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| Presumed to be the work of Bob Carlson; image from my slide files |
My presentation about the PFE early 1950s fleet has been uploaded for reference (to be transparent, it is indistinguishable from what I presented at RPM East in March) The link to this and many of my other presentation files may be found here.
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| Tangent Scale Models photo to display a decorated model |
I posted last week with some prototype information about the Southern Pacific Lines B-50-28 and -29 postwar AAR box cars. I mentioned that I would follow up with my thoughts about the new Tangent Scale Models HO scale offerings for these cars (note: I am not presenting info about the B-50-30/-31/-32 as they are past my personal modeling cutoff date, but the thoughts presented herein apply equally to those models.) Quite simply, these are some of the finest HO scale box cars ever offered, with the overall package rivaling the exceptional Kadee PS-1 models. Considering the price points of $48.95 for undecorated kits and $52.95 for ready-to-run cars, these are a steal compared to other freight car models being released in HO scale for reasons that will become apparent if you continue to read.
I purchased undecorated kits and my thoughts specific to the kits are included at the end of this writeup. However, I will cover the model details first. The car body faithfully replicates the prototype. Of note, these cars featured a version of the Improved Dreadnaught end that has not been replicated to date in HO scale (manufacturers in both styrene and resin have added a narrow thin rib at the top of the end and called it a job well done; however, the other major characteristic, the "flat" horizontal bottom portion of the main top rib on the ends has been ignored.) Tangent has captured both the narrow thin rib (suitably diminutive) as well as the different top main rib. The ends are beautiful. The sides are nicely captured as well, with miniature rivets that are in the same class as those on the Branchline AAR box cars. The characteristic narrow side panels on either side of the door are replicated, as well as the "notched" side sill supports at the body bolsters. The Diagonal Panel Murphy roof is also nicely captured, with fine rivets on the caps at the panel joints. The underframe is beautiful, as well, with fine renderings of the center sills and stringers. Tangent has replicated all the major traits of these cars in extremely fine detail. My only complaint here is that I wish these had been tooled as separate parts to allow me to more easily use them for kitbashing fodder.
As the saying goes, "the devil's in the details" and that is another area where these models shine.
There appears to be some confusion about the Focus on Freight Cars series such that I thought it a good idea to pen a brief synopsis of the books so that people have a better understanding of the scope and extent. The series is the brainchild of Al Hoffman, who found the negatives through his friendship with the late Michael Urac, who owned the collection of negatives. Al conceived the idea of the books and approached Richard Hendrickson about writing the accompanying text and captions for volumes one and two, that I subsequently published.
The passings of Richard Hendrickson and Michael Urac left the torch to be carried by me, albeit in my lesser capacity than Richard, given his encyclopedic knowledge of freight equipment.
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| This is a particularly interesting photo with no less than three of the B-50-28/-29 box cars visible: T&NO 61062 (left center), SP 102260 (behind and left) and unknown SP/T&NO behind the PRR X43B at center. The SP Lines car to the left of SP 102260 is a sibling B-50-27 class box car. Columbus, GA, ca. 1958, image CG-2590, Central of Georgia Railway Historical Society, courtesy of Allen Tuten |
Like many of you, I am eagerly awaiting my order from Tangent for these exciting new box cars. I ordered a couple of undecorated kits. As soon as I receive them, I will provide a follow on post with my thoughts about what's in the box, as well as how it compares to the old Sunshine kits, which were not without their errors. In future, I will post a third part after building a couple of the cars, but that will be a few months away. As a prelude, I present some data about the B-50-28 and -29 classes.
