Part One of the T&NO Emergency Gondola Model

 

Awhile back I posted some prototype info about the Texas & New Orleans Emergency design gondolas. I have done a little work on the model and want to share that info here. I haven't done a ton so if you're inclined to join, it should be easy to catch up.

I mentioned that my plan is/was to use the Improved Dreadnaught ends from Detail Associates to model one of the later cars equipped with Scullin L-V trucks, to afford an opportunity to use the trucks offered by Plate C. Here is where things are at with the model. 

To my eye, the area where the corner of the ends overlaps the sides would lack a little depth if I simply glued the ends to the sides. I compensated by adding 0.020" styrene strip, as shown in the two photos above. I believe it's 0.020" x 0.040", although I honestly can't recall for certain.

I then tacked the two resin sides back -to-back using ACC in a few spots, taking care to align them. I used a NorthWest Short Line True Sander to remove material and in the process making the sides exactly the same length and squaring up the edges. After that, I carefully popped the sides apart and glued one side to one end and repeating for the other side/end pair, as shown in the photo directly above.

Next, I glued the two remaining side/end joints and laid the assembled body upside down on my work surface to ensure that everything remained square and that I had not introduced any unintended bowing or torque into the body.

I again used the NorthWest Short Line True Sander to square the ends of the floor casting, removing material, as well, until the casting fit snugly inside the car body, end-to-end. I did add 0.010" styrene strip to both sides of the casting as it was slightly too narrow when test-fitted into the car body. Once everything was square and the fit inside the car body was tight, but not overly so, I tacked everything in place with ACC. I followed this by carefully dripping more ACC inside the car body at the floor/side and floor/end joints and then tilting the car body to allow the ACC to "run" and fill in the joints completely. In the view above, you will note that the crossmembers do not extend all the way to meet the bottom of the car sides. I will add some strip to rectify this. Below are a couple additional photos illustrating the application of the Detail Associates styrene ends to the resin body. More in the coming weeks...

Plate C Model Prototypes HO Scale Trucks

 

Plate C Model Prototypes has released several HO scale trucks in an expanding lineup. There are some trucks that are of great use to more "modern" modelers from the 60s forward, but there are a few key additions that are useful to Steam/Transition era modelers. Granted, none of those profiled here achieved widespread adoption, but all are unusual in their appearances, with distinctive details that render substitutes nakedly lacking. The first (shown above in model format and below on a prototype) is the Symington-Gould Chrysler FR-5 that I profiled in an earlier post. As I noted in that post, there have been a few avenues for these in HO, but they all pale compared to this new offering. The detail is excellent and they ship with 0.088" semi-scale width treads. I have a GAEX 'DF' box car kitbash on the workbench that will use these.

Hutchinson, Kansas, November, 1951, Harold Vollrath Collection

The second truck that I purchased is the Scullin L-V. These also saw quite limited adoption. I have found a small number of instances of their usage, with two examples  shown here, as well as an ad from the 1953 Car Builders' Cyclopedia. Fruit Growers Express had a few groups of cars that I know were equipped with these trucks. The most notable series is the 39200-39299 series of 14-panel welded cars built at the Indiana Harbor Belt shops in 1949 and the 39300-39499 series, built in the same year. Other examples I have found are the New Haven's 17200-series flats that were converted to TOFC service (the cars not so converted retained their 70-ton trucks,) Pacific Fruit Express R-40-24 nos. 66020-66029 (a very small group of a large series overall,) Norfolk & Western dynamometer car 514780 and Nickel Plate box cars 7010 and 7042 (these were retrofits and the entire series of these cars did not receive Scullin L-V trucks.) One other potentially significant use of these trucks is PFE R-40-23 nos. 7001-7150 and 47703-48202 that specify Scullin bolsters and sideframes, although I do not have photos of cars in these groups to verify that they are Scullin L-V trucks.I plan to replicate one of the 14-panel welded side FGEX cars, so this truck is again a welcome offering.

P.S. in my Steam Freight Car Reference Manual, Volume Three, I erroneously passed on bad information citing these as Chrysler trucks, not doing my own due diligence. I am aware of one other piece of bad information in that work and will post the corrections to the Speedwitch site, as well as on this blog.

Hamlet, NC, April 5, 1959, Col. Chet McCoid photo, Bob's Photo, courtesy of Bill Welch

Bob's Photo

The last truck I will profile here is the Taylor Flexible truck. These also saw limited adoption, but were heavily used by the Reading (unsurprisingly, these trucks were produced in Reading, Pennsylvania; proximity likely played a role in their adoption.)

Fayetteville, North Carolina, December 2, 1951, Col. Chet McCoid photo, Bob's Photo

A couple additional notes are in order. The sideframes/bolsters are 3D printed. As such, their wear over time will be different than the typical engineering plastic trucks we use on most of our cars. If you plan to put these on a car that you run frequently, you are advised to monitor their performance and use a suitable lube to enhance performance and prolong the effective lifespan. Also, the detail on these trucks in better than what is illustrated by my iPhone photos. While not as sharp as a finely-tooled truck, these are quite close and are a far, far better (by orders of magnitude) improvement from the solutions like Cape Line or Eastern Car Works, either in appearance/fidelity or operating characteristics (or both).

Thanks to Dan Smith for pointing out these trucks. I have purchased Plate C's fine hand brakes, but had not visited their site in a while. That will not happen again!