The SCRR

The Spring Creek Railroad
G Scale Model Railway
Conductor Jerry Barnes
Engineer Jerry Barnes
The Rolling Stock and Engines


Jerry got the Burlington Pioneer Zephyr from Bob Thon, of Roberts Lines. He had them made in 1989, from his plans, in Korea. They quickly sold out, but he had a few left that had some cosmetic blemishes/scratches and perhaps a mechanical problem or two. Jerry got one of those at a MUCH reduced price of what they were priced at in 1989. He's been wanting one for years. It took quite a few hours of work to get it up and running.	Bob is sending the name plates for the side of the locomotive. It is all metal, so Jerry resurrected track power on his layout-he's been battery power or live steam for the last 10 years. With the metal body, radio control would have been difficult.

The prototype for the Zephyr was Burlingtons first diesel, made in 1935. It made a record fast run from Denver to Chicago in it's first outing. It was then put on its regular route from Kansas City to Lincoln, NE. Later it made runs from Chicago to Denver. It is now at the Science and Industry Museum in Chicago-fully restored and now inside.	The model has two of these HUGE Pittman motors, connected to the black gear box with a brass u-joint. It came loose on Jerry's first run. One motor is in front, behind the cab, the other is in the end of the observation lounge. It is disconnected however, it is not really needed.


Jerry used these photos he took of the Zephyr at the Science and Industry Museum in Chicago to aid him in developing his interior.	Using some plans, measurements based on his pictures, Jerry developed the cab interior for the Zephyr. It did not come with one and he wanted something behind those BIG windows!

The control panel went in, this is the later version, later he discovered the first panel was a bit different. Hard to see from the outside though.	You can see the lines on the floor he transferred from the plans to aid his build.

Overhead view of the wall layout.	Instruments going in and the controls.

The Z did not have another engineer in the cab, so no seat over here.	The Z at the museum just has a hole where you see the brass instrument on the front wall. Jerry made it into some kind of gauge, he is not sure what it was, he could see it in one old original photo he found in a book.

The Zephyr exits the covered bridge with it's new lights flashing.

Jerry made an interior for the rear car on the Z

This picture shows the curtains that he made from some more of his wife's material, the ribbed material gives a good illusion of the cloth folds. The clear windows really catch your eye, he hopes to do the rest of the car soon to get rid of the frosted windows in the rest of it. Note the lit up rear table lamp.

The whole car was wired with LED lights, quite a learning experience for Jerry, using
the resistors to control the voltage and a bridge rectifier so the lights would stay on in either direction, plus hiding the wires so they cannot be seen through the clear windows.
He did add LED's to the center coach, after realizing it would be dark.
No interior at all for it yet.


This is a picture Jerry took of the interior of the rear observation car of the restored Pioneer Zephyr in Chicago. He intended to make an interior for his train model, it did not come with an interior. He had done the cab previously, based on his pictures.	The first step was to make the chairs for the car. He made a master from brass and plastic, then molded it and cast enough parts for 10 chairs. The figures he had purchased but re-painted and made some into sitting figures.

The model Zephyr had a rear electric motor and gearbox that Jerry removed, it was not really needed. He made a false floor from plastic and covered it with some material his wife had for the carpet. He made the rear table and the light for it. It has an LED inside and lights up. These are the seats at the far rear of the car.	These seats are in front of the rearmost set. Jerry made the drop leaf tables also.

E-8 conversion

Jerry had always wanted a rounded nose E-8 for his streamliner set, it was the engine that pulled the UP passenger trains he used to ride on, but no one made it, so he settled for the FA-1 A&B set. Aristo finally brought out an E-8, but it was very LONG and would look bad with his short passenger cars he made. A friend wanted an E-8B but Aristo only made the A unit, so he cut off the cab of an E-8A to make his B unit. Jerry traded his FA-1A cab for it and put it on his FA unit-which was shorter.


The cab fit on the FA body quite well, some bondo/sanding and it was ready for paint.	Jerry was able to mask off the UP winged herald, when he repainted it.

The side view. Note the more streamlined look	Here is the finished product. Sylvia cut the lettering out of vinyl for him. Note the round 'windows'. They are also vinyl to give the look of the round windows an E-8 had. Jerry did tape off the E-8 emblem on the side.

The B unit was also given the E8 'look'	Jerry made all his cars about 15 years ago and they were sorely in need of repaint/lettering. Sylvia also cut the lettering for the cars-what a wife! :-) Jerry made the decal for the back

Here is a picture of all the coaches. Someday he hopes to make a baggage car to move the batteries to and finish off the kitchen/diner car.


A scratch built boxcar from a picture of a Montana narrow gauge car with the wide boards. Jerry treated the red wood with ink washes/stains and chalks.	Jerry made this Climax A from plans he saw in a magazine. It is of redwood, the boiler is a Calamine lotion bottle, roof is sandpaper, water tank is a cap from a spray can. It originally used a toy Stomper mechanism for power, but they were pretty weak. He replaced them with Hartland motor blocks. He had to stretch out the side frame castings some. Finescale Railroader published his article on making it in the Sept. 1999 issue.

