298 Posted July 10, 2013 Share Posted July 10, 2013 I thought I’d better briefly introduce my next long term project, now that Pete confirmed a while ago that it is in fact eligible for inclusion in the US & Canadian section. Despite being outside of the usual area for North American modelling, it was built by a well known US company, and mainly used imported stock until the 1960’s when a trend started to import both new and secondhand stock to the Island from all over the world. It is of course Cuba, and the line in question is the Hershey Interurban. Reasons for choosing this line included a desire to start a new project (don’t think I have abandoned modelling the Yakima Valley, if anything this prolongs that interest as I won’t be rushing to finish new stock for shows or wearing out existing favourites). Similarities between the two are obvious, but one of the main differences are the use of pantographs which would allow hands-free switching, the UK public having never really understood trolley poles or the requirement for a crew member to switch the poles or hold the rope when “back-poling” which is nigh on impossible to recreate in HO scale. I did consider a more recent era with rebuilt red steeplecabs and foreign imports, plus a more run-down feel, but the late 1950’s were surprisingly well documented by William D. Middleton and would allow more original equipment before being “altered” by the Hershey Shops, and shiny brand new GE 44 and 70 tonners. But a lot of the more recent information is also suitable, as nothing has drastically changed so the layout could be brought forward with suitable stock. I was surprised to find that there isn’t a big glossy coffee table book on the Hershey and thought I’d have to make do with photos from the web and other books I already have, but eventually found the Cuban Railways Yahoo group, and made contact with a certain Peter Smith, who has built a couple of exhibition layouts, one of which is now looked after in a museum in Havana. Peter was kind enough to lend me a lot of his relevant material for parousal until I get to meet him in person at the High Wycombe show in November, where I am taking Wiley City. Doctor Quinn has also sent a couple of photocopied magazine articles which are helpful. At the moment nothing is set in stone, the layout length will be about 8’ long and consist of an electrified mainline with passing loop and a couple of spurs (Freight on the Hershey was pretty much point-to-point with little wayfreight at intermediate stations), and a junction with an unelectrified branchline for steam hauled sugar cane and a diesel hauled mixed freight. I already have a few items of stock that is spare from other projects such as Bachmann 44 & 70 tonners, and a recent bargain of a broken Sound-Equipped 4-6-0 that was soon fixed with a blob of solder and a decoder reset is a valuable addition to the steam roster. There will also be a couple of GE Steeplecabs along the lines of the models of 298 that I have built, and the Interurban cars will be modified RTR coaches or Labelle kits. I have been busy on the lookout for Roundhouse wooden boxcars and gondolas for bagged sugar, and Proto 2000 8K Tank cars, all of which will be repainted into Hershey or Shell colours. I haven’t got any definite plans with what to do with the Sugar Cane cars, possibly a custom etch on Kadee trucks or rebuilt flat cars. Want to see some photos...? Wiley City has temporarily been hosting some stock and Black 298 has gained a diamond frame pan, so apart from the liveries, this is basically what the trains will look like....: I'm still unsure of a name, although I'm told my family tree can be traced back to an Alonzo Gautrey who lived in Havana about 150 years ago so "Alonzo" might feature, or there's always something based around "Escaleras de Coches" or "Coches Profunda" (Spanish for Carstairs and Deepcar). 15 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Talltim Posted July 10, 2013 Share Posted July 10, 2013 Look forward to it Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
doctor quinn Posted July 10, 2013 Share Posted July 10, 2013 Hi Andy Central Alonzo Gautry has a ring to it! All the best with this one - let me know if I can help. Nick 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
trisonic Posted July 12, 2013 Share Posted July 12, 2013 Andy, Looking forward to some lush scenery - and that's just the urban sections! Best, Pete. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
298 Posted July 13, 2013 Author Share Posted July 13, 2013 Andy, Looking forward to some lush scenery - and that's just the urban sections! Best, Pete. I don't thik it'll be too overgrown, the line didn't seem to get the run-down look until it was well into the Communist era. Plus you wouldn't be able to see the trains... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
298 Posted July 13, 2013 Author Share Posted July 13, 2013 Hi Andy Central Alonzo Gautry has a ring to it! All the best with this one - let me know if I can help. Nick Would you be able to draw up a GE Steeplecab in 3-D...? I have enough bits to build two complete locos and possibly a rebuild with square hoods, so I might have to put another order in with the MRRWarehouse. I'll put you down for some operating too.... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Supaned Posted July 13, 2013 Share Posted July 13, 2013 Thread creep - if you can draw up a Baldwin Westinghouse B steeplecab in 3D that would be even better.... Sorry Andy. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
