01-09-2012, 01:28 AM
Matt, the Southern Railway's SU-class boxcar is what I have planned for my lone 36' MDC car. Those cars (almost 15,000 of them, built between 1922 and 1926) had four truss rods and steel centre sills. Supposedly, the Southern opted for this seemingly obsolete design because it was cheaper than comparable modern (at that time) designs. I suspect that familiarity with the construction and its related repairs also factored into their decision.
My plan was to use the MDC queenposts, then fabricate a simple straight centre sill from strip styrene. There's room for this along the centre of the MDC cast metal floor, and even space to add crossbearers on either side of the doors. I'd build the centre sill in three sections, leaving the queenpost castings each in one piece in order to keep them aligned while adding the truss rods. The new frame components can be attached to the metal floor with ca, then further strengthened by flowing epoxy between the two sides of the frame.
If your prototype didn't use truss rods, you can still add a centre sill and cross bearers (even easier, 'cause you can run the centre sill in one section from bolster to bolster), and there are already longitudinal stringers represented on the floor castings.
A fishbelly centre sill would be done the same way, although you'd have to cut the main shapes from sheet styrene. I did just that for this MoW Tool & Supply boxcar, made from an MDC 36' reefer:
![[Image: Foe-toesfromfirstcd095.jpg]](http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b399/doctorwayne/MofW%20equipment/Foe-toesfromfirstcd095.jpg)
I have only one MDC 36' reefer to build, and haven't yet decided whether or not to build it with truss rods. If I can find 3 or 4 more of these, cheap, I'll do them as meat reefers, with truss rods, for my home road.
Wayne
My plan was to use the MDC queenposts, then fabricate a simple straight centre sill from strip styrene. There's room for this along the centre of the MDC cast metal floor, and even space to add crossbearers on either side of the doors. I'd build the centre sill in three sections, leaving the queenpost castings each in one piece in order to keep them aligned while adding the truss rods. The new frame components can be attached to the metal floor with ca, then further strengthened by flowing epoxy between the two sides of the frame.
If your prototype didn't use truss rods, you can still add a centre sill and cross bearers (even easier, 'cause you can run the centre sill in one section from bolster to bolster), and there are already longitudinal stringers represented on the floor castings.
A fishbelly centre sill would be done the same way, although you'd have to cut the main shapes from sheet styrene. I did just that for this MoW Tool & Supply boxcar, made from an MDC 36' reefer:
I have only one MDC 36' reefer to build, and haven't yet decided whether or not to build it with truss rods. If I can find 3 or 4 more of these, cheap, I'll do them as meat reefers, with truss rods, for my home road.
Wayne