# What can I do with broken rolling stock??



## Aminnich (Nov 17, 2014)

Hey guys, 

Sorry for all the topics this week, can you tell im looking forward to the train meet next weekend?

Im planning on buying rolling stock in bulk, even if somethings are a little broken in the lot. The first thing I would try to do is combine cars to make on functional working car, but what can be done with the "parted out" car??

I have seen stuff like using a caboose body as a small yard office and box cars for scrap yard storage boxes, but im wondering if anyone else has some ideas of their own or you have seen surfing the waves of the internet. :laugh:


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## ShaderMike (Jan 23, 2016)

At one point, my dad's layout had a "rail bone yard" so to speak.

It was a small scene at the end of a stub line that had a bunch of old train parts, kind of like a scrap/junk yard like you might see for cars.

A little heavier weathering, some "weeds" or "bushes", maybe animals hiding under the nose of a diesel's shell.


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## Aminnich (Nov 17, 2014)

That is a really good idea, Thanks!


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## shaygetz (Sep 23, 2007)

Practice painting, weathering, cutting them apart preparing for the "Big Cut" on another car...always a good use. Pull the doors and use them for fencing around said junk yard, pull the weights to reuse in other cars...

A scrapped F unit provided the missing stirrup on the rear of this unit, as well as the horns...










The car behind it is waiting for a similar model that can donate a missing corner step.


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## Lehigh74 (Sep 25, 2015)

A flat car with no trucks can be used as a small bridge. A hopper with one or two missing trucks can be used as a sand bin, but then you have to get or make a sanding tower too.


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## tkruger (Jan 18, 2009)

I have a spur to nowhere on my line. It is a track that goes from a grain elevator and curves behind a building into the background. The viewer can only see the end at the elevator and the other gives the illusion of going to another location. On that line is a pair of grain hoppers and an F unit each with one good side (not facing the wall). I also have a Walthers car hop with the same type of set up. Gives added depth to the layout.

I have also used parts cars as kitbash mockups. I.E. Test to see is an Athearn base will function with a Mantua top etc. 

Passenger cars make great diners. And then there is always that historical society that has a car or two to restore on its lot.


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## DonR (Oct 18, 2012)

I created a diesel fuel storage tank for my loco service area using
an old tanker with a broken frame.

I glued a number of 'rusty' wheel sets to a piece of old brass track
to form a wheel supply for the service yard.

Weather various parts and scatter them in your yards for scenery.

And finally, the cliche of all time, an old passenger car can become
a roadside diner.

But save the brake wheels and lower climb steps to replace what
goes missing on good cars.

Don


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## MacDaddy55 (Aug 19, 2008)

*Dining Cars make great Diners!!*

Hey Aminnich, Take a Passenger car especially Dining cars and make a Diner out of it. you can cut a foundation and place the Shell on it...or just place it on your layout and do some landscaping along the border....like the Indians say "Every Part of the Buffalo"!! :laugh::laugh:
Old Cranes or towers can be modified as well...just let your mind wander!!:thumbsup:


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## CTValleyRR (Jul 26, 2014)

All good suggestions. If all else fails, plastic and metal are recyclable.


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## Aminnich (Nov 17, 2014)

CTValleyRR said:


> All good suggestions. If all else fails, plastic and metal are recyclable.


If it is so bad it is not salvageable and would go into recycling... This guy aint buying it


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## Chiefmcfuz (Dec 30, 2008)

Why not stage a train wreck? 

Sent from my SM-T530NU using Tapatalk


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## Aminnich (Nov 17, 2014)

Chiefmcfuz said:


> Why not stage a train wreck?
> 
> Sent from my SM-T530NU using Tapatalk


Hmmmm, that could be a very good idea, but the problem with that is the lack of space on my layout. Maybe I could do that on "dead space" on the layout. I already have 2 train cranes


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## Shdwdrgn (Dec 23, 2014)

Along the lines of a train wreck... we once had three boxcars go loose down an old siding, ran off the end and piled up in a gully before the road. I think it took them about a year to figure out how to get some equipment in there to remove them.

If you have any mountainous area, how about a badly-smashed car that rolled down a hillside?

What about the after-effects of a wreck? Some deep-gouged wheel paths through the dirt, random smaller pieces of cars still laying around... just enough to give the sense of a catastrophe without actually taking up much real space.


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## Aminnich (Nov 17, 2014)

LOVE that idea!! My layout has plenty of mountains!! 

Train wreck over the cliff of a mountain scene here I come haha


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## Big Ed (Jun 16, 2009)

Search through T mans threads, he make molds of the broken part and makes the car almost like new again.
Nothing is junk for long with the T man fixing it, he is the Macgyver of Model train forum.:thumbsup: 

http://www.modeltrainforum.com/member.php?u=352

I am trying to find his thread about the common caboose top damage that happens to many of them to show you what he did but can't find it. I don't have the time right now to search.
Here is one I found maybe he will list some more for you, 
http://www.modeltrainforum.com/showthread.php?t=2202


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## Shdwdrgn (Dec 23, 2014)

Aminnich said:


> LOVE that idea!! My layout has plenty of mountains!!
> 
> Train wreck over the cliff of a mountain scene here I come haha


Don't forget to include some wreckage IN the trees.


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## Rip Track (Dec 15, 2012)

Here's something you can do with a passenger car.


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## Aminnich (Nov 17, 2014)

I got the ideas rolling with this. 

Oil tankers blew up. box cars ripped in half, etc etc

But, im not going to take up a powered track, It would be on a spur that uses a broken turnout. I would have the train cranes on that spur with the DC trains I have. Man this idea is using all the stuff I would not be using


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## Aminnich (Nov 17, 2014)

Rip Track said:


> Here's something you can do with a passenger car.


Hopefully I get a passenger car or two


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## Shdwdrgn (Dec 23, 2014)

You'll have to share some pics as your work progresses! I'm hoping to get started on the framework for my layout this Summer, so it'll be quite awhile before I start adding nice details like this.


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## Aminnich (Nov 17, 2014)

Well, I am not far at all, but I will definitely be sharing pictures


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## Chip (Feb 11, 2016)

Yes, the broken turnouts need to be kept for "just such an emergency!" I'll be using one I got at a garage sale for the spur that disappears into QUICKSAND before you get to my "Rock Ridge". No trains will use that spur so the turnout will be "stuck" in position so no trains will go to the spur that disappears.


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