Freelancing rolling stock in Railroad Modeler circa 1974

While browsing the 1974 issues of Railroad Modeler it struck me that it seemed there were a lot of articles about building freelanced rolling stock. Here's a list of what I found:

Jan: Conversation with the Builder: If you want to know how John Olson built this fantastic small railroad simply ask him; Denis Dunning & John Olson. (JDL: Although about Olson's layout there are a few notes scattered in the article that the freight cars were scratchbuilt and freelanced, here's one: "The caboose was scratchbuilt using strathmore and imagination.")

Mar: An Idiot's Approach to Building Locomotives; Jeff Scott.

Apr: Mini-Contest Results: Photos and plans of the four winners plus some of the honorable mentions. (JDL: These are the winners of the MoW contest announced in the Nov '73 issue. The brief was: "Take a passenger car, any type from any era, and convert it into a maintenance of way car. Do what you want - make it into a crew car, boom tender, whatever you can dream up.")

June: Freelance Center Cab Diesel: A happy marriage of Athern's SW-7 and a pair of Hustler bodies results in a great little switcher; Mike Ross.

Aug: Homebuilt Box Cab Electric: Using various diesel parts, an electric fan comes up with a prototypical looking freelance locomotive; David Smith.

Oct: That First Kit Conversion: Taking a nicely detailed car and converting it to something else for the first time can be a challenge. Take your time and do it right; Miles Moran. (JDL: Although not specifically about building freelanced rolling stock the methods presented apply to both it and prototype-based conversions)

Nov: Cut Up A Coach: A little imagination can provide you with a whole new roster of shorty passenger equipment; Bill Jurden.

        Freelance Generator Car: A modern railroad can't afford to be hampered by something as trivial as nightfall. Take an evening and do something about it; Mark R. Henley.

Dec: Turbine Look-Alike: A massive turbine locomotive results from the judicious blending of commercial diesel parts; Wayne Lyndon.

        Economy Log Hog: The days of nickel beer and twenty cent a gallon gas may be long gone, but a $30 brass logging loco is still a possibility; Brick Price.

More freelancing

I did a cursory look through Railroad Model Craftsman for that year to see what was going on there in the way of articles about freelanced rolling stock. In two words: not much. No articles specifically dealing with such projects, but there were a couple of RMC / Dremel Kitbashing Award projects that caught my attention: An HOn30" Roster by Daniel Johnson (Jul '74), and "Cab-on-a-raft" - plus! by John Weinhold (Mar '74). There was also a 'roster' of N-scale traction vehicles in the article Fairmont Traction Co.: the vertical module by Phil Lehr (Dec '74) that has fascinated me ever since I read about them back in '74.

Even more freelancing

By 1974 freelancing rolling stock was on its last legs in the mainstream as the real prototype modelling movement was gaining momentum, so I found it interesting to find so many freelancing articles in RM. You may recall I wrote about Edward C. Steinberg a few years ago and his articles, beginning in the mid-70s, on kitbashing and freelancing rolling stock. His later projects were not without a little controversy as I noted in the post. Some of his projects appeared in RM, and I'll touch on them as I continue through the 70s.