Milwaukee Road 261 and passenger consist

[BrandonS261]

Currently working on this car once again and trying to finish it up! The Wisconsin Valley along with the St Croix Valley cars are both ex US Army cars and are identical on the outside other then a port hole window that was added to the St Croix Valley. Being that the St Croix Valley has had numerous owners over the years along with many different paint schemes and a few name changes it will be one that will be fun to add to the consist.

Obviously this is still in the stages of being built but I do have all of the windows cut out and most of the textures done for the car. I however still need a lot of under-body work done along with some roof details but the car is coming along nicely.

They will also include interior details just like my other cars I have built so far. The passenger car I plan on building after the Wisconsin and St Croix Valley cars are completed is the Sleeping car Minnesota River.

Brandon

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[BrandonS261]

Yes I am aware I am bumping an older thread that I started but I have not updated anyone on what I have been working on lately. Coming up next is a total revamp of the 261 water tender ex NS steam program tender along with some more cars to add to the consist that include 2 versions of the Wisconsin Valley first class lounge car along with the St Croix Valley and the old concession car named Shoreview that was then later sold off to CP for the 2816 and was once part of the FWRHS with 765. The Wisconsin Valley and St Croix Valley are identical cars even though they have a few different window modifications. Originally both built as US Army cars they have had many modifications over the years and the reason I am building 2 versions of the Wisconsin Valley. It has had window modifications along with different paint schemes over the years. I have also started working on the Milwaukee Road Sleeper Minnesota River along with work on the pride and joys of the fleet that are the Super Dome and Cedar Rapids.

I will be riding the Milw 261 excursion next weekend so my goal is to get more photos of the cars along with interior shots. Not that I don't have enough already from over the years.


Baggage Car Shoreview. As you can see I still have quite a bit of work to do to it.
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Milwaukee Road 261 Water Tender- ex N&W Steam Program tender. I have completely rebuilt the car from the ground up so it is more accurately detailed and fits in with the consist better then my previous version. As you can see this car also needs some work done to it before it is completed.

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Next up I have the Wisconsin Valley and St Croix Valley cars. Both need significant work done to them before they are rail ready including full interiors for both of the cars.

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[BrandonS261]

My main goal with this project is to build the Friends of the 261 fleet of cars over the years.

Yes I have my work cut out for me but the more I do it the faster I am getting at it. Having been around many of the cars, car hosting on excursions and photographing them over the years has helped immensely in my research and knowledge of the cars. Where they came from, how they are all set up and there history.

Here is a small list of the cars I have completed so far

Baggage Cars

Earling Tool Car- Ex Milw Beaver Tail car
Grand Canyon Tool/Dorm- Ex US Army Car
Concession Car 2450- Ex UP
Golden Valley-Ex NP/FRISCO 1522 tool car

Coach Cars

Wenonah- Ex Central of Georgia/Algoma Central
Nakomas- Ex Central of Georgia/Algoma Central
Caritas- Ex FRISCO

Currently in the works

Shoreview- Ex FWRHS/NYC
Minnesota River- Ex MILW Sleeper
Super Dome 53- Ex Milw
Wisconsin Valley- Ex US Army
St Croix Valley- Ex US Army
Cedar Rapids- Ex MILW Skytop
Montana- Ex MILW Business Car
Milwaukee/Wisconsin- Ex MILW Business Car- Wisconsin is not in the fleet but an identical car to the Milwaukee


Cars planned for the future

Lamberts Point- Ex NW Business car
MKT 403 Business Car
Yerba Buena- Ex UP/CNW sleeper now obs
Oliver Hazard Perry- Ex CN Sleeper- Converted to Sleeper lounge and in L&N Paint
Fox River Valley- Ex PRR
Bella Vista- ex UP dome
Buckeye Lake- ex DL&W
Buckeye Trail- ex NKP

There will be more in the future but this is what I have planned so far.

Brandon

[BrandonS261]

A few of my latest creations I have been working on. Obviously these are all just shells at the moment and do not have interiors put in them yet. Still have a lot to do but hoping to get them all done around the same time. My goal is to at least get the exterior of all of the cars completed first and exported into the game and then go back and work on the interiors. Next up will be the ex Milwaukee Road sleeper the Minnesota River. Notice I have added in the Northern Dreams sleeper lounge car even though it is not part of the fleet for the 261. However it has been on quite a few of there excursions over the years. I also plan on building the Northern Sky as well in the future.Screenshot 2026-08-05 195757.png Screenshot 2026-08-05 195812.png Screenshot 2026-08-05 195832.png Screenshot 2026-08-04 182009.png Screenshot 2026-08-04 181948.png Screenshot 2026-07-31 191118.png Screenshot 2026-07-31 191131.png

[eric]

My goal is to at least get the exterior of all of the cars completed first and exported into the game and then go back and work on the interiors

A fine approach.

The two Northern Sky cars would go great with the WSOR route in work.

[landnrailroader]

I love those L&N cars. Check your sources though because the lettering on the top board, L&N spelled out seems correct but the Pine series name, I am not sure about. Only rode on those Pine cars once, when I went to Louisville for an interview after college. Didn't work out but a few weeks later I was hired by Southern. Later FRA and finally Chessie System which got me to CSX.

