Routing & Grading Cards with OwlMtModels 1220 Decals

Over the years, I've used blank snippings of paper glued to the car sides to simulate the routing cards on my models for over 20 years.  In recent years, modern modeling takes advantage of digital depth of field stacking and focusing which makes it possible to even read the smallest lettering on models.  In recent months, I've started to notice my older models with blank routing cards are starting to draw unwanted attention.

NC&StL 15337 Accurail kitbash with OMM 1220 routing and grading cards matching photo below.

However, for the prototype modeler and the operating modeler there's one detailing aspect which I've that can be improved with modern technology.  Why not also be able to read what is on the routing and grading cards on the model?

For more info on this NC&StL car see links below:
NC&StL 15337 (Part 3) - Wrapping Up & Weathering - Other articles on this Accurail 36ft Fowler kitbash are linked at the end of Part 3 article.

A New Chalk Mark Method - Using Gel-Pens for chalk marks!

NC&StL 15337 - Fowler -TRRA photo, East St Louis, July 1948, Illinois, Joe Collias coll, Bobs Photo - Ted Culotta collection

The prototype photo of NC15337 shows two or three cards.  The ones on the left are probably routing cards, and the one on the right is probably a grading card.  It's another level of modeling enjoyment to be able to match prototype photos even closer now.  Let's look closer at how this came to be.

OwlMtModels' Decal Cards

The OwlMtModels #1220 decal set includes 144 prototypically based cards, two groups are in white, a third group in light green/blue, and the fourth in a manila/beige color.  Thanks to Anthony Thompson and his prototype paperwork collecting contributors for making posts on his blogs over the years documenting the vast historical cards used by various railroads.  I'm also linking directly to Tony's blogs in this post for the prototype examples.

OwlMtModels' new #1220 Routing & Grading Cards decal sheet.

Earlier this summer I asked Todd Osterburg to see what we could do with PDC's fine line decals.  He was nice enough to draw the artwork.  The decals are produced by PDC in Canada and sold through OwlMtModels website for $2.00/sheet.

Railroad print shops would use various basic pastel colors which they had on hand.  Special colors such as yellow or red were reserved for home-routing/shop cards or bad-orders.  If there's interest, OwlMtModels may offer other versions, but this is a starting point for modelers.

Prototype Cards

A clerk cards a SSW boxcar with his hammer-stapler - Linked photo from Anthony Thompson's Routing Cards #11 blog.

Cards would be hammer-stapled anywhere along the lower wooden parts of wooden cars.  Steel cars had 'tack boards' and 'card boards' mounted to the car sides.  Flatcars and tank cars with wooden running boards could have the cards stapled directly into the deck or running boards.

Routing Card typical from Anthony Thompson's blog

The SP used a number system to send the cars around the system.  There were also basics for WB/EB and intcherchange cars seem to have cards for which railroad the car was going to go to.  For example D&RGW or UP at Ogden.

Routing Card Number index for SP - Anthony Thompson's blog Part 10 where other examples are shown.

There were many systems of cards used around the country.  It seems that different divisions would also have their own numbering series.

Another excerpt from Anthony Thompson's Routing Cards #11 blog

Much of the smaller lettering is not possible to print even with modern technology, so the decals are limited to the larger lettering.

Grading Cards

The grading cards: A, B, C, D (or X, depending on the railroad doing the grading) were easy ways to sort out which cars would be available for loading.  The traffic departments would actually keep a large sheet of paper, similar to the operating department's Train Sheet, to keep track of all the cars on the division going to customers and expecting to be becoming available in the coming days.  They would also keep track of how many available boxcars (XM) would be available in each grading category.  Shippers would then be putting their orders in for their loads which would require at least a certain grade of car.

Grading Card examples linked over from Tony Thompson's blog.

Anthony Thompson's blog, Route cards, Part 19: grading freight cars, covers more details of car grading.  Operationally, I'll probably be doing more on car grading for my Jawbone Branch at some point, but for now back to the car carding.  Tony has some additional grading card variations in Route cards, Part 23: varieties of grading cards post, including the octagon-shaped cards.

