Frisco USRA-design Composite Gondolas

 

There are certain freight car prototypes that just appeal to me, whatever the reason. The Frisco's USRA-design composite gondolas are one such car. When they were built, composite gondolas were commonplace, but by the early 50s, all steel gons were by far the majority. Perhaps that whiff of obsolescence is what draws me. Regardless, I find them interesting and have wanted to model one for years. 

Before discussing modeling options, I will provide what I know about the prototypes. The Frisco had a large number of these cars and seemed to refurbish and rebuild them into an incalculable number of flavors. There was a group of true USRA composite gondolas, built in 1919 by Standard Steel Car Co., in series 85000-85999 (782 cars in the Official Railway Equipment Register, October, 1951.) These were rebuilt into a number of different configurations:

• largely as built, but with wood floors and no drop doors and either original Perfection lever-type hand brake or Ajax power hand brake and AB brakes with 1712 cu. ft. capacity, like 85825 shown below (389 cars, Official Railway Equipment Register, October, 1951)
• rebuilt in 1934, 1935 and 1937 with paneled steel sides, wood floors and no drop doors, new side steel structural members, and either 1842 or 1862 cu. ft. capacity (4 and 138 cars, respectively)
• rebuilt in 1936, 1937 and 1938 with paneled steel sides including three side doors per side, wood floors and no drop doors, Dreadnaught ends, new side steel structural members, and 1856 cu. ft. capacity, like 85012 shown below (151 cars)
• rebuilt in 1940, retaining composite sides, but adding three doors per side, Dreadnaught ends, wood floors and no drop doors, Ajax power hand brakes, and 1726 cu. ft. capacity, like 85885 shown below (100 cars)

There was also a large group of cars in the series 50000-50398 (359 cars,) 50399-51927 (838,) 52000-52499 (495,) 52500-53099 (533,) 53100-53647 (491) and 53650-54349 (682) for a total of 3,398 cars. All had solid wood floors and (like the USRA cars) 1712 cu. ft. capacity. They were built by Pullman Car Manufacturing Co. in 1925 and 1930 and refurbished as needed, most notably with Dreadnaught ends. These were like 53395 shown directly above. The number series and data are from the Official Railway Equipment Register, October, 1951 issue.

Modeling the cars was relatively easy as Sunshine offered several different versions of them. Sadly, I did not ever manage to pick up a kit and now they do not appear on the secondhand market as much as other Sunshine kits seem to. However, I believe my modeling skills to be sharp enough to find a way to scratch the itch by modifying an Intermountain USRA composite gondola. 

Martin Lofton wrote "Frisco's rebuilt USRA gondolas," Railroad Model Craftsman, October 1990. This article covered many of the variations, as well as how Martin modeled them in HO scale. His article predated the Intermountain and Walthers (ex-Proto1000) USRA-design composite gondolas

The image above is of the side of Sunshine kit 92.6. These were part of the re-release of Frisco USRA-design gons. I assume that the patterns were Martin's work as no one is credited for them in the Sunshine PDS (Prototype Data Sheet) and Martin did do occasional pattern work, especially for his "pet" roads, of which the Frisco was one. The cars included detail on the interior, as well, including "cutouts" for the side discharge doors, wood boards, and detail on the inside of the Dreadnaught ends.

NOTE: Where I have info on the prototype images, I have begun to embed/watermark that in the image, along with my last name rather prominently in the car body. I hate to take this step, but I have grown increasingly angry at the proliferation of internet and social media "experts" downloading images and then reposting them elsewhere with no information about the date, location or photographer or where they pirated the images from in the first place. Yes, it detracts from the images, but it also deters the pirates from wanton theft without attribution.

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.