Common Standard 60ft RPOs from 60-P-1,2,3,4-Series - SC&F Kits and Athearn's New Project?

So, I've had a couple requests to do an analysis on the new Athearn 60-P-series (link to PDF announcement) models announced at Trainfest in 2024.  My first impression is that these will be interesting models and I hope that they are built with good mechanical sense and proper input from historical sources.  I'll be looking at these through the lens of the SPH&TS Passenger Cars, Vol 3 - Headend Car book, with my roster data and notes pulled from that source.  I've covered some of the history of these cars in passing on my 
SP's Great RPO Shuffle of 1949-1953 blog post from June 2018.

Currently Available Resin Kits

My partly complete Southern Car & Foundry model of Storage Car SP 4404.

While I have built multiple SC&F kits on this blog in the past, including SP 5199, SP 5124, SP 5069/5070, so if you can find them, I highly recommend using their kits.  My SC&F SP 4404 isn't complete... yet, so an RTR model might be of interest, although much of my passenger train modeling has been cut back because I'm focusing most of my modeling efforts now on the SP's Jawbone Branch.

Southern Car & Foundry example of Common Standard early 60-P-1/2/3/4 series RPO.

I've been searching for a prototype photo or two of these cars to show, but lacking a prototype photo to use, for now I'm using this photo from the Southern Car & Foundry website.  The website shows that these cars are available as of Nov 2024. 

The Prototype:

So looking through the book, I know these models should represent SP and UP prototypes accurately from the first glance at the renderings of the announcement.  These are SP and UP's 60-P-1/2/3/4 class cars.

60-P-1 - Railway Post Office, 1907

CP 4097 - Built at Sacramento General Shops on 4/12/1907.

UP 1229 - Built at Omaha 6/1907, to UP 2035, to UP 1400 (no dates shown for renumberings).

These two cars were built at the same time as SP's first steel passenger coach, SP 1806, pioneering the all-metal passenger cars.

Notes: CP 4097's original steel doors were replaced with wood ones 8/13/1913, applied Class 6-T trucks 8/13/1913, then was reassigned to SPdeM 1915 and again 8/14/1928 to 10/17/1942, returned to SP 4097 10/17/1942 as "Postal".

Disposition Notes: There's no hard date for when the car was retired.  A photo on Pg.45 shows SP 4097 in Guadalajara, Mexico in Oct, 1950. The Cottier roof vents had been replaced by standard Utility-type by the date of the photo. 

This would be before the sale of the SPdeM to the Mexican owned FCP in 1951.  The painting notes show Green1 (SPL) and Green2 (SP, 1946 scheme) being appled.  So no indication that it was ever painted in SP's 1954 TTG scheme which was not applied to very many head-end cars, especially these older cars.

 Also of note in this photo is the car has no RPO lettering, and appears to be "Postal Storage", which would indicate to me that the 1942 remark above was the date of this conversion.

The plan of SP 4097 on Pg.45 shows as "60-PS-1 Postal-Storage", also suggesting that the SP had a drawing showing conversion to Postal-Storage.

60-P-2 - Railway Post Office, 1909

This class was ordered for fast mail train service on the overland route between Council Bluffs and Oakland Pier.  The UP received their cars built in June, 1909 by Pullman Standard.  While the SP received their cars in August, 1909 by Pullman Standard.

CP 4087 - to Postal-Storage SP 4087 - Grn1, Grn2, Retired (no date)

CP 4088 - to Postal-Storage 7/9/1923 SP 4088 - Grn1, Grn2, Retired (no date)

CP 4089 - to Postal-Storage 9/5/1923 SP 4089 - Grn1, Grn2, Retired 2/58, to SPMW 4504 6/17/1958

CP 4090 - to Postal-Storage 4/17/1923 SP 4090 - Grn1, Grn2, TTG3, Retired (8/1959)

CP 4091 - to Postal-Storage 3/24/1923 SP 4091 - Grn1, Grn2, Retired (12/1958)

CP 4092 - to Postal-Storage 5/12/1923 SP 4092 - Grn1, Grn2, Retired in El Paso 6/56, Scrapped EPGS 11/19/1956.

UP 1217 - to UP 2030, to UP 1406

UP 1218 - to UP 2031, to UP 1407

UP 1219 - to UP 2032, to UP 1408

UP 1220 - to UP 2033, to UP 1409

UP 1221 - to UP 2034, to UP 1410

60-PD-1 - Paper Distributing, 1909

This class was ordered to the same specifications as the previous class, with minor changes to the arrangement of the interiors for "paper distributing to avoid the transfer of mail at Ogden" (pg.49, SPHTS Psgr Cars Vol 3.)  The letter sorting racks and sorting tables were removed, rearranged bag racks and minimal sorting tables were fitted instead (pg50 drawings and notes).

CP 4093 - Converted to postal-storage 8/18, reclassified 60-PS-1, to SP 4093, Grn1, Grn2 retired 8/58 to SPMW 4507.

CP 4094 - Converted to postal-storage 10/19, reclassified 60-PS-1, to SP 4094, Grn1, Grn2, Retired (no date)

CP 4095 - Converted to postal-storage 10/19, reclassified 60-PS-1, to SP 4095,  Grn1, Grn2, TTG3 , Retired (no date, 1954+ if TTG3 applied.)

CP 4096 - Converted to postal-storage 8/18, reclassified 60-PS-1, to SP 4096,  Grn1, Grn2, retired 1/59 - sold for scrap 6/59

Notes: SP 4096 had axle light and lights reinstalled 8/26/1954.

