Model Railroading > My John Deere combine train

An all winter project I worked on a few years ago. I started getting the combine & flatcar fleet together and commenced work Feb, 2018 and finished the train on March 20, 2019. In the video there are 19 John Deere combines on 13 flatcars. I used my modelers license and added the corn heads to 3 more flatcars. I have since added 4 more cars, 3 combines on 2 flats, more corn heads on 1 flat and just to irritate the John Deere crowd I added 1 flatcar of CaseIH combines! Those go right behind the power. ;)
The video has a slideshow of how I built the combine train.
The prototype I used was a YouTube video titled "BNSF 6198 East- John Deere Combine Train 4/9/2016"
The NS GE units in the video are out of my era but were done by a dear friend who is no longer with us. These units will always have a place on the layout.

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CSX2605...A great load, the railroads,I hope the guys out there plan to build loads also.    ...

Fine , realistic look. 

Your instructional video is terrific.  The train must weigh enormously due to cast metal loads.
jb

boejoe Wrote:
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> Your instructional video is terrific.  The train
> must weigh enormously due to cast metal loads.
> jb
Thank you!
11.3 oz with 2 combines!  I ran the train on a club modular layout at a train show and my 2 Atlas L&N GE's pulled it like a champ. Of course it was flat and it ran for several hours with no casualties. On a friends layout we found out his signals are a bit too close to the track. One spot was walking speed while passing that signal. 

I bet they are all plastic. upkpfan

My wife ran off with a tractor salesman...She sent me a "John Deere" letter! (Parump-bump!).

upkpfan Wrote:
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> I bet they are all plastic. upkpfan

I went back to the video and the scene with the packaged combine indicates die cast metal construction.
jb

boejoe Wrote:
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> upkpfan Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > I bet they are all plastic. upkpfan
>
> I went back to the video and the scene with the
> packaged combine indicates die cast metal
> construction.
> jb
Yes, the body is die cast metal. I had to grind off some metal on the four corners so it was flat where the combines would rest on the cribbing.

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Super nice! Lots of time and effort went into each car load and it paid off with a great looking train.

 Wow, what a nice satisfying achievement, wonder full video and explanation.  Very well done and entertaining.
Blaine
American Fork 

Nice work. I've seen the prototype trains a few times.

Ted Curphey
Ontario, OR

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funnelfan Wrote:
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> Nice work. I've seen the prototype trains a few
> times.
Outstanding shot! A little bit of coin($) in that photo. 

> Outstanding shot! A little bit of coin($) in that
> photo. 

Aren't they pushing a $ million each, new?

Lighter Wrote:
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> Aren't they pushing a $ million each, new?
Yes. The X9 series with 2 grain heads is over a million. CaseIH came out with a new combine recently and my guess is probably the same money as a Deere. Mine were only $15 a piece and came with a corn head! LOL!

Very nice train.  I'm hoping to do something similar at some point in N scale, though unfortunately there isn't anything ready made that small.  Baldylox Designs will be my source for those.

The best farm train I've gotten to see was back in 2014 - 43 John Deere tractors and 52 Case IH combines.  I found it odd that there weren't any heads at all.

There's nothing official yet for prices, but the one quote I've seen for a New Holland CR11, is $1.1 million, including a 50 foot head.  With prices like that, it's no wonder why the used equipment market is as hot as it is.

Dan

dan7366 Wrote:
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> Very nice train.  I'm hoping to do something
> similar at some point in N scale, though
> unfortunately there isn't anything ready made that
> small.  Baldylox Designs will be my source for
> those.

* I was told by my John Deere dealer that when these Ertl 9510 cobines are gone, that's it, they are not making any more. Glad I did this while they were still available. I had my wife drive an hour to pick up some at a Deere dealer in IL. Might still be able to find some online or at a Deere dealer. Back then the flatcars were kind of hard to find. Now I see them all over the place. LOL!

> The best farm train I've gotten to see was back in
> 2014 - 43 John Deere tractors and 52 Case IH
> combines.  I found it odd that there weren't any
> heads at all.

* That would be cool to see! I think the heads are broken down small enough to fit in a container and shipped overseas in that fashion then assembled. I know livestock feed grinders are built so they can be shipped in a container.

> There's nothing official yet for prices, but the
> one quote I've seen for a New Holland CR11, is
> $1.1 million, including a 50 foot head.  With
> prices like that, it's no wonder why the used
> equipment market is as hot as it is.
>
> Dan
Yes, it is crazy and the price of grain is not favorable right now. Our grain market advisor says over time his biggest worry is electric vehicles hurting ethanol production. I guess we will quit growing food and farm with solar panels. ;)  We have been hit up by 6 solar outfits wanting to lease land near power lines. Latest was Korsail out of Denver. Google them. Basically have a ton of Givernment money to go out and take land for panels. They can go pound sand!

Fantastic modeling, looks great.

Here's three shots of the train I mentioned.  Turns out I was wrong - it was March of 2015.  For some reason I was thinking November of 2014.  It looked like they were going to Germany based on the stenciling.

I'd never thought of heads being shipped in containers, but it makes lots of sense.

Dan

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dan7366 Wrote:
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> Here's three shots of the train I mentioned. 
> Turns out I was wrong - it was March of 2015. 
> For some reason I was thinking November of 2014. 
> It looked like they were going to Germany based on
> the stenciling.
>
> I'd never thought of heads being shipped in
> containers, but it makes lots of sense.
>
> Dan
Excellent photos of a cool train! We can't control the weather in farming or train photography. LOL! I assume this is on the NS somewhere between Chicago and the east coast?  Thanks for sharing.