[BrandonS261]

The car I am modeling that is in L&N Paint is NOT an L&N Car originally and was originally a CN Sleeping car that was converted to a sleeper lounge car. I have been trying to focus on passenger cars that are now private passenger cars and ones that are used in Mainline Excursion Service. Mainly behind Milwaukee Road 261 steam locomotive however many of the cars I am building have also been behind many other mainline steam locomotives around the country along with part of the AAPRCO. I also want to model cars that many people forget about or wouldn't think to model.

Here are photos of it that I have taken over the years!

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[BrandonS261]

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Here is a little update on what I have currently been working on. Obviously there is still a ton of work to do on all of the cars and the water tender but they are all coming along nicely.

I decided to completely redo the water tender from the previous version I released years ago with my 261 model. I will be coming out with 2 versions of the water tender when completed but I may also put it in its N&W colors since it was part of the NS Steam program for many years before being bought by the 261 group in 1994.

The major milestone I was able to do today is get all of these into the game even if they are not completed yet. Many major things still need to be done on all of these cars. They include the undercarriage for all of them that still need to be built along with all of the interiors. Yes I am hoping to do custom interiors for most of the cars.

There are a few cars I am also working on currently and those are the Wisconsin Valley, St Croix valley and Minnesota River as those will be the next ones I am hoping to get imported into the game.

I hope you all like what you see so far as it has been quite a feat already but I feel like I am slowly making progress.

Brandon

[BrandonS261]

This morning I decided to fix up the Earling tool car. I had originally made it too tall and the maroon and orange stripes were not matching up with the rest of the cars and it was bugging the heck out of me. Looking much better now! Still need to adjust a few things and move things down but for the most part it is all fixed. This car will have 2 versions. One with the port hole windows and one without.

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[BrandonS261]

Had myself a slight scare last night when my PC decided it wanted to throw a hissy fit and kept crashing on me. In order to get it back up and running I ended up having to do a backup restore. Along with a little trouble shooting and help from my friend Josh aka Scfe_fan on here I was able to get it working just fine again.

I also for a short time lost everything I had been working on but also managed to get that back as well.

Now on to my question and since I have already dug myself into a deep rabbit hole with this project why not dig myself a little deeper. I am not sure if anyone would be interested if expanded a little more and built the Frisco 1522 support cars as well. Being that the Friends of the 261 group aquired 3 of the 4 cars and are currently using 2 of the 3 it wouldn't be all that out of the way to just build all 4 of them. Since the Frisco 1522 and water tender are already built for Open Rails I feel some prototype support cars would be welcomed for ones who want to run it in excursion service.

I have also been kicking the idea around of making the water tender fleet from the ex NS steam program since the Milw 261 water tender was among the ones used behind 611 and 1218 back in the late 80s and early 90s

I would like to know if those things would be of interest to others before I go ahead and put effort into making them even though they all seem like a given.

Currently I have been putting more detail into the Oliver Hazard Perry and Northern Dreams with getting all of the undercarrage completed on them. After that will be there interiors. I have also been working on more details for the water tender and getting the Wisconsin Valley and St Croix Valley cars into the game as well.

Lots still left to do but chipping away at it little by little.

Brandon

[superheatedsteam]

I also for a short time lost everything I had been working on but also managed to get that back as well.

Brandon

Did your backups fail as well?

[BrandonS261]

No the backup restore point I had to use was before I started making most of the passenger cars I have built now but everything is squared away now! Got multiple backups of everything so its all good.

[scfe_fan]

Had myself a slight scare last night when my PC decided it wanted to throw a hissy fit and kept crashing on me. In order to get it back up and running I ended up having to do a backup restore. Along with a little trouble shooting and help from my friend Josh aka Scfe_fan on here I was able to get it working just fine again.

Well when you try to overclock it so high that you need liquid nitrogen to cool it.. Sorry but I can't bring you anymore of that stuff.. I dropped my hazmat endorsement.. But I guess now that you've let the cat out of the bag on our (not so) little project. I guess I should add my contribution to it all.

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[BrandonS261]

Well after much encouragement for years by many other modelers like Josh, Scott, Eric, and a few others along with push back from myself I have decided to dive head first into Blender and step away from TSM. I think it has been a very long time coming but also feel it is a good time to do so. This will give me the ability to build models quicker, more accurately along with give me the ability to work with other modelers on specific projects.

I know this will take some time but as Allen told me once when I was just learning TSM you got to start some where. I have converted most of my projects to Blender from TSM and in the process of resizing everything to the proper specs once again as everything gets out of wack during the conversion process.

I will still have to figure out how to do texturing and animation but it will come in time I suppose but here goes nothing with pushing forward into new territory I have no idea what I am getting myself into.

However I have been told by many modelers once I get Blender down I wont be going back. Thanks to both Josh and Scott for helping me out on this new adventure I am about to undertake and hopefully I can pick it up quick and get some models out to all of you soon!

Brandon

[eric]

I think that's awesome. You're probably going to jump back and forth for a little while, but more and more, you'll stay in Blender.

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