formerparatrooper's video: Our Railroad at a Glance

I have been asked to do a video of our railroad at a glance to get to see some of the equipment and rolling stock. Most of the cars are scratch built accurate models of Soo Line Railroad equipment of the 40s and 50s when I was growing up at Glenwood Minnesota. The outside braced cars are unique in this scale and the 16 door drop bottom General Service gondola might be the only one in this scale. I have built many cars over the years we have been in this large scale, and I sold most of kit built cars in favor of my scratch built models. A book by Ken Soroos of the Soo Line Historical and Technical Society, SOO LINE Freight Equipment and Cabooses, was an absolutely necessity to help me with photos and builders data for each of the cars I have built. The only two I had actual plans for were the 1929 Pullman Standard outside braces boxcar and the 1921 Haskell & Barker 36' stock car, all the others I used my O scale models to measure and draw some simple plans in order to make the large scale model. All of my cars have operating air brakes, safety chains and automatic couplers.