The Bring’n’Brag category for June was “Non-Revenue Cars.” There were eight (8) entries submitted for voting.

1st Place went to Rick Montgomery for his entry of an HO scale Elkhart Wrecker, which he built by modifying an Athearn baggage car (cutting it down to match a prototype photo) into the MOW idler car and a PRR crane from Model Power into the Elkhart Wrecker.

2nd Place went to Jimmy Braum for his 3-D printed Conrail transfer caboose, which he designed using Google Sketchup. He painted it Conrail Blue, printed interior parts, applied decals and detail parts. The model still needs a few finishing touches, such as weathering and the final detail parts.

3rd Place went to Ray Helster for his entry of Norfolk Southern ballast hoppers with solar panels.

The N5k transfer caboose is a real oddball, and the modeler who entered this one helps to show how you can learn from this hobby. The modeler provided a detailed history of this rare cabin car: in 1970 Penn Central bought seven offset cupola cabooses from the ATSF and modified them by, among other things, cutting down the cupola height and adding the bay windows. The modeler followed prototype photos to reproduce this car in N scale, starting with an Atlas model of an offset cupola in (fantasy) PRR livery.

This page is copied from the Keystone Flyer, Bring‘n’Brag article by Susan Werner.