When Depot G came out with a Model Die Casting flat roof caboose with D.,S.P.&P.R.R. paint and lettering I swung into action. Of course the loco was 1:22.5 scale and the car was 1:24 scale but that was a relatively minor difference. The car happened to be a Denver & Rio Grande model without its cupola, so it was too long, was missing a side window, and had a pair of four wheel trucks but I could live with most of that. Only the wheel arrangement really bothered me; every bit of evidence I have suggests the waycar had two axles.

A TITILLATING PRELUDE

So "The Man of Many Thumbs" removed and discarded the MDC archbar trucks and cut away the car's underframe. Then, using his most dangerous implements of destruction to perform some modifications, he installed the undercarriage from an LGB European container car. It has been some time since I did that; the details are very fuzzy. All I remember is cutting away a lot of plastic and a few of my legendary thumbs and winding up with a reasonably acceptable South Park waycar.

If I have inspired you, forget it. Depot G no longer makes the car and I have found a much cheaper and easier way to build a far better 1:22.5 scale waycar. In dollars and cents, the Depot G waycar cost at least fifty bucks, as I remember, and the LGB container car another fifty or so. In other words, I spent more than a hundred dollars to produce a semi-acceptable model. Had I given the project any thought I could have done a better job for about twenty dollars (aside from glue, emergency surgery, and Band-Aids).

"How?" you ask. Gather around, engineers, and the thumbless old Railroad Man will explain.

THE RAILROAD MAN EXPLAINS

Buy a Bachmann "Coal Creek" flat top caboose. You should be able to find one for as little as ten dollars and no more than twenty. Then assemble about you the following: One can of Testor's "cream" spray paint, a can of Krylon flat or semi-gloss black spray paint, a roll of masking tape, a flat blade knife and/or a small screwdriver, and three packages of Woodland Scenics "Railroad Roman" dry transfers. You'll need two packages with the half-inch lettering and numerals and one pack with the quarter-inch lettering (for the fascia under the roof).

The whole car just pops apart. Notice the smoke jack comes off but the roof stays put; leave it alone. Use the flat side of the knife to remove the grab irons and other hardware. Better do it carefully. I broke a couple and had to glue them back in.

After you have disassembled the car, mask off the roof (it is already the right color) and spray the body with the Testor's "cream" paint. Use enough coats to keep the original boxcar red color from bleeding through. [Another approach is to prime the car with a neutral color such as Krylon Gray Primer, then apply the cream color.-Ed.] I masked off the bright red window trim just for effect; I have no idea whether it really was red but I like the contrast. Paint everything else flat or semi-flat black. Be sure to obliterate all the gold color on the grab irons and end hardware.

You may refer to the photos of my waycar when you letter your car or see pages 163 and 186 of The Mineral Belt, Volume I by David S. Digerness (Sundance Publications, Ltd., 1977).

The result? A more accurate waycar for twenty dollars than I was able to build for over one hundred. You know what annoys me the most about this project? Everything I used had been available to me when I built my first waycar.