RailSmith Plans Revealed

My plan and hope is to create some very famous ‘name trains’ that have, in some cases, never been done in N scale.

Production is expected to be releases of 8 paint schemes at a time, with two road names (or numbers) per scheme. Releases like this will continue about five months apart. Naturally, future scheme runs will be based on the success of previous runs.

Great attention will be given to the paint, lettering, colors, and scale, to match historical societies and actual production records.

Prototype versus Classic

The RailSmith 10/6 Sleeper is based on the common Pullman Plan 4140. In some cases, a prototype may have had the roomettes on the vestibule end (a different floor plan of a 10/6 sleeper). In the case of a variation such as that, I will label these small variations as “CLASSIC” on the insert packaging.

A ‘Classic’ car is very, very close to the actual car but not 100%. Otherwise, a model that is 100% prototype will show “PROTO” on the insert label. In a coach example, the RailSmith coach is a Pullman 64-seat coach. I plan to produce, under the “CLASSIC” label, a 52-seat coach. As long as it was still built by Pullman and has the rectangular-shaped windows, it is my belief that a correctly decorated railcar with window arrangement close to prototype will be well accepted and appreciated by the modeling community. Especially since no other car like it may ever be done in that scheme. Most all other passenger car producers do this but don’t indicate when a car is ‘close’.

A Couple Questions Answered

Q: Will you produce ‘ complete’ trains?
A: My completing the American Freedom Train is an example of my commitment to do that. However, in this case, I can say that I will produce accurate cars for a particular train as long as the inventory moves. There are many body styles that have never been done, and I will hope to add them to the RailSmith line-up.

Q: What new body styles are you considering first?
A: *Plan 7510 -56 seat coach, *Plan 4119 -Duplex Sleeper, *Plan 7540 -Fluted diner, and *Plan 7536 -Fluted RPO. When this formally begins, I will make that announcement.

In just a few weeks I will share what ’TRAINS’ I will be working on first. In the mean time, here are some logos to give hints of the first year.

 

 

RELATED: Visit my RailSmith page here!

Lowell Smith

A native of Portland, Oregon, Lowell Smith married his church choir sweetheart Barb in 1978. After a lifetime of rail-fanning, Lowell and Barb ventured out in 1992 to launch a new business in Portland, Oregon. Read more

Latest On The Track

What They Say:

Bill S.

That car is about the greatest thing I’ve ever seen in N scale!  Excellent work!

J.R.

Lowell, I received my Great Locomotive Chase set today. “THEY ARE BEAUTIFUL.” Keep up the good work.

D.G.

Nothing better than receiving that white box from Lowell Smith.

D.K.

I am speechless!  The AFT Showcase car is everything I hoped it would be; and more.

Anonymous

What a trip! We had a great time- exceeded our expectations by a mile. The Silver Lariat was simply stunning. A gem on the rails. The scenery and weather were perfect. The delays were not an issue for us at all. All just a good days work on the railroad! Thank you for all the…

R.L.

Ferdinand Magellan is great! This really fits your mission of offering significant cars that otherwise wouldn’t be produced.

R. K.

You are in my book one of the very best.

D.

“You have no idea how excited I am about these cars . . .”

G.D.

Lowell, thanks to you and your company SP&S modelers (myself included) are having a much easier time modeling the North Bank Road. Thank you for your hard work!

J.Wallace

AFT is a real dream come true for me. Thanks for all your hard work!