We have a diverse slate of model and prototype presentations for the 2025 RPM Naperville event. All of the presentations will be repeated.
We have four clinic rooms on Thursday evening, and six rooms on Friday and Saturday for learning and discussion. Steve Hile could use a couple of extra presenters in case we have cancellations. Contact him directly if you can help out (shile@mindspring.com) . A tentative presentation schedule will be posted in late September.
1. Steve Holzheimer – Freight Terminal Operations: What Can We Learn from a Financial Audit?
While perusing the Akron, Canton & Youngstown archives I found a series of documents titled “East Akron Freight Station Audit”. Initially this seemed to be of minimal interest, but a closer reading showed an unexpected side of how AC&Y and its employees interacted with their customers. Adding in some freight car movement and lading data, I unexpectedly found an interesting modeling and operations resource. The clinic provides a glimpse of that resource.
2. Jerry Hamsmith and Ed Rethwisch – CB&Q 1940s built 50-foot house cars
Jerry and Ed look at three groups of 50-foot cars – a parts car, a standard box car, and an automobile car – built by the railroad during the 1940s. The clinic follows the prototype history of the cars and how to model some of them in HO scale.
3. Steve Hile – Rock Island Flat Cars through the years
Steve will trace the 20th Century history of Rock Island flat cars which include standard cars in multiple lengths as well as some unique items. The Rock Island stretched some shorter steel cars to create standard length 53’6” cars. Flat cars were ubiquitous and often carried interesting loads. He will highlight some available and some kitbashed models.
4. Scott Thornton – Upgrading Modeling to the Modern Age: Lasers, Resin and FDM Printer Madness
We live in an era where it’s relatively affordable to have more sophisticated fabrication tools for creating custom models. Lasers, resin and filament printers, along with their accompanying apps, make it possible to produce virtually whatever one needs for prototypical fidelity. This clinic will be an introduction to each type of tool and show examples of how the tools could be used along with their respective apps.
5. Tony Thompson – Realistic Operation on a Small Layout
The clinic describes some principles of realistic operation, as I see them. It is illustrated with a description of the operation of my small layout, emphasizing prototype practices and documents. The layout is switching-intensive, but does have mainline operating also. The presentation concentrates on both car and train movements, with a few comments on the use of prototype-format waybills to route cars, allowing a variety of operation in each successive operating session.
6. Bob Heninger – Great Northern 50-foot rebuilt box cars
In 1953-54, Great Northern rebuilt 650 fifty foot single sheathed cars that had been built in the 1920’s. Some received 8 foot single doors while others got 15 foot opening double doors. Some included several types of load restraints. Yarmouth Model works produced three separate kits, but Bob will share his research and modeling tips into a fourth group rebuilt with Pullman Standard kits.
7. Earl Tuson – Case Study of Freight Car Movements with Atypical Resources
Using the example of New Hampshire freight traffic patterns ca. 1930, and involving a small subset of routes into the major southern New England terminal market, this presentation will demonstrate the use of state private car taxation records, H.H.Copeland & Son data, and other sources of statistical data to help guide specific freight car fleet modeling decisions. While focused on a tiny state, such a study must be embedded in the context of more broadly continental freight traffic flows. A particular emphasis will be on refrigerator and tank car traffic, but some other major inter-regional commodities, coal, cotton, etc, will also be discussed.
8. Lester Breuer – Construction Techniques – Resin & Plastic
The clinic demonstrates various techniques that could be used to upgrade plastic and resin kits. These include modifying plastic kits by adding new detail parts and altering those within the kits to more prototypical standards. Lester also discusses his process when building resin kits and mini-kits.
9. Jim Panza – TTX Specially Equipped Flat Cars
Modeling selected TTX/Trailer Train 89’ special flatcars from the mid-1960s through 2018 in HO Scale using the Genesis 89’ F89F flatcar. Car types described are used to haul truck tractors, 80’ lengths of rail, pipe and other commodities.
10. George Toman – Recent Projects from the Workbench
The clinic will describe some techniques used in building and upgrading some recent built HO scale freight cars. These include a scratch built Swift Reefer, upgrading a Westerfield I-GN boxcar with a new underframe, kit bashing a SP Bunk car, and more
11. Doug Harding – Clay: a look at the brick and tile industry with an emphasis on operations in Iowa
In 1900 Iowa had over 380 brick n tile operations, producing drainage tile, brick, clay tile building blocks and other clay related building materials. Using historic photos, Sanborn Maps, advertising, etc we will look at this vital industry. The role railroads played will be explored along with a brief looking at modeling a Brick and Tile works.
