Winter 2024-2025 Custom Rolling Stock Projects

As a follow up to last year's post on this subject, ( See Winter 2023-2024 Custom Rolling Stock Projects ) I thought I'd share this season's efforts.

I've been thinking about a passenger set to run behind my PostWar 2245 Texas Special F3's. A purchase of 6 derelict 2400 series passenger cars at October 2024 York is the heart of my first rolling stock project of this winter season.

Follow along below for a progress pictorial of this project. But first, here is a tease picture of the finished project:

My 'new" Texas Special passenger cars with my Post War Lionel F'3's

This mis-matched "set" of 6 Postwar 2400 series passenger cars is what I started with:

After disassembly:

I then cleaned all parts, rewired as necessary and added lights to the observation car.

After sanding off all of the original heat stamped lettering, all body parts were sprayed with a light coat of automotive primer. Even though most spray paints say "paint and primer" on the can, I always take this step to secure an even finish. What you can't see in this pic is that I masked off the original silver color on the bottom edges of the bodies:

This pic shows bodies sprayed with 2 coats of off-white, ready to be masked for red ends and window stripes. The tops were sprayed with 2 coats of red:

This pic shows the masked bodies with the red paint applied. After drying, three of the cars already have the masking removed:

The cars are now ready for the decals I designed and printed. Each car will be individually numbered and named after one of the cities the real Texas Special routinely stopped at.

Some of the doner cars were missing window silhouettes. I scanned the ones I had, printed them on clear decal paper:

I then applied the decals to clear plastic sheets and cut the strips out to insert into the cars.

Exterior body decals applied, roofs and bodies sprayed with a coat of Testor's Dull Coat and, after drying time, all that was left was reassembly and running them behind my F3 pair:

My "new" passenger set on Warrenville

My 2nd custom rolling stock project this season was a lot less ambitious; converting a $5. junker into a Long Island Rail Road oil tanker.

The procedures I used for cleaning. painting, decal printing, etc. were very similar to what I described above for the Texas Special set

Here is what I started with. Note that I was going to use wire from my local Chinese restaurant's take out containers to make piping.

Finished project. I decided to use wire from a closet hanger for piping with a bolder look.

I just finished two LIRR cars to add to my custom painted LIRR train, a Crew car and a Tool car. Before and after pics:

Crew car - Before

Tool car - Before

Both cars - After

My custom painted LIRR train

For February 2025 I repainted a Postwar DL&W work caboose for the Pennsylvania Railroad. In addition to paint and decals, I added a back truck with coupler, window "glass" and a 2nd break wheel.

BEFORE:

AFTER:

Two more tank car projects completed March 2025:

Rock Island Chemical tank car before:

Rock Island chemical tank car after:

LIRR 2 dome tank car after:

My next project started as a piece of rolling stock but ended up as a Freight transfer station.

Some thin wood for a platform, an extra 6464 boxcar door, a plasticville scrap cut for an awning, paint, a 3D printed sign and a bunch of miscellaneous bits and pieces created this result from a donor LTI Crew car.

The donor car:

After, on the layout:

After, the back side:

Click below to see my Winter 2023-2024 Custom Rolling Stock Projects:

Winter 2023-2024 Custom Rolling Stock Projects