The railroads would grade cars according to several subjective standards by the carmen looking them over between loadings.  Cars could be improved to some extent by sending the cars over to the RIP track and spending some time cleaning up the interiors by fixing exposed nail heads, damaged boards, etc.  Some cars would be carded to be "CLEAN OUT" which would involve removing old materials and debris from the car's interior.  Normally, the customer that unloaded the car was supposed to clean out the car but that didn't always happen.  The railroads often had a whole track in the typical yard for cars needing "Clean out".  Cars could easily spend 8+ hours in these tracks as you wouldn't want to be inside cars sweeping them out if more cars were being shoved into the track.

Accurail PFE R-40-27 with a routing, Time, and CLEANED card, typical for perishable assignments.

Reefers obviously would need more specialized care and cleaning, thus it was concentrated in a few repair shops.  PFE had three locations, Portabello in Idaho, Colton and Roseville in California.  SFRD concentrated their efforts at San Bernardino and Bakersfield's facilities.  These repairs and cleanings could include removing spoiled perishables, cleaning the bunker drains, repairing or replacing the linings of the car if damaged or contaminated, etc.

Tank cars often needed to be cleaned if they were being reassigned to another loading.  Some loads required regular steam cleanings, other linings required NOT to be steam cleaned.

Flatcars were pretty simple, their wooden deck edges were easy targets for the clerks' hammers.

In Closing

At a little over one cent per card, these decals are quite affordable, and one sheet can do dozens of cars.

Right (not photographed) side of Accurail kitbash, which is finished in 'typical' fashion with chalk marks and routing cards.

I've started applying the cards to cars in my fleet, so you might start noticing them in future blog posts.

Jason Hill

Purchase OwlMtModels #1220 Routing & Grading Card Goodies here.

Related Articles:

Anthony Thompson's Review of OMM 1220 Decal post (Routing Cards, Part 30)

Anthony Thompson's Routing Card blogs - search

Some specific blog posts worth a look.

Route cards, Part 11 — examples

Route cards, Part 19: grading freight cars

Route cards, Part 20: more grading cards

Route cards, Part 23: varieties of grading cards

NC&StL 15337 (Part 3) - Wrapping Up & Weathering - Other articles on this Accurail 36ft Fowler kitbash are linked at the end of Part 3 article.

A New Chalk Mark Method - Using Gel-Pens for chalk marks!

Open Loads (Part 9) - West Coast Loading of Foreign Gondolas & Flats

Some of you might be wondering why a West Coast modeler is doing multiple lumber loads for foreign East Coast gondolas. 

What to do with all the empty East Coast cars?  Reload them! - Jason Hill photo at LMRC, San Diego.

Well, I do like modeling equipment that would have been seen over Tehachapi Pass, which includes the lumber load traffic from Oregon and Northern California to Los Angeles and much of it was then sent east to El Paso and beyond.

A sizable number of the cars in this traffic flow were 'rollers' which were brokered en route and were sent via the longer route down out of the Pacific Northwest to Southern California.  This allowed more time before turning east to sell the load of lumber and diverted to the customer, which was preferred by the shippers.

Prototype Operating Considerations

From the collection of Dan Holbrook, the SCO C507 (May 1950 issued) includes notes that both LV and PRR allowed their gondolas on the west coast to be moved north or south to find loads that can move the cars back east of the Mississippi River, towards home.  The C507 also includes B&O, BLE, CNJ-CRP, DL&W, Erie, NYC-PLE, NKP-WLE, PWV, Reading, Union, and WM, so for western modelers, don't be afraid to load your empty foreign gondolas with lumber loads!  - This is one of the reasons I've been building lumber loads for my B&O, Erie, NYC, and PRR cars.

I will also say that in my other research it would appear that some of these roads also allowed their flatcars to be reloaded also, so I'll be mentioning that at the end as well.

Some of the 1950 SCO directive from the eastern roads is probably a carry over from the WWII directive for the flatcars to be nationally pooled 'for the duration', which was found to be useful in some commercial revenue applications in the post-war era into the 1950s.

Note, some of these cars are repeating the use of the same loads in other cars... but that's to prove my point about being able to use a single set of loads to add variety to a single set of operating routing.  I've taken to index numbering the loads so I can keep track of them. I will be using their ID numbers in these photos so you can see which loads are swapping to other cars.

So let's have a look at some examples:

Tangent 52'6" Bethlehem Gondola

Load 1145 - B&O 259798, Tangent 52ft Gondola with full 3-stack OMM 3005 Lumber Load kit. 

