Modeling the Owl (Part2) - Korea to 1960

In this part of discussing the Owl (Nos.57 & 58), I will look at the changes that happened to the Owl from 1951 to 1960.  After which point the Owl was on the slide to being annulled, leaving only the San Joaquin Daylight running between LA and Oakland.  Follow this link back to first part of Modeling the Owl (Part 1).

SP 4255 leading No.58 between Bakersfield and LA.

Southern Pacific in the Bay Area, by George H. Drury, page 89 shows the regular Owl (No.57) at Martinez, nearing the end of its run on April 22, 1950.  The shot shows the headend of the Owl, with an RPO right behind the engine, a 80-BH-1 horse baggage, and SP 6114 (60-B, ex-60-PS-1 4402).  The lower photo of the same day shows the middle of the Owl with one of the 72-C-1/2/3/4 class "Deluxe Chair" cars , but no number is visible.

Most of the consist info shown below is from the SP Trainline No.74 from Winter 2000, with some data extracted from the commentary in the article on the Owl by Sheldon King.  I want to thank Brian Black and James Salkeld for letting me use their fabulous photo collections taken by their family members during the 1950s.

Consist 1951

No.58, eastbound at Ravenna - James Salkeld Collection (used with permission)

The last consist I showed in Part 1, shows Feb 15, 1951, but to avoid making readers flip back and forth, I'll relist the consist here.

No.57 Feb 15, 1951
BG Oak-Bakersfield (returns on No.57)
BG Oak-LA (Storage Magazine - Tuesdays only)
BG Oak-LA (Ex-Sunday)
PS Oak-LA Postal-Storage
RPO Oak-LA (Working)
Chair (probably News Agent)
Chair
Chair
Chair
Diner
STD 12-1 (Replaced 16-Section Troop Car)
STD 12-1 (Replaced 16-Section Troop Car)
STD 6-2-Lounge (Mission-Series)
STD 6-6-4 (LW) or STD 8-5 "Clover" (Alternating Days, one of each assigned)
STD 14-SBR (Night Fern & Night Mantel assigned)
STD 10-1-1 (HW Car)
STD 12-1 ("Regular" 12-1 sleeper)

By November 1st the two 12-1 sleepers behind the dining car were moved to the rear of the train.  Also an additional partitioned coach was added on Mondays and Fridays.

Nov 1, 1951
BG Oak-Bakersfield (returns on No.57)
BG Oak-LA (Storage Magazine - Tuesdays only)
BG Oak-LA (Ex-Sunday)
PS Oak-LA Postal-Storage
RPO Oak-LA (Working)
Partitioned Coach (Mon & Fri)
Chair
Chair
Chair
Chair
Diner
STD 6-2-Lounge (Mission-Series)
STD 6-6-4 (LW) or STD 8-5 "Clover" (Alternating Days, one of each assigned)
STD 14-SBR (Night Fern & Night Mantel assigned)
STD 10-1-1 (HW Car)
STD 12-1
STD 12-1
STD 12-1

A 3D Printed model of the News Agent space, used on some of the SP's Chair Cars. - OwlMtModels 4052 shown.

I'm not clear if the leading Chair car remained as a News Agent car or if the assignment of the partitioned coach could have been a News Agent car.  Generally, I would think the NA car remained the leading Chair Car.

SP 4251 with No.58 at San Fernando - James Salkeld Collection (used with permission)

Steam continued to be the regular assignment over the Tehachapi Pass until 1952.  Before about 1950, the ACs received MT-class or GS-class helpers over the Tehachapi Pass between LA and Bakersfield.  After 1950, enough AC's were being displaced by diesels that they could afford to let them double head on the Owl.

In the San Joaquin Valley, the Owl was assigned Mt or GS class engines between Bakersfield and Oakland.  On occasion P-class engines can be seen working lighter sections of the Owl, when Pullman traffic overflowed what the Owl's normal consist could handle, or the schedule of the extra traffic didn't make it possible for the extra passengers and cars to be worked into regular trains.

Consist 1953

SP 3501, converted to Baggage-Dormitory service. To the left is T&NO 141 a recent transfer from the Sunbeam.

In 1953 the SP rebuilt the 14-Single Bedroom sleepers Night Fern and Night Mantle to be Baggage-Dorm cars SP 3500 and 3501, which were regularly assigned to the Owl consists.  These cars are not easily modeled from standard Pullman sleepers without a large amount of window changes.

Typical Consist for 1953
BG Oak-Bakersfield (returns on No.57)
BG Oak-LA (Storage Magazine - Tuesdays only)
BG Oak-LA (Ex-Sunday)
PS Oak-LA Postal-Storage
RPO Oak-LA (Working) - Usually 70-BP-30-1/2/3 or 69-BP-30-2/3 as seen above in some of the photos.
Bag-Dorm - (SP 3500 & 3501 assigned once rebuilding was complete)
Chair
Chair
Chair
Chair
Diner
STD 6-2-Lounge (Mission-Series)
STD 6-6-4 (LW) or STD 8-5 "Clover" (Alternating Days, one of each assigned)
STD 10-1-1 (HW Car)
STD 12-1
STD 12-1
STD 12-1

It should be noted also that during 1953 the ex-SSW American Flyer" Osgood-Bradley chair cars were assigned to the Owl, among other Pacific Lines trains, it wasn't uncommon to see at least one of the Chair cars on the Owl being one of these unique cars.