In 1950-1951, the Southern Pacific and Texas & New Orleans received a total of 3,000 and 1,500 class B-50-28 box cars, respectively, from Pullman-Standard. At the same time, SP-affiliated line St. Louis Southwestern (the Cotton Belt) received 100 identical box cars. In 1951, the SP also built 500 identical box cars in the Sacramento shops that were assigned to class B-50-29 (SP only.) The accompanying tables provide the details about all cars. |
| SSW 33938 was one of the 100 clones of the B-50-28 received by the Cotton Belt from Pullman-Standard in 1951. Note the "short" panel at the top and the wider panel (third from top) on the Superior door. Fayetteville, NC, October 12, 1952, Col. Chet McCoid photo, Bob's Photo |
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| At delivery, Texas & New Orleans B-50-28 no. 60049 included the '&' in the reporting marks and "SOUTHERN PACIFIC" spelled out above the reporting marks. Illinois Digital Archives, Pullman History site |
This group of cars followed the AAR design standards of the era, including recently introduced underframe where the crossbearers were shaped to pass below the four floor stringers (previous versions of the underframe had straight crossbearers and the stringers terminated on both sides of the crossbearers.) In SP fashion, the box cars maintained the inside height of 10'0", six inches less than the 10'6" that most other roads had standardized on by that time. Instead of having ten evenly sized panels on the sides, these SP cars had eight evenly spaced panels with two narrower ones on either side of the door openings. The Improved Dreadnaught ends were as noted in the photo caption below. Murphy diagonal panel roofs were standard on all of the cars in these classes. Hand brakes and running boards varied as noted in the accompanying tables. Interestingly (for the SP,) all 5,000 of the B-50-28 and -29 were equipped with ASF A-3 Ride Control trucks. Build data is tabulated below. All Lot numbers are Pullman-Standard, except where noted as SPE, which indicates built by Southern Pacific. For the Cotton Belt cars (nos. 33850-33949), all 100 used Superior doors, Universal hand brakes and Morton running boards and brake steps.  |
| The B-50-28 employed an Improved Dreadnaught end with a couple distinctive traits: the narrow rectangular stiffening rib at the top of the end and the "flat" horizontal bottom of the main top rib on the end. Illinois Digital Archives, Pullman History site |
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| SP 105054 employed an Equipco power hand brake and Apex Tri-Lok running boards and brake step. Illinois Digital Archives, Pullman History site |
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| T&NO 60299 was equipped with a Universal power hand brake and Morton running boards and brake step. Illinois Digital Archives, Pullman History site |
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| T&NO 59951 was repainted eight years after delivery in an entirely different scheme, with large "SOUTHERN PACIFIC" name and no SP medallion. Note that the placard board was moved to a lower location on the door. Fayetteville, NC, Nov. 27, 1959, Col. Chet McCoid photo, Bob's Photo |
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| When repainted, Cotton Belt cars received a stencil at the upper left of the end that identified paint, location, and date, as shown here |
References:
IF YOU SEE ANY ERRORS IN THE DATA PRESENTED HEREIN, THEY ARE SOLELY MINE AND I WOULD REQUEST THAT YOU KINDLY LET ME KNOW IN THE COMMENTS SECTION BELOW! Thank you
crop of yard image, Portland, Oregon, 1940s, no photographer noted, Alamy (click on any image to enlarge)
This post is a follow-on to my original posts about the SP and T&NO B-50-15 and -16 single sheathed box cars as well as my thoughts about the Rapido models of said cars. Within the past 24 hours, I found and acquired an image of the Murphy radial roof as applied to an SP B-50-15. It prompted me to revisit my data and I can conclude that the roof on the B-50-15 box cars equipped with the Murphy radial roof had the tiny raised crimp in the center of each roof panel. Unfortunately, none of the models produced for the B-50-15 to date incorporate this feature.
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| Crop of builder's photo of SP 15229, Standard Steel Car Co. photo, collection of D.K. Retterer |
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| Crop of SP 14573, Michael Urac Collection |
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| As noted in the text, the width of the sheathing boards is not correct for the B-50-15 |
I recently posted about the Southern Pacific (SP) and Texas & New Orleans (T&NO) classes B-50-15 and B-50-16 single sheathed box cars. I have since received the two Rapido HO scale models that I ordered and wanted to share my thoughts. Both of my models are -15 cars (I did not order -16 models as my understanding is that Rapido did not tool a separate side and underframe for the -16 cars, making the -16 models dimensionally inaccurate; your tolerance for such a difference may be greater than mine and I am sharing the information for reference.) The following paragraphs provide additional detail and context, but overall, I believe that these are generally a qualified miss for the single sheathed cars and a qualified hit for the steel sheathed cars, based upon my two models. For the composite cars, I recommend finding a Sunshine car on the secondary market or buying directly from Westerfield.
