North Western Refrigerator Line (NWRL) Refrigerator NWX 15276 was purchased at Trainfest in Milwaukee, WI in 2009. It has been in the unbuilt kits cabinet since then as Accurail applied correct lettering to an accurate car body with boxcar red ends and roof; however, the car sides color was white rather than gray. Color photos of these refrigerator cars in the Refrigerator Car Color Guide (Morning sun Books Inc., 2005) show the color of the sides the early gray color prior to yellow and green beginning in 1953. Changing the color via repaint was the only option I thought until I got the idea of a color change from white to gray and not ruining the lettering might be done with Pan Pastels.
The prototype refrigerator car for this model was built in 1927 by American Car & Foundry (ACF) and numbered in NWX series 6701 - 7720. This car series was renumbered into the 15000 - 15999 series by 1937. These cars, forty foot in length, had both sides and ends sheathed in wood, vertical brake shaft and fish belly underframe. The cars were painted with gray sides, boxcar red ends, roof and kick plates. The side hardware, underframe sills, underframe and trucks were painted black. In addition to the color photos in the Refrigerator Car Color Guide, a black and white photo of NWX 15479 can be viewed in Steam Era Cars Reference Manual Volume Three Refrigerator Cars (Speedwitch Media, 2017).
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| NWX 15100, March 27, 1952, Proviso, Ill. W. Fuka photo. Lloyd Keyser Collection (click or tap on this or any image to enlarge) |
Before I began assembly of the kit I tested my idea of using the Pan Pastels on the sides to change the white sides to a gray color. Pan Pastels Neutral Gray #820.5, was applied lightly with a square Pan Pastels sponge mounted on their handle to attempt to get the gray color. The color change could be made with Pan Pastels. Therefore, the build was done.
Refrigerator NWX 15276 was assembled quickly. The kit weight was installed with Permatex Clear Silicone Adhesive which brought the car weight to 4.2 ounces with couplers and trucks installed. Kadee # 148 coupler were inserted into the coupler boxes and coupler box covers were installed with kit screws as were the kit trucks with InterMountain 33 inch metal wheel sets installed. On the underbody the molded on brake cylinder mount was removed. The running board was thinned to .020 via milling using a #199 bit mounted in a Dremel tool and scraping of underside to get it smooth using a single edge razor blade.
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| Running board being milled. |
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| Scraping of underside to get it smooth. |
After the running board was scraped smooth, it was installed. Next all molded on grab irons and ladder rungs were carved off. To carve off molded on grab irons and ladder rungs, a Xacto No. 5 handle with Xacto No. 17 blade ground to shape and micro scalpels with micro blades, were used.
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| Tools for carving off molded on items. |
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| Tools for carving off molded on items. |
Wire grab irons and ladder rungs were bent using Tichy Train Group #1101, .010 diameter phosphor bronze wire (PBW) and installed.
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| Wire grab irons and ladder rungs installed. |
Now to get away from the grab iron install for a while, some B end work was done. On the B end parts were installed as follows:
- Brake step, molded on reworked
- Brake step brackets, Tichy Train Group ( Tichy) AB set #3013
- Retainer valve, resin Sunshine Models
- Retainer line, Tichy #1100, .008 diameter phosphor bronze wire (PBW)
- Retainer line brackets, #1100, .008 diameter PBW
- Brake shaft, brass .015 wire
- Brake wheel, kit
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| B end work started. |
Rather than finish the B end parts install, the roof grab irons bent from Tichy #1101, .010 PBW were installed with Yarmouth Model Works etched eye bolts without shoulder for corner leg. And, on the sides, the installed grab irons and ladder rungs were brush painted Vallejo Model Color black. 70.950
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| Roof grab irons installed and side grab irons and ladder rungs painted black. |
Back to the B end to finish remaining work. The longitudinal running board end bracket, Yarmouth Model Works #220, was installed. Now install of the B end wire grab irons and ladder rungs, bent using Tichy #1101, .010 diameter PBW, was done.
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| Running board bracket, wire grab irons, and ladder rungs installed. |
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| Running board bracket, wire grab irons, and ladder rungs installed. |
Finally, on the B end the uncoupling levers were installed with brackets, eye blots bent from Tichy #1101, .010 PBW.