Pg.51, Photo of SP 4096 at Sacramento in 1961, so it wasn't immediately cut up for scrap.

60-P-3 - Railway Post Office, 1910

UP cars built by Pullman in 9/1910, SP cars built in 10/1910 to the same design as 60-P-2 with slight changes to lighting and electrical fittings.  Eight additional cars were ordered in 1909, but were cancelled.

CP 4098 - sold to H&TC 100 in 1919, to T&NO 100 in 1931. 4-wheel trucks applied & postal-storage 1941. to TNOMW 3499 8/10/1956, Retired (no date)

CP 4099 - to SP 4099, converted P-S 7/14/1936

CP 4100 - sold to H&TC 101 in 1919, to T&NO 101 in 1931. 4-wheel trucks applied & postal-storage 1941.

CP 4101 - to SP 4101, converted P-S 11/19/1935

CP 4102 - sold to H&TC 102 in 1919, to T&NO 102 in 1931. 4-wheel trucks applied & postal-storage 1941.

SP 4249 - Originally assigned to and lettered for Oregon & Washington, converted to Postal Storage

OSL 325 - to OSL 2108, to baggage OSL 1891

OSL 326 - to OSL 2109, to baggage OSL 1892

OSL 327 - to OSL 2110, to baggage OSL 1893

OSL 328 - to OSL 2111, to baggage OSL 1894

OSL 329 - to OSL 2112, to baggage OSL 1895

OSL 330 - to OSL 2113, to baggage OSL 1896

SPLA&SL 88 - to LA&SL 4654 to LA&SL 4554, to LA&SL 1485

SPLA&SL 89 - to LA&SL 4655 to LA&SL 4555, to LA&SL 1486

Painting Notes: All SP cars Green1, Green2, except 4099 received TTG3 (probably around 1954).

Two additional cars were built in Dec, 1910, and classified as 60-P-3 (why they're not in the same list in the SPHTS book, I don't know)

SP 4250 - Originally assigned to and lettered for Oregon & Washington, relettered SP 2/8/1911, replaced steel doors with wood 9/9/1916, converted to Postal Storage SPdeM 1911 5/28/1927, leased to SPdeM 5/28/1927-12/21/51, to SP 4250 4/10/43, sold to SPdeM 12/21/51.

SP 4251 - Originally assigned to and lettered for Oregon & Washington, relettered SP 2/8/1911, replaced steel doors with wood 9/9/1916, converted to Postal Storage SPdeM 1912 5/28/1927, leased to SPdeM 5/28/1927-12/21/51, to SP 4251 4/10/43, sold to SPdeM 12/21/51.

Note: The next table in the book shows them back to SP 4250 and SP 4251 as of 9/30/51, instead of 1943... strange.

60-P-4 - Railway Post Office, 1911

This was a large group of 35 cars.

CP 4103 - to SP 4103 12/10/31, to PS 8/26/36, Grn1, Grn2, TTG3 3/25/55, retired 10/58, to SPMW 4627 4/59.

CP 4104 - replaced steel doors with wood 6/6/14, SP 4104, to PS 11/13/35, retired 11/58 to SPMW 4628 11/1/59. - only Grn1, Grn2. 

CP 4105 - replaced steel doors with wood 6/10/14, SP 4105 10/29/31, to P-S 12/2/36, retired 4/57 S/S 5/31/57. - only Grn1, Grn2.

CP 4106 - replaced steel doors with wood 1/31/14, SP 4106 100/31/33, to Baggage-Express SP 6112 12/16/41. - only Grn1, Grn2.

CP 4107 - replaced steel doors with wood 4/12/13, SP 4107, 8/31/31, wrecked Crystal Lake, Calif 9/12/32, scrapped 12/32 - only Grn1.

CP 4108 - replaced steel doors with wood 7/29/14, SP 4108, to P-S 8/19/49, retired 6/59 Sold for Scrap - Grn1, Grn2, TTG3 4/13/55.

CP 4109 - replaced steel doors with wood 4/30/13, to PS CP 4109, reclassifed 60-PS-4 11/7/1918, 8/18 to P-S SP4109 10/23/35, retired 9/56 to SPMW 3485 10/31/56. - only Grn1, Grn2.

CP 4110 - replaced steel doors with wood 10/18/13, SP 4110, to PS 8/18/49, applied ply-metal doors 1/20/55, retired 6/59. - Grn1, Grn2, TTG3 1/20/55 - same time as ply-metal doors.

CP 4111 - replaced steel doors with wood 2/28/13, to P-S CP 4111 8/3/18 reclassifed 60-PS-4, SP 4111 3/27/36, retired 7/59. - Grn1, Grn2, TTG3 (no date)

CP 4112 - replaced steel doors with wood 3/12/13, to Postal SP 4112 11/25/53,  to P-S SP 4112 

reclassifed 60-PS-4 9/8/49, retired 1/60, Sold scrap. - Grn1, Grn2, TTG3 9/20/55

CP 4113 - replaced steel doors with wood 3/25/13, Postal Storage SP 4113, rebuilt to Baggage-Express  and renumbered 6113 3/3/42. - only Grn1, Grn2.

SP 4252 - replaced steel doors with wood 4/30/13, to Postal-Storage SP 5205 3/11/25, - only Grn1, Grn2.

SP 4253 - replaced steel doors with wood 3/24/13, to Postal-Storage SP 5203 10/11/25

, - only Grn1, Grn2.

