My C&S stockcar bash

[nkp_174]

Since there hasn't been any posts in this area of the forum for sometime, I thought I should share a my recent work on bashing a Grandt Line C&S On3 stockcar. Similarly, I hadn't posted on a blog for a few months and so I put them up there as well.

The C&S freight cars can be classified into four groups: the inherited cars (ex-DSP&P, CC, U&N, and KC)...and the three groups Harry Brunk designated Type I, II, and III. The Type I, II, and III cars shared a common design, but the details vary greatly between classes and subtly within classes.

The Type I cars were built between 1897 and 1906. Some were built by St. Charles/AC&F, but the hardware was fairly common between them and they all rode on arch bar trucks. Note that some of these were inherited, as the C&S wasn't created until after the first were built. San Juan Car Co offers an expensive version of the stock and boxcars of this type...too expensive for my taste.

The Type II cars were built 1907-1908 and featured hardware purchased from Betterndorf and rode on Betterndorf trucks.

The Type III cars were built 1909-1910 and had largely the same hardware as the Type IIs, but had steel underframes (SUFs). These last cars offered by Grandt Line, P-B-L, and others. The Grandt and P-B-L (Grandt tooling) kits are cost effective and beautiful. The Type IIIs were most commonly found on the Climax run in the later years along with the three largest 2-8-0s.

The C&S had approx 120 of the modern stockcars. 50 were Type Is, 20 were Type IIs, and the remaining 50 were Type IIIs.

Because I have four SUF cars already together, plus a reefer hardware kit (these were SUF only), I have decided to convert the SUF stockcar kit I received for Christmas to a Type II car. Doing so requires a new frame with trussrods, a new planked roof, and a few other modifications. The metal (Murphy) roof from the kit, its original frame (lighter construction), and the SUF will likely be combined with a spare set of the trucks for building a Type III boxcar in the distant future. I plan to scratch build a couple Type I cars once my Oahu Railway roster is in decent shape.



The new frame (styrene), approaching completion


A side view of the new frame and some modifications to the kit/change of parts


The new roof (styrene) and the interior, painted. I will lightly add some white chalk or paint to simulate lime, as well as some dirty straw. No animals since that looks a little odd sitting in a yards...stock trains were usually treated like mail and passenger trains.


The top of the new roof