Railfanning on the Thoroughfare Gap model railroad

If you've watched everything on Netflix and YouTube during the COVID-19 lockdown, then here is another video to help with your train fix.

The company photographer spent the day on the other side of the canyon with one of Mr Edison's new moving picture cameras. It was an effort to drag the equipment up there. But it was worth it to capture the several trains grinding up the grade and over the two bridges to Thoroughfare Gap, on their way to Teresaton.

J.B. Silvis's Photography car

One of the more unique cars on my layout is a model of the Union Pacific Railroad's photography car as used by J.B Silvis. In the late 1800s, cameras weren't worn around your neck. They were big and heavy. This was also before the invention of film, so cameras used wet plate glass for negatives, which needed to be promptly developed in a dark room after exposure.

This technology, which yielded amazing detail in its time, lead photographers to roam about the countryside with a wagon dedicated to their trade. When constructing the transcontinental railroad, it made sense to cart the company photographer with the trains and the UPRR photography car was born.

The car was reasonably basic, essentially a four-wheel caboose that had been modified to include living quarters, a darkroom and a portrait studio. A skylight in the roof illuminated the studio.

The CPRR.org website has some excellent information about J B Silvis and this car. Be sure to check it out it.

The model is by Roundhouse/MDC. Out of the box, the model includes decals which are pretty close to the prototype. I modified the car by adding the skylight. I couldn't find any images of the top of skylight, so used some spare windows I had in my kitbashing box and inferred what it may look like.

I replaced the wheelsets with Walthers 33" proto wheelsets and reamed the trucks out so that it rolled easily.

It often spends its time parked on a siding. But occasionally it will be coupled to a passenger or freight train and moved to a different location. Just another way that modelling the turn of the 19th century adds brings something a little different operating the railroad.

Passenger cars, combines, decals and kitbashing...

I have six passenger cars on my layout, including three coaches, two combines and one baggage car. Four are finished in green, and one coach and one combine are finished in red.

I have been wanting to create decals for the red cars to depict the ornate Victorian guilt designs common at this time. So I spent some evenings on the computer and came up with the mocked up design below.

A Photoshop mock-up of the decals overlaid on the coach body.

A photoshop impression of a kitbashed baggage car.

I really like the look of the mock-up so will probably proceed with printing some decals for the coach. However, I don't know if a combine would be so intricately detailed. To me, combines are a practical compromise used on smaller trains. My railroad is a small railroad, but if I used baggage cars, I wonder if it would portray my line as busier and more important, further reinforcing the crucial role railroads played at this time?

So I'm tossing up whether to decorate the combine more modestly, or cut both my combines in half and cement the two baggage and coach sides together, turning the two combines into a coach and a baggage car.

One of the potential donor combines

 On one hand, two ornate red coaches would make a nice special train, which would pair nicely with a red baggage car if required. Doing this would enable me to run two passenger trains with three cars each (one baggage, two coaches) at once.

On the other hand, combines are useful for small local trains, but do I need two? I'm not sure. Kitbashing the two combines could sure be a fun project.

What do you think? I'm keen to hear your opinion on the artwork and the merits of baggage cars vs combines.