Well April is here and now my challenge is turning into a two part one. I'm going with the sand hopper conversion  thanks to Wayne's photo in other thread.  I have several options as to height, but I still like the lowest one. The first part of the challenge will be to find where I put the old hopper body, then see how much I will have to cut off.

Jim

My favorite steam wheel arrangement is the 4-4-2.  Not sure why, maybe because they were quickly superseded by the 4-6-2 making them unusual.  

I found a Mantua 4-4-2 at a train show about 10 years ago, and paid about $10 for it.  It runs great, but lacks a few details.  However, I debated whether to letter it for my fictional railroad, or just leave it as-is.  I just couldn't picture a small Arizona shortline owning a 4-4-2.  In the universe of my fictional railroad, There was a line connecting Phoenix to Safford and the mining regions around there.  There was a proposed line, the Arizona Eastern, connecting those towns, but the last segment was never actually built.  

Yesterday I stumbled across this photo online of the opening of the Phoenix Union train station.  And lo and behold, an Arizona Eastern 4-4-2!

I could find a MDC SP cab to throw on my locomotive.  I have a Vanderbilt tender...

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I got this link from Jason Shron today....scroll down to the March 24th entry by Jason.

Wayne

As I continue working on the engine facilities for the layout remake I have a Walthers Two Stall Engine House to build and weather.

OK, my challenge is to finish, or "deep detail" about a 5' long by 1' wide section of the layout along the back west side of it. I have the Diner area and United Transfer pretty much done, but the areas between them, and to the rear of them are needing to be finished off. 

Two big parts of this section is to finish the water tower area, and to kitbash some wig wags. I have been wanting to make wig wags just like the ones that were just 3 blocks from my house on CNW'S line. Sadly, the wig wags that were all through the West side of Beloit are long gone now, just like the CNW line that they were on, now its a dog gone bike path  , but with my memories of them, and pic's I have found its do able.
I guess the biggest part for me is to do the wig wags, I really have been wanting to get them made for many years but keep putting them off. I have purchased two wig wag kits that are very similar to the ones I grew up with, with some modifications I wont get them 100% exact, but boy they will be close enough. 

The wig wags on the CNW line in Beloit's West side were "similar'ish" to those in this pic, yet different  . These are actually just like the wig wags that were on the EAST side of Beloit, on The Milwaukee Roads mainline,   but this will give you an idea...
 

BEFORE SHOTS OF THE CHALLENGE AREA...

Leaving west yard for the days work.      Charlie

I purchased the rail joiners, so I guess I'll start with them:

   

The center package is the rail clamps that need to be installed.

There are a bunch of the standard Aristo joiners on the layout that need to be replaced.
For example:

   
The top line is the main and was done about 3 years ago.
The lower line is the trolley line that I want to update.

   
The right line is the updated area, the left is what i need to remove.  This section is about 10 ft. long under a 5ft tunnel.

Like most of you, I have been cooped up the past year, and need a little encouragement to get out more.  For this challenge, I am going to try and take photos of anything train related found at non-obvious locations.  That means I am not going to take pictures of trains near train tracks or at train museums, but rather when I see something related to trains at a restaurant, store, etc, I will take a photo and post it here.

This will be my "cover-my-backside" thread, to increase my chances of at least finishing one Challenge.  It will involve modifying some old steam locomotive tenders  into tool & water cars for MoW service.  They were started some time ago, and then put on the back burner, but like the passenger and head-end cars in Part I of my Challenge, I wanna get 'em done, and off my "to-do" list. 
As with the cars in part one, two friends will each get a car, while the other two are for my layout.

Wayne

I've had very little time for model railroading since the kids were born 4 years ago.  And to top it off my eyes started going bad a couple of years ago, and I don't have quite the eye for detail I once had.  So I thought I would pick something not too complicated that I can finish up just to say that I started and finished something.

Years ago I bought a Model Die Casting Harriman Observation car kit in HO scale, probably at a train show.  My thought was that my fictional railroad bought it as car for railroad dignitaries and other wealthy folks to go at the end of a train of mostly older open platform wooden coaches.  It has never looked right as the only closed vestibule steel car on the train.  So, I dug out an old round-roof Athearn coach from my youth that will mate well with the Harriman observation car.  I am fixing that one up right now.  I figure the coach will be for the common folk.  To round out my short train, I figure I need some kind of baggage or RPO.  

So, I won an unstarted MDC baggage car of ebay for a reasonable price.  My challenge will be to build the kit mostly as-is without fussing to much over added details.  I will try to utilize the parts of the kit rather than try to fix the various errors and lack of details because I know once I jump down that hole it will join the heap of other projects that are 90% complete but lack this or that.  I just want to get something done and feel good about that.