SP 4254 - replaced steel doors with wood 3/24/13, to Postal-Storage SP 5206 4/8/25, - only Grn1, Grn2.

SP 4255 - replaced steel doors with wood 8/21/13, to Postal-Storage SP 5204 12/13/24, - only Grn1, Grn2.

SP 4256 - replaced steel doors with wood 3/3/13, to Baggage-Express SP 6439 12/20/20, - only Grn1, Grn2.

SP 4257 - replaced steel doors with wood 3/21/13, to Postal-Baggage SP 5202 5/16/24, - only Grn1, Grn2.

SP 4258 - replaced steel doors with wood 3/31/17, to Postal-Baggage SP 5207 6/27/25, - only Grn1, Grn2.

SP 4259 - replaced steel doors with wood 3/13/13, to Postal SPdeM 1913 6/9/27, leased to SPdeM 6/17/27-12/21/51, sold to SPdeM 12/21/51. - only Grn1, Grn2.

SP 4260 - replaced steel doors with wood 3/13/13, to Postal SPdeM 1914 6/9/27, leased to SPdeM 6/17/27-12/21/51, to postal SP 4260 8/4/43, sold to SPdeM 12/21/51. - only Grn1, Grn2.

O&C 4402 - replaced steel doors with wood 3/8/13, to Postal SP 4402 6/5/28, to Baggage-Express SP 6114 12/13/41. - only Grn1, Grn2.

O&C 4403 - to Postal SP 4403 5/2/29, to Postal-Storage SP4403, reclassified 60-PS-4, 9/16/36, retired 2/60, sold for scrap. - only Grn1, Grn2.

O&C 4404 - replaced steel doors with wood 6/20/14, to Postal SP 4404 5/13/29, to Postal-Storage SP4404, reclassified 60-PS-4, 11/22/35, retired 6/59, sold for scrap, - Grn1, Grn2, TTG3 (no date, but probably 2/15/54)

O&C 4405 - replaced steel doors with wood 10/25/15, to Postal SP 4405 9/1/28, to Postal-Storage SP 4405, reclassed to 60-PS-4 11/22/35, retired 4/60, sold for scrap, - only Grn1, Grn2.

Oregon-Washington Railroad River & Navigation (UP) 

O-WRR&N 6 - (ordered as O&W 1), to O-WRR&N 2151. to O-WRR&N 1470

O-WRR&N 7 - (ordered as O&W 2), to O-WRR&N 2152. to O-WRR&N 1471

O-WRR&N 8 - (ordered as O&W 3), to O-WRR&N 2153. wrecked on O-WRR&N 12/21

O-WRR&N 9 - (ordered as O&W 4), to O-WRR&N 2154. to O-WRR&N 1472

O-WRR&N 10 - (ordered as O&W 5), to O-WRR&N 2155. to O-WRR&N 1947

O-WRR&N 11 - (ordered as O&W 6), to O-WRR&N 2156. to O-WRR&N 1948

Oregon Short Line (UP) 

OSL 331 - to OSL 2114, to Baggage OSL 1897

OSL 332 - to OSL 2115, Wrecked 12/24/1939

OSL 333 - to OSL 2116, to Baggage OSL 1460

OSL 334 - to OSL 2117, to Baggage OSL 1851

OSL 335 - to OSL 2118, Wrecked 12/24/1939

Additional 60ft RPO cars for other 'foreign' railroads

Union Pacific

UP 1238-1257 - Railway Post Office, 1911 20-cars

These cars were renumbered into the 2036-2055 series, and then the later 19 cars to 1411-1428 series. 
The UP 2036 was wrecked on the SP 2/26/1937.

Illinois Central

Looks like the IC had cars numbered between 73-88, built 3/11 by Pullman Standard.  As originally built, these cars do appear to match the Athearn announcement.

Similar to the rebuilt IC cars, SP 60-P rebuilt class of modernized 60ft "full" RPO, for 1941 Lark, plus 3 spares.

There's a photo of IC 85, photographed around 1960, showing it heavily rebuilt and modified window and door arrangement much more like the later SP rebuilt 60-P series cars for Lark and three spare cars.

Central of Georgia

Two cars were built 711 & 712, built in March, 1911. - The drawings for these cars show extra windows in the letter-sorting end of the car, so not identical to the more common 60ft Common Standard/Pullman Standard RPO cars.

The Athearn Announcement

News release from Athearn at Trainfest 2024.

Let's look a little closer at the proposed offering from Athearn's announcement.  <- Link to PDF announcement.

Video released by Athearn on Nov 29, one day after I posted this blog.

These are in the same order as the announcement sheet was... I'll comment below.

UP "Early" Green

UP 1251 (single)

UP 1252 & 1224 (pair)

SP "Early" - (SPL, minus the LINES, because of space - which is correct for this class)

SP 4254 (single)

SP 4255 & 4257 (pair)

Illinois Centeral (Green)

IC 80 (single)

IC 81 & 82 (pair)

Green Unlettered

Unlettered (single)

Unlettered (pair)

SP - Post 1946 - "SOUTHERN PACIFIC" extended version

SP 4404 (single) as Postal Storage Car

UP (Yellow)

UP 1314 (single)

MOW (yellow, delettered, with basic black lettering)MOW 111277(single) 

MOW 111279 & 111280 (pair)

Seems this is a UP MW car, but the lettering and advertisement seems to be a more generic.

Comments:

Most of my knowledge is aimed at the SP modeler, but I'll comment what info I've found on the other railroads, but my info is much more limited on what their prototypes did and what era they cover.