Consist 1954

Kitbashed model of SP 3503 starting from Rivarossi 12-1 sleeper

I've decided to model one of the next two cars the SP rebuilt in this way, which were the 1954 rebuilt Pecos and Sunburst Rose, which started as Pullman 12-1s, and also became Baggage-Dorms SP 3502 and SP 3503 receptively.  Follow this link to see how I chose to Model the SP 3503.  I chose the 3503 because I had an extra pair pf Walthers Pullman 242 trucks, and the SP 3503 retained those trucks when rebuilt.

No.57, April 9, 1954
BG-Express Fresno-Oakland (Ex-Mon) return on No.58 unless noted
60ft RPO Mail Apartment (SP 5044 & 5045, 77-BP-60 - ex-77-D-6 diners with new 60ft Apartments)
PS Mail Storage (Ex Sat & Sun)
BG-Express
Bag-Dorm (usually 3500 & 3501)
Chair (News Agent)
Chair (Fri, Sat, Sun)
Chair
Chair
Chair
Diner
Lounge (Full Lounge or Tavern car)
STD 6-2-Lounge (Mission Series)
STD 8-5 "Clover" series HW Sleeper (Now two cars assigned, LW 6-6-4 dropped)
STD 10-1-1 "Palouse Falls and "Prior Lake" regularly assigned
STD 12-1
STD 12-1

The changes to the 1954 Owl include the new 60ft RPOs (SP 5044 & 5045) rebuilt from 77-D-6 dining cars.  The balance of the space in the 77 foot body was assigned as baggage-express space.  These newly rebuilt cars had ply-metal doors, as did most of SP's rebuilds after 1953. (see the door style on the SP 3503 model above.  One of the three 80-BP-60 (SP 5217-5219) rebuilt Horse-Baggage turned RPOs protected the San Joaquin Daylight and the Owl.

Late in 1954, the SP began experimenting with "Hamburger Grill" cars, rebuilt from HW Diners.  The 10502 and 10503 were the first two regularly assigned to the Owl in January 1955, replacing the full dining cars.

Also late in 1954, the STD 10-1-1 HW sleepers were withdrawn from service on the Owl.

Consist 1956

In 1956, the steam assignments of GS-3s and GS-6s between Bakersfield and Oakland finally came to an end.  Often two-unit sets of F7s (A-B pairs) took over the assignment.

SP 6383 with two B-units leads No.51, the San Joaquin Daylight, in the Valley in the late 1950s. Brian Black Collection

In September 1956, the use of the remaining Heavyweight sleepers in the Owl's regular consist came to an end.  The Mission-series 6-2-Lounges were retired to MW service and LW 6-6-4 sleepers became the regular accommodations for all Pullman passengers.

The 6-6-4 sleepers replaced the old HW Dark Olive Green and TTG sleepers, here SP 9161 in 1953 Golden State colors.

Consist 1957

By the end of 1957, the Owl, No.58 was down to the following cars:

BG Bag-Express (Ex-Sun)  - Oak-Fresno (Return on No.57)
60ft Mail Apartment  - Oak-LA (SP 5044 & 5045 regularly assigned)
BG Bag-Express  - Oak-LA
BG Bag-Express  - Oak-LA

Chair  - Oak-LA

Chair  - Oak-LA

Chair  - Oak-LA
HW Hamburger-Grill  - Oak-LA
STD LW 6-6-4  - Oak-LA
STD LW 6-6-4  - Oak-LA

The end was coming for the Owl, even with the discontinuance of the (Tehcahapi) Mail Trains (Nos.55 & 56) in 1954/55, there wasn't a lot of mail and express traffic left for the Owl to handle.  1956 also saw the end of HW Pullman sleeper use on the Owl.

In Closing

The marker on a UP 6-6-4 brings up the rear of the Owl.

The end for the Owl was still several years away, during those years the food service would again see a step down to "Automat" service in March 1962, basically a rack of drink and snack vending machines and cold sandwiches to eat.  The "Economy" Baggage cars would start showing up in 1960-1962.  Towards the end, even UP 6-6-4 LW sleepers would be seen on the Owl as there were not enough SP 6-6-4s to cover all the assignments.

UP "American Captain", a 6-6-4, similar to the pair seen in a photo of the Owl near the end.

The last trip was made on April 13, 1965, with barely any notice by the public or the news media.  Fewer than 33 passengers road No.58 on the last trip.

Jason Hill

Related Links and Articles:

Modeling the Owl (Part 1) - Post WWII to Korea

Modeling Mail Trains Nos. 55 & 56, The Tehacahapi Mail

The Shasta, a revised "Pike-Sized" train from 1987

Modeling SP Road Engines (Part 4) - Articulated Steam

SP 60-C-5s, (Part 2) T&NO 777 Coach

In the second part of this series, I'll be focusing on the T&NO 777, also a 60-C-5, the same as in 60-C-5 (Part 1), SP 1005.   Because this is basically showing an alternate car of the same class, I will only be touching on the points that differ in this build than on the SP 1005.

Prototype Car History

SP and T&NO owned 556 60-C-series coaches and chair cars, built between 1908 and 1924, these cars lived on until the last 4 were retired in 1968.  In this post we will look at a "modernized" 60-C-5 of the Texas & New Orleans subsidiary of the SP.

