Santa Fe Bx-34 Modified 1937 AAR Box Car

 

August 5, 1947, PRR siding, Division St., Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, Bob Charles Collection, Kalmbach Memorial Library

I thought a fitting addendum to my previous post would be one highlighting the prototype that was announced, the Santa Fe's Class Bx-34 Modified 1937 AAR box cars. The Santa Fe was the largest owner of Modified 1937 AAR box cars (10'4" to 10'6" inside height and 5/5 Dreadnaught ends, almost exclusively round corner.) The first 1,801 cars, delivered in 1940, were equipped with the Duryea Cushion underframe, like the vast majority of new Santa Fe box and refrigerator cars built in the mid-30s to 1940. The cars were assigned to number series 139500-141300.

Illinois Digital Archives, Pullman History site

The cars received the map scheme, with the first group of cars carrying the "curved" map and the remainder painted with the "straight" map (ATSF 140793 at top sports the curved map while ATSF 140377 directly above carries the straight map*; I could likely be more specific, but my copies of Dobyne's Santa Fe box cars and Hendrickson's Santa Fe freight car painting and lettering books are in boxes somewhere in the house - if you have that info and can post a comment, I will update in the body of the text here. thank you.) The first 1,200 cars received American Steel Foundries spring plankless trucks while the remainder used National Type B-1 trucks. Youngstown doors with Camel fixtures, Ajax power hand brakes, Apex Tri-Lok brake steps, and wood running boards rounded out the main specialties. The roofs were treated with slate granules while the paint was still wet, giving them a pronounced dark grey to black appearance.

This later repaint circa 1959 displays lowered placard and route card boards of a different style than as built, as well as a more modern scheme

These cars (and many other Santa Fe AAR-design cars) featured other unusual details that collectively resulted in distinctive cars. The placard and route card boards on these cars had beveled (or perhaps rounded) top and bottom edges and used brackets with mounts that incorporated "ears" or tabs with holes for rivets to attach to the doors or ends. The top of the right stile on the side ladders was shorter than the left, presumably as a safety feature when a carman swung his foot/leg around when at the top of the car. While these cars had push pole pockets on the ends at the lower corners, they did not have short angle sections below the ladders, as most cars with push pole pockets did; rather, the sill steps mounted to the bottom of the side sill and corners. These cars did not use bracket-type grab irons either, unusual by 1940. Likely due to the four pairs of crossbearers of the Duryea (as opposed to the typical AAR underframe) they used a shorter side sill support section under the door. In the aggregate, the underframe plus these other features make for distinctive prototypes worthy of detailed models.

*images I have of ATSF 140185, 140177, 140809, and 141106 all carry the curved map

New Product and Speedwitch Goings On

Santa Fe Bx-34, Otto Perry photo, Denver Public Library

It's been awhile since I have posted anything about the state of affairs at Speedwitch (or posted much about other things, as well.) Since late last autumn and continuing as I type this, there has been no shortage of things that have limited my ability to do much of anything. The house in Brooklyn has been sold after a ton of work to get it ready (I relinquished my workspace there back in late November.) There has been a steady back and forth between there and the upstate house with a full carload each time. I have been spending most of my weeks upstate, but weekends have been back and forth to Brooklyn. My workspace upstate is what I would call nomadic at best since it is temporary and occupied on and off by a neverending stream of plumbers, electricians, builders, etc., doing work on the house. I spend my days dodging them and trying my best to work on patterns and become adept (enough) at resin casting. My better half still works in NYC, so we had to move her to an apartment over the past few weeks. Oddly (for me) I had several illnesses over the past six months that have sidelined me for the better part of three weeks. I have been frustrated at times, but persistence overcomes resistance...

Santa Fe Bx-34 Duryea Cushion underframe

All that said, there are things coming. I am starting slowly on the resin casting front, with a few parts sets to get my casting chops established. They include the most detailed Duryea underframe I am aware of (regardless of scale) for the Santa Fe's Bx-34 modified 1937 AAR box cars (details via this link) and a significant upgrade for the Intermountain/Amarillo PFE R-40-25, including correct ends and enhancements for details including the ladders, underframe, side sill supports, hatch cover rests, bunker drains, and other details. The last set is upgrade parts for the Bowser Pennsy X32 50' "round roof" cars. While these parts sets include plenty of "extreme" detail, in the parlance of Bill Welch, there are some suggested shortcuts to make them quicker and easier to build, if that is your desire.

