Rolling Stock Repairs

Now that tracklaying is complete (on the "left" portion of my planned layout; see plan in earlier post), I've turned my attention to rolling stock. Most of it survived packing and moving from Idaho with little damage, having been carefully wrapped in layers of the Idaho Statesman newspaper. What damage there was amounted to dislodged features like air hoses and steps, etc. These damages are easily repaired.

I have also been checking out each car's trucks, coupler heights and weight to ensure uniformity. I'd previously put off properly weighting a couple of cars because they had performed well enough, but now I'm making sure they're right. I want to be able to back a long string of cars without problems. Of course, a "long string" on a switching layout like mine might be only five or six!

I also unearthed some additional American Flyer carbodies I'd acquired over 30 years ago when we lived in Seattle. Flyer bodies are well-scaled, and with the addition of scale trucks, couplers and other detail, should look great. I've got enough carbodies to double my rolling stock roster. That will have to wait, however. Right now, I need to do some repainting and relettering of my existing cars. More about that in a future post.