was a run of the mill PS2 boxcar with 8' doors...Kadee will do nicely there.  40's are a bit more problematic in that the ones I can find photo's of were built in mexico and are different then any currently on the market.  If you are like me, a Kadee 40' PS will work, but there is a nice write up on Mexilist that walks you through kit bashing them that I will post later.  It might be a good subject for a casting write up.  F&S resin models makes several boxcars that were used down south and I will reference them later as well.

I wanted to post two pictures of some general freight cars that will visit my layout.  NdeM was the government owned railroad starting in 1909 through the 1990's and early on it was called the Mexican Government Railway System or MGRS.  I had a difficult time locating anything on the markings until I came across the Canadian Freight Railcar Gallery ( http://freight.railfan.ca/ )  web site that has a nice listing of Mexican Railroads.  They just happen to feature two builders photos of a gondola and a covered hopper.  The photo's are clear enough to see all the important markings and I think these will make their appearance on the layout soon.

  The Gondola, not sure of the proto at the moment but it was part of the series82000-82134 and am assuming either black or freight car brown.  I'll check in to that.  Build date is 1958

The second is the PS2 two bay hopper and this is a match for the Kadee and others.  The series this belonged to was 81800-81839 with a build date of 1961.

Both of these cars would have roamed most of Mexico before having their markings updated, but given I'm modeling the mid 70's I don't see why I couldn't drop a few of these in as is.

Below are a couple of shots of my newly minted MGRS PS2.  Decals were made on my Alps printer and applied to a undec Kadee HO car.  I posed it in the spur track in the old oil field.  I kept it cleaner than I normally would given the date these ran.  They would have appeared slightly messed up but not trashed. :)

Motive power comes to Los Robles

There's not a lot of info on FUS diesels on line but enough to create a nice model.  I had a few extra Bachmann S4s in SP and since I was narrowing the focus on my PE plans...they became available.  FUS didn't use Alco S4s but did have a pair of S6s.  I'm less concerned about being a purist and more about getting things moving so this fudge is acceptable for me.  I know there are some conversions out there and when things are settled a bit more, may look that direction for a proper Alco S6.  I stripped the SP Tiger Stripes off and repainted using Tamyia acrylic paint pre weathered.  Decals I drew up on Corell and printed on my Alps and then did a final weathering using some oils and acrylics.  When you are weathering something you are putting decals on I find it best to pre weather the car as much as you can before adding the markings.  Unless you trim right up to the image you run the risk of the clear carrier boarders being picked out by the application of paint over them.  In this case, I trimmed the black lines up to the color, weathered the whole car, a final coat of gloss clear and applied the numbers and the FUS logo.  That was then sealed again using gloss coat with a final flat coat to finish. Then I did a very light overspray of very thin tan acrylic paint to blend making sure not to accent decal boarders.  Its a few extra steps, but the end result is rewarding.

I still need to paint the interior part of the shell black, remove the side windows and make sun shades for the cab windows.  The railing should really be orange with black fixtures, so I ordered some of the right color from Bachmann that will be applied later.  The engineering plastic used here will not allow paint to stick, but if pressed you can use something like the Pactra or Testers paint made for the inside of Lucite clear RC race cars.  That stuff sticks to anything and remains flexable.  Acrylics, Lacquers and even enamels will get brittle with time and any flexing will flake the paint off.  This paint, when applied as directed with an even coat encapsulates the part and flexes with it.  I have a couple of locos Ive used this on, especially the white safety railing for steps and ladders with no chipping at all.

Layout Design

Ok, So Layout is a bit much.  This will start out as an overblown Inglenook layout partially for switching and partially for photography.  Overall dimensions are 18"x72" which will drop into my current show layout modular system.  Like the British Exhibition layouts, this will have a focused area and the rest a run around to keep trains flowing through.   At home this will be stand alone and allow for some fun switching as time allows.

I've added some to the actual site given there is only a single track that runs through town,  I don't see any rail serve or switches on the maps so far.  I added the Inglenook on the right side and will determine later what is the car count for each siding.  So to limit the space the engine has to work I will plant a passenger coach next to the station allowing for only a few cars to be pulled out of any siding, in the spirit of the layout intent.  As I noted above I'll be able to link this in with my own and other "Freemo" systems on the road.

