Athearn 50' South Shore Gondola from Berwyn's Toys and Trains
A real Chi-Town rarity today! This is Chicago South Shore and South Bend Railroad (CSS) gondola from Athearn. I purchased it used and assembled, but it would likely have been a kit originally. The tooling is the familiar Athearn 50' Gondola that has been with us for many, many decades.
Detail is adequate and it's exactly what you'd expect from a casting of this age.
That it has end printing probably dates it from the last decade or so of Blue Box production. It still appears on the Athearn website (though as discontinued) as Item ATH1744 As near as I've been able to tell, Athearn kits only got end printing sometime in the 00's or possibly the late 90's, though if someone has more accurate information I'd love to know.
A 50 year old tooling it may be, however, what sets it apart from a million other Athearn 50' Gondolas is the Chicago South Shore and South Bend livery. CSS rolling stock is quite uncommon in HO. While I'll likely never have a complete CSS train, this is a perfect car to interchange with my EJ&E and other Chicago short line railroads and it's a car I was very happy to have discovered.
A couple days after after the first picture was taken I applied a ruddy brown color to the wheels with a paint pen, something I've started doing recently.
Not as dusty/rusty looking as a proper weathering powder treatment, but it takes all of 60 seconds and I think it improves the look of stock plastic wheels quite a bit. I'll be doing an article on cheap-but-effective paint pens at some point in the future.
I found this car (they actually had two!) two weeks ago at Berwyn's Toys and Trains. It's a very nice local toy and hobby shop that deserves a shoutout. It's been around for 28 years and it's present location is in a historic Chevrolet dealership on Route 66, Ogden Avenue.
I used to stop in only occasionally, but have started visiting more often as they have been growing a nicely curated selection of used HO. It's always worth a look when I'm down Route 66. They also have other great things like an interactive O layout (they specialize in O), model rocket supplies, and a variety of models, hobby supplies and better-quality toy lines (LEGO, Playmobile, etc...). There's also an interesting instrument store and resale shop just up the block.
Til Next time,
-Karl
UPDATE: Between initially composing and posting this I've gone back to Berwyn's and purchased the second of these. Who knows when I'd find another? It will get the same treatment as this one plus a road number change.
Detail is adequate and it's exactly what you'd expect from a casting of this age.
That it has end printing probably dates it from the last decade or so of Blue Box production. It still appears on the Athearn website (though as discontinued) as Item ATH1744 As near as I've been able to tell, Athearn kits only got end printing sometime in the 00's or possibly the late 90's, though if someone has more accurate information I'd love to know.
A 50 year old tooling it may be, however, what sets it apart from a million other Athearn 50' Gondolas is the Chicago South Shore and South Bend livery. CSS rolling stock is quite uncommon in HO. While I'll likely never have a complete CSS train, this is a perfect car to interchange with my EJ&E and other Chicago short line railroads and it's a car I was very happy to have discovered.
A couple days after after the first picture was taken I applied a ruddy brown color to the wheels with a paint pen, something I've started doing recently.
Not as dusty/rusty looking as a proper weathering powder treatment, but it takes all of 60 seconds and I think it improves the look of stock plastic wheels quite a bit. I'll be doing an article on cheap-but-effective paint pens at some point in the future.
I found this car (they actually had two!) two weeks ago at Berwyn's Toys and Trains. It's a very nice local toy and hobby shop that deserves a shoutout. It's been around for 28 years and it's present location is in a historic Chevrolet dealership on Route 66, Ogden Avenue.
I used to stop in only occasionally, but have started visiting more often as they have been growing a nicely curated selection of used HO. It's always worth a look when I'm down Route 66. They also have other great things like an interactive O layout (they specialize in O), model rocket supplies, and a variety of models, hobby supplies and better-quality toy lines (LEGO, Playmobile, etc...). There's also an interesting instrument store and resale shop just up the block.
-Karl
UPDATE: Between initially composing and posting this I've gone back to Berwyn's and purchased the second of these. Who knows when I'd find another? It will get the same treatment as this one plus a road number change.
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