Retired from the tracks, many old locomotives find themselves left to decay in forgotten graveyards of steel and rust. Once proud and powerful, the crippled Iron Horse is put out to pasture to await its fate with the cutting torch. This HO scene portrays such a graveyard, the Last Stop for locomotives.
This project began with a trip to my local train store to purchase an HO scale locomotive, which I did. However, while talking with the store owner about my upcoming project he suggested that take a look at the Bachman scale train website were they offer replacement parts for those wishing to customize their trains. A few mouse clicks later and I was awash in all sorts of extra locomotive goodies that would be perfect for adding to my scene. And then without hesitation or remorse, I proceeded to ruin a perfectly good HO scale engine by cutting off the front boiler hatch and removing all of the visible “guts”. The purpose, of course, for this Iron Horse sacrifice is to portray an engine that looks as though it’s been abandoned, and scavenged for usable parts and scrap metal.