The "Murphy" "XLA" "Flexible" "Outside Metal" Roof

Murphy XLA on a Minneapolis & St. Louis USRA design 40-ton double sheathed box car. Jack Delano photo, Chicago and North Western Proviso Yard, FSA-OWI Collection, Library of Congress

 During the 'teens and into the early 20s, the most common roof design on house cars was the "Murphy" roof. The roof went by many names, including Murphy and Murphy XLA as used commonly by hobbyists, as well as Outside Metal and Flexible Outside Metal. Standard Railway Equipment Co. was the primary purveyor, although it seems likely that it would have been licensed as needed. 

Car Builders' Cyclopedia page illustrating the Murphy XLA roof design

Seemingly everyone with even a casual interest in freight cars is aware of this roof design and could easily point it out on models. What is less well known and is the reason for this post, is how the roof actually worked. But first, modelers who replicated this design, especially scratchbuilders, typically took sheet styrene and added strips at the correct (or incorrect!) spacing to simulate the battens. What is frequently overlooked, yet is easily modeled, is the lip at the eaves that was part of the design's effort to mitigate water seepage.

Detail from an L&N box car drawing illustrating some of the details of the "Murphy Improved Pivoted Outside Metal Roof"

Back to the prototype... the edges of the roof sheets, batten coverings, peak coverings, etc., incorporated pressed, rolled edges that interlocked in such a way that it would be difficult for water to enter the seams and joints. In a static setting, this was probably quite a good solution. However, the forces imparted on railroad cars over years of service could result in areas of leakage. Likely by design, the roof seemed to be quite serviceable, meaning any issues could be resolved in the shops.

The arrows in the image above highlight the "lip" as described in the text. One other note is that the leftmost panel with an arrow (second from car end) is narrower than the other panels. This was not uncommon and is something to watch for in your modeling efforts. Klamath Falls, Oregon, FSA-OWI Collection, Library of Congress

Returning to modeling... the overlap of interlocking roof sheet and flexible eave can easily be simulated by making the roof slightly "short" at the edge and adding an abutting strip. The battens over the roof sheets can continue over the strip, simulating this detail. It is something I have added to such efforts once I became aware of it. A roof without this detail could be fixed also, by making an angle of an appropriate depth piece of styrene that "sits" in the appropriate distance, allowing you to lightly scribe lines between the battens. One interesting detail is that the batten strips do not seem to be uniformly designed. Some appear to extend almost to the edge of the roof eave while others terminate more midway between the lip of the roof sheets/flexible eave and the angle of the eaves. Happy modeling!

This car, a Milwaukee Road prototype, also illustrates different width panels on the roof. Jack Delano photo, Milwaukee Road Galewood, Illinois Yard, FSA-OWI Collection, Library of Congress

The image shown above is my creation of the XLA roof with the flexible eave added using a styrene strip. It is discernible at the outer roof edge, at the eaves. This is from a resin part from a styrene pattern that I created for another project, but was easy to add here once I separated the one-piece Tichy sides and roof into their component pieces by carefully scribing and snapping.

The Slow Modeling Movement

 

One of my favorite modeling projects ever*, a NYC 50-foot box car with end door... very illustrative of slow modeling, given the out of the box Proto 2000 car as the alternative

Apologies to the slow food movement (you can read more about that movement in the obituary of Skye Gyngell, one of its pioneers who died last year,) which isn't a direct analog to what I am saying here, but is close enough for my uses... and since I am (I think) inventing the "slow modeling movement," I will grant myself license. Over the last two decades of North American model railroading, we have been inundated with no shortage of quick and relatively easy ways to amass high quality freight cars, passenger equipment, locomotives, track, details, etc. The upside is fairly obvious: we have highly detailed replicas of more things than our predecessors could have dreamed, except those who were Darnaby-esque in their ability to construct freight cars, tune brass locomotives, and build prototype-specific scenes and structures.

