In a series that started here I’ve been working on completing a prewar Nason boxcab. Finally, it is nearly done.

In terms of operation, it runs like a champ and has a nice vintage look. I opted to paint it black, seems like most comparable engines were also painted black, like steam locomotives were, with little or no safety striping early on. The black scheme tends also to hide the lower detail of the sand castings.

I did look at a few prototype photos to decide on the lettering location and the number. The Erie had a similar boxcab numbered 25; if that was good enough for them, it is good enough for me.

As to how my Kansas City, Mexico, & Orient ended up with one, I’m thinking maybe it was used in their Kansas City yards originally, but by 1940 was out in my small town working.

(The real KCM&O was projected to run out of KC, but actually built southwest from Wichita into Texas and Mexico, and became part of the ATSF in 1928. My Orient assumes that they did build out of KC and lasted into the 1980s. More on the real Orient may be found in this article).

The very small decals such as the end lettering and at the top of the sides are from a Microscale set for an Orient tank car. I’ve used parts of those sets many times.

Looking at the end, it reminds me that the engine is not quite done, I need to touch some white paint on the headlight lenses and maybe a few hand rails.

Also, I’d like to have a little striping or something on the ends, but I held off on that for now. I’m planning tentatively to make at least two more models in this black prewar switcher scheme (a SW-1 and a NW-2), I’ll figure out out then. I don’t want a crazy ATSF style zebra stripe, but a little something would be nice.

In any case, I’m enjoying working on the 1940 era for the layout and this engine should make many laps around the layout in the coming years.