Pacific Fruit Express R-40-23’s 47269 and 47312 Upgrade

 I purchased InterMountain Railway Company (IM) ready-to-run Pacific Fruit Express (PFE) steel refrigerator cars 47269 (IM# 45501-69) and 47312 (IM# 34401-68) in 2013 from a local vendor.  The cars went into immediate service on the Minneapolis & Northland Railroad Company.  Recently after acquiring additional PFE InterMountain refrigerator cars I upgraded, I pulled these cars from Interchange service to receive a similar upgrade.

The numbers of both cars are correct for prototype PFE refrigerator cars in series 47203-47702, PFE class R-40-23, built in 1947 for PFE by General American.  Paint, heralds and other lettering data on the cars like the numbers is correct; however; not all lettering that should be on the cars is there. The cars have key features of the prototype including: 3/3 “improved” dreadnaught style ends first used on this car class, round-hole Morton running board and Preco fans.

Additional information regarding the steel prototype PFE R-40-23 cars as high strength steel, additional insulation, service history and photos of sides, ends and roof can be found in Pacific Fruit Express, Second Edition (Signature Press, May, 2003).  Paint and lettering schemes over the years for PFE are summarized in the Appendix.  Another fabulous overview of Pacific Fruit Express painting & lettering by Dick Harley and Anthony W. Thompson with drawings and photos for the various PFE refrigerator classes can be found in the book Southern Pacific Freight Car Painting and Lettering Guide including PFE (Southern Pacific Historical & Technical Society, 2016).

I began the upgrade of both cars by removing the molded non-see thru Morton running board and  brake step on the “B” end followed by cutting off the brake wheel, brake rod between the chain and bell crank and the retaining line.  I carefully opened the draft gear boxes and replaced the couplers with Kadee #148 whisker couplers.  The cars retain their kit Accurail ARA cast steel trucks (not an ASF-3 as sometimes identified) that will be replaced with Kato American Steel Foundries ASF Ride Control  A-3 trucks correct for these cars.

Morton running board removed with Plano
metal Morton replacement. 
(tap or click on this or any image to enlarge)

Car 47312 received a Plano Model Products #190, metal running board  and brake step (platform).  The running board was attached with Pacer Formula 560 canopy glue.  I broke the end support brackets while attempting to bend them to shape so I replaced them with brackets made from Evergreen #8102, 1” x 2” strip styrene also used to make the brake step support brackets.

Morton Plano running board attached with 
Pacer Formula 560.

Morton Plano running board after glue set.

Car 47269 received a Kadee #2005, Morton running board with brackets attached.  I only had to cut off the mounting pins on the running board and on the end brackets with a sprue nipper.  A Plano Model Products brake step (platform) from set #11332 was installed with brackets made from Evergreen #8102, 1” x 2” strip styrene.

Morton Kadee running board attached.

Next I replaced “B” end removed brake rod with one cut from Tichy Train Group (Tichy) #1102, .015” diameter phosphor bronze wire (PBW).  The removed retainer line and was replaced with one cut from Tichy #1100, .008” diameter PBW as were the brackets.  I used a photo in the PFE book to locate the retainer line.  A Kadee #2030, Ajax brake wheel was installed.  Uncoupling lever brackets made from Evergreen #291, .060” angle were installed followed by uncoupling levers bent from Tichy # 1101, .010” diameter PBW.

Morton brake step installed and brake rod
removed.  Retainer line to be removed.

PFE 47269 "B" end ready for paint.
Note styrene end bracket on running board.

PFE 47312 "B" end ready for paint.
Note styrene uncoupling lever bracket.

On the sides I removed the incorrectly installed grab irons with a Xacto chisel blade.  I bent wire grabs from Tichy #1101, .010” diameter PBW and located them per side view photos in PFE book.

Wire grab irons installed in correct location.

With all detail parts upgrade done only paint and lettering had to be completed.  I hand painted the trucks with Vallejo Model Color Black Grey 70.682 and the added detail parts Vallejo Model Color Black Red, 70.859 or Black,70.950.  After the paint was dry the car was sprayed with Vallejo Gloss Medium 70.470 to provide a decal base.

Paint jig used to spray Vallejo Gloss Medium
and Matt Varnish coats. 

Next lettering found on the prototype cars; however, missing on these cars was added with decals.  The decal application took more time to complete than adding the details parts.  The various missing side decals: stage icing, bunkers and fans (upper left), safety - cutting torches use due to insulation (lower left under grab iron), “L” and “R” on doors and repack data (above right truck) were applied using Microscale set, PFE 87-414.  Decals were applied using Microscale Micro Set (blue bottle) and Micro Sol (red bottle).  A ownership plate cut from Evergreen .005” sheet styrene was installed in upper right corner.