298 Posted July 13, 2013 Author Share Posted July 13, 2013 (edited) Thread creep - if you can draw up a Baldwin Westinghouse B steeplecab in 3D that would be even better.... Sorry Andy. I know what you mean, I still think 3D printing is the way forward, even if the technology hasn't matured yet. I'd really like to have a go at this CAD malarky... Edited July 13, 2013 by 298 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
clark33 Posted July 14, 2013 Share Posted July 14, 2013 Andy, I was thinking about the Shell tank cars. I made a few notes. From the 1950 onwards the icon became simplified to avoid blurring when smaller on fax and Internet. The 1955 design uses the word Shell inside the icon. http://www.logodesignlove.com/shell-logo-design-evolution The red and yellow were Spanish colours to help the earliest California service stations stand out. Many early Californians were Spanish born. http://www.logodesignlove.com/shell-logo-design-evolution Esso had expanded in 1958, Shell Oil, which had operated in Cuba as a fuels marketer since 1922, had built its own 28,500 b/d refinery, also in Regla, a suburb on the east side of La Habana harbour, where oil refining was started in Cuba during the 1890s. http://www.ascecuba.org/publications/proceedings/volume15/pdfs/pinon.pdf I won two P2K 8K Shell tank cars off eBay Australia but when assembling I found a dome was missing. They’ll be shelf queens, till I find a donor dome. Anyway, these SCCX cars are in my Jan 1969 ORER (The Official Railway Equipment Register). In my minds’ eye, Castro’s revolution has slipped decade and they deliver to the US Naval base at Guantánamo. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guant%C3%A1namo_Bay Where do your Shell cars go? 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
298 Posted July 14, 2013 Author Share Posted July 14, 2013 Where do your Shell cars go? Hi Phil, In short, I don't know....!! There seems to be alot of tank cars in photos from the 50's and I'm guessing their use continued until recently and were augmented by imported cars from Russia, and can now be seen abandoned in loops along the Hershey & generally all over Cuba. There seem to be two traffic types using tank cars, shipments from the Standard Oil Co. Refinery at Belot nr Havana to all over the system for local distribution (Texaco & Shell cars also featured in my initial research), and Molasses from various sugar refineries to Rum distilleries, the latter seems a bit strange as the Hershey roster in the late 1950's only listed 9 tank cars, so I'm assuming this was a low volume or the Molasses were mainly transported in barrels in Box cars. I've been thinking that a Rum Distillery would make a ficticious but interesting little micro layout, with Boxcars, Tank cars and Gondolas in and out, and even an Interurban car for workers... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
clark33 Posted July 15, 2013 Share Posted July 15, 2013 Hm, I wonder what a rum distillery would look like. An excuse for a sugar cane loco. Gives me an idea for a boxcar load. Around here it’s a quid a bottle. In my twist on history the tank cars, probably GATX will ride the train ferry, Havana-Key West, and be lettered AZUGAS (Azucarera Gasolina).They’ll be loads of sugar cane ethanol, north to Fort Meade for USATC experiments. On my layout, Key West is a staging yard. Snap-shots later when my box arrives from Australia. Meanwhile I'll edit some way-bills; and I’ve found an Apco lettered 8k tank car to butcher. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Northpoint Posted July 15, 2013 Share Posted July 15, 2013 (edited) I guess we can include it at TVNAM at a stretch! Looking forward to progress - let me know when it's ready for showing. A bit tight for next year - how about 2015? Edited July 15, 2013 by Northpoint Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
trisonic Posted July 15, 2013 Share Posted July 15, 2013 Actually if one looks up "North America" you may well be very surprised by which countries are included under that grouping. The Caribbean countries are almost always included under that term. Best, Pete. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
298 Posted July 15, 2013 Author Share Posted July 15, 2013 I guess we can include it at TVNAM at a stretch! Looking forward to progress - let me know when it's ready for showing. A bit tight for next year - how about 2015? I think you're confusing me with Chris Gilbert.... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
