Model Railroading > IAIS's West End - Completed Jordan Spreader

I finally finished work on IAIS 9500, the railroad's ex-RI Jordan Spreader, and thought I'd share a few pics of the project, the prototype, and the finished model.

Thanks to Charlie Duckworth's generosity, I was able to use his grit blaster to further strip this. I then unsoldered the barrel and toolbox toward the rear of the upper deck, the generator at the rear of the lower platform, and the headlight and horn from the cab roof. I also unscrewed the diesel fuel tank on the lower deck, relocating it to the rear. The "arm" and chain on each wing were removed, since the same had been done to the prototype.

Photos 1-3 - A few "before" pics from owner #2, Tom McGovern, after he attempted to strip the paint applied by owner #1. I'm the third owner of the OMI model that served as the core of this project.

Joe Atkinson
Council Bluffs, IA
www.iaisrailfans.org/../Sub4WestEnd



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/02/15 12:36 by iaisfan.

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Below are a few pics of the prototype and the completed model.

Photo 4 - IAIS 9500 at Atlantic, Iowa, May 27, 2006.
5 - Front view of completed model at Council Bluffs. New horn, headlight, cab heater, and associated vent pipe were from the scrap box.
6 - Side view. Cribbing was cut to various sizes from Campbell ties to match prototype pics and weathered with Pan Pastels. Box for cribbing, hiding behind the wing on the lower deck, just ahead of the diesel fuel tank, was scratchbuilt from styrene and filled with more tie scraps. The prototype 9500 had been painted yellow when it arrived on the IAIS as RI 95319, and that yellow is visible through various scrapes and scratches. The trucks are original OMI equipment and don't match the prototype 9500, but in attempting to replace them, I discovered that the larger correct trucks wouldn't swing sufficiently to allow this model to operate.

Joe Atkinson
Council Bluffs, IA
www.iaisrailfans.org/../Sub4WestEnd



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/02/15 12:43 by iaisfan.

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Pretty damn impressive.

Photo 7 - Closeup of 9500's cab. Lettering is from a Microscale alphabet set, and the stripes are faded with oils. The prototype was originally numbered IAIS 95000, but was later renumbered 9500 to fit in the 8000- and 9000-series numbers of the rest of the IAIS MOW roster. The third "0" can once again be seen through the worn red patch.

8 & 9 - Prototype and model views of the 9500 tied down on Atlantic's South Siding, which the prototype has called home for the last 15+ years when not attending to plowing or ditching duties.

Joe Atkinson
Council Bluffs, IA
www.iaisrailfans.org/../Sub4WestEnd

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Photo 10 - Overhead view showing the cribbing and various lengths of hydraulic hose, cut to size and arranged according to prototype pics of the 9500's deck. Conveniently, the locations where the cribbing was discarded happen to correspond with the holes that were left in the deck by my removal of the original OMI details, so it did a fine job of covering my tracks. :-)

Former IAIS employee Jason Klocke stopped for a visit last week. Jason operated the 9500 while at the IAIS, so it was fun getting his input on this project. He told me that, due to the 9500's aging hydraulics, the cribbing was necessary to hold the "wings" open while ditching.

I'm not sure what the little box is behind the cab on the right side of the upper deck, but I modeled it with a Kadee coupler box, with various other details added from styrene stock and a Cannon EMD fuel tank detail set.

11 - Prototype at Atlantic, May 11, 2013.

12 - My attempt thus far to duplicate the previous scene. The prototype is an icon of the IAIS in Atlantic, so I'm grateful to finally be able to replicate it.

Joe Atkinson
Council Bluffs, IA
www.iaisrailfans.org/../Sub4WestEnd

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Looking damn good. Nice work. Bruce

Very, very nice. Wow.

John Parker
Longmont, CO
BNSF Fall River Division

The rust on the wings is especially effective.

Great work and fantastic scenery Joe. Keep up the good work.

Jeff Smith
Lakewood, CA
RailMaster Hobbies

Perfect!

Super damn good job! Wow!

You even got the dandelions right on the grass covered siding!

Posted from Android

I see the non revenue producing railroad buildings have been removed on your layout - last photo.

Once again Joe, I have to stop and go back, because "oh, that wasn't the photo of the prototype, it was the model!" Modeling the hazy sun was a stroke of genius!

Elizabeth

I spy 250 lurking in #7! Great work Joe!!

Erik

Please share with us your method of shrinking molecular structures. I thought it wasn't possible.

Warren

That is freaking insane.

Very nice. Thanks for the photos and the story.

Work machinery makes a nice display on the layout and can make an interesting move or work train.

Posted from Windows Phone OS 7

You folks are very encouraging! Thank you all very much.

> I see the non revenue producing railroad buildings have been removed on your layout - last photo.

He he he...I hope to get those built very soon! The gray structure on the far right is IAIS's new yard and MOW office, built just a year or two ago, so I won't be modeling that, but most of the rest will hopefully find their way to the layout someday.

> I spy 250 lurking in #7! Great work Joe!!

Good eye, Mr. 250! And like it's namesake, it appears to have a tendency to photobomb! :-)

> Work machinery...can make an interesting move or work train.

I agree completely. I've always loved modeling MOW equipment, but beyond that, I think MOW also can make a great "industry". Doesn't require it's own spur, can often involve some very interesting equipment with colorful heritage, and some pieces can be switched fairly frequently depending on the season modeled. While it's rarely realistic to model a modern prototype without some grass-covered, unused customer spurs being present, those tracks can be ideal places to tie down MOW equipment, either for spotting during a project or for storage in between them.

Joe Atkinson
Council Bluffs, IA
www.iaisrailfans.org/../Sub4WestEnd

Looks awesome!

- Jeff