On Building A Freight Car Fleet

A Portion of The Kit Stash

 Like many model railroaders, I have accumulated a large number of freight cars and locomotives over the years.  My early Athearn train set cars and additions from Model Die Casting (Roundhouse), Tyco and Con-Cor were later joined by more detailed models from Intermountain, Red Caboose and others.

My early purchases as I got more serious about the hobby were from hobby shops, and occasionally mail order, as this was before the Internet.  Most were kits, because I had enjoyed building aircraft models and this carried over into my model railroad hobby.  There were a few "ready to run" model purchases, joined by some gifts from family.

When I got even more serious about the hobby, I found other kit manufacturers such as CB&T, Branchline and LifeLike Proto 2000 (now Walthers Proto).  There were even a few exotic (to me) resin kits from Sunshine as well as swap meet finds of other craftsman type kits.

Some of these purchases were spurred by my interest in the Great Northern and other Hill Lines, some by what I had seen on the tracks in real life as a kid, and some by whim.  I did tend to stick with the 1960's, despite temptation in the form of gorgeous looking modern era cars.

For a long time, however, my purchases were only loosely guided by a vague concept of how I might eventually incorporate them into a large model railroad scheme.  Some of this was understandably the result of lack of time to embark on planning and building a layout, or defining what it would even look like.  Some due to the shiny allure of a new model that I happened on and convinced myself I really wanted, without much thought of how it "fit" into any bigger plan.  Some just looked fun to build.

When I began to narrow my focus, and develop an interest in building more detailed models, it was actually helpful in limiting impulse buying.  It has not slowed me down but it has  guided me toward models that I know I really want.  Some earlier buys have been sold to make way for things that better fit where I see myself going.

Recent purchases have tended toward craftsman kits or kitbash opportunities that will challenge and develop my skills.  There are some incredible small makers of resin car and mini kit offerings along with masters of kitbashing who share their talents for me to learn from.

As I am not building a large layout with a big “fleet”, I’m not as much driven to balance my models with car distributions or relative numbers of a particular car as I am  to explore modeling challenges.  I am adding some particular car types in line with my forest products interest.  This includes tank cars, double door boxcars and flat cars.  The Great Northern is my home road, along with subsidiary Pacific Coast, and sister roads Northern Pacific, SP&S and CB&Q so these roads feature prominently.

A Return and Resinating

 I am somewhat embarrassed at my lack of progress as I re-read my last post (from January!). Of course there are reasons, none of which are of much import other than life’s adventures. Everyone is healthy with no significant challenges or issues. No sense dwelling on where the time has gone as we can only go forward.

My workspace, while compact, is all set up and is proving functional.  The picture below shows the arrangement, with most of my commonly used tools at hand.

As usual, all pictures can be enlarged by clicking on them

The space is well lit and the compactness actually helps minimize my tendency toward clutter. The open shelves house more tools, projects, reference books, styrene, wire and small commonly used detail parts such as grab irons, ladders, uncoupling levers, screws and the like.  More details such as doors, roofs, roofwalks, underframe and brake components, scenery and vehicle details are on the shelving with doors just visible at extreme left.

While I have not been building much, accumulating more freight car kits has continued.  There are two cabinets above on the wall filled with my kit stash, which now has some 240 styrene, resin and hybrid kits in total (yikes, this is the first time I have put that total down in one place!). I have been disciplined about sticking with my 1965 modeling period with a focus on the West and my interest in forest products industries.  Opportunities to pick up a few out of production kits from Sunshine, Speedwitch and other small resin kit makers have allowed me to stash some signature cars that I am very excited to have.

Given my current interests, as well the limited space for a small six foot switching layout, I am honing my focus on the cars that I want to build for both my historical interest as well as growing my modeling skills. As a result, I have been judiciously selling a few kits that no longer fit and am also selling some ready-to-run (RTR) cars, particularly when there is a kit I can build to replace them.  My space will only allow use of a handful of cars at a time, so enjoyable kits to build are a priority now.  Model building is the part of this hobby that I enjoy the most, and I am finding that historical research to construct accurate models with high fidelity is very satisfying.

Resinating

On that note, I have finally started on my first resin boxcar kit after an epic length of time procrastinating.  The kit, Funaro & Camerlengo (F&C) number 8400, of a Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) X37 single door boxcar, is sitting on the workbench in the photo above.  The prototype is similar to a 1937 design boxcar, with some characteristic Pennsy design features.  These were 40’ length cars with a 10’ 4” inside height. The roof has distinctive depressed panels at each end for car clearance, with a wooden roofwalk.  The sides have a unique alternating rivet pattern and most of the X37’s rode on PRR coil elliptic 2D-F19 trucks with both leaf and coil springs. Here is a prototype builders photograph.

You will also note the interesting two rung steps on each corner.  It is a very appealing car with its slightly out of the ordinary look versus other cars of the time.  The PRR built 1000 of theses single door cars starting in December 1939 and a large number were still on the roster in my modeling year of 1965.

Here is the kit on my workbench after removing it from the box.

In deciding on which resin car kit to start with, I considered a few factors, including having a one piece body with a fairly standard underframe, standard ladders versus grab irons, readily available decals and good prototype data to work from.  I do realize that there are certain challenges that come with most F&C kits, but so far it has been within my capabilities and I expect it will look decent when finished. Honestly, I also purchased this kit at a discount and would not be overly distraught if I messed up.  The kit is readily available and could be replaced if the worst happened, unlike many of my others.

I’m making progress this week on flash clean up and have ordered trucks and decals.  I will post in progress photos and commentary, including some enhancements, over the coming weekend.  For now, I wish all of you in the US a Happy Thanksgiving.