Necessary Freight Cars for the Camas Prairie Railroad

Necessary Freight Cars #1:  NP 40' Combo door boxcar

During the past several years, Ted Cullotta wrote several articles for Railroad Model Craftsman titled Essential Freight Cars, about the needed freight cars for the typical post-war, transition era modeler.  So I have borrowed Ted's byline to start a new series of posts on the freight cars needed to model the Camas Prairie Railroad in 1967.  


Ted's excellent articles were focused on the prototype car information, then a well described process for modeling the car in HO scale.  My posts won't be how-to articles per se, but will be  general information about the prototype car and the basics of how to model it.



Prototype
In the mid-1950's, Northern Pacific Railway found they needed more specialized boxcars than the ubiquitous 40 foot, 6 foot wide door boxcars that had been the mainstay of the car fleet since the mid 1930's.  

In 1958, NP began building boxcars that could be used to load grain but also be loaded by forklift with shipments such as lumber or paper.  The result was a 40 foot combination door car, that included a 6 foot sliding door and a 8 foot plug door.  With the plug door closed, the car could be easily coopered with a grain door for grain loading.  With the plug door open, the 14 foot opening would make loading lumber by forklift possible.  



The NP's Brainerd shops and Pullman-Standard built 1650 of these boxcars from 1958 through 1961.  The 1250 cars built at Brainerd were built similar to AAR standards.  Most of the cars were constructed with riveted sides, Standard Railway Equipment improved dreadnaught ends, overhanging diagonal panel roofs, Apex tri-lock running boards and 50 ton ASF ride control solid bearing trucks.

An NP-Brainerd built AAR standard combination door boxcar in an unknown midwestern location taken in the mid 1970's.  Note some typical Brainerd construction methods for riveted cars of the era: A diagonal side sheet next to the doors; solid side sill; 8 rung ladders; and, ladder styles that extend to the top of the roof.  Dan Holbrook collection.

In the middle of construction, a group of 250 cars were constructed with Pullman ends and PS overhanging roofs.  The sides were still of the same riveted construction.  Presumably, the  Stan-ray components they had used for the initial construction became unavailable, requiring the use of Pullman components as a replacement.  Northern Pacific also liked using US Gypsum running boards, so it is possible some of these cars had the USG running boards.


Pullman-Standard also built 400 cars to their PS1 boxcar specs.  The cars look like a typical PS1, with an 8 foot plug door added.  The were built with welded sides, Pullman ends, a Pullman standard roof, Apex running boards and 50 ton ASF ride control roller bearing trucks.  Like many PS1 boxcars, the ends were also painted black when delivered.

A Pullman built PS1 combination door boxcar in Los Angeles, CA, in the early 60's.  This car is a typical PS1 with an 8 foot plug door and solid side sill added.  It also rides on 50 ton ASF ride control roller bearing trucks.  Non-standard NP items on this car are the seven rung ladders and black painted ends.  Scott Vines photo.

Shortly after their construction, many of these cars were found in service on the Camas Prairie Railroad being loaded with paper at the Potlatch paper mill in Lewiston, Idaho.

The Potlatch paper mill in Lewiston, ID, in April 1961.  In the lower left hand corner, NP combination door boxcars are spotted in the south shipping track (poking out of the loading shed, next to the parking lot) for loading with rolls of coated paper.  Jim Davis collection.

Model

My model of the 8912 is from the Brainerd built group of cars.  It is kitbashed with sides from an Accurail undecorated 40' combo door boxcar.  The roof and ends are Branchline parts.  I started with Accurail kit #3800,  cutting away the ends and roof.  I sand the sides until all the remnants of the ends and roof are gone.  The Accurail car sides are cast with a taper, getting gradually thicker toward the top.  To make the roof fit, this must be thinned.  I thin the sides with a medium sized bastard file.  

 From here, it basically becomes a flat kit, so I glue the sides and Branchline ends together.  The tricky part here is ensuring the sides and ends stay square.  I eyeballed this, however, a tool, such as Coffman Right clamp would be useful for making these joints. 


I use the Accurail floor that comes with the kit.  Some pieces of square styrene are used as supports for the floor and to reinforce the side/end joints.  I remove the cast coupler box on the Accurail floor and sand it down so until flat.  When I glue the floor into the body, I set the floor so the sanded coupler pad is even with the bottom of the car end.  Once the floor is secure, I add some weight to the car using lead tire weights.  

Most of the underframe is not visible from the side, so I did not add all of the brake details.  What is visible, is the AB control valve and reservoir.  These cars were built with the reservoir perpindcular to the car side.  I use the Tichy AB brake set for the underside brakes as well as some wire for the brake rods.

I started out with the intention of doing a completely detailed underframe, sans the train line pipe.  In fact, I had the reservoir mounted on the wrong side of the large middle stringer and had to move it to location seen here.  In the process, much of the piping I added was destroyed.  When I looked at the model from the side, I could barely see any detail underneath, so I left the underframe in this partially completed stage.  On future cars, I will do even less of this detail since it can't be seen.

I add the roof next.  There is no 40 foot overhanging diagonal panel roof available, so I made one by removing two panels from a Branchline 50 foot overhanging roof.  A styrene top chord, made of 2x8, was necessary to get the overhanging roof to sit properly.

