FVM 50' Rib Side Milw Road Box Cars Schemes !!

[kschmidt626]

Posted yesterday 01-03-2012 on Fox Valley Models Facebook page.  The 3 schemes that will be the first release of the 50' Rib Side box cars.  Matt picked 3 very nice schemes.  Kind of partial to the DF scheme.  Nicely Done Matt.

Keith Schmidt
www.mnse.org 

[Philip H]

Those do look nice . . . and a couple would make my in-laws happy even if they are out of my era.

[MichaelWinicki]

What is the era for these?

[Robbman]

The 50000 series was taken up by SIECOs in 1974... so in the numbers offered at least till before then. 

[kschmidt626]

From some information I got form a friend who is a member of Milwaukee Road Historical Society.  The original cars were built in 1941 numbers 50000-50474 with 50500-50999 built in 1944.  Apparently the "billboard" car was a repaint program started in 1963.  The DF car were rebuilds from 1958 and renumbered 2000-2099.   Thats what I have.  Please feel free to fill in any gaps or add info. 

Again, Thanks Matt for a great looking car. 

Keith Schmidt
www.mnse.org

[Darkelf]

I have a PDF copy of an article titled "The Milwaukee Road Horizontal Ribbed Box Cars" by James Kindraka - if interested, PM me and I will send a copy.  It covers '40 and '50 cars, and provides a brief history on both.  The top two cars were built between 1937 and 1947.  The bottom car appears to be a model of the '40 cars that were rebuilt to be '50s in the mid 60's.

I also wonder if Matt is going to produce the '50s that were designed for passenger service..

Hope this helps a little..
--Greg

[Dave Schneider]

I have sent an email to FVM asking about the door size on the DF painted rebuilds. All of these had a 9 foot-ish door rather than the 6 foot as built. It would be great to see some door variations.....

Best wishes, Dave

[ljudice]

So cool these are coming to N!    I don't need them, but I'm happy for those who do!!!

[Dave Schneider]

According to research by John Greedy (MRHA Modeling Coordinator) and published in his pamphlet "The Milwaukee Road Signature Freight Cars Rib Side Cars 1939-1949", only the cars in the 2200-2274 were rebuilt in 1958-59 with DF-2 loaders. Cars in the 2275-2299 series  were equiped with Spartan Easy Loaders. The DF cars were rebuilt with a 9 foot Youngstown door and the SEL cars had a 10 foot door. Both had reinforced side sills added to account for the bigger door opening. According to the Milwaukee Road Color Guide v. 2, the DF-2 cars were painted in the yellow band scheme with black ends while the SEL cars had white billboard lettering, a yellow car with large LRD lettering, and lacked the black ends. I am hopeful that these cars will come with the proper door and sill, as the yellow band scheme is very nice.

All of the 50 foot single door cars with ribs that match the FVM model were built in 1941 with a 6 foot door. A second batch was built in 1944, but many of these cars had a finer intermediate rib between the main ribs. According to Greedy, the as-built doors were Youngstown, not the Superior ones shown in the artwork. The Color Guide shows both door types, so I am not sure how to interpret Greedy's information. Furthermore he indicates that cars in the 50000-50149 and 50250-50474 had wood running boards, while 50150-50249 were steel.

The 25 passenger service 50 footers were 2 feet shorter than the standard 10'-9" internal height, and had 4/4 ends instead of 5/5 ends.

To be clear, I am not a 50 foot rib side expert. I am just reporting what I have read in the referenced sources. These look like great models and I will be picking some up for sure.

Best wishes, Dave

[Dave Schneider]

I got an email back from Matt of FVM and he indicated that all the cars shown will come with the 6 foot as built door. He has no plans to tool other doors at this point. The 3 foot discrepency in correct door width for the DF cars is a deal breaker for me.  I have pre-ordered some of the billboard scheme cars and may try to convert one to a wider door version.

Best wishes, Dave

[bbussey]

Tooling costs come into play, especially for an esoteric one-road prototype.  But 90% of the model is correct.  Etching new doors, or building a master from styrene and Archer rivets makes it very easy to make up the remaining 10%.

[Ian MacMillan]

Hotness!

Body mounted couplers?

[Dave Schneider]

Tooling costs come into play, especially for an esoteric one-road prototype.  But 90% of the model is correct.  Etching new doors, or building a master from styrene and Archer rivets makes it very easy to make up the remaining 10%.

I agree with you Bryan about the tooling costs, and I don't begrudge FVM or any other manufacturer whose business model is to occasionally paint cool schemes on the wrong body. The bottom line is that the DF cars had a 9 foot door. This is a big of a difficult fix job as the ribs come into play as well as matching the paint color on the color band on the door. I am absolutely thrilled with the many Milwaukee Road products in the FVM line. They have and will get more of my hobby dollar than any other manufacturer. I was just sharing my research for those who are interested.

Best wishes, Dave

[bbussey]

Dave,

I'm not diminishing the amount of work required to make the model prototypical.  But it's better to start with this model than from scratch, no?

The Horizontal ribs do add a twist, I admit.  I'd explore etching the entire car side; if that is feasible, it eliminates having to modify the ribs on the existing model.
 

[Dave Schneider]

These are starting to arrive. Kleins has the Route of the Hiawatha and Billboard scheme in stock. Looks like truck mounted couplers in the photos, but metal wheels.
http://a248.e.akamai.net/origin-cdn.volusion.com/ztna9.tft5b/v/vspfiles/photos/FVM-90405-2.jpg?1348045165
http://a248.e.akamai.net/origin-cdn.volusion.com/ztna9.tft5b/v/vspfiles/photos/FVM-90401-2.jpg?1348045156

I'm impressed with the 9-month window from announcement to delivery. Its not the late send quarter of 2012 as advertised, but not bad in my opinion. That said, I already forgot the I had reserved some of these until I read this thread!

Best wishes, Dave