The Tangent Bethlehem 52'6" gondolas can trans-load the lumber loads between them without any problems to create variety in the operating look of the trains.  This is an example of a B&O car.

Tangent 52'6" AC&F Gondola

Load 1145, 2 Stacks - PRR 372468 with two smaller stacks of lumber from OMM 3004 kit.

Tangent also produced this ACF 52'6" Gondola on the PRR these are G31Bs, which numbered in the 10's of thousands!  So by the early 1950s a very common East Coast type of car.

Load 1164 - This load is about 5/6s of an OwlMtModels 3005 kit.

This load is 5/6s of the OwlMtModels kit, configured in 2-3 stacks with 48" tall units.  Wooden cross bracing is replaced with 6lb fishing line 'iron wire' between the stakes over the load.

Load 1145 - Here's the full 3-stack 3005 kit in the PRR gondola.

There aren't many options when the full load is used, basically just the height of the units used.  The AAR standards say not to make units less than 30" and not more than 48".  Some cars in photos are not stacked out to the cubic limits of the car, as sometimes 'wet' or 'green' wood would weight much more than expected.  So there is some rhyme and reason for why cars appear to be "under loaded" in the same train.  Remember also that some of these cars are heading home towards restricted vertical clearance home-roads.  If the car makes it all that way as a 'roller' without being sold, then it will have to navigate the Plate-C Clearances, so on those cars, be sure to cut the stakes down and not load the car too high, even if cubic and weight allowances aren't a consideration.

Load 1065 - Fully wooden-braced 3005 kit.

This load is made up of 36" tall units in a 2-3-3 configuration.  Wooden bracing is used on this load, with two full stake sets outboard of the central top units.

Proto2000/Walthers 52'6" Greenville (WWII AAR) Gondola

Load 1145 - Proto2000/Walthers Greenville 52'6" WWII-built gondolas.

The Bethlehem and ACF cars by Tangent don't have collapsible stakes pockets on the interior of the sides, but instead moved to strap tie-downs along the top edge of the sides.  Proto2000/Walthers gondolas (NYC below) have molded collapsed stake pockets, which narrows the interior size of the car slightly, which means that full-size stakes can't be used effectively there on the OwlMt Lumber Loads.  Also providing actual stake pockets, instead of just wedging in the stakes for the cars that have no stake pockets, mean that it's possible to line up the stakes with the theoretical pockets if they were deployed.

Load 1065 - Swapping loads to the NYC P2K gondola

I will be building a couple more loads, one will specifically be with stakes to align with the stake pockets of the Proto2000 gondolas.  I will also be using the notched stake option, so that the load is more freely fitting, so I can easily remove the load from the car without catching the stakes on the carside.

Tichy 52'6" WWII Emergency Composite Gondola

Load 1145 - Tichy NYC 52'6" WWII Emergency Gondola with OwlMtModels 3005 3-stack load kit.

Tichy also makes a compatible composite WWII gondola, which can be loaded with lumber.  These cars are fun to weather with the contrast of wood sides with steel structure over the top.  Some railroads resheathed these cars in steel after the war-time material restrictions were lifted.

Walthers 46ft USRA Gondola

Load 1159 - Walthers 46ft USRA PRR 317083. one of the thousands of G25 class cars.

Chalk marks on the car side are used to align the stakes to the load.  In some ways this cuts down the positional options of the loads, but if the loads are kept as A/B stacks, then they can be transposed or rotated in multiple arrangements to vary the look of the same load.

Load 1169 - Another PRR G25 with a steel-top-banded load which has started to shift noticeably.

This load is the subject over the previous Open Loads (Part 8) post.  The load uses the ChartPak 1/64" tape for the high-tension steel-bands across the top of the load.  I modeled this load as a shifting stack of lumber.  Thankfully the load therefore is not centered around the stake sets, which should stay aligned with the car's pockets... and allows off-set arrangements if I rotate the two stacks or transpose their positions.

Load 1169, transposed - LV 27202 is another Walthers' 46ft USRA gondola.

In this photo with the Walthers LV model, the loads have been transposed outwards from the car's center.  The load's still shifted, but the two stacks aren't to the point of impacting each other.

Load 1159 again, this time in Erie 15503, a stock Walthers 46ft USRA Gondola.

