GM&G Ventilated Boxcar

The Gorre & Daphetid "Heritage Fleet" keeps on growing.  I suspect I have nine or ten cars, total, that are identical in make and model to John's cars, and another half dozen cars from private roads that ran on the G&D but don't match the car type.  This latest car fits the first category, being a Central Valley ventilated boxcar lettered for the Georgia, Midland and Gulf, number 1254, as seen on the G&D.  However, I didn't set out to build a replica of John's car.  

A while back I built one of these cars lettered for the Mobile & Ohio and had such an enjoyable time that I decided to look for more.  More were found and procured with the intent of making a fleet for the Ocali Creek Railway.  Of the cars I found in various states of disrepair, this one - GM&G 1254 - just happened to have the nicest 'bones' and was close to complete.  Donor parts from the other cars made up the lost parts.  I even decided to use the Central Valley dress-snap truck attachment, not knowing for sure what John did but guessing he might have used the original kit parts.

One bonus specific to this car; it fits my 1920s era perfectly and can see regular operation hauling perishables on the Ocali Creek Railway.  Enjoy the images below from the reconstruction process and a picture of the car with its Heritage Fleet brethren. 

Ocali Creek Mogul 145 does the honors, pulling the current G&D Heritage Fleet cars tailed by an Ocali Creek caboose.

 

Surpise Inside

You never know what you're going to find when you purchase used rolling stock.  I bought this car for parts.  

Last night I was giving it a closer inspection when I noticed a distinct thunk coming from inside.  Old dried glue popped loose easily to reveal the source of the sound:

For my Comet cars I've used old tire weights for the additional weight and have tried Loctite "STIK'N SEAL" Indoor Adhesive.  It is "Solvent free, Non-toxic, Low odor, Water clean-up" and transparent, though that last one matters not for my purposes.  It is the sort of adhesive you apply to both parts, allow to go tacky, then press together.  It fully cures in 24 hours.  I wasn't sure it would stick when I first applied it as it comes out of the tube a little runny.  But boy howdy it sticks and has given me confidence to close up these cars.  Hopefully I won't be hearing thunks from within someday in the future - I seriously doubt it.

As for this Oscar Meyer car, I won't be reusing the sides as they are and the rest of the car will be re-kitted.  I was really after the fishbelly center sill as they can be pricey and this was a good deal.  The weight will be reused, held down firmly with a better adhesive.  But that's a project for another day.

Questions Answered - Model Railroad Research

I really enjoy model railroad research.  Note I didn't say prototype research - that's a related discipline that often overlaps, but it isn't quite the same.  Sometimes you can't find any prototype information, or the book that might contain that nugget you seek isn't in your library or is too darn expensive.  That's when turning to the previous versions of the model might help.  It is also fun to look into the history of the hobby.

When I was in seminary I learned about researching textual variants in ancient fragments of scripture.  Usually you went with the oldest known text, whether it was a papyrus fragment or potsherd inscription.  But often you'd find a greater weight of evidence in say, vellum copies.  Though the papyrus may be older, it may not carry the same authority because there are so many copies of the variant text.  Which do you choose as the basis for translation?

So too with model railroad freight cars.  When a manufacturer, long out of business, produced a freezer* ages ago and advertised they used the car builders diagrams, then that's a pretty good source.  But when another manufacturer makes a copy and varies the details, like using a different color scheme or using a different roof type, and they produce thousands of them, which then get copied by other manufacturers, what do you do?  With no actual prototype data available, which source do you trust to build your version of that freezer?

It is possible the second manufacturer chose to change the model based on their available dies for casting parts rather than incur the cost of making new ones.  Maybe they changed the color scheme to make it less gaudy in the hopes it might sell better.  Or maybe they didn't have much prototype data either!

Re-kitted freezer ready to rebuild.

For the two Comet freezers I'm building as of the writing of this post, I needed to know more before I could add better details.  What type of underframe?  Likely fishbelly.  Ladders or grabs?  Ladders. Et Cetera.  For the MDT car I had good prototype photos thanks to Eric Hansmann and other like-minded researchers.  But the Baby Ruth car?  Only one colorized image - the cover of Hendrickson's Billboard Refrigerator Cars book.  Ends, sides, ladders, underframe all visible in that image.  But what about the roof?  The hatches?

Here's where the kit helps out.  My car came to me already built - thankfully not too damaged and assembled well enough - but the original would have contained hints for the roof on the card from which you punched out the sides and ends (and hatches).  Enter eBay.  A quick search of previously sold items turned up an image that helped.

Read the fine print.  Use magnification if necessary.

Right there on the carrier sheet it says, "NO ROOF RIBS    RED SIDE LADDERS".  This note was obviously missed by many modelers who decided to put ribs up there anyway, as evinced by other eBay searches for this car, even the one I'm rebuilding.  But no matter.  In this great hobby we all get to make creative choices that suit our fancy and build models to our heart's content.

