A few things from St. Louis

New York Central System Historical Society

I brought home a few things from the St. Louis RPM. The first is a Sunshine Models kit of a Northern Pacific fifty-foot heavy insulation refrigerator car. I missed these when originally offered and managed to find one at the Resourced Rails table at the meet. The prototypes were built by the Despatch Shops in East Rochester, New York in 1946. At the time they were unusual for their length as well as the extra insulation for frozen food shipments. The kit looks like a fun project. I will create my own decals with NYC-style typeface stenciling to match that of the prototype. PS - you can order high res scans for $5 each of these cars at the NYCSHS site (links here and here) A more thorough post about these prototypes will follow at some point.

The next of the loot is a Monon container gondola offered by Forbes Train Models (Doug Forbes.) It's a 3D print of the prototype. Doug also offers a few other versions of the cars. The modeler adds the details such as grabs, wire, trucks, couplers, etc. The first page of the instructions, including Doug's email is included below. These are well-rendered straightforward kits, but are designed to allow varying levels of detailing, from basic up to completely tricked out. The images above are the 3D-printed body with a shot of Tamiya fine surface primer (aerosol can.)

From Dave Hussey's PBase gallery... link below

Last and out of era for me is the Cannon & Company kit for the Northern Pacific's 5300-series combination door waffle cars from Pacific Car & Foundry, kit FC-5015. I know it's too modern for me. However, I have always liked the premise of these kits (as well as the Modeler's Choice line) and relish the challenge of building one up someday. Link to Dave Hussey's PBase image gallery for the prototype and model.

My presentation from the St. Louis RPM

This past weekend, I was fortunate to have the opportunity to present at the St. Louis RPM, at the convention center in Collinsville, Illinois. If you have not had the chance to attend, the only way I can describe the event is a supersized RPM times two. The attendance figures are approx. 1,000 and the sheer number of vendors and display models is mind boggling. It is an experience all who attend RPMs (and even those who do not) should enjoy at least once. 

My presentation was the Pennsylvania Railroad's early welded box and automobile cars, an evolving project as my models come to fruition. The file can be found at the Speedwitch files page, linked here.

Over the next couple days, I will also post about an interesting model kit from the meet and some photos of display models. Please check back

Pennsylvania Railroad X43A Model Complete

I recently completed the pilot model for the PRR X43A box car (as built and Shadow Keystone repaint models.) They were postwar AAR-design box cars, but with welded sides and underframe. More info about the prototypes can be found in a previous post via this link. The models capture all of the details of the prototypes, down to the random waviness of the side panels ("oil canning") although sadly that very nice subtle detail doesn't render well photographically on the finished model. I am biased, but this is one of my favorite projects ever. I am quite pleased with the finished model!

My model represents a 22 month old car so weathering was minimal. I added a very dilute overall wash of titanium white artists' oil and a little wash of burnt sienna artists' oil around the side sills and underframe. As some of you will no doubt inquire, the 50s PRR freight car color is a mix of Tamiya paints: Red (60%), Hull Red (~10-15%), Red Brown (~5%), and Orange (20-25%). The chalk marks are from National Scale Car set D135 (note that if they show as out of stock, he probably needs to pack more.) 

These were unusual (for Pennsy) in that the roofs of the cars were coated with black car cement. I used Tamiya flat black for the roof and trucks.

The underframe components were welded, in addition to the sides. The crossbearers, crossties, and brake arrangement all faithfully follow the Pennsy's cars.

These kits also feature Apex Tri-Lok running boards and brake steps sourced from a new commercial etcher. The grid material is "taller" than "wider" and with the correct number of strips, exactly as on the prototype.

All-in-all, I am thrilled with how this car replicates the details of the prototype. On to the Central of Georgia Emergency box car kits...

Southern Railway Postwar AAR Box Cars - an extremely interesting quirk

 

As an expansion from my previous post, the Southern purchased 1,000 Postwar design AAR box cars from Pullman-Standard between 1946-1947, Lot 5855. The most visible details were 8-foot door openings, not unheard of at the time, but not all that common, either, and their Superior 7-panel doors or Improved Youngstown doors with 6-6-5 arrangement (top to bottom.) Other details included prominent push pole pockets and specialties as noted in the table below.

