Weekend Update 2/5/23

[up1950s]

https://rollingstockworld.com/freight-cars/russias-first-freight-car-with-tilting-roof-put-into-trial-operation/

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/freight-car-jumps-bumper-on-northern-ave-ny-nh-freight-yard-south-boston--314266880220334528/

https://www.lakestatesarchive.org/Ohio-Falls-ACF-Builders-Photos/

https://www.alamy.com/part-of-box-car-homes-in-company-housing-project-for-miners-note-that-some-cars-have-been-placed-on-concrete-foundations-that-others-are-still-on-wheels-union-pacific-coal-company-reliance-mine-reliance-sweetwater-county-wyoming-image262260117.html

https://designbuildop.hansmanns.org/2018/03/02/southern-ventilated-boxcars/

http://industrialscenery.blogspot.com/2016/03/carrying-automobiles-in-boxcars.html

https://www.compositesworld.com/articles/refrigerated-rail-car-floor-expands-composites-horizons

https://www.chrobinson.com/en-us/resources/blog/what-does-decreasing-boxcar-fleet-mean-for-u-s-capacity/

https://hawkinsrails.net/lagniappe/boxcars/boxcars.htm

https://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/27/us/preservationists-aim-to-save-merle-haggards-childhood-home.html

[Erik W]

My in-progress work this week has been cleaning track and running all my engines both directions around the main loop for a couple hours each.  This summer my brother and 6 year old nephew visited, so I cleaned some track and got some trains running.  I hadn't powered up the layout in 6 or 7 years, so things ran OK, but not great.  This week I used a shop vac and vacuumed most of the layout.  I dusted the rolling stock with an airbrush and then a soft bristled paint brush.  Then lots of rail cleaning with a lint free cloth and rubbing alcohol.  Cleaned come locomotive wheels too.  The last couple of days everything has been running super smoothly at low speeds.  I'm kind of surprised actually!  I guess, a low humidity, stable temperature environment, with little dust is the ideal if you don't run trains often.

At any rate, while cleaning my 3 track hidden staging yard I peered over the backdrop (have to stand on my tip toes), looked down on the layout, and realized I never see the layout from the back side.  So here are a few photos looking over the backdrop towards Denver on my layout. 








Erik

[freedj]

This week I moved my freight shed project ahead by getting all the 3d printed doors and window frames installed.  I also modeling a tar paper roof by painting directly onto a resin print.  Weathering to come and then we'll see..  I also mocked up a one end of a new module that is still in the planning phase.

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[robert3985]

Got a customer's BLI 4014 weathered up and sent off yesterday. Gonna weather my 4012 up this weekend a little differently since it has ash pans and a coal tender.

Photo (1) - BLI 4014 Weathered fireman's side on my test track:


Photo (2) - BLI 4014 Weathered engineer's side on my test track:


Photo (3) - BLI 4014 Weathered showing cab light, movable cab windows and backhead that I painted up a little:


Cheerio!
Bob Gilmore

[peteski]

This week I moved my freight shed project ahead by getting all the 3d printed doors and window frames installed.  I also modeling a tar paper roof by painting directly onto a resin print.  Weathering to come and then we'll see..  I also mocked up a one end of a new module that is still in the planning phase.

The tar roofing looks really good (at least in the photo)!
I think that in N scale any layered tar paper material will not look as good.

[Jbub]

Got a customer's BLI 4014 weathered up and sent off yesterday. Gonna weather my 4012 up this weekend a little differently since it has ash pans and a coal tender.

Photo (1) - BLI 4014 Weathered fireman's side on my test track:


Photo (2) - BLI 4014 Weathered engineer's side on my test track:


Photo (3) - BLI 4014 Weathered showing cab light, movable cab windows and backhead that I painted up a little:


Cheerio!
Bob Gilmore

Looking at the cab shot, I can hear the creaking metal as it rolls on by.

[BCR 570]

Another great week of progress at Septimus with all of the auxiliary, track and command bus wiring completed.

View under the south half of Septimus:




View under the north half:




The remaining wires hanging down have been pre-positioned for the frog juicers and servo decoders.  I am deferring installation of those for now until the auxiliary bus gets powered up so I can throw the turnouts manually.

And with all that track and wiring work completed, it was time to run the first test train into Septimus under temporary DC power:








I am now testing with a 13 car train of revenue freight cars.  Here it is after a successful run over all of the new trackage for the Fort St. John Subdivision, including a safe transit through the wall:




The train includes a mix of 40', 50', 60' and 85' cars for testing purposes:

On the previous iteration of the layout, my Fort St. John Subdivision was about 11 1/2 feet in length including Septimus, and the sidings there could accommodate eleven cars.  The new version runs about 25 linear feet and the new sidings can hold 14 cars, so some major gains for operations when they restart.

Tim

[Cajonpassfan]

I've had some issues with cars equipped with the Fox Valley "narrow thread" (.059") wheels in long trains.
It seems a combination of factors it at play here....tbc.
More in my ATSF LA Division layout thread.
Otto K.

