Yet Another Inspection Locomotive

 

Inspection Locomotive Number 300 leaving the Stanislaus River bridge and carrying the superintendent to Oakdale.

Inspection locomotives are one of my weaknesses. My last such engine was reported on almost one year ago (http://sandcrr.blogspot.com/2020/12/another-inspection-engine.html). This engine is similar to the previous one in that it is a brass model of the Lehigh Valley's Dorothy. The main difference between this one and the previous loco is this engine represents an earlier version of the locomotive.

   

 Red Ball imported this piece in the 1960s-70s in both versions. Since this was the earlier version, I decided to add spoked wheels on the pilot and trailing trucks. A Minebea 15mm can motor with a new NWSL worm was installed along with a Tsunami2-Steam2 decoder. 

     In my research, inspection locos never were used west of the Rockies so these would be hard to find on a California railroad but, it's my railroad and I like them. If you are interested in learning more about these fascinating engines, pick up a copy of Railroad History magazine, issue No. 206. It has a very detailed article by Ron Goldfeder which covers about every inspection engine built. 

Mail and Express Wagons

 

The Wells Fargo Express wagon at the Farmington depot. Noe that the name reads "Wells Fargo and Co's Express." The
plural of "Co." was used on WFCo signage until the company dropped the "'s" in 1898.

I had been wanting for some time to build a small express wagon, the kind with a top but just wire screened sides. I had seen several pictures of such a wagon but there was no kit of one. Jordan had produced such a body but mounted on a 1925 Model T Ford chassis, a bit too new for my needs. Having such a kit at hand gave me the idea of using just the body and making my own wagon underframe. 

     Several months ago, when Jordan ceased production, I had created 3D drawings of their wagon underframe and so I put those on the 3D printer and got  some pieces for my project. Wheels were spares I had from another kit I had assembled. The parts went together easily and so I had the wagon desired. A few decals later and the project was done. Being pleased with the outcome encouraged me to make another wagon, this one for the mail as I had also seen photos of this kind of wagon used in that service.

The U.S. Mail used a similar screened wagon but with a bit fancier lettering scheme.

     In general, I am happy with the outcome, however, the chassis parts are a bit too large having been designed for Jordan's heavier delivery wagons. I think the lighter units made for the light delivery wagon would be much better. To that end, I drew up some more 3D drawings and will have a chance to print those up in the near future.