Kato Mytram Classic European Trams

I ordered a set of the newish Kato Mytram Classic N scale European-style tram cars, which consists of a powered car and a trailer as used on the prototypes. These were a style used in many places, especially in the German-speaking countries, from the 1930s to the 1950s. The set I ordered was red and white, which is the color of Vienna trams. I rode these many years ago as a traveling student.

These can be found on eBay in the $50-$60 range. I ordered mine from Japan with free shipping, and it arrived in less than a week. It has the same mechanism as the Kato steeplecab I posted about here a couople of months ago. It runs smoothly and reliably, and it could be converted to DCC the same way as the steeplecab.

Here are some photos operating on the N scale trolley-style layout I'm building on a pair of double-wide T-TRAK modules.

Another Load For The Ertl Collectibles Flat Car

I've been browsing both the web store of Earnesttrains.com and his eBay store, bajadezert. He has quite a good variety of unique and well-executed items at a range of prices, all of which seem reasonable. Among other things, he has a 3D printed kit for one of the Ford GE switchers that eventually went to the Wellsville, Addison, and Galeton.

For some reason, there are items at the eBay store that aren't listed on his website. One of these is a steam locomotive boiler. This is the sort of detail that can be loaded on a flat car, either during the steam era or a contemporary one being shipped to a museum operation. I ordered one and painted it with a spray can of TruColor Matte Aged Rust, with some Floquil Graphite brushed onto the smokebox and Tamiya Brown Panel Liner added to enhance the rustiness.

I found a few photos of prototype boiler loads online for inspiration:

These are smaller prototypes than the model load, which might be for a large 2-8-0 or small 2-8-2, but they give an idea for the color.

Loads For The Ertl Gondolas

Coming back to the Ertl Collectible cars, Ertl offered loads for all of them. They were mounted on floors that could be substituted for the bare floors in the cars, but actually, none of those loads looks right to my eyes.

So I went looking for other choices. The Ertl Lehigh Valley gon is in a number series that I believe is actually company service, so I went looking for a load that might be believable inthat context. I'd had a Chooch cas resin load for an EMD 567 prime mover covered with a tarp that looked like a logical choice, so I put it in. I haven't been able to find anyh current listing for this product on the web, so I assume it's out of production, and I can't find a SKU for it.

The model below is from a new supplier who sells on eBay as well as a web site, Earnesttrains.com. This is an HO 30 ft heat exchanger. It's a simple 3D printed kit that comes unpainted. I painted it with a spray can of Tamiya Aircraft Gray, as I did a search on the web and found that heat exchangers are typically painted silver or light gray.

Earnesttrains has a lot of similar loads, including Alco, EMD, and Baldwin prime movers.

Below is a Chooch 7286 Barium Oxide Bin load. I had a hard time finding anything about barium oxide on the web, but apparently it is, or was, used to make cathode ray tubes. I cut off one pair of bins to get the load to fit the Ertl gon. The bins seem generic enough to fit a range of possible service.