40 foot boxcar rebuild

[Gary S]

Since it was raining and I couldn't work outside, I did a little boxcar project. Since I am going to model the late 1970s, I need to update my boxcar fleet. I didn't do much research, but have read various things about roofwalks being rmoved, ladders cut down, brake wheels lowered, doors being enlarged, side sills being reinforced...

BTW: CAUTION!!!

THREE FOOT RULE IS IN EFFECT! RIVET COUNTERS NEED NOT APPLY!

Here is a photo that gives an example:

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I decided to take this SP Accurail boxcar and model it with half ladders, a larger door, straight side sills, and an open door on one side. The model has 6 foot doors which are molded into the body. I had built the car a couple of years ago, and lightly weathered it.



First, I took some styrene strip and glued it in the grove of the floor. I didn't have the right thickness, so I glued two strips in to get it above the floor height.



While the glue was drying, I took the Dremel tool and cut the doors out.



I used the Exacto knife to clean up the door openings which were widened to about 7.5 HO scale feet.



Used the hobby knife to scrape the plastic strip down so that it was level with the floor.



With a straight edge, I scored some lines in the floor to represent the boards. Didn't measure, didn't worry about making them perfect...



Then I painted the floor light gray and the lead weights black.



While the floor was drying, I glued the new door on one side. These are doors from Accurail that were purchased online. They make a pretty good assortment of doors you can buy.

continued...

[Gary S]

For the back of the door inside the car, I took some "corrugated" sheet plastic and cut it to fit inside behind the door.



Then I glued it in and painted the inside of the boxcar white. It took a few coats to cover the dark plastic.



As the white paint dried, I went back to the floor and painted the boards various colors of grays and antique white.



After the paint dried, I used a black wash on the floor.



And a brown wash on the inside ofthe boxcar. At this point, I also cut off the original bottom sills.



Then glued the floor into the body.



After scraping the rivets and paint off from behind the door, I glued it in place. Also cut and installed the new bottom sill.





And now it just needs some paint on the doors and sills, some new weathering, and a coat of dullcote. I'll post that once I get all that finished, but it may be a few days....

[Puddlejumper]

Nice project, I like where this is going...

[nachoman]

very nice!

[sgtcarl1]

Good job!!!

[nomad]

Now that's more like the old Gary! Welcome back, my friend!

Loren

[e-paw]

Cool rebuild.

[Gary S]

Thanks for the comments, everyone. I appreciate them!

Here is the painted car. Will add COT plates, wheel dots, and ACI plates.

[Gary S]

Now that's more like the old Gary! Welcome back, my friend!

Thanks Loren, it is good to be back!

[Puddlejumper]

That looks great. The paint is a perfect match. Well done!

[TrainNut]

Those weights look like .357 slugs...??? Tell me more about "half ladders". This is the first I've heard of such a thing. Up front, it doesn't seem to make much sense as what's the use of climbing a ladder that will only get you half way up? On the other hand, half a ladder also denies access to those who should not be up there.
What's the story if you please?

[Gary S]

Those weights look like .357 slugs...??? Tell me more about "half ladders". This is the first I've heard of such a thing. Up front, it doesn't seem to make much sense as what's the use of climbing a ladder that will only get you half way up? On the other hand, half a ladder also denies access to those who should not be up there.
What's the story if you please?

The weights are .50 caliber black powder rifle bullets shaped with a hammer.

Now... about the roofwalks... my question is, why did they ever put the brake wheels way up at the roof anyway? Why didn't they leave them low so the employees could operate them from the ground instead of having to climb up?

I believe it was 1966 when the AAR (?) passed a rule that rolling stock was no longer allowed to have roofwalks. Any new cars were built with low brake wheels and no roof walks. Of course, covered hoppers that needed roof access to the hatches weren't included. Existing cars had to have the roofwalks removed by 1974. That date was eventually pushed back to 1979.

Some railroads removed the roofwalks but left the ladders and high brake wheels. Others lowered the brake wheel and cut all the ladders in half. Others chose a mixture, like cutting the ladders on the non-brake end down to half ladders, but leaving the ladders on the brake end full height. Most railroads between 1966 and 1979 would have had cars in various states of modification. They didn't just bring all the cars in at one time and make the mod. They did the mod whenever the car passed near a shop that could do the work.

Anyone modeling the late 1960s or early 1970s will need to make the mods.

Most of the typical Athearn Blue Box kits represent the era before 1966. Some of their RTR stuff represents 1966 and later with the half ladders. Of course, the 40 foot boxcars were slowly being phased out and being replaced with 50 footers.

The webpage has some info on modeling LV boxcars that received the modifications:

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[Gary S]

That looks great. The paint is a perfect match. Well done!

Thanks for the compliments!

As for the paint being a perfect match.... It is close. But actually, I made the paint on the door a slightly different shade on purpose. And actually painted various parts of the door different shades. You can't really tell in the photo.

As DocWayne has said before, don't worry about a perfect match. The weathering will blend it all together. Also, real cars don't weather the same in every part and piece panel, so I actually prefer to have slight variations across the body panels.

[Steamtrains]

I think the brake wheels were placed up high so the brakeman, who was walking the length of the train on the roof walks, didn't have to climb all the way down to set the brakes - just a few steps down, set the brakes, and a little walk up the ladder and go on to the next car....

[Gary S]

I think the brake wheels were placed up high so the brakeman, who was walking the length of the train on the roof walks, didn't have to climb all the way down to set the brakes - just a few steps down, set the brakes, and a little walk up the ladder and go on to the next car....

That makes sense, but why did he have to walk the roof in the first place? Why couldn't he just walk on the ground? With low brake wheels?