Minneapolis & Northland Railroad Company Modeling

Thursday, September 23, 2021

Minneapolis & St. Louis SS Box Car 18972

The Dominion Car & Foundry Fowler design was one of the most important designs in the evolution of the box car. I wanted to build a forty foot version of the Fowler design single sheathed box car. Having a good number of freight cars for Canadian and various U.S. roads that owned the Fowler design cars I chose the Minneapolis & St. Louis (M&St.L) to make an addition to my freight car fleet. Therefore, I purchased Westerfield Models, kit 4453, a Minneapolis & St. Louis (M&St.L) single sheathed (SS) box car of Fowler design for the project that I numbered 18972 .

In 1916 the Minneapolis & St. Louis purchased 500 cars from Betterndorf and assigned them to the 18000-18998 series, even numbers only. The cars were all retired by 1948 , before the Minneapolis & Northland Railroad Company time period of late spring 1955; however, I felt one car on the roster was fine.

There are no photos or mention of a M&St.L car in the kit instructions. Therefore, I needed to find a photo or photos for the build. I found one photo with a side view of a M&St.L Fowler design SS box car, number 18942, in Steam Era Freight Cars Reference Manual Volume One: Box & Automobile Cars (Speedwitch Media, 2006, 2007). In addition, Doug Harding and Clark Propst helped with photos to aid with the build.

Sirman Collection, courtesy of Clark Propost
(Click or tap on any photo to enlarge)

After studying prototype photos I found I had to make some changes to the kit to build the M&St.L SS box car I wanted. So be it. I began the build of this flat kit with the build of the basic box. For the basic box an end is glued to a side making an “L” and the two “Ls” are glued together to create the basic box (car body). The basic box is strengthened with the addition of the roof and underbody.

Basic box after two "Ls" glued together.

Normally when building a flat kit I like to add the roof next; however, this kit has a flat roof consisting of two pieces that are glued to a truss support structure that you assemble.

Flat roof and truss pieces

Therefore, I fitted and installed the floor and underbody because it was a one piece casting. In this case, easier to install to provide strength to the car body that I felt was needed before adding the roof.

Underbody installed.

Once the underbody was installed , coupler pads and bolster king pins were drilled with a #50 drill and tapped for 2-56 screws. I installed the Kadee #262 draft gear boxes with Kadee #148 whisker coupler inserted with Fastenal 3/16” screws. Next Tahoe Model Works #115, 40 Ton ARA trucks with Intermountain 33” metal wheels were installed with Fastenal 1/4 “ screws.

Trucks and couplers installed. Roof not yet
installed. Only placed on car to get it weighted properly.

After install of draft gear and trucks, I went back to complete the install of the roof. A couple of tasks needed to be done before roof install. First I added a baffle, cut from Evergreen .060” sheet styrene, to the center of the car body to prevent any bowing in of the sides in the future. Tire weights, 1/4 oz., and some sheet lead were added to bring the car weight with trucks and couplers to 3.8 ounces. Now the truss assembly was built per kit instructions and the flat roof cut in the center, bent and installed.

Baffle installed.

Weights installed.

Roof installed on truss assembly.

With the car body assembled, adding of details could begin. I began by installing the roof running boards. The latitudinal running boards were mounted with brackets made with brass 10” x 30” strip in the kit. The longitudinal running board end brackets were made with Evergreen #8102, 1 x 2 strip styrene.

Running boards and brackets installed.

Next I installed the upper corner braces on the sides per M&St.L photos using strip styrene provided in the kit. Corner brace fasteners were added with MEK Goop. Now, ladders not in the kit were installed. The side ladders are Kadee #210 ladders. End ladders are ladders with matching rung spacing from the parts box. On end ladders rungs were cutoff and Plastruct #90850, .010” diameter styrene round rod was used to cut and install new rungs. At this point ladders are not the correct five rung length.

Ladders prior to shorting to five rung.

Ladder shortened to match prototype and ladder
rungs replaced. Corner braces have fasteners added.

After replacing the ladder rungs on the “B” end I continued working on the “B” end installing the fascia brake shaft bracket (resin casting in kit) and the sill bracket shaft bracket from Tichy Train Group (Tichy) set #3013. In addition, the kit provided resin retainer valve was installed. Next a retainer line and brackets, Tichy .008” phosphor bronze wire (PBW) were installed followed by the brake shaft, Tichy #1102, .015” PBW, with a brake wheel also from Tichy set #3013.