Southern Pacificc

Let's have a look at the SP number and lettering choices, some of the conceptual choices Athearn is putting forward here are a bit odd.

The "Early" SP version is shown as "Era 1913", which is fine, but if true then Athearn will have chosen numbers for cars that were converted to other types of cars in the mid-1920s.  This would eliminate modelers from the 1925-era until post-WWII with their stock lettering, which the single car and 2-pack offerings are for.

My partly complete Southern Car & Foundry model of Storage Car SP 4404.

The "Late" SP, which I think tries to claim "Era" 1940s, is really more post-1946, with the extended lettering, but only Postal Storage Car 4404 is offered as a single car number without mail catching arms, so the model can't be turned into a working RPO car.  While the Postal Storage car version is probably the most useful car for general HO-scale 1925-1960 era passenger train modelers, who could certainly use a ready-made SP Storage Mail Car for all the contracts that "foreign" railroads had with SP on the Overland, Sunset, Golden State, and Shasta, plus intercity trains within California.  It seems a bit unfortunate for SP modelers, who still don't have a good accurate model of an SP RPO car in plastic.

It seems that Athearn's not planning to do any of the handful of Two Tone Gray RPO or Storage Cars for post-1954 era repainted cars.  Modelers wanting the TTG cars would probably need to start with the unlettered version and repaint them as a starting point.

Note 1913 SP version, for the 4200-series "RPO" car will have gas tanks and "old" underframe, where as the only SP model with modernized battery boxes and brake parts is the SP 4404 Storage Mail Car.  I think that Athearn missed it with this choice, neglecting completely the working RPO car for 1940-1950's for the SP.  Too bad.

Texas & New Orleans

Three of the SP's cars were transferred to the H&TC as their 100-102, and then they went to T&NO reporting marks in the 1930s, and finally to TNOMW service after their revenue careers finished in the 1950s.  These cars would have to be modeled with the SP or Unlettered version, with changing of the reporting marks or custom decalling the car to match the reporting marks for the Texas Lines cars.

Illinois Central

Looks like the IC had cars between 73-88, built 3/11 by Pullman Standard.  The Athearn announcement is for the as-delivered scheme, not the later scheme with the road name on the letterboard.  The 85 is photographed around 1960, showing it heavily rebuilt and modified window and door arrangement.

So prototypes of the IC cars suggest that Athearn's models should work well for the pre-rebuilt IC cars, but depending on the era, some lettering changes may be needed.  I don't know enough about the IC's lettering eras to nail anything down specificially.

Union Pacific

The UP models should be pretty correct, per my listing of the roster above.

UP "as-built" Green

UP 1251 (single)

UP 1252 & 1224 (pair)

UP - "rebuilt/repainted" circa 1952, Armour Yellow & Gray

UP 1314

I've done Baggage Car models of the UP Armour Yellow & Gray, and in Two Tone Gray before, so I'm pretty sure that UP would have had cars painted in both of these later schemes, but I've not dug very far into any information on them.

Unlettered Green

Depending on how accurate lettering you want to have and what other railroad you might want before Athearn may someday get around to, probably the best option is to get the unlettered version and apply your own decals to match photos.

Maintenance-of-Way

I'm not sure what to make of these models, they seem to have UP's MW numbering system listed for them, and yellow makes since for that.  Southern Pacific's MW pre-1958 would have been Freight Car Red... but possibly staying green for a time, with only the service stenciling blanked out.  After 1958, the SPMW cars would be light gray with black lettering.

In Conclusion

That about sums up the options for these cars.  Much of my passenger train modeling has been cut back because I'm focusing most of my modeling efforts now on the SP's Jawbone Branch.  So I am not sure I'll be in the market for any of these models, although another storage mail car R-T-R or at least very close to out-of-the-box ready would be kinda handy if I took my model of the Owl to a friend's layout to run.  If I was going to run on a layout modeling Donner or one of the other routes where these 60ft RPOs were common, I would probably pick up one of these cars as a working RPO.

Probably the best way to get some of both types of SP RPO/Storage Mail car, would be to buy the one of the pre-war RPO painted models and the storage car 4404.  For my own modeling, I'd have to consider if I want to renumber my SC&F kit before I finish it or the Athearn model.  The problem with the pre-war SP RPOs is that those car numbers were the cars that were rebuilt and didn't survive into my modeling era (1946-1954), so I'd have to renumber them anyway into a series of cars that did last into my era.

Thoughts on SP Two-Tone Gray cars; While the SP certainly did repaint a few cars into the 1954+ TTG standard, most stayed in SP Dark Olive until the end of their service lives.  If you "have to" get a TTG car, then you'll be dealing with custom painting it yourself, as it appears Athearn won't even be offering the UP TTG scheme as a starting point.  Personally, I cutoff my era before 1954, but even if I didn't, the chances of seeing a TTG car was probably less than 1/3 or 1/4 of the surviving cars into 1958, and it's possible that the TTG cars were all assigned to something like the SF Overland, which would make them fit in more with the TTG and UP Yellow cars of that train.

Edit 2024-11-30:  After watching the YT video on this, I want to add the following thoughts.  The 1913 SP version, for the 4200-series "RPO" car will have gas tanks and "old" underframe, where as the only SP model with modernized battery boxes and brake parts is the SP 4404 Storage Mail Car.  I think that Athearn missed it with this choice, neglecting completely the working RPO car for 1940-1950's for the SP.  Too bad.


Jason Hill

Related Articles:

SP's Great RPO Shuffle of 1949-1953

Southern Car & Foundry website, 60-P-1/2/3/4 page.