Series Start	Series End	Side sheathing	Subsidiary	Hand Brake	Running Board	Doors
330000	330499	Irregular	NO&NE	Miner	Morton Open Grip	Youngstown
23000	23241	Regular	Southern	Universal	Morton Open Grip	Youngstown
23242	23268	Regular	Southern	Universal	Morton Open Grip	Superior
23269	23299	Regular	Southern	Universal	Morton Open Grip	Youngstown
23300	23472	Regular	Southern	Universal	Morton Open Grip	Superior
23473	23486	Regular	Southern	Universal	Morton Open Grip	Youngstown
262000	262049	Regular	CNO&TP	Universal	Morton Open Grip	Youngstown
307025	307027	Regular	AGS	Universal	Morton Open Grip	Youngstown

One interesting quirk that I noticed in photos years ago, but hadn't researched thoroughly was that 500 cars had a highly unusual, if not unique arrangement of side structural posts (zee bars where the side sheathing panels overlapped and were riveted.) On 500 cars, the structural posts were marginally closer together (3'0-1/2" vs. 3'1-7/8" on a standard arrangement) and an additional structural member was added extremely close to the adjacent end, necessitating an additional row of rivets close to the ends and corner posts. I have not seen this feature on any other cars and have no documentation as to why it was done. The only reason for this arrangement that makes sense to me is that four of the panels on either side of the door were generated from tooling for a car with a 7-foot door opening (the edges closest to the car ends were crimped to overlap the next panel) and then the last panel on each side, adjacent to the ends, which did not have a crimp (it was just sheet/plate steel) was made wide enough to span the leftover distance. A plausible (yet thoroughly speculative) reason is availability of such side sheathing panels when the first cars were built beginning in 1946; maybe panels for 7-foot door opening cars were already being cut and pressed for the Nickel Plate order, but presses for 8-foot door opening sides were not tooled yet. This rationale is a weak explanation for the presence of the zee bar structural member 6-7/8" from the corner post. Nonetheless, it results in an extremely cool feature if you're a freight car geek, like I am. Click on the photo to see a larger view

This photo of Southern 23000 illustrates another interesting detail that I have only found on this car. It was equipped with roping staples at each bolster. I am unsure if there were other cars wit hthese, but it is noteworthy. I could find no reference to it in the Southern book*.

There is (was) an incredible reference for Southern box cars, Southern Railway Equipment Drawings and Photographs, Volume 1, Book 1, 40' Steel Box Cars, George Eichelberger, Southern Railway Historical Association, 2004

Good times, great oldies... Forty-foot Postwar AAR Box Cars

 

This Georgia car is a decorated Branchline kit, save for a Southwest Scale Improved Youngstown doors with 6-6-5 (top to bottom) arrangement of corrugations and matching paint on the door and Ksto ASF A-3 trucks

Way back in the early times of Speedwitch over 20 years ago, I had offered several sets of parts to replicate the various details and nuances of forty-foot Postwar AAR box cars, using the fine Branchline kits as fodder. They were a fun way to model the distinctive details of these cars. Anyway, I stumbled across a tote of parts in the barn yesterday and it had various bits for the Santa Fe's Bx-44 cars, with their distinctive interim Improved Youngstown doors. That also got me thinking about the cars in general. What a fun ride they were. Here are some pics of those cars with notes about some of the details.

The Santa Fe's 500 Bx-44 box cars were distinct for their interim Improved Youngstown doors, with wide panel overlaps. The cars also had Pullman-Standard "notched" tabs below the side sill and a flattened area on the end corrugation where the hand brake housing was mounted.

The Wabash continued their use of full-length side sill support sections that spanned the bolsters, as also added to earlier Modified 1937 AAR box cars. They also used pressure head cylinders with integral lever brackets, Superior seven panel doors, and Wine style ladders, among other specialties.

The Southern and subsidiaries purchased postwar AAR box cars with eight-foot door openings with either Superior seven-panel doors (shown) or Improved Youngstown doors with the 6-6-5 corrugation arrangement as well as Pullman-Standard "notched" tabs below the side sill. PS - the washout on the Southern medallion is what happens when you accidentally use solvent cement as a decal softener!