298 Posted July 15, 2013 Author Share Posted July 15, 2013 Thread creep - if you can draw up a Baldwin Westinghouse B steeplecab in 3D that would be even better.... Sorry Andy. I've just found details of a cancelled order for 5 B-W "B" locos that had pantographs and were destined for Central Limones Sugar Plantation. I could twist history a bit and assume they ended up on the Hershey, so my brass one might get painted after all... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Red Devil Posted July 15, 2013 Share Posted July 15, 2013 Look forward to this one, had a mooch round when in Cuba a few years back, that plus an interest in anything tram/trolley/traction....... 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaminKeenan Posted July 16, 2013 Share Posted July 16, 2013 (edited) 298, Interested topic; I'll be following this. If anyone has dimensioned line drawings of a GE boxcab, I volunteer to model it in 3D. Thanks, Damin. Edited June 1, 2015 by DaminKeenan 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
298 Posted July 16, 2013 Author Share Posted July 16, 2013 298, Interested topic; I'll be following this. If anyone has dimensioned line drawings of a GE boxcab, I volunteer to model it in 3D (I use the student version of Maya and can export it to VRML). Thanks, Damin. I have a copy of a basic drawing with key dimensions on (from Joe Strapac's "Interurban Electric Locomotives from Baldwin-Westinghouse"). If you have the skills and are keen enough to give it a go, then I'm sure you will get lots of support from US based forums. The reason why I like the concept of 3-D printing is minor variations that might be unique to specific locomotives can be changed by the user, once the hard work has been done by somebody more knowledgable. The other loco I'd like to see done is the GE 50T Steeplecab (as 298 in the photos above), as again there were lots of road specific variations, but the model can be designed to fit straight on a Bachmann 44Tonner chassis. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Red Devil Posted July 16, 2013 Share Posted July 16, 2013 I have a copy of a basic drawing with key dimensions on (from Joe Strapac's "Interurban Electric Locomotives from Baldwin-Westinghouse"). If you have the skills and are keen enough to give it a go, then I'm sure you will get lots of support from US based forums. The reason why I like the concept of 3-D printing is minor variations that might be unique to specific locomotives can be changed by the user, once the hard work has been done by somebody more knowledgable. The other loco I'd like to see done is the GE 50T Steeplecab (as 298 in the photos above), as again there were lots of road specific variations, but the model can be designed to fit straight on a Bachmann 44Tonner chassis. Can it? That's interesting to know files information away for possible future 3d project...... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
298 Posted July 16, 2013 Author Share Posted July 16, 2013 (edited) Can it? That's interesting to know files information away for possible future 3d project...... The 50T Steeplecabs I'm planning for this project will again be stretched Cannonball Car Shops kits, they were designed to accept the earlier self powered trucks from the Bachmann 44Tonner and represent a smaller loco. The real 50T to 62Ton locos share the same truck dimensions and centres as the later diesel, so the chassis is a direct fit. I did consider this project in N as Bachmann also do a 44Tonner in this scale, but I doubt the chassis will fit inside a Steeplecab body, but might work inside one of the Hershey rebuilds with square hoods. Are there any prototype Steeplecabs that you are interested in...? Edited July 16, 2013 by 298 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Red Devil Posted July 16, 2013 Share Posted July 16, 2013 Since having a look at the Hershey in Cuba, I've had a bit of an interest, dunno just like oddball interesting prototypes, the state of what was left was fascinating too.... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaminKeenan Posted July 17, 2013 Share Posted July 17, 2013 I have a copy of a basic drawing with key dimensions on (from Joe Strapac's "Interurban Electric Locomotives from Baldwin-Westinghouse"). If you have the skills and are keen enough to give it a go, then I'm sure you will get lots of support from US based forums. Can you send them in a private message? I'm new and still figuring my way out with the RM forums. Thanks, Damin. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tove Posted July 17, 2013 Share Posted July 17, 2013 Interesting prototype. Do you have any layout plans drawn up yet?. Brian. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
k-59 Posted July 17, 2013 Share Posted July 17, 2013 I did consider this project in N as Bachmann also do a 44Tonner in this scale, but I doubt the chassis will fit inside a Steeplecab body, but might work inside one of the Hershey rebuilds with square hoods. I have the N-scale version and the chassis is far too high for a steeplecab. A boxcab on the other hand could work. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
298 Posted July 17, 2013 Author Share Posted July 17, 2013 Interesting prototype. Do you have any layout plans drawn up yet?. Brian. I'm still thinking about it (and my Brain tends to shut down in the heat so it it's taking a while, and I'm still unsure whether to go for the classic "Terminus", or a through station with traversers at each end, or the whole hog and make it a roundy-roundy for exhibition/garage use. Punters seem to expect more operation from a tail-chaser, and are more patient with an end-to-end layout. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now