"B" end work completed.

After receiving additional prototype photos, I found all ladders needed to be shortened from six rung to five rung ladders with ends curved. Therefore, I shortened the ladders and used MEK Goop to round the ends. Next all kit grab irons were installed. For roof grab irons corner legs, Yarmouth Model Works photo etched eye bolts without shoulders were used. And, sill steps, A-Line #29000, style A , were installed in #76 drilled holes.

Ladders shortened and grab irons installed.

Time to work the underbody. The underframe resin kit parts: crossties, crossbearers and their coverplates and bolster cover plates were installed. The brake components, AB set #3013, air reservoir and AB valve were installed using Tichy set #3013 brackets and the brake cylinder was installed on a Sunshine Models bracket from my parts box. I used Tichy phosphor bronze wire (PBW) I provided for the piping and brake rods. On the underbody the following details were now added:

brake cylinder lever made from Evergreen #8108, 1” x 8” strip styrene (not in kit)
floating brake lever made from Evergreen #8106, 1” x 6” strip styrene (not in kit)
brake lever hangers, wire grab irons in kit
floating lever fulcrum (mounting plate at center sill) cut from resin strip in parts box
piping from air reservoir to control valve, Tichy #1101, .010” diameter PBW
pipe from brake cylinder to control valve, Tichy #1106, .0125” diameter PBW
brake rods, Tichy #1106, .0125” diameter PBW
brake rod clevises, Tichy turnbuckles #8021 (not in kit)
chain, A-Line #29219, Black 40 links per inch (not in kit)
train line, .018” diameter floral wire (not in kit)
dirt collector, Tichy, set #3013
train line couplings, dirt collector tee, and fasteners, MEK Goop

Underbody details added.

Back to the ends to install uncoupling levers and eye bolt brackets bent from Tichy #1206, .0125” PBW. And, kit side doors with molded on door handles were carved off and replaced with wire door handles bent from Tichy #1101, .010” diameter PBW. A side door stiffener extension located near the door lock was added with the strip styrene in the kit.

Uncoupling levers bent and installed.

Note lower door stiffener extension and
lower wire door handle.

M&St.L single sheathed Fowler design box car 18972 was ready for paint. The trucks and wheels were hand painted with Vallejo Model Color Black Grey, #70.862. The car underbody was sprayed Model Color Vallejo Dark Grey Black, 71.054. The car body was sprayed with a Vallejo Model Color Calvary Brown 70.862. Once the paint was dry, the car body was sprayed Vallejo Gloss Medium 70.470 to have a Gloss base for decal application.

Car body sprayed Vallejo Calvary Brown.

Underbody sprayed Vallejo Dark Grey Black

After drying overnight, decals provided in the kit except for the chalk marks from Speedwitch Media set D-145 ( now National Scale Car) and repack date from a Marty Vaughn M&St.L set were soaked off in distilled water and applied to the car body where Microscale Micro Set had been applied with a brush. After the decal was applied in the Micro Set and positioned the edges had Microscale Micro Sol applied. Any excess solution was sucked away with the torn edge of a paper towel. When dry, car body sprayed with Vallejo Gloss Varnish 70.510 to better hide decals edges. Finally, the car body was sprayed was sprayed Model Master Acryl 4636/Flat Clear Acryl to protect the car during handling.

Decals applied.

One last item before putting M&St.L Box Car 18972 in service was to weather the car with Artmatic eye shadow and Pan Pastels. An Artmatic eye shadow color like a Dark Box Car Red was applied over entire car body. Pan Pastels used were Paynes Grey Extra Dark 840.1 on the roof and lightly over safety appliances on car body and Red Iron Oxide Extra Dark 380.1 to fade lettering.

Car weathered with eye shadow makeup
and Pan Pastels.

M&St.L shingle sheathed Fowler design box car 18972 was now ready for service on the Minneapolis & Northland Railroad Company, The Lakeland Route, “Serving today, Shaping tomorrow.” A car card was made for Minneapolis & St. Louis box car 18972, the final step to put the cars in service on the Minneapolis & Northland Railroad Company Railroad.