The Pittsburgh & West Virginia cars had Improved Dreadnaught ends with an "abbreviated" (shortened) top main rib and prewar-style Youngstown doors plus Wine-style ladders. The repainted version above was modeled by the late Paul Lyons and the model below shows an as-built car

The Erie purchased 1,200 cars that also had an abbreviated top rib on the ends and prewar-style Youngstown doors, plus Universal Rotary Type brake adjusters and a variety of hand brakes, trucks and running boards

The Louisville & Nashville has distinctive cars with three door styles (prewar Youngstown, 6-6-5 Improved Youngstown and seven-panel Superior) and ends without any lower corner additions below the end sills

These were a lot of fun to create and are highly illustrative of how different "standard" cars can be

Pennsylvania Railroad X43A AAR-design Welded Box Cars and Model Underframe

 

The Pennsy received 1,500 X43A welded box cars based upon the AAR design of the late 40s/early 50s (car nos. 602000-603499.) The "standard" design of the era primarily used riveting for construction, but these cars, built by American Car & Foundry, employed welding for the sides and underframe. Each side had 12 panels, compared to the typical 10 of most riveted cars. Other specialties included R+3/4 Improved Dreadnaught ends, Murphy diagonal panel roofs, postwar Youngstown corrugated steel doors, Ajax power hand brakes, Apex Tri-Lok running boards, and National C-1 50-ton trucks.

As delivered, the cars were painted in the familiar circle keystone scheme, with one highly unusual twist, at least by Pennsy standards: the roofs were painted/coated with black car cement. In mid-1954, the PRR briefly adopted the "Calendar" scheme, and at least one (and likely more) of the X43A class was repainted in this scheme, PRR 603116 shown above. 

By mid-1954 to the late 50s, the scheme was changed to the "shadow Keystone" scheme shown above, including its various nuances and iterations over the remainder of the 50s.

By the 60s, the "plain Keystone" scheme and its iterations were used until the Penn Central merger, as illustrated by PRR 602469. Note that there were other changes as well, including removal of the running boards, shortened ladders on the A end (and B end on some, if not all, cars) and strengthening of the side sill support and lower door post/side/side sill support junction, as shown above.

Some of the X43A class made it into the fleets of other roads. Western Maryland 461213 is an ex-PRR car with reinforced side sill support and lower door post/side/side sill support junction, albeit different than the PRR solution. Also note that the hand brake (and ladders) on the B end remained at the original high-mounted location.

B&O 463529 is another example of a secondhand X43A.

The kits for these can be found at the Speedwitch Models page. All versions of PRR lettering, Penn Central, Western Maryland, and Baltimore & Ohio are planned. The welded underframe features many of the nuances of the prototype, including the non-linear shape of the flanges of the crossbearers and crossties (if you look, you will notice that the flanges are not straight-edged, but rather wider and narrower at various points, as on the prototype,) the "perforated" bottom crossbearer cover plates (the perforations allowed the surfaces inside the "cutouts" to be welded, too, increasing the surface area of the welded surfaces,) Wright pipe hanger, the stringers that were riveted and welded on those closest to the center sills and welded only on the outer stringers, the accurate "teardrop" openings in the bolster cover plates, plus the bulb angle side sill supports and channel bolster tabs, shaped exactly as on the prototype. The brake arrangement also accurately replicates the prototype, down to the welded "grab iron" rod hangers and complex dead lever assembly.

There will be a follow-on post showing the finished model coming in the next week (or so.)

PRR Early Welded Box & Auto Cars from PRRT&HS Annual Meeting

 

I attended the PRRT&HS's annual meeting in Gettysburg, PA this past weekend and had the pleasure of presenting a clinic, as well. I discussed the Pennsy's early welded box and auto cars, an interesting topic given the PRR's fairly large scale efforts at welding for freight car construction. It's also personally on point as I have been working on upgrading a Sunshine X41B box car and also preparing kits of the X43A and X45 for release. I will keep updating progress on the X41B here and the release of the X43A and X45 kits will be announced in all the usual places. 

Here is a link to my presentation file in pdf format. Thanks to the PRRT&HS for allowing me to participate.

