ON MY WORKBENCH.

A month ago, we looked at a string of freight cars in various states of restoration.  It's been a good month for relaxing on the back deck and quaffing beer, although the occasional humid day or slightly chilly night or, for a while, hockey on the radio, has provided opportunities to continue the work.

Two of the brass hopper cars are now on the railroad, earning income and paying per diem.

Norfolk and Western you're probably familiar with.  Milwaukee Racine and Troy is the model railroad staff of Kalmbach, the publisher of Model Railroader and Trains, are building in the break room of their office.  That railroad is an HO layout set late in the second-generation diesel, pre-Staggers Act era.  I got a little advice from Model Railroader staff on what a transition era hopper car would look like.  The herald is based on the New England Coal and Coke herald, and it foreshadows the contemporary MR&T herald that looks a little like something Robert Indiana might have come up with.

I found another brass tank car back on the shelves. These projects are not being worked on in any particular order, or it might be more accurate to say that the less challenging ones, requiring only minor soldering, drilling, and tapping, get the mechanical work done and go to the paint shop first.

I've also refurbished some unusual older style box cars, a ventilated fruit car and a short automobile car.  Those required additional weight, perhaps the right sort of couplers, and the addition of steps or grab irons that fell off over the years.  Note these are all cars from swap meets, which is to say, the work of other people perhaps out of the hobby or perhaps who have crossed the final summit, and they're still running.