As can be seen, just changing the loads around a bit creates new looks to the cars, thus making each train look unique, even if you've not re-blocked the train.  Just changing which load goes in which car and how, will make your sessions 'feel different' from a visual stand point.

Load 153 in NYC 501536, another Walthers 46ft Gondola

I'm not sure if the black NYC gondolas are correct for post-WWII cars.  The stock Walthers model comes with a tare date of 1947, so might be right.  Any NYC modelers are welcome to tell me if it's wrong.  In any case, NYC cars certainly were available to reload and send towards home.

The Load 153 is one that's actually designed to fit a Red Caboose steel GS gondola, but it works well here too, although the stakes don't line up with the car's pockets, so these would have to be wedged in against the car's sides.

Foreign Flatcars?

I know of at least one photo of a B&O 40ft P-11 class car loaded with lumber in San Diego, circa 1955.  San Diego actually had sawmills to cut up large log rafts brought down by ocean-tug from the Pacific Northwest and British Columbia.  So it's hard to tell if the B&O flat was a 'roller' from the PNW which was diverted to San Diego because the lumber was sold, or if it was a foreign car being reloaded for movement eastward towards home.  In the end I guess it doesn't really matter, as either would be a reasonable explanation of what the car was doing loaded with lumber at the southern edge of the USA.

F30A Flatcars from Bowser or Rapido

PRR 475237 with a pair of lumber stacks over the trucks.

Here's some examples of PRR F30A flatcars from Bowser loaded with the new OwlMtModels 3003 Lumber Loads.

PRR 475260 with a couple of centered stacks. - Looks like the brakewheel got smashed, gonna have to get a carmen to fix that up!

While these smaller 2-stack loads wouldn't be taxing the 70-ton capacity of the Pennsy flats, it was a way to get some extra lumber moving east if these were 'rollers' and cover some future order from a yard along the way.

Again PRR 475260, this time with a much higher board-feet count load.

In this load, I kitbashed some of the panels into a very long load, and then did a couple of more regular stacks.  The 50ft deck length of the F30A makes "fully loading" it a bit trickier, but possible with some creativity.

A high-view of 475260 with a load of older 3001 lumber loads, in this case with iron-wire banding.

Don't forget you can build centered stack loads, like this one too.  I suggest putting some of the separator pieces lengthwise to tie the bottom of the load together for strength.

P2K/Walthers 52'6" AAR WWII Standard Flatcars

C&NW AAR WWII Flatcar loaded with lumber. (Walthers/P2K flatcar, OMM 3003

Other cars from the mid-west could also be reloaded, as it would be easier to send them home.  However, this would not have the SCO authorization from the owner to send them empty anywhere in the western US to find that load.  So these would be locally unloaded near the lumber loading areas of NP, GN, UP/OSL, SP, etc. and then sent out as needed, hopefully towards home rails!

A heavy load of lumber, probably near the capacity for the 50-ton NKP flatcar.

Here's an Nickle Plate example, this car would be a 'long east' car working its way back towards home.  If it was a 'roller', it could probably show up just about anywhere in the country with this load.

Balancing the Message

Obviously, the 'home roads' would have to provide their own cars if enough 'foreign' cars couldn't be used.  This results in the mixed consists that are what we see most of the time: home road cars, interchanged partner roads, and then the really far from home cars that have been reloaded all mixed together.  

SP 4177 Lumber Drag 1-671 two miles east of Oakridge 1947 - Vanishing Vista postcard JT-63, Jason Hill collection

In the photo above, we can see many different railroad's cars mixed in this consist.  For Southern Pacific trains leaving Oregon, interchanges would be from the friendly NP, and less friendly UP, CP,  CN.  The GN and WP were at the time more friendly with Santa Fe's connections, but they certainly would still interchange if the customer had ordered the routing to go via the SP.

The advent of hump yards allowed for better sorting by destination of interchanged cuts, but even then the 'rollers' are going to be a wildcard as to when they will be sold and need to be cut out of the train.  Usually the diversion points would be a place which had the yard facilities to handle breaking up the consist anyway.

In Closing

The east coast sends the rust, the west coast will return the favor with splinters.  So it's fun to have both removable steel loads and lumber loads for the same pool of cars, then you can mix up sending them away from home loaded and either send them home empty or reload them with local products.

