09-30-2020, 10:20 PM
....well, more like one of many, but this one's the one on which I'm currently working.
Some years ago (September, 2002 to be exact), I read an interesting article in RMC, showing how to convert an Accurail 2-bay USRA hopper into a reasonable representation of the TH&B's channel-side hoppers. It was written by a fellow Hamiltonian whom I knew by-name, but had never met.
I thought his starting point using the USRA hopper to be rather unusual, as Stewart (now Bowser) already offered a channel-side hopper, so I promptly bought a pair of them.
I mostly followed the article (nine pages, and lots of photos of the real ones and of the models, too) and when they were done, I took one to a hobbyshop which I frequented (as did the author), and left it for his assessment of my work.
A week-or-so later, I returned to the store, and learned that he had pronounced it to be "nicely done"....but noted that the grabiron-style ladders at the car's corners were incorrect - on the real cars, the corner ladders were done as grabirons, with the side one comprised of a drop-type grabiron on the bottom, and 4 straight ones above that. On the adjacent end, the counterpart of the drop-grab on the side was the car's endsill, while the next two steps were drop-style grabs, and then two straight ones at the top.
I had used the proper corresponding styles on my version, but had installed them with the mounting points level with those on the side of the car, whereas, to be correct, the step portions of the grabirons were to be at the same level as those on the side.
Half-embarrassed by my mistake, and half-pleased that it otherwise was "nicely done", I rushed home to correct the errors.
A couple or three weeks ago, I happened onto the same issue of RMC, and as I read and re-read the how-to and pored over the photos, I realised that there were still other mistakes which needed to be addressed...well, they bugged me enough that I decided that they should be corrected.
Here's one of the two originals after its initial update...
I first went to work correcting further mistakes on the two originals, but neglected to take in-progress photos. In the meantime, I purchased another six cars, two of them r-t-r in TH&B paint and lettering (albeit both with the same car number), and four undecorated ones.
Furthermore, on re-reading the write-up in RMC, I learned that the original real cars were built in 1914 (at National Steel Car, a Hamilton, Ontario company), and extensively re-built in in the early 1930s with new sides (a prototype photo shows one with slope sheets and hoppers intact, but no sides or ends).
Then, in 1943, the railroad started a project to convert all 150 cars to AB brakes. That program finished in August of 1945.
When I built the first two cars all those years ago, I wasn't too concerned with the re-weigh dates, which were in the '40s, but when I backdated my layout to the "late '30s-era", the dates became more of an issue.
That resulted in the rebuilt cars being somewhat out-of-whack with the rest of the layout.
I don't really want to move the layout into the '40s, but I am re-building the hoppers as if they represent the real ones in the period between 1943-45. Therefore, some will have AB-type brakes (the two re-done originals, plus the two r-t-r ones lettered for TH&B - one with its number changed, along with one of the undecorated cars.
The remaining three undecorated cars are being modified to represent cars not-yet with AB brakes, so they'll have the original K-type brakes (split, somewhat similar to Westinghouse K-D type brakes...but basically created using regular K-C brakes, which had the cylinder, reservoir, and AB valve all in a single unit) and older style grabiron ladders, along with stem-winder brake gear.
There are another four undecorated cars to be done, too, but they're currently trapped south of the border, where a good friend has them for safekeeping. As I make the parts for the ones on-hand, I also set aside copies for those other four cars, lest I forget how I made the parts when I finally have those cars here. They'll be re-done to represent cars not yet updated with AB brakes.
Here are some in-progress photos, showing one of the two r-t-r cars -
...the porcupine-look, with the styrene rod sticking out all over the place, was used to plug holes where grabirons had been removed or where I had drilled holes in the wrong places - the rod is .020" in diameter, so I drilled-out the smaller holes to about .016", then dipped the end of the rod material into MEK for a few seconds, to soften the plastic, then forced it into the smaller hole. I had to do a lot of such plugging, as lots of holes were in the wrong places originally.
The photos below are of one of the two original cars (the end sill is mounted slightly higher than on the newer cars, as Bowser modified the newer ones slightly)- the two originals were the most difficult to correct, and will have to remain somewhat different from the other 10, although they're at least closer to "correct" than they've ever been...
Here's the A-end...
...B-end...
...and a side view...
This is the A-end of one of the two r-t-r cars, with the end sill more like it should be...
...and the B-end...
...and a side view...
Here's the A-end of the undecorated car that will have the AB-type brakes, too...
...the B-end...
...and a side view...