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| The radial roof is quite well rendered... |
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| ... as is the Viking roof |
The Murphy ends are also well rendered with good representation of the seven and nine corrugations in each end panel. I also appreciate the fine carriage bolt head detail in corrugations 1, 6, 11, and 16 (counting from the bottom of the end). These carriage bolts were used to secure lumber nested into the depressions of the corrugations to which the interior wood lining was attached.
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| Detail of prototype truck on B-50-15 SP 32451, Bob Charles Collection, NMRA/Kalmbach Memorial Library |
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| Truck on model; note paint blob on sill step |
While I find the Rapido proprietary truck bolster/screw arrangement to be bit tedious, I do find the T-section trucks to be well-rendered and good representation of the prototype truck. I will swap out the "fat" 0.110" tread width wheelsets with 0.088" tread width wheelsets. The paint blob in the photo was present on three of the eight sill steps on my two models.
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| As noted in the text, the square should not be present on either model |
Also, generally well done is the lettering in terms of adherence to Southern Pacific style and size, as well as the SP freight car color. However, it is at this point that I will start with my reservations about these models. While the style of the lettering is good, the substance is more mixed. My rebuilt steel sheathed model of SP 15235 carries a reweigh date of March, 1936, but uses "SOUTHERN PACIFIC" in the reporting marks (as opposed to "SP" or "S.P."), not introduced until 1946, resulting in a lettering anachronism. Also, all of the models I have seen carry a 1.5" white square as part of the repack stencil. This square indicated that a car had waste retainers in the journal boxes. SP paint and lettering (P&L) diagrams don't indicate the date revisions were added to diagrams, but among my numerous photos of SP freight equipment, the earliest evidence I have for one of these rectangles is 1951, creating more anachronisms in P&L on my models.
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| The rivets on the flanges of the center sills are not correct and should be removed |
Before you tune out or skip this paragraph, please read my comments here entirely as the most substantive issue is the board width, not how they are rendered by Rapido! My biggest gripe, and what makes the model of the composite-sided car a loser for me, is the sheathing. And, yes, I am aware of the debate about how single sheathed board joints are rendered and while I think the lines/gaps between the boards look unprototypical, that is a different issue than the one I raise here. My issue is that Rapido has somehow completely missed that these cars had 3-1/4" width boards. By my measurement, the boards on the model of SP 14780 are five scale inches wide. The model has 21 sheathing boards spanning approximately 1.201" or about five scale inches per board. Across that same span (approximately 104.6 inches on the model when converted to 1:1 scale) the prototype would have had 32 boards. The Rapido model has too few boards by a sizable margin.
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| While the reweigh date and location as well as the repack and brake test stencils should be updated to result in a correct model, the overall impression of the steel sheathed car is favorable |
I do want to touch upon the model of SP 15235. By swapping out the model's KC brake system for an AB schedule system (included as spare parts in the box) and by updating the reweigh date/location and the brake test and repack stencils, the model will be a solid representation of the prototype. The side sheathing issue is moot since the car represents a steel sheathed car and the other issues can be fixed. While I did not purchase any, the steel sheathed cars that represent head end and Overnight service cars should also be good models of the prototypes.
To summarize, I believe that with the wood sheathed cars in this project, Rapido has generally missed the mark in several ways and my steel sheathed car is not without its nits to be picked. Some of the errors are unforced and appear to be the result of research or quality control, such as the paint blobs on the sill steps. However, the most glaring for me is the sheathing board issue and that one is a show stopper. I see no fix for that and will continue to use other options for wood sheathed cars. [I would like to have a correct B-50-16 and have everything I need to pursue that project.] I am disappointed that for cars that cost me in excess of $65 each when shipping is included, there are so many compromises and errors to be fixed, in light of the fact that there is good information about these cars available.