Jerry made this live steam shay from scratch. It is mostly brass and wood. Shays are gear driven locomotives that were used in logging/mining. Jerry's uses a twin oscillator made by Mike Chaney and a Roundhouse boiler and smokebox. Trackside details castings were used on the boiler.	The shay is pulling a boxcar and work caboose that were scratch built from wood. Some Ozark Miniatures castings were used also. Hartford trucks are also used.

The Wooden Coach


Here is a shot of my finished wood coach. Mostly from plans in GR. I made it by starting off with a clear plastic box I glued up. Then applied the wood stir sticks for the siding and balsa for the window trim. It has a redwood frame with some old Aristo passenger trucks. My wife did the lettering-she used to have a sign business and cut the gold vinyl letters for me. She also did some as stencils, will letter my other wood rolling stock using them and painting on the lettering.	This end shot shows the popsicle flooring. The metal rails are coat hanger wire.. It's from plan #16 in Garden Railways Magazine, LONG ways back, when they were in 1/24 scale.

A detail of the lettering and the windows, they are framed with balsa wood with a clear finish. Clerstory made the same way, plastic side pieces, then wood over that, around the windows. It's a separate piece glued to the roof. Floquil Pullman Green is the color I used.I started this a long time ago but would only work on it occasionally. I have some door hinges from Ozark Miniatures coming and will make a door handle, but that will be about it. I used their castings for the roof vents also.	I started with 1/8" plastic box, then I used wood stir sticks for the siding, balsa for the trim/roof. Window tint in the windows to hide that it has no interior. #436 is the number of the road I live on in the country. Spring Creek is just down the hill.

For the frame I don't follow the plans, but rip down redwood for the correct size frames, his plans call for using 1/4" plywood, then 1/4" beams, I just use 3/8" beams.	Full frame, I used some old Aristo passenger trucks. Popsicle sticks for the flooring. I'm not much for detail, mostly a 10' guy. That way there is less chance of damage when moving them to and from the track.

The Wooden Boxcar

This wooden boxcar is totally scratch built. Saw a pix of it in an old issue of Outdoor Railroader years ago. Prototype was supposedly from Montana,
got a kick out of the wide boards.
All the wood is redwood that I cut , once assembled it was washed with india ink/alcohol stains, some chalk, not sure what else, some is now age, it's over 10 years old, got wet some from the sprinkler at times. :-)

Doors are thin plywood with thin redwood boards over them. Rudimentary framing inside, no attempt to be prototypical on the framing. Underneath is sort of based on what I learned from the plans in GR magazine, but I did modify it to eliminate the plywood floor and have real beams/boards.
I used Ozark castings for the metal pieces. It runs on Hartford trucks.

Jerry just finished a nice video clip on the McKeen Car

Building the McKeen car


Jerry made the McKeen car and trailer from scratch, bending plastic over a form in the oven. The metal effects were obtained by layering adhesive backed copper foil over the plastic.	All the foil is on, the roof was made with one piece of thin foil. All the foils were embossed on the back side with a pounce tool to get the 'rivet effect' Seams were scored with a ball point pen. Both were made with the same method.

The McKeen car winding through a tight curve The building of the McKeen Car was featured in an article in the August, 1997 issue of Garden Railways Magazine.	McKeen car and trailer going over the west trestle. McKeen cars were made in the Omaha shops of the Union Pacific. This one ran from Kearney, Nebraska north to Stapelton

Building the new service station


About 12 years ago or so, I saw a neat gas station in Garden Railways magazine. Jack Verducci did it and I copied the design as well as I could from the one photo. Made it out of some wood materials I should not have used and it finally fell apart.	This time I'm using MDO sign board, much tougher, plus covering the bottom edges with sign vinyl(wife had a sign biz). BIt larger in size also, could hardly get a car under the other. 5" tall.

Planking it with redwood, using small nails and Liquid nail	Basic parts assembled. More details to follow as I get it made. I hope!

Here are some shots of the primered gas station. The roof is composed of some leftover sign material. It is aluminumn on both sides with a plastic hollow core corrugated material. Cuts real easy with a jigsaw. Great to use on flat areas. I plan to make new corrugated roofing to glue onto it, using copper foil that I will 'corrugate' in a paint tube winder. That's what I used on the old one. You can get the snap on edging I used to cover up the edges. Might check with your local sign shop. You can get it in 4x8 sheets, but I'm sure they would sell you some scraps cheap.	I like these John Deere pumps I got at Walmart. WIsh I could find them in Texaco, but could not.

I started bending the copper foil for my gas station's corrugated roof. I'm using a tube winder you can get at an art or crafts store. Just don't use too much pressure and it cranks through pretty good. Note the one that is curved too much, that was my first one and I was pressing too hard. I buffed the pieces first with steel wool to remove any protective finish. I will give them a green patina once they are glued on with silicon caulk or Liquid Nail. Any ideas as to which is best?	Jerry painted the trim of the gas station with artist's acrylic paints(he was an art teacher). The Texaco gas pumps are from a Christmas light set he got last year. He was happy with how they looked all lit up, should look good on the layout this spring. The station also has an interior light and one under the overhang. He will soon cut the plastic for the windows.

