Sunday, June 28, 2015

New "Old" Power for the KLR

During the 2015 Div. 4 Carnival swap meet, I happened to come across a gentlemen who was selling his old PRR collection of engines, many of which were DCC equipped.  While not really in the market for an engine, I did come across a Baldwin S12 manufactured by Stewart Hobbies that caught my eye.  I had been thinking that I needed to back date my roster, so that I had one or two old units sitting around, which still could be used while providing further history to the existence of the KLR.  And while some may think it sacriledge to paint over a Pennsy engine, I did so with no hesitation as these units were common switch engines for a number of railroads.  So with that, the purchase was made, the unit test run and then carefully boxed up as a winter project.  Well here it is June, and the engine still sat in its box with no work applied.  Decals were in hand and I had a paint scheme in my mind. So what was keeping me from working on that engine? Well plenty of track work and other scenery details.

However, this past week I got busy one night and applied the paint and was pleased with the color.  So out came the decals, which decided to fight me along the way.  While I had hot them with some dull coat, they still wanted to curl and tear on me.  So with a little finesse and several sets of KLR (taken from an old Rock Island decal sheet I had picked up for a buck), I was able to get the lettering and numbering in hand.  Add a white strip along the cowling and some white paint on the hand rails, and the new power for the KLR is ready to roll down the tracks.  Here she sits for her maiden run in front of the power house.