01-29-2012, 02:22 PM
jwb Wrote:....one detail you might want to investigate on cars marked for automobile service is the white stripes painted on the doors for cars that had racks. I've added this to several of mine.
The racks had a more or less visible feature on their floors, pipes that held the chains when the racks were stowed....
My Espee car is a bit of a stand-in: when I did the original modifications some years ago (metal grabirons and sill steps, thinned roofwalk with homemade corner grabs on the laterals, and door 'claws' removed) it was mainly because it was the only car I had which sported the attractive SP herald. Unfortunately, that factory-painted car had been weathered with a spray can (and a heavy hand :oops: ) so I decided to also strip it down and re-paint and re-letter it. I used C-D-S dry transfers and, at the time, was not too concerned with BLT dates and other such nuances of lettering. While doing this recent make-over, I noticed that the lettering showed a BLT date of 8-50, much too new for a late '30s layout, so I used a #11 blade to change the '5' to a '3'.
This made it a car design well-ahead of its time 
and incorrect on a number of counts. 
However, your suggestion prompted me to re-examine my freight car book, and of the nine cars shown with a white stripe on the door, only two were built pre-'40s. However, one of these is an SP car (I hadn't even looked for a similar car in the book, as I was of the opinion that the car was too modern and was willing to accept it as a stand-in. The photo shows both the stripe and the pipes, and with a BLT date of late 1936, fits well into my chosen era. So, this car will be going back into the shops: in addition to door stripes and storage tubes (easy additions), I'll need to change the built date, the re-weigh date (which is currently 2-38, about a year too early), and the car numbers completely, as the number series should be 69530 to 70029 (only five digits). Actually, almost all of the lettering to the left of the doors is incorrect, too. This may take a while, and I'll have to decide which compromises are acceptable.
Thanks for the suggestion on the stripe and loader equipment - it should lead to an improved car on several counts.
Wayne