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| Uncoupling lever with eye bolt brackets installed. |
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| Uncoupling lever with eye bolt brackets installed. |
One final upgrade to the car body was removal of molded on sill steps and replacing them with A-Line #29000, sill steps on the corners and bending the sill step under the door from Detail Associates brass flat bar stock #2524, .010 x .030.
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| Sill steps installed. |
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| Sill steps installed. |
With sill steps installed, the B end installed detail parts on ends were brush painted with a Vallejo Model Color mix of Burnt Red 70.814, 50 % and Mahogany Brown 70.846, 50%.
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| Detail parts installed on B end painted. |
Once paint was dry the upgrade of the underbody was done. On the underbody the install of detail parts was done as follows:
- Brake cylinder lever, made from Evergreen #8108, 1 x 8 strip styrene
- Floating lever, made from Evergreen #8106, 1 x 6 strip styrene
- Piping from air reservoir to control valve, Tichy #1101 .010” PBW
- Piping from brake cylinder to control valve, Tichy #1106, .0125” diameter PBW
- Brake rods, Tichy #1106 .0125” PBW
- Brake rod clevises, MEK Goop (plastic melted in MEK)
- Chain, Tichy #8334, black 40 links per inch
- Train line, Tichy #1103, .020 diameter PBW
- Dirt collector, scrap plastic rod, reworked
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| Underbody detail parts installed. |
To finish the underbody, the underbody and all added detail parts were brush painted Vallejo Model Color Black 70.950.
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| Underbody painted. |
NWX 15276 was ready for the paint. For the first time, in addition to the Pan Pastels already applied, the new method of “painting with Pan Pastels” would be used on the car sides of NWX 15276. First a quick history of this “painting with Pan Pastels” method. Upon attending the 2026 National Narrow Gauge Convention held in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in the vendor room I stopped at a vendor with a display of various Pan Pastels colors. In addition, there were painted items to be viewed. While looking I was asked if I used Pan Pastels. I said, “Yes.” And, then the question, “Do you paint with them.” My answer, “No; however, interested in learning.” I was told all the items I was viewing were painted with Pan Pastels by Randy Allio who was giving a clinic “Painting with Pan Pastels” at the time. To turn Pan Pastels into paint is a simple process. Scrape a small amount of Pan Pastels color into a small container and add just enough 91% isopropyl alcohol (91% only) to allow mixing with the powder to make a paint. More 91% alcohol could be added to turn the paint into a wash.
Northwestern Western Refrigerator Line 15276 sides would used for testing “painting with Pan Pastels” method. Since I had already applied Pan Pastels Neutral Grey 820.5, on the car sides, a paint brush was dipped into 91% alcohol and used to go over the sides of NWX 15276 before the paint was applied. Next, a tiny (1/8 teaspoon) amount of Pan Pastels Neutral Grey 820.5, was scraped into a water bottle cap, 91% isopropyl alcohol was added with the a paint brush and mixed with it to create a paint. The same small brush was used to apply paint to sides of car body. If too dark, a cotton swab (sometimes dipped in distilled water) was immediately used to go over the area to lighten the paint. Perfection maybe not; however, I was happy with the results. NWX 15762 had gray sides via painting with Pan Pastels method without ruining the original lettering. And, not only were the sides gray, the sides were also weathered due to way brushing on of painting with Pan Pastels was done.
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| Left side painted gray. |
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| Left side painted gray. |
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| Right side painted gray. |
Northwestern Western Refrigerator Line 15276 was ready for service on the Minneapolis & Northland Railroad Company, The Lakeland Route, “Serving today, Shaping tomorrow.” A car card was made for NWX 15276, the final step to put the a car in service on the Minneapolis & Northland Railroad Company Railroad. Photos of the NWX 15276 on the railroad show sides lighter gray than my eyes see due to lighting I believe.
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| NWX 15276 on Team Track in Randolph, Minn. |
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| NWX 15276 on Team Track in Randolph, Minn. |
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| NWX 15276 on Team Track in Randolph, Minn. |
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| NWX 15276 on Team Track in Randolph, Minn. |
I want to say, “Thank You” to Lloyd Keyser for providing prototype photo of Northwestern Western Refrigerator Line 15100 and for permission to use in this blog post. Another, "Thank You" to Jeff Palmer for his assistance with photos.
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Lester Breuer
Plymouth, MN
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