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