Any info on thie CRDX MirroCraft XM?

[sirenwerks]

Does anyone have any background on this CRDX MirroCraft boxcar?

https://flic.kr/p/ReBw2U


Obviously, by the roofline, it's a rebuild from something but I can't tell whether it's a 50 ft or 60 ft car. And what it was built from, or what the new roof design is. I want one!

[nkalanaga]

Apparently it's a 60 foot car, and dates from the 1960s.  CRDX 5149 and 5151 still have the high brakewheel and "no roofwalk" stencils.

CRDX 5102 in "early 1970s", black-and-white


CRDX 5133, 4/12/1980 (not MirroCraft, but identical car):


CRDX 5149, 1/4/1996:


CRDX 5151, 4/18/1981, as MirroCraft:

[peteski]

That sure is one unique car.  I like it!

[wcfn100]

Apparently it's a 60 foot car, and dates from the 1960s. 

My January '69 ORER doesn't show these cars.

Jason

[Missaberoad]

My Jan/1973 ORER has the following entry on these cars.

The Insulated Boxcars of this company are marked "C.R.D.X." and
numbered as follows:

#Insulated boxcar (A.A.R. Mech. Designation RBL, A.A.R. Car type code
R206) cars numbered 5100-5110 inclusive and 5135 (Note A)

Inside Dimensions: length 60 ft., width 9ft. 2in., height 11ft.

Outside Dimensions: length 61 ft. 8 in., width at eaves 10 ft., extreme width 10 ft. 5 in.,
height from rail to extreme width 6 ft., to eaves 14 ft. 8 in., to extreme height 15 ft. 1 in.

Dimensions of side door openings: width 12 ft. 8 in., height 9 ft. 11 in.

Capacity 6,050 cu. ft., 100,000 pounds.

Total 12 cars.

Note A indicates that the cars are equipped with DF-2 loading devices.

Images of CRDX 5100 are found in an advertisement for the Chicago Freight Car Leasing co. in the 1974 and 1980 editions of the Car and Locomotive Cyclopedia.
There are no Drawings or information in the 1970, 1974 or 1980 editions.

There is a bit of information from James Kinkaid in his "X car Color Guide Vol 1" published by Morning Sun.

Photos of CRDX 5102 and 5105 in MirroCraft paint appear with the following caption;

Two Insulated 6,050 cu.ft cars heavily rebuilt by Chicago Freight Car.
Both were out of the 5100-5109 set which first appeared in the July 1969 equipment register.
Car 5102, seen in March 1970, had been rebuilt and repainted the prior December.
below is one (5105) in green at Manitowoc, Wis. in May 1976 having been repainted in November 1975.

There are photos and captions on the next page that reference later rebuilds in different schemes.
5111-5150 (appearing in April 1977) and 5160-5165 (July 1978) and a single photo of CRDX 5197 that wasn't found by Kinkaid in any ORER.

That's all I was able to find in a quick search. the MFCL and BBFCL did not turn up much information, however asking a question there might turn up some discussion.

[peteski]

If someone designed and 3D printed the car the CertainTeed decal would be fairly easy to create. MirroCraft would be a bit more involved.

[nkalanaga]

In this case dates can be confusing.  The dates for these cars, as rebuilt, would be the rebuild dates.  The original cars, with a peaked roof and roofwalk, almost certainly had different reporting marks and numbers, and I have no idea how one would find those today.

[Missaberoad]

In this case dates can be confusing.  The dates for these cars, as rebuilt, would be the rebuild dates.  The original cars, with a peaked roof and roofwalk, almost certainly had different reporting marks and numbers, and I have no idea how one would find those today.

It's kind of a Ship of Theseus problem. At what point is it still the original car and at what point does it just become parts? 

[sirenwerks]

Thank you TRW peers!!!

The Tom Golden shot hints at the cars origins. The center section appears to be a riveted 40-foot car with extensions on both ends. Definitely a Frankenbox. And that Hawkins roofline shot makes this project so much less daunting. Do I dare make this my first stab at 3d modeling...

I found a MirroCraft logo sticker on eBay which I can massage in GIMP to develop a clean vector image. I will need to find a suitable match to the slogan font.

I was tickled by reading the history of Mirro, an aluminum pot and pan manufacturer that branched off to other aluminum products, like boats - which is the MirroCraft brand. And it has Wisconsin roots. My grandfather (Dad's dad) was a machinist at West Bend Aluminum, in West Bend, Wisconsin. And West Bend did the same thing. I still have a set of West Bend pots and pans, and a couple of my Mom's old West Bend kitchen appliances stored away as memorabilia.

[wcfn100]

The Tom Golden shot hints at the cars origins. The center section appears to be a riveted 40-foot car with extensions on both ends. Definitely a Frankenbox. And that Hawkins roofline shot makes this project so much less daunting. Do I dare make this my first stab at 3d modeling...

If not, at first glance, much of harder parts to model that car are available in N scale in some way.

A modified 1937 from IM should get the ends and riveted portion of the sides and I think the door is a match for the Atlas RBL car.  Being a 60' car maybe the Atlas auto parts car would work for the underbody.

Jason

[peteski]

I found a MirroCraft logo sticker on eBay which I can massage in GIMP to develop a clean vector image. I will need to find a suitable match to the slogan font.

I thought GIMP was for bitmap edition and Inkscape did vector graphics.  Or you want to clean up the sticker scan in GIMP then trace it in Inkscape?

[chessie system fan]

I saw that image a few years ago and like the car too. I already have an IM core replacement designed (for other door width options, etc.).  It's be easy to stretch it to 60 feet.  Can someone keystone an image so that it's useful as a template? That would speed up the process. I'll see what I can whip up in the next few days.     I also have drawings for the doors, though that might take a little longer.

I'm guessing that's a 9 inch C-beam sill, narrowing to 6 or 7 inches at the ends? And maybe a 12 inch roof extension?