I've also been looking for a train shed to model, this one isn't on the FUS but I like the design and will probably model this to add to the second module if that gets constructed to add to the left of this one.

 And one of these, a bit more distressed given it would be past it's prime.

Moving the people.

While I work on the structures I like to figure out what kind of rolling stock I plan to use.  I have the complete list of cars owned by FUS in 1974 so that will aid in getting what I need.  Passenger cars are another interest of mine.  It's not all that uncommon during the 50's-&60's to see mixed consists with different schemes but with the advent of Amtrak all that is gone.  Tracking what FUS owned is not really all that difficult thanks to the Pullman Project and a few other resources.  I found that they owned at least five 8-5 Pullman Sleepers plans 4036 E and B.  One was purchased from RF&P and the others from Pullman as part of their "Clover" series.  Here's the list:

1.  Candelaria  ex Clover Bed from FR&P
2. Coatzacoalcos  ex Clover Highlands from Pullman
3. Mexcalpa   ex Clover Path from Pullman
4. Teapa  ex Clover Grove from Pullman
5. Usumacinta  ex Clover Plains from Pullman

Thankfully there are plenty of options with Walthers and Branchline trains.  I suggest finding the Branchlines, they are kits and quite a bit cheaper.  The 8-5 can be found in brass and no doubt there are etched metal sides to convert the basic car too.  I will most likely substitute a 12-1 as a stand in for the time being..  They are easy to strip using any of the available hobby paint strippers and repainted.

Here is a nice shot of one of the cars we are talking about.  Not sure about commercial decal resources but I do have access to an Alps printer with gold foil and can do some.  If I can locate another gold cassette I might be able to provide a few sets for other FUS enthusiasts.  The paint strip doesn't present a problem, yellow and an orange/red is easy enough to mask and if you are so inclined you can piece the lettering together using a Micro Scale sheet of similar fonts.  Overall these were Pullman Green, black roofs and who knows about the interiors.  These were sometimes a pale green.  I like the idea of having shades pulled and will remember to do this when I model a few for myself.

Here is a great example of what I am talking about.  Heavyweights mixed with light weight Mexican built Coaches with AC units on top and a caboose bringing up the rear.  Talk about a show stopper at the club.

While not the loco I just finished, this G8 looks the part and check out the colors and cars in this consist.

Modeling FUS in HO

 It starts with an Idea

As the dream of a large home layout begins to fade due to space restrictions at the moment, I have been thinking about doing something a bit more manageable.  I've always liked Mexican Railroading given the color and variety of freight cars you can model.  All to often railroading south of the US boarder has been depicted in a cartoon-ish manner for all sorts of reasons, good and bad.  I have modeled such in the past and thought this time I might inject a bit of reality in my modeling and show a more realistic view of the subject. Facebook and Yahoo groups like Mexilist have been wonderful resources for those who are interested in modeling in Mexico.  Books are few and far between but with the advent of the internet, a whole new world of modeling opens up for us.  Later I'll list some of the on line resources, but it doesn't take much searching to find great videos of world class layouts, both personal and club that exist south of us.

I have been looking for an area to model and decided to take on a short section of track in Los Robles in Veracruz Mexico.  I found a great shot on line of the small brick and stucco station and with a few more clicks found a series of photos and Google ground views on their Map site that provided photo documentation of the whole block.  Gold!

This will be a modest structure, easy to construct and then spend time detailing.  I hope to do the two other structures on either side of the building for a complete scene.  This will be added to an elongated Inglenook I am working on for switching and outdoor photography.  The area is wooded so using backgrounds where I live should fit in fine.

Below is the first test cut of the station.  I neglected to add the thru-holes on the south wall, that's been corrected and all of these parts will be cut again.  I designed the parts to be tab and slot assembled and those joins covered by the exterior pillars so this should assemble quickly.  I also got a good shot of the wall texture and rastered in rotted brick work to simulate the actual wall.  Since I am working on a full scene I will mock up the other two structures north and south of the station and decide how much room I will have to do structures behind the alley way and those across the tracks to the West.  Here is a composite of the two other structures.  The red one appears to be a club or store and the other a home with a shrine I suspect.  I got excited when I first saw it and thought it might be a used car lot...heck, it might just end up being one.