This category includes all posts on O scale and Proto 48 topics.
I began building freight car models in O scale in 2008. At that time, while editor of the Seaboard-Coast Line Modeler magazine, I built an Intermountain O scale 1937 box car model for an article in the magazine. I enjoyed it so much that I have continued to build a few O scale models every year as a hobby-within-the-hobby.
My models are built to the “Proto48” standard. American O scale is 1/48 scale but the track gauge is unprototypically 5-feet, zero inches (sometimes called “OW5”). Proto48 is the same 1/48 scale, but the track gauge is the prototypically correct width of 4-feet, 8-1/2 inches. The models are the same, but the wheel gauge is exact-to-scale. Moreover, since Proto48 is generally recognized as a fine-scale standard, most modelers who adapt to Proto48 tend to build models to a higher standard.
My long-term goal is to continue building freight cars for the time being, and build a small Proto48 switching layout when I finally retire and settle down.
Alongside the work I’m doing on HO models and layout planning, I continue to build a few O scale models in O scale fine scale, or Proto 48 as it’s called. It’s a hobby within my hobby. My last post … Continue reading No. 213: Proto48 Happenings
My wife and I are leaving the US at the end of January for another three-to-five year job at Ramstein Air Base, Germany. At 61 this will probably be my last full-time assignment working for the Air Force. After this tour we plan to come back to the US and settle down for a while. That’s the plan anyway… Leaving is bittersweet. I’ll miss family and friends, and we’ll be a long way from our three terrific kids who are all in college in the Mountain West. I’ll miss my modeler friends and all the fun RPM events, my footballer … Continue reading No. 206: Back to Germany
At Chicagoland RPM in October, our friend Tony Koester revealed his latest project, an O scale Tribute Layout on the Wabash “High Line” branch from Bluffs, Illinois to Keokuk, Iowa, which he’s building in his four-season porch. The real railroad gained notoriety in the 1950s for its locomotives. Because of a spindly bridge across the Illinois River the ‘Bash used a small fleet of lightweight 2-6-0s exclusively on the line. The little engines got a lot of press as the steam era ended. The right-of-way was interesting too; it was a friendly little railroad, running through Illinois cornfield country on … Continue reading No. 203: Freight Cars for The High Line
This is Part 2 of my trip to Minneapolis back in August 2024. Part 1 can be found here: https://railroadprototypemodeler.com/2024/09/19/no-200-visit-to-minneapolis/ After spending a fun Thursday with my buddy Clark Propst in Mason City, I drove north on Highway 65, which parallels the old Rock Island, to Northwood, Iowa, to try and find some inspiration on the railroad. I wanted to go to Manly but there was practically nothing left of the big yards, enginehouse and junction there. Then I drove north to Albert Lea, Minnesota to photograph the ruins of the old Milwaukee Road and M&StL there. The Rock Island, … Continue reading No. 201: Visit to Minneapolis, Part 2
What a fitting subject for my 200th post–a visit to Minneapolis, my home away from home during my youth. Above: A westbound Milwaukee Road freight train at Chanhassen, Minnesota in August, 1980. This is the first train picture I ever took. I was 16 years old. My mother was from Chanhassen. Her father–my grandfather–owned a large dairy farm just west of town and we visited the farm every summer. Minnesota is where I started railfanning, and Chanhassen is where I learned to admire The Milwaukee Road. Above. I broke the trip into two days so I could visit Jason Klocke … Continue reading No. 200: Visit to Minneapolis, Part 1
In June I committed to some significant model-building projects for a friend–a Nickel Plate 1937 box car, one or two Wabash composite gondolas, and maybe a few more freight cars as time permits. To make room for the new work, I’ve been working hard to clear a large lot of almost-completed models off the workbench. Here’s what’s new and finished. CGW Box Car The first car finished was this ancient Red Caboose box car. I built up the model last fall and left it sitting on the shelf, 95% done, for about five months. Below is a photo of the … Continue reading No. 197: Finishing Projects
Last weekend was a busy weekend at the Golden household. My youngest daughter graduated from high school on Saturday afternoon and then attended a prom for another high school the same night, and then hosted an after-prom party here at the house. Saturday was crazy. Sunday was Mother’s Day and after church I made sure the wife was happy, well-fed and didn’t have to do any chores. My other almost-adult-age children kept me busy the rest of the weekend, celebrating another year of college complete. Meanwhile I celebrated finishing an O scale Pacific Fruit Express R-40-10 refrigerator car model. Here’s … Continue reading No. 196: Proto48 PFE R-40-10 Refrigerator Car
On the way back from the O Scale National in Lombard, Illinois I stopped in Atlanta, Illinois to visit the J.H. Hawes Grain Elevator museum. The J.H. Hawes Grain Elevator was built in 1904 on the former in Atlanta. The east-west crossed the busy, double-track Chicago & Alton RR a block east from the elevator. According to town’s website, found at https://atlantaillinoistourism.com/grain-elevator-museum/, The historic J.H. Hawes Grain Elevator Museum was in operation for 75 years and is one of the few all-wooden grain elevators in America — and it still runs! A unique piece of American farming history, this museum … Continue reading No. 195: Atlanta, Illinois Grain Elevator Walk-Around
On Saturday, March 23rd I made the all-day trek from St. Louis to Chicago to attend the O Scale “National” at Lombard, Ill. The venue was the beautiful Westin Lombard, same as last year, and there was a lot going on. I went up for the day and spent a few fun hours talking to friends and also buying some harder-to-get models, then headed back home in the evening. I like starting a trip report with a driving picture. It makes me feel like I went somewhere. This northbound on I-55 in Illinois. This picture makes it look an awful … Continue reading No. 193: 2024 O Scale National and Proto48 USRA Box Car Model
Years ago I had dinner with Ted Schnepf. Ted is a former Milwaukee Road track guy and now runs an online and traveling hobby shop called Rails Unlimited (http://railsunlimited.ribbonrail.com/). I explained to Ted that I had an HO layout and was fully-invested in HO scale, but I also enjoy building Proto48 freight car models as a side-hobby. Ted said, “Oh yeah, you’re what we call a rubber-gauger. That’s a guy that bounces back and forth between a few scales.” New Proto48 Builds I’ve lived back in the St. Louis area for a little over four months now, and in that … Continue reading No 179: New Proto48 Builds
Railroad Prototype Modeler 