M&St.L Box Car 18972 sitting
on Chicago Great Western interchange in Randolph, Minn.

M&St.L Box Car 18972 sitting
on Chicago Great Western interchange in Randolph, Minn

A big “Thank You” to Douglas Harding and Clark Propst for the photo to help with build of this car and for permission to use a photo from their collection in this blog post.

Thank You for taking time to read my blog. You can share a comment in the section below if you choose to do so. Please sign your comment with your name if you choose to leave one. Please share the blog link with other model railroaders.

Lester Breuer

Saturday, August 21, 2021

St. Louis Refrigerator Car 10084

At a recent flea market I attended I found a refrigerator car lettered for the St. Louis Refrigerator Car Company (SLRX) with a number of 4894. The car was produced by Accurail for the Mid-Continent Region of the National Model Railroad Association (NMRA) for the NMRA 2015 National Convention. Upon checking the January 1953 Official Railway Equipment Register (ORER) I found SLRX 4894 was a not an accurate model as the number was for a class RB car without ice bunkers and capacity and weight data was for 36 foot cars not having ice hatches, along with other inaccuracies; however, SLRX could be reworked into a 41-foot SRLX refrigerator car in the 10000-10399 series, class RS.

Car as purchased at flea market.
(Click or tap on this or any image to enlarge)

The prototype 41-foot SLRX Refrigerator cars in number series 10000-10399, class RS, leased by Merchants Despatch Transportation (MDT) to St. Louis Refrigerator Car Company (SLRX), were built in 1922-1925 using a MDT design. A design using a wood framed with iron rod reinforcement car body with wood sheathing and steel strap corner braces: one long on the lower portion of the wood car body and a short one at about the middle. Ends were upgraded with reinforcing vertical angle iron members to help prevent end damage. A Murphy roof with ice hatches and a wood running board. A company steel underframe design with fishbelly shaped center sill, redesigned bolster end caps due to cracking of original and upgraded to AB brakes when introduced. Upgrades were done at the East Rochester Shops (ER).

Information and photo sources used for my project were Steam Era Freight Cars Reference Manual Volume Three: Refrigerator Cars (Speedwitch Media 2017), Reproduction of The Official Railway Equipment Register, January 1953 (National Model Railroad Association, 1996), Merchants Despatch It’s History And Equipment (Signature Press 2011) and information provided by Ed Hawkins.

Arnold Menke Collection courtesy of Lester Breuer

I began the rebuilding of SLRX 4894 into SLRX 10084 with the removal of the running board. Sill steps were cut off. Next the molded on grab iron and ladder rungs were carved off. Incorrect numbers, capacity, weight and dimensional data were removed with scratch brush and isopropyl alcohol. I did leave the last digit, the four, of the car number as I had decided to number the car 10084.

Molded on details removed. Some
lettering not yet removed.

I milled the running board to .025” or 2 1/8” and installed it. The lower long corner strap braces, I calculated to be 5 scale feet, and upper corner braces were made with Evergreen #8104, 1 x 4 and installed. I used a simple paper jig to install the brackets. Fasteners for the corner braces were made MEK Goop (styrene melted in MEK).

Milled running board and braces installed.

Simple paper jig to get lower braces located.

Simple paper jig used for upper braces.

After finishing the corner braces I added the running board end brackets made with Evergreen #8102, 1 x 2. The fasteners for running board brackets as the corner braces were made with MEK Goop.

Running board end brackets installed.
Fasteners on long bracket yet to be made.

Next the roof, side and end grab irons were bent from Tichy #1101, .010” diameter phosphor bronze wire (PBW) and installed in holes drilled with a #79 drill. Drop grab irons on ends bent from Tichy #1106, .0125” PBW for added strength. Corner legs for roof grab irons are Yarmouth Model Works eye bolts without shoulder. The bending and install of ladder rungs, Tichy #1101, .010” PBW followed. And, the sill steps, A-Line #29000, installed in holes drilled with a #76 drill.

Grab irons installed. And,
fasteners on lower end braces added.

Sill steps installed.