Decals applied.

Left side of car.  Small letter "L" on door
easier to see.

Right side of car.  Small letter "R"on door
 easier to see.

On the ends white decals showing car features were applied.   The white dot above the “F” in PFE, to designate a car with fans, was made with a white Prisacolor, PC 938, pencil.

End decals applied.

Now the decals for the roof hatches were applied.  The stencil/decal for each hatch has the following words, “This hatch cover may be locked from the inside of car.”  Prior to decals application, the areas where the decals were applied were painted Model Master Steel to represent an unpainted roof.  A coat of Future Floor wax was applied to these areas when paint had dried to provide a gloss base for decals.  A good photo of the roof area with hatches showing this stencil can be found on page 176 in the Pacific Fruit Express Book.  I want you to be aware that the diagonal panel roof on this car is not the correct roof.  The correct roof is a Murphy rectangular roof.  The diagonal panel roof was first used on the R-40-25's.  I decided I would accept the incorrect roof for now.  Maybe another upgrade in the future?

Roof showing unpainted hatch sections
with stencils/decals.

When all decals were dry (I normally let them dry overnight) I sprayed the car body with Vallejo Matt Varnish, 70.520 to protect the decals during future handling and provide a base for weathering.  After Matt Varnish was dry, a very light weathering ( PFE washed their Reefers) with Pan Pastels Burnt Sienna #740.5.  PFE refrigerator cars 47269 and 47312 were ready for service on the Minneapolis & Northland Railroad Company, “Serving today, Shaping tomorrow.”  A car card was made for each,  the final step to put the cars in service on the Minneapolis & Northland Railroad Company Railroad.

PFE upgraded reefers spotted at
Food Producers.

Upgraded PFE reefers spotted at
Food Producers.

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 share the blog link with other model railroaders.

Lester Breuer

.

Uncoupling Lever Brackets

 A common detail we add if not already present on freight cars are uncoupling levers.   To mount uncoupling levers on a freight car mounting brackets must be installed first.  A review of the “Dictionary Of Car Terms” in several Car Builders' Cyclopedias yields the following definition for an uncoupling lever bracket, “A bracket supporting the uncoupling lever on the end of the car.”  Coupler photos and diagrams including brackets for the Type E, top operated and Type E, bottom operated couplers below  are from the 1946 Car Builders’ Cyclopedia (Simmons-Boardman Publishing Corporation, 1946).

1946 Car Builders Cyclopedia Photo
(click or tap on this or any image to enlarge)

Type E, top mounted uncoupling lever
and brackets.

Type E, bottom mounted uncoupling lever
and brackets.

For our freight cars you can make the uncoupling lever brackets or purchase commercial ones to install uncoupling levers.  The most commonly used uncoupling lever brackets are eye bolts.  The eye bolts I have found available are bent from wire, made from plastic or photo etched.

Eye bolts I have found and purchased.

 Wire eye bolts can be bent by the modeler.  I bend eye bolts from .010” diameter or smaller brass or phosphor bronze wire with a Xuron #488, wire bending pliers.  I use a Xuron serrated needle nose pliers to close the eye and bend the eye shaft at times.  A Swiss side cutter is used to cut the fabricated eye bolt from the wire used to bend.

Eye bolts bent from Tichy Train Group #1100 .010"
diameter phosphor bronze wire.

Xuron wiring bending pliers and needle nose
and Swiss side cutter used for fabricating eye blots.

Eye bolts can be used for brackets to mount top or bottom mounted couplers.  All you have to do is drill holes with a #79 or # 78 drill and insert the eye bolts.

Type B, top mounted coupler with
eye bolt brackets.

Flat car with Type B, top mounted coupler with
eye bolt brackets.

A diagram showing a common way to install Type E bottom mounted uncoupling levers with eye bolt brackets was provided with Detail Associates #2615, uncoupling levers.  I use this install method; however, I do not use an eye blot in the draft gear (coupler box).  I bend the uncoupling lever wire on the draft gear end in a vertical position to install directly into the underside of the draft gear (coupler box). 

Uncoupling lever draft gear (coupler box) end
 mounted directly into a #79 hole drilled into
draft gear (coupler box) rather than using eye bolt.

Box car with Type E bottom operated
coupler with eye blot brackets.

Gondola with Type E bottom operated coupler
with eye bolt uncoupling lever bracket.

Eye bolts can also be used  in conjunction with resin cast or made pieces of the mounting bracket to make a complete mounting bracket.