OwlMtModels Mini-Kit Conversions for Accurail 40ft Boxcars

Time to upgrade my Accurail SP single-sheathed boxcar fleet

This post is to finally show the new conversion ends from OwlMtModels to make the basic Accurail 40ft Single Sheath USRA clones more like the SP B-50-8,10,11, and -13/14-class cars.  Accurail has offered these kits with either a 1920s "7-8" pressed steel end or a 4-vertical post wood-sheathed end.  Unfortunately, neither is right for SP's ~8000 single sheath boxcars of this rough design.

The stock wood ends of Accurail boxcars are nice, but the details on the ends aren't correct for the SP's boxcars.

Over the years I've built over 20 of the Accurail cars for my fleet during the late 1990s and early 2000s.  While resin models of these cars are available, I don't really want to build a new fleet of resin kits when I have so many Accurail cars already in my fleet.  Now that I'm building the Jawbone Branch layout, these converted Accurail cars will become the backbone of my SP wood-sheathed boxcar fleet.

The answer in the form of OwlMtModels' newly designed 3d printed ends.

The ends are 3d printed and include a large flange on the interior side to bond to the interior of the injection molded roof and sides of the Accurail body.

Multiple versions are in the works at OwlMtModels:

* OMM 4072 B-50-8/10/11 wood ends (with option for either plain end or lumber-door end.)

* OMM 4073 B-50-13/14 rebuilt steel Dreadnought Ends, vertical staff hand brake. (Almost all B-50-14s and many B-50-13s fitted during the 1930s.

* OMM 4074 B-50-13 As-built wood ends (with option for either plain end or lumber-door end.)

* OMM 4075 B-50-13/14 rebuilt steel Dreadnought Ends, with lower platform for power-brake refit.

In this post, I'm only working with pre-production samples of OMM 4073 and OMM 4074, which will be made available for sales at the SPH&TS 2024 Convention in Sparks, NV in mid-October.

The ends are designed to use Carmer cut bars, and so a pivot is provided for such, but not included.  Yarmouth Model Works makes several photo-etched Carmer levers, which should work on these parts.  Grab iron holes are printed into the ends, but probably have back-filled with resin before the processing was completed, so those will need to be drilled out.  The brake staff holes will probably need to be cleared too.  Then a suitable staff (wire) and wheel (probably Cal-Scale) will be installed.  The retaining valve has been printed in-place, but a 0.009" wire retainer pipe should be fitted on the Dreadnaught End version of these parts.  The wood ends have the retainer pipe printed-in-place.

Bonding flange which will allow the glue to form a tight grip between the body shell and the new ends.

Pre-assembly prep on the ends is minimal, but important none the less.  I carefully make a few light passes with my mill file to remove any remains of the support contact points from the bonding areas outside of the rib.  This will insure that the part fits smoothly against the end of the chopped Accurail car body.

Chopping the Body

Two long cuts are made in the ends of the body, just inboard of the sides.

The first step is to chop into the injection molded ends, along the inside edge of the sides.  Once the cuts are made, the end is popped out.  Note: I usually only do one end of the car at a time, this allows the other end to provide good rigidity and support to the sides and help keep everything square throughout the process.

I just bend the end of the car back and forth until it fatigues and breaks loose.

Step two is to trim back the sides to remove the original corner posts.  I did part of this with the razor saw in the past, as I got a little impatient on the second end (A-end), I went ahead and chomped through the last 1/16" of sides with my sprue-cutters.  I marked the parts to discard with a black Sharpie marker, stopping just at the edge of the wood boards.  It did require some careful alignment to be sure I wasn't going to bite too much off.  

Dry fitting the A-end for B-50-13/14 'as-built' wood end.

Side view of A-end after filing is complete on 1st prototype print.

In Step three, the last 0.015-0.025" of the sides are filed or sanded down to the ends of the wooden boards.  On the roof, the lateral 'running board' support should be as far back as I trim that section.  File everything smooth and even across the whole end.  I check the progress on keeping it square and even with a regular dry test fitting of the part.

Finished prep work sanding and filing car-end.

I should note at this stage I also am sure to clean the remains of the ends down to the inside shape of the body.  The new ends are designed to match the shape of the body's natural interior.  If I cut deeply into it, or make a chamfer around the end, it shouldn't be a problem.  However, I do like to keep the structure as clean as possible.  A few scratches or even rough sand paper marks could help with the bonding, but I don't want anything that will prevent the ribs on the new end from fitting down tightly when fitted.

Inside view of bonding flange with a bit of extra ACC flowed in after primary glue pass was made.

When satisfied that the dry fitting is good, as in the ends fit tightly against the body all the way around the joined edge with the Accurail body.  I remove the end and carefully put a small amount of thickened ACC/CA type glue along the inside corner of the end and the exterior side of the bonding rib.  I extend the glue application down the ends to the bottom, past the rib, where the end will still be in contact with the car-side.

I found often it is helpful at this point to have the frame of the car in-place inside the body.

Showing how I pivoted the end into place.  This is a little trickier with the larger flanged end.

The end is then slipped into place from above, allowing the notch in the end to wrap around the coupler box, but not bond to it.  In the past I've used a couple rubber bands to hold the end in place, however if any ACC/CA glue squeezes out, then it's very easy to end up with parts of a rubber band glued to the exterior of the car!  When I built this pre-production test conversion, I just held it with my fingers on the end, avoiding the sides of the end until the glue was cured.  This took only about two minutes before I could let go and it was well bonded.  (Production 3d prints have a checker pattern on the exterior of the flange, which should allow for an even stronger bond to form.

