Following up on the combine (rider car) for the Fast Mail seen last week, we have this ATSF heavyweight RPO, probably part of the same train consist, by James Trout.

The scratchbuilt RPO model is lettered as ATSF 77. The sides are a thin tinplate material and have rivets pressed in in the same manner as the combine. As with the two companion baggage cars built with Exacta sides, there are a lot of little details here, quite a bit of soldering and fabrication was required. There are no interior details, but the metal bars in the windows are a nice touch. Also note, on this and the other cars, the shape of the fillet at the top of the roof is nicely continued down to the end of the cars.

To the final photo, the trucks on the RPO are Kemtron, a post-war product. They are built up from lost wax castings and look great on this nicely detailed model.

The car is equipped with Devore couplers and of course the sides are hand lettered. Also you will note little dings here and there. I am not going heroic on restoration on this — many of the cars I have from Trout have this type of light damage, but too much effort to repair will only detract from the models.