Hi Guys!
Nice snowplow, Shane. The Rock had many here in Iowa - but wouldn't have needed them much THIS winter (so far!). I wonder why model makers don't make the old tender snow plows? There is a photo of some in the F&PE book (pp 114-115). Even one shown in BLUE - so they used them up to the end. I have a booklet by Philip Hastings called "Remember the Rock". It shows a tender plow with a GP38-3 (b/w photo - but blue scheme) and a SP40-2 (R/Y speed letter scheme) clearing Iowa snow in 1979.
Of course, I also don't understand why they don't make the BLACK (with blue "R") hoppers, gondalas, and coil steel cars. They are really sharp looking!
Shane - I think the bid on the Crown car was somewhere between $14 - $16. Don't know what the final bid was. With shipping of ~$7 on top of that, I thought it was a bit much!
Hopefully will see a cheaper one (Galesburg will have a tough time coming up with everything I want!).
I keep talking about Galesburg as if I knew you know what I'm talking about. In case you don't, Galesburg, Illinois, (which has an AMTRAK station on the BNSF line to Chicago, and is served by the Chief and the Zephyr) has a Rail Road Days every summer. One of the local colleges hosts a big model RR show (as a fund raiser) during that weekend. Also BNSF usually has several locos on display, to "tour", and to ride. It's a great mix of real and model trains. So if you are ever in the MidWest about that time, it's worth dropping in!
- George