FGE 5145's

[central.vermont]

I see this car has a 12' plug door, are there any models that have this style door
presently being produced?

Jon

[Brakie]

If an FGE 5145 body would fit the X58 underframe, it would be a possibility.  But there would have to be more roadnames available to do in addition to SOU and NS.

Kinda like the FM H15-44 very limited road names?

Maybe ExactRail will do these cars..

[ljudice]

I believe the MDC/Athearn FMC plug door rib side boxcar has a 12' door. 

I am trying to work out a way of doing some very poor stand-ins using these cars.

But as mentioned, I am not 100% sure of the length, they look possibly like they are longer than 50' outside....

52' inside length....

- Lou

[daniel_leavitt2000]

I am pulling this toppic up again.
These were very common up here, but I think they were used in paper service along with CN newsprint cars and Conrail X58s. Since I am pretty sure the finky length and short list of road names are going to keep these from being produced comercially, anyone know what to build it with?

I am thinking FMC corrigated ends, cut down PCF beer car sides with 12' door, Atlas Evans 53' plug door underframe. What about the roof?

Anyone know what decals can be used for these cars?

If the cars come out well, I may cast it.

[ljudice]

Decals:   the MS  SOU freight set I think has everything you need for the "gives a green light" scheme.  Some of these went into the Claytor scheme and of course NS, as well as simplified NS.

The SOU color guide though, says these were all in dedicated beer service....

- Lou

[daniel_leavitt2000]

Lou was that for the entire fleet? I thought the cars were blocked off in those strange number groups becasue of different loading equipment.

I'll try and track down a few sheets of those decals. So far this is my needed parts list:
RC PCF 12' door beer car
FVM or MDC FMC box (for the end corrigations
Atlas 53' Evans plug box (for the underframe)
2 Athearn NACC undec box kits (for the diagnal roof)
Archer rivet decals

[ljudice]

Dan - ok - it looks like the 3 digit cars are all RBL's for dedicated beer service...

The six digit cars are both RBL's for beer and XPI's for paper - but the caption says RBL's outnumbered the XPI's by a wide margin.

- Lou

[daniel_leavitt2000]

I think these must have been reassigned towards end if life. While the 5 digit cars were far more common, I still saw plenty of three digit cars mixed in. This was in the late 90's till about 2003. I have not seen any recently.

Looking at the car diagrams, which state there is a 52'6" inside width and accounting for the corrugations on the end, I think the car length should be about 53'6". Add two feet to each side and you arrive at 57'11" over the strikers.

The more I look at the PCF beer cars and other parts for this project, the more I think this could be a good model to cast. I'm going to hijack this thread and keep everyone up to date on this project. If the master comes out well, I will cast enough for anyone who is interested.

The parts would be pressure cast using an opaque gray resin. You would need to supply wire for steps, an etched brakewheel, crossover platform, trucks and couplers.

[daniel_leavitt2000]

OK, halfway though planning this bash and the first problem surfaced. Anyone have an extra Southern freight car decal set? I'm looking for 60-14 which has the "Southern serves the South" logo. Its out of production... figures

Free car casting to anyone that can help.

[ljudice]

Dan - I've got a couple of incomplete sets - I'll send them to you with the 12' door PCF car.  It's actually a BN car, not a repaint, but it should be easy to strip. 

Just send me $3.00 for postage and I'll take a pair of castings for payment when you're done.

- Lou 

pp: ljudice@roundmountaingroup.com

[daniel_leavitt2000]

Thanks to Lou and Bryan, the master is taking shape. The roof is complete but the sides and ends are still being worked on. The underframe will be a casting of an Atlas 53' Evans box, though this is not correct as it is lacking the cushioning hardware. I hope to make two molds of the body. That should allow me to make at least 20-30 cars. Lou and Bryan get the fist castings.

Photos soon.

[ljudice]

Yay!!!!   

I will probably be doing mine in the latest scheme, so I need to add this to my next custom decal order!

[Robbman]

I recently found out I have drawings for these... BS1, BS2, BS204, BS205, BS206, BS207... haven't had time to sort them all... but Stanray roofs (53' 6" or 53' 9", depending on class) and Stanray 5" corrugated ends.  Cars are 53' 4.5" over corner posts and end sills, 42' 11" bolster centers, 58' 1.75" over strikers (of interest... Greenville made the underframes for some of the classes, Youngstown made the sides for all).  Hope that helps.

[daniel_leavitt2000]

Robb, that helps a lot. It looks like my estimation of 53.5-54 feet was close. I will need to sand a tad from the ends to make it correct. The lenth over the corners had me pretty worried as all I had to measure the car length was based on photos using wheel centers on the trucks as a baseline.

I am using the Stanray corrugations off the Exactrail USRE 5277, which seem to line up pretty well with the photos I have.

[Robbman]

Those ends should work well.  Stanray roofs and ends were pretty well... standard (Stanray : Standard Railway Equipment) .  I haven't been able to find a general arrangement (there may not be one)  yet... but there's like 1500 drawings to go through.  If I find one I'll send it to you.