Photo Gallery: Freight Trains

This is the first set of cars I made for my nephew, David. I also made a similar set for my friends' son Russ. It includes an S1 Steam locomotive, a tender, two box cars, two tank cars, a gondola, a hopper car, and of course a red caboose. The blue box car has an angled roof; the green box car has a curved roof. The hopper and gondola are hollow so they can carry loads. I used poplar in the sides to give them more strength than just basswood. Nowadays, I'd use maple.

In 1999, I made more trains for friends' nephews and little boys. Among these were a couple repeat freight train sets. The '99 versions are a little different - they are made of maple and have couplers using "doughnut" magnets. I also used spray paints to speed construction, so the colors are a little different. Because each person I made a set for bought a Lil' Tree Imagination "Super Deluxe Train Set" at Target for the track, they already had a black locomotive with red wheels, so the locomotive and tender are Hunter green. I notice now that I changed the tank car design so the tank is only 2 3/4" long instead of 3". Also, I made the frames a little thinner so the cars would ride lower on the wheels. Looking at the tank cars, I think I overdid it a little. The caboose was supposed to be a little smaller, but due to a miscalculation, it's actually a hair taller.

As boys grow up, their play gets more sophisticated and it's necessary to cater to their needs. For younger kids, simple shapes and bright colors are best, but as they get older, they need more cars that can do things. So, for the older boys, I introduced my "Level 2" freight train. One of the box cars was replaced by a second hopper car (since they can haul marbles and such), the gondola was a little bigger (3 1/2" instead of 3"), and the second tank car was replaced by a flat car with removable logs. The colors are a little bland; I sort of wish I had used the yellow tank car or the green box car.