Once I had the grab irons and ladder rungs installed I hand painted them with Vallejo Model Color White 70.859 and PollyScale Reefer White F414113 (out of production). Both white colors were too white to match the manufacture paint. Finally I used PollyScale Aged White F414131 (out of production), finding it matched the Accurail applied white. Grab irons on the ends were hand painted with Vallejo Model Color Black Red 70.859. A fine match for the Accurail applied red color.

“B” end work was next. Brake step brackets were made with Evergreen #8102, 1 x 2 strip styrene. Bracket fasteners were added with MEK Goop. A resin retainer valve from the parts box and retainer line and brackets, Tichy #1100, .008” PBW, were installed. The brake shaft and bracket, Detail Associates #2505 .015” diameter brass wire, were installed next. The brake shaft rests on a reworked brake shaft step bracket. A Tichy brake wheel from AB set #3013 was installed 12 scale inches above the running board. Added details were hand painted with Vallejo Model Color Black Red 70.859.

"B" end details added.

"B" end added details and end
areas in need of paint painted.

Time for the underbody work. I mounted the underbody brake components, Tichy AB brake set #3013, using the following brackets: cut off sill steps for the air reservoir, a Sunshine Models resin bracket for the brake cylinder and kit mount for the AB valve. The next modeling session I returned to the underbody adding detail parts as follows:

Train line, .018” flora wire that passes through holes drilled with a 4 inch piano wire drill made from .032” diameter piano wire
Piping from air reservoir to AB valve, Tichy #1101, .010” diameter PBW
Pipe from brake cylinder to AB valve, Tichy #1106, .0125” diameter PBW
Dirt collector, Tichy set #3013
Brake levers, cut form Evergreen strip styrene: brake cylinder lever #8108, 1 x 8 and floating lever #8106, 1 x 6
Brake rods, Tichy #1106, .0125” diameter PBW
Brake rod clevises, Tichy #8021, turnbuckles
Chain, #29219, A-Line black 40 links per inch

Underbody details installed.

Underbody detail parts added and trucks were hand painted Vallejo Model Color Black Grey 70.862.

Underbody painted.

Upon finishing the underbody detail I sprayed the car body Vallejo Gloss Medium 70.470, for a decal base. I used Microscale Set and Sol and Walthers Solvaset to apply the following decals:

A red stripe, 5 inches wide, cut from and SP Hood Units Bloody Nose scheme, Microscale set 87-177
Side numbers from Northern Pacific 40’ Refrigerator Cars 1930-19700, Microscale set 87-488
Capacity, weight, dimensional and other data from Merchants Despatch Trans. (MDT) Ice Refrigerator Cars 1930-1970, Microscale set 87-890
End numbers were made with Railroad Roman Condensed Bold White Dry Transfer Lettering, Clover House set 9600-11, applied to decal paper coated with Microscale Liquid Decal Film after decals applied.
In addition to decals, I used a marker to add the door striker plate ( small black squares next to door) and MEK Goop to add door hooks (small black circles next to door striker plates).

After decals had set overnight to dry, the car body was sprayed with Vallejo Gloss Varnish 70.510 to protect decals and better hide decal edges. Again after drying, the car body was sprayed with Model Master Flat Clear Acryl 4636 to obtain a flat finish and to protect decals applied during handling.

Decals applied and side door details added.

I still had more work to do. A drip cap, Plastruct #90501, 3/64”/1.2mm styrene angle with the angle side touching the car side thinned, installed. Uncoupling levers and eye bolts brackets bent from Tichy #1106 .0125” diameter PBW were installed. End reinforcing braces, Plastruct #90501, 3/64”/1.2mm styrene angle were installed using photo above and MDT prototype photos. Details added were hand painted using paints stated above.

Drip cap above door installed.

Uncoupling levers installed.

Uncoupling levers painted and
end reinforcing braces installed.

End reinforcing braces painted.

St. Louis Refrigerator Car 10084 was now ready for service on the Minneapolis & Northland Railroad Company, The Lakeland Route, “Serving today, Shaping tomorrow.” A car card was made for St. Louis Refrigerator 10084, the final step to put the cars in service on the Minneapolis & Northland Railroad Company Railroad.

SLRX 10084 on Minneapolis Freight House track
waiting to be unloaded with beer from Anheuser-Busch.

SLRX 10084 on Minneapolis Freight House track
waiting to be unloaded with beer from Anheuser-Busch .