Eye bolt combined with resin casting 
for uncoupling lever bracket.

Closer view of resin casting combined
with eye bolt for uncoupling lever barcket.

In addition, to eye bolt mounting brackets there are numerous other prototype uncoupling lever  mounting brackets.  A few examples of the prototype  type uncoupling brackets.

Ed Rethwisch Photo. 

Ed Rethwisch Photo.

Several of the other prototype type uncoupling lever brackets are commercially available or can be made.

Uncoupling lever brackets produced by
 Detail Associates, Resin Car Works and Yarmouth Model Work.

I have tried to use each type I have found and purchased on a freight car to see if I like using them.  Each type is effective.  

Uncoupling lever bracket is photo-etched
one from Yarmouth Models.

Front view of photo-etched
uncoupling lever bracket .

Cast resin mounting bracket used for
uncoupling lever mounting.

Besides using purchased uncoupling lever brackets I make one type of uncoupling lever bracket from Evergreen #291, .060” styrene angle.   The method to fabricate the styrene uncoupling lever bracket is not an original idea.  I saw this method used on a freight car in one of the many clinics I have attended and do not remember the presenter.  The photos that follow show the steps I take to make the uncoupling lever mounting bracket.

Side view of Evergreen .060" angle installed.

Front view of Evergreen .060" angle installed.

Bottom view of Evergreen .060" angle installed.

Installed angle shaped with PBL #803 Gate nippers.

Number 78 hole drilled in shaped 
uncoupling lever bracket.

Styrene uncoupling lever bracket with
uncoupling lever installed.

I hope you now have a greater appreciation for the simple uncoupling lever bracket supporting the uncoupling lever on your freight cars.   And, I hope you will make a few of the uncoupling lever brackets using styrene angle to bottom mount uncoupling levers for your freight cars.

A “Thank You” to Ed Rethwisch for the photos to help with showing prototype uncoupling lever brackets and for permission to use photos 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

Vinegar Tank Car SBIX 1641

A food processing industry, Food Producers, a recently added Minneapolis & Northland Railroad Company (M&N) customer needs concentrated vinegar to add to food products to improve taste.  Since vinegar is an acid that is corrosive, a vinegar tank car constructed of wood was chosen rather than a metal tank that required an expensive lining.  To be able meet the new service need a resin Sunshine Models, Standard Brands, Inc. wood vinegar tank car, kit 60.3, was added to the roster.  The vinegar tank car kit was given to me by my good friend Steve Steele.  Steve purchased two identical complex kits at a flea market at a very reasonable price and after building one gifted me the other.

The prototype Standard Brands, Inc. wood vinegar tank cars with reporting marks SBIX, series 1448 to 1646, AAR class TW, had an early horizontal wood tank, held together together by a series of rods under tension applied with cast clamps.  The tank rode on a set of saddles mounted on a welded fish belly underframe.  The wood tank was protected by end frames fabricated of “H” beams, channels and wood.  Two diagonal bands (“X” braces) ran from the end frame to the opposite bolster to protect against movement.  The Prototype Data Sheet (PDS) in the kit states most vinegar tank cars rode on planked cast side frame trucks.

Photo of SBIX  1617 on Sunshine Models PDS, Bob's Photo.
(Click on this or any photo to enlarge)

In addition to the above photo that can be purchased from Bob’s Photo, additional vinegar tank cars photos to aid in the build of the tank car are found in Prototype Data Sheet #60, “Fleischmann’s and Standard Brands’ Wood Horizontal Tank Vinegar  Car”, provided in the kit.  Photos are also available in Ted Culotta’s article discussing his construction of this kit in his “Essential Freight Cars” series in Railroad Model Craftsman (March 2005).

The first step in the build of the Sunshine Models resin vinegar tank car is the tank assembly.  A task that requires a resin cast rolled tank shell be glued at the bottom seam to the form tank (hollow tube) into which the ends are glued.  The tank ends require a large amount of material to be removed to fit inside the tank shell.  Therefore, you have to be very careful to keep the ends round when removing material.  Today I believe the tank would be cast as one piece making for easier car assembly.

Looking at the tank shell, I thought the hollow assembled tank shell might deform or be easily be damaged in the future unless it had an inner core - a dowel.  For the dowel I cut a broom handle several inches longer than the tank and sanded it to the inner one inch diameter of the tank.  An easier way to obtain the 1” dowel for the interior would be to purchase it at the local home improvement store.  I inserted the dowel  into the tank shell without glue for support to position one tank end and glue it in place.  With the one tank end in place, I removed the dowel and cut it to the remaining inside length of the tank less the width of the other tank end.  Now, I cut the dowel in half and cut off/out an area in the middle to hold the weights.  The electric outlets box punch outs I use worked great here to add 2 and 1/2 ounces of weight.  Of course, washers or bolt nuts would work just as well.  I glued the weights to the middle of the dowel with contact cement, inserted the dowel into the tank shell without glue and installed the other end to complete the tank with a solid interior.  The added weight brought the finished car with trucks installed to 3.6 ounces.