Santa Fe Bx-34 end

On the full kit front, I will share a separate post in a few weeks detailing those plans. Much is dependent upon how quickly I feel comfortable with the casting process. While I am thoroughly enjoying the resin casting process I don't want to get too far ahead of myself lest I have to eat a giant helping of crow, but I am having fun (it is much like being in the darkroom... you do a few things that seem to involve process as well as voodoo and magic and end up with really cool results!)

Flat Car Friday - New York Central 70-ton AAR Flat Car

 

While this image is far from great, it does display two things that I'd like to see more: loads of crates and NYC 70-ton AAR flats. Crates are a fairly simple load to create from styrene stock or the old Sunshine export crates load, if you have one. They are easy to customize by creating your own lettering and printing decals in black stenciling or having them printed by a third party, such as PDC. They are also simple to secure using Chartpack or similar tape to simulate the banding.

I also rarely see models of the NYC 70-ton AAR flat cars in HO. It cannot be a lack of offerings since Intermountain has produced quite nice replicas and Sunshine also offered kits that still appear on the secondary market and do not fetch exorbitant Sunshine prices since there is a good styrene alternative. Protowest also briefly offered resin kits for the 70-ton AAR flats, although they are a bit crude, in my opinion. Fine decals are also available from National Scale Car. With a fleet of 1,000 cars, they are significant flat car prototypes that warrant inclusion in just about any model fleet.

I plan to take my own musings to heart and complete one in the near future.

Wordy Wednesday - Omaha, Nebraska May, 1948

Click on the images to see a larger view.

This photo is interesting to me for a number of reasons. The unusual PFE painting arrangement on the -16 rebuild is one, but the other is that as an early 1950s modeler, I am on the lookout for 36' box cars that I can credibly include in my fleet; this photo shows two such candidates. The photo was recorded by Lee Russell for the CB&Q in May, 1948 in Omaha. The Rock Island freight terminal is visible, as well as the Bekins warehouse, among other structures. A couple of Rock Island truck trailers can be picked out flanking the PFE R-30-9 reefer in the background. Photo from the Newberry Library

PFE - R-30/40-16 - With 3,554 cars (nos. 73001-76554) the -16 rebuilds were the second largest group of PFE rebuilds, after the -9 classes. They employed Murphy solid steel roofs (with rectangular panels, as shown here) and retained wood ends. The extremely interesting detail in this photo is the 1946 style UP medallion by itself on the car side. According to PFE painting specifications, this style of medallion was always to be paired with an SP medallion, with both on each side of the car. This is a highly unusual, if not unique, application. HO scale models of the -16 rebuilds were offered in resin by Sunshine Models as well as styrene by Pacific Freight Enterprises

PFE R-30-24 67179 - the final group of rebuilds of the late 1930s and 40s were the -24 classes. They were unusual for the use of 'Harborite' exterior plywood sheathing (some other rebuilds of the era used this as well, notably many -9s refurbished during the same late 1940s period.) There were 2,610 -24s in total (nos. 65921-68532.) They were the only rebuilds to use Improved Dreadnaught ends and the last cars also received diagonal panel Murphy roofs. Preco FG-41 or FK-2 mechanical fans were installed, as well. Almost all of the -24 rebuilds used "built-up" 30-or 40-ton underframes, as the vast majority of the Bettendorf underframe cars were rebuilt in earlier classes. HO scale models were offered in resin by Sunshine and the MTH PFE reefer, while decorated as a steel car, closely resembles a -24.

WP 20529 - Western Pacific received 350 Modified AAR box cars from Mt. Vernon Car Manufacturing Co. in 1945, nos. 20201-20550. They had Youngstown Steel doors, Apex Tri-Lok running boards, Barber S-2 (20201-20350) or ASF A-3 Ride Control (20351-20550) trucks, and Royal Type F brake regulators. The placard boards were lowered fairly quickly, as illustrated by the one shown on the door of WP 20529 above. Sunshine Models offered resin kits and Intermountain has styrene versions of these cars.

