More for Wally -
Paul started getting you into rolling stock and buildings - I'll add a few
points here as well.
You want to have both steam and diesel, and you'll have to service the steam.
Tichy's "Chicago Bridge & Iron" Water Tank is identical to one of two in
Burlington, IA, and elsewhere on the system. The Q had a wild mixture of
coaling stations, from ramp-filled bins to pockets filled by "burro" cranes to
the traditional standing elevator-bin arrangement. Regardless, the Q *never*
used hoppers for company coal service. You had drop-bottom gondolas, either
composite or all-steel. A resin kit was made for one composite type, but it may
be sold out by now. "Near misses" may be represented by InterMountain's USRA
composite, and by Red Caboose's steel-sided drop bottom gons.
American Model Builders has also made a CB&Q standard station, and a model of
Wood Tower, an interlocking at the Burlington (IA) bridge.
For general freight stock with a Q flavor, InterMountain's "10'-6" Modified
AAR" box car comes quite close to the Q's classic XM-32, with the "Way of the
Zephyrs/Everywhere West script slogans on opposite sides of the car - while
MDC's "40' Truss Side box car" bears a fair resemblance to the earlier XM-31.
MDC's car is actually a Santa Fe prototype, and the trusses have angles
reversed from the Q car, but they did such a good job adapting the classic
arched "Everywhere West" to fit that you'll probably want at least one.
Accurail's wood-sided reefer is actually a CB&Q prototype, so a couple in BREX
lettering will look fine. If you want to raise some eyebrows, there's a simple
way to make Athearn's standard 34' outside braced steel hopper look alot like
an HT-5, which were distinctive by having two horizontal sheets to each side.
Just scribe a line halfway up from the bottom, and the full length of the car
(between braces), then use a needle to prick a row of rivets below the line. It
takes less than 30 minutes a car (aside from painting and decaling) but looks
noticeably different. You can jimmy the windows on an AT&SF-style Athearn
Caboose to wind up with four windows per side, widen the cuploa, and replace
the cupola sides for a single centered window, and the result looks a lot like
a Q NE-10 (although it's 2 feet too short) - a more complicated project when
you're feeling up to a challenge.
P2K makes 50' auto cars, both with and without end doors, both of which are
close for Q and have been (probably will be again) marketed in Q paint. Their
single door 50 footer is also goos for a Q car. Their 50' Greenville mill
gondola had a near-Q prototype and has been issued in Q paint. Some of these
are off the market, but watch train shows, swap meets and out-of-the-way hobby
shops for leftovers.
Passenger stuff is not-so-great for CB&Q, but there are three dead-ringers, and
a number of "close enoughs" you might like to try: ConCor's Budd Slumber Coach,
10-6 sleeper, and Solarium Dome are all CB&Q prototypes. They aren't the finest
quality models by today's standards, but they look about right. Rivarossi's
heavyweight RPO Baggage doesn't match a Q car directly, but it bears enough of
a resemblance that you can paint and letter one or two in the 1935-1949 series
and be reasonably pleased. Again, not an exact match, but Athearn's heavyweight
70' baggage car can stand-in for the 1540-1566 series. I forget the name of the
outfit, but someone's making a rebuilt WW II troop kitchen car that fits the
CB&Q's fleet of 300. (someone on the group will tell you <grin>.
Rivarossi's 12-1 Pullman resembles a dozen or so sleepers that the Q bought in
the late 40s - some stayed in Pullman green, and some became silver with black
lettering. The Q Connection (member Dave Lotz's secret identity) has produced a
kit for the smooth-sided baggage cars the Q built at Havelock. None of the new
Walthers Budd cars are Q prototype, but some might look good to you. No one
makes a really Q-looking heavyweight coach, (Athearn's has too few windows,
spaced too widely) - but if you get a couple, letter them in the 6100s, and
tell people it's a little-known rebuild <tehee>.
None of this was to detract from what Paul said, but to give you some more
targets. Modeling the CB&Q isn't nearly as frustrating as it was 40 years ago
<LOL>!
Marshall Thayer
Consulting Model Railroader
Las Vegas, NV
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