Mean, Green, McKeen, Machine

@colorado hirailer posted:

I bought a McKeen plastic printed body and parts as a "kit", to build a critter l wanted in three rail forever and thought would never get, from a poster on here. I think there was a discussion about mounting these on MTH doodlebug chasses, but l want to know what THAT  MTH is a prototype of or close to?

The MTH Railking Doodlebug is a prototype of an EMC [Electro Motive Corp.] / Pullman [body] doodlebug.

Quite popular for its time.

Nice to see, another one done!   I had a challenging time with the round windows also, ended up using  plastic tubing cut to 3mm then press fitting into the holes, then painting them brass. Great use of the extra aft section

PS. Love the station too!  Merry Christmas.

Dave Koehler: Thanks, and l really need to decal mine.  I wish l had had your thought on the windows. Tried  different tubing/materials for windows, had a number of references but no window close-ups. Very glad to see yours done, and well.

Prrshc: EMC/Pullman...thanks!  Will look for a near match in the books.  Should be there. I even have an extra MTH body shell for one.  If l find another "Buddy", might be able to get a western road bash in stable.

there is not a lot out there on the widows, mine was based on one the Soo Line had, and the one that they restored , the rest I guessed at.  Whose did you base yours on ?

This is nice to see !!!!!! 👍👍👍👍👍👍👍

Years ago MTH offered a Premier McKeen but it didn’t get enough support so it died☹️☹️☹️
I was a buyer for it and was disappointed it didn’t have sufficient reservations to get into production.

@colorado hirailer posted:

Nice job building up your kit! I really like how the "depot hack" railroad bus came out. Is that front end from a Matchbox Models of Yesteryear C-cab?

In addition to the 72ft models, I did design a 55-ft McKeen based around the original RMT Buddy chassis as well as a 48ft trailer car. I built up one of each for my personal collection.

I like the trailer! It looks like it was a fun build , and I hope to see the others posted here

To answer questions: I have been  a McKeen fan for years, before seeing the rough, unrestored (now restored) one on the back lot of the Nevada museum years ago, so had accumulated the Keilty doodlebug books, one on an Ill. intended electric line (Woodstock and Sycamore) that could only afford McKeens, and a reprinted McKeen catalog. I was a reserver for the MTH one, and was very surprised it didn't fly. Since l was building one for my freelanced road, l added an engineer's access door to left side and made it "generic".  There were a lot of different configurations, from the factory, and, then, railroad modifications! The bus is a Corgi Mack box truck model hacksawed behind the cab. The real bus was on a unidentified truck chassis outside the Omaha plant. I went on a station building binge with a junkbox of Plasticville station parts, and am a fan of prairie common two story residence starltions .  I, too, would like one of the McKeen RPO trailers. I think l read the SP used them behind other power.

Out of the five McKeen kits that I have designed, here's the four I have personally built. The top left is my personal 72ft McKeen, lettered for the Cuyamaca Line. Top right is the 32ft short RPO trailer (one of the very first models I ever designed and 3D printed). Bottom left is the 55ft McKeen with the 48ft trailer behind it at bottom right. The 55ft McKeen is quite a bit taller than the rest of the series because the donor engine I built it with (actually a K-Line Budd car and not a RMT) had those MPC era trucks with the can motors inside them.

A future project is this Ann Arbor Railroad 72ft McKeen car, which has a distinctive parabolic nose section. I have a couple kits printed up but haven't picked up another Railking Doodlebug donor chassis to build it with yet.

@Dave Koehler , @colorado hirailer : I've got some printer downtime coming up next month, I could do a run of the 48ft trailers if there's interest. It would be a complete kit with 3D printed body, frame and opening doors. I have your contact info from the spring so I will email you some details once I've worked it out.

Trainguy:. I would be in for a two truck  32' RPO/baggage, and maybe a 55' McKeen, as found another "Buddy". These were also available all passenger, in the 1912 McKeen catalog.  I also need a pilot, as substituted a brass one.

@colorado hirailer posted:

Trainguy:. I would be in for a two truck  32' RPO/baggage, and maybe a 55' McKeen, as found another "Buddy". These were also available all passenger, in the 1912 McKeen catalog.  I also need a pilot, as substituted a brass one.

Email has been sent, let me know if it doesn't reach your inbox. Interesting thought on the all-passenger version of the 32ft McKeen trailer, I've seen photos of that car. I need to completely redo the renders for that trailer first (I made them in Solidworks which I don't have easy access to anymore), but I'll make a note to make a passenger version in the future.