Speaking of Models
by Steve Hile

Branchline Trains - Twin Star Rocket
Branchline Trains has released a five car passenger train set in HO scale which they call the Twin Star Rocket, lettered for Rock Island.  It's great to see a set of plastic streamlined passenger cars lettered for Rock Island!  Bob Mason at Phil's Hobbies in the Dallas area called me as soon as the first set arrived, and I promptly picked it up.  The set is available with or without a set of Proto 2000 E7s - an EA7 and an EB7.  List price for the set with locomotives is $199.98.  Without locomotives, list is $99.98.  An additional coach is available separately at $19.98.
According to Greg Stout's Route of the Rockets, the original Twin Star, inaugurated in 1945, used EA3s and EA6s for power.  In March, 1949, three A&B sets of F7 passenger units were delivered and assigned to the Twin Star.  The F7s were replaced in the early fifties by EA8-EB7 sets.  Lloyd Stagner's Rock Island in Color Volume 1 shows EA7 #634 in the original color scheme on the Twin Star Rocket in 1948, so the E7s are a good choice of motive power.

The set of passenger cars consists of a baggage car, a coach, a diner, a sleeper, and an observation.  The cars are Con-Cor cars lettered here in the States.  The roof and window casting is separate from the body.  Flat steel weights are provided which must be glued to the floor of the body casting before assembly.  An improvement by Branchline are the metal wheel sets to be installed in the plastic truck sideframes.  I have added metal wheels to all my other Con-Cor and Rivarossi cars.  The assembled 85' cars each weigh 6 ounces, a little shy of the NMRA recommended weight of 7 ounces.  The shorter baggage car weighs about 5 ounces, again a little lighter than the recommended 6 ounces.  Adding weight is very easily done at the same time you glue in the supplied weights.  An Athearn 40' car weight is about 1.5 ounces and can be placed flat in any of the 85' cars.  Any of the stick-on weights commercially available in fractional ounce sizes are easy to install.  Another option is to put extra weight in the water tank and / or battery boxes under the floor.  I prefer this location because it lowers the center of gravity.

The lettering is clear and crisp and is the correct style.  The "ROCK ISLAND" on the letter board is taller than my Champ decal lettering, but still looks good.  The Con-Cor truck mounted X2F couplers are included.  Kadee #508 is the correct conversion for truck mounted couplers.  Some material must be removed from each truck and a #56 hole must be drilled to mount the new bolster.

The baggage car is numbered 855, has a Pullman-Standard roof, and is 72'-6" long coupled.  The actual 855 is a Budd baggage car 73'-10" long coupled.  The P-S cars which the RI had were similar to the Branchline car, but were 80' long.  I don't think a Budd roof is available in this length, so I plan to renumber my car to an unused number such as 865.

The coach in the set is a prewar Pullman-Standard with full length letter board, and has the name "DUNCAN" on the name board.  The actual Duncan is a Budd coach.  A Rivarossi 1940s coach is a closer match to the actual Duncan.  Steve Hile did an excellent kitbash of the Con-Cor coach described in The Digest volume 3.  The coach needs to be renamed to be more correct.

The extra coach available separately is also a prewar P-S coach named "TOPEKA".  The actual Topeka is a P-S postwar (short letter board) double vestibule coach.  That's a kitbash that I'm not willing to tackle.  I think I'll just leave mine alone until a better idea comes along.

The diner is a P-S diner named "YUCCA".  The actual Yucca is a Budd diner which was regularly assigned to the Twin Star Rocket after it was replaced with P-S diners on the Golden State.  Steve's kitbash article also shows how to convert the Con-Cor diner to the Centennial, which was identical to Yucca on the exterior.  The diner caught my eye the first time I saw a set of Branchline cars on a layout because it is the only car in the set without skirts.  The cars I saw when I was growing up were all without skirts, and they look longer and sleeker than skirted cars.  Con-Cor sells the roofs separately so adding a Budd Roof will make this model more like the prototype.

The sleeper is a 10 roomette - 6 double bedroom configuration named "SAN JACINTO".  The actual San Jacinto is a 10 - 5 built by P-S in 1954 without skirts and with the vestibule steps fixed in the down position.

Branchline Trains has made available a large number of passenger paint and lettering schemes not otherwise available in HO.  This is a nice looking set of corrugated stainless steel passenger cars lettered for the Rock Island.  It's the only set of passenger cars available today in a paint scheme correct for Rock Island.  I'm glad I bought them.
Les Brandt.

Short Hauls