An overview of the lumber loads shown above. - Notice specifically the differences: wood paint/coloring, shifted loads, and bracing with wood, iron wire, and steel bands.

Another point of variation is not building all the loads with identical methods of bracing, or even style of bracing.  Unless you're modeling a lumber mill shipping 20 carloads of lumber under the same crew and foreman, the different mills would each load their cars differently.  Mill A might have started using steel banding and palletized loads on flatcars, but the rest haven't except for Mill C, which only uses them to connect the top of the stakes.  Mill B is still using iron wire between the stakes, while D, & E all are still using wooden bracing because they have the extra scrap hardwood pieces.

Jason Hill

Related Articles:

Open Loads (Part 8 ) - Modeling High-Tension Steel Banding on Lumber Loads

Open Loads (Part 7) - Shifted Lumber Loads - What happens when your load moves?

Open Loads (Part 5) - Lumber Loads on Flats & Gondolas - Examples of Open Lumber Loads.

Open Loads (Part 2) - Lumber in Boxcars - Ideas for building lumber loads inside boxcars.

Lumber Load in Gondola SP 160522 - MDC Kitbash - Modifying OwlMtModels 3004 Lumber Load for gondola with false-load below gondola sides.

Open Loads (Part 7) - Shifted Lumber Loads

SP F-70-6 with a heavy load of lumber that has shifted, probably straining the stakes in the process.

I've built many lumber loads over the years, and I've been wanting to build some shifted loads for many years.  I finally bit the bullet and have built a couple now.  Let's have a look at them.  One of the photos in Anthony Thompson's SP Freight Cars Vol.3: Auto Cars & Flatcars, shows several photos with shifted loads, including one where the steel banded units of lumber have shifted, breaking the stakes, and it would appear that one whole unit has slid from the top-end position, off the car, and onto the adjacent flatcar! - Maybe I'll get around to doing something that crazy one of these days... but for now I'll be looking at more moderately or lightly shifted lumber loads.

A few prototype examples linked to us by Bob Chaparro:

Let's see what a real one looks like

LS&I 6284 with shifted lumber load -Lake States Archive - Bob Chaparro collection

Note that this car is using saplings instead of saw-cut stakes.  The base of the saplings are taper-cut to fit into the stake pockets like the regular stakes.  It also looks like the switching crew might have ignored the "Do Not Hump" placard.

Shifted Loads?!

Gondola with shifted load -  Bob Chaparro collection

This one really has shifted and those stakes and top boards are a mess!

IC 200581 shifted lumber in gondola against boxcar - Bob Chaparro collection

Ouch!  Ok, make sure you're not tying the handbrake on that boxcar when the shift happened!  I don't think this is a good option to model, as it will foul the boxcar going around curves.  But it certainly could be modeled with the load shifting over the mid-point of the coupler plane.

OMM 3004 in a Red Caboose/IMRC NP GS gondola.

Lookout, that load's starting to shift!  Maybe the carmen would bad-order the load to be 'shifted' at the RIP track.   So time to pull the car out of the train, set it over, and spend a day 'fixing' it before sending it on its way.  This 3004 could simply be shifted towards the center of the car, or the right stack could be reversed in the car, making the overhanging load unit bias away from falling off the car!  Just a couple tricks to make an interesting car load.

Likewise a 3005 kit could have 1/3 set up as a severely over-end shifted load, which would require routing to the RIP track, then trading out the whole stack for the other version, which was in good order.  Ideas like this can be used to increase the function of your open loads in your operational scheme on your layout.  Make that RIP track actually serve an operational use, not just for the random new car coming into your operating sessions from the work bench.

Falling Off the End?!

How about a load that really has shifted?

On this load, I decided to get more adventurous.  The car was really whacked by the switch crew, or it had a bad trip over the division... or maybe those new retarders in the hump yard still need some adjusting.  In any case, that unit of lumber in the top right has seen better days.

It has shifted on its 'stickers' several feet, clearing the center car lateral stake tie-boards, and smashed several lateral board sets on the 2nd level near the A-end of the car. Good thing that's not the B-end or we might be looking at replacing damage to the handbrake!  The center and right second level units have also shifted to the right it looks like, as they are overhanging more on the A-end, reducing the space for a brakeman or switchman to get up on the end of the car.

Shifting Too Far!