12. Ray Breyer – Short Length Boxcars After WWII
Not height, but shorter than 40-foot length cars. Ray will survey some of those survivors with a look at how to model them.
13. David Bott – Build Better Models with Cricut!
Step up your scale modeling game with the Cricut Maker! In this clinic, you’ll learn how a crafting tool can cut precise parts for custom structures, jigs, and even locomotive details—minimal software skills required. Watch a demo and walk away with tips, tricks, and a whole new way to build. Come see how Cricut makes modeling smoother and more prototypical.
14. Craig Wilson – Steel Cabooses of the Ann Arbor Railroad
The clinic describes all the paint schemes worn by the AA cabooses during their service lives as well as the six that were transferred to the DT&I. With the pending release of the Walthers models of these cabooses, the presentation will include a look at the Wabash (and later N&W) versions of these distinctive cabooses.
15. Fenton Wells – Kitbashing two FGEX steel sheathed rebuilt reefers
Inspired by FGEX Oracle, the late Bill Welch, the clinic addresses the modeling of two separate FGEX rebuilds that will make great additions to a transition era fleet.
16. David Leider – Chicago & Western Indiana Railroad
This clinic covers the history of the Chicago & Western Indiana Railroad. David will start with the need for a new terminal railroad, and then continue with who built it, why it was sold to the five member railroads and how the SF got involved. He will take it to the start of Amtrak and the ultimate fate of the railroad.
17. Aaron Gjermundson – Kitbashing with the Central Valley Truss Bridge
Aaron is planning two unique bridges for his layout and will be showing how he will use several of the Central Valley Truss Bridge kits to reach is goal.
18. Roger Hinman – New York Central Steel Freight Cars, Part 7: 40′ 10’0″ IH Boxcars
This clinic will look at the Auto-cars of the late 20s, the rebuild programs of the 1930s, the 1937 ARA cars, and end with the 1946 Grey and Vermillion first lot of Pacemaker cars.
19. Mont Switzer – Building the Freight Cars of Muncie, Indiana
Having introduced the prototype freight cars most often seen or based in Muncie, Indiana in 2024, the 2025 presentation will delve into how to accurately model them in HO scale. Included are the Westinghouse Transformer Division’s huge Schnabel cars, The Ball Glass Manufacturing Company’s bright yellow wood and steel “The Ball Line” boxcars, Marhoefer Packing’s red and yellow wood reefers and General Motors covered hoppers. You may find a car you want to model or pick up a few model building tips along the way.
20. Jeff Hallion – Chicago, Peoria & St. Louis Railway layout progress
Jeff is building a protofreelanced layout depicting a branchline of the Chicago, Peoria & St. Louis Railway (based on the Litchfield and Madison RR) from the 1950s. The clinic describes the progress he has made following the initial presentation of the layout from last year’s Chicagoland RPM.
21. Clark Propst – Structure Kitbashing with a Purpose
Over the past year, Clark has kept busy scratch building and kit bashing a number of structures for Jeff Hallion’s CP&StL RR. Clark will be sharing, step by step, how to create new styrene structures or make existing structure kits fit into specific locations and spaces.
22. Ted Culotta – Modeling Three Distinctive PRR 50′ Cars
This presentation covers modeling of the PRR’s X32A (Wagontop/”Round Roof”) auto car, X41B early welded design box car, and the X45 postwar, proprietary design welded box car. Two of the models incorporate kitbashing and the third is scratchbuilt. The techniques and materials to faithfully represent the prototypes will be shared, along with some prototype information.
23. Dick Harley – Pacific Fruit Express Reefers in 1950 – A Deep Dive
In May of 1951, PFE had all of the Car Cards (Form 120 or 78-1) of operating cars microfilmed. CSRM Library has a copy of that microfilm, and it has all been scanned. Now, over 40,000 car card images are digitally available for research. The clinic discusses what various things can be learned from those cards to make your PFE models even more accurate, plus some newly found data about the PFE fleet.
24. Rich Remiarz – Modeling the GN Mid-1950s Freight Car Roster – 40′ Boxcars – Part 2
This is the continuation of a series of clinics that will cover the Great Northern freight car roster as of July 1, 1956. Each clinic will take a group of cars, discuss the prototype cars in detail, showing all of the variations, and then discuss how to model the cars accurately.
