Now that I've published my article on Modeling Blackburn Beet Racks (Part 2), I can show the kitbashing I did to the OwlMtModels Blackburn Beet Rack to fit it onto the sag-backed T&NO 23454, which is standing in for the last of the WWI-built truss-rod all-steel framed flatcars which were almost gone by 1950.
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| A sagging WWI vintage F-50-7, T&NO 23454, with Blackburn B-1486. |
Many of the photos of the F-40/50-6/7s in the later years show them sagging under the weight of loaded Blackburn racks. Let's see how I did it for this kitbash. I covered the beginning of T&NO 23454's kitbash in SP F-50-7 (Part 2).
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| SP beet train, photo from Tony Thompson's "Racks for Sugar Beets" blog post - photo directly linked. |
The second car in the train is a truss-rod steel-framed flatcar from WWI, one of the F-40/50-6/7 class cars. The photo is certainly from 1948-1949 with the new G-50-20 class of composite GS gondolas arriving, and starting to replace the fleet of Blackburn Rack equipped F-50-series flatcars.
But... a T&NO Car with SP Blackburn Racks?
Tony Thompson published a number of blogs in 2011 including, Modeling Freight Traffic: Coast Line, 1953 Part 8, in which some interesting figures on car classes used with beet racks in the 1948-1952 era. Note: most of the racks were probably gone by 1950, which shifts the ratios of rack and gondolas, with most of the gons delivered in 1948/49 and replaced the Blackburns. So if the dates before the gondolas were looked at, then I'm sure we'd see a related ratio of F-50-series and F-40/50-6/7 class cars.
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| A little cross RR rack application, PE 3669 with B-748 Rack... |
Interesting also the numbers of T&NO and a single PE car are included in the data, so don't be afraid to branch out from just SP reporting marks on your Blackburn Rack assigned flatcars!
Sagging a Blackburn Rack
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| Sagging the Rack... |
I bent the steel weight which the T&NO 23454 was built around to form the sagged body. I decided that the sag should be about 2-3" in scale, so check your bending of the car with a straight edge. Slight filing on the bolster pads was needed to keep the trucks square and level. The ends, doors, and upper sides had to be tweaked to adjust to the sagged shape.
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| Underside of B-1486 with all bracing and stake board installed. |
Basically the assembly follows the order I covered in the previous article on the Blackburn kits, but modified to sag the sides.
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| B-1486 has a vertical reporting mark applied on the center end post. |
I changed the decalling of the end to the alternate version, which had vertical lettering.
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| B-1486 showing minor tell-tales of the cut marks to adjust the shape of the sides (top). B-1374 is straight rack (below). |
Basically the only side modifications can be seen where I cut the upper sides and allowed the sides to be glued in a form that will hold the bent form. These cuts will be eventually covered with splice plates which were joining shorter boards used after 1931 to keep these racks in service.
In Closing
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| Completed T&NO 23454 with B-1486 Rack. |
I look forward to shooting some more photos of this model in a string of OMM F-50-series flats with Blackburn racks like the prototype photo on Anthony Thompson's blog on the beet racks.
Jason Hill
Related Articles:
OwlMtModels Blackburn Sugar Beet Racks - Link to sales page (and combo kits with F-50-series flatcar)
OwlMtModels F-50-series Flatcars - Link to F-50-5/8/9/10/12 page
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