Maybe you'll want to have a load that's really sketchy and looking like it shouldn't be moved much more at all.  Maybe 3/4 of the stakes are already shattered?!  Did a whole unit of lumber get pushed off the end of the car onto an adjacent car?  There's certainly a case to be made to make a more dramatically shifted load, if you want to.  Prototype photos of such certainly exist.

This is an earlier step in this load construction - before the mitigation of adding the iron wire and bracing was applied.

In this case, it certainly would be good to get this car to the RIP track at the nearest division point and get the units re-shifted back to a more stabilized position.  The top A-end unit certainly needs to be shifted back if possible.  Another set of stakes need to be added on the A-end if the lower levels can't be shifted back too.

Quick Fix?

To the RIP Track!

The load has been stabilized somewhat, maybe that was the last division point's work, or maybe a brakeman did what he could when he found it.  There's some new longitudinal bracing between the four stakes on the A-end and iron-wire with a scrap 2x4 to tourniquet the wire around the stakes in place of wooden lateral ties.

Top Load Shifter rig at Taylor Yard in Los Angeles, CA. Brian Leppert photo, Bob Chaparro collection.

Guillotine-looking "Top Load Shifters," like this one, were used to corral the wayward open loads back into place.  Crews that had to shift the load out iin the field, or in yards without such devices often resorted to, "Well, hit it the other way." with a rough coupling the other direction.. sometimes with mixed results.

Swap to a "Good Load"?

Operationally, I would plan to swap the "Bad Order" load out with another that was re-shifted or a "good" load.

Notice this 3003 kit is in good shape, a good candidate for swapping for a "Bad Order" load at the RIP track.

This is a great load for the staging yard crews or clerks to throw into a session to see if the yard crews are watching out for unsafe loads.  Once the load is spotted to the RIP track, at the end of the session, the load is traded out, the car can be released next session to continue the trip and the "Bad Order" load is taken back to the staging yard to be used again... maybe even the next session.  

In Closing

A cropped view from SP Trainline on Bakersfield showing the "Grave Yard" tracks around the inbound leads to the roundhouse and carshop at top of photo, circa 1956-1958.

On a large operating layout with 100's of lumber cars, having 4-6 of these "Bad Order" loads in rotation.  These loads would be showing up regularly to simulate the dozens of cars that would be needed work regularly out of these large lumber trains would add a certain prototypical operational flavor to sessions and keep the crews on their toes.

Here's a closeup of the end of the shifted load, next to a heavy double-48" unit stacks of lumber on an SP 70-Ton flatcar.

I'm going to wrap up this post here.  More lumber load posts will be coming over the next few months as I've been on a "Lumber Kick" for the last couple weeks.

Jason Hill

Related Articles:

Open Loads (Part 5) - Lumber Loads on Flats & Gondolas - Examples of Open Lumber Loads.

Open Loads (Part 2) - Lumber in Boxcars - Ideas for building lumber loads inside boxcars.

Lumber Load in Gondola SP 160522 - MDC Kitbash - Modifying OwlMtModels 3004 Lumber Load for gondola with false-load below gondola sides.

SP Jawbone Branch (Part 15) - Passenger Ops & ETT Research Notes

I've been tinkering with a 'crazy idea' of passenger operations on my Jawbone Branch layout.  This has led to digging more into the research of the Employe Time Tables (ETT) for the Mojave Subdivision Owenyo "Jawbone" Branch history.  So on with the question....

Passenger Operations?

Little Lake with the arriving passenger train lead by SP 1433, circa pre-1938 - owensvalleyhistory.com - susan_stanton03 (Cropped)

Will I get to have passenger operations on my layout?  Well, it certainly would add a dash of style and color.  I've always planned to model the occasional passenger excursion trains which ran in the 1948-1956 era, but let's take a closer look at what options I have for the earlier passenger and mixed schedules.

Time Tables - Mojave Sub-Division

I'm still doing more researching on the earlier pre-1938 era operations from which time the above photo of the SP 1433 dates from.  Wooden coaches and the 1433 was renumbered as the Second 1500 in 1938, so that gives an idea of when passenger-only consists were run.

San Joaquin #158 1938-02 Owenyo Branch - SheldonPerry collection

Moving forward in time to 1938, the SP shows four scheduled trains on the Jawbone.  Nos. 802/803 were the "Searles Turn" working from Mojave to Searles to interchange with the Trona Rwy.  Nos.788/789 are shown as Mixed trains to Owenyo with flag stops as needed along the run. Running times are 6:30 eastward and 7:15 westward.

