Tony Thompson's recent blog about Fairmont M-19 speeders (or motor cars) produced by Ken Harstine; https://modelingthesp.blogspot.com/2025/07/correcting-my-mistake-speeder-paint.html stirred my thinking about adding what SP called Track Cars to the model of the double track car Port Costa shed as it existed prior to the mid-1950's when it was rebuilt into a single car shed possibly after a fire. As a double car shed it probably served both MOW track maintenance crews and the linemen of the telegraph department.
So I got out an ancient 1959 Revell Maintenance Shed and speeder kit I had bought at an NMRA Coast Division auction a couple of years for about $5 as it was part of a package with some MDC shorty passenger cars that I wanted the roofs from to form the roof for my SP Port Costa layout grounded coach. Another story...
Anyway I opened the kit which was in complete in unbuilt condition and it included a speeder of unknown prototype and trailer. As the kit is fairly common, I don't think of it a a "collectable" and so I got out the speeder parts and decided to play around with them. They are not Fairmont speeders as I have a 1944 Fairmont Catalog and they do not resemble any of the configurations and features of the motor and grill of a Fairmont. SP pretty much bought Fairmonts so to me they will be temporary foobies until some 3D printed Fairmont H-19's that are on order arrive.
For a little photo fun, I removed the Track Car Shed mini module from the layout to get a few pictures in context taken on my workbench with a sheet of white plastic as a background.
The ties in the tie stack were modeled only 8 feet long . I am not sure what length Revell track ties were. In those days it was great to use fiber tie flex and turnouts. I was 15 in those days and didn't do much modeling with high school in full swing. But there was a 4x8 foot plywood sheet started when I was 12 in the basement of our Portland, Oregon house that I occasionally fiddled with while in high school.
Vic's Hobby Shop on 40th Avenue was on the way I walked home from Grant High School and it was still worth a an interested glance every now and then when it wasn't raining and stopping in when it was. I have some parts from this same kit bought many years ago one of which is the gray weathered wood track insert shown above next to the one from the recently purchase kit. The speeders were lost somewhere over the last 60 or more years.
One feature of all SP purchased SP "track cars" as SP called them was the fender additions from Fairmont to protect the feet of the speeder riders. These are modeled using 1/4 sections of 1/8" width 1/4" round Evergreen tube glued over the wheels. I brush painted them with Vallejo Model Color 70.910 Orange Red which was a close match to the body color Revell painted their speeder parts. Trailers were did not have fenders over the wheels. I painted the wheels with Mission Models Tire Black and used MM aluminum on the tread. I removed the paint from the foot rest and left it the color of the plastic casting.On the speeder trailing car is an overturned wheelbarrow and a water cooler for line maintenance personnel in the hot California sun.
I had worked with Ken Harstine back a couple of years ago on a 3D printed 73-SC-1 whaleback tender project as part of the oft delayed Owl Mountain Models Harriman stand-in conversion for a Bachmann 2-8-0. So I ordered his 3D printed M-19 speeders with the appropriate railing only ends for early 1950's and prior on the SP. They arrived yesterday one is shown here to get a size comparison with the Revelle Kit speeder on my double track ballasting test panel.
Interesting the size difference. Possible that the 3D print is based on a 2 person speeder and the Revell model is based on an 6-8 person track gang model. There are similar large and small size speeders in the Fairmont catalog. The two person speeder would have to be lifted off the rails and moved out of the way of an oncoming train by two men. It probably would have taken 4-6 men to move the much larger speeder.
