As a last project of the year (I like to alternate harder and easier projects) I had in mind to finish up three HO stock car conversions. These were inspired by the overscale AHM HO model I described in this article. There we learn it is based on a NYC prototype and is 15” too wide in HO. In OO it ends up as being 36’ long, a bit short in length but OK for freelancing as I am.

This photo shows my set of four. The NYC model is the one in the earlier article and was made by Bill Gilbert. It is on Schorr trucks and is a handsome car. He also replaced the roof walk, a step I did not take in the spirit of keeping the conversion simple. This was one of those projects where I kept reminding myself, no heroics! Just make a simple, clean model.

For my conversions I tried a couple different truck types on the cars but felt that Scale-Craft trucks gave perhaps the best look of the alternatives due to the wheelbase and the look. The UP car is just the stock version of the car on S-C trucks, and the Orient cars I think came put pretty well. They would look even better if they were 40’ long, and it does not help that the Scale-Craft stock car is 42’ long. Still, the area of the setting of my layout was a major one for cattle shipping and there will be a place for these cars on the regular running roster. And they were again a nice and relatively easy project to end the year with.