Let’s say you wanted a modern Diesel for your layout back in 1940?  You could sand cast it yourself.

That is exactly what H. L. “Red” Adams did, as described in the November and December issues of The Model Craftsman. His article begins, “Well boys, my Mohave OO railroad has at long last acquired one of those new-fangled dielectric streamlined locomotives.” After a bit of defense on the topic of a modern diesel model being the topic of an article we read,

[W]hen I write one of my construction projects for publication, I really build, run and test, change, improve, etc. on the job. If you like these construction articles, I feel that I have done our hobby some good. If you don’t like them, tell the Editor, and he’ll see to it that you get what you want. He tries to give the readers what they want; not necessarily what he feels they should have.

He had written a similar article in 1940 on the topic of sand casting steam boilers. This time the topic is a bit more up to date! The completed model was an impressive effort for the time.

In this brief post it is not possible to cover the topic of making a sand cast model properly, but the photo below from the November, 1941 article shows the patterns and core boxes that would be required for making this E unit locomotive. The setup used for casting a Schorr F3 would be essentially the same. A most interesting view into a past era of model railroading.

Article updated 2021