Jerry got some repro signs off ebay that had been put on magnetic sheeting. He cut them to size and put them on the building.	Sets off the building nicely.

Back of the station, these were a bit big, but break up the space. Gluing on the corrugated roof sections is next, but company is coming.	Jerry finished up the gas station with a corrugated metal effect, using copper foil that he ran through a paint tube crimper. The pieces were attached with silicon caulk. The copper will weather to a nice brown color. He will put it outdoors this spring, the railroad is covered with snow at the moment.

Every railway needs people to run it and do what ever
has to be done. The SCRR is no different.
So Jerry got some new cast resin figures for his layout. http://www.slmonline.com/


He saw a new painting technique online: http://www.brifayle.ca/2c.ba.paintlarge.html It seemed to work pretty well.	Paint it black first, then drybrush on the white to hi-lite areas. Then glaze the colors over. Jerry used a toothpick for the eyes to apply the small dot of color.

When all finished, Henry went on the caboose.	Ed, the fisherman went on the dock to catch some fish.

The Rocket Car


One day, Jerry was wandering through a flea market looking for records, when his eye was caught by a cheap Chinese tin rocket car. He tried to ignore it, but it called to his 'darker' side that it could be a fun thing to run on his garden railroad.	He needed some large wheels to replace the friction motor driven rubber tires that the rocket car had. He had gotten some last year on ebay, but had not been willing to try turning them on the new lathe he had gotten from a friend. He was able to get some good directions on turning wheels and decided to give it a try and it worked out fine.

With the wheels turned to 1.75" he painted them and installed them on a Hartland motor block and trans-axle.	The single rubber wheel in the back was replaced with a single axle .80" wheel set. He made a piece to fit into the old wheel space and fabricated some streamlined fairings to cover the wheels, as the big wheels are covered on the rocket car itself.

A trial fit of all the components went well.	Jerry had saved this old bicycle front fender light for years, just in case, and it was perfect to use as a battery car towed behind the rocket car. Fairings were fabricated to cover the altered New Bright trucks.

The motor axle fit into the old friction motor casing, with some hole drilling and grinding. It was then re-attached to the car with the bent over tabs that had been used with the friction motor before. The plug out the back is to hook to the battery car. Lead weights were added above the rear axle before the car was re-assembled.	The finished car and battery care on a test track to see how they line up.

Front angle of the finished cars.	Back angle. The battery car will have a simple on/off switch, the 9.6 volt battery pack fits in where the original 2 'D' cells were to power the bike light.

The Rocket Car

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Some of Jerry's Favorite Web Sites

	Jerry's Jukebox
	Jerry's Paintings that he did of things he saw while serving his tour of duty in Vietnam
	Pictures that Jerry took during his tour of duty in Vietnam
	Jerry's Model Ships
	My Large Scale dot Com This site is probably the best G scale site there is
	Steam in the Garden Magazine Lots of good steam info and people who know steam
	Aristo Craft Trains This is a a good web site with forums and is split into steam, electric and a few other categories
Live Steam 1/29	A site that Don McKay started up devoted solely to the Aristo Craft Live Steam Mikad o
	Large Scale Tech Tips This site was started by George Schreyer years ago. Lots of good info there
	Colorado Model Structures Very reasonable priced buildings a building parts for your railroad.
	Union Pacific Railroads This web site has information on their two live steamers they still run and where they are going to on excursions. You can follow them on line.
	Vietnam Transportation Association Good web site if you are interested in transportation in the Vietnam war
	A web site devoted solely to the Gun Trucks used in Vietnam and now in Iraq. Many good pictures.
	Modeling Vietnam Gun Trucks This site will show you how Jerry has donehis Gun Truck Models.
	Heartland Military Museum Museum at Lexington, NE on I-80. Devoted to vehicles used by the military.
	Always Jukin' Magazine Site devoted to jukeboxes, many ads and stories
	Fast Hits Music If you are looking for that certain 45 for your jukebox, this is the place to go to
	Kitabee Books Lexington, NE At Kitabee Books, we sell new and used books, book accessories & magnetic poetry kits.
If you have any questions or comments please use this link to email Jerry at jerrybarnes@nospamthescrr.com Please remove the nospam from the address

	John's Old Car and Truck Pictures
	The Covered Bridges of New Brunswick Canada
	The Covered Bridges of Nova Scotia Canada
	The Old Railway Stations of Canada
	Visit Lonnie Hedgepeth's of Rocky Mount, North Carolina site. He has used the plans provided on my web page and is building a Covered Bridge for his Live Steam train.
	The building trades class at Darlington HS in Darlington, Wisconsin built this covered bridge for a local business man
	Julie and her father Gary built a model bridge using the plans on my Covered Bridge site for a school project
	A tribute to the Steam Locomotives of the CNR
	A tribute to the Steam Locomotives of the CPR
	Ed's Marble Etchings

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