UP 79420 - B-50-6 The Union Pacific and Southern Pacific both rostered large fleets of double sheathed box cars constructed to a (mostly) standard design. The UP purchased over 7,500 cars from various builders, constructed between late 1910 and 1913. The UP cars were interesting as the UP rebuilt many cars with Murphy or Dreadnaught ends, extending the service lives of many through World War Two. Thereafter, numbers dropped significantly, with most gone by 1949 and none in revenue service in 1953. UP 79420 is a B-50-6 with Dreadnaught ends, still in service in May, 1948 and adorned with the 'Road of the Streamliners' and 'Serves all the West' scheme. Westerfield offers HO scale resin kits to build all known variants of these numerous cars.

D&H 24062 - These cars were profiled in a previous post. Since that posting, I have located the article from the November and December, 1987 issues of Railroad Model Craftsman.

CN 523497 - This cars was one of the over 16,000 postwar AAR-design box cars purchased by the CN between 1947 and 1957. CN 523497 was from a 1,500 car order (nos. 522500-523999) from Canadian Car & Foundry delivered in 1948. They featured pre-War Youngstown steel doors, 4/4 Improved Dreadnaught ends with a shorter top rib, Murphy rectangular panel roofs, Barber S-2 spring plankless Stabilized trucks, Ajax power hand brakes, and 8-rung ladders with integral sill steps on both sides and ends. Intermountain has produced the correct end in styrene, as well as Speedwitch in several mini-kits (Erie and P&WV postwar AAR box cars.)

L&N 11147 - Louisville & Nashville rostered a large fleet of 36' double sheathed box cars during the Steam Era. L&N 11147 was part of a group of 500 cars built in 1923 by Mt. Vernon Car Manufacturing Co., nos. 11000-11499. Sunshine offered HO scale kits for some cars and there have been articles over the years about kitbashing models, usually beginning with the MDC model as a starting point. There is another HO scale resin offering in the works.

ATSF 272464 - Bx-46 (272000-272977, 978 cars) rebuilt in 1945 from Santa Fe's ARA-design double sheathed box cars in classes Bx-9 and -10. There were also rebuilds in classes Bx-41 (270000-270134, 134 cars; from Bx-8), Bx-42 (270500-271033, 534 cars; Bx-9/-10), Bx-45 (271600-271949, 350 cars; Bx-8), and Bx-49 (272978-273914, 937 cars; Bx-9/-10). The Bx-49 cars were different in that they employed postwar 'Improved' Dreadnaught ends.

UP B-50-20 - The UP converted 886 of the A-50-6 class automobile cars to box cars in 1934-1935 (500 cars, nos. 350000-350499) and in 1940 (386 cars, nos. 350500-350885). The cars were distinctive for their size and single sheathed style structural members, but with steel where wood boards were normally used. Westerfield offers HO scale resin kits to replicate these distinctive cars.

Moloco Barber 70-ton S-2-A trucks

Santa Fe Ft-V Emergency Flat Car ATSF 91500 used Barber S-2-A 70-ton plain bearing trucks

Moloco Trains recently released 70-ton Barber trucks in both plain bearing S-2-A as well as plain and roller bearing S-2-C versions. As I type this, the 70-ton S-2-A version in narrow wheel tread width are out of stock. I hope they will run more. I ordered enough pour moi, but they could be useful to others.

Closeup of the truck on ATSF 91500

The truck is beautifully tooled and they rolled quite well right out of the bag. They include brake shoes and are up to the standards set by Tahoe Model Works. I do have one criticism. The part where the bolster sits in the sideframe is quite fragile and many of the 29 pairs that I received have damage of varying degrees, with some being unsalvageable.

The Moloco Trains Barber S-2-A 70-ton plain bearing truck

There was a sister truck to this one with a vertical web in the center of the bolster that would make an excellent follow-on companion to these, should Moloco be so inclined. They are to be praised for producing such a beautiful truck.