You'll notice in the pictures, that I extended the door tracks for the plug door.  Door stops made from pieces of 1x2 were added also, in line with the end of the extended door tracks.

Added details that make the cars stand out
are the plug door stops; side grabs that
extend beyond the end of the car; extended
door tracks; and, thin profile sill steps.

Because of how far the plug door extends when open, the Brainerd shops placed the side grab irons part way beyond the side of the car.  I use some .010 styrene to make the support plate, then attach standard wire grab irons.  The wire grab irons provide sufficient strength supporting the styrene plate.

For ladders, I use Branchline 8 rung ladders on the sides and ends.   Some .010 styrene is used to attach the ladders to the car sides.  I also added some styrene pieces to extend the ladder styles to the roof.  

Additional details include 8 rung ladders
with extended styles; ladder supports;
Moloco brake wheel housing and Kadee
brakewheel; .010 wire for the handbrake
rod.  I used the Branchline brake fulcrum
that is included with on the parts sprue
and a Grandt Line turnbuckle, cut in half
to attach the brake rod to the fulcrum.

On the B end, I add brake parts from Moloco and Kadee.  The retainer valve and rod to fulcrum (anyone know what this is called?) connector I make with Grandt Line turnbuckles attached to brass wire. 


The airhose and bracket are from Hi-tech Details and Precision Scale Co. Hi-tech hoses are made from rubber and will bend if touched or tweaked, lessening the chance of damage.  If they do get damaged, they can be easily replaced.  I make the sill steps with .010x .020 flat brass stock.


I add a Plano Apex running board, attaching it to the roof using canopy cement.  I add some .010 styrene for the running board end supports.  The Branchline running board supports on the roof were tooled too wide and need to be narrowed, so I narrow them with a chisel blade, using the running board as a guide.

Top view of the car showing the shortened roof, with the Plano Apex running board added.

Bottom view of the Moloco draft gear box.
Notice the 2-56 counter sunk screws used
to attach it to the car. 

For the draft gear I use Moloco non-cushioned draft gear.  These draft boxes have nice detail, while providing a strong box with two screws to attach to the car.  They also allow the use of Kadee #153 short shank, semi-scale, whisker couplers.  I use Kato ASF A-3 ride control trucks, with Reboxx semi-scale .88 wheels.


The car body is painted in standard Northern Pacific Metallic Brown.  I use Scalecoat paint, and make this color by mixing equal parts Oxide Red and Boxcar Red #1, adding some reefer orange and white.  Since the car will be weathered, the color should be close to the NP's color, but some variance is more than acceptable.  I mix up a batch of this color every so often, but I eyeball the mix, purposely creating some variance from batch to batch.


These cars have a galvanized roof.  I use Scalecoat Graphite & Oil, mixed equally with White.  This gives the grayish look and cuts out most of (but not all) the metallic sheen.  I paint the roof and running board first.  I mask off the roof, then paint the rest of the car with the Metallic Brown.  A little overspray of the Metallic Brown is okay as the prototype cars often had overspray on the roofs.

The car has been painted Metallic Brown, with a galvanized roof.  I like using Scalecoat as it is leaves a nice even, glossy finish.  I matched the NP Metallic Brown color from the drift cards produced by the NP Historical Society. 

I used Microscale's MC-4109 set to decal the car, but this set has its problems and has also been discontinued.  Jerry Glow recently started making a decal set that will do this car.


Weathering a car is a matter of taste, but considering this cars seven year service life, it should look dirty, but not dilapidated.  One thing I have noticed in pictures of NP boxcars in the 1960's, is that they can be quite dirty, yet the white lettering and logo will stay amazingly clean.


To accomplish this, I add some "pre-weathering" to the car before decaling it.  Once there is a nice base grunge, I gloss coat the car and decal it.  I also add re-weigh dates and data, re-pack paint out patches with stencil data and chalk marks at this time.  After another overcoat, I add some additional weathering to finish off the car.  Finally I seal the whole thing with a flat overcoat on the trucks, underframe, and sill; and a slightly more glossy overcoat on the rest of the car. 

This is the "pre-weathering" that gets some dirt along rivet lines and staines the cars sides without weathering over the lettering.  Washes of burnt umber, mixed with white and thinned with mineral spirits is run over the sides.  Once the weathering is dry, I spray a glosscoat over the top before decaling. 

This car has the "pre-weathering" and decaling done.  Notice how clean the lettering is, with no weathering on top of it.  Another coat of glosscoat is needed to seal the decals, then the rest of the 

weathering can be finished.

Ready for service! Surface rust on the roof.  Light rust streaking where the open plug door sits.  Wheel spatter  on the ends.  Dust and grime on the trucks. A thick, black coating of bearing grease mixed with dirt on the journal box lids and wheel faces, a common occurrence for cars with solid bearings.

So this is the first necessary freight car for the Camas Prairie Railroad.  I figure needing 10 to 15 of these cars and this is a fairly involved kitbash.  I built this first one to test out the construction method and am confident a fleet of these can be built assembly line style.   The kitbash it self isn't particularly time consuming, but the devil is in the details.  The side grab irons, ladder style extensions, running board end supports, etc. are what take most of the time.  

More necessary freight cars to follow in the coming weeks (hopefully with out such a long pause between posts!)...