01-12-2014, 11:01 AM
Since I model the 1900's, somebody sent me a link to this thread and asked If I had any information.
I don't have any information on the prototype, but I do have some observations on the prototype photo.
Normally early trucks have either a 5 ft or 5 ft 6 in wheelbase. If the truck wheel base is 5 ft then the car is about 31 ft long. I also scaled off the grabirons on the end, assuming that the grabirons are 18" long, the car scales out about 30 ft long and sides about 10 ft 6 in high. Your car may be too long.
Also the reefer hatches on the B end of the car appear to be extra. If you look at the picture the reefer hatches are over the space above the blank spot between the door and the end of the car. The hatch is visible in the photo. When you enter the car on the side of the prototype photo there would be the ice bunker on your immediate left and the entire car to the right will be open. Apparently there is no bunker on the right end because there is no hatch visible. If there is no platform, there will be two boards on the roof behind the hatch or a single block about hatch length inboard of the hatch so when the hatch is opened and laid back on the roof of the car, the hardware on the hatch doesn't strike the roof and damage it.
The channel bracing on the end of the car was there to strengthen the end of the car against shifted loads. Since shifted loads would never hit the end of the car on the bunker end of a reefer (the load is up against the bunker) reefers normally didn't have the channel bracing. Since your car has a bunker only one end, the non-bunker end could have the bracing, but I doubt the bunker end would have it.
A car as tall as this one would be very restricted since it would be pushing the limits of the clearance envelope. It might not clear some tunnels and doors of its era. It would be a "hi-cube" of its day. The car in the photo looks to be about 13 ft 6 in high over the roofwalk, higher over the handbrake. A typical P&R engine of the period was 14 ft 6 in high over the smokestack, so these cars were at the limits of height. The problem comes in the corners of the top. If you look at an NMRA clearance gauge, notice how the corners are angled off. So the max height is over a limited space over the center of the track, it gets lower further from the center. The reefer not so much. So the car would be restricted on where it could go.
I don't have any information on the prototype, but I do have some observations on the prototype photo.
Normally early trucks have either a 5 ft or 5 ft 6 in wheelbase. If the truck wheel base is 5 ft then the car is about 31 ft long. I also scaled off the grabirons on the end, assuming that the grabirons are 18" long, the car scales out about 30 ft long and sides about 10 ft 6 in high. Your car may be too long.
Also the reefer hatches on the B end of the car appear to be extra. If you look at the picture the reefer hatches are over the space above the blank spot between the door and the end of the car. The hatch is visible in the photo. When you enter the car on the side of the prototype photo there would be the ice bunker on your immediate left and the entire car to the right will be open. Apparently there is no bunker on the right end because there is no hatch visible. If there is no platform, there will be two boards on the roof behind the hatch or a single block about hatch length inboard of the hatch so when the hatch is opened and laid back on the roof of the car, the hardware on the hatch doesn't strike the roof and damage it.
The channel bracing on the end of the car was there to strengthen the end of the car against shifted loads. Since shifted loads would never hit the end of the car on the bunker end of a reefer (the load is up against the bunker) reefers normally didn't have the channel bracing. Since your car has a bunker only one end, the non-bunker end could have the bracing, but I doubt the bunker end would have it.
A car as tall as this one would be very restricted since it would be pushing the limits of the clearance envelope. It might not clear some tunnels and doors of its era. It would be a "hi-cube" of its day. The car in the photo looks to be about 13 ft 6 in high over the roofwalk, higher over the handbrake. A typical P&R engine of the period was 14 ft 6 in high over the smokestack, so these cars were at the limits of height. The problem comes in the corners of the top. If you look at an NMRA clearance gauge, notice how the corners are angled off. So the max height is over a limited space over the center of the track, it gets lower further from the center. The reefer not so much. So the car would be restricted on where it could go.