3d printed end and rubber bands to hold them in place while the glue dries.

Another option on the bonding process, is to use larger rubber bands (I used ones from larger broccoli bundles from the grocery store), and the carefully stretch these around the car body with the underframe in place.  I usually like to add a bit of shim to the car-side over the non-ladder area, so the rubber band can't get down against the joint where any ACC could come out, bonding the rubber band to the model!

In Closing

That pretty well wraps up the list of how to do the conversion of the basic Accurail car.  This should be applicable to even factory painted models.  Pre-painting the end should be possible, although I would avoid getting paint on the area which will be the bonding surfaces of the 3d print.  

Pacific Electric B-50-13 with B-50-13/14 Dreadnought End installed, before detailing.

A few details still need to be installed; wire grabs, roof walk end supports, and brake wheel/staff.  Also on most of my conversions, it's easier to just remove the plastic stirrup steps on the model.  I'll be replacing them with standard U-shape A-Line stirrups installed.  The PE car will be getting the 45ft radii curve brake rigging modification to match detail photos in a separate blog post.

T&NO B-50-13 with original Wood Ends.

New end reporting mark decals will be needed to finish the car after the conversion is complete.  Remember that the SP standard in the 1910s-1931 were to have the ends and roof painted black or have black car-cement (aka tar) applied.  After 1931 the SP started shifting to overall Freight Car Red, and Anthony Thompson suggests that the last black roof/end cars were so painted around 1942.  So paint your models accordingly.

Jason Hill

Related Articles:

Previous modeling posts on these classes, before these ends are available.

Modeling B-50-Series Boxcars (Part 3) - Plastic Options for B-50-8, -10, & -11 class cars

Plastic Options for B-50-12, B-50-13, B-50-14 class cars - Accurail & Tichy models

SP 24864 (Part 1) - Kitbashing B-50-10 from Accurail 40ft Boxcar - Not including these parts, I'm waiting for the earlier B-50-8/10/11 ends to be produced.

NAHX Leased Covered Hoppers - Pullman PS-2 & Greenville Prototype

Kadee PS-2 NAHX Trona & Potash shipping covered hopper model.

I've been mentioning leased covered hoppers on my SP Jawbone Branch (Part 46) blog of late, so I wanted to look a bit more into the prototypes and how viable it would be to put any effort into modeling them for use on the Jawbone Branch.

American Potash & Chemical Corp leased NAHX Greenville Cars

These cars certainly fits my modeling era of pre-1954, but these cars were assigned lease to American Potash & Chemical Corp, which sub-lettered these cars to be returned to Trona, Calif. when Empty. Certainly. As such, they would be a prime prototype to model if I was modeling the Searles Turn side of the Jawbone Branch.

NAHX 30229 - American Potash & Chemical Corp, Trona - NEW 5-51 - Pullman-Lib,smugmug,com

These photos are from Pullman-Library on smugmug.com, no infringement is intended, but to discuss the modeling possibilities.

NAHX 30229-Side - American Potash & Chemical Corp, Trona - NEW 5-51 - Pullman-Lib,smugmug,com

Notice the slight tapered side-sills just inboard of the bolsters, which makes these cars unique from the AC&F-built cars.  These cars all seem to have had black trucks and light gray body, which is a nice looking scheme, but would obviously get weathered somewhat in service.  These builder's photos don't reflect what they'd look like after a few trips in the dusty alkali desert environment.

Pacific Coast Borax Leased Greenville NAHX Cars

Pacific Coast Borax was the inheritor of the 20 Mule Team brand of Borax, and included the operations out of the Death Valley, Tonapah & Tidewater, to the Santa Fe at Ludlow and the Calico Mountains near Yermo, interchanging to ATSF at Daggett, Calif..  Processing plants were at Alameda, Calif. and Bayonne, New Jersey.

NAHX 30230 - Pacific Coast Borax Co - NEW 5-51 - Pullman-Lib,smugmug,com

The NAHX 30230 is also a product of Greenville Steel Car Co, in 1951, so this car is certainly within my era, but these cars physically wouldn't have been likely to come up the Jawbone Branch in any form of regularity.  Unless Columbia-Southern Chemical was selling Borax to PCB, but I don't have any evidence of this.

Pullman PS-2 by Kadee

NAHX 31235 - American Potash & Chemical Corp, Trona - NEW 11-55 - Pullman-Lib,smugmug,com

The PS-2s from Pullman are somewhat signature with the round hatches, and were put into production in 1954, which really pushes my cutoff year's boundaries for era.

Kadee's PS-2 model lettered for NAHX's leased cars to AP&CC for Trona/West End service.

The Kadee model's very nice model, but it's really a couple years too new for me to use.  The trucks use their new 'bolster centering wedge' design, which keeps the body bolster screws from being properly tightened without binding up their rotation.  I understand why they fashioned the wedges, to align the trucks with straight track to make it easier to rerail the car, but it goes against the LMRC mechanical standards that I've built all my cars to for the last 28 years.

In Closing

While there's some great models out there to model this sort of traffic, I don't really need any of these cars for my Jawbone Branch layout.  So I'm not sure if I'll keep the Kadee PS-2 car, outside of lettering reference to come up with decals to make the earlier Greenville, and I'd have to figure out what manufacturer makes a Greenville Covered Hopper.

My not quite complete SP 165000-series H-70-8 (iirc) class with side sheet cut-outs by Bowser.