T&NO 777 with trucks installed.

SP's Texas & Louisiana subsidiary, the Texas & New Orleans handled all SP's connections east of El Paso on the "Sunset" route to New Orleans to comply with a Texas law that stated any railroad operating in Texas had to be based in Texas, got to love Texan politics!

As such the T&NO absorbed many other smaller railroads and consolidated then in 1931 under the T&NO reporting marks.  T&NO 777 was built specifically for the T&NO and remained on the T&NO until retirement.  Many T&NO coaches were transferred to the SP in 1924 and 1931 probably as the T&NO absorbed and then annulled passenger runs in various areas.  Also 1931 would have been about the time that the SP and T&NO took delievery of the 73-C-1 and 74-CC-1 coaches and chair cars.  The last batches of 60-C-series cars came over to the SP in the early 1950s with the annulment of many passenger trains on the T&NO.  The odd thing about T&NO 777 was photographed in Oakland in 1954, but wasn't one of the cars transferred officially to the SP during that time.

Modeling the T&NO 777

In many ways this build follows the same basic pattern as my build of SP 1005 (Part 1), in which I'd painted the body, decalled, and put the glass in the windows.  Leaving the changing of the roof vents to the standard "globe" type of the 60-C-5s for later.  I should point out the major difference in the starting point between this car and the one used on the SP 1005, is the T&NO 777 is a car that had the transom windows with stained glass windows plated over by 1950.

For comparison, SP 1005 with the as-built green transom windows.

On SP 1005 I used an underframe built by John Ruehle.  On the T&NO 777 I will be building my own simpler floor and underframe made from scratch in styrene.

Underframe Construction

The basic underframe is pretty simple for the T&NO 777, as with all the underframes that I build for the Soho cars that I work on.  I follow the general idea that detailing of parts of the car that will either never be seen or interfere with the operations of the car will be eliminated or modified in a way to allow unrestricted operations.

The under bodies of SP 1804, TNO 777, & SP 2178.

The new floor is made from a piece of 0.030" sheet styrene which is cut to 7.922" long and 1.120" wide.  A center sill beam is made from a piece of 0.250" x 0.125" styrene bar stock, which is cut to 8.035" long.  The center sill has to be cut to fit between the coupler box pads.  The floor sheet is mounted with up to six small screws.  I match drill these to the bodies so that the floor will be fixed to the body for the next step.

I usually mark center marks on the underframe or coupler box pads and the center line of the center sill.  Once the center sill is lined up, I use Tamiya liquid styrene cement to weld the two parts of the new floor together.

The new underframe with scribed center marks for the truck bolster.

The bolster holes, for the trucks, are drilled in the center sill on the centerline of the car.  I measure 1/2 the distance between the inside edges of the bodies side sheets.  I came up with a measurement of 0.668" which I set on my calipers and used the inside points of the calipers to scribe a centerline on the center sill.  If these scribe marks don't match, mark the center point with the scribe between the existing lines.

I always measure the truck centers in from the endsills to be sure there's enough room around the ends of the car and the steps.  The Soho models are slightly too short, so it's a good practice to use.  Drill the center marks on the center sill with a No.50 drill.

Truck Modifications

The Walthers 8ft Pullman 4-wheel trucks need some modifications as well.  I chose to use 0.030" sheet styrene pads on the top of the truck bolster and cut out two 0.333" wide, 0.360" long square.

A pair of Walthers 920-2124 trucks with the 0.030" sheet styrene marked for cutting.

The truck bolster shims are ACC (superglued) to the top of the Walthers truck bolster.  I hold off on marking and drilling out the new bolster holes on the trucks until the new shims are dried and secured in place.

Modified truck bolsters.

I use the carbine scribe to press a center mark into the bottom of the truck bolster ship, in the center of the original bolster hole.  I then drill out the center marks with a 2-56 clearance drill (No.46).

Making the Body Bolsters

I prefer to build up a body bolster as it is certainly easier to add material than to bolster than to remove it.  So I do this by adding a reasonable height of shim styrene. I cut two pieces from 0.060" styrene sheet, which actually only measure 0.055" thick.  These body bolster plates are 0.250" wide x 0.350" long.  I again mark a center point and drill with my 2-56 clearance drill (No.46).  If you feel that you will not have enough thread in the center sills to hold the trucks alone, you can make this hole with a No.50 drill and then plan to tap it.

Here's the body bolster plates after they are cut out.

With the holes drilled in the bolster plate, I align the bolster plates to the bolster center holes in the center sills.  Again Tamyia liquid glue is used to weld the plates to the center sills.

Bolster plates instaled to raise body to correct level for couplers.

At this point I noticed that I'd not tapped the holes in the bolsters yet.  Be sure to make these holes square to the body.

Tapping the holes in the bolsters.

I picked out two 0.015" (Red) Kadee shims and placed them on the bolster plates.  If these are not thick enough, I will get a better idea after the car has the couplers mounted how much more I need to raise the body by.

Underframe and all parts to put the car on its trucks.

I prefer to keep the shims as the actual bearing surface between the trucks and the body of the car, so if I have to add more shims, they will take the form of sheet styrene, as the original bolster plates.

Here's the car as it looks with the trucks installed.

I mounted the trucks with 3/8" 2-56 screws.  I'm tending to use Phillips head screws now, which are a bit quicker and easier to keep the screw driver from slipping off of.

