Pecos River Brass Santa Fe ATSF RPO

John was way ahead of the market with his products.  I have one of his Hudsons in 3 rail and it remains one of my most detailed steamers.  I was thinking of selling it,but not any longer.  Pecos John had some super stuff,great car Eric.

Norm Rish

Indeed he had !!!! I am still drooling about his 2-6-2 ATSF Prairie engine. Just to think what such a beautiful engine would be with a modern and more reliable chassis and motor.....
 Sighs.

Yves

I am still drooling about his 2-6-2 ATSF Prairie engine.

Yves -  Have you ever read "From a Sow's Ear to a Silk Purse", by Gary Schrader?  He goes through one of those Prairies and does one fine job of turning it in to a work of art.

http://www.oscalemag.com/docs/ost_30.pdf

It's too bad John couldn't hang in there a bit longer.  His next project was the diesel power for the first Super Chief, not to mention all the great products he brought to market. 

Now if only someone would bring in the Santa Fe heavyweight passenger cars.  The Pecos River cars are fantastic but try and put together a train set of them at the prices they are going for nowadays. I would settle for plastic bodies for them.  I like the look of that bottom sill that ran the length of the car. 

Steve

That's a nice looking RPO.... and the E unit ain't to shabby either

Yeah! What he said!

I've seen some of the PRB heavyweights. John had a real passion for Santa Fe and did a beautiful job with the heavyweights. They're commanding very high prices in the secondary market.

You guys do know that John had a few, NOS, 3-rail models still in stock, don't you??? I am not sure which of the steam engines he still had, but you might want to contact him if you are interested.

Jeff

I passed up a PRB steamer a few years ago in poor condition.  The seller said "make an offer".  I was simply unable to see how I could make it robust enough without starting over, so I passed.

Didn't they make a full train of heavyweights?  I assume the passenger cars were at least as sturdy as the PSC cars.

Awhile ago I bought a 3 rail "final version" ATSF Hudson from John. I have to say it is one of the very best detailed and running engines I've ever had, even without sound & smoke.  

Here's a pic of the  Hudson, I converted from three rail, it was also pretty busted up, but worth the effort.        Stephen     (cTr...Choose the Right)

Stephen - I don't know how bad it was when it arrived, but it's perfect now!

 3451 Modernized and 3458 Final Rebuild

Erik - Still wondering about the color of the RPO.  It seems a little dark for PRB Santa Fe green.  There is some controversy over the green PRB used, but it was better than most.

Beautiful pix.  Whatever happened to PRB and John Smith?

Ed

The 6 window RPO car was painted by Gary Schrader 

These models were not factory painting from the 1980's.

That's very interesting.  If Gary Schrader had a hand in it, it can't be wrong.  I don't know if I've ever seen that car before. 

I'm used to the greens on the combines above.  I did see that Tru-Color had a Santa Fe Heavyweight Green listed.  I was going to order some to check it out.

Is he still part of the O Scale Kings?

He may have mellowed out over the past few years otherwise be ready for an earful if you bring up his brass importing business.  He did a series of articles for O Scale Trains called "Crapola from the cupola".  People asked him to do things no one else would and he did them.  But he didn't think though sales prices and when stuff showed up most people thought they were crazy expensive and so they didn't sell.  I think he lost money on most of his projects and because of this he used income from his hobby business to cover it until there wasn't any more.

I got on a real computer.. 

I bought the car from Bruce Antell whom got it from Gary. It is a rare bird--- 

Here are those paint samples. again in good form not iPhoned. 

6 Window RPO

Coach Olive Espee/UP Challenger

PRB ATSF Factory Applied Coach Green

Pullman Green on a Pullman Heavyweight "Black with a whisper of Green"

I think I like the 6 window RPO a little better. However looking at the photos of the 1:1 cars both color and black and white varying shades of the ATSF fleet was common.. A key element here is to have a brownish/Yellow tint in the green for the ATSF Coach Green.. a warm green rather than the cool Pullman Green. I think they are both right in many ways.

Not to put to fine a point on it--- a monitor is a terrible way to make assessments on color temperature or hue. Not an opinion....

Its all good- 

Here is the PRB Prairie mentioned earlier.

Love it marker!!

We love our e units too aeh!!!?

Some of those photos look real.  And I do like the coach olive - I always have a hard time getting a green that I like.  I use a lot of Scale Coat GN green.  Protocraft has some new accurate SP paint.

On the business model: usually a successful business continues, or grows.  I know absolutely nothing about business - I used to try and figure out how we could take a loaded Airbus from Las Vegas to Boston with every seat filled with $400 passengers and make money.  I am baffled by folks who pay big bucks for a kit-making endeavor, knowing that they cannot fill the kit box and ship for anywhere near what a used kit would bring at a show.  I would never try what Scott Mann is successfully doing.

I think the way you do it is to figure that in the limit the gizmo will cost you $500 to build, the market is $499, not counting shipping, and you make up for it in volume.

We love our e units too aeh!!!?

You betcha!

That's awesome I didn't know Dave did any with those.

It's the only one.  I requested it, Roger was able to arrange it, and Dave was nice enough to build it.  I've always loved this photo.  I was going to buy a model of the Albuquerque station and try to model it, but changed my mind.  I decided to model the fueling operation and use my station.  I have one PRB tank car and am looking for a second.  I also been trying to find out how eastbound diesel powered trains were serviced.

 What I would do to get her in the studio!! Wow

 

I tentative plans to visit my son in Denver this summer.  If we drive, which is likely, I could bring it along.  I also have an E6B.  Check my profile and send me your email and we can try to make plans.  

Howard 

Marker, beautiful photo....

Thanks Dennis

Dennis, the photo was taken by Jack Delano, a photographer for the Farm Security Administration/Office of War Information during WWII.

Here is a link to some other of his photos: http://www.loc.gov/pictures/se...sa&st=thumbnails

Hey Marker,

Thanks so much for posting the link to Jack Delano's pictures, I've killed half the morning looking at them.

Ron

I know what you mean!