Photos of the completed ATSF Bx-34

 

Here are some photos of my completed Santa Fe Bx-34 Modified 1937 AAR box car with Duryea Cushion underframe. The model was built using a Sunshine kit combined with Speedwitch parts (1959+ lettering.) I finished the model using Polly Scale mineral red for the majority of the car body plus Tamiya black for the roof.

The intention was to keep the weathering fairly modest. I applied some streaks using artists' oils dabbed on and brushed down the side using mineral spirits. I also added some light washes, again with thinned artists' oils. These were sealed with flat coats. I then added some sparing and selective applications of PanPastels and Bragdon powders, mostly to the roof, underframe, and trucks. The chalkmarks are from National Scale Car and the routing cards are from Owl Mountain. Excessive "unremoved" dust on the photo above courtesy of myself!

Where we are at...

 

I am typing this from an almost horizontal position. I was supposed to be arriving at Naperville today, but my balky back made other plans. So, I type this from home. It's been a couple months or so since I started things back up in earnest, including casting. As the "RPM season" sets in, I thought it a good time to share a little bit about what's coming over the next few months.

Some old Speedwitch stuff turned up: DT&I gondola, MEC ARA box car parts, NYC stock car roof and 50' combination rectangular and diagonal panel roof (some prototype details here.)

Parts sets have proven to be a good way to dip my toes in the casting pool. I mostly learned a few things about what shape of mold works best for me and how I like a few varieties of silicone. I am adding a couple wrinkles to the existing offerings. First, for the ATSF Bx-34 parts I have added the 1959-1970s scheme, illustrated in the photo at the top of the page. In addition, I have added Shadow Keystone decals covering 1950s+ schemes for the PRR X32A parts. 

This and the following three photos are of the R-40-25 parts

On the parts front, there are also a couple other offerings nearing release. The first is the PFE R-40-25. This set is intended for an undecorated Intermountain R-40-23 kit or any Amarillo/Intermountain PFE R-40-25 that is NOT the delivery scheme as the UP medallions on those cars are incorrect (I will share info on that when these parts are released.) The sets include correct resin ends and etched parts to correct/upgrade the underframe, side sill details, ladders, hatch cover supports, steps, etc. [there is a companion set for the R-40-26 that is in the works, as well; see undeframe photo below.] The other parts release is for the ITC 1937 AAR box cars with AC&F Carbuilder's ends and also includes resin details, etchings, and decals.

R-40-26 underframe floor casting... board-by-board!

Illinois Terminal AC&F Carbuilder's end for 1937 AAR box car (pre-production before changes)

Photo illustrating the extremely subtle ripples in the side sheathing of the PRR X43A

I am also charging ahead with some full kit offerings. The first is the Milwaukee 50' single sheathed auto cars that I teased awhile back. It will be released November 1st via the Speedwitch site (all decals, etchings, trucks, and other parts are already in house so they will ship immediately!) Another project is the Pullman-Standard-built Central of Georgia 10'0" inside height Emergency box car (PS if you have National Scale Car's set for the A&WP/WofA/Georgia, those decals will work on this model, as well.) If the CofGa offering proves popular, I will add Birmingham Southern, as well. I also have three PRR cars in the hopper: the G28, X43A and X45. The G28 is a project that I started years back. It will be a showstopper, with full underframe detail... and the underframe was a unique welded design with very interesting crossmembers so it bears full attention! The X43A was a 40', mostly postwar AAR design car, with welded sides. I have created patterns with extremely subtle waviness to the sides that I am extremely pleased with and they were unusual in the PRR universe in that they were delivered with black roofs. The last of these three is the X45, a proprietary PRR design for a 50' welded box car. I again added waviness to the sides and the Pennsy proprietary details, including the underframe, are really cool. 

The last of the full kits, but by no means least, and listed in its own paragraph, is a Western Pacific flat car built by AC&F in 1942 that is a fully 3D printed offering. It is spectacular. More details to follow on this gem...

A final tease... several years back I presented a clinic including details about scratchbuilding board-by-board patterns for single sheathed cars. I have been fruitlessly looking for those patterns for over a year. I thought they were lost in the past year's move. Well, a few weeks back, they were presented to me. Turns out I had sent them to someone along with a bunch of other stuff and they were returned! Here is the end for the car in question. IYKYK