Right side of T&NO 777

Left side of T&NO 777, the body took some scratches, and I covered those with rust, the prototype photo I 

The prototype car photo I am working from showed some damage and weathering to the car's finish.  This was advantageous because the decals didn't go on perfectly and there was some damage to the finish under the decals.

Hand Tools

I'll take a moment to show a photo of some of my hand tools that I regularly use.

The various hand tools that I use in most of my builds.  Calibers, top, various drills, 2-56 tap, No.11 blade, scribe, etc.

Left to right;
Digital Calipers (12")
NMRA Standards Gauge (Mark IVb)
Pinvice with No.46 2-56 Tap Clearance Drill
Pinvice with No.50 2-56 Tap Drill
Pinvice with 2-56 Tap
Standard Screwdriver (red) - from driver set -
Phillips Screwdriver (yellow)
Mechanical Pencil - 0.25mm leads & extra eraser
No.11 Xacto Blade & Handle
Carbide Scribe (also used for center marks)
Self-closing Tweezer
Needle File (again from a set which has many shapes)

Interior Layout

The interior on this car is different, as T&NO 777 remained a 72-seat coach, while the SP 1005 after 1943 was fitted as a 60-seat chair car.  I used second hand Walthers bench seats from my various 73-C-1 coach upgrading projects - Another story for another time! -

Walthers coach seats glued to strips of styrene.

I'll be showing the installation of the interior seats in the next part of this series after the interior lighting is installed.  I also plan to cover the detailing of the underbody as well.

Jason Hill

Related Links:

SP 60-C-5 (Part 1) SP 1005

Modeling 60-CC-1, SP 2701 from Model Power Coach (Parts 1 & Part 2)

Modeling Index SP HW Passenger Cars

Modeling Mail Trains, Nos 55 & 56, the Tehachapi Mail.
Modeling the Owl, Nos. 57 & 58, (Part 1) WW2 to 1950.

Pre-thoughts of New Golden Gate Depot "Harriman" cars

SP 2701 (Part 2), 60-CC-1 from a Model Power Coach

Well, some progress has been made on the SP 2701 since Part 1 of the build.  I will also mention that I've done some improvements to my SP HW Passenger Car Index page with new example photos and a few new car classes represented now.

Interior & Walls

Leading this update is the construction, painting, and installation of the chairs and some partitions around the toilets, and painting of the interior.

Interior added to SP 2701 - Note the dark green window shades.

I should first mention that I used dark green manila filing folder material for the dark green window shades on this model.  Some SP coaches, All-Day-Lunches, and News Agent cars had this.  Best to look at photos to see which cars had it, and which had a light tan shade.

Similar strips of PSC seats prepared for SP 1005.

The seats are Prescision Scale Co. 33312.1 (Chair Car) seats, they are injection molded in pairs with small legs on them.  I started with the uncolored gray seats, and painted the floor strip of .400" x 0.020" strip styrene a nice shade of "Seafoam" green from StarBrand, which is actually a pretty good match for the interior color used on Athearn's Streamlined 77-C-3 chair cars.

I then masked the floor and painted the seats with a mix of Freight Car Red (FCR) also StarBrand.  This again was a pretty close match for the colors used on the MTH and Athearn Genesis Daylight chair cars.

The seats were glued to the styrene strip 0.460" apart.  At the front end of the car there will be a set of seats looking back, however I did not install those at this time.  The lighting bar-strip was not glued in and I removed it for this part.  Checking the drawings I glued the seating strips in to get a good location compared to the windows of where they line up.  This is really a matter of choice, as the Model Power is missing one large window.  So in the middle of the car you can either let the seats not line up with the windows and have the right number of seats, or you can have the wrong number of seats, but line up with the windows.  I chose to have the right number of seats, and oh well about the windows.  I might have decided to go the other route in hindsight... but it's too late now! - (More on my thoughts of changing models after the fact).  At this point it's not reached a high enough mark on the "Really Annoying" Meter to worry about.

Photo from before the interior was installed - Notice the major hole... WATCH YOUR STEP!

Styrene sheet was added down the middle of the car as well to cover the major holes that were left in the Model Power body tooling.  This will help hide the holes as seen in the photo below.

SP 2701 with interior mounted and partitions around the ends of the seating area.

The partitions are 0.02" sheet styrene cut 36" wide and even with the top of the carside.  Notches are cut in the edge nearest the carside for the roof flange to clear.  Extra scrap squares of sheet styrene are glued over the "end windows" in the car interior.  I am not sure why both MDC and Model Power (copied) have these end windows into the toilets... Not kosher for 1910 certainly!  Probably they did one set of tooling for the end windows in the end wall of the observation car and put them in all their models as a general endsill wall.

The left end window (bottom left in the photo above) is also is covered with non-"Magic" Scotch Tape, which causes the "fogged" look, usually associated with the toilet windows on coaches and chair cars not fitted with expensive "etched" glass or prismed windows.  This can also be seen below.

Another view of the interior, also we can see a bit of the roof with the vents painted.

The soldering tabs can be seen above at the end of the LED strip.  The wires from the trucks and markers will attach there.

I'll end this update with a photo of the car showing what the car looks like without installed marker lights.

Non-marker end of the SP 2701

In some ways installing the markers after the HiTech Diaphragms are installed is more of a pain, but on this model it will need to be done.

