BRASS LOCOMOTIVE DETAIL PARTS
Manufacturer: Trackside Details, 1331 Avalon Street., San Luis Obispo, CA 93405. Price: TD-90 C&S Headlight Bracket (2 pieces) $8.50 each; TD-87 medium length C&S/D&RGW whistle $3.50 each.
THE KING OF Castings, Pete Thorpe, presents us with the two latest additions to his Trackside Details line of brass, white metal, and plastic detail parts. The medium length whistle is very similar to his TD-8X brass steam whistle but it has a shorter stem, finer detail on the arm, and a thinner "neck" below the chime. The C&S headlight bracket will come in very handy for detailing the thousands of LGB Moguls because they all share the same Denver, South Park, & Pacific/Colorado & Southern heritage. Pete may have produced the headlight bracket in response to the demand from OR contributor Dean Lowe alone; Dean had been clamoring for a C&S bracket for two years and will no doubt be the single largest individual customer of that item.
The whistle measures about fifteen inches high in either 1:22.5 or 1:24 scales but is probably too large for either 1:29 or 1:32 scales. The headlight bracket is big in any scale. In 1:22.5 it extends 2 feet 9 inches, in 1:24 two inches beyond that. In 1:32 it scales almost four feet and would be unusable without modification.
No flash was present on either piece, but you'll have to cut the headlight brackets from their casting sprues. It is hard to find, but the rear of the whistle has a parting line on the chime, directly opposite the lever. If you are compulsive and patient you might try to polish it out.
Trackside Details have set the standard for large scale castings and both samples carry on the tradition.--RR