Tank formed.  One end installed and half of dowel inserted.
Weights to be glued to wood dowel prior to inserting.

I moved on to the tank underframe cutting out the flash which is saved as it contains various cast detail parts for the tank car.  The areas where flash was removed were sanded with an emery nail board for final finish.   A flora wire train line was installed next.

Train line installed.  Wire drill made from 
.032" piano wire below used to drill train line holes.

Next the tank saddles were installed per kit instructions.  After the tank saddles were installed I wrapped 100 grit sand paper around a section of a 1” dowel and sanded the saddles for a better tank fit.

Tank saddles installed.

With the tank saddles mounted, the end frames were installed next.   After the end frames were in place, I installed Kadee #262 coupler boxes with #148 whisker couplers and Accurail ARA cast steel with spring plank trucks with InterMountain 33” metal wheels.  Both were installed with Fastenal 2-56 x 1/4” screws in holes drilled and tapped for 2-56 screws.  Tichy Train Group (Tichy) plastic .020”, and Kadee .010” fiber washers were added to bolster center plate to gain proper coupler height.

End frames installed.

End frames installed side view.

Now the detailing could begin.   I installed the access hatch (named porthole in kit instructions) at the top of the tank offset to the “B” end followed by the resin end and side walkways.

Access hatch and walkways installed.

Back to the underframe to complete details.  I installed resin brake components brackets, plastic brake components, predrilled for piping, and plastic brake levers (both Cal-Scale) provided in kit.  I added a slack adjuster to the floating lever from the parts box.  Piping and brake rods followed:

• Piping from air reservoir to AB valve, .010” diameter brass wire.
• Pipe from brake cylinder to AB valve, Tichy Train Group, (Tichy) #1106, .0125” diameter phosphor bronze wire (PBW).
• Brake rods, Tichy #1106, .0125” diameter PBW.
• Chain, brake cylinder lever to brake rod, A-Line #29219, black 40 links per inch.

Brake components installed.

Brake piping and rods installed.

With underframe complete, the car body details were added beginning with grab irons and sill steps provided in the kit.

Sill steps and grab irons installed.

The most tedious and difficult part of the build, the tank bands were next.  Per the instructions the install of 28 to 34 wire (rod) and 4 resin strap tanks bands was required.  After studying prototype photos I laid out the position of the rod bands with tension clamps and strap tank bands in pencil on the tank.  The .015” brass wire in the kit was long enough to do two rod tank bands so before adding the rod tank bands, I cut all rod brass wires in half.  I deviated from the instructions on the tank bands install as I felt my method was more accurate and easier for me.

I drilled the two holes in a tank band tension clamp (resin cast part) with a #79 drill, mounted in the chuck of a 850 Dremel tool, to enable a tight fit of the .015” brass wire rod end into it.  If a loose fit is preferred a #78 drill could be used.  I glued the tension clamp to a location on the tank with CA.  I took one of the many  .015” brass wires and preformed a rod tank band on the PVC pipe provided in the kit for this task.  Once I had the rod tank band preformed, I inserted one end of the rod tank band into the tension clamp and glued it with CA.  I now worked the wire rod band around the tank tacking it with CA every half inch or so until I reached the other side of the tension clamp.  At this point, the wire rod is longer than needed so the rod wire is cut at the half point of the tension clamp and inserted. It still might be a little too long for the hole drilled in the tension clamp so the rod wire must be taken out and a tad cut off until a proper fit is achieved. I had to do this tedious task several times on many of the rod wires as I did not want to cut off too much to have the rod wire tacked around the tank get too short.

Rod and strap tank bands location marked on tank
 in pencil and a few bands installed.

With the wire rod tank band install being tedious due to the number required, I took a break from installing them and installed “B” ends details.  A brake gear housing (Cal-Scale in kit) was installed per photos after the molded on chain was cut off as too short to go below the end walkway.  An A-Line, #29219, black 40 links per inch section of chain was installed.  A Kadee Adjax brake wheel was installed.  I added the uncoupling lever bracket and eye bolt bent from Tichy #1101, .010” diameter wire, for the later to be added uncoupling lever.

Brake housing, Ajax brake wheel, new chain
and uncoupling lever brackets installed.

