February Railwire Weathering Challenge

[3rdrail]

Never stopped Conrail from loading these with cement. I have photos of the brown 2-bay CF and the PS-2s that are labeld for "Grain Service Only" but are actually covered with cement! I didn't really believe that Conrail would do that until I came across a photo of some of the brown 2-bay CF's sitting at a cement loading facility...

They could have been downgraded from grain service to cement service. As cars age, they get reassigned to carrying different bulk materials so the newest cars can be kept clean and assigned to carry high class commodities like grain.

When a yard clerk or yardmaster has a good customer who remembers him at Christmastime begging for some covered hoppers, and the Car Management office is hundreds of miles away, computerized car distribution orders magically disappear. It used to be worse. PRR bought a group of aluminum bodied Centerflows to handle grain. Stencilled prominently on the side was "Do NOT load this car with Lime or Limestone". Don't believe the cars lasted two years before they all had been loaded with lime and destroyed by the reaction.

Yes, cars do get reassigned, but the instructions about loading are usually painted out concurrently and new instructions stencilled.

[MrKLUKE]

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[3rdrail]

PRR bought a group of aluminum bodied Centerflows to handle grain. Stencilled prominently on the side was "Do NOT load this car with Lime or Limestone".   

3rdrail:

 Do you happen to know exactly how long those PRR ACF hoppers were? Or maybe exactly
what capacity? I made this CR car awhile back that was a former PRR hopper and still had the
original paint scheme. This car existed in real-life. It was a 3 bay even though I incorrectly used
an Athearn 4 bay at the time. Rookie! Anyway, I plan on doing it again but I have TWO PRR 3
bay ACFs to choose from...one is under 50' (43' or 47' can't remember) made by Front Range
and the other is a longer Accurail. Wondering which one is closer to the truth?

Jeff (MrKLUKE)

From the April 1966 ORER, PRR 260656-705 and 260871-970, i.l. 54'1", 4750 cu.ft.

[MrKLUKE]

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[John]

http://prr.railfan.net/freight/classpage.html?class=H34

http://prr.railfan.net/freight/freightphotos.html?photo=http://www.rr-fallenflags.org/prr/prr258075d.jpg&fr=

http://prr.railfan.net/freight/freightphotos.html?photo=h34_pc_74202_lewistown.jpg&fr=

http://crcyc.railfan.net/mow/ballast/mwballast.html

[MrKLUKE]

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[The Donkey]

3rdrail:

Thanks for that. It's possible neither cars match exactly but I'll check.

ALL:

Hmmmm...like last month...some of the graphics are hard to read. If anybody can help me
out, that would be excellent.

I see from my original model the type is "H34C". I CAN actually read that anyway.

The CAPY looks like "164000"
The LD LMT looks like "167600"
I'm having trouble with LT WT. "51400" ??

What's in the black area to the immediate right of the data...looks something like:

"CR EV" over "9 84"

Hard to read the CU FT. My model says "2003". I guess that's right.

On the very right, on the last panel...what is that square? Looks like "A4"?

If you can confirm or deny any of this...great!

Jeff (MrKLUKE)

Jeff-everything I agree with on the above-actually didn't realize that mark on the last panel actually had lettering until u mentioned it! "Upon further review", I agree also!

Didn't think you were going to enter this challenge after your "marathon double challenge" last month! I guess you DO work good under pressure!  ;D

Plans are getting my car done by Fri nite-& try to get good outdoor photos over the weekend, but yet another challenge-weather appears to not be good for the Ohio region this weekend-we'll see!

Gonna be interesting- at least 2 MTW HO guys in the challenge (at least in my experience here, & to my knowledge at this point) I just told my girlfriend that u appear to be in also, & she said, "Well...aim for 2nd place." (Actually, not aiming for "place"-just like the idea of competing with some great weatherers!)

You're a good guy Jeff-but you're a CSX guy-that's a given! 


Mitch

[Iain]

I don't know if I am going to have time to finish this because I have yet to receive the car >.  MB Klain apparantly is behind on their orders, but they emailed me saying that it should ship this week.

[MrKLUKE]

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[GonzoCRFan]

I don't know if they survived past Day 1, but at least 2 dozen of these cars are in my 1995 ORER, which is a LOT more than I expected...

[MrKLUKE]

 .

[GonzoCRFan]

Looking at the PC era picture I posted, did you see that board or plack mounted on the right
side, up near the roofline? On the CR era car, it looks like it was removed and only black spray
paint remains. What would be placed up there, so high on the car, where people would have
difficulty seeing?

That general area is where ownership data was usually stenciled on CR cars...but I'm not really sure. Us guys who work with the small stuff are sometimes willing to overlook details like that.  ;D

[3rdrail]

Looking at the PC era picture I posted, did you see that board or plack mounted on the right
side, up near the roofline? On the CR era car, it looks like it was removed and only black spray
paint remains. What would be placed up there, so high on the car, where people would have
difficulty seeing? Especially old RR guys! Hehe. Seriously, any ideas?

 I bet 3rdrail has an idea.

Jeff (MrKLUKE)

That would be the equipment trust plate. Up until the 1970's, most railroads bought cars and locomotives under equipment trusts, registered with the ICC, which were basically like getting a car loan, only the usual length of the loan was 15 years. After the 1970's, although equipment trusts were still used, leasing became more common than buying. Lessors do not use cast plates or plaques, only stencilled data.

In 1957, the PRR had its J1 2-10-4's lined up dead in the order the equipment trusts expired. The day one expired, it went to the scrap line. Once a car was paid for and still in service, the plate (or stencil) would be removed at the next shopping.

Sometimes this detail is included even in N scale, as in the upper left corner of this car's side:



Micro-Trains car, MicroScale decals.

[Iain]

I still have not received my car.  If it is home when I arrive their then I will try to get it done overnight.  It will probably not look good because I will rush it.

[GonzoCRFan]

  It will probably not look good because I will rush it.

And therefore, you shouldn't bother. If it's worth doing, it's worth taking your time and doing it right. We need to start getting away from this "must win!" mentality...