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COWCATCHER MAGAZINE
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THIRD GROUP OF CARS ARRIVE
The Museum of the American Railroad made its third move on Oct. 12, 2012. An eight-car consist left BNSF’s Irving yard at 1:45 p.m. and was delivered later that day. The consist moved slowly and presented a few challenges. Despite reconditioned journal surfaces, new brasses and pads, two journals ran hot. Volunteers lubed journals with a mixture of oil and STP, as well as hotbox sticks, to keep the consist rolling.
Film posted courtesy of VisitFriscoTX
MAR’s FIRST CARS MOVE
The Museum of the American Railroad moved the first pieces of its collection Aug. 27, 2012 from a BNSF yard in Irving, TX to the museum’s new site in Frisco. A dedicated six-car consist of the Santa Fe M-160 motorcar, Missouri-Kansas-Texas dining car No. 438, Pullman sleeping car Glen Nevis, a 40-foot steel Texas & Pacific boxcar and two refrigerator cars from the old Armour meat packing plant in Fort Worth was placed on a tail track by the Frisco Discovery Center.
Fort Worth-based Lockheed Martin Recreation Association’s Gulf & Denver Railroad Authority HO-scale layout was the background for a short film which blends live action miniatures and 3D animation that is up for a YouTube- and Ridley Scott-sponsored film award. Towns come to life in “Stop. Watch. Love.”, a five-minute video by Element X Creative of Dallas that tells the story of a young boy who finds a magical device and changes the world around him.
The film was one of 50 semi-finalists in the 2012 Your Film Festival.
Film posted courtesy of Element X Creative
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Katy Flavor
Growing up in Central Texas in the 1980s, David Heyde loved big machinery. Only natural for a boy surrounded by a mighty river complemented by steamboats, an active Army airfield and regional airport, and equipment that tended row upon row of corn, soybeans and other grains. What loomed largest, though, was the Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad. Heyde’s MKT Central Texas Subdivision, a compact but bold HO-scale layout, captures on two levels around the walls the zest of the iconic railroad that ran from Kansas City and St. Louis to Galveston, TX, and the Gulf of Mexico. All while maximizing space in what once was a one-car garage.
Holding Steady
This year’s National Narrow Gauge Convention is coming home, where it all began 45 years ago. The Mudhens will once again have a large presence at the convention Sept. 3-6 in St. Louis. Over the last four decades, their rise has been rather circuitous. While developing national appeal in narrow-gauge circles, these dedicated modelers from St. Louis to Arizona to Texas have persevered.
Personal Switcher
The Kansas City West Bottoms Railroad (KCRR) debuted in early March, with no small impact on a parcel of track along the former Missouri Pacific Railroad near the Kansas-Missouri line. What’s turning heads, says KCRR president Rich Duncan, is that the tiny Class III short line is rewriting the railroad marketing narrative on first-mile, last-mile service with a new level of dedicated switching so its three customers can better connect to the Union Pacific.
Plus
Columnist Michelle Kempema writes that model railroaders and railfans can preserve their legacy for a good cause, railroads once ran special trains in enormous size and variety and autonomous battery-electric rail cars are being piloted on two Georgia short line railroads. Also, one modeler looking for something unique for his layout found just the thing in an old model railroad magazine - plans to scratch build a rock bunker. And more!