Another of my favorite "slow modeling" efforts. This model replicates a prototype that essentially put a 1932 ARA box car body on top of a flat car, just like the NC&StL did. Atlas car body with Details West ends and Tichy flat car for the underframe, all prototypically accurate. Details in Prototype Railroad Modeling, Volume Five

To me, the downsides are troubling. First is cost. At $360+ for DCC locomotives, $55-60+ for RTR freight cars, extremely expensive track and turnouts, and the cost of layout materials, it can be expensive to assemble a large fleet of freight cars, a modest number of locomotives plus the stuff to make a layout. Second, even with effective weathering, there is a homogenous quality if everyone has the same RTR equipment. Third, all of this RTR buying makes it far easier to push actual modeling to the side, unless you are actually building a layout.

Replicating details like this take a lot of time to create and then incorporate into a model, but the results can be incredibly satisfying when it all comes together

What's a modeler to do? Well, for this guy, I decided to slow things down and focus on quality over quantity.** I already had qualms about spending $60 on freight cars that I knew had accuracy issues and styrene details that are oversized and/or more prone to damage. I know that for me (and others) the joy and pleasure in the hobby is building models, not buying models. So, why not focus on that aspect of the hobby over accumulation of more stuff that underwhelms me and looks the same as the stuff on other layouts? I don't mind at all spending 30-45 minutes making a set of ladders that have individual rungs that actually look like rungs. For me, the juice of slower modeling is worth that squeeze.

IMWX 1937 AAR box car with etched metal ladders and rungs, scratchbuilt placard and route card boards, Yarmouth etched sill steps, new door tracks, etched trust plates, Kadee bracket grabs and National Scale Car decals, among other details. Read about it via this link

How can you start? You can find resin freight car kits by Westerfield and Funaro & Camerlengo at quite reasonable prices on ebay and at swap meets and sometimes steals on Sunshine and Speedwitch (shameless plug!) kits, as well. Try a Bethlehem Car Works passenger car kit. Ditto for structure kits, especially some older gems that are basic in appearance, but can be detailed and kitbashed to represent exquisite models. The large-run brass models of the 70s and 80s can now be had via the same outlets at prices in the mid-$100s to under $400, providing good foundations for redetailing and hours of modeling enjoyment. Perhaps pool resources with friends and purchase "communal" tracklaying jigs from outfits like FastTracks and Oak Hill to handlay your own track and turnouts.

Another very slow modeling movement effort is this Sunshine Models PRR X41B with scratchbuilt underframe (the kit's underframe is incorrect on many levels.) I also created ladders, sill steps, bracket grabs, and other details to closely replicate the prototype. Again, for me, I am motivated by the model rather than getting something done to just quickly fill out a roster spot.

This slow modeling movement means I will have fewer cars, locomotives, etc., than I might have otherwise. My track will all be handlaid with full details, such as plates, spikes, cast and fully detailed frogs, etc., taking longer than prebuilt turnouts and flex track. Structures will be scratchbuilt, bashed or limited run kits. The upside is that I have a plan (and space now) to make a modest-sized shelf layout detailed to the standards that appeal to me that will feed my desire to model things rather than take them out of boxes. Join me in the slow movement... the food tastes better and the models look great!

*this NYC box car project, profiled in Prototype Railroad Modeling, Volume Four, was incredibly satisfying. I started the kitbash (end from a Proto 2000 aut ocar grafted on to the rest of a Proto 2000 box car) and was completely dissatisfied with the result. After 10-15 years, my modeling skills caught up to my ambitions and I plowed through to complete the model

**I fully recognize that what I am laying out here might not be feasible for a large basement-filling layout requiring lots of motive power and rolling stock... but that's the beauty of the hobby; you can channel your efforts to what you enjoy most

Coming over the horizon, metaphorically

 

If you market just about anything these days, you are only as good or relevant as your last offering. With the Milwaukee car in production, I have been transitioning to the next car to be released, the PRR G28 mill gondola*. Now that I am casting parts, too, that is a natural part of the thought and design process as well as a source of potential angst! This car is one where I was worried about how I would be able to cast the body. The person who cast most of my kits in the past did not view it as a huge obstacle. However, given that the sides and floor are 0.020" thick, getting resin to flow through that thin a profile over a fifty+ foot car body made me nervous. Turns out, it is actually proving to be far easier to cast than the Milwaukee auto car bodies have been. Thus far, I have cast several bodies, with little in the way of issues. I can also report that they look really good, too. I am very excited to build up the pilot model for this one. It should be a lot easier than the previous few builds, but be no less attractive a model when finished. Coming soon!

