Custom Designed Rollingstock?

[Anonymous]

Hello;

I'm wondering if there is anyone out there that makes custom designed rolling stock.  I know there are lots of companies that order box cars from Lionel and have their logos etc on the box cars.  Does anyone know of a company where individuals can special order a single piece of rollingstock?  I know the price will be higher, but as a United Methodist pastor I want to have one made for each of the churches where I am and will be appointed throughout my vocational career.

 thanks

[Anonymous]

Weaver does this but there is a minimum order. You can give them a call. If you just want one then I think you would be better off with someone who custom paints trains, It would be cheaper.

Dale Hz 

[Richard A]

My recommendation is to buy undecorated rolling stock and have a custom painter like Jeff Sohn to do a bang-up job with a design and or logo you like.  As was stated, it would be a lot more practical and considerably cheaper.

[brianel027]

Pastor, sounds to me as though you are referring to a custom paint job and not a custom built train car, like an 027 coil car, for which there isn't one made.

I do both custom building and custom repainting. If I am reading you correctly, yes, this would be a costly undertaking. Most companies that do this kind of work require minimum runs and those would all have the same exact lettering and paint. Even the custom screen printed decal makers that I know of require minimums.

There's two approaches I could suggest. One would be to use a very simple paint scheme, like lets say a box car with a single color body (reducing costs) and then a different colored door (giving you some color variety while keeping the process simple: no paint mask).

With this approach, there are two routes you could go. One is that you could custom print your own decals using MicroScale blank stock. But unless you have a top-notch quality color printer, I would suggest keeping the lettering black so you can use an ordinary good quality copy machine. There would still be some costs involved in this paying someone to do it for you since decaling and doing the needed final gloss and dull coatings is time consuming.

The other option here is to use a MPC Lionel era 9200-9400-9700 type box car that has no side rivet detail and to make stickers instead of decals. Of course, they would be more on top of the car surface than would a decal. But K-Line used this approach with some of their cars. You could also use a gondola and make a side board plaque for the car which could be glued to the side... K-Line also used this approach. There is some prototypical merit for this... old woodside milk cars sometimes had signs added to the car suface.

Another idea for you to consider Pastor would be to use Lionel 027 streamlined passenger cars. The shorty 11 inch traditional passenger cars can be had relatively cheaply. You have the car body and the roof as separate pieces, so they could each be painted one color offering you some color variety while keeping costs down. Then instead of having a road name above the windows and a car name below the windows, you could use sticker stock and make this on a copy machine. Or it wouldn't be too costly again, to make a sheet of special car names on blank MicroScale decal stock. Maybe something like this:

U N I T E D   M E T H O D I S T    L I N E S above the windows

City of Cleveland - or - First Street Church below the window lines.

These Lionel passenger cars also have a raised line above and below the window lines. Someone with a good hand like me could hand paint those lines a differing color.

Just some ideas for you to think about. I personally like the passenger car idea and if I were in your shoes, I think that's the way I'd go. The passenger inserts behind the illuminated windows add a nice touch too for your project.

[Anonymous]

Thanks everyone for the great ideas, the planning here is in the infancy stages but it is never to early to start this project.  I just think that at the end of my vocational career it would be very fitting to see each church represented in its own special way; hopefully I won't have to use any break-down units.

[Anonymous]

I am very interested in the Microstock decals.  Are these like the stickers that come with model airplanes etc?  (the one's that you soak in water and then apply to the model).  What other types of decals and stickers are out there, and do we have any tutorials around that help with making these decals etc?

I'm also interested in the painter that belongs to this forum, Jeff Sohn?  Is that his user name?  Does he have a website etc? 

thanks again.

[CSXect]

There are also "decals" known as Dry transfers. you place the sheet on the model and rub the letter, number or graphic till it sticks to the model they are also used in the electronics field to label knobs switches and buttons ect.  You can get generic letters and numbers as well as special custom graphics. I am primarily an S gauger and used to know of some people who did custom decals and dry transfers for trains.

Hope this helps.

