Back in the early 2000s when I modelled the Boston & Maine Claremont Branch, I really wanted a model of the railroad’s gas electrics. The problem was, at the time the only mass market option available was a Bachmann model and it didn’t look like the classic EMC designs that I saw in my B&M books.
Then, in the pages of the B&M historical society’s magazine, I discovered that Steam Era Models had produced a kit for a similar model. I say similar because Steam Era Models is an Australian company and its model depicted the Diesel Electric Rail Motors (DERMs) that were built from EMC components for that country’s Victorian Railways.
I placed an order.
I had no knowledge of the Australian modelling scene and remember being quite impressed by the quality of this kit when it arrived. It was a well-done plastic kit, on par with the offerings by Tichy Train Group here in North America. Working from photographs, I shopped for appropriate detail parts and made some modifications – mostly to the roof details – to better represent Boston & Maine 1150. I did not attempt to create a 100 percent accurate model but rather decided I would improve what I could without destroying what was a very nicely tooled kit.
It was a joy to build. This kit even had plenty of space for a DCC decoder.
(Back in the day, decoders were huge. Today, the engine compartment behind the driver would handily hold a micro-sized sound decoder plus sugar cube speakers and a stay-alive. Perhaps at some point I should upgrade this model.)
In North America, Steam Era Models is now well known in niche communities such as traction modellers for its excellent line of Black Beetle power trucks. So it’s no surprise that more recently, I’ve retuned to Steam Era Models to buy Black Beetles for some of the S scale freight motors I’ve built for the Niagara St. Catharines & Toronto Railway.
I’ll have more to say about Steam Era Models in a future post.
The Model Railway Show 