*I use the term freezer instead of the more common reefer for a couple reasons - for a while in the early days of this hobby it was the term de rigueur, like saying pike instead of layout.  But in my current NorCal context "reefer" also has a meaning that I don't care to reference.  I know, most readers of this blog know the difference; I just prefer "freezer", in the same way some men like to wear vests.

A Happy Accident

This accident became happy when it revealed what was once hidden.  On November 17, 1956, John L. Oliver buttoned up this box car.  I know this because he wrote the date on the inside of the car.

I purchased this car last year on eBay and was disappointed to find it in pieces when I received it.  The shipper did a fine job of packing it, so I suspect the postal service was a bit too reckless in their handling.  In the end it will be fine as I can reassemble the car, and, of course, it worked out for the best to reveal the maker's mark within.

Here is the outside of the car, custom painted and lettered by Mr. Oliver for his Pan-Handle Rusty Route railroad.  I can say with near certainty that he himself painted and lettered the car, as his solitary claim to fame in Model Railroader magazine was an article on painting and lettering Steam Locomotives (of which I have one, 2-8-0 #225 mentioned in a previous post).  Note the hand-made box with typed label and address stamp.

Of particular interest beyond the car's birthday was the metal weight from inside the car.  It appears to be some sort of typesetting for a stamp or document press.

And here is what it reads, after 'inking' the stamp with a Sharpie pen:

I have three other Oliver cars, an express reefer for the P-HRR, and two cabeese.  A fourth car also came from that collection and was shown in my custom Christmas coal train post, but I'm not sure if Oliver built it or if it was given to him by Earl Benteller, for whose Allegheny Railroad it is lettered.

One way I enjoy this hobby is by continuing the legacy of these pioneer modelers through preservation of their equipment, and, if possible, keeping it rolling in revenue service.  Someday the Ocali Creek shops will get this car rebuilt and back on the rails...but they've got a mighty long backlog of kits, er, projects to get to so who can say when that will be.

Vintage Victory!

At the recent Great Train Expo in Santa Rosa I found the sort of dealer who carries the sort of trains I like to buy at the sort of prices I can't refuse.  Most were rare, long out of production cars, priced between 2 and 5 dollars, depending on the condition.  I found these three I couldn't live without:

Yes, I already have one of the Purina Reefers, er, ventilated cars.  I couldn't pass it up.  It will need a new underbody, trucks and couplers, as well as new vents - these were not iced, so no hatches.  Still working on sourcing parts for the vents.

The second car is a Varney car, and as marked is just at the edge of my era.  What makes this a must-have are the paper crates.  This is one way early autos were shipped and I have had my eye out for one of these cars.  The flat is in near-perfect condition, with all the sill steps and even the brake rod and wheel still intact.  The paint is factory fresh and the lettering crisp and legible.  The trucks will pass for PRR trucks in use at the time but the brake gear is AB.  However, I may not change it since it really isn't that visible due to the low side sills.  Naturally it will need new couplers, and if I ever come across some Carmer uncoupling levers I may add them, otherwise it is RTR with a little weathering.

Finally the last car is a custom lettered car for the Shepaug Valley & Western.  If any of my dozen or so readers, okay, the three or four of you, know anything about this road let me know in the comments or send an email.  I think there was an actual Shepaug Valley Railroad that was folded into another Connecticut line early in the 1900s, but beyond that I have to assume this was a private road name applied by a creative individual.  Love the orange and green.  This car will need some TLC as the orange paint chipped away from where the price tag pulled off....<grr>....and one of the doors popped loose.  The trucks are fine but I may trade them out for T-sections or express trucks at some point.

Re-kitting a Wabash Box Car

I just posted a new video to YouTube showing the cleaning and "re-kitting" of an HO Scale Wabash Double Sheathed box car.  This is one of the kits I picked up at Puyallup back in November.  I began disassembly and realized that this was going to take alot of work.  I had also filmed that initial disassembly using my smaller camera but I wasn't happy with the resolution.  If I'm going to film and share close-up modeling, I want a higher resolution so that folks can see what's going on.  I'm still new to this video production thing so I know there will be a learning curve, but I hope to produce good quality videos of the kind of content I'd like to see.

Here's the video, embedded:

You may not be able to tell but the cast metal ends are really distorted.  I solved this by building up the castings with styrene then sanding them flat again, but that's another video.  I'm already casting parts for this car using a casting set from Alumilite I purchased last year at Hobby Lobby using a coupon.  Again, that's another video (the casting, not the trip to Hobby Lobby).  And I'll need to scratchbuild doors and door hardware...that's another video too.  Not sure how many parts this will be when all is said and done, but I hope to keep each video under 10 minutes (closer to 5).  No rambling, shaky camera, distracting background chatter from a TV, etc.  Just simple descriptions and straight up modeling.

