Milwaukee Road Passenger Car Project

[chessie system fan]

I finished pieces I've been procrastinating on. 





The full width diaphragm is designed to have wires added where the prototype hinges. 

[sd45elect2000]

Of course!  Part of the plan is to offer these for sale to offset the cost of my new printer and research books.  Message me a list of the cars you're interested in and I'll try to finish designing those first.

Are you doing the tail end cars as built of as modernized in 1942-1948?
So far I’d use a couple of baggage, coaches and parlors.

I’m not in any hurry, I can certainly wait as you design the cars, I’ll keep my eyes peeled here.

Randy

[chessie system fan]

Yes, it'll be pretty simple to add the postwar skirting to Omeme and Opechee or any of the other cars.  So far I've been more or less going in chronological order.  I'm mostly done with the 1938 cars.  After that will be the 1939 train.

[Sokramiketes]

I'm in for anything with the modernized '48 era skirting!  And multiples on coaches and parlor cars!

[chessie system fan]

Today I switched around a few parts and made the 1205, a 1937 baggage and express car built for the Hiawatha - North Woods Section that ran between New Lisbon and Woodruff.  It mostly stayed on that train until mail service was discontinued in 1964.  It received post-war skirting in 1948 (to be modeled later).

[u18b]

I love this thread.
Wow.

[keeper]

I love this thread.
Wow.

Me too!

[Jim Starbuck]

Outstanding work Aaron!

[skytop35]

Today I switched around a few parts and made the 1205, a 1937 baggage and express car built for the Hiawatha - North Woods Section that ran between New Lisbon and Woodruff.  It mostly stayed on that train until mail service was discontinued in 1964.  It received post-war skirting in 1948 (to be modeled later).

Awesome. I need this car (post 1948) for my North Woods Hi train. I only remember riding it once but saw it MANY times! Nice job.

[chessie system fan]

I goofed!  Since 1205 is a 1937 car, I forgot to add the 2 extra ribs.  And the middle two ribs were moved an inch farther apart above and below the window.



I'll likely work on 1205's postwar configuration next.

[Sokramiketes]

Good catch. 

[chessie system fan]

As promised, here is the 1205 in its postwar configuration.



The step areas still need to be added, but I'll do that closer to when it's time to design the etched steps.  I also fixed a few discrepancies that probably only I will notice. Now I'll have to go back and fix the prewar car file.

When Milwaukee added new skirting to all its cars below the windows so that they would have a uniform appearance, they increased the rib size from 2 and 3\4 inches to 3 and 1\2 inches.  You can see that in this photo:

 Milwaukee Road Coach 407 - Rib and Window Detail by J.L. Nelson, on Flickr

And here's a straight-on shot.
Milwaukee Road MOW Car 917202, Ex-Baggage car 1301 - Faded MOW Number by J.L. Nelson, on Flickr

Whoever that photographer is, he's my hero!  If you care about passenger car modeling, check out his albums.

[u18b]

Aaron.   I really love and am always amazed at your attention to detail.
@chessie system fan

[AlbertSpor]

Yeah whenever J. L. Nelson takes pictures of something, he seems to take anywhere from 6 to 2 dozen detailed pictures of the subject. I love looking through them on Jerry's passenger car photo site,
Albert  Spor

[chessie system fan]

Shifting back in time, coach 4400 was the very first lightweight coach Milwaukee built back in 1934.  I finished the body for it today.  Milwaukee used this car as a test car and later showcased it at the World's Fair along with an EP-2 electric.  It lasted in revenue service until 1961 and did not receive any post-war modifications. 



It is very close to a Fox Velley car, except the windows are larger.  On the prototype cars that Fox Valley modeled, Milwaukee narrowed the windows so that they could add more seats to the cars, at the expense of less leg room.

I created a new core template for this and future 1934-era cars.  The roof has a slightly different logarithmic curve to it that ends in a slight point at its peak.

The hardest part was breaking the seal on what was probably the last brand new, shrink-wrapped copy of Hiawatha: First of the Speedliners in existence.     That was the most expensive train book I've ever bought.