Re: Who has pondered new-built?

Well, I have pondered it, and done it. There is nothing complicated about building this equipment from scratch, but you do need patience. On my ELSA combine, the only parts I did not make were the wheels. The truck frames, springs, castings, couplers, vents, chimneys, lamps, paneling, siding, railing, brake wheels, etc etc I made myself.....or made the patterns for casting. I will not kid anyone, it is a lot of work, but if you take each piece at a time and focus on that until it is done, it ain't so bad. Do not let the project overwhelm you! The project that almost overwhelmed me was not the combine, but rather restoring EUREKA. Sometimes I would look at it scattered all over my shop and wonder what the hell I got myself into. But, I adopted the one part at a time approach, and it got done. It was great training for doing the combine and flat car.

The combine is basically finished. All that awaits completion is the headliner art, which is a project unto itself. The external art work is completed. I got to tell you, that I can see why the railroads eventually went to monochrome exteriors. Doing all the pin striping is enough to drive a person to the rubber room. When ELSA gets finished I will post pictures.

Dan Markoff