That does it for now for Part 2 of the SP 2701 build.  In Part 3 I'll be showing the installed OwlMtModels marker kit and finishing the underbody frame and installing assorted detail parts.

Jason Hill

SP 2436, (Part1) an 77-C-3 - Upgrading an Athearn-Genesis Chair car

Marker Lights, Video, and Athearn-Genesis Chair Cars

Tonight we'll be looking at a fairly easy upgrade to an Athearn Genesis 77-C-3 streamlined chair car.  Athearn-Genesis has released this class of car in several runs over the last 7 or so years in multiple paint schemes.

OwlMtModels #10002 - Pyle Gyralite Marker installation video - Links below.

I will also be trying a new blog feature on the installation of the OwlMtModels lit Gyralite Tailgate Marker kit, which is I'll try filming the installation on this car.  I also filmed the process of installing the window shades.

I'm interested in feedback about the video.  I know it's the first time I've done a video of model building.  I need to get a small tripod and I'm sure all the serious video and audio people will be complaining.  Most of my blogs will stay text and photos, but I might do short video clips again to show certain techniques or assembly steps that photos don't show the process well.

Class History

SP 2436 with window shades and Gyralite Marker installed.

In 1937, Southern Pacific ordered an immediate follow-on class to the first batch of single-unit chair cars for the Daylight (77-C-1) and the Sunbeam/Huster (77-C-2), which was the 15 cars of class 77-C-3.  I am not going to extensive depth on all of the swapping around of each of these cars between 1937 and 1950, needless to say, SP always was short on LW chair cars and kept them hopping.

The 77-C-3 cars were ordered to start upgrading the Challenger and the Californian with "Lightweight" streamlined cars.  These cars were painted in SP's Dark Olive Green, which was the SP's standard 'General Service' Color until late 1949-1950, when it was changed so these cars could also protect the 'Daylight Pool'.

The Challenger-assigned cars also received the "Challenger" script logo on the plaque at the car center.  The Californian-assigned cars had a smaller plaque than the Daylight cars and only had the car's reporting marks.

SP 2438 was the first car wrecked only a year old in 1938 at the head-on wreck at Tortuga, the SP 2427 went to the T&NO in 1942, so the we'll be following the 13 remaining cars.

Paint Modifications to the SP 2436

Here you can see the missing A/C cover - will be reattached later

I was asked to do some upgrades on a Dark Olive Green 77-C-3 for a customer.  The model from Athearn comes with pre-1946 "Southern Pacific Lines" lettering.  The customer wants it modeled as one of the few cars that survived the war and into the June 1946 scheme, still in green paint with the new lettering scheme.  This is the first change to be done on the SP 2436.

I masked off the windows and reshot the carbody with StarBrand Dark Olive Green.  New decals are ThinFilm 160.  I chose the SP 2436, because it was - as far as I can tell - one of the last SP General Service Green cars.  SP 2433 was another.

Interior Modifications

The customer also wanted one of the OwlMtModels #10002 Gyralite Marker Tailgates installed for end-of-train service.  SP's standard practice was to run the last car of a train with the vestibule to the rear, this was true even if the car was built to normally operate vestibule forward. (SP 2492 and 2493 were built vestibule-rear for service on the San Joaquin Daylight as rear cars.)  On the SP 2436, this means that I need to change the seating for the car to operate in the other direction.  On the Athearn models this is pretty easy.

End plate of car and side interface - SP 2436, Athearn Genesis 77-C-3

Open the car by gently prying the ends of the car away from the frame where they tab-lock in.  Then again, carefully pry the sides and the skirts over the underframe.  The Green and Daylight cars are harder to do this with, because they have full skirting.  Also the SP 2436 has very fine etchings covering some of the A/C gear under the car, these are not well mounted to the car and popped of regularly with this model.  -  In the final assembly stages of this model, I plan to try some other adhesives to solve this issue.

Athearn-Genesis 77-C-3 Interior, Vestibule to the right in this view

The interior of the car is very well done with anti-mascara headrests, and a very nice lighting system that's not too bright.  The inside of the windows and isle windows are missing several things.  I find that models that have window shades, even in their up position, make the car look many times better.  Also the small extra detail of the isle window safety bars also make the interior of the car "pop".   The window shades for these "modern" chair cars should be of the reflectorized material.  The interior side was matched to the decor of the car's interior, but the outside was always silver.

Making the new window shade's is not hard.  I use either 3x5 card stock or paper, spray painted silver/aluminum.  For this car I used Tamiya Gloss Aluminum spray paint.  Cut the material in a saw tooth shape with the ends of each horizontal section falling at the window columns of the car side.

I mount these window shades with small pieces of Tamiya masking tape, this also allows easy changing of the shades later if desired and doesn't cause any fogging of the window glass.

The seats were easy enough to pop out of their mounting pegs and reverse.  On the real cars, this was just as easy because each pair of seats was mounted on a pivot, which could be unlocked and allow the pair of seats to rotate so the passengers could look out the windows, or all the way around to face the other direction.