[nkalanaga]

The header post:  It seems that boxcars have been largely replaced by containers, which isn't surprising.  And, the first link, to Russia's tilt-roof boxcar, seems familiar.  Doesn't Europe already have such cars?

And, why would anyone need to put a container IN a boxcar?  Afraid someone will steal the entire box?

[u36b]

And, the first link, to Russia's tilt-roof boxcar, seems familiar.  Doesn't Europe already have such cars?

You probably mean these:
http://dybas.de/dybas/gw/gw_t_8/g891.html They started as kind-of-covered-(e.g. Coils-)-flatcars, and ended as boppers in caolin sevice.
Such cars are becoming popular again: https://www.gatx.eu/railcar/tamns-gatx-type-9580/

And, why would anyone need to put a container IN a boxcar?  Afraid someone will steal the entire box?

Yes, I think you hit it -it is a loooong way from China to Europe -plenty of opportunities to robb a container on a flatcar 

Stephan

[samusi01]

why would anyone need to put a container IN a boxcar?

Just because something seems to be a good idea, doesn’t mean it actually is… it’s an articulated car as well, which means between the roof mechanism and paucity of trucks a high tare weight and low net compared to a standalone car. I can quite understand having a cover on a gon or hopper, having passed an open load of something on the highway yesterday that was not covered and subject to aerodynamic forces (much to my annoyance) but this multipurpose boxcar just doesn’t make much sense.

In other news, very little done this week aside from some parts acquisition at Midwest Model Railroad whilst passing through KC yesterday. First half of the week was busy at work due weather. Second half, Asobo came out with their first major avionics upgrade to Microsoft Flight Simulator. and it’s been nice to motor about in the default Longitude whilst enjoying something that is closer to real. The original Longitude had a lot of avionics errors.

[BCR 570]

Another day and more significant progress.  Today my friends John and Michael came over and we got the access hatches cut into the backdrop for the Pine River section.  This is to provide access to the hidden Fort St. John Subdivision trackage if required.  These will be filled with new panels incorporating a thin styrene overlay, after which the entire backdrop will be repainted.  Here you can see the hatches after cutting, with the hidden trackage beyond.  (At this point the Pine River section is sitting on horses in the middle of the room.)  I hated to do this but enough people have told me I need to be able to access the trackage so it had to be done:




After the cutting, we went for a test fit on the brackets to ensure that there would be issues with installation, as that is now scheduled for two weeks hence.  To my relief and delight it fit perfectly, with only some minor pitching forward which we can remediate with shims.  We also did a test fit for the Tremblay sections above.


I have also finished a small project for my NMRA AP Electrical Certificate which is to wire and demonstrate a crossing.  As I do not have one on the layout, I did one on a project board:




Tim

[nkalanaga]

Stephan:  I thought I'd seen similar cars before.

The biggest problem I can see with shipping a container in a boxcar is that the car doesn't have end doors, while the container has only an end door.  It will have to removed from the boxcar before it can be unloaded, which means there will have to a crane near the customer.  That could be inconvenient.

[u36b]

Stephan:  I thought I'd seen similar cars before.

The biggest problem I can see with shipping a container in a boxcar is that the car doesn't have end doors, while the container has only an end door.  It will have to removed from the boxcar before it can be unloaded, which means there will have to a crane near the customer.  That could be inconvenient.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/first-direct-train-china-to-uk-arrives-east-london-yiwu-city-barking-channel-tunnel-a7533726.html

".....Different types of rail track in different countries mean the same train cannot travel the whole route and so the containers have to be removed and reloaded onto different carriages at several stages of the journey. ...."
The container start (and end) their 7500 mile trip on normal flatcars. The broad-gauge boxcars are imho to prevent theft in Kazakhstan, Russia and Belarus  (or the bypass route traveled now) - think how often container on flatcars are looted in the USA

Stephan

[Jesse6669]

I've been slowly adding scenery to the 1:300/Mn3 WP&Y roundy-round.  I haven't really done much scenery in the recent past so I'm testing out techniques as I go along.  Rubber rocks from Cripplebush Valley Models and some really nice pre-made pine trees came from a fellow I found on Ebay, (Dan at SkyandLandscape).  I have more on the way...
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A note on the DL535E shown--it's the latest version and features 3D printed handrails.  That took some doing, at around 0.23 mm in diameter.  After many failed prints with sags or broken railings I found the key is adding lots of short supports that must be delicately trimmed, and very gentle cleaning followed by a quick cure.  The cleaning process was the culprit in many of the sags, like a 1:450 scale PRR trane-phone antenna I had made previously--the velocity and mass of the alcohol spray was enough to deform the un-cured resin railing.  They're actually quite a bit more substantial than the etched brass ones I had been using and even feature stanchion bolt detail (though impossible to see).

I also wrapped up two hopper car builds:  An ex-EBT 3 bay hopper and an ex-CN longitudinal hopper, both used in rock/ballast service on the White Pass Route.  After the pic I noticed that I forgot to add the horizontal brake wheel and staff on the hopper.  I have it though.  I also made some EBT decals, so hmmmm now must start making more EBT stuff I guess!
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Jesse