Nice work on your "027" trailers Lee. You wrote previously on my photo thread, that my work had inspired you. And now, your alterations shown here have inspired me.
Some photos below that may have been on my other thread...
Above, a traditional Lionel flat car that I cut a piece out of, to shorten and get it more to proper "027 scale." Since taking this photo I have painted the treadplate ends of the flatcar a blackened silver. May not be accurate, but I like it better. The trailer is one I found many years ago at a dollar store, that is perfect "027 scale." Slightly smaller than the traditional type Lionel containers. I wish I had gotten more of them at that time, as I have never seen them again since.
Above, an originally much longer flat car, that I chopped down to more "027 scale" proportions. The trailer is one of the traditional type containers made by Lionel for many years. I also cut the length of that down, managing to keep the original factory lettering, but painted the roof of the trailer silver to help hide the cut line which was more visible on the roof.
Above is fun project that had been on my mind for years... an 027-friendly deep well car, albeit a representation versus an accurate scale replica. The flat car is an MPC era 8-inch one. I used styrene on the sides for the alterations, and other scrap parts, like some cut down K-Line metal ladders from their boxcars. The bottom container trailer is one of the Lionel 027 ones, that I cut the bottom off of. It fits snuggly over a piece of foam board that is glued to the flatcar surface. This is so I can change the bottom CSX container if I wish. The top container has the wheels and everything else on the bottom, cut off. It stays put on the lower container via some pieces of hobby foam glued to the bottom of the upper container. Since this photo was taken, I have added JB Hunt decals to this trailer.
I have several of this type of car, which started off as the frames from the Lionel spring activated dump cars, BUT which had the dump tabs broken off of when I bought them. I make various alterations to the flat car, so that I can use a variety of containers or trailers on them. The container shown above is one of the traditionally sized Lionel type.
Now when I get the Lionel dump cars of this type, I make supports to reinforce the tabs for the dump frame on the car itself. It's much easier to replace the dump frame if the tabs break on those (or even fix them, though kind of a pain), than it is to repair the ones on the car itself... and get the repaired tabs to match the existing color of the car. Much easier to take preventative steps.
I believe this was the photo Lee that you commented on previously. I like what you did with the wheels on your trailers, and my have to make some alterations to mine. I have these Lionel pup 027 trailers repainted in Reading, Norfolk Southern, CSX, Conrail, Chessie System, Jersey Central, Burlington Northern, JB Hunt and many others now.
Given that Lionel's tooling dollars are completely lopsided to the high-end side, we 027 and traditionally sized operators really have to take matters into our own hands. I have always found it somewhat ironic that I get so many positive comments about my alterations from HO scale guys. The very first time I did a show with a traveling layout I had, the HO guys were just raving about it. "Hey, take a look at what this Lionel guy is doing... you've never seen anything like this."
I've asked a few of them as to why. They have told me that even though what I am doing isn't to precision scale, I am doing what they have done for years: Being a model railroader.
Thanks Lee for showing us your projects. Call me inspired. May be others will be too.