Back to finishing the tank bands. Finally, the wire rod tank bands were installed.

All rod tank bands finally completed.

The install of the strap tank bands followed.  Prior to their install, the tank saddles mounted over the bolsters had the end recess painted Vallejo Black #70.950, and the end plate with oval hole installed.  The tension bracket on the tank band was drilled with a #79 drill and a .015” brass wire, about an inch long, was inserted and glued for the mounting rod.  A strap tank band rod end was installed in a hole drilled into a underframe cross member on one side of the tank and glued.  The strap band was then carefully wrapped around the tank and the rod on the other end installed into a hole drilled into the same bolster on the other side.

Strap tank bands installed.  Note plate on
end of tank saddles mounted over bolsters.

Now to complete the remaining tank detailing.  A retainer valve with mount (cast resin kit part) was drilled for retainer line and installed near “B” end on the left side.  The brackets for the retainer line were the two supplied kit eye bolts.  And, the retainer line, .008” brass wire provided in the kit was installed.  Tichy handrail brackets from Tichy Tank Detail set #3007, were installed per photos; however, the end handrail brackets I bent from Tichy #1101, .010” PBW.  The .019” brass wire handrails were installed. The kit provided resin cast elbows I felt were too large so I replaced them with elbows made with MEK Goop (plastic melted in MEK).  Another solution for the corner elbows would be to bend them from appropriate size tubing.

Retainer line installed.  And, handrails installed.

Handrails with Tichy and end made brackets
 installed. Elbows made with MEK Goop.

"B" end with details except for
uncoupling levers installed.

Once the hand rails were installed, the diagonal (“X”) braces mounted between the top of the end frame and bolster on the other end were installed.  The resin cast braces were replaced with braces made from Evergreen # 8106, 1” x 6” strip styrene with .025” styrene rod (kit) glued to them for the brace end rods were installed.  The clamp attached where the “X” braces meet is a resin part in kit.  With “X” braces installed, side lettering boards sanded to tank shape and Tichy diamond shape tack boards (replaced resin cast ones in kit) from Tichy Tank Car Detail set #3007, were installed.  

"X" braces and side lettering boards installed.
Tension clamps, other details and trucks painted.

All that remained to do was to install the uncoupling levers, bent from Tichy #1106, .1026” PBW.  The uncoupling levers were installed after the car was painted.

Uncoupling lever installed.

In the paint shop the tension clamps for the wire rod tank bands, coupler pockets, trucks and brake components were hand painted with Model Master Aluminum (see "X" braces photo above).  Once dry, the car was sprayed with Vallejo Model Air Aluminum #71.062.  Again when dry the car was sprayed with Vallejo Gloss Varnish, 70.510, to provide a gloss base for decals.

Car painted with Vallejo Aluminum.

Car painted with Vallejo Aluminum.

Rail Graphics decals printed in black, lettering color used in the 1950s, were applied using MicroScale Micro Sol setting solution.  I chose number 1641 that had a listed capacity of 100,000 and was still in service based on a 1955 Official Railway Equipment Register (ORER).  Some of the decal car numbers on the decal sheet are for 80,000 capacity cars and one would not know that unless an ORER was used to check the numbers.  The number 1641 was two decals cut from the numbers and the date 2-54 replaced the original date on the lower side lettering board.  The car data decal for the placard board on the end of the car was not printed the correct size; however, I used it as printed.

Decals provided in kit applied.

Decals provided in kit applied.

Once decals were dry the car was sprayed with Vallejo Matt Varnish #70.520.  And, when the Matt varnish coat was dry, a weathering coat was sprayed on the car using a mix of  Vallejo Model Color #70.862 Black Grey, 2% or one drop and thinner 98% or 40 drops.  In addition, Pan Pastels Payne’s Extra Dark Grey, 840.1 was applied in various areas with a micro applicator.

Car weathered with air brush and Pan Pastels.

Car weathered with airbrush and Pan Pastels.

After weathering with air brush and Pan Pastels,  SBIX 1641  was ready for service on the Minneapolis & Northland Railroad Company, “Serving today, Shaping tomorrow.”  A car card was made for SBIX 1641, the final step to put it in service on the Minneapolis & Northland Railroad Company Railroad.

Vinegar tank car SBIX 1641 spotted 
at Food Producers, Inc.

Vinegar tank car SBIX 1641 spotted 
at Food Producers, Inc.

I want say, “Thank You” to Steve Steele  for the Sunshine Models Vinegar Tank Car kit.  A challenge to build; however, I am pleased to have had the opportunity to experience and learn from.  And, like Steve I prefer not to build another.

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