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Close up view of 672 getting her ashes dropped at Kayne. This shows the extent of modifications to a Tyco Mike to get better realism and believablilty. The tubes on the side of the firebox were over-fire jets for smoke abatement. Crews hated the noise they made. Weathering is restricted to sand residue. |
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Clarence Darden of Nashville was the road’s Chief Mechanical Officer and responsible for the design of the J-2’s class 4-8-4’s that coincided time-wise with the NP’s “Four Aces” Timken engine that gained 4-8-4’s the name “Northerns”. Had the NC’s engines been delivered a month earlier, we might know them as “Dixies”. To evaluate steam program improvements, the NC owned an ACF Dyno car. Here is my first attempt at Dyno car 90130, a modified Walthers car. Clarence asks “is it on?” as they check the inspection lights before a run.. See photo of Dyno, rev 2 ! |
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The Bachman Mountain is beautifully rendered for an inexpensive engine, as this close-in shot reveals. NC features added or moved are the bell and the stack, which is capped. This was a common, ever present spotting feature of NC steam |
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Engine 576 sits past Demonbruen Street Viaduct, outside Union Station and next to Cummins Station where Maxwell House coffee was ground and blended. The engine is scratch-built of brass, including the frame and includes a correct Alco semi-Vandy tender, also scratch built. Common commercial castings were used where possible as details. The building is a “flat”, made from a computer print of photos of that same building. |
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Cars for the City of Memphis were specific to that train, like no other since built in the NC’s shops. Since the original prototype car was a heavyweight Pullman, it still retains six wheel trucks, though fitted with roller bearings. As a result, every car of this train still exists today (2003). Here the RPO-Baggage car number 1140 is shown next to Cummins Station warehouse. The model uses scratch-built styrene sides applied to an Eastern Car Works core kit. Paint is Des Plains Hobbies EMD NC&StL formulations and decals are home made. |
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The tail car for the City of Memphis was homemade by the RR, like the rest of the real train. The model is also homemade, as accurate as I can make it in styrene. It has full interior and includes HO scale copies of magazines from the forties strewn about, and a copy of a Bible on a dedicated table, as on the prototype. Modeling the rear end was a huge challenge and special molds were made to form styrene to the proper shapes. The sides are scratch-built and every window is individually cut to fit. |
© Tom
& Maryann Knowles, 1996 - 2011