You are having fun running your trains. You have a schedule, scenery and even a backdrop.
Now it is time to add specialty cars. A majority of freight is shipped via box cars. But there are other cars for special use.
That is right. Model railroaders have access to all kinds of special cars. There are railroad cars with searchlights to aid track repair work done mostly at night when there is not a lot of rail traffic. There are cars that carry wood, ice or even automobiles.
These specialty cars need to be loaded and there are a bunch of readymade loading facilities, from old fashioned ice houses where a worker shovels blocks of ice into a car, to a milk dock where a worker loads cans of milk on the car.
There are logging cars with saw mill models. One of my favourite cars is the Giraffe car. Yes, the animal is too big to fit in a standard box car so the giraffe car comes with an open sunroof. The giraffe gets a bird’s eye view of the train trip as his head sticks out of the top of the car. But wait, what if there is a tunnel or low hanging branch?
Next to the track near the obstacle is a guardrail. The rail passes through the tunnel and exits the other side or if just past the obstacle. As the giraffe car approaches, a level is engaged by the rail. The giraffe with his head sticking out of the car suddenly ducks. Once safe, the rail stops, the lever is disengaged and the head pops back out of the box car.
Kids generally clap each time the head pops back up.
There is even a fuelling station where a man with a hose rushes to a parked train to fill her up. The list of specialty cars seems endless. So next time you want to add a little variety to your layout, think specialty cars!
Until next time, I hope to see you around the tracks.
