Patched: SP to LTEX to IR to My Layout

Any model railroad layout's operations will be dictated by the locomotives and rolling stock that is available for sale (either direct or second-hand) or that more skilled modelers can scratch-build. Another way to expand what's available is to patch an available locomotive of piece of rolling stock to represent another real-life example.

When I decided to set my layout in Illinois, I wanted some variety beyond just Class I and II action. The OmniTRAX-owned shortline Illinois Railway has trackage rights over part of BNSF to reach Eola Yard. The IR, as you might expect, has a diverse roster of locomotives. But two just so happened to be available in N scale. Talk about that falling into my lap!

The first offering from Atlas, Hudson Bay Railway EMD SD50 #5008 required no modification on my part. The real #5008 was transferred by OmniTRAX from Canada to the IR. The second, an EMD SD45T-2 #9238 from InterMountain Railway Company, did require some work.

As offered from IMRC, the SD45T-2 was painted for the locomotive parts supply and reseller Larry's Truck Exchange (LTEX), who bought it from its original owner, Southern Pacific. LTEX painted over its gray and red livery with basic black and applied "LTEX" along the hood.

This is what IMRC produced (Note: photo shows another road number):

But when Illinois Railway acquired the Tunnel Motor, they patched over the LTEX, added IR titles, and replaced those red/white safety stripes with the current FRA standard yellow reflective stripes. It thus looked like this in 2013:

Photo by Kris Rumbut from RRPictureArchives.net

I used Microscale's Norfolk Southern patch decals (60-1182) to find some black decals to patch over the LTEX on the hood, its N scale safety stripe set to cover up the red/white safety stripes, and then used a Railroad Gothic lettering set to add the "IR" titles. The latter were not an exact match for the prototype, which looks like some spray painted stencils. But it would have to do. My effort came out like this:

Not too bad, though the IMRC factory black paint job still looks a bit too fresh for what the real #9238 looks like today. I could weather it but I'll address whether to weather or not in a future blog.