Notice that the Searles train (Nos. 802/803) is out and back to Mojave before the train from Owenyo arrives (No.789) and then departs again (as No. 788).  I find this interesting, as it basically shows that the local crew was resting each day in Oewnyo, except on Sunday when the schedule does not run.  

1941 Owenyo Branch Employe Timetable, note the telegraph codes! - SheldonPerry collection

The 1941 ETT is the last one showing Nos.788/789 as mixed trains.  My guess at this point is that they were kept until the end of the war.  Then the new ETT for 1946 changed the passenger operations to reflect the post-war operations moving forward.

From the previous conversations I've had with knowledgeable folks on the Jawbone operations and reading Vincent Cipolla's article in SP Trainline on Mojave, the Owenyo job usually went on at Mojave in the evening 6-7pm, and went off duty in Owenyo the following morning.  Returning to duty after 8 hours and arriving back at Mojave the 3rd morning around 7-8am.  It would seem that after the war with the discontinuance of the scheduled operations on the Jawbone the crews were consolidated back to Mojave.

Sept 1950 ETT - SheldonPerry collection

By 1950 all scheduled trains have been removed from the Time Table.  Three water tanks are active at this date.  Linnie and Bartlett are both showing as additional stations.  Interesting that Little Lake shows as 30 car siding, and Owenyo shows as a 40 car siding.  I'll be modeling Owenyo as only around 26 cars long.  Little Lake will probably be around 20 cars, with my train lengths this should still work out.

April 1952 ETT - SheldonPerry collection

By April 1952, the water tank at Diaz (MP 512.8) has been removed from the ETT.  Leaving the water tank at Haiwee (MP 484.1), Letlier (MP 450.0), and Cantil (MP 402.5).  However a new tank at Owenyo (MP 523.0) is now active supplying the far end of the branch.

April 1953 ETT - SheldonPerry collection

September 1953 ETT - SheldonPerry collection

April 1954 ETT - SheldonPerry collection

By April 1954 the water tank at Letlier (MP 450.0) is now gone, leaving only the tanks at Cantil (MP 402.5), Haiwee (MP 484.1), and Owenyo (MP 523.0).

List of Water Tanks & Histories

MP 402.5 Cantil (from construction until well after 1954)

MP 450.0 (Water Tank only) Letlier (Removed by April 1954)

MP 484.1 Haiwee (from construction until well after 1954)

MP 514.3 Diaz (Water Tank only) - (from construction until April 1952)

MP 523.0 Owenyo (New water tank in April 1952 - could this be the Diaz tank moved?)

The changes to the watering options are interesting.  I am still trying to nail down if the tank at Owenyo was fed by moving water tank cars from Diaz and the other water tanks to cover Owenyo's needs, or if there was a well at Owenyo.  I rather doubt the Owenyo tank was supplied by a local well.

Most of the photos of the excursions after 1952 show there are water cars for each engine, not always coupled to the engine (canteen service).  Also there always appears to be a water car at the tank(s) at Owenyo, suggesting they are being actively used.

There's the photo on Page 24, SP Trainline issue 135, showing SP 5300 switching Owenyo, possibly departing, in early 1953 with a SPMW water car right behind the diesel!  Certainly not needing the water for the RSD-5 on the Jawbone, but the SPNG was still running steam, so was this water for the village of Owenyo or the SPNG engines?  Was the SP 5300 taking the water car west to refill at Haiwee?

Sometimes there's always more questions than you can answer!

Modeling a Consist for Nos. 788/789 Mixed, circa 1941

Of interest on my modeled part of the Jawbone in the 1941 ETT for the Mojave Sub's Owenyo Branch showing schedules for No.788 and No.789 mixed trains.  This mixed train I believe are the ones photographed at Owenyo during the daytime layover during that era.

SP 2578 No 788 - Owenyo 1940 - Phil Serpico - owensvalleyhistory.com southern_pacific015_sml

Obviously by time of the 'Mixed' operating on the Jawbone, the train consisted of whatever freight needed to move plus two passenger cars tacked on instead of a caboose.  Notice the two passenger cars at the end of No.788's consist of 11 cars in 1940, above.

