When setting up for my monthly Minneapolis & Northland Railroad Company operating session I unbox around thirty (30) freight cars taken from the Interchange storage cabinets and place them on one of the four Interchanges on my railroad. The four interchanges are the Great Northern, Chicago And Northwestern, Chicago Great Western and The Milwaukee Road. As part of my maintenance program, once I have the car out of the box each car gets a general inspection for any broken or missing parts, coupler height checked, wheels cleaned and possibly some weathering prior to being placed on an Interchange. All interchange cars move through this maintenance program while railroad bound cars receive maintenance in another part of the program.
During inspection of Chicago And Northwestern (CNW) 141263, a USRA double sheath car made by Accurail, I found the B end longitudinal running board brackets installed were broken. Upon checking my inventory sheet on this car I found I had removed the molded on brackets in 2007 and brackets fabricated from Evergreen #8102, 1” x 2” strip styrene were installed. Other work done on the car in 2007 was as follows:
⁃ Brake shaft cut from Detail Associates #2505, .015” diameter brass wire was installed.
⁃ Brake shaft sill step was bent from a wire staple and installed.
⁃ Brake wheel, Grandt Line #5067 15” Lovsted Brake Wheel installed.
⁃ Grab irons, after molded on carved off, Tichy Train Group (Tichy) #3015 18” drop type and #3021 18” straight installed.
⁃ Roof grab irons, fabricated from Detail Associates #2504 .012” diameter brass wire with Detail Associates #2206 eye bolts for corner legs, installed.
⁃ Underbody airbrushed with Polly S Grimy Black #410015.
⁃ Trucks hand painted with a Polly S mix: Grimy Black #410013, 4 drops, Reefer White #414113, 1 drop, and Rust 1 drop.
⁃ Car weighted to 4 ounces with electrical outlet box punch outs.
⁃ Kadee #5 couplers installed.
⁃ Proto 2000 33” ribbed back wheels installed in Andrews trucks provided in kit.
⁃ Wheel sets installed were painted Polly S Black #410015, prior to install.
⁃ Polly Scale Special Oxide Red, F414354, matched manufacturer paint.
⁃ In 2013 car was weathered with Pan Pastels
Work not not done in 2007 was as follows:
⁃ Molded on ladder rungs were not replaced.
⁃ Underbody detail not added.
⁃ Car number was not changed which it should have been as the CNW only used even numbers for this car series. I believe having to change the number was the reason I did do ladder rung replacement and underbody detail when built.
In my inventory records I saw I had also built and upgraded CNW box car 141268. I found and inspected CNW 141268 USRA double sheathed box car finding that all detail work was done on the car. So I thought until I realized the retainer valve and line were missing as I was viewing photos during the rework. Time to take a look at the prototype again.
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| CNW box cars 141268 and 141260 |
The prototype information and photo of a car 142200 in this series can be found in the 1925 Car Builders Cyclopedia Car Builders Cyclopedia, Eleventh Edition (Simmons-Boardman Publishing Company, 1925). The same photo and drawings can be found in Train Shed Cyclopedia No. 61 ( Newton K. Greg, 1977). The data tells us these box cars are USRA double sheathed 40 Ton box cars with standard steel fish belly underframe built in 1925 by American Car & Foundry Company assigned by the CNW to series 141200-143698.
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| CNW 142200 in 1925 Car Builders Cyclopedia |
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| CNW 142200 and car diagrams in 1925 Car Builders Cyclopedia |
After review of the prototype data, I began rework of car 141263. The first step was to change the car number to be an even number. I chose to do this by changing the three (3) to a zero (0). Clover House Dry Transfer Lettering 9600-11 Railroad Roman Condensed Bold White was used to apply the zero.
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| CNW 141260 after receiving even number. |
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| CNW box cars 141260 and 141268 |
After the number was changed, the B end work was done. The longitudinal running brackets were again made with Evergreen #8102, 1” x 2” strip styrene. Missing brake step (platform) brackets were installed using the brackets from Tichy AB set #3013.
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| Running board brackets replaced and brake step brackets installed. |
I continued work on the B end adding the Cramer uncoupling levers purchased from Yarmouth Model Works. As you can see from the photo, the Yarmouth Model Works photo etched Carmer brake lever is much better looking than my fabricated brake lever in 2007.
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| Carmer brake levers installed. |
With B end work done I carved off the molded on ladder rungs. I replaced the ladder rungs with Tichy Grab Irons #3015, 18” drop type type on the sides and ends installed in holes drilled with a #79 drill.
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| Molded on ladder rungs replaced with wire ones. |
Next up the underbody work. On the underbody the brake components had been installed. Therefore, details were installed as follows:
⁃ Piping from the air reservoir to the AB valve, Tichy #1101, .010” diameter PBW
⁃ Piping from brake cylinder to the AB valve, Tichy #1106, .0125” diameter PBW.
⁃ Brake rods, Tichy #1106, .0125” diameter PBW.
⁃ Brake rod crevices made with MEK Goop.
⁃ Train line, .018" diameter floral wire.
⁃ Dirt Collector
Once the underbody work was completed, the underbody detail added parts were hand painted with Vallejo Model Color Black Grey 70.862.
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| Under bodies painted. |
Finally, the missing retainer valve and retainer line were installed. The retainer valves were plastic ones from the parts box. The retainer line and bracket were made with Tichy #1100, .008" diameter phosphor bronze wire (PBW).
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| Retainer valve, retainer line and bracket installed. |
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| Retainer valve, retainer line and bracket painted. |
Time for final paint and finish. The car body added detail parts were hand painted with Polly Scale Special Oxide Red F414354 as I still have several bottles purchased before Polly Scale was removed from the market. Trucks were hand painted with Vallejo Model Color Black Grey 70.862. To finish CNW 141260 car body it was sprayed with Model Master Flat Clear Acryl 4636 to protect the car from handling while in service.
Chicago And Northwestern double sheathed box car 141260, was again ready for service on the Minneapolis & Northland Railroad Company, The Lakeland Route, “Serving today, Shaping tomorrow.” A car card was made for CNW 141260, the final step to put the a car in service on the Minneapolis & Northland Railroad Company Railroad.
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| CNW box cars 141260 and 141268 sitting on CNW Interchange in Little Chicago, MN. |
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| CNW box cars 141260 and 141268 sitting on CNW Interchange in Little Chicago, MN. |
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| CNW box cars 141260 and 141268 sitting on CNW Interchange in Little Chicago, MN. |
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Lester Breuer
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