Installing the Marker Light - Video Instructions and Rambling

In Part 1 - Assembly (about 16 minutes), I show how to put the Pyle Gyralite together on the tailgate with the LED, soldering the dropping resistor on and some basic discussions of what should be done before installation

In Part 2 - Installation in Athearn-Genesis 77-C-3 Chair Car (About 17.5 minutes) I go though a step-by-step on how to mount the tailgate marker assembly in the chair car and hook up to the Athearn car's existing lighting system

Additional Information on Markers

Owl Mountain Models makes a detailing kit with a standard scissor safety gate on which the SP and several other railroads would hang a Pyle Gyralite housing and plug into the car's electrical system.  These lights would be used in addition or instead of the old Adlake Marker Lanterns that would be mounted on the corner-post brackets.  MSRP for the OwlMtModels 10002 kit is $9.95 for a pair of markers, enough for two cars.  The pickups from the track on this kit is left to the modeler to work out as there are so many ways manufacturers build their cars.

These Markers began replacing the standard side-mount Adlake Lanterns, possibly as early as 1950-1951, with the changing of the SP Rulebooks over the years to provide for "Electric Markers" and also "Built-In Electric Markers" on the streamlined observation cars from as early as 1937.

One of the main reasons why I use them, even on cars slightly earlier than the photographs show, is that they can be put on any car in a passenger car consist, including cars that I might wish to operate mid-train.  The light from the LED marker will be between the diaphragms, not running into anything, and hidden from all normal viewing angles.  Lighting-Only decoders can also be installed in the cars if I desire to have the Gyralite strobing "Signal Light" effect working, or I could turn the marker off.

Extinguishing the electric markers was required in the rules if the marker could not be turned to display 'Green' to the rear for other trains when not on the main track.  So in short, if you go into a siding, you should turn the marker light off.

OwlMtModels Gyralite and Tailgate castings painted. LEDs and 1k Ohm Dropping Resistors not shown.

The kit has a pair of injection molded sprues with the Gyralite housing and the scissor gates, two red mini-LEDs, and a pair of 1k Ohm dropping resistors for operation on 12-14V DCC/DC track power.  If the modeler desires the "Gyralite" effects of the light in full operation (which was optional on the real lights) a lighting only decoder or DC lighting module can easily be added.  On this car, I am only doing the light as "on".

Here's a full-size 1:1 scale Pyle Gyralite, obviously one off an SP engine in post-1958 Scarlet Red

First, I use my sprue cutters to separate the Gyralite housings half of the sprue from the tailgate section of the sprue for painting.  The Gyralites will be silver on this model.  I have heard from various SP employees that they were also Daylight Red (Daylight trains) or Armor Yellow (Overland route) for specific train assignments.  I believe they also had Scarlett Red on them after 1958, if the particular housing was stolen from a diesel and not repainted.


The scissor gates were painted the same color as the interior of the vestibule or the end color of the car, if it was on the blind-end of the car.  Because the SP 2436 will be running "backwards" with the vestibule on the rear, I should paint it the vestibule interior color... On the Athearn model this is problematic, because the floor is the Seafoam Green of the interior of the car, but the Vestibule wall is Dark Olive Green.... I had the Dark Olive Green paint out at that time, so painted it that color.

The Gyralite housing was reamed quickly with a No.50 drill to clear any flashing from the LED hole.  The LED's contacts were bent back to the rear of the LED.  Then the LED was slipped into the housing.  I keep the small silver Cathode mark on the back of the LED on the right side of the housing, when looking at the back.  I do this just so I can easily tell which way the polarity needs to be for DC operation if I want to set a car up for that.  In DCC, it doesn't really matter.

The LED protrudes slightly from the back of the tailgate and there is a pocket on the tailgate to accept the back of the LED.  The contacts on the back of the LED slide through the tailgate and either into the carbody or into the vestibule on a car, depending which end of the car the marker is being mounted.

With the tailgate assembled, the resistor and LED were tinned and the resistor is soldered to one of the LED contacts.  Again, the LED only works with the polarity one way, and as a diode it blocks electric current from flowing backwards through the LED.  In my experience with these LEDs, there is not enough potential across the LED to cause it to fail because of the back current.  In other words, it's safe without using a diode bridge to rectify the DCC (AC) current.

Very Important - Always use a "dropping" resistor of at least 600 Ohms to limit the voltage and amps across the LED.  I would suggest if using a lighting-only decoder on DCC to possibly go as low as 600 Ohms for a more intense "Pop" at the high cycle of the Gyralite effect.  For normal "Only On" operation, the provided 1k Ohm dropping resistors are fine.  I have tested the LEDs with as high as 5-6k Ohm resistors, and they still light with a dull red glow.  The 1k Ohm seems to be a very happy medium and looks good in layout operation as well.

Interior of the 77-C-3, stock Athearn-Genesis painted - the power pickup wipers can be seen at the far light green bulkhead.

I removed the car end (easily done, as it's press-fit only), so that I can more easily work on installing the tailgate and marker.  I soldered some TCS #1219 32-gage wire to the resistor and the other LED contact to connect to the Athearn-Genesis roof lighting strip.  The truck power comes up through two metal contact wipers at each end of the car.  Actually the inboard interior wall of the men's and women's "dressing rooms" right to the ends of the main seating area's light strip.  I removed the lighting strip by unscrewing two Phillip head screws, so that I could more easily solder everything together.

The vertical side strips of the gate were modified to fit the Athearn Genesis 77-C-3 and were removed to narrow the gate.  Once the gate can fit into the opening at the end of the car, I glued it in place with Tamiya liquid plastic glue.

