The stock telephone utility truck (opposite page, bottom) was re- worked to have an open compartment in the back. Note the tele- phone truck’s open tool locker, as well as the water can, poles tools and ladder on the passenger side (above). The open back
(above right) holds more tools. Two new crossarms are on the driver’s side (below left). Note the well done weathering job. The C&VRR also gained a nicely weathered Chevy pickup (below right) from techniques learned during this project.
into holes drilled into the ends of the line. The tools hang below the ladder. An open door eventually found its
way onto the telephone truck anyway. The top half of a tall locker door was drilled out, filed and scraped to a rec- tangular opening. All sides of the open- ing were filled with strip styrene to en- close the locker. The bottom half of the existing door got a small panel of .005″ styrene like the inside of a prototype door. When painted to match the interi- or of the locker, it looked like a door ly- ing open against the side. While I was at it, all the round knobs on the larger lockers were drilled out and replaced with latches cut from a scrap locomo- tive hood. The locker got piled with hand tools roughly suggested by bits of heavy alu- minum foil and colored styrene. The back of the truck needed equipment and weathering as well. After a bit of re- working and paint, I tossed in a shovel and pickax from my leftovers cache. A salvaged Jerry can fit right in too. A tis- sue paper tarp, a Kraft paper corrugat- ed box with galvanized nuts and bolts, a spruced up block and tackle from a
RAILROAD MODEL CRAFTSMAN
model pirate ship, and scraps of strip- wood added to the pile. The aluminum water cooler strapped up on the back corner was shaped from some white metal casting. A foil handle, a black pa- per strap to belt it onto its stand and a nut, bolt, washer (n.b.w.) casting glued into an oversized hole for the spigot completed the transformation. A simple trailer hitch was made from styrene 4″×4″ and another n.b.w. casting with its stem end dipped into thick cyano- acrylate several times to form the ball. The lineman working on the pole tops off the scene. His climbing gear and tools are paper strips and thin wire. His clothing is based on period magazine ads. The pole is a bamboo skewer. My C&V Railroad operates in rural
Vermont where pickups outnumber cars. The few trucks already on the lay- out were new, so I added one of these older pickups and weathered it with what I learned during this club project. Its driver chats with a friend while waiting for a load. These trucks and other versions are readily available and easy to work on. There are now stake bed and dump
57
trucks. Adding a few details and typi- cal cargos can help them convey the time period, season and local economy on your layout.
The lineman’s climbing belt and the leg and foot straps for his climbing spikes are paper. The D rings on his belt and the dan- gling wrench are made of wire.
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