I know that Bowser and Kato's models are more like the AC&F prototype, which were straight silled, so these cars aren't really 100% accurate to model the NAHX Trona/West End cars.  I was hoping that I could re-purpose Bowser or Kato models to make the earlier series of NAHX Greenville cars, I don't think they'd really work given the clearly tapered side sills.  At this point, I'm probably not going to worry much more about doing any more covered hoppers for the Jawbone Branch.given my prototype research for both the Jawbone's industries and the modeling starting options.

Jason Hill

Related Articles:

SP Jawbone Branch (Part 46) - Printing Full-size Bartlett Template

Owens Valley Mining (Part 2) - Bartlett Plant - Columbia-Southern Chemical Corp - Soda Ash, Trona, & Boron

NYC "Standard" Steel Boxcars by BLI (Part 2) - Basic Mechanical & Detail Upgrades

In the previous post in this series (NYC "Standard" Steel Boxcars by BLI (Part 1) - Another Signature Freight Car), I was mostly pointing out prototype information and roster data.  Recently, I was able to get a couple more NYC boxcars from the BLI's production.  However, these models now seem to be in very short supply if you want to find one on Ebay or other web-site suppliers.

NYC 123242 stock out-of-box look at one of the BLI cars.

This time I'm going to show some of the upgrades and changes I make to the BLI models when I get them.  Here's a photo of one of the boxcars right out of the box.  Oh boy, looks like this one will need some help...

Issues with the Model

Box Label for 4-pack of NYC steel boxcars

Here's the info on the cars that were included in this 4-car set.  As I already have a finished and weathered an NYC 121134, I may renumber the car from the new set in the future.

4-pack of cars in very awkwardly sized box.

I think I should have stayed with the single-packaged cars, honestly.  The functionality of using the 4-pack box is pretty bad.  The inner tray gets stuck regularly, making it very hard to get the models out of the box.  Also this new group of cars have some more physical issues than my original models had ~10 years ago... or maybe my memory is just being selective on the issues that long ago. - Severely traumatic modeling tends to do that!

Running Boards, or Not?

All of the etched running boards on the newly purchased batch have come loose in the box.  I'm guessing this is a heating-cooling cycle problem from these being in stored in their box for 10+ years before being purchased.

And the roof walk is off when all four came stock in the box.  Excess heat on the box over the last 10+ years is my guess.

While annoying, this really shouldn't be a problem.  Several of my old models also have partial glue failure on the running boards.  So I've worked over the years to apply canopy cement (Testors) to the running board supports.  

The new cars have completely lost any bonds to the running boards, so I'll probably do some additional work on weathering the metal panel roof, probably adding some galvanizing paint failures, before remounting the running boards.

Having to re-apply the whole running board is just another step higher in the fact that now I have to align it correctly.  Although sometimes the half-applied but loose running boards are more challenging to get the canopy cement just on the tops of the running boards support blocks, and not all over the roof panels or filling the fine holes in the etching.

Oddities of BLI's Choice of Truck Bolster Design

Compared to standard bolster designs in HO, this one might take the cake for the over-the-top goofy engineering award.

It seems that BLI was trying to contain the lateral rocking of the truck and to some extent the longitudinal rocking as well with this extra height collar.  There's also an alignment key molded into it which aligns the truck towards the draftgear... so the truck can't rotate excessively?! - Very weird.  Functional, but weird.  The flanged truck bolster screw threads into the internal bolster hole, which is within the collar of the truck.

I may have to put a slight drop of canopy cement on the threads, as several of the car's screwes still seem loose when they are backed off just enough to allow the trucks to rotate correctly. - So must be an issue with how long each of these very deep cavities are when the frame and truck was cast.

One of the cars had a truck that came completely loose in the box, probably from the screws slowly backing out due to heat-expansions of the metal body frame.  This really isn't a problem, but it certainly puts these cars into a unique truck-body design category, so that the trucks can't easily be replaced by any other maker's trucks.  This seems to be a trend with manufactures since ~2000, when it seems several manufacture's in China decided to get "brilliant" with their engineering staffs.  I'm still more in the camp of if it's not broke, don't fix it.

Wheels

Previous cars actually had pad-printed 'cooling rib' shadows on the backs of the wheelsets.  This batch looks like they have a coating of black paint or blackening on the wheels, including the treads.  I don't like having chemical blackening or paint on the wheel treads because it will wear off directly onto the railheads and cause dirt problems for operations.  Therefore, I'll have to clean the wheel treads off before the cars go into operation.

Wheels tight according to LMRC standards for wheel gauging of sub-RP25 contour flanged wheels.

I'm pretty sure these wheelsets can not be changed to IMRC 33", if the truck tooling is the same as it was 10 years ago.  These wheelsets were some of the tightest press-fitted insulation I've ever seen. - which is not a good thing, if you need to re-gauge the wheelsets.

As the coatings on the wheels (blackening or paint - I think paint) is going to be a pain to remove, I'll probably replace all the wheels with IMRC's after I use the "truck tuner" from NWSL to ream out the journal bearing cones to the standard IMRC wheelset length.  Looking closely at one of my older cars that I've run for a couple of years, the underlying wheels aren't even nickle plated, and wore quickly through into the brass, which is not ideal for my use on the Jawbone Branch.

Door Latches & Opening Doors

Door shown here about 1/2 open.

The stock models can have their doors moved to various positions.  For some reason BLI tooled the body's door latches as part of the doors, not the body. (sigh)... So, if the doors are to be modeled as open, then the body door latches will need to be cut off and remounted on the body to the left of the door.

