03-16-2010, 12:11 AM
After considerable research online, I've been able to answer enough of my concerns to my satisfaction that I can proceed with the rebuilding phase of this project.
What I've got, as best I can tell, are Hart Convertible Ballast and Coal cars. The DT&I car pictured above is a Hart Convertible Gon, but it's got side doors and a different underframe. For these cars, like the DT&I car, a plow could be pulled down through the car and material would be sent out the sides of the car, not the floor. The floor could be modified into a hopper bottom, but the plow would not be used. Modeling the plow and additional lidgerwood hoist car (like a steam donkey) would be a cool challenge.
The HC Ballast and Coal cars did not have vertical side doors. The dumping operation was accomplished through the floor completely. That is, in hopper mode, the balast or coal was dumped by opening the V shaped hopper bottom. The V was continued up the sides because of the floor panels that folded up. In Gondola mode, those floor panels could be folded down to rest on the braces spanning the V to form a flat bottom. In that case, material could be directed out the sides like a regular drop bottom gon. OR, in hopper mode, the upper V panels could be opened and material directed down and out the bottom on either side of the hopper bottom through the drop bottom doors. Clear as mud, right?
Suffice it to say, the Silver Streak/Truscale model represents a Hart Convertible car without hinged vertical side panels.
So I'll be making a new hopper bottom to represent the floor in hopper mode, and maybe I'll do one of the cars with the end panels shifted all the way out in gondola/flat bottom mode. In order to achieve the wood composite look, I'll be doing the rebuilt floor in styrene. I'll be adding bolt detail to the side stakes and many more grab irons than those in the original instructions. Also I'd like to represent the ratchet mechanism for controlling the drop bottom somehow.
Plenty of work to do before April 1, but I hope to move ahead quickly now that I've made up my mind which details to include.
Galen
What I've got, as best I can tell, are Hart Convertible Ballast and Coal cars. The DT&I car pictured above is a Hart Convertible Gon, but it's got side doors and a different underframe. For these cars, like the DT&I car, a plow could be pulled down through the car and material would be sent out the sides of the car, not the floor. The floor could be modified into a hopper bottom, but the plow would not be used. Modeling the plow and additional lidgerwood hoist car (like a steam donkey) would be a cool challenge.
The HC Ballast and Coal cars did not have vertical side doors. The dumping operation was accomplished through the floor completely. That is, in hopper mode, the balast or coal was dumped by opening the V shaped hopper bottom. The V was continued up the sides because of the floor panels that folded up. In Gondola mode, those floor panels could be folded down to rest on the braces spanning the V to form a flat bottom. In that case, material could be directed out the sides like a regular drop bottom gon. OR, in hopper mode, the upper V panels could be opened and material directed down and out the bottom on either side of the hopper bottom through the drop bottom doors. Clear as mud, right?
Suffice it to say, the Silver Streak/Truscale model represents a Hart Convertible car without hinged vertical side panels.
So I'll be making a new hopper bottom to represent the floor in hopper mode, and maybe I'll do one of the cars with the end panels shifted all the way out in gondola/flat bottom mode. In order to achieve the wood composite look, I'll be doing the rebuilt floor in styrene. I'll be adding bolt detail to the side stakes and many more grab irons than those in the original instructions. Also I'd like to represent the ratchet mechanism for controlling the drop bottom somehow.
Plenty of work to do before April 1, but I hope to move ahead quickly now that I've made up my mind which details to include.
Galen
I may not be a rivet counter, but I sure do like rivets!