I'm guessing that I'm about to exceed the attachment limit, so will continue in the next post...
Some years ago (September, 2002 to be exact), I read an interesting article in RMC, showing how to convert an Accurail 2-bay USRA hopper into a reasonable representation of the TH&B's channel-side hoppers. It was written by a fellow Hamiltonian whom I knew by-name, but had never met.
I thought his starting point using the USRA hopper to be rather unusual, as Stewart (now Bowser) already offered a channel-side hopper, so I promptly bought a pair of them.
I mostly followed the article (nine pages, and lots of photos of the real ones and of the models, too) and when they were done, I took one to a hobbyshop which I frequented (as did the author), and left it for his assessment of my work.
A week-or-so later, I returned to the store, and learned that he had pronounced it to be "nicely done"....but noted that the grabiron-style ladders at the car's corners were incorrect - on the real cars, the corner ladders were done as grabirons, with the side one comprised of a drop-type grabiron on the bottom, and 4 straight ones above that. On the adjacent end, the counterpart of the drop-grab on the side was the car's endsill, while the next two steps were drop-style grabs, and then two straight ones at the top.
I had used the proper corresponding styles on my version, but had installed them with the mounting points level with those on the side of the car, whereas, to be correct, the step portions of the grabirons were to be at the same level as those on the side.
Half-embarrassed by my mistake, and half-pleased that it otherwise was "nicely done", I rushed home to correct the errors.
A couple or three weeks ago, I happened onto the same issue of RMC, and as I read and re-read the how-to and pored over the photos, I realised that there were still other mistakes which needed to be addressed...well, they bugged me enough that I decided that they should be corrected.
Here's one of the two originals after its initial update...
I first went to work correcting further mistakes on the two originals, but neglected to take in-progress photos. In the meantime, I purchased another six cars, two of them r-t-r in TH&B paint and lettering (albeit both with the same car number), and four undecorated ones.
Furthermore, on re-reading the write-up in RMC, I learned that the original real cars were built in 1914 (at National Steel Car, a Hamilton, Ontario company), and extensively re-built in in the early 1930s with new sides (a prototype photo shows one with slope sheets and hoppers intact, but no sides or ends).
Then, in 1943, the railroad started a project to convert all 150 cars to AB brakes. That program finished in August of 1945.
When I built the first two cars all those years ago, I wasn't too concerned with the re-weigh dates, which were in the '40s, but when I backdated my layout to the "late '30s-era", the dates became more of an issue.
That resulted in the rebuilt cars being somewhat out-of-whack with the rest of the layout.
I don't really want to move the layout into the '40s, but I am re-building the hoppers as if they represent the real ones in the period between 1943-45. Therefore, some will have AB-type brakes (the two re-done originals, plus the two r-t-r ones lettered for TH&B - one with its number changed, along with one of the undecorated cars.
The remaining three undecorated cars are being modified to represent cars not-yet with AB brakes, so they'll have the original K-type brakes (split, somewhat similar to Westinghouse K-D type brakes...but basically created using regular K-C brakes, which had the cylinder, reservoir, and AB valve all in a single unit) and older style grabiron ladders, along with stem-winder brake gear.
There are another four undecorated cars to be done, too, but they're currently trapped south of the border, where a good friend has them for safekeeping. As I make the parts for the ones on-hand, I also set aside copies for those other four cars, lest I forget how I made the parts when I finally have those cars here. They'll be re-done to represent cars not yet updated with AB brakes.
Here are some in-progress photos, showing one of the two r-t-r cars -
...the porcupine-look, with the styrene rod sticking out all over the place, was used to plug holes where grabirons had been removed or where I had drilled holes in the wrong places - the rod is .020" in diameter, so I drilled-out the smaller holes to about .016", then dipped the end of the rod material into MEK for a few seconds, to soften the plastic, then forced it into the smaller hole. I had to do a lot of such plugging, as lots of holes were in the wrong places originally.
The photos below are of one of the two original cars (the end sill is mounted slightly higher than on the newer cars, as Bowser modified the newer ones slightly)- the two originals were the most difficult to correct, and will have to remain somewhat different from the other 10, although they're at least closer to "correct" than they've ever been...
Here's the A-end...
...B-end...
...and a side view...
This is the A-end of one of the two r-t-r cars, with the end sill more like it should be...
...and the B-end...
...and a side view...
Here's the A-end of the undecorated car that will have the AB-type brakes, too...
...the B-end...
...and a side view...
I'm guessing that I'm about to exceed the attachment limit, so will continue in the next post...