Modifications

Let's see what I can do to 'fix' these cars and get them ready for service on the Jawbone Branch.  The only real industries on the Jawbone Branch where I'll be able to see an open boxcar door will be at the Bartlett plant.  Usually, if I plan to detail a boxcar interior and have a door open or mostly open, I need to have access inside the car to detail the interior.  I don't have easy access into the interior of the BLI cars, so I may just elect to go with the closed doors again on the new cars.  

Oddly misunderstood tooling for the door hardware by the tool maker. - sigh

The original cars that I built, I glued the doors closed, with one slight exception on NYC 121134 shown below.  In some of the photos here, I'll be using the new batch of models and in others I'll be showing the models I've already done the weathering and various chalk marks, routing cards, etc on for 10 years.

NYC 121134 which I built with slightly open door, and transferred the door lock details to the carbody.

My old NYC 121134 was built with a partly open door, but I kept the opening small so that the view into the unfinished interior would be kept to a minimum.

Tare Dates

All four cars have pad printed tare dates for 1955, which is fine for cars running on layouts modeling between 1955-1959.  One of the regular things I also need to do on most cars for use on my Jawbone Branch layout is to patch out the tare date and reapply it for something more in my ~1948-1954 era.  The tare dates for boxcars during this era was 48 months.  So, ideally tare dates before 1952-53 as with most of my other cars in the fleet, as I cut off in 1954, so 1946-1953 tare dates are ideal for me.

OwlMtModels 1222 Reweigh Patch decal in place, but slightly crooked to the right of the panel seam.

 I used "Repack Patch" decals (OMM 1222) for the brown blanks to cover the BLI reweigh dates and respliced station and date from an OMM Era-D (1946-1966) set.  The patch decal didn't go on perfectly horizontal, it looks like the right side shifted when the Micro-Sol was applied.  It's not really a problem, as I'll probably add some light earthy weathering over the top of the repack area, hiding any oddities.  Prototype patching for restencils weren't always perfect by any means either.  So my story is this was either a Monday morning job, just after New Years where the paint man was hung over or a late Friday afternoon, when it was cold and he wanted to go for the quit!

Reweigh station code and date decals in place on NYC 121134, one of my original cars.

I decided to go with reweigh station "JY" on the NYC, which is Junction Yard in Detroit, Mich, and date the reweight for January, 1950 (1-50). 

NYC 121134 Side View with replacement tare data and the slightly open door.

Chalk marks on this side include a fairly new "X-ld", which was common for empty-to-load, which would fit with this side where the door's not been secured.  The car's also been graded with a "C" card on the door, indicating what products it is suitable to be loaded with.

Weathering

The silver lining, if there is one, for all the roof walks being unattached is that I have complete access to the roof panels for weathering techniques.  I have pretty much free reign to play with multiple styles of weathering and painting.

NYC 123242 Roof Weathering Effects

Roof weathering with roofwalk removed.

I decided on this car to try some basic weathering for the galvanizing and some white gel-pen outlines for the freshly failed paint areas.

Drops of Testors Canopy Cement applied to the supports.

I added an acrylic wash of Pavement" color thinned with water, however even the water-paint mix attacked the gel-pen effects... so I'll have to touch that up afterwords.

With regular FCR roofwalk installed.

I decided to leave the roof walk painted for this car.  On one of the others, I painted the roof walk with galvanized gray color, to show one where the paint had failed from the top surfaces.

Roof weathering touched up with the white gel-pen again on some edges.

I went back and reapplied some of the white gel-pen to the lower edges of the paint failure areas, where the most recent paint failings have happened.  Some of the areas I also gently wiped with my finger to blend away some of the stark brightness of the white, leaving a partial remaining color behind, rather like chalk weathering.  

Under layout lighting, NYC 123242's fairly completed roof weathering... for now.

I also used a light gray 'moonlight' gel-pen to make some failed paint on the running board tread areas.  I'll put on a dullcoat pass to seal this step in place before I do any more with acrylics.

In Closing

At some level, with all the oddities of these BLI cars and the difficulties in finding any more out there, I might be tempted to do the resin examples over all the work needed on the BLI models.  Perhaps this is why BLI didn't make anymore runs of these in the more recent past?

I've not weathered the sides of NYC 123242 yet, but have applied a few gel-pen chalk marks.

I put a few gel-pen chalk marks on the new NYC 123242 and a little of the roof's pavement toning down wash over the trucks as more of a dry-brushing.  I still need to put the re-tare dates on the model and do some side weathering.  I'll probably aim to do each of the 'new' cars slightly differently in terms of weathering and finishing, so each tells a unique story.  Obviously, NYC 123242's roof has had better paint at one time.  I'll probably do one as a recently full repaint, with bare minimum weathering. - But I'll cover those in future posts in this series.

Jason Hill

Related Articles:

NYC Roster List - Canada Southern (dot) com - Link to roster data I used in this post.

NYC "Standard" Steel Boxcars by BLI (Part 1) - Another Signature Freight Car

Modeling X29 (Part 1) - PRR 100813 Basic Construction - Link to the PRR's competing design, the X29.

Modeling X29 (Part 2) - PRR 100305 - Ex-Battery Car - Redecalling PRR MW car back to general service circle keystone scheme.

Modeling X29 (Part 3) - PRR 504385 Early X29s - Checking out the IMRC's "early" X29 with vertical staff hand brake and plate-steel ends.