*the G28 was a 52'6" drop end mill gondola, similar in concept (but not design!) to the other prevalent mill gons of the era, including the Erie/Greenville design (think Proto 2000,) the LV/Bethlehem design (Tangent Scale Models) plus the Pennsy's "other" one, the G27 class. The G28 class was 1,900 cars built in 1940-1941 (car nos. 342600-344499.) It had a trait common to many PRR-design gons, with side structural members of two different sizes, with some being markedly "beefier" than the others. It also featured a welded underframe with some unusual crossties, making it an extremely cool modeling opportunity (for those of us who care about underframes.) 

Some cars were equipped with racks for auto frame loading, like shown above and a small group also received roofs, making them covered gondolas. Jack Consoli covered the making of the these roofs in The Keystone Modeler issue 57.

We have also made a spectacular (we may be biased) replica of the Universal lever style power hand brake shown here, including an amazing etched lever that is as gorgeous as it is durable.

Milwaukee Road 50' Single Sheathed Automobile Car

This model is based upon a group of 500 cars delivered to the Milwaukee in 1929 by Pullman Car & Manufacturing Co. The cars were placed in series 271500-271999 (note there is a similar, but different group of fifty-foot cars in series 271000-271499 that are not covered by this kit.) Features of these cars included Youngstown corrugated steel doors, Dreadnaught steel ends (with a small lumber door in the A end,) Hutchins Dry Lading roofs, Dalman one-level trucks, and unusually for cars of this type in this era, an underframe without fishbelly center sill sections.

The kit incorporates all of these details. I made the side and end patterns many years ago and created the underframe pattern and modified my existing Hutchins roof a couple years ago. The trucks (included in the kit) were developed and 3D printed by Plate C based upon prototype drawings. The kit includes one-piece cast resin body, other resin parts, etchings for many of the details, decals printed by Cartograf, and other parts. This is the first one-piece body offering that I have cast myself, so it's a bit of a milestone.

The A end, including the lumber door

The car shown is the pilot model built to create instructions (I will add the link to that file to the kit page in a few days once review is complete.) With construction complete, I blasted the model using 600 grit aluminum oxide powder (source for that can be found in this post.) I primed the car with Stynylres from Badger. The model was painted with MiG Ammo ATOM Rotbraun RAL 8012 (ATOM-20046.) I chose this color because it has a red hue, similar to what I have seen in many Milwaukee single sheathed box, auto, and stock cars photos of the Transition Era. It airbrushes beautifully. I did thin it a little bit extra using the manufacturers thinner (thank you to George Toman for the sample and recommendation!)

I weathered the model with a combination of oils and powders. I applied a very light wash of white oil paint diluted with mineral spirits over the entire model. I added additional washes of Payne's Grey and Burnt Umber, with additional applications to the roof and along the side sills. I also added PanPastel powders (Payne's Grey and Burnt Umber) in specific areas to complement the washes. 

Prior to each step where I applied decals, I airbrushed a coat of Future to create a gloss surface. Some chalkmarks were applied at the time of the bulk of the decaling (prior to weathering) and others were added after weathering, at the same time as the reweigh, repack, and brake test stencils. For the fresh paint patches of the reweigh, repack, and brake test stencils, I airbrushed plain decal stock with the color used on the car body plus a coat of Future and then cut and applied rectangle decals as needed. The clear flat coats are Mr. Hobby clear flat thinned with Mr. Hobby self leveling thinner; these were applied several times during the decaling and weathering processes, as well as the final overcoat on the model.

Note the hand brake rod, with the small segment at the bell crank and the longer segment above it, spanning to the chain, accurately replicating the arrangement of the prototype. Another notable detail is that on the prototype, the angles formed by the stiles of the ladders were oriented in an opposite fashion from most cars, with the angle of the stiles "open" to the "outside" of the ladder; that arrangement is also faithfully replicated on the model