As the roof lighting strip contacts will be full track Voltage, I soldered into the light strip at that point, keeping the wiring up in the roof.  I reinstalled the car end and the lighting strip with the two mounting screws and pressed the car end back in place on the body shell.

Clip-leading to my power supply, simulating track power, I tested the LED marker to be sure it was working.

Closing Thoughts on V-Blogging

OwlMtModels Marker kit installed on a Cascade TTG 77-C-3, by Athearn Genesis

I'm going to wrap up SP 2436, Part 1, here.

Comment what you think about the videos, if they're helpful, etc.  I know I didn't use the best camera or have the greatest setup either.  I'm not sure how much, if any, more video footage I will use on this blog in the future.  The uploading and editing these two less-than 20 minute videos took over two days.  I might consider it for special projects, where still photos don't really get across what I'm doing.

I do have some footage of the window shades going into the SP 2436 for a Part 3 video, if there's interest in the community.  That will be in SP 2436 (Part 2) when it's ready.

Jason Hill

SP 60-C-5s, (Part 1) SP 1005

In this series of posts, I'm working on some Soho 60-C-5 coaches.  The first two are both the same class, yet quite different cars as examples of what happened to SP and T&NO's large fleet of 60 foot coaches over the years.  Both the SP 1005 and the T&NO 777 are based on the Soho model of a 60-C-10.

SP 1005, 60-C-5 Chair

SP 1005 with window shades and replaced roof vents.

SP 1005 started life as Northwestern Pacific (NWP) 401 and was fitted as a "smoker" coach with a partition mid-car.  The NWP 401 spend her early carrier working north of San Fransisco Bay until 1935, when it was transferred to the SP and renumbered 1005.  Like all 60-C-5s it was built with transom windows of colored glass and end windows.

Here's the SP 1005, before I changed the roof vents.  The end-window can be made out in this photo as well.

In 1940, the SP was short of cabooses, so SP 1005 was reassigned and numbered into the caboose series as SP 998.  Mid-war it was decided that the SP needed more coaches to deal with the crush of the troop movements and was short passenger capacity.  SP regained her status as a revenue passenger car in 1943 by having 60-seats worth of second hand chair seats installed.  Only a handful of the SP 60ft coaches were equipped as chair cars instead of coaches, but didn't go all the way and get air conditioning.

SP 1005 lasted through the war and was one of the few cars that still retained its gas lighting in 1945.  I've not really tracked down any more data on the 1005 as it kicked around between various unknown assignments until it was photographed in Oakland in 1947 by E.R. Mohr, Pg 120 in SP Passenger Cars Vol1., by the SPH&TS.  The green glass of the transom windows were still intact in the photo, by 1950 most SP coaches and chair cars had these plated over.  The last being covered in 1952.  This was mostly because of problems with leaking in the transom windows.  The 1947 photo was only 6 months to a year after the SP changed to "Southern Pacific" lettering above the windows, so it's very understandable that this car wasn't a priority to repaint.

In 1952, the SP 1005 was retired.  A year later, it was reactivated as a caboose for the second time as SP 953.  Another car had taken over the Caboose SP 998 number.  By 1954 the 953 was retired again and what happened after that is unknown, it was probably scrapped at that point.

Modeling the SP 1005

Here's a Soho 60-C Coach in similar starting point to where the SP 1005 started

I started this project with a Soho 60-C-10 with transom windows.  My problem is by 1948-1952, when I model most of my equipment, these transom windows were becoming VERY rare.  I chose the 1005 because of it's somewhat unique history.  It would also fit well into my Tehachapi Mail (Nos.55/56) consist to mix up the regular 60-C-coaches, or in other mixed assignments typical of the "wandering" SP non-A/C coach after WW2.

Soho SP 1005, 60-C-5 in-process - Note the green glass in the transom windows.

I'm modeling the SP 1005 after its 1943 conversion to a 60-seat Chair Car, this means I do have to make some modifications to the "early" Soho Coach.  The car is painted Dark Olive Green and my standard mix of off-black gray for the roof and underframe.  "SOUTHERN PACIFIC LINES" decals are used on the car to show another car that hasn't been repainted since 1946.  Also, remember this car is pretty clearly not in the best condition.  It's been retired once already, and but for the needs of WW2, it would have stayed as a caboose.

Here's a photo to show off the Tamiya Clear Green painted glass transom windows

Windows were installed using clear sheets of styrene.  I masked off everything except the top 18" of the windows.  This leaves what will be the transom windows exposed.  I used Tamiya Clear Green to tint the upper glass a lovely green color.  Be sure to tint the inside of the windows!  This will help prevent scratches to the tint and also keep the mounting glue from de-bonding the tint as well.  Once dry, I installed the window sets with Testors Canopy Cement.  Be extremely careful to have the green glass and clear glass change fall behind the narrow header of the main windows.

The diaphragms are again from HiTech.

Underframe

Basic Underframe

John Ruehle made me a new underframe for the car.  John used a piece of 0.040" sheet for the main floor.  Then C-channel 0.185"x 0.150" was used for the main centersill.  Crossbeams of .070"x 0.050" I-beam were glued on to represent the floor supports.  This underframe doesn't have any of the diagonal bracing that the 69-BP-30 (SP 5199) or the rest of the SC&F kits have.

John mounted passenger brake "UC" type gear on the bottom of the car.

