Conrail MoW Trucks

[daniel_leavitt2000]

I have built several MoW vehicles using Showcase parts but now I'm working on individual prototypes.

http://users.vermontel.net//~tomh/images//RAIL/CONRAIL/CRE_1024W/CRHIRail_24May96.jpg
This is the reason for this round of trucks. An easy conversion of Showcase 135 on a Brigadier cab and chassis.

https://conrailphotos.thecrhs.org/photos/ns-794309
This former CR unit was used for rail and tie repair. This will be a dog's breakfast of Showcase parts.

https://conrailphotos.thecrhs.org/photos/cr-n4012x-grapple-boom-truck
This one has me stumped. Bed and crane parts would be Showcase, but I have no idea where to get the low-profile white COE. Any Ideas?

I'm also trying to locate a photo of a Conrail tractor. This would be pulling a gooseneck trailer and front end loader. I don't remember what Conrail used for their tractors and can not find photos. Did they use Brigadier or White? CR had contracts with both companies.

[peteski]

https://conrailphotos.thecrhs.org/photos/cr-n4012x-grapple-boom-truck
This one has me stumped. Bed and crane parts would be Showcase, but I have no idea where to get the low-profile white COE. Any Ideas?

Won't Wiking have something appropriate (European prototype of course)?  You could probably re-purpose and re-brand the cab. Or one of the Japanese trucks (Tomix)?

[Wlal13again]

You might take one of the old Con Cor Freightliner cabovers and cut it down as a fill in for the White

[wazzou]

Looks like a Resin print candidate for the White.

[daniel_leavitt2000]

Looks like a Resin print candidate for the White.

I checked, but nothing on Thingverse or Shapeways. There is one low profile COE but it is rather rough, a Peterbilt and totally the wrong shape.

[cfritschle]

Won't Wiking have something appropriate (European prototype of course)?  You could probably re-purpose and re-brand the cab. Or one of the Japanese trucks (Tomix)?

If you have to use a Wiking truck, the Hanomag Henschel might be a place to start. 
https://www.wiking.de/en/shop/1-160/trucks-busses.html?wik_availability=283,282,278

Or, the day cab version of the Wiking Mercedes NG 1617 could also be a possible starting point. 


Either would require a lot of effort to make it look like the White.   

[Ike the BN Freak]

Have you checked https://www.royalemodels.com/Shop?

He is open to doing additional vehicles and parts as I've had some custom mufflers made recently.

[Ike the BN Freak]

https://www.royalemodels.com/Shop/Freightshaker-1960s-white-freightliner-single-drive-day-cab#wbs1

This looks closeish

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Maybe https://www.royalemodels.com/Shop/1974-79-Louisville-W9000-Day-cab#wbs1

Also, holy crap, I could spend $1000 on that site easily. That's some great stuff.

[MK]

Have you checked https://www.royalemodels.com/Shop?

He is open to doing additional vehicles and parts as I've had some custom mufflers made recently.

Nice!  Reasonable prices too.  They located in the US?  Couldn't tell by snooping around.

[wazzou]

Nice!  Reasonable prices too.  They located in the US?  Couldn't tell by snooping around.

Washington.

[daniel_leavitt2000]

Have you checked https://www.royalemodels.com/Shop?

He is open to doing additional vehicles and parts as I've had some custom mufflers made recently.

He does great work too. The prints are crisp and well detailed. I just wish he would separate the cab from the chassis as they are impossible to paint. I'm going to send him an email.

The Royale's Freightliner cab is almost the same as the Con-Cor sleeper version. I have several of those so let me experiment with them. The side profiles are totally different. I may end using a White/Volvo grill on something European.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

And make sure to take pictures and notes for a write-up in the Conrail Quarterly!

[daniel_leavitt2000]

Think I may have found a solution to the low-profile vocational White COE.

It looks like White used the same cab as their conventional day cab:
[ Guests cannot view attachments ]
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The side profile matches the COE nicely. Reusing basic construction assemblies makes sense in trucks and has been done in the past. The International Sightliner was literally a conventional cab assembly mounted over the engine and added windows where the firewall would normally be.

In fact, the same doors are used on White's full size COE:
[ Guests cannot view attachments ]

But the cab on these looks far too wide:
[ Guests cannot view attachments ]

Here is another angle of the same type of cab on another Conrail vehicle:
http://crcyc.railfan.net/mow/vehicles/fueltruck.jpg

I think White used the basic day cab assembly for the vocational cab, added sheet metal and a radiator to the front and cut away the wheel arch.

Luckily, the day cab IS available in N scale:
https://www.showcaseminiatures.net/n_scale/n_scale_vehicles/148.html

I will need to remove the nose, add sheet plastic and use the etched grill that came with the kit. I'll probably use etched metal marker/class lights as headlights.

Hank's Truck Pictures used to be invaluable in this type of research, but all that data is lost to time. That makes trying to find info on trucks like these especially difficult because they were made by White, GMC and Volvo at one point or another and Freightliner had a hand in them as well.