Full Version: Ocalicreek's 2010 Spring Bash Challenge
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This is less of a bash and more a rescue/upgrade.

A couple years back I found a pair of old wood gons with the girder underframes in need of serious help, and fell for them on the spot. Just a few months ago at the big train show in Puyallup I found a third car, almost certainly from the same builder! These cars came from the same vendor who always has a good supply of estate sale cars (from whence I found my Gibraltar hopper, built by Milt Moore).

I have been to HO Seeker's database and identified them as Silver Streak cars. I've got to get to work now, but later today I'll take a few pictures and post them.

Galen
Sounds perfect!
Pictures of the aforementioned gons, officially a "Silver Streak Hart Convertible Gondola"

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The two that are in pieces didn't come that way. They came home from the train show looking something like the one with a load. In fact, the load is what convinced me these were all from the same collection (that and I bought them from the same dealer, even though at two different shows a couple years apart).

Up next, chipping away the load and cleaning all the parts. After that I have to assess what parts need to be replaced/rebuilt. If I had some good casting resin I might be tempted to replicate the parts I need from the parts I have, but I think I may just build new ones from styrene or brass. Brass would add more weight and give me some practice in that medium. I already know I'll need a few new end beams.

Galen
Those are very interesting cars. I will be interested in watching this build progress.
I wouldn't mind having a few of those cars myself.
nachoman Wrote:I wouldn't mind having a few of those cars myself.

I think you can still get them through Ye Olde Huff n Puff:

<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.yeoldehuffnpuff.com/sstreakkits.htm">http://www.yeoldehuffnpuff.com/sstreakkits.htm</a><!-- m -->

...but at $21 each, well, seems a bit steep. Got mine for $5 each and won't come near the current price even with purchasing kadees & wheelsets. I also think Train Miniature made some in plastic that may be available here and there at shows & bins.

Galen
Puddlejumper Wrote:Those are very interesting cars. I will be interested in watching this build progress.

Thanks, Dave. When completed, I'll probably run them as a set. Two have the same #, but all three will have different #s when I'm finished. Wink

Galen
Those are awesome! Too bad they cost so much to buy now. Eh, its not like I really need them anyway, or do I...?
Steve...You NEED 'em, you NEED 'em......!!! Goldth

So do I...... Sad
Last night the boys in the shop got busy cleaning glue off the first of the three cars. Old glue was removed from the underside of the car where the metal frames were attached to the wood body & sides. After some sanding they now line up properly.

A few of the vertical side boards popped loose during that time, but nobody was hurt. That's fine since they'll have to be relocated to meet the metal frame lugs eventually, and a few more may have to come loose to line up correctly.

The fellas also polished wheel treads on one of the trucks. The dadgum thing wobbles so, it may just get replaced. Well, the wheelsets may be replaced. The truck frames are all metal & sprung, on all three cars. However, some of the wheels themselves are plastic and I insist on metal wheels for the shiny look and superior running characteristics.

This particular car will need another end beam, a new sill step, and chain for the brake rigging along with a few minor details. It's the one with the larger bolster lugs

Okay...back to work!

Galen
Galen, I googled "Hart convertible gondola" and found this pic:
[attachment=4402]
Hope it can help with your challenge project.
Thanks, Sumpter! Cool find. I believe that's a later model than the cars I'm working with. If you come across any earlier ones let me know. I think they also went by the name 'Rogers Balast Car' or 'Rodgers' sp.

There was a google book I stumbled across during a similar search that seemed to say there were some modifications made in the way these cars 'convert' from center to side dump or to flat bottm, and from recessed ends to full length. I'm not 100% sure on the details of how the conversion was done.

Galen
Thanks for posting the link. I found those last night but hadn't really begun to study the pictures.

It raises the question of, do I replace the wooden vertcal braces with metal angle (along with adding flat diag. bracing)?

Since I have three cars, it may be worth redoing one of them a la the b&w photos on the link and just 'rebuilding' the other two with a few additional details like the grab irons on the ends, coupler lift bar, etc. That brake stand with ratchet & lever is nice.

Also, the only brake equipment that comes with the Silver Streak cars is that unit that hangs outside the framing (incorrectly assembled originally by whoever had these cars before me). Yet the data on the sides reads "K2 Triple Valve" and the color shot on the link page seems to show more hanging inside the exposed frame. Hmmm....

Galen
After considerable research online, I've been able to answer enough of my concerns to my satisfaction that I can proceed with the rebuilding phase of this project.

What I've got, as best I can tell, are Hart Convertible Ballast and Coal cars. The DT&I car pictured above is a Hart Convertible Gon, but it's got side doors and a different underframe. For these cars, like the DT&I car, a plow could be pulled down through the car and material would be sent out the sides of the car, not the floor. The floor could be modified into a hopper bottom, but the plow would not be used. Modeling the plow and additional lidgerwood hoist car (like a steam donkey) would be a cool challenge.

The HC Ballast and Coal cars did not have vertical side doors. The dumping operation was accomplished through the floor completely. That is, in hopper mode, the balast or coal was dumped by opening the V shaped hopper bottom. The V was continued up the sides because of the floor panels that folded up. In Gondola mode, those floor panels could be folded down to rest on the braces spanning the V to form a flat bottom. In that case, material could be directed out the sides like a regular drop bottom gon. OR, in hopper mode, the upper V panels could be opened and material directed down and out the bottom on either side of the hopper bottom through the drop bottom doors. Clear as mud, right?

Suffice it to say, the Silver Streak/Truscale model represents a Hart Convertible car without hinged vertical side panels.

So I'll be making a new hopper bottom to represent the floor in hopper mode, and maybe I'll do one of the cars with the end panels shifted all the way out in gondola/flat bottom mode. In order to achieve the wood composite look, I'll be doing the rebuilt floor in styrene. I'll be adding bolt detail to the side stakes and many more grab irons than those in the original instructions. Also I'd like to represent the ratchet mechanism for controlling the drop bottom somehow.

Plenty of work to do before April 1, but I hope to move ahead quickly now that I've made up my mind which details to include.

Galen
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