 

Diehard S gauger with a serious O gauge Habit

 

[CSXect]

Here is Jeff's  website and e-mail

 

[e-mail]

http://members.aol.com/sjsohn/myhomepage/business.html

 

[Anonymous]

Hi,

I have had very good luck with using decal paper and an ink jet printer.  Testers has a little kit with the software and sample paper and you can get it a Wal-Mart. The purists might have a fit but I have bought several inexpensive Lionel cars and plastic locos on e-bay and then repainted them for my grandkids. This way they each have their own train. If they tear it up there is not a lot lost. If I could figure out how to post a picture I could show you a couple.

[csxt30]

If I could figure out how to post a picture I could show you a couple.

Hi Injuneer !!  First you need to sign up for a host like http://www.shutterfly.com/ 

Then you put your pictures in there. Next try the easiest way first, which is to click on the picture in Shutterfly, making it large, then click "copy" with your mouse, then go to the forum & click "Paste" with your mouse. If that doesn't work, then we'll show you the img method.

Thanks, John    

[fifedog]

Mornin' Pastor.  Might I offer my .  I've done specialty cars for friends in the past (birthdays, memorials, retirements).  If I were to "surprise" you with a special car, I would probably pick a passenger car from your favorite railroad.  Since you like Lionel, I would find a nice coach with little lettering.  I would center your Parish name under the window sill, use your starting date with the Built date reporting marks, and the zipcode as the car #.

There are a lot of pullman style passenger cars with gold leaf or standard yellow lettering.  Woodland Scenics sells a whole line of dry-transfer lettering that you should be able to match.  With a little patience, you should be able to produce a nice piece on your own.

[HopperSJ]

I can't believe I didn't come accross this thread earlier. I'm a UM Pastor, too. What an awesome idea to have your appointments celebrated in rolling stock. Cool theme idea. I'd go halfsies with you and get two of each car, but the likelyhood of us having shared appointments isn't great!!! What conference are you serving in (if I might ask)? I'm in the New York Annual Conference.

[Anonymous]

I think I got some photos posted but they did not get linked to this thread. Still learning. Now maybe you can tell me about the img.

Thanks

[Anonymous]

I can't believe I didn't come accross this thread earlier. I'm a UM Pastor, too. What an awesome idea to have your appointments celebrated in rolling stock. Cool theme idea. I'd go halfsies with you and get two of each car, but the likelyhood of us having shared appointments isn't great!!! What conference are you serving in (if I might ask)? I'm in the New York Annual Conference.

AWESOME!! Tell ya what, if we ever share an appointment consider your car on me, of course if we share an appointment then one of us is going to have to move a considerable distance, especially since I serve in the Kentucky Annual Conference; Lexington District.  I'm serving as a student local pastor while I work my way through cemetary....err seminary (Asbury Theological Seminary, the bad boys of the UMC )

[HopperSJ]

AWESOME!! Tell ya what, if we ever share an appointment consider your car on me, of course if we share an appointment then one of us is going to have to move a considerable distance, especially since I serve in the Kentucky Annual Conference; Lexington District.  I'm serving as a student local pastor while I work my way through cemetary....err seminary (Asbury Theological Seminary, the bad boys of the UMC )

I went to the Iliff School of Theolgy. I was always told that WE were the bad boys (and girls?) of the UMC! I guess we are both "bad" from oposite sides of the spectrum!! My closest friend in seminary spent two years at Iliff to see what "the other side" was like before transfering to finish up at Asbury!

[Anonymous]

I went to the Iliff School of Theolgy. I was always told that WE were the bad boys (and girls?) of the UMC! I guess we are both "bad" from oposite sides of the spectrum!! My closest friend in seminary spent two years at Iliff to see what "the other side" was like before transfering to finish up at Asbury!

LOL!!!!  That's hillarious!  They warn us Asbury folks about you Iliff folks!!  LOL *just kidding*.  So what are your friend's feelings after spending time in each seminary, is there need of any psychiatric counseling for the multiple personality disorder?  I never thought about how much Iliff and Asbury have in common, we gotta keep that teeter-totter balanced eh?

BTW, we aren't as conservative as people think we are, we get that reputation more from the student body than the profs, we would be more on the right side of moderate more than anything.  Heck, one prof that I study with has as required reading Hauerwas & Willimon, Brian McLaren, and I'm now reading Cavanaugh (Theopolitical Imagination); GOOD STUFF!!