I am in the process of compiling a list of prototypes that used these and will post at a later date.

Wordy Wednesday - Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis & Omaha Postwar AAR Box Car CMO 37836

In 1945, Chicago and North Western subsidiary Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis & Omaha purchased 400 AAR-design box cars of the postwar iteration from American Car & Foundry. The cars were assigned to series 37500-38298, even numbers. At first blush, the cars hewed closely to the design, with 10-panel riveted sides, Murphy rectangular panel roofs, 4/4 Improved Dreadnaught ends, and Youngstown corrugated (first 200 cars, shown here) or Superior panel steel doors (last 200 cars) and riding on ASF A-3 Ride Control trucks. Their most distinguishing characteristic was the Duryea Cushion underframe, with deep crossbearers that are visible in this photo, and Universal brake adjuster, a portion of which is also visible just to the right of the AB valve. However, the most interesting detail to me is the extreme compression of the truck springs (see below), no doubt due to a heavy load. It’s not something one sees often, let alone notices.

The photo is yet another low-angle, late-in-the-day flat light gem from Col. Chet McCoid that quite literally sheds light on so many details. Also note the gas storage tanks at both left and right. San Diego, California, November 19, 1954, Bob’s Photo

Wordy Wednesday - Milwaukee Welded AAR Hopper MILW 94090

The Milwaukee Road rostered 2,000 unusual hoppers built between 1937 and 1944 in the company shops, nos. 94000-95999. They closely followed the AAR design, but featured welded construction. In addition, the spacing of the "stakes" at the top of the side differed from the AAR standard. The cars were equipped with Equipco (shown here) or Universal power hand brakes, Enterprise door locks, and Barber S-1 (shown here) or S-2 trucks with spring planks. Photo Collection of J. Michael Gruber

Images from PRM Vol. Four

Cover photo of Jim Dufour's layout of the Cheshire Branch of the Boston & Maine

I know that not everyone out there will buy a copy of Prototype Railroad Modeling Volume Four. However, I am sure that many people out there appreciate seeing photos of finished models, so I am sharing some of the photos of the work that is included in the articles that either profile how to make these models or in the case of Jim Dufour's layout, his overall attention to detail and accuracy. Enjoy.

B&O M-15K as kitbashed by George Toman

Two kitbashed PFE R-40-14 reefers from Athearn and Intermountain models

NYC Lots 693-B end door box car and 742-B box car, as kitbashed

AAR 50-ton flat cars from, back to front, Pittsburgh Scale Models, WestRail, and Proto 2000

The Tichy flat car detailed as an NC&StL FM9

"Fixture" on CNW/CMO AAR Recommended Practice Gondolas

Jim Gerstley Collection

Yesterday, I posted a question to the Steam Era Freight Cars list (STMFC) on Yahoo! Groups in the hopes that someone could identify a detail on the CNW/CMO AAR Recommended Practice Gondolas built between 1945 and 1956. Here is the query:

If one looks at photos of the CNW/CMO AAR recommended practice and related "11-panel" gondolas of 1945-1956, there is a distinctive detail at the lower right corner of the far left panel (adjacent to the left end). It appears to be a casting of some sort. In looking at my photos, I cannot identify it or its purpose. Since it is on both sides of the car, it is unlikely a defect card holder, as these were usually only on one side of the car. Does anyone know what this detail is? 

It can be seen in the articles on these cars by Jeff Koeller in Mainline Modeler, May and June, 2005. 

The Sunshine kits do not duplicate this feature.

Page 42 from May 2005 Mainline Modeler

I received a few requests for photos or at least to be pointed to photos. To that end, I have created this blog post. Click on any of these images to view a larger version. The two-part article by Jeff Koeller is excellent and I recommend adding it to your library if you do not already have it.

Detail of CMO 88173 from page 42 of May 2005 MM.

CMO 88173 has its defect card holder (a different type of defect card holder) mounted in the same location as CNW 70351 shown above.

Can anyone identify this detail? It almost looks like one of those beer bottle openers mounted to the face of a bar... just sayin'