SLRX 10084 on Minneapolis Freight House track
waiting to be unloaded with beer from Anheuser-Busch.

A “Thank You” to Arnold Menke for the photo purchased from him to help with build of this car and for permission to use photo from his collection in this blog post. And a “Thank You” to Ed Hawkins for his help providing prototype information.

Lester Breuer

Sunday, August 8, 2021

Freight Car Storage

The Minneapolis & Northland & Railroad Company (M&N) like the Minneapolis, Northfield & Southern on which it is loosely based, is a bridge route connecting the Great Northern (GN) in Minneapolis, the Chicago And North Western (C&NW) in Little Chicago, The Milwaukee Road (MILW) in Northfield and the Chicago Great Western (CGW) in Randolph. I call them working or “live” interchanges as each operating session thirty or more new cars come on the M&N railroad via these interchanges and cars from a previous operating session leave the railroad. The cars entering the M&N via the Interchanges come out of original or other storage boxes or go into their original boxes or other boxes for storage when leaving the railroad.

GN Interchange track is against backdrop
with Dawkins siding next to it
for overflow if required.
(click or tap on this or any image to enlarge)

CNW Interchange with a table leaf
flip up extension.

West MILW Interchange.
An East MILW Interchange (no photo) holds six cars.

CGW Interchange currently holds four cars.
If flip up extension is added it will hold another four cars.

Any freight car we build requires a storage location if not on the railroad. All freight cars not on the Minneapolis & Northland Railroad Company or in display cases are stored in their original boxes with the exception of resin cars or those purchased with no box. Original resin car boxes in my opinion take up too much storage space. Therefore, resin cars and cars not having original boxes are normally stored in Athearn boxes. Why? In the early years of the M&N when adding resin or cars without original boxes and purchasing only forty foot freight cars I decided I liked the Athearn and Train-Miniature boxes size to store them in best.

I first thought I would make my own boxes and I did make some. The boxes were made from cardboard and paper corners applied with Elmer’s white glue.

Pattern for boxes I made
(click or tap on this or any image to enlarge)

Boxes with first insets I made and used.
Inserts I decided were too time consuming to make.

Some of the boxes I made and continue to use
on empty box storage shelf.

After making some boxes I decided that time I spent making boxes would be better spent working on the railroad or equipment. Therefore, I contacted Athearn and purchased 100 boxes. After several years passed I purchased another 100 boxes from Athearn. Additional cases of empty Athearn boxes came my way when a local hobby shop owner offered them to me when closing his shop.

Boxes purchased from Atheran

In addition to the exterior of the car storage container, in my case boxes, the interior is also important. The car has to be protected or cushioned from movement during handling. After using tissue paper, paper towel, foam, and bubble wrap and having or finding issues with each, I finally settled on a combination of foam and cardboard. The foam of various thickness covers the length on one side of the box on which the trucks of the freight car rest. At times, foam is also used to fill extra space in a box. If foam is considered a problem a strip of cardboard can cover the foam. The car is held in place in the box with cardboard strips cut 1 1/2 inches wide on a paper cutter. The card board strips are bent to shape and cut to fit as shown in the photo below.

Car storage boxes I made
with foam and cardboard strips.

Resin cars in Athearn car storage boxes
with foam and cardboard strips.

Resin car in Athearn car storage box
with foam and cardboard strips.

Strips only with no foam is an option.

Of course, the empty or filled car boxes also require storage. For M&N Interchange freight car box storage I have cabinets with shelves with a shelf designated for each Interchange except for the CGW Interchange which to date is on a shelf under the railroad. One shelf is also designated for empty boxes that contained cars moved onto the railroad via interchanges. The car cards for the cars stored in boxes on shelves in the cabinets are in a file drawer in a separate location.

Storage cabinet for car boxes.
Open bottom section of cabinet
is for empty car boxes.

CGW Interchange shelf storage below railroad.

The storage system I have described for the Minneapolis & Northland Railroad Company has and continues working well for me. A safe storage system you might consider for your freight cars if looking for a freight car storage system.

And, if you do not have an Interchange on your railroad I would encourage to add one , two if possible, to enhance operation. With two interchanges any type car can move from one Interchange to another Interchange (off- line to off-line). The off-line to off-line car movement enables that car we just like, want and hard to justify, be run on the railroad.