After having them sitting on the shelf for a several years (along with about 50 other kits! ), I'm finally building both the Frisco and the Quanah Branchline "Blueprint Series" 50ft plug door insulated RB/RBL boxcars: GARX 50580 (QA&P) and GARX 54009 (SLSF). A QUESTION: Does anyone know what the correct truck is for these cars? For sure it was friction bearings. My inclination is to run them on Kato ASF A-3 "Ride Control" trucks, as the Frisco favored this truck. Does anyone know if this is correct? I have no car diagram for these cars, and all my photos and other references don't show the trucks well enough to see just what they are, except that they are friction bearing equipped. BTW, Branchline did a great job decorating both these cars, except for the Frisco logo on the SLSF GARX car, which is a mess . Painted it black, and laid an Oddballs Frisco logo decal over it, which was an exact fit. Sure do like Tom Stolte's Oddball decals! TIA for any help. |-| Ken
FYI, here's an update: I've learned from Ed Hawkins, one of the publishers of the excellent Railroad Prorotype Cyclopedias (along with Pat Wider), that the QA&P GARX cars, built in 1955, GARX 50050-50099, rode on Chrysler FR-5 trucks. No HO model of this truck exists - I'm going to try to scratch-build a set of Chryslers using the Branchline kit truck (a P2K Barber S2-A) as a starter. It won't be totally accurate, but it will look like a Chrysler FR-5 with the shock absorber, etc. The Frisco GARX cars, GARX 54000-54099, built in 1959, rode on Barber S2-A trucks, so the Branchline kit truck is OK. I had thought these cars might have been equipped with ASF A-3 Ride Control trucks, as the Frisco really liked the ASF A-3, but it looks like that is not correct. See RP Cyc #4 for pictures and descriptions of each of these freight car trucks. Ken |-|
Ken - I'd forgotten about this thread until I was kicking around this evening. Did these ever come to pass and if so, how'd they turn out? Best Regards,
Nope, I never did it. Instead, I just put a set of National B-1's on the QAP car. Still have plans to try to fashion a set of Chrysler look-alikes for it. With the Nationl B-1's on it, at least the car looks different from the SLSF car. Ken |-|