Thanks for reading, and for watching.  Please share this video with folks you think may find it interesting.  I hope to post follow-up videos every couple weeks or more often during my Sabbatical.  After that, more like once a month as long as there's something worth watching.

Gilded Age

Here is a box car I've been building.  It has reached the stage that I think is the pinnacle of beauty - detailed but not yet primed, painted, lettered and weathered.  No doubt it will be a beautiful car at that completed stage also, but at this point all the hard work that has gone into building it is still visible.  In a kit like this, that means all the details are evident due to the variety of materials.

I consider older kits like this to be craftsman kits.  A box of wood structural shapes, white metal castings, stamped brass and styrene parts becomes a box car.  I have taken this car a little further than the manufacturer intended by adding a few details beyond what is included with the kit.  I substituted fishing line and Tichy turnbuckles for the wire truss rods and brass crimp-on turnbuckles included. I also added Tichy truss-rod n-b-w 'ends' to each end of the car.  The wire truss rods, incidentally, were pulled in a vise to straighten them, then bent and cut and bent again into the new grab irons for the car sides and ends.

I also added Cal Scale plastic brake levers, styrene supports for the brake rigging, and I used the staple stirrup steps as brake lever supports.  Inside the car I used adhesive caulk to affix a found-item weight.  When I came across that hunk of metal on the side of the road I just knew it would fit inside a car someday...that day has come.  As I took the photos for this posting I realized I still need to add a grab iron on each roof walk end, new stirrup steps on the corners, and possibly a door stop on each side.

This car will become the first Ocali Creek Railway box car, and as such, will be most often seen at the freight houses and team tracks along the line delivering LCL freight.  Not sure I'll get it painted before Xmas.  I may just run it like this for a while and enjoy all the bits and pieces.

Recent Rescues

I didn't want to go, but I went anyway to the Great Train Expo at Puyallup (that's Pew-AL-up, in case you're wondering).  The main reason I didn't want to go was because I knew I'd spend money.  You see, I'm a sucker for a stray car in need of a good home.  And I don't mean any old car that strikes my fancy, but real basket-cases, in rough shape, in need of some TLC, well, you get the idea.  Somehow I'm drawn to the love that went into building these vintage beauties, and I can't bear the thought of them spending another night in a cardboard tray, being schlepped from show to show and passed over by time and again.

So here are the recent rescues I brought home, in no particular order:

How could anyone say no?  Backup and Push?  Seriously?  Saw this for 5 bucks and didn't think twice.  If anyone out there has any leads as to the origins of the car, PLEASE let me know.  I'd love to find out more.  A cursory internet search yielded nada...  This car is lettered outside my era, and built with AB brakes, but I dare not change it and it will be run for fun occasionally.  Next:

I was surprised to learn there really was a Warrior River Terminal, and pleasantly surprised to learn it was in the South (Alabama).  Someone did a fine job building what appears to be a Silver Streak or Ulrich (early) truss rod box car.  Kadee arch bar trucks and couplers, though one set of trucks had plastic wheels.  A quick swap for a pair of ribbed-back P2K's and this car was pressed into service retrieving a load of lumber from the interchange at Pinto.  It will need some paint touch up, a new brake staff, wheel and stand, and a little chip repair on the roof end.  Next:

This car IS appropriate for my era, with perhaps the exception of the trucks.  A nice double-sheathed boxcar, and I'm guessing here that it is a VERY early Silver Streak kit.  The clues - no cross beams on the underframe, and no gaps in the center sill for them!  Micro Motive trucks - how cool!  Real rubber spring inserts that still have give.  MR ads from the late 40's indicate these were an option with Silver Streak kits.  Here's a closer look:

I will most likely carefully RE-kit this car and then rebuild with a nice pair of Andrews trucks.  Finally, a flat:

Saw this at the show in Chehalis and didn't buy it then.  Same dealer had the same car at Puyallup and I brought home an exquisitely built unlettered flat car.  I'm guessing it is a Labelle kit, as it appears to be wood construction with Tichy or Grandt Line details.  Looks like IHC trucks, but at least they're arch bars.  I plan to finish the brake rigging, (only the cylinder was in place), swap the trucks for Kadee 501's, then add weight - plenty of room between the beams under the floor.  Not sure if this will be a BTLC car or an OCRY car.  Still time to think.

Currently on the workbench is a kitbashed handcar shed that matches the Pinto depot and Freight house, and my own Silver Streak 929-900 Truss rod box car that will become an Ocali Creek car, used in LCL service.

Big update, long overdue.  Thanks for reading, and happy train season!

Galen