25. Eric White – Easton & Northern branch of the Lehigh Valley
I was attracted to two big industries that would resonate with my then-young son. They’re the Dixie Cup factory on the west side of Easton, PA and the Binney & Smith Crayola factory north of the city. The clinic will show the photos and research to date on these two industries
26. Bob Webber – High Speed Passenger Trains and Proposals from the 30’s
Bob will draw upon the original drawings, sketches and other primary source material in the collection of the Pullman Library of the Illinois Railway Museum as well as other background information to discuss several new streamlined trains that were under consideration during the middle 1930’s. Many railroads were interested in getting into the higher speed and streamlined trains during that time period, even though many could not actually afford to do so during the Depression. He will concentrate on Midwestern and Western proposals.
27. Eric Hansman – Baltimore & Ohio Allegheny Yard Branch
This forgotten Baltimore & Ohio six mile Pittsburgh industrial branch is inspiring my next 1926 layout project. Team yards, department store warehouses, the HJ Heinz factory, two more pickle packers, plus metal fabricators and other manufacturers were customers along the branch. Prototype images, data, and resources will be covered, and how it may fit into a basement space.
28. Tim Van Mersbergen – Rebuilt and Reconditioned 40’ boxcars in the 60’s and 70’s
A look at how the ordinary 40-foot steel boxcar was updated to serve into the second generation diesel era. The clinic covers a variety of prototype examples from around the US along with some ideas for modeling them.
29. Chris Vanko – Multi-Era Modeling
Following two Northern Pacific system box cars from the early 1950s to the late 1960s, the clinic shows the variant changes needed to model these cars throughout the years in HO scale.
30. Frank Telewski – Logging Railroad Trains and Equipment
Logging railroads ranged from very short lines from the timber to a mill or log dump to ones with hundreds of miles of track, multiple interchanges with Class 1 lines and a multitude of equipment and trains. This clinic will review the details of a larger logging operation. This will include the premier of a vintage short film from the early 1930s showing tree harvesting and rail action in the woods.
31. Mike Schleigh – Revisiting the Wellsville Addison & Galeton RR (WAG)
The Wellsville Addison & Galeton RR lasted a brief 24 years beginning its life on the first day of 1956. It was an interesting short line found in four adjacent scenic counties in north-central Pennsylvania and New York’s Southern Tier. It is a tempting railroad to model but, failing that, modelers might want to consider their many examples of the several hundred second-hand freight cars that traveled over North America. Most numerous were former B&M XM-1 40-ton single sheathed boxcars but other examples existed, and they can be modeled by resourceful efforts. A fair number of gondolas were part of the fleet. Three tanneries were served directly and indirectly and some of that traffic will be demonstrated.
32. Bob Bender – International Containers and US Railroads
International Containers and US Railroads Containerships have revolutionized global trade, significantly impacting the world’s economy and interconnectedness. Intermodal containers have transformed US railroads, integrating them into the global supply chain. For US Railroads, intermodal is now the largest revenue-generating traffic segment. We are in the midst of a transportation revolution where intermodal transport is the heart of modern logistics, with railroads playing a central role.
33. Jim Singer – CB&Q Passenger Department Interactions
The clinic looks at the interaction of the CB&Q Passenger Department with other railroads (east, west, southwest) to generate traffic. Company documents available from the BRHS Archives provide insight to the inner workings.
34. Jason Klocke – The Joy of Scenery
Jason Klocke will present on the scenery techniques he developed while building his Chicago Great Western layout. The clinic will provide the basic methods he used for static grass application, roads, backdrops, agricultural scenery and how to blend it all together to give the layout a realistic representation of typical midwest scenery.
35. Alan Bell – US&S and GRS CTC Operation
Alan Bell overviews the use of CTC on the prototype railroads to increase the capacity of their lines and how to incorporate the system in miniature. His clinic will highlight the similarities and differences in the design and operation of US&S and GRS machines. The presentation will also discuss the track side field apparatus that the CTC machines controls. Alan will conclude with an example of a CTC installation on a nationally recognized layout.
Alan is the owner of Control Train Components and has built CTC boards for many model railroad operations, including the one used by the N scale Mod-U-Trak layout that is here again this year.
36. Eric Mumper – The Industries of Streator, Illinois in the 1950’s
Five railroads served Streator, Illinois in the 1950’s and it was a manufacturing hub. This clinic walks through the known industries in town at the time from the smallest team track and freight house enterprises up to Owens-Illinois and its giant Plant #9, making thousands of glass bottles each day. The industries presented can either help model the town or create waybills to/from Streator.
37. Steve Funaro – Monon Composite Side Gondolas
Steve will be introducing his work on a new Monon composite gondola. He will be sharing his research into the prototype and provide tips on assembling the one piece body kit.
Recent Comments