Russell Snow Plow

[CNR5103]

I recently bought a Walthers kit of a Russell Snow Plow I want to paint in Canadian National Railways paint scheme of the 50’. The problem is that I don’t know which color was used on this equipment in 1959. Was it Morency Orange, the color used on CNR cabooses in this era, or CN Red #11.  I found a photo of a CNR Russell Snow Plow taken in 1959 but unfortunately it’s in B&W. 

[doctorwayne]

Hi Guy,

I'm not sure what colour might have been used in 1959, but there is some paint colour info for CNR to be found HERE.

I didn't have time to read the whole thing in detail, but you may find something useful with a more in-depth perusal of the pages.

EDIT:  I did have an opportunity to more closely examine those pages, and read that...

"Snow-plows were painted Mineral Brown until at least the 1960s (likely 1968)."

There is probably other useful info on CNR colours in those pages, too, as they did confirm that prior to WWII, CNR open cars (hoppers, gondolas and flatcars) were black, then later change to Mineral Brown or a similar colour after the war. 

With my layout, set in the late '30s, I had painted such CNR cars black, as C-D-S had noted that change in their catalogue of dry transfers.  The linked data which I included did confirm that.

Wayne

[CNR5103]

Thank you very much Wayne for this article. Stanford Swain wrote  "Snowplows were painted Mineral Brown until at least the 1960s (likely 1968)".  Knowing that, I will be able to build a pretty close to prototype model of a Russell snowplow.

Thanks again.

[doctorwayne]

Glad to be of assistance, Guy, and looking forward to seeing some photos of your CNR plough.

I bought one of those Walthers plows some years ago, and while it's painted somewhat similar to Mineral Brown,  lettered it for my freelanced EG&E. 

I don't run it much at all, as I haven't had any blizzards in my basement layout room, but I do occasionally bring it out and park it on a siding for picture taking...

   

Here's a real CNR plough, but in the later Morency Orange paint scheme.  I came upon it in Goderich, Ontario, where I was checking out a train station there that was up for sale.

   

   

   

   

Wayne

[CNR5103]

Thanks for sharing those photos Wayne.  Mine will be based on this one.

   

I will try to add the front coupler as the kit doesn't have one.  I would have liked to add the barrel light too but can't find one at a reasonable price on Internet.

I'll certainly post some photos when finished.

[nachoman]

That's a cool plow, Wayne. Would be fun to weather that one. Although, the weather in those photos reminds me of why I live in a sunny climate

[cn nutbar]

Hello Guy---I found this picture I took at the CN Stuart yard back in the 80's---it's not a Russel plow and the photo is not the best but I hope it helps---always look forward to your creations.

   

[CNR5103]

The kit has arrived this morning.  This is a pretty simple kit with few parts.  The real challenge will certainly not be to assemble the plastic parts but to replace the molded in grab irons with metal ones.

   

[scribbelt]

Good luck with your project Guy

[Charlie B]

I will be following this build. I bought this kit last year and it is one of the projects on the bench. 
Charlie

[CNR5103]

I will be following this build. I bought this kit last year and it is one of the projects on the bench. 
Charlie

Thank you for following with a purpose in mind.  I'll try to post photos and comments which can be useful to you.

[CNR5103]

Today, I drilled the holes for the grabirons.  At this early stage I kept the molded in grabs to use as a guide in placing the drill bit.

   

After drilling all the holes and checking at photos of prototypes I realized that Walthers forgot to mold grabirons at the bottom end of the car.  This was corrected right away.

   

I also plugged some predrilled holes that I wouldn't use.  The ones in the front roof were for the front roofwalk.  CNR didn't use a front roofwalk.

[CNR5103]

As stated before, the only real challenge with this project was replacing molded grabirons with metal ones.  Here is the result so far.

   

   

I also worked on the underframe.   I added one more once of weight to bring the total weight of the car to NMRA standard.  I won't run this car much but I wanted it to have the right weight like all the cars in my roster. 

   

Here is the underframe completed.  This time I didn't add all the pipes and rods as I usually do on other cars.  I could have omitted the reservoir, cylinder and triple valve as well as nothing will be seen behind the wings.

   

[tompm]

Looking good!

[scribbelt]

Very nice and detailed craftsmanship Guy
Thank you for the pictures and follow-up