Electrical Generator was already fitted to the underframe

Looking at the SP 1005, with its "rare" gas lighting by 1947, certainly rare by 1952, I will be adding the gas tanks.  However, I will probably add a battery box, because I'll be adding the OwlMtModels 10002 Gyralite Marker Light.

Styrene shims added to bolster of Walthers 920-2124 on SP 1005.

I shimmed the bolsters and installed a sheet of 0.02" styrene across the top bolster of the Walthers 8ft Pullman 4-wheel trucks to result in the right coupler height.  I plan to fit the car (in Part 2) with my standard LED lighting strip and OwlMtModels Pyle Gyralite marker and tailgate kit for end-of-train service.

Window Shades

Completed window shades installed in the SP 1005

Window shades for the 1005 are made from manila card stock file folders.  One folder will do about 30-50 sets of window shades.  I don't use normal 3-5lb paper because, unless painted, it is too translucent for use with the LED lighting installed, even at lower settings.

Cut a strip of card stock a scale 24"x 50'6" and make pencil markers where the window columns are across the full shade.  I then mark where I want the window shades to be cut off at.  This will be on average, make the shade 12" high, however I like to make somewhat random cross cuts with a Xacto to show passengers using the shades and moving them to where they want to be.  These horizontal cuts are then connected with small vertical cuts to make a prepared window shade.

Abbreviated shades to keep the green transom windows clear. Tamiya tape used to mount the shades.

Remember that cars freshly out of the coach yard should have all their shades nicely trimmed 1-3" below the top edge of the window, or whatever the railroad considered "standard dress" starting position.  A car ending its trip will be all over the map, some shades high, some low, some in the middle, some unused if the seats were empty the whole trip.

Once trimmed to length (This time I was also making standard longer ones for my SP 1050's window shades) I used 1/16" wide by about 1/4-3/8" long strips of Tamiya Masking Tape to hold the shades in place.  The tinting on the windows was actually thick enough, once the mask was removed to make a nice stopping ledge for the shade material to catch on.  The tape was then applied with the end of a knife blade vertically where the window columns are.

Bathroom window covered with Scotch Tape

The toilet annexes will have etched glass or prism glass, I use standard Scotch Tape (not the magic clear stuff), so that when I apply it to the clear plastic windows it will remain foggy.

"Globe" Roof Vents

Here's the 1005 with new MDC "Globe" vents

I removed the Soho stock Utility Vents over the main seating area.  I still need to remove the vents over the car ends.  There was a slight mishap and I scratched the roof paint pretty badly there in the center of the car.  When I do the additional end vents I'll touch up any other scratches.  The square holes left from the old vents were roughly in the right place on the roof, so I used my ~0.085" drill bit in a pin vise.  As always drilling through brass sheet, be careful when 'breaking through' with the tip as the drill will tend to catch.

The MDC vent pieces were easily glued into the holes with ACC.  Make sure not to put the car floor back on for a day or so after gluing.  This will allow the glue to "gas-off" and not fog the windows.

Interior

Here's the SP 1005 with the seating strips of PSC 33312.2 Chair Seats

Because the SP 1005 was pulled back into service as a chair car, she lost her original 72-seat coach configuration.  Instead a 60-seat chair plan was used, probably from second hand chairs from other 60-CC-1s upgraded in 1941-42.  Trying to find exactly the right seats is a bit challenging.  For this car I'm using Precision Scale Co. #33312.2 chair seats were used and mounted to a strip of 0.03"x 0.188" strip styrene was used to space the seat pairs apart.  The inside of the car sides have flanges, which add strength, however they do make the installation of interiors a bit tricky.  Once glued up, these strips of seats will be able to be easily mounted to the inner ledge of the car side.

The 15 rows of seats are evenly spaced every 3.28 ft over the 50'4" length of windows.  In laying this out I come to find out that the car is about 2 feet too short, all in the toilet windows section of the car.  That doesn't really effect the modeling of the interior though, just interesting to note.  The last pair of seats are showing in the floor plan reversed.  These would have been the walk-over type seats, possibly from the A/C'd 60-CC-1s, which new seats in 1942.  SP had a way of reusing second hand seats on older cars.

The center isle will be purposely left open for access to the lighting strip in the roof.

LED Lighting

An example of a car I installed this type of lighting in

I don't plan to mount the interior seats strips until I have the LED strip installed and lead wires for the trucks and marker light are installed.  As a sneak peek, here's the light strips that I make myself.  I use 0.100" x 0.250" styrene strips as a backing support for the LED light strip.  The leads are easily soldered onto the ends of each 3" section of LED strip.

LED lighting components

In the center of the LED coil, is a 3" strip for the SP 5199 project I'm working on, and above that are two 6" strips for the 60 and 70 foot coaches I'm working on at the same time.

Beauty shot in closing here

That does it for this part of the SP 1005 Build.  In SP 60-C-5s, Part 2 T&NO 777 I cover building a car without the green transom glass windows and more detail of the underframe construction.  Please follow to be notified when I post the next blog update!

Jason Hill

Related Links:
Of some interest is Sunset Import's new announcement of plastic 60-C-5s coming to HO, follow this link to my blog post with my thoughts on it. GoldenGateModels Harriman Cars in HO

Or you can follow this link to my blog on building the SP 2701, a 60-CC-1 (Part 1) from a Model Power Coach