Rules for Making Home-Did Trains, Circa 1933-1945
By Clem Clement Summer 2016
- Build what you see nearby.
- Build what you ride on.
- Build what you busted.
- Create what you want to.
- Shop project.
- Copy something.
- Start with wheels from older trains.
- Use parts you can find nearby:
– consider cheese boxes and cigar boxes
– tin cans
– trim parts from all sorts of things
– “government” metals.
- What color to paint it?
– any color you have.
- Car markings?
– outside your window
– the new owners name
– your favorite railroad
– date you built it.
- Details
Details on the piece may help with the provenance. Examples:
– a tender with a coal pile door could mean that the modeler knew important features that shoud be modeled because he was a railroad man
– a trolley with rain deflectors over the doors could mean the modeler was a trolley man
The fun in all this?
It’s all about figuring out:
– what the builder had in mind
– where the parts he used came from
– the joy in building and giving these works of art a home
– (sadly more of these folk-art pieces should have remained with their families)