Owenyo with the RPO & coach laying over looking north - owensvalleyhistory.com - ebay35_owenyo_sml

In this view the engine in the distance, probably a C-class.  Many single-sheathed boxcars, with a T&NO boxcar and an SP B-50-12 class closest to the road crossing through the platforms. Note the engine-service fuel oil tanks next to the C-class.  The ETT shows that Owenyo and Mojave have oil, which is run with a steam powered pump.

RPO-Baggage Car

SP 5187

SP 5187, a 60-BP-30-1 RPO-Baggage kitbashed from MDC-Roundhouse parts

There are some modeling options for 60-BP-30-1 available in brass, I have an old MDC kitbash that I've tinkered on and off with for the last 20-25 years.  This is about how it looks currently.  I left it with the RPO door being raised and adjusting the paint and decalling.  One of the 4'10" baggage doors needed replacing as I previously had used the double door 7ft option, which is incorrect for the 60-BP-30-1, so I fixed that.

Currently, the changes I need to do to finish it include upgrading the trucks to Walthers 8ft Pullman type, installing diaphragms, and underbody work.  I'll probably also install an OwlMtModels 30ft RPO interior.  I'm not sure I want to repaint the letterboard yet again to decal as SP Lines.

Ken Kidder?!

Ken Kidder brass 60-BP-30-1

A friend several years ago traded me a 60-BP-30-1 from Ken Kidder.  The model is arronously painted for the 69-BP-30-series cars used on the Golden State.  The model will have to be repainted.  While the window and door arrangement is more accurate, the roof profile is very flat, and about 6" too low!  The roof is a major pain to correct on these cars.

The Ken Kidder car above of course will need the trucks changed out to Walthers 4-wheel Pullman 8ft models.

SP 1190 - Ken Kidder's low roof shown next to correct height SP 6102.

Generally in the past, I've decalled Ken Kidder cars to be riders and other cars which usually will not be seen with full-contour roof cars.

Coach

SP 2178

SP 2178, a typical 60-C-9/10 class all-steel coach, as produced by Soho.

One option for my coach is a late-series Soho 60-C-9/10 class car like the SP 2178, shown above.  Most of the Soho 60-C's that I've done which have plated over transom windows are in SP with post-1946 lettering.

SP 1005

SP 1005 Chair Car

Another option is the transom-windowed Soho 60-C-series cars, such as SP 1005 above, but the SP 1005 was not a chair car until later WWII era, when it was returned to passenger service from use as a caboose.

SP 1190

SP 1190 - Ken Kidder coach

Another option is a Ken Kidder model, also with the low-roof like SP 1190, shown above.  The 1190 is possibly a better option as it is already painted in the SPL scheme for 1941 operations before the June 1946 change which dropped the "LINES" from the letterboard.

In Closing

Could I run a passenger train like the "Shasta" to Owenyo?

Well, while I haven't made any choices in this post that are carved in stone, there certainly are some interesting questions and options that are open to my operational planning.  At the end of the day, judicious use of Model Railroading, Rule 3: "This is my railroad, and I'll do what I want." can be very liberating.  The research of 'history' allows a much easier way to import a sense of reality than 'inventing' everything myself.  However, if I want to run a 'regular' passenger train after 1946, because of "Reasons", then I can.  (BTW, for reference, Rule 1: Model Railroading is FUN.  Rule 2: If in doubt, refer to Rule 1.)

Could I have a consist like the one above running to Owenyo, but maybe with a T-class?

Would it be too wild to say that the high-class customers at Little Lake would charter a couple of Pullmans to bring customers from LA?  Maybe.  A 4-8-2 will certainly be too big for my 26" radius wye at Owenyo, plus historically only an Mk-2/4 and occasionally an Mk-6 could go that far out on the branch.

Mk-6, SP 3266, leads an excursion past Olancha with excursion 1952 - Phil Serpico - owensvalleyhistory.com - southern_pacific012_t

Then of course there are the actual excursions that were run!  As they say, "At least I have options."  

Jason Hill

Related Articles:

Jawbone Branch Index Page - List of all my SP Jawbone Branch modeling posts.

The "Shasta" - Revised Pike-Size Passenger Train - My first consist blog post, on the Shasta - A back-water passenger train readily modelable with a baggage car, chair car, cafe-lounge, and Pullman which will fit most layouts!