Good News: It looks like Accurail will be re-releasing 40 ft. AAR steel double door boxcars in Frisco this summer. I will post updates when I run across them. Robert Hoover, Jr.
Accurail USRA DS Boxcar Howdy, Here is a scan of the new Accurail USRA DS Boxcar. It just arrived today at Discount Model Trains. The product number for the Frisco car is 4615. It is very nice.
Wow! Thanks for the picture, Bob. Once again, Accurail has produced a high-quality product that should allow we steam-era modelers to build up a sizeable boxcar fleet without too much scratchbuilding or investing exclusively in resin kits. I've found that with the Accurail kits, the only detail that I end up replacing (other than the break gear) is the running boards, with either stripwood or styrene that's closer to the prototypical thickness. Of course, those of us who are also nattering nabobs of nitpickiness will be fretting over numbering these boxcars: for the year I'm modelling, am I numbering this wood side with a number that was used on a steel side rebuild? At one time, I thought I had information on exactly which boxcars were rebuilt, but I can't seem to find anything in my files. Anyone out there that can shed some insight? If I can dig up some more specific information on the prototypes, I'll post it under the "Prototype" heading. <FONT COLOR="Red">Ship IT on the Frisco!</FONT>
Chris, Thanks for the message about furnishing the picture, but that credit should go to Mike Corley. This new format shows what neat stuff we can now do and all of the thanks for tht should go to Mike. Robert Hoover, Jr.
Bowser #55110 Frisco 100 ton 45' 3 bay hopper John G. Hollembeak photos of the new Bowser #55110 Frisco 100 ton 45' 3 bay hopper
John Hollembeak's Layout and models...very nice I believe these came from John Hollembeak. Please correct me if I am wrong.
nice pics of the Bowser hoppers!! I've got 10 of them, which I run with my McKean 100-ton cars. Most of my hoppers are black, but I have five 100-tonners painted boxcar red with Frisco decals from Oddballs Decals.
Atlas has just announced they will be coming out with their pulpwood flat cars in Frisco in Sept. The particulars are: ITEM # ROAD NAME ROAD NUMBER 1608-1 Frisco (Yellow/Black) 4304 1608-2 Frisco (Yellow/Black) 4310 I would be interested to hear from one of the freight car experts in the group if these are prototypical? Robert Hoover, Jr.
Sorry for the additional post. The pulpwood flats will be coming in both HO and N. The #'s I gave you were for the HO cars. The N scale ones are: ITEM # ROAD NAME ROAD NUMBER 38371 Frisco (Yellow/Black) 4304 38372 Frisco (Yellow/Black) 4310 Robert Hoover, Jr.
SLSF 47786, Accurail #4706 Wood Stock Car Accurail is releasing a 40' wood stock car, SLSF 47786, Accurail #4706. Does anyone have a picture of the actual model? Is this an accurate model? Here is a photo from the magazine:
I am researching an article on express refrigerator cars. I have a photo of SLSF #479 from the 475 - 499 series. It is about 50' long and has steel sides and truss rods. Who built the car and when was it built? Was it originally in the 2000 - 2024 series? Were these cars rebuilt from older wood-sided cars? Thanks alot!!! Pat Wider
Pat - I checked my equipment diagrams and found the pages that include express reefer #479. I'll make a copy and leave them for you tonight (10/9) at TT. The cars, originally r/n 2000-2024 as you suggest, were built in Jan, 1911 by AC&F, lot number 5799. They were rebuilt, 1940-1941, by SLSF. The cars have a steel frame, truss rods, wood body, steel and wood siding and, get this, a mule-hide covered roof with steel hatches. Car length is a nominal 52 ft, 34+ ft truck centers, 8 ft truck wheelbase, 36" wheels. No indication is on the diagrams as to when they were renumbered to r/n 475-499. At the date of these diagrams (sometime after 1946-1947), only 12 cars remained in service. Ken Wulfert Meteor910@aol.com
Sounds like a must-have for my c. 1943 fleet. Anyone have a good start for a kitbash, and especially ideas on how to realistically model a mule-hide covered roof?
Back in the dark ages when I was working construction, we would shingle the roofs ourselfs. No roofing subcontractors for us! One of the shingle suppliers we used (lowest bid)would often supply us with a brand called "Mulehide". Did these cars have tarpaper roofs? Thanks, Dwain
I was reading the November Model Railroader last night and they have a review of the new Branchline Models reefer. The prototype was built by ACF in the time period of the SL-SF reefer you are trying to model. This sounds like it could be a paint and decal conversion. Dwain
Sorry, the Branchline model is a standard reffer, not an express reffer. Sorry if this caused any confusion. Thanks, Dwain
Have you seen the November 2001 Mainline Modeler? It contains a construction article on these stock cars. Unfortunately, neither the Accurail or the TM cars I've hoarded for years are very close to the prototype.
<FONT SIZE="+1">Modeling 55-Ton Hoppers (86000 Class)</FONT> Accurail has made it easier for the steam-era Frisco modeler to build up a sizeable rolling stock fleet that is relatively accurate, without substantial scratchbuilding or kitbashing that would otherwise cause most of us to give up the hobby altogether. With some touch-up work, Accurail Kit #2507 can be your starting point for a class of cars that were mainstays of the Frisco fleet through the war years. The Frisco ordered 1,000 of these double-bay hoppers c. 1923, numbers 86000-86999 for coal hauling. All that I did to my model was to replace the friction-pins holding the trucks in place with screws (I need to replace the trucks once the layout is up and running) and added the few details included with the kit, such as the door latches and brake lever. Then, it was a matter of adding Kadee #5 couplers (drybrushed with Polly Scale rust) and weathering. I added a brake chalk stencil (“CH” for Chaffee) by using a toothpick with a VERY tiny amount of white paint and then weathered the car rather heavily with a combination of Polly Scale dirt and grime, followed by a Dullcote. After completing, I did find an old <U>Prototype Modeler</U> article by Cyril Durrenberger from August, 1978 on modeling these cars. His model shows a verticle brake staff and brake wheel, rather than the lever that Accurail includes with their car. I would be interested in seeing any photos that anyone might be able to post. Additionally, I noticed on my model that it includes an American Car & Foundry “acf” lower-case logo. This appears to be very out of place for a car that was built in 1923; the year built stencil also says 1928. Again, if anyone has information or pictures to clarify, please post to the Resource Center for all to see. I reckon that the ACF logo could be removed by putting a small amount of dampened household abrasive cleanser on the end of a toothpick and rubbing very lightly until this comes off, hopefully leaving the paint job intact. Same for the year built data if you wish to modify; any dimensional data set of decals should do For the record, Cyril’s article mentions using Champ HC-93 set for the Frisco-specific decals if you are interesting in scratchbuilding or kitbashing. Those who might have more information on prototype-specific details that can be added to the out-of-the-box model are encouraged to add to this thread You might want to use the same factory number removal system as listed above to modify some of Accurail’s numbers. With a modicum of work, you can have a sizeable number of these coal hauling cars ready to run.
I'm interested in doing a model of the white 100-ton hoppers used in the MPS coal trains between Catale and Kansas